Saw*Kick Media

There needs to be a change in college football. I know it’s the greatest sports season on earth, but there is always room for improvement. Good teams need to start playing other good teams. Four weeks of this season have passed and the best teams in the nation have each played one difficult team (for the most part). Some haven’t played any. This is a problem, mostly because it isn’t any fun. But the easy schedules could eventually lead to end of the year chaos, possibly as soon as this year.

The 12th game that the NCAA added has done nothing but pad schedules and create another week of non-excitement. Look at Ohio State this year. The Big 10 is less than 100 percent, but that isn’t the reason for the lame schedule. Akron, Youngstown St. and Kent St? Seriously? And Penn St’s even lamer than that. It isn’t fun for the fans, it doesn’t help the players get any better, and it doesn’t help the team prove anything to pollsters. These games are like preseason games, but they are even worse because they cut into the actual season itself. Instead of matching up against a decent team from a BCS conference which would be fun and beneficial to the team overall, we are all stuck watching exhibition games.
And then there’s a team like Oklahoma. Ok, they played Miami, and maybe Miami isn’t that bad, and maybe that was a big win. But running up the score on North Texas, Tulsa and Utah State is not impressive no matter how you slice it. It is boring. The Sooners are 4-0 and they’ve had four lopsided wins and everyone is on the bandwagon, but what did they really do? A third of the schedule is gone and we know nothing about them. On top of that, the Big 12, as usual, sucks. Texas is the biggest game they have left and Texas is flawed. Missouri isn’t that great and Texas AM was exposed last week after I talked them up. It’s very possible this Sooners team will go undefeated and play 2-4 big games all year. The problem isn’t necessarily that the Sooners will do this, but that this is the new norm for most of college football.

Therefore, at the end of the year, we could be looking at an undefeated Sooners team, an undefeated USC and a one loss LSU. I think LSU is the best team in the nation, but the Tigers schedule is difficult. It is possible that they slip up somewhere, especially because of the SEC championship. Are you telling me that Oklahoma will more deserve a national title game than LSU in that scenario?

On the other hand, LSU basically only has a tougher schedule because the SEC is tough this year. And the SEC is only tough because they bend recruiting rules and make the academically ineligible eligible. Maybe we shouldn’t bend over backwards to accommodate the “tough” SEC that never gets any respect from the national media (which is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard).

I don’t know. My main message this week is I want to see more competitive games on a consistent basis from top teams. We’ll put all this hypothetical arguing away and wait for the good old-fashioned real arguing to arrive when the first BCS poll comes out.

Wait, did you just say the SEC cheats?…

Did you happen to see the feature on Darren MacFadden’s car this week? It’s more expensive than my first four years of college. It has a huge system, a drop down LCD screen, razorback logos on it, and probably 400,000 dollars worth of Nike sweatbands in the glove box. Anything fishy about that? Nope. The SEC is competitive, and stacked, and “has the most speed”… we’d never need to investigate any of the teams for any competitive edges.

The Double C’s Awesome Poll: Week 4

1.Florida (1,1,1)
2. LSU (3, 2, 2)
3. USC (4, 8, 3)
4. Cal (2, 3, 4)
5. Oklahoma (12, 6, 5)
6. Ohio St. (9, 10, 6)
7. West Va. (8, 7, 7)
8. Wisconsin (4, 5, 9)
9. Texas (13, 5, 10)
10. Boston College (NR, NR, 12)
11. Kentucky (NR, NR, 18)
12. Clemson (10, 12, 17)
13. Rutgers (NR, 16, 15)
14. Oregon (NR, 18, 14)
15. South Florida (–)
16. Missouri (–)
17. Hawaii (–)
18. Cincinnati (–)
19. Michigan State / Purdue (BOTH –)
20 South Carolina (NR, 11, 11) / Georgia (6, NR, NR)
115,080. Notre Dame (1,567, 8,905, 100,000)

The top seven is untouched from last week. Florida still looks good, BUT weaknesses were exposed against Ole Miss. The Gators will lose at some point this year, no doubt. Cal has a big game this week against Oregon and they just may justify their high ranking for all of you doubters out there. Here’s hoping they don’t. The Sooners keep romping teams and I keep sandbagging. The Miami throttling of Texas AM actually did more for their cause in my eyes than any game they’ve played all year. If you do the math, the Sooners beat the Canes by 38, the Canes beat the Aggies by 17, so the Sooners would beat the Aggies, who I touted (wrongly) as being feisty last week, by 55. Whoa. Let’s see how Stoops screws this up.

