Week 14 Ranking Implications

With the college football season coming to an end there’s very few ranked games coming up this weekend. Making a move up in the rankings this week will be difficult but I do see it happening. Here’s what I have going down:

#19 South Carolina losing to #1 Auburn

#13 Nebraska losing to #9 Oklahoma

#15 Virginia Tech losing to #21 Florida State

This will result in a 2 spot jump up to #15 in the BCS and #12 in the AP. Considering we won’t be getting a BCS game invite you might be asking why does any of this matter? It matters for bowl games. A higher viewed bowl game like the Las Vegas Bowl or the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl are more likely to give a spot to a higher ranked team in the hopes of creating a better match-up and maximizing profit.

With a win against La Tech and the Nebraska losing we could see an invite to the 2 aforementioned bowls. With Virginia Tech going down at the hands of Florida State, that will all but be a guarantee. Goodbye crappy Humanitarian Bowl, goodbye even worse New Mexico Bowl. With BYU already accepting an invite to the Las Vegas Bowl, it will be more likely that Nevada would take the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco and leave the other to once National Champion hopeful, Boise State.

Buncha Crap System (BCS) Part 2

Excuse me as I rant, but let’s get this weekend straight BCS ranking wise. It started out with #2 Auburn barely beating #11 Alabama (9 team difference in ranking), and to be honest had McElroy not been concussed, I think Alabama would have pulled off the win.

Then there was an upset in #19 Nevada beating #4 Boise State (15 team difference in ranking). Boise State was a 14 point favorite and yes there was a field goal missed that could have won he game but lets give credit to the Nevada defense who not only shut down a high-powered offense in the 2nd half but also stopped them in overtime.

Number 5 LSU lost to #12 Arkansas (7 team difference in ranking).

Oklahoma State at #9 got beat by #13 Oklahoma (4 team difference in ranking), in what was an amazing 4th quarter by Oklahoma.

#20 Utah barely beats BYU in a game that shouldn’t have even been close.

And then we get the rankings…

#2 jumps Oregon who has done nothing wrong to get the #1 spot.
#11 barely falls, moving back only 5 spots to #16.
#5 drops 5 spots to #10.
#12 jumps 5 spots in comparison.
#9 drops back to the #14 spot, once again a 5 spot drop.
#13 who pulled off the upset moves up 4 spots to the #9 position.
#20 who should have lost stays put at #20, they shouldn’t have any complaints about this.

So, so far everything looks up to par and the only thing to question is did #2 Auburn really deserve to overtake the BCS #1 ranking? Let’s talk about Nevada now who pulled off an amazing come from behind win when all the lights were on them.

#4 Boise State gets booted from the top ten to #11, a 7 rank drop.
#19 Nevada, little sister of the poor Nevada, who put on a show that people will talk about for at least a year jumps 2 measly spots in the BCS.

There is no respect given to a little school, the only thing sports programs are talking about is how Brotzman missed the kick. NOT about how this Nevada team, against all odds, being down 17, went in at halftime and made the adjustments that shut down a potent offense and in the end won the game.

The fact of the matter is this, everyone who has a say in the votes believes this, “Boise State handed the game to Nevada, Nevada did nothing to earn that W”.

Now let us talk about Colin Kaepernick, have we heard anything about him? Forget the records he now owns, he only put up better numbers than Cam Newton but he doesn’t even get mentioned 99% of the time that a commentator talks about that game.

Cam Newton had 216 yards through the air as opposed to Colin Kaepernick and his 259.

On the ground Kaepernick had 45 yards rushing with an average of 4.5 per carry, Newton 1.8 per carry for 39. Should we also mention that Cam ran 12 more times in this game?

Kaepernick threw a pick that was amazingly intercepted and not his fault; it was a ball that should have been caught.

Cam Newton did however bring a team from behind to win a game against a team that was the favorite.

Kaepernick did the same damn thing only showing composure many athletes would rival. With 13 seconds left in the game, Colin was able to tie the game up with an amazing pass into tight coverage.

