Mumme Poll, Week 11

No change at the top.  But it’s closer.

Rank	Team	Votes (Top pick)
1	Alabama	29 (16)
2	Florida State	29 (12)
3	Stanford	29 (0)
3	Oregon	29 (0)
5	Missouri	28
6	Baylor	27
7	Ohio State	27
8	Auburn	23
8	Clemson	23
10	Michigan State	10
11	Oklahoma State	8
12	Texas A&M	7
12	South Carolina	7
14	Wisconsin	5
15	Fresno State	3
16	Arizona State	2
17	LSU	1
17	UCLA	1
17	Georgia	1
17	Northern Illinois	1

COMMENTS:

• We like Michigan State a lot more than the pollsters do.
• We like Ohio State a lot less than the pollsters do.
• Conference breakdown:  SEC – 7; Pac-12 – 4; Big Ten – 3; ACC – 2; Big 12 – 2; MAC – 1; MWC – 1

Driven to drink.

At least nobody’s blamed Grantham like this.

The most overrated factor of this week’s game…

is this.

Richt on former assistant Rodney Garner, who’s now at Auburn: “He certainly knows defensively what we do and how we call things.”

It’s Georgia’s tenth game of the season.  Malzahn’s coached against Grantham twice already in his career.  If he needs Garner to tell him what Georgia does defensively at this point, Auburn’s in more trouble than I thought.

I take all that back if it turns out that Rodney knows how Grantham gives away a blitz call by the way he stands behind that towel.  (I keed, I keed.)

Upon further review, ASU (limited) edition

Again, it’s not a game worth getting too deep in the weeds with, but I did watch most of the replay yesterday.  Three bullet points:

• I reckon I’m in the minority on this, but I didn’t see anything that makes me change my mind about the targeting call on Moore.  Which isn’t to say I think he was guilty of the penalty, just that he created too tempting a, er, target for the refs to ignore.  I’m sure he’ll say the flag won’t change the way he plays.  That’s fine, but don’t be surprised if the same situation generates the same result.
• On the other hand, the ruling that Herrera fumbled the ball on his interception was a complete joke, no ifs, ands or buts.
• I should have mentioned it in my Observations post, but I thought the play of the game was Aaron Murray’s 23-yard run that led to Georgia’s first touchdown of the second half.  Aside from picking up the first down and keeping the drive alive, it energized the crowd and the team.  Georgia would score four touchdowns after his run; ASU gained a total of 29 yards from that point on.

Some pots should be left unstirred.

As John Pennington points out, one of the dumber tactical moves we’ve seen this season is players calling out Alabama in one form or fashion.

Speaking of Alabama, here’s a tip for teams going up against the Tide — zip your lips.  Earlier this season Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace said his team could “put points on them… I think we can put points on anybody.”  Final score: Alabama 25, Ole Miss 0.  Three weeks ago Tennessee referred to Alabama as “the red team” in practice.  AJ McCarron said his team took that as an insult.  Final score: Alabama 45, Tennessee 10.  Last week LSU receiver Jarvis Landry said of Bama: “Nobody is invincible.  Not team is invincible and no defense is invincible.”  Final score: Alabama 38, LSU 21.  The lesson is clear — shut up.  People talk about teams having “swagger” — the most overused word of the 21st century — and showing that swagger with their tough talk.  Well, other teams’ swagger hasn’t helped them much against Alabama this season.  It’s better to talk after you’ve proved yourself than before.

I take it Ohio State’s Evan Spencer doesn’t read John’s blog.

Musical palate cleanser, Bruuuuce! edition

This is friggin’ gorgeous.

The back story makes it even better.  Enjoy.