I want to put Ohio State much higher. I’m sure that’s obvious to everyone reading this. But a dominate win over Northwestern, as good as we looked, can’t give the Bucks a leapfrog over any of the teams in front of them. (Let’s see how USC does against Washington this week. It will be the only common opponent between the Bucks and the Trojans. Maybe I can find a way to justify putting the Bucks ahead of USC if they have a lame win.) Wisconsin looks like hell. I don’t get it. I really thought they would be the class of the Big 10. The Winnebago may need some new tires before this season ends.

F*ck Boston College. This is ridiculous. I should not have to put them this high in my poll. Will someone dislocate Matt Ryan’s shoulder, please? Kentucky is surprising everyone except the Saw*Kick Spotlight. Let’s see of this fanciful run continues without the S*KS karma. C.J. Spiller is starting to find some holes, everyone. I know Clemson is going to lose a game somewhere, but I’m still enjoying them. I also want nothing more than to not believe in Oregon. Can the stadium just blow up this Saturday when they play Cal? God, I hate the Pac-10.

Welcome to the fold South Florida, Missouri, Hawaii and Cincinnati! It’s good seeing all of you. Please, enjoy the finger foods and refreshments as long as you can. Stuff your pants with them, I don’t care. And Hawaii, honestly if you didn’t have Colt Brennan, this wouldn’t be happening right now, so seriously, enjoy this while you can. Out of those four, (here comes the whammie!) I’d watch out for South Florida. Matt Grothe is exciting. They have a REAL GOOD shot at knocking off West Va again this year. Their defense is pretty good for a Big East team. Don’t sleep on the Bulls.

We’ll see what MSU and Purdue do (doo doo) once they start playing some teams. The default Big 10 bias of the DCA has graciously given them a boost. Hope the pressure doesn’t get to them.

There aren’t as many un-beatens worth mentioning anymore, so it’s time to dip into the one-loss onlookers. The first two to make that cut are South Carolina and Georgia. Georgia lost a close one to SC at home, but took one in Tuscaloosa this week in overtime. They remain a tough team. The Gamecocks lost to LSU in the Bayou. No way they were going to win. I felt kind of slimy dropping them out completely for losing to the best team in the nation on the road.

Sneaking up/ Sinking down

Whoops on Texas AM. My bad. I still like McGee, but they looked stodgy and unimpressive against a Miami team I didn’t think had any mojo. This much we know now: Texas AM was overrated (which makes the Big 12 look even worse, if that was possible). What we don’t know is how good Miami is. They looked great against the Aggies, but sucked against the Sooners. Who does this say more about? Anyhow, something to think about.

A message to Antonio Henton…

Dude. You are a quarterback at THE Ohio State University. Do you know how much sex that sentence is worth? If you feel too cheesy telling girls you’re an OSU QB, then go the SEC route and start date-raping them – anything is better than this. (I’m kidding of course, don’t ever, ever, ever emulate the SEC in any way.)

Hesiman Rankings:

1.Tim Tebow – This hurts me more than you can know. I hate this man’s guts. But, god damnit, he’s the best player in the nation so far this year.

2. Mike Hart – I’m sorry, but Hart is having a tremendous year. Henne is douche and on top of that he’s injured. Hart is all they have right now. He won’t win, but he should be in the argument right now.

3. Brian Brohm – Louisville is terrible. Terrible. BUT, how bad would they be without Brohm?

4. DeSean Jackson – He was my No.1 guy after the first few weeks. He is phenomenal and exciting. Let’s see if he can produce a Heisman moment this week against the Ducks.

5. Darren MacFadden – I don’t think he deserves to be in this argument right now, but I think I’m contractually obligated, as someone ranking Hesiman candidates, to leave him in here. Most experts seem to continue to break out the Popsicle sticks for the guy, despite doing nothing special this year. Mike Hart was taken out after a Week 1 loss, and REALLY taken out after a Week 2 loss. MacFadden seems to just skate by as a Heisman favorite by everyone, regardless of his team’s performance. I call BullShit.

I just called out Darren MacFadden twice this week

What’s up.

Saw*Kick Spotlight

For the first time in the illustrious and storied history of the Saw*Kick Spotlight Game of the Week, (2 weeks) Kentucky is not involved. The Spotlight shines on the Mighty Big 10 this week as Wisconsin battles Michigan St. Both are unbeaten. Both have something to prove. Just how good is Wisconsin? Is Michigan State to be taken seriously? Who remains unbeaten in the still open Big 10 title hunt? Just how many times can two teams run the ball? Can this possibly be a more entertaining game than Wisconsin and Iowa?

Runner up: West Va v South Florida

A Video and and End

That’s all for this week. If you haven’t seen this classic rant from Oklahoma St coach Mike Gundy, check it out. The Big 12 sucks. F*ck the SEC. Schedule tougher games. Go Bucks.

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