Previewing the College Football Playoffs

That big to do in college football thing is happening today:

"I'm tellin' you Dabo, it looked like a corn dog on a skillet!" "Yep, I bet it did."

Capital One Orange Bowl @ 4 PM

This game should be a high-scoring affair. After all, almost all of Oklahoma’s final results resemble basketball scores, and Clemson has been quite talented offensively for a while now. What’s surprising coming into the game, or maybe it’s not surprising, is how little respect the Tigers seem to garner as a number one team. Not only are fans and experts picking the Sooners but so are all the cyborg simulations that one day we might opt to use for colonizing other planets and venturing in and out of wormholes.

Alas, until that day arrives, we will debate the flash and skill of Deshaun Watson versus the Big 12 Petrie dish success of Baker Mayfield, whose name sounds like he has a future on the professional golf circuit if this football endeavor doesn’t pan out. Both quarterbacks have thrown for at least 3,300 yards and thirty touchdowns this season. So why should all that end now? Winter on the east coast has been warm. It was above freezing in the North Pole yesterday. Expect fireworks in Miami. Heat and haze and a sign of things to come.

Oh, and this just in, some of Clemson’s players misbehaved and got themselves sent home from a business trip they mistook for an early Spring Break. Blame it on the weather. Blame it on Dabo Swinney being a sideline jerk. Clemson gonna Clemson. Start writing and reading those Bob Stoops redemption stories; he and Baker are about to go Interstellar.

Goodyear Cotton Bowl @ 8 PM

Doesn’t Goodyear Cotton Bowl sound like a racist musical? Oh well, I digress. Isn’t this exciting? Isn’t this David versus Goliath? Little ole Michigan State from the shoulda coulda woulda Big Ten versus the almighty Crimson Tide from Alabama. Enough on that, some story lines should be retired. Let me digress further.

In the SEC, over the past decade or so, it has become popular to root and cheer for the conference over all other comers. I am a Georgia fan, so this means that I have spent the last decade or so rooting for Saban and Les Miles and even Gators who shall not be named to win BCS bowl games and national titles. To all that camaraderie and bull shit, I now say no more. No more will I root for a conference for the sake of not feeling so down and out about my own team coming up short. It’s nonsense.

While Saban and others have stuffed the pockets of the entire SEC, the on the field results have been somewhat depleted. What do you have to show for Saban’s success, Volunteers? What trophies do you possess, Ole Miss and Mississippi State? Tigers of Missouri, are you as feared as the Tigers of LSU? How do you feel Gamecocks, Commodores, Razorbacks, and Wildcats? How warm is your seat, Les Miles? Oh where, oh where have you gone, Mark Richt?

Go Spartans! Go Connor Cook! Saban winning hasn’t won for anyone else, so his losing can’t be that bad. Yet, how does one out Saban Saban? Look for his ‘Bama to bruise poor Sparty, and, when it happens, do not pretend this excellence belongs to anyone other than Saban and his followers.

Bryan Harvey tweets @LawnChairBoys. 

October 17th in the SEC.

Another Saturday. Another post.

"Yeah, I don't know, Nick. I think a 30for30 about how I stole your shit might be something the people are into."

Auburn drowned Kentucky in the moonshine of its own reflection.

This game took place in Lexington earlier this week. Kentucky wore radiant silver helmets, as if football were a game played by Greek princes against Gorgon sisters. Football, however, is not a game played against mythic creatures. Instead, football is a game played by college athletes against other college athletes, and some colleges have better athletes than others. No shield from Athena can change that. The game featured a lot of big pass plays, and college athletes making athletic grabs. The game filled a highlight reel. And, in the end, Kentucky had a chance. But that’s the thing about Kentucky football—chances always end up in past tense. With 27 seconds left in the game the question, Ken-tucky do it, had an answer. A 2-1 start in the conference is now 2-2. Tigers are much more fierce than Wildcats.  

A matter of cannibalism: Louisiana Tech and Mississippi State.

When the Bulldogs play the Bulldogs, the Bulldogs will be victorious. When the Bulldogs are victorious, other Bulldogs will not be. However, once a Bulldog, always a Bulldog. We are all Bulldogs, until we’re no longer Bulldogs. We will always be Bulldogs. Go Bulldogs!

Ole Miss visits Memphis.

Um, somehow this game became interesting. In fact, the game will air on ABC. After all, these teams have only one loss between them. The mighty Tigers of Memphis are living a dream. The mighty Tigers of Memphis are 5-0, yet unranked. In some ways, like all things backwoods and southern, this matchup will feature lots of friends and neighbors and cousins facing off against one another. The whole affair will reek of incest. If the Rebels win, then all this intrigue will evaporate like rain on a hot highway. But, if the Tigers manage the upset, then the name of quarterback Paxton Lynch will fall on our ears like a torrent.

