September 12, 2007

College Football Rankings: Week Two

Okay, good, caught up. Anyway, this past weekend of college football saw a couple of upsets, a couple of near-upsets, and another Michigan shocker. Fortunately for the Maize n' Yellow, they next face a historically bad Notre Dame team. Hopefully UM coaches have found a way to synthesize Mike Hart's competitive spirit and inject some of it into the rest of the team. A comment on these rankings - I'm not a fan at all of the 'ranking inertia' that seems to plague some polls, so there wil probably be a fair amount of jumping around for the next few weeks as the good teams stake their claims. On to the rankings:

1) Oklahoma -- LSU seems to be the trendy pick here, but I think the victory by the Sooners was actually the more impressive of the two big wins. Even when the team isn't great, Miami's defense has always been stellar, and Oklahoma shredded them. (5)
2) LSU -- Plus, I'm starting to wonder if VT's offense will do anything all season. Still, 600 yards on a great defense answers a lot of questions about the Tigers. (2)
3) USC -- A bye week for USC gives the Sooners and Tigers the opportunity to leapfrog the Trojans. Though obviously, if they roll up a very good Nebraska team, USC will be right back up top. (1)
4) Florida -- Another week, another patsy, another big win by the Gators. 31 points by Troy were mostly scored in the 2nd half long after the game was decided. Defending national champs now clear favorites to win the SEC East. Tebow with 5 total TDs. (3)
5) West Virginia -- A solid second-half performance, but the Mountaineers need to come out of the gate better to hold off Louisville and Rutgers, not to mention USF or Cincy. Even so... Slaton and White. White and Slaton. (4)
6) Texas -- UT's win over TCU wasn't pretty considering the first half, but against a defense that good they showed they could adapt. Controlled the second half start-to-finish. (9)
7) Cal -- 6-point victory over Colorado State ignores two late scores against second-team defense. Still, this was hardly a blowout, and the game wasn't put away until late in the 4th quarter. (6)
8) Louisville -- Allowing 42 points to Middle Tennessee State is... disconcerting, to say the least. Especially when the scores weren't flukey, but the product of what looked like a very bad defense. (8)
9) Wisconsin -- There's a clear divide, for me, between the above eight, and everybody else. Wisconsin looked very lackluster, barely holding off UNLV. Must use next game against The Citadel to prepare for conference play. (10)
10) Penn State -- Yeah. Notre Dame? Not so good. PSU's defense will dominate most of the games the Nittany Lions play, and the offense is good enough to put points up for the 'W'. (14)
11) Georgia Tech -- The defense strutted its stuff against Notre Dame, and this past week the offense decided to join the party, which I definitely didn't expect. If they get by BC, they're clear favorites in the weak ACC. (20)
12) UCLA -- BYU's defense is really good. That having been said, UCLA's pass rush has been nonexistent to this point, and must improve if the Bruins hope to succeed against the high-flying offenses of the Pac-10. (11)
13) Arkansas -- Bye week. Game at Alabama now very big, as the Razorbacks should go into November undefeated if they can win this weekend. (15)
14) Nebraska -- Nice win over a good Wake Forest team on the road. Just an appetizer, though, for this weekend's match with USC. [Go Cornhuskers!] (17)
15) Rutgers -- Slowed innovative Navy ground attack enough to win handily. Ray Rice has carried the ball 62 times in this season's first 2 games, against weak teams. Will he survive? (16)
16) Ohio State -- Wow, that was ugly. No question, tOSU's defense is excellent. But the offense must show some semblance of life, even though against most of the Big Ten it might not matter anyway. 3.6 yards per rush (Youngstown State) or 2.1 yards per pass (Akron) will not cut it against better defenses. (12)
17) South Carolina -- Hiya, Steve. Welcome back to the party. We missed you. (NR)
18) Clemson -- Easy win. Crappy opponent. Gave up two garbage touchdowns to make final score less impressive. Date with Georgia Tech at the end of the month looks like potential ACC championship preview. (24)
19) Boston College -- No excuse on my part for having missed these guys last week. A pair of very solid victories. However - first road game of the season, and it's against the Yellow Jackets. This could be trouble. (NR)
20) Georgia -- Well, that was quick. Still, Spurrier's a very good coach, and seems to win at least one game like this every year. Don't write the Dawgs off just yet, though I'd like to see some offense some time soon, please. (7)
21) Washington -- Notre Dame fans may soon wish they had kept Ty Willingham. Freshman QB Jake Locker looks very good, and holding Boise State to just 10 points is extraordinarily difficult to do. Part of the logjam of good teams in the middle of the Pac-10. (NR)
22) Tennessee -- Won easily by virtue of a strong start to the second half, but only being up by 1 at home versus Southern Miss suggests future struggles. (22)
23) Oregon -- Say goodnight, Lloyd. Just a shellacking in the Big House. Dennis Dixon is the west coast version of Pat White. However, UM was simply bum-rushed and still reeling from HOT HOT HOT, so let's hold off for a moment. They gave up a ton of yards to Houston, after all. (NR)
24) Hawaii -- Yeah, that defense is not so good. Brennan's going to throw for a billion touchdowns, but there isn't a single team on their schedule now with any cachet, since Boise State lost. Still, a win's a win, and the offense still seems to work. (18)
25) Virginia Tech -- Uhm. This is a ranking based partially on reputation, I suppose... But it may be that LSU is just -that- good, and the Hokies were emotionally burned out after last week. Either way, if they don't destroy Ohio, they're out of here. (13).

