Ballah's College Football Preview pt 2

Men on Fire:

If you haven't noticed our government is currently in a recession, in short no job is a sure thing. That goes for any occupation, from accountants to coaches:

Tyrone Willingham, Washington:

What more can a coach ask for? Seattle has it all, superb facilities, administrative staff support, a firm recruiting base…What aren't we competing in bowl games? Correction, why aren't we contending for a Pac-10 title? Step your game up homie!

Ron Prince, Kansas State:

Let me start by saying, he managed to secure a recruiting class full of Junior College players. Okay I'm done.

Mike Stoops, Arizona:

Another 4-5 season wont cut it. In fact, if the Wildcats don't smell a bowl game. It's over for Stoops.

Kirk Ferentz, Iowa:

When your getting $2.8 million per season, there will be certain expectations you must meet.

Charlie Weis, Norte Dame:

After going 3-9, with one of those losses coming from Navy, YES I SAID NAVY. Weis is beginning to make Ty Willingham's stint with the Fighting Irish look brilliant. Don't believe anything you hear about his job security. The clock is ticking…

Greg Robinson, Syracuse:

Note to Coach R, your now 7-28 With the orange men. Last season things got ugly quick. By week 3, a loss vs. Pitt, the Carrier Dome was calling for your head. This season same rules apply, winning early is a must. I think It's time for change.

Honorable mention:

Ralph Friedgen, Maryland

Doug Martin, Kent State

Todd Dodge, North Texas

Dave Wannstedt, Pitt

David Bailiff, Rice

Neil Callaway, UAB

Robb Akey, Idaho

Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt

Mike Sanford, UNLV

JD Brookhart, Akron

Randy Shannon, Miami

Tim Brewster, Minnesota

Hal Humme, New Mexico State

Mark Snyder, Marshall

Brent Guy, Utah State

Joe Glenn, Wyoming

Charlie Weatherbie, La. Monroe

Mike Price, UTEP

Steve Kragthrope, Louisville

Ricky Bustle, La. Lafayette

Tom Amstutz, Toledo

Chuck Long, San Diego State

Gene Chizik, Iowa State

Stan Brock, Army

Freshmen To WATCH!!!

Next Up ---------------------------------------->>>

 

Mr. Jones 

S. Ballah

2008 Preseason College Football Rankings

1 Georgia
2 Ohio State
3 Oklahoma
4 Florida
5 USC

6 Missouri
7 LSU
8 Wisconsin
9 Texas Tech
10 Clemson

The Top ten has 3 by the SEC, 3 by the Big 12 and 2 by the Big 10. Perennial Power USC comes in at a strong 5 and I'd also like to welcome ACC Clemson into the Top 10.

11 Kansas
12 Auburn
13 Texas
14 West Virginia
15 BYU
16 Virginia Tech
17 Arizona State
18 Penn State
19 Tennessee
20 Virginia
21 Illinois
22 South Carolina
23 South Florida
24 Pittsburgh
25 Fresno State

Congratulations to BYU and Fresno State as the only two Non-BCS Conference Teams to make it into the Top 25. The SEC, BIG 10 and BIG 12 each have 5 teams represented in the Top 25, it should make for a great race to #1.

Stay tuned for your Ballito to give a review of the season...

This Georgia Heat Ain't Playing Tricks On Me

Oh, so Georgia won?
I didn’t notice. Who woulda thought that a team that couldn’t win its own conference, and couldn’t make it to their own conference title game would be capable of not only beating, but destroying the nation’s last undefeated team by 31?
Not this guy.
No, not after ripping off six straight wins against pushovers like Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, and Georgia Tech, and that god-awful bye they had the first weekend December. In fact, after beating Hawaii, it’s only fitting that they move down the rankings.

What’s amazing is how the other national title contender fared. Oklahoma got rocked by West Virginia. Georgia could have just as easily been on their heels after being ridiculously snubbed on BCS money day, but they weren’t. They were champions even when they knew there was no chance at a national title. If this, coupled with USC’s dominance in the Rose Bowl, isn’t damning proof for a playoff system, I’m not quite sure what is.

