I apologize for this being so late. I’ve been without home internet most of the week. Please check out my blogs about Vanderbilt‘s accomplishments in general and Georgia‘s lack thereof relative to Florida. The Georgia one was just published today, but I thought all of this should be published before games start tomorrow morning.

Top 25

rank / team / prior

1 Notre Dame 1

2 Kansas St. 4

3 Alabama 2

4 Florida 6

5 Oregon 5

6 Ohio St. 3

7 Georgia 7

8 S Carolina 10

9 LSU 14

10 Nebraska 12

11 Stanford 16

12 TX A&M 15

13 Clemson 11

14 Florida St. 13

15 Oregon St. 8

16 Texas 18

17 Oklahoma 19

18 La. Tech 20

19 Louisville 9

20 Rutgers 22

21 Toledo 17

22 Michigan –

23 SJSU 23

24 UCLA 24

25 Utah St. –

Out of rankings: (21) Northwestern, (25) Mississippi St.

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I was reading a blog by one of the few people who has bothered to comment on a wordpress blog of mine. He wrote a blog illogically denouncing the SEC and he has Georgia as the SEC’s best team. In reflecting upon how wrong this is, it occurred to me that Georgia should not even be considered the best team in the East, particularly if both Florida and Georgia finish with one loss apiece. I’ve now left two comments on his blog to discuss this.

Just to avoid any idea of bias against them, I actually like Georgia. After Kentucky and Vanderbilt, who I mostly favor as regular underdogs, Georgia has been my favorite team in the East. I can’t think of a recent instance where I didn’t cheer for them against Florida, Tennessee, or South Carolina. I guess I’m more neutral with Tennessee now, but I remember being very annoyed on the Bulldogs’ behalf that Tennessee won the SEC East in 2007, and I was definitely for Georgia before that. So I’m being consistent now that the team I like less deserves to play in the game and will not be able to.

As an aside, I also like newcomer Missouri—I remember cheering for them many times as underdogs against teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma—but I knew no matter how many losses there had been by A&M and Missouri, the first time one of the two got a breakthrough win, people were going to say, “Aha! The SEC defenses aren’t so good after all. Look at that Big XII team go!” And that’s exactly what happened when Texas A&M, despite falling flat offensively against LSU and Florida after going out to early leads, finally managed to win such a game against Alabama. So I’m not quite in solidarity with the new Tigers and the Aggies just yet.

There is a fan interest that has made me passionate about this issue, and that’s being a fan of LSU. As you may have noticed, Florida has been pretty good for about the last 25 years, and they’ve played LSU in all of those years. Every single one of them. Does LSU get any consideration if they tie for something as a result of this? Win or lose, the answer is no. So when I see that a team like Florida, who played LSU and Texas A&M, is being passed over by Georgia, who instead played Ole Miss and Auburn, I sympathize with Florida even though I like Georgia much better.

Georgia earned a win over Florida, don’t get me wrong, but don’t forget South Carolina beat Georgia handily. The only reason we’re not looking at a 3-way tie right now is that unlike Florida, South Carolina didn’t win its game against LSU.

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Hello and welcome to another Wednesday of deep thoughts. Is it possible that Thanksgiving is next week? It won’t be long before we are eye to eye with 2013. But we have much football to wade through before then! As a football fan, this is great time of year. If you saw the Bears/Texans game Sunday evening, you know what I mean. You would not like to see the cold rainy conditions for every game, but somehow…those two defenses deserved the cold and rainy setting. Last week I gave a shout out to the Bears defense…but last Sunday, the Texans reminded us that they also play a hard nosed brand of football in Houston. Ex-Bear Danieal Manning set the tone early with a fumble causing, bone jarring tackle on Kellen Davis. It was clear that this would be a throw back defensive game. I don’t know if saw this, but Urlacher walked by Manning and shook his hand after a Manning interception. Apparently some fans in Chicago were upset about this or at least some in the media tried to portray some fans being upset.  I think that the media lives to stir up shit with the fans. Manning played with Brian Urlacher for five years and they are friends…in Manning’s words: “Between the whistles, it’s on and poppin'. We’re gonna be friends, but we’re supposed to be competing with one another," Manning said of the Bears. "I just made a play and he came over .... and I walked over to him, exchanged a couple of words, and we shook hands. That was pretty much it.

Urlacher had this to say: "That was a nice play. I could give a crap about what people think on the street. Get mad at me all you want, I could give ... I could give a crap about what people say. Danieal Manning is a friend of mine, he was a teammate for five or six years, and that's the way it is. He made a catch and was running toward the sideline to say something to Coach, so I walked out there.

"When the ball is snapped I want to tackle the other guy, the other team is my enemy. I don't want any part of being a friend. I'm not going to take it easy on the guy when he catches the football and not try and hit him because he's a friend of mine. It doesn't happen. Take [former Bears and current Panthers tight end] Greg Olsen. If he catches the ball I'm going to try and (tackle him). He knows that, and he's going to try and make me miss. And Greg is a good friend of mine as well.