Alabama and Texas A&M collide once more.

Right away Texas A&M felt like an SEC school because of how it played against ‘Bama. Now A&M faces an opportunity to not only make a name for itself in the conference but to supplant the powers that be. They come into the game ranked higher and with a better record than Alabama. This game is about more than this season; this game is about the next half decade or so.

After all, before the Georgia game, many fans and analysts doubted the authenticity of this year’s Crimson Tide. Could they be an aberration on Saban’s year in and year out pursuit of perfection? Now, that doubt feels like eons ago; the press clippings of fossilized worlds no longer in existence. Yet such worlds feel remote no longer. Saban’s squad impersonated dominance in Sanford Stadium. With time, what once was plastic pretense can become a bedrock identity.

So, what happens if the Aggies prevail at home today? Saban and his team would then slouch back into the east down two games to the Aggies and trailing LSU as well. This notion of change is all rather interesting and, for now, possible.

When the sun sets on the Gators.

This game could happen twice.

First, the Gators have risen from the Muschamp ashtray with a fury. And, at 4-0 in the conference, the start is no longer a surprise. The fast start is not so much an uprising as the status quo of this football season. Georgia lost Nick Chubb. Tennessee limps along. South Carolina throws retirement parties. Mizzou’s roar is but a kazoo in the wilderness. And the Wildcats fainted at the sight of their own reflection. The Gators are it.

Then again, the Gators just suspended starting quarterback Will Grier for the season, brining Treon Harris back into the starting fold. An October night in Baton Rouge is probably not the place for such adjustments to be made. In some ways, the Gators voice seems ready to crack. While undefeated and appearing dominant the last two weeks, this team barely edged East Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The last time Harris attempted anything of note was in against the Pirates of ECU. Of course, quarterback play has not necessarily been the reason for the Gators’ renewed success. 

Oh, and the guys at LSU just flat out play.

Missouri scheduled to trim the hedges.

My dad emailed me earlier in the week: “Georgia’s season is down the tubes.” Welp, there you have it.

Bryan Harvey tweets @LawnChairBoys. 

SEC Week 11 Preview

UGA & UF fans at last week's Largest Cocktail Party

UGA vs. UK

After last week's Dia de Muertos implosion against Florida, which saw the Gators rise out of their graves and then watched the Dawgs lie down in those vacated graves, Mark Richt's squad is currently up 21 points on the Wildcats. That said, the red and black deserve no more of our attention at this moment. Plus, zombies are creepy.

LCB 2013 NCAA Football Predictions

Well, with another college season done, it's never too early to start ranking teams for next year, so without any further ado and after much deliberation, here are our early rankings for next season.

1. Alabama Crimson Tide

Coming off its secon national title, Nick Saban's squad will have to overcome a weak early schedule that includes non-SEC opponents such as little known Virginia Tech.

2. Georgia Bulldogs

UGA will be losing a lot on defense, but they will still feature an amazing tandem of sophmore running backs and got great news when quarterback Aaron Murray announced he would return for his final year of eligibility. However, their biggest challenge, like 'Bama, may be their weak schedule which includes several non-SEC schools, like Clemson and Georgia Tech, who have very little football tradition.

3. Texas A&M Aggies

The Aggies weak schedule (about half their games are against non-SEC schools) should prevent Heisman winner Johnny Manziel from feeling any sort of sophmore slump. In other words, Scoooobiiiieeee Dooooobiiieeeee Dooooooo!!!

4. Florida Gators

If Florida can rebound from an embarrassing bowl loss, it should be able to play well enough in overcoming its weak non-conference schedule that features such second rate schools as Florida State and Miami.

5. LSU Tigers

LSU features a non-conference schedule similar to A&M's which could really hinder them come BCS time. Their Athletic Director should probably work on scheduling every other SEC team on their schedule twice.

6. South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina's title hopes probably depend on their ability to beat Clemson by more points than Georgia. If they can do that, then defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney should be able to carry them against much weaker and lesser known opponents such as North Carolina.

7. Mississippi State Bulldogs

Coming off an 8-5 season, the Bulldogs will have to do their best to overcome a rather weak schedule that sees them playing several non-SEC schools.

8. Vanderbilt Commodores

Coming off a 9-4 campaign and having given its coach an extension, the Commodores should look to build off their success by playing several games against non-SEC schools.

9. Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas must hope that it can rebound from a weak 2012 campaign and an even weaker schedule. They will only play Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State once apiece.

10. Missouri Tigers

Other than playing Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida once apiece Missouri's schedule is rather weak and could hurt them down the stretch when the computers start deciding who will play whom come Bowl season.

Others Receiving Votes:
Tennesse Volunteers, Kentucky Wildcats, Ole Miss Rebels, Auburn Tigers