ESPN has a new clutch.

It’s the big meme at ESPN.com – clutch players, clutch teams.

Here’s Chris Low’s list of most clutch SEC players.  And here’s the top clutch guys in all of college football on Schlabach’s mind.  Notice the common name on both lists?

Now the GPOOE™ is a terrific, accomplished player, no doubt about it.  And there’s no way that Florida could function at the same high level without him.  But clutch?  Can somebody point out the win on Florida’s schedule last year that Tebow pulled out in crunch time?  The Gators’ closest wins were against Kentucky and Mississippi.    But Florida never trailed in either game after the first quarter.

I don’t recall a moment like this for Florida last year.

It looks like we’ve got ourselves a new narrative, folks.  Either that, or they’re referring to circumcisions in the Philippines over at ESPN…

In the wake of a one

Obviously, as with any race, it’s more important where you finish than where you start, but that preseason #1 ranking is still a thrill for any Georgia fan right now (even someone like me who isn’t a proponent of preseason polling in the first place).

The good news, historically speaking, as this AJ-C quiz shows, is that a #1 start leads to a fairly high finish at season’s end.  The not-so-good news, as Paul indicates, is that it’s a tough position to defend over the course of the year.

I hate to keep coming back to that schedule thang, but if you take a look at this post at Sunday Morning Quarterback, it’s hard to escape the reality that three of the top five contenders (Ohio State, Oklahoma and Southern Cal) have a clearly easier row to hoe from our current vantage point than do either of the SEC candidates.  Other than that (yeah, yeah…), the Dawgs are clearly valid competition for a slot in Miami.  But as SMQ concludes, it’s hard to escape the fact that the stakes in the OSU-USC game will be enormous.

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UPDATE: The Jacksonville Times-Union’s Gene Frenette believes the #1 ranking is a cause for rejoicing if you’re Mark Richt.