Southern Bread

A few things are bugging the snot out of me as week 10 rolls through:

1. People like Mark Schalala-lab-ad acting like the Big East is actually a tough conference. I think that West Virginia is a terrific football team but your whole conference can’t be built around just one or two teams. The Big East only has 8 teams. How can they be compared in any meaningful way to a 12 team conference. He has the audacity to say that the Big East is a better conference this year than the SEC?! The SEC has 5 teams in the top 15 for goodness sake. The Big East has 3 in the top 25. End of discussion.
2. People referring back to the 2005 Sugar Bowl as West Virginia “blowing out” Georgia. In fact the score was 38-35, and Georgia put up 501 yards of offense to West Virginia’s 502. I’m not sure on what planet that qualifies as a blow-out. It took a fake punt in the final minutes of the game and three Georgia fumbles to assure them the win.
3. The idea that Ohio State and Michigan are so much better than everybody else that the loser of that game could still go on to the BCS title game. If the day ever comes when the BCS system puts two teams from the same conference in the title game, I’ll lose any remaining shred of respect I have for it. It would be a total slap in the face to the other BCS member conferences to take two teams from the BigTen when they don’t even play a championship game. Note to the Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10: Go and get yourself 12 teams and a championship game, and force your best two teams to play each other twice almost every year and then we’ll talk about respect.
4. Calling Auburn’s loss to Arkansas an embarrassment. In case you haven’t noticed, Arkansas is #12 in the BCS and sits on top of the SEC. If they lose to LSU and Tennessee, I’ll agree that it was an embarrassment. But if Arkansas runs the table and goes to Atlanta they will be firmly in the BCS top-10. That will become a quality loss for Auburn. As much as I hate to admit it, Arkansas is looking very good right now.

And a few things I’m pumped about:

1. Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge. Mike Patrick is so much better doing college games than he ever was doing NFL. He just really seems to be in his element. I love how he really seems to get into the teams he is covering. He brings a real sense of excitement to the games. And what can you say about Blackledge other than he is the best color guy on T.V. right now.
2. Quality games on Thursday night. This year has really been a good one for Thursday night games. Tommorrow we’ll get to see West Virginia and Louisville battle it out.
3. Brandon Cox. In the last few games he has really gotten into the zone in his passing. He’s not putting up Brady Quinn type numbers, but he doesn’t have to since Auburn actually has a running game and a defense. In his last 3 games he has a 69% completion rate, averages 216 yards passing per game, has 4 TD’s and has hit 9 different receievers in each game. Those are west-coast offense QB stats to a tee. If you are hitting 9 different receivers per game, including throws to the fullback, halfback and tight end then you are really grasping the west-coast system.