Mumme Poll admin note

Just so everybody’s aware – this week’s schedule includes a Sunday night game that involves a team that’s ranked in the poll (Tulsa).  That means:

• the voting period will be moved back 24 hours (9:00 AM Monday to 9:00 PM Tuesday;
• my ballot will appear here on Tuesday; and
• the Mumme Poll for Week 9 will be published Wednesday morning.

First thoughts on Georgia-LSU

Both teams have the same record and a first half blowout against a good SEC team, so I assume that the statistical story would support that.

It turns out that, for the most part, the teams are very close statistically speaking.  Here’s how they compare in the conference in certain key categories:

• Scoring offense – Georgia 3rd; LSU 4th
• Scoring defense – Georgia 8th; LSU 9th
• Total offense – Georgia 1st; LSU 3rd
• Passing defense – Georgia 10th; LSU 9th
• Sacks against – Georgia 3rd; LSU 1st
• Turnover margin – Georgia 6th; LSU 7th

There is one category, though, where Georgia owns an advantage of significance.  The Dawgs lead the conference in rushing defense, while LSU is ranked 5th in the SEC.  That ripples into the total defense numbers, where Georgia ranks 3rd and LSU 9th.  As both teams like to run power offenses, that strikes me as noteworthy.

Also, for what it’s worth, according to Sagarin, Georgia has amassed its stats against the 22nd toughest schedule in the country to date.  Sagarin rates the Tigers’ schedule at a considerably weaker 64th.

It’s early food for thought.

The continuing adventures of how the mighty have fallen.

No, this isn’t a quote from a Louisiana Tech player:

“I can’t explain just how big this Mississippi State win was for us.”

It’s from Tennessee center Josh McNeil.

I almost feel sorry for those guys.  Almost.

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UPDATE: Another, um, interesting quote from Knoxville, this one from defensive coordinator John Chavis:

He had this to say about being afraid, drawing chuckles from around the room: “I can’t wear my wife’s dress right now … but if I ever get afraid, I’m just going to stay at home and probably start cross-dressing.”

Sounds like they’re having some real fun up there now…

Fergit, hell.

It’s strange, sometimes, what players use to gin up emotion for a big game.

Some of the LSU players are pointing to a three year old game as motivation for Saturday’s game with Georgia.

LSU football players insisted Monday they have the Bulldogs, not Georgia, on their minds.

The two traditional powers haven’t played each other much over the years, but — this being Southern football — something must have happened somewhere to put an edge of grudge to the meeting, right?

Right.

The most recent something was the 2005 Southeastern Conference championship game in which a No.¤3-ranked LSU team went to Atlanta and got smacked around by Georgia in a 34-14 loss.

LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson said he recalled the crushing defeat “like it was yesterday.” Jackson was one of several seniors that mentioned the humiliation they felt after that game.

“It was a real bad feeling,” guard Herman Johnson said. “Nobody liked that plane ride home, everybody was real upset. I’ve wanted to play them ever since that game.”

“There are only so many times in life you get a second chance, especially dealing with college football,” LSU defensive lineman Marlon Favorite said. “But to have Georgia on our schedule my senior year, being as how they beat us back in ’05, that’s definitely something that has been in the back of my mind.”

Hmm… makes you wonder how they feel about getting embarrassed by the Gators a couple of weeks ago.

This, that and the other on a Tuesday morning

Random bits of stuff from around the internets that got stuck on my browser:

• I’m having a hard time deciding which of these two stories is weirder:  Tommy Tuberville’s stroke denial, or Rich Rodriguez receiving the dreaded vote of confidence after coaching a mere six games at Michigan.
• By now, I assume everyone has seen the YouTube clip of the ref in the LSU-South Carolina game who helped bring down Stephen Garcia.  As you might guess, there are a lot of SC (can I say that?) fans who are up in arms about the official.  The SEC and Steve Spurrier’s verdict?  No big deal. (Les Miles thinks the guy should work on his tackling technique, though.)
• Don’t get your hopes up about Kentucky being able to hang with Florida this week.  The ‘Cats are losing players left and right to injuries.
• Marty at cfbstats.com takes a look at three-and-outs, with some surprising conclusions.
• LD asks a good question.
• Corvey Irvin tells David Hale there’s one key to the LSU game.
• And CFN’s Pete Fiutak says again what’s so apparent about Georgia’s schedule:  “… at LSU, the neutral site date against Florida, a trip to an improved Kentucky, a date at Auburn, Georgia Tech, and then, possibly, the SEC title game in a rematch against Alabama. If Georgia gets through its finishing kick unscathed, how do you keep it out of the national title game no matter what the rest of the world does? That includes a one-loss USC, and maybe, an unbeaten Penn State.”

Mumme Poll, Week 8

For the second straight week, the Texas Longhorns are on top of the Mumme Poll.  Here are the results of the voting (top 5 votes in parenthesis):

MUMME POLL STANDINGS

1.    Texas (54)

2.    Penn State (53)

3.    Alabama (50)

4.    Oklahoma (39)

5.    Southern Cal (25)

6.    Florida (23)

7.    Georgia (2)

T8.   Ohio State

T8.   Oklahoma State

10.   Texas Tech

11.   LSU

12.   Utah

13.   Boise State

14.   Missouri

15.   TCU

T16. Georgia Tech

T16. Tulsa

18.   South Florida

T19. Kansas

T19. Pittsburgh

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COMMENTS:

• I assumed that as the season went on and teams began to lose games our votes would diffuse over more teams, such that we’d see more and more teams appearing in the poll results.  To date, that hasn’t been the case.  This week only twenty teams received votes.  More significantly, the voting has grown more concentrated.  There is a very clear consensus on the top twelve teams in the poll this week.  It will be interesting to see if this changes as the season wears on.
• Again, almost everyone was able to construct a ballot in less than 45 minutes.
• Other teams receiving top five votes this week:  Ohio State, Oklahoma State (both more than Georgia), Texas Tech and Boise State.
• Georgia Tech, pride of the ACC.
• Lots of you struggled with Florida vs. USC as your final pick for the top five.  And, as you can see, it broke down almost evenly.
• Texas Tech continues to make most voters hold their noses.  I suspect it will be a cause for mass celebration here when the Red Raiders lose.
• People aren’t impressed with Penn State’s schedule, but there’s a certain amount of respect growing for Ohio State, so I anticipate that that Big Ten showdown will have a major impact on the upcoming vote.
• Blogs mentioning the Mumme Poll:  A Bulldog in Exile; Picture Me Rollin; Runaround Sue’s; Thinking Bulldog; Hunker Down Dawg; The Connecticut Yankee.
• We lost a couple of more voters this week, but I was pleased with the number of comments I received from those who did vote about how much they enjoyed this.  So far, I’m having a blast with it.  I’m glad you are, too.