Dropped Out - Auburn (19): No brainer. Lose at home to unranked team? Bye. Texas A&M (21): Squeaking by Fresno State in 3OT at home suggests the Aggies aren't very good. Boise State (23): Lost to Washington. UW may be better than previously thought - it's still an unacceptable loss if they want to hold on to 'BCS Buster' status. TCU (25): For a half, it looked like they had a shot. Then McCoy went to work.

College Football Rankings: Week One

Again, kind of a cheat because it's being done after the fact, but again these were written down beforehand, I swear. Skipping straight ahead, with previous week's spot in parentheses:

1) USC -- 28-point victory over Idaho has some questioning if the Trojans are as good as the hype suggests they will be. A 28-point win to open the season causes questions? I say this proves they're probably pretty darn good. (1)
2) LSU -- The offense wasn't nearly as good as the final score suggests, but no other teams jump out, unless Oklahoma can continue to drop 80 points a week. (2)
3) Florida -- This just in - Tim Tebow can throw. Top two SEC teams, then Georgia a bit behind, are a head above the rest of a very good conference. (5)
4) West Virginia -- I'm even less certain about their D than for the Wolverines. Still, Steve Slaton and Pat White are pretty much the best QB/RB tandem in the country. Yes, this is the same as last week. Yes, it still holds. (4)
5) Oklahoma -- 79 points. That was a lot of points. That was also North Texas. Still 79 points is 79 points. They could have done a Michigan... (7)
6) Cal -- Best win of the week by a non-HOT HOT HOT team. Game wasn't even as close as the final score. Jackson and Best may be fastest/quickest two players in pads in the country. (8)
7) Georgia -- Definitely the 3rd-best team in the SEC right now. (ed - HA) Oklahoma State is actually pretty good, but the Bulldogs won handily. (12)
8) Louisville -- 73 is -also- a lot of points. Can anybody stop this offense? Cardinals jump a lot of relatively unimpressive wins. (14)
9) Texas -- 21-13 over Arkansas State isn't confidence-inspiring. Longhorns were outgained in this game, and must wake up before a good TCU team rolls into Austin. (6)
10) Wisconsin -- Uninspiring victory over a bad Washington State team that kept the game close for 3 quarters. Still, a 3-TD win over a BCS opponent. (9)
11) UCLA -- The Bruins pulled away in the 2nd half without much trouble. Stanford's passing yards are distorted by 59(!) attempts, and the run game was totally shut down. If the offense stays this good, this team will be tough to beat. (13)
12) Ohio State -- Youngstown State. Yawn. However - 41 rushing attempts but only 147 yards (3.6 average) is a very bad sign against such a weak team. (10)
13) Virginia Tech -- The game was probably not a good reflection of the team, with the obvious exterior pressures surrounding it. Still, whither the offense? (11)
14) Penn State -- 59 to 0 is a nice way to start the year. A non-entity of an opponent, sure, but pitching a shutout is never easy. Crunchy goodness of Notre Dame next - let us prepare the defenders for a feast! (15)
15) Arkansas -- Felix Jones outshines McFadden. Felix who? He's the Razorbacks' other 1000+ yard rusher from last season. Potential one-two playmaker punch makes Razorbacks very dangerous. (16)
16) Rutgers -- Buffalo. Boring. Ray Rice begins a season that will probably conclude with his legs falling from his body. (17)
17) Nebraska -- The Husker offense rolls over Nevada. Solid start. Deposed Arizona State QB Sam Keller looks good. (21)
18) Hawaii -- Colt Brennan? Yes. Yes indeed. A guy throws 6 TDs in a half, you notice. (20)
19) Auburn -- War Damn Eagle will struggle offensively all season, but their defense is absurdly fast (you could probably say this about 8 or 9 SEC teams, honestly). Like with VT, this is the same as last week, and it, too, still applies. (19)
20) Georgia Tech -- Demetrius Jones is searching for a cleaner to remove grass stains from his hypodermis. Ouch. (NR)
21) Texas A&M -- Blah blah Montana State blah blah. Fresno State should be a lot more fun. (22)
22) Tennessee -- Losing on the road at Cal isn't that bad of a loss, as the Golden Bears will probably post 40+ on almost everybody they face. (18)
23) Boise State -- Lots of points against a crappy team. Wake me when they get to Hawaii. (24)
24) Clemson -- Bowden the Younger wins this round. Game wasn't nearly as close as final score, as Clemson totally dominated the first half and checked out during the second - see a 51-yard safety, among other items, as evidence. (NR)
25) TCU -- Offense? Meh. Defense? Quite so. Texas will provide a fantastic litmus test. (NR)

Dropped Out - Michigan (3): Yeah, that wasn't quite right. Florida State (23): Basically swapped for Clemson. Duke (25): I'm shocked - shocked - that the Blue Devils couldn't hold onto that spot.

College Football Rankings: Preseason

Okay, so this might seem like cheating a bit, but I had rankings written down for a planned top-25 post that didn't happen until now... Because the blog didn't exist. Sue me. This is basically what I had before, though I edited a couple of comments slightly. Anyway, at the start of the year, this is how I saw the teams shaking out, with comments:

