Our EC Blog Poll Ballot – Week 7

If you don’t know this by now, you’re just not paying attention. We have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments: 

1. LSU - The best team in the nation, but very beatable.

2. Cal – The most impressive bye week I have ever seen. Brilliant.

3. Ohio State – The best defense in the nation (so far)

4. Boston College – This is obviously a fluid situation, but right now, Matt Ryan is the front-runner for the heisman

5. Oregon – Suddenly under most people’s radar after one close loss to a good team

6. Oklahoma – I’m going to give them a pass for that performance against Colorado.  I still think this is a top team

7. USC – I see two or three losses for this team.

8. South Florida - No way they go undefeated in the Big East

9. South Carolina – They control their own destiny to get to the SEC Championship game.

10. Virginia Tech – Getting better and better every week.  This could end up as the best team in the ACC

11. West Virginia – Eh, nothing special.

12. Missouri – Clearly the best team in the train-wreck that is, the Big 12 North.  Big game against OU.

13. Florida – The best two loss team in recent memory

14. Arizona State – Washington, Cal, and Oregon in the next three games will tell us how good ASU really is.

15. Cincinnati – They can’t be for real…. Can they?

16. Kentucky – Brutal, brutal schedule.  And very weak defense.

17. Illinois – This team definitely looks like they are for real

18. Kansas – NOBODY is talking about this team, but they have one more quality win than that Hawaii

19. Tennessee – Welcome back to respectability. 

20. Georgia – Still a decent team

21. Texas – I told you they would lose at least twice this year

* * * * *

Dropped Out

Purdue - Saw that one coming.  You can’t build a team around offense with no D.

Rutgers – Such a dissapointment.  Ray Rice can kiss any shot at the Heisman good bye.

* * * * *

Others Receiving Consideration

Michigan – After hitting rock bottom in week 2, they have been clawing their way back.

Florida St. - Also working back to respectability.  They seem better with Lee at QB.

Auburn - This team can still jump up and bite you .  Just ask the Gators

* * * * *   

NO!  Even After a Win Over 0-6 Utah F-ing State! NO!

Hawaii

Our EC Blogpoll Ballot – Week 6

As you should definitely know by now, we have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments: 

1. LSU - The AP voters finally started to see things our way.  Can’t wait to see this team in person Saturday.

2. USC – Sorry. You gotta be able to beat an unranked team by more than 3 to be #1.

3. Cal – Mark our words: They will beat USC.  Well, them or Oregon.

4. Ohio State – Truth be told, we don’t think they are that good.  But we can’t find anyone else to put in this spot, so the Bucks are #4.

5. Florida - We can’t punish them too much for this past weekend.  Plus we want to beleive that this Saturday’s game is still meaningful.

6. Wisconsin – Starting to look like the 2002 Buckeyes.

7. Boston College – They don’t play another tough game for almost a month.

8. South Florida - Tough, tough defense, but a very shaky offense.

9. Oklahoma – Didn’t punish them too much, but they better crush Texas this weekend, or we’re going to really drop them.

10. Kentucky - We love them, but having them ahead of teams like Florida or Oklahoma is insanity.

11. Oregon - We didn’t move them down at all because we were that impressed with this team in defeat Saturday.

12. South Carolina – Steve Spurrier is a coaching god.

13. Virginia Tech – Slowly climbing back up the rankings.  Big game October 25 against BC.

14. West Virginia - We knew that would happen eventually.

15. Texas – See above

16. Georgia – Still think this is a decent team.  Should be an interesting month for them having to play Tennessee and Florida

17. Missouri - We see them destroying Nebraska and going to the Big 12 Championship game without breaking a sweat.

18. Purdue – Lots of O, not much D.  Should be interesting match-up this weekend when the Buckeyes come to West Lafayette.

19. Arizona St. – All they had to do what get rid of Sam Keller, and suddenly this is a pretty good football team

20. Rutgers – How do you lose at home to Maryland??  Ray Rice can kiss the Heisman goodbye

21. Cincinnatti – The Big East now has one more team on my board than the Big Ten.  Weird.  Cincy vs. Rutgers should be a pretty good game this weekend.

* * * * *

Dropped Out:

Alabama – Ugh.  You lost to a reeling Florida State team?  We take back all of the good things we said about this team.

Clemson – We told you they were overrated!  We told you!

* * * * *

Others Receiving Consideration:

Michigan State – This is a team people are going to have to deal with.  The other 10 teams in the conference shed a tear when they fired John L. Smith.

* * * * *

Receiving Consideration? Hell-to-the-naw!

Hawaii (or is it Hawai’i?  Suddenly some people started putting an apostrophe there.)