"When the play is over, it's over. It's not like I have to go out there and be a jerk to him because it's during the game and I'm a tough guy. That's not the way it is. They're my friends. Between the whistles I'm going to try and get them, and when the play is over we'll go back to doing whatever.

"It's just dumb that people think that. 'Why did you help that guy up after you tackled him?' Because I wanted to. What's the big deal? 'Butkus would have never done that.' Well, I'm not Dick Butkus. I'm Brian Urlacher, and sometimes I help people up. Sorry if that (ticks) you off."

It is hard for me to argue with this logic. Actually, even if I did not agree with it, I would not argue with Urlacher! Truly, football is a game and is supposed to be fun. After watching this game, I cannot see how any fan would say that Urlacher or Manning were not giving their best effort.

I like it…this is proof that you don’t have to be a dirty player to play the game. Sportsmanship…try it!

I wish I could have found a better quality video than this...damn funny though. After this video is over, check out the epic fail regarding sportsmanship. The clip shows up top right and involves two runners. Hilarious...

Did you watch the Monday night game? Like many of you, I expected the Chiefs to get blown out by the Steelers. The Steelers obviously expected a much easier game than the Chiefs gave them. Romeo Crennel finally figured out that giving Jamaal Charles the ball is a good idea. Of course, losing Big Ben made the game that much closer. Pittsburgh found a way to win this game, but their schedule looks rather tough with two games against the Ravens in the next three weeks. Of course, the Ravens are beat to hell as well. This is the stretch of the season that will separate the contenders from the pretenders.

Besides Big Ben going down, three other QB’s went down with concussions. Since I have Vick as my fantasy QB in a couple of leagues, I have watched him get pummeled week after week. The play that put him out was strange. Vick fell backwards and appeared to hit the back of his head on the ground. The Cowboy defender pulled up and really did not even hit him. If I did not know better, it would seem that this was a way to get Nick Foles in the game without losing face for Reid or Vick. They wouldn’t do this…right? Concussions are strange; sometimes you get obvious hits like Alex Smith and Jay Cutler…other times you bump your head on the ground. Maybe it was a culmination of the hits for Vick? Either way…the loss to Dallas probably means that Vick and Andy Reid are done in Philly.

I don’t think that there is a sport that creates as much passionate discussion as college football. It is no secret that over the past several years the SEC has been the dominant football conference. This year, fans quickly recognized that the SEC might not have that dominant team…but were forced to wait for the schedules to prove their claims. As suspected, Bama was not the dominant team that they have been. A freshman from Kerrville, Texas helped illuminate this fact and prove that this king wears no clothes.

Johnny Football is an Aggie and is another QB that The University of Texas tried to make a wide receiver. The Aggie victory should also dispel the notion that the Big 12 offenses cannot win against the big boys of the SEC…since the Aggies are still full of Big 12 players. The truth is if you have a great QB, you can beat good defenses. It will be interesting to watch how Texas A&M does the next few years. Will they continue to run a Big 12 offense or will they become an SEC team?  I don’t often pull for the Aggies, but have to admit that I was excited for their win.

Did you see Florida State’s coach Jimbo Fisher go off on the BCS Monday afternoon? He is pissed that his 9-1 Seminoles are ranked an average of #17 and not even ranked in two computer polls. When a reporter noted teams with three, four and five losses were ranked ahead of FSU in the computer rankings, Fisher made a statement he would later regret.

"How retarded is it?" he said.

Oops…bad choice of words Coach Fisher, even if it is true. As I have mentioned before, Florida State is a victim of its weak schedule which is a problem compounded by the weakness of the ACC. Florida State is a football school with a proud football tradition. How long will it be before the Seminoles look for a more attractive conference option?

Last week, I wrote about the passing of Darrel Royal. As you can imagine, there were many weighing in on the career of Coach Royal. As I listened to former players talking about Coach Royal, something became very clear to me. Times have changed. Although football players work hard today, there is a different relationship between players and coaches. During a radio interview last week, former Longhorn and NY Jet Jim Hudson recalled his playing days at Texas. “To put it bluntly, Coach Royal was a hard ass.” Hudson was incredulous that after his playing days at Texas were over that Coach Royal became something else…a friend. “I could not believe what a great guy Coach Royal was after I no longer played for him.”  Coach Royal regularly played golf or drank a beer with his ex-players. Once the players no longer played for him, he was able to enjoy a deep friendship that their time at Texas solidified.  As I listened to the radio broadcast, I realized that this was how it was…then. Now, it is a different time. Did you hear about the latest news out of Washington State? I am just trying to imagine a player sending a letter to Longhorn Nation or Buckeye Nation or any other college football program back in the 60s or 70s. Receiver Marquess Wilson, quit the day after the loss at Utah, accused WSU coaches of "physical, emotional and verbal abuse." It turns out that some of Leach’s players have a different idea of abuse:

Monday, center Elliott Bosch described a scene involving assistant coach Paul Volero.