Fierce. Dominant. Tenacious. Georgia football, 2007.

Bowl recap next.

Minus the BCS of course,

The Sports Guy

Boycott the BCS

If you are a real college football fan, your season is over. You must boycott the BCS. This money-making machine has been shoved down our throats since its 1998 inception, and has left more people upset than Nick Saban. This year is no different. We had two teams sitting at 3 and 4, both in identical situations. Neither was playing a game, and neither was in a conference championship game. So when Missouri lost to a better Oklahoma team for the second time this year, and West Virginia (gimpy 80s pornstar) lost it left Ohio State and Georgia were to battle for all the marbles. Oh but wait. The voters decided to change their mind, because now, they weren’t voting for the two best teams in the country.

No, they were voting for who they wanted to see in the BCS National Championship Game.

Now, Georgia sucks???????

They didn’t win their own division in own conference. Now, Georgia drops one spot, while two teams in front of them lost. Let me clarify – Georgia dropped three spots while idle. The voters knew last week that Georgia wasn’t going to win their conference, but they voted them #4. LSU lost the week prior, and was anything but spectacular against their narrow win over Tennessee. If you want to say Georgia didn’t deserve to be in the national title game, tell me the week before, or show me convincing reasons otherwise. Like say, if a team beats the #1 team in the country for the second time by 3 touchdowns on a neutral field. Georgia was robbed, because Les Miles turned into Urban Crier, and nowadays, an SEC title equals a spot in the national title game. If LSU's performance in the SEC title game was enough to jump over ACC champion Virginia Tech, Kansas, and Georgia, then Oklahoma's performance was enough to jump Oklahoma over LSU.

My point is, the BCS has to stop. The voters vote for the best team in every week except the last. This is not what college football is about! It’s about Georgia, it’s about Oklahoma, it’s about Iowa. The BCS was created to rival the Super Bowl, but college football has always been a different culture than the NFL. Until the BCS is neutered, the way it has neutered college football, it has to be boycotted.

What's your opinion.......

The Sports Guy

Forget Who’s Number 2, Who’s Number 1?

Hey Sports Fans,

If I needed any more fuel for my BCS fire.
Yeah, LSU and Oregon are the two “hot” teams right now, but are they the best?
Do they follow the same formula they used earlier in the year?

No and no.

The two best teams in the country are LSU and Oklahoma. The formula voters have used this year has been – it doesn’t matter if they suck, if they’re undefeated in a major conference, we’ll rank them as high as they can be (see South Florida, Boston College, and Ohio State). Kansas should be #1, LSU has the most impressive resume among the one-loss teams, and should be #2.

Kansas is the wild-card this year. They play Missouri in two weeks, and if they win that game, they play Oklahoma the following week. If they win those two games, how could they be left out? In favor of Oregon, who lost at home to Cal? I think NOT.

What’s the difference between Kansas and those other three teams, who everyone though sucked, but ranked high anyway because they were in major conferences? Kansas deserves some fuckin respect for at least making it this far undefeated, in the Big 12.

See you this weekend
K.P.

Pac Ten Love

It’s time to start lovin the Pac 10. I’ve been hesitant to put them in the elite category, because they haven’t had the speed and defenses of the SEC and ACC, or the elite teams of the Big 12 and Big 10. It’s been USC and not much else for some time. But now the Pac 10 is good…real good. You want speed? You want great quarterbacks, unstoppable running games? How about defense? Or a Heisman trophy winner not from USC? A national champion? With wins over Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Colorado, the Pac 10 has shown that they can compete. If Oregon runs the table, which they should, they could make a compelling case for a shot at the BCS title. With 3 wins over current top 15 teams, a quarterback than can do it all, and a much improved defense, they definitely have the resume. All the Pac 10 has to do now is pry away 2 out of these 5 teams – Hawaii, Boise State, Fresno State, BYU, and Utah – make a conference championship game, and play their games at 3:00 to get some national respect.

In other news, I’m embarrassed for picking my Hurricanes to win the ACC. I’m going back to my preseason pick for this one – Clemson. I haven’t seen the speed of C.J. Spiller since well, you know.