Our EC Blog Poll Ballot – Week 5

As you may or may not know by now, we have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments:

1. LSU – Circle your calendars folks, October 6th the Gators come calling.  And WE WILL BE THERE!!!

2. USC – *yawn* When do they play Cal again?

3. Florida – Last week we said “we’re believers now” after this past week, we don’t know what to believe anymore

4. Oklahoma – *yawn* When do they play Texas again?

5. Cal – Game of the week: Bears travel to Eugene to take on Oregon to see who is the 2nd best team in the Pac-10.  Should be a good one.

6. Wisconsin - We flip-flopped ’sconsin and Cal after another disappointingly close win over an inferior team

7. Ohio State – The Buckeye D has allowed one meaningful touchdown in four games.

8. West Virginia – In 2000, if we told you that West Virginia vs. South Florida was one of the biggest games of the season, what would you have said to us?

9. Texas - Granted, they are the second best team in the Big 12, but right now, the gap between them and Oklahoma is like the Grand Canyon.

10. Rutgers - They haven’t given us a reason to move them up or down in weeks

11. Oregon - We haven’t been this excited for a Pac-10 game in a while.

12. Boston College – The GTech win looks less impressive now.  BC’s schedule gets real easy for the next few weeks.

13. Kentucky – You have no idea how happy it makes us to keep moving them up in our ballot.

14. Clemson - We guess we have to include them now.  We’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop on this team.

15. South Florida – We will get a better idea of how good this team really is this Friday

up in the SEC championship game

16. Georgia – Nice win at ‘bama

17. South Carolina – A really good showing in defeat vs. LSU.  This team will be heard from again this year

18. Virginia Tech - We have no idea what to make of this team

19. Alabama - We can’t really kill them for that tough OT loss to UGA

20. Arizona St. – A new entry to the poll on our ballot.  In a 4 week stretch starting next month they play Cal, Oregon, UCLA, and USC in a row.  We’ll learn about this team then.

21. Purdue – Granted, they haven’t played anybody, but every one if their wins has been an blowout

* * * * * 

Dropped Out:

Penn State – 9 goddam points against Michigan? What a fraud they turned out to be.

* * * * * 

Others Receiving Consideration:

Michigan State – Probably the next team in if they impress and someone else loses.

Cincinnati – Suddenly, the Big East is looking like the third or fourth best BCS conference.

Missouri – Right now, they look like they are headed to the Big 12 Championship Game.

Definitely Not Receiving Any Consideration, Especially Not After Beating Some Hapless I-AA School In The Middle Of The Night By 56 Points, With Their Backup QB – Hawaii

Our EC Blog Poll Ballot – Week 4

As you may or may not know by now, we have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments:

1. LSU – Still have the most impressive win of the top 5 teams

2. USC – Now we will see if the Pac-10 is as tough as everyone says it is

3. Florida – I’m a believer now

4. Oklahoma – So far, the Sooners are under the radar, but they could be the best team in America

5. Wisconsin – I still think they are the best team in the Big Ten

6. Cal – The tougher game is next week vs. Oregon, but the better not look past ‘zona

7. West Virginia – That pathetic defense they have will be their downfall at some point this year

8. Texas - So overrated, yet still undefeated.  I’m just waiting for a reason to drop them

9. Ohio State – Finally, they gave me a reason to include them in the top 10

10. Rutgers - Still under the radar.  They will get more exposure when the crush Maryland next week  

11. Penn State – Blowing out the dregs of D-1 is one thing, beating a suddenly-confident Michigan team in Ann Arbor will be tougher

12. Oregon – If they beat Cal next week, I’ll find a way to include them in the top 10

13. Boston College – Welcome to the poll BC.  I don’t see you staying here long

14. Alabama – They just keep movin’ up

15. South Carolina – Don’t laugh, if this team could beat Florida in November they could wind up in the SEC championship game

16. Texas A&M – Franchione is going to blow it eventually, I just know it

17. South Florida – Suddenly the USF-WVU game next week looms pretty large

18. Kentucky – I finally got one right!

19. Georgia – Their contest against ‘bama Saturday is the game of the week

20. Louisville – I’m going to call them the Carinals, because they have absolutely no “D”

21. Virginia Tech – They can’t be as bad as they looked in Baton Rouge a couple weeks ago

Dropped Out:

Washington – They will be heard from again this year 

Georgia Tech - What happend to them against BC?

Nebraska – Who didn’t see that coming a mile away?

Tennessee – They have to be better than they were on Saturday, right?

UCLA – Wow.  Thats all I can say

Others Receiving Consideration:
Michigan State – Under the radar, but very good so far
Cincinnati – Yes, Cincinnati

STILL Not Receiving any Consideration: Hawaii

Our EC Blog Poll Ballot – Week 3

As you may or may not know by now, we have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments: 

1. LSU – As it stands today, this is the best team in America.  They beat VTech by 41 points, USC beat the University of Idaho by 28.