"Coach Volero came up, he had the O-line and the D-line come up, he was just trying to get us fired up," Bosch said. "He grabbed some guys by the chestplate. He wanted to take a look in their eyes and see if they really wanted to be here, if they were here for the right reasons, if they wanted to win. That's all he was doing." That sounds pretty much like football stuff to me. It is a good thing that Marquess Wilson did not play for Bear Bryant!

Last Saturday, the Longhorns lined up in the wishbone to begin the game against Iowa State. The play was a cleverly designed double pass that had Ash completing a long pass down the sideline. At halftime, the Longhorn band spelled out Royal under the direction of 92 year old Vincent R. DiNino. It was a very well played game by the Longhorns and a fitting tribute to a great coach. Suddenly those calling for Coach Brown’s job have lost their voice. Texas has gone on a 4 game winning streak and a 10 win season looks possible. I think that Texas will beat TCU on Thanksgiving, but still think that Texas loses on the road to Kansas State...the #1 team to my eyes.

The Warrior LB's...or as they call themselves...The Bash Brothers. Coach Nelson is the mastermind behind the excellent Warrior D.

Jackson, Tyler and Blake...

The Warriors played their last regular season game of the year last Friday against the Pflugerville Panthers. Westwood’s defense again was the story to this game. Last year, the Warriors gave up 350 yards rushing to this Panther team…not this year. Although Pflugerville tried to hammer the Warriors with the running game the 46 rushing attempts only netted 71 yards. Although both teams were already in the playoffs, the Warriors were clearly more motivated to win this game. Next week Westwood faces the Cardinals from Del Valle. I have to say that I have watched many high school games; this Warrior defense is one of the best I have seen. Scoring continues to be an issue as the win over Pflugerville was 10 to 7.

Largest high school player I have ever seen...supposedly 400 plus...

#55 is pretty big kid...not as big as #77. Damn!

I forgot to mention that my son signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at UT Pan Am today!! Congrats Blake!! My wife and I are very proud of him...

I have tried to move on from the election, but was stunned to read this report regarding military absentee voting...how is it that we put these folks in harms way, yet we cannot figure out a way to make their vote count. Who is to say that this would have changed the election, but more importantly...if any voice should be heard it should be the soldiers voting for their commander in chief! Check this out:

That’s all I have today, but will leave you with a bit of Jack Handey…

Whenever anyone says they are struggling to become a human being I have to laugh because the apes beat him to it by about a million years. Struggle to become a parrot or something.

I think that they should continue the policy of not giving a Nobel Prize for paneling

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a few deep thoughts of your own.

I’ll post my top 25 blog later in the week, but I have updated the LSU/Mississippi St. rivalry post and released my weekly computer ratings.

After the impressive first six teams of the SEC, a lot of commentators look down the standings and seem to focus on programs in decline. People are wondering what is going on at Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee, even Kentucky (which was on the verge of bowl-eligibility last season). But I think it’s been overlooked that Vanderbilt has become bowl-eligible for the third time in five years. Their 2008 appearance against Boston College had been their first bowl game since 1982.

Things were looking so bad at one point that in 1995, LSU actually hired Gerry DiNardo, who had been the Vanderbilt coach, because he had accomplished the feat of winning 5 games in a season there not once but twice. I guess that was harder to do when it was an 11-game season though, to be fair. Only once in the following 10 years would Vanderbilt win 4 games or more (going 5-6 in 1999).

Something is different this year though. When Vandy went 6-6 in 2008, they had lost 6 of 7 going into the bowl game, only becoming bowl eligible in a close game against Kentucky after having lost three similarly close games (to Mississippi St., Georgia, and Duke) in consecutive weeks at the beginning of a 4-game losing streak.

In 2009 and 2010, Vandy started 2-2 and 2-3, respectively, before finishing with 2-10 marks in both seasons.

Then last season, the Commodores started 3-0 only to finish 6-7.

This is also the fifth time in eight seasons Vandy has won 5 games or more. In 2005, Vanderbilt won the first 4 games before losing 7 in a row then beat Tennessee in the finale. In 2007, the ’Dores started 5-3 then lost 2 games by a touchdown or less (either of which would have made them bowl-eligible) as they ended the year with a 4-game losing streak.

Granted, this was partly because the end of the season has a lot more conference games than the beginning does, but I think it was more than that. I think that confidence and killer instinct goes away, and it’s more a sense of “not again” and playing not to lose game after game.

This is the first time I’ve seen Vanderbilt as the team that’s making things happen rather than having things happen to it.

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