1) USC -- Duh. "Best team ever," round 7 billion. We'll see how it goes.
2) LSU -- Offensive question marks, but the defense will be stellar, with tons of all-around speed on both sides.
3) Michigan -- Basically the inverse of LSU - look for Henne, Hart, and co., to put up lots of points every week (ed - uh, oops).
4) West Virginia -- I'm even less certain about their D than for the Wolverines. Still, Steve Slaton and Pat White are pretty inarguably the best QB/RB tandem in the country.
5) Florida -- The Tim Tebow era begins. Some loss of talent, but Meyer has plenty to work with, and clearly can coach.
6) Texas -- Colt McCoy, round 2. Insert jokes about the impossibility of his name actually being Colt McCoy... NOW.
7) Oklahoma -- No more Adrian Peterson, but tons of talent in the trenches. Can Sam Bradford not suck? (ed - yes)
8) Cal -- Look for lots of 52-42 wins. DeSean Jackson gets the highlights, but Justin Forsett may be the best player on this team.
9) Wisconsin -- PJ Hill will eat you, your family, and all your pets. Good defense, good offense, but no standouts.
10) Ohio State -- Having a hard time differentiating between Wisky and tOSU in terms of who's better. Buckeyes have better defense. Badgers have better offense.
11) Virginia Tech -- ACC version of Ohio State. But their defense should win them a lot of games.
12) Georgia -- I don't think they'll win the SEC East, but they'll give Florida a good run of it first.
13) UCLA -- With pretty much everybody returning, this team will either be really good, or really disappointing.
14) Louisville -- Their scoring D was way out of line (better) than their total D last season. Still, tons of offense (sound familiar?).
15) Penn State -- Can Anthony Morelli stop throwing touchdowns to defensive backs? If so, this team will be very good.
16) Arkansas -- Darren McFadden is, of course, Humanity Advanced. Living proof that you CAN win 1 against 11.
17) Rutgers -- Shockingly good defense last season. Can they do it again? Ray Rice is really talented.
18) Tennessee -- Wide receivers? Check. QB? Probably. Fill in the rest on your own. Third-best team in the SEC East.
19) Auburn -- War Damn Eagle will struggle offensively all season, but their defense is absurdly fast (you could probably say this about 8 or 9 SEC teams, honestly).
20) Hawaii -- COLTBRENNANOMGZWTFZORSLOL. They'll sit here all year. Play a team with a pulse, please. Moving on.
21) Nebraska -- Cornhuskers and Texas A&M form clear 2nd-tier of Big 12. After that? Anybody's guess.
22) Texas A&M -- But I'll be damned if I know who's better between the two, really.
23) Florida State -- Bowden the Elder is older than dirt. But the day you see him finish with a losing season is approximately 14 years after he's dead.
24) Boise State -- Jared Zabransky is gone. Fortunately for the Broncos, Ian Johnson is still around. Ask Oklahoma if he's any good.
25) Duke -- Hey, if it's good enough for Steve Spurrier, it's good enough for me. (ed - I'm retarded, this joke wasn't funny then and it's not funny now - kept in for full disclosure)