Just give the guy some credit, that's all I'm asking. Here's were the 2 guys now stand, and keep in mind that by the end of the season, Colin Kaepernick will have put up 4,000 yards of total offense:
The AP poll seems to be more accurate with Nevada at #14, that's closer to what they really are than #17.

Week 13 Ranking Implications

Are you excited for this game yet? It’s just a shame it’s this week because this would be a great week to move up in the rankings. Here’s what I have for this week:

#2 Auburn losing to #11 Alabama

#12 Arkansas losing to #5 LSU

#13 Oklahoma losing to #9 Oklahoma State

#17 Texas A&M losing to Texas

#21 Arizona losing to #1 Oregon

What does this mean? Well if Nevada loses we could potentially still be ranked, probably at #25. If Nevada pulls off the upset we might get the recognition we deserve but we will likely hear “I think this is proof that this Boise State team just wasn’t as good as we thought they were and truly did not deserve a chance at the national title”. Regardless I see us moving up 4 spots, and an additional 2-3 for taking down Boise. With a win we might be talking about the #13 or #12 Nevada Wolf Pack.

Regardless it’s going to be a great Friday of college football with the #’s 1, 2, and 4 teams in action, all against ranked opponents.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families! Be safe and enjoy college football!

Colin Kaepernick

As the season slowly comes to an end we start seeing who the favorite is to win the Heisman. Now it’s no surprise that Auburn’s Cam Newton is the favorite to take home the trophy, but does he really deserve it? Sure he’s putting up great numbers and sure the quality of play is higher in Auburn’s conference but that shouldn’t matter.

The Heisman is essentially the MVP of all 120 D1 teams. If you ask me the MVP is an individual whom the team would not have been the same without, he is the Most Valuable Player, a game changer, the glue that holds the team together. If we look at the numbers Cam Newton does have better numbers, but they are only slightly better.

Here’s the thing, Cam has only been doing this this year and not without controversy. Whether it’s his fault or his fathers fault, his reputation has and will continue to remain scarred. He plays on a team that’s stacked with talent. Remember the Patriots that had that amazing season and ended up losing in the Superbowl? What happened the next year when Tom Brady went out? A now struggling quarterback looked like he should have been the #1 pick in the NFL draft. My point is with a team like Auburn, you could take 90% of the quarterbacks out there and put them in his place and they will have great numbers. And don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not saying Nevada’s team doesn’t have talent, because its got plenty of it, its just a different level of talent.

On the other hand there’s a kid who 119 D1 schools passed on. A kid that no one gave a shot and when he was finally given that shot he turned into one of the best quarterbacks college football has ever seen, yes I said it. If you want a most valuable player then you have to look at a kid who’s been doing this for 4 years, not just 1. A kid who has amassed 9,237 yards passing, 3,852 yards rushing, and 132 total TD’s; those numbers will grow as there’s 4 games left in his career. He’s also one of 2 quarterbacks to ever throw for 2,000 yards and run for 1,000 in back to back seasons, and he’ll make it 3 years in a row this Saturday. I know that the Heisman is not based off of previous year numbers but at some point you need to realize how consistent and how dominating an individual really has been. So he plays in the WAC, is that his fault? Remember nobody else gave him a shot; he didn’t have the option to go to any other conference.

When it comes down to it Cam/Cam’s family has clearly shown that he’s just in the game for the money (as sad as it is). Kaepernick on the other hand could be in the Major Leagues throwing fastballs and being worth a few million but instead he’s in college, getting an education and playing a game that he loves. He’s a kid that if was 18 again and graduating high school, I can almost guarantee 100+ schools would have offered him a full-ride to their institution. All he does is prove every critic wrong, yet when we discuss Heisman candidates his name is rarely mentioned.

Colin Kaepernick will not win the Heisman, he won’t win the Davey O'Brien, he probably won’t even win the WAC player of the year award. They’ll give the Heisman to Cam Newton and 4 years from now take it away due to some recruiting violation. Colin Kaepernick, one of the most dominating players in college football history will never be remembered as he should.

If you really know football and you don’t blind yourself with the politics of conferences then you know who the real Most Valuable Player is.