2. USC – If they blow out the ‘Huskers, they will be back on top of this ballot

3. West Virginia – that game against Marshall was a lot closer than the score would indicate

4. Wisconsin – So impressive two weeks ago, barely beat UNLV last week??

5. Cal – See above, insert Colorado State

6. Texas – As it stands today, it looks like we may have been wrong about this team

7. Florida – We will know a lot about this team after a visit from the Vols on Saturday

8. Oklahoma - Very impressive so far.  We may have underrated them 

9. UCLA – Don’t laugh, but that was a good win over BYU

10. Louisville – This team was on the ropes against Middle Tennessee State?  They better watch out this week in Lexington!

11. Rutgers - Under the radar so far 

12. Ohio State – When the schedule came out, the UW game in Seattle did not look nearly as tough as it looks now

13. Tennessee - We think they beat the Gators Saturday and move up the polls

14. Penn State – Why is everyone so high on this team?  Notre Dame was still in the game into the second half Saturday

15. Nebraska – Savor the flavor ‘Huskers, if you get destroyed Saturday, your gone from this ballot

16. Georgia Tech – The best team in a laughably bad conference.

17. Oregon – Are they that good? Or is Michigan that bad?

18. Georgia – Steve Spurrier still owns Georgia

19. South Florida – They have one more quality win than Hawaii, who we still REFUSE to put on my ballot

20. Washington – Who would have thought that OSU-UW would be such a big game?

21. Alabama - We said they would be ranked this week, so the least we can do is rank them on my ballot

Dropped Out:

Michigan – You suck.

Virginia Tech – They could make it back, but as of right now, they are a team that was unimpressive in week 1, and got their doors blown off in week 2.  That is a recipe for ouster from the poll.

TCU – Eh, we gave ‘em a shot.

Others Receiving Consideration:

Boston College – Just need to see a little more from this team, and they will be the next team in when USC blows out Nebraska.

Auburn - We can’t punish them too much, South Florida is a good team.

Kentucky  – We would look really, really smart if they can knock off Louisville Saturday.

STILL Not Receiving any Consideration:

Hawaii

Our EC Blog Poll Ballot – Week 2

As you may or may not know by now, we have a blog poll over at Epic Carnival that comes out every week.  Before you check out the complete rankings according to the carnies, check out our ballot and comments:

1. USC – How did they not beat the spread at home against Idaho?

2. LSU – We will know a lot about this team after Saturday

3. West Virginia

4. Wisconsin – Second most impressive team of week

5. Cal – Most impressive team of week 1, but we had them behind the Badgers so we can’t have them leapfrog them yet

6. Texas - we’re punishing them for the close call.  We still see a two loss season for UT

7. Louisville

8. Florida – Still have no idea about this team.  That week 1 blowout means nothing

9. Oklahoma – DeMarco Murray looked really, really good in week 1

10. Georgia

11. UCLA

12. Virginia Tech - We’re punishing them for the close shave at home against ECU

13. Rutgers

14. Ohio State – Didn’t learn anything from Saturday

15. Tennessee - We can’t drop them too much for losing to a good team on the road in a hard-fought game

16. Auburn – Man, that was a close one against K-State, at home. 

17. Penn State – Suddenly their non-conference schedule looks preeeety weak.

18. Nebraska – they won’t stay here

19. TCU – It would not shock us if they beat Texas this week 

20. Georgia Tech – Lost in the “ND lost” sentiment from Saturday was the fact that GT is a pretty damn good team.

21. Michigan - We can’t drop them completely out.  But they better beat Oregon, or they’re dead to us!

Others receiving consideration:

Arkansas - We are just not sold on them yet.  Right now they look like D-Mac and not much else

Boise State - Looked strong on Saturday.  It was against a cupcake, but they looked strong.

Boston College – Our ACC sleeper

Miami

Oregon – If they beat Michigan comfortably, we’re ranking them next week.

Alabama – This team will be ranked before too long.  Trust us.

College Football Week 1 Observations!

Wondering what we thought about the first full weekend of College Football?  Check out the recap at Epic Carnival.

You Just Don’t Find Stuff Like This on Sundays – Part 2

Its so close you can almost taste it.  Football season.  Specifically, College football season. Now don’t get us wrong, we like our pro football just as much as we like our college.  The NFL has a higher quality of play on the field, and they actually end their season with a playoff. However there is so much that unique to college football that makes it so exciting and its arrival so anticipated.  To get you ready for the season we are going to run-down the top 10  things we love about football on Saturdays.  Today, 5 through 1 

5. Stadiums with character – This is something completely missing from the NFL.  All NFL stadiums, with the exception of Lambeau Field, fall into 2 categories – brand new cookie cutter stadiums with plenty of luxury suites and no charm, and older dumps that will soon be replaced by buildings that will fall into the first category.  College football stadiums are like great big league ballparks.  Each has its own history, charm, and identity.  And the fans actually get out of their seats and give their team a home field advantage.  This is nowhere to be found in the NFL.