September 11, 2007

About This Blog

So.

September has arrived. The fall season has begun, and with it comes the beginning of yet another year of College Football. And, after several years of following the numerous sporting blogs around the internet, I've decided to throw my hat into the ring. Why? I couldn't really say. I guess I finally decided I wanted my own corner of the web to call my own. Anyway, a few notes concerning this space. I'd call this a FAQ, except the site's brand new so it'd be a tad presumptuous to think anybody's bothered to ask any questions to date. Anyway...

So who are you?

Underbruin will suffice.

Underbruin?

Yeah. I'm a pretty big sports fan who has grown up in the Los Angeles area. I've been going to Bruin football games in the Rose Bowl for as long as I can remember, and have come to love UCLA athletics in all its forms (even the slightly scary girl shotputter ones - just don't ask about the oddly-deep voices and the facial hair). As UCLA has often been known as the 'gutty little Bruins,' I find "Underbruin" to be a reasonable moniker.

What is this blog going to be about?

Mostly what's described up in the header. Though there's a chance I might occasionally dabble in other items of note, this space is about sports first and foremost. The UCLA Bruins, followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, will probably occupy the majority of the space, but I hope to give most of the other LA teams some face time - yes, even hockey.

Why the hell should I listen to you?

Honestly, you probably shouldn't. This is really just another "random jackass with a mouthpiece" website. I just hope that my particular flavor of idiocy will happen to appeal to a few people.

So, are there any teams you like/dislike?

This is mostly to make plain where I have a bias. I die a little inside with every season that the Dodgers continue to go without winning a playoff series. And I'm reasonably pleased when the Lakers, Kings, and Galaxy win. On a more macro scale, I also enjoy watching the USMNT during their occasional moments of brilliance (generally surrounded by hours of ineptitude, sadly). For no real good reason whatsoever, I like to see Pepperdine succeed in NCAA hoops. And when lacrosse season rolls around, I root for my alma mater, Johns Hopkins.

With regards to teams I don't like much, the Angels generally annoy me because of their numerous (from my perspective at least) bandwagon fans since their World Series win. I can't stand any team from New England, just on principle. The Mexican soccer team is pure evil, but generally only shows up to grate on my nerves once in a while.

And lastly, to borrow the Bruin twist on an old turn of phrase: "My two favorite teams are UCLA, and whoever's playing USC."

Any other words of wisdom before I close this window and forget about this blog forever?

"Luck is the residue of design."
- Branch Rickey