What game are these people watching?

The only Georgia player named AP first team all-SEC?

Daniel Inman.

The mind reels…

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UPDATE: The coaches’ picks are much more sensible. Not that that would be too hard…

Woulda, coulda, shoulda

After reading the latest Mark Bradley opinion piece, “The BCS blows it again”, I’m reminded once again how dishonest some of the folks in favor of junking the BCS for a playoff can be in making their case.

In Mark’s world, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s Michigan or Florida playing Ohio State, because the real crime is that “(w)e’ll never know if Michigan is actually superior to the Gators…” And, just as horribly, “(w)e’ll never know if Michigan could have taken Ohio State on a neutral field, or if Louisville or even Boise State could have pulled a George Mason in Glendale…”

And that, of course leads to the inevitable conclusion:

There needs to be a playoff, but there will never be a playoff.

Except, wait a minute: the only way we could know whether Michigan or Florida is the superior team is if they played each other. And since he wants to know what Michigan and Ohio State could do on a neutral field, I guess that means he wants some kind of playoff that drives #2 and #3 to play each other before facing #1. And I suppose he wants #12 to have some kind of shot to take on Ohio State, too.

I wasn’t that great in math, but how in the hell do you set all of that up? If you say with a 16-team playoff, how do you guarantee the matchups that ol’ Mark wants?

The simple answer, of course, is that you can’t. And that’s the problem that playoff advocates like Bradley gloss over. For all the bitching about Florida and Michigan this year, the simple matter is that Ohio State deserves to play for the MNC, no ifs, ands or buts, and any playoff format that requires the Buckeyes to audition for the final game by playing another team first necessarily diminishes what OSU has already accomplished. That’s not right.

The BCS blows it again? Something blows, for sure…

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Is you is, or is you ain’t, my baby?

For sheer, persistent delusion, it’s hard to beat this guy.

If I’ve got it correctly now, Spurrier never really was going to get the gig at ‘Bama, basically he’s just acting as a “power broker” (like Bear!) keeping the seat warm (don’t you just hate a cold toilet seat?) until Stoops can extricate himself from a job at a school with as proud a football heritage as ‘Bama’s, that worships the ground Stoops walks on and pays Stoops somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million a year.

Yeah, sure. Makes sense to me.

When SOS, Jr. gets the head coaching job at Alabama, I’ll start buying this “power broker” stuff. Oh, and that tin hat? On you, it looks good…

SEC Bowl matchups

Here’s the list:

• 12/28: Alabama (6-6) vs. Oklahoma State (6-6) in Independence Bowl
• 12/29: Kentucky (7-5) vs. Clemson (8-4) in Music City Bowl
• 12/29: South Carolina (7-5) vs. Houston (10-3) in Liberty Bowl
• 12/30: Georgia (8-4) vs. Virginia Tech (10-2) in Chick-Fil-A Bowl
• 1/1: Auburn (10-2) vs. Nebraska (9-4) in Cotton Bowl
• 1/1: Tennessee (9-3) vs. Penn State (8-4) in Outback Bowl
• 1/1: Arkansas (10-3) vs. Wisconsin (11-1) in Capital One Bowl
• 1/3: LSU (10-2) vs. Notre Dame (10-2) in Sugar Bowl
• 1/8: Florida (12-1) vs. Ohio State (12-0) in BCS National Championship Game

On paper, it looks like a middling post-season for the conference, around 5-4, although it’s pretty impressive that the SEC got nine teams in bowls this time. I like LSU’s, Auburn’s and Tennessee’s chances a lot. ‘Bama and Kentucky look to be on the short end of pretty big sticks. I don’t think Florida will be embarrassed, but I don’t think they can take Ohio State. South Carolina shouldn’t have problems with Houston, but after that spectacular crash and burn last year against Missouri, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Gamecocks did, although I still think they win.

Georgia and Arky are the big mysteries for me. Wisconsin is well coached, but they only played one really good team this year and got smacked. Arky is all over the place, but with those skill position players, you can never count them out – although I wonder who will be returning punts in the bowl game.

As for the Dawgs, it will come down to which team shows up, of course. They’ll have to win the turnover battle to have a decent shot, and the receivers have to remember to show up for the game. What I don’t like as a Georgia fan is that (1) Va. Tech runs the ball well (run defense in big games has been an Achilles heel for Georgia under Martinez); (2) the Hokies’ place kicker basically doesn’t miss; (3) Tech’s defense has been outstanding over the last six games, as opposed to Georgia’s two; and (4) Bobo’s play calling will be under the spotlight for the first time.

On the other hand, Reggie Ball’s team killed Virginia Tech this season, so there ought to be some flaws to exploit somewhere…