4. TRUE Rivalries – With an emphasis on the word “true.”  I mean, 365 day-a-year obsessions.  Have you ever heard a Bears fan say, “you know, we were 2-14, but we beat the Packers twice so it was a good season!” Or ever seen a Browns coach fired because he beat everyone else but couldn’t beat the Steelers?  Of course not, because true, heated, obsessive, mood-altering rivalries do not exist in the NFL in the same way that they exist in college.

3. Fight Songs – notice we made the distinction between “bands” and “fight songs.”  Yes “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” is kind of catchy, and everyone knows the words to “Hail to the Redskins,” but can you name another NFL fight song?  On the other hand, what is a University of Tennessee game without “Rocky Top” being played 40 or 50 times?  Who doesn’t tap their toes when the “Tiger Rag” is played?  The goddam stadium literally rocks when the Texas A&M band plays “The Aggie War Hymn!”  Where are you going to find that in the pros?  Fight songs also give you a window into the soul of the school.  For example, did you know that many of the lyrics of the Georgia Tech fight song make reference to the University of Georgia and how much the Jackets hate them?  Talk about an inferiority complex!

2. Overtime done RIGHT - We don’t care what anyone says, we love college overtime.  We love the excitement, the back and forth nature of it, the strategy involved, the fact that they make you start attempting two-point conversions in the 3rd OT, and the fact that both teams are guaranteed the ball and a chance to score.  It is so anti-climactic when the team that wins the opening toss in an NFL sudden-death overtime game just takes the ball down the field and scores to end the game.  Such a let-down.

1. Enthusiasm - The enthusiasm you see at a college football game is unmatched in any other major sport.  On the field, in the stands, on the sideline, everyone is into it.  The players are playing like they are playing for fun, rather than for a paycheck.  The fans are college kids that are so drunk they can barely stand, rather than corporate types drinking merlot and sitting on their hands.  The cheerleaders are cute college coeds that actually attend the school they cheer for, rather than out-of-work strippers who have no allegiance to their team.  The difference in atmosphere is immense.

You Just Don’t Find Stuff Like This on Sundays – Part 1

Its so close you can almost taste it.  Football season.  Specifically, College football season. Now don’t get us wrong, we like our pro football just as much as we like our college.  The NFL has a higher quality of play on the field, and they actually end their season with a playoff. However there is so much that unique to college football that makes it so exciting and its arrival so anticipated.  To get you ready for the season we are going to run-down the top 10  things we love about football on Saturdays.  Today, 10 through 6

10.  Saturdays – lets just start it off right there.  Saturday.  The best damn day of the week.  Even Fridays require a full day of work before you can belly up to the bar for happy hour.  And Sundays have the approaching work week looming over them like a storm cloud.  Everyone is in a good mood on Saturday, therefore anything that takes place on Saturdays in neccesarily better than anything that happens on any other day.  

9. Regional Wars – We grew up deep in the heart of Big 10 country.  People who grew up on the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football of the midwest have zero respect for the football they play out west.  Fans out west think there is no scoring in the games they play down south.  And the southern fans, well, they just hate everybody.  East vs. west, west vs. south, it makes for great bar room trash-talking on Saturday afternoons.  You just can’t get that in the NFL.  Have you ever been in your local watering hole on a Sunday afternoon and heard “I hate the brand of football they play in the NFC North!” or “AFC South football is just too boring for me!” Of course not.  The product is so homogenized that you can’t even tell the difference.

8. Instant Replay done RIGHT – College football gets it with instant replay.  In the major conferences, each coach gets to challege the referee’s call if he thinks a mistake is made, just like the NFL.  But unlike the pros, ever single play is also reviewed by the booth and subject to replay.  So if the refs make 3 mistakes in a half, 3 plays will get reviewed.  If the refs make 10 mistakes, 10 plays will get reviewed.  This is much better than the NFL and their limited number of challenges.

7. Bands – At Black colleges, the football game is just how you entertain yourself while the bands take a break.  But even at the big schools, the bands are attractions all to themselves.  The marching displays, the cheers, the songs during timeouts, they just add to the pagentry and excitement of the college game.

6. Live Mascots – If you go to a LSU Tiger home game, there is going to be a live tiger pacing in his cage down in one end zone.  If you stray too far off the field and Sanford Stadium, you might get your nuts bit off by a Bulldog.  Whether its Bevo the  longhorn steer, or Ralphie the Buffalo, or the War Eagle, mascots just make the college experience so unique.  Ever seen a live bear at Soldier Field?  Any colts roaming the sidelines in the RCA dome? Or a seahawk (whatever that is) at a Seattle game?