Quick Hits Across the Board

The Longhorns continue to be over-rated. For the life of me, I cannot understand how t.u. barely escapes a bad Nebraska team in the fourth quarter, and the team moves up several notches in the polls. If you’re a pollster and you’re not going to watch the game, at least read the recap. At least read that the Longhorns were down 17-3 going into the fourth quarter and that Jamaal Charles had to channel his inner Ricky Willaims for Mack Brown’s boys to escape in Austin. At least read that Nebraska had been blown out their last three games and that t.u. has had several close escapes. I don’t care if the Aggies lose by a combined score of 210-0 in the next two games against Missouri and Oklahoma. If they can just beat t.u. and put them in their place, I’m all for bringing Franchione back. Wait, no.

Matt Ryan is the leading Heisman candidate by default right now. He didn’t look great against Virginia Tech until the last two minutes, but I have to give him props for winning against a (a)Top 10 team, (b)on the road, and (c)in rainy conditions. It seems that no one wants to win the Heisman this year. Tim Tebow and Andre Woodson lost last week, Mike Hart was still out, and DeSean Jackson is a punk. Dennis Dixon on the other hand, could make a run starting with the Arizona State game this Saturday. Would there be a more boring national championship game than if BC played Ohio State? Every college football fan should be praying every Saturday that both teams lose sometime in November. BC has such a weak schedule that they might escape unscathed, and Ohio State can stumble against Wisconsin or Michigan.

I want to see Oklahoma play LSU in the national championship game. Seeing the Oregon Ducks play LSU might not be so bad, but with the sub-par defense that the Ducks have, I still think that Oklahoma and LSU are the top two teams in the nation. Don’t bring up Arizona State. Having them in the national championship will be almost as bad as BC. Look, I like cinderella stories as much as anyone, but when it comes down to it, I want to see the traditional big-name teams with the big-time players and big-time coaches and the big-time fans going at it. And if you’re a true college football fan, you know that’s what you want too.

The SEC is still the best conference. I know a bunch of sportswriters took shots at the SEC after Kentucky, Florida, and South Carolina lost, but what do sportswriters know? These teams lost to other teams in the conference!!! It’s a conference with the best players and the best coaches, and they’re beating up on each other—it’s a wonder that they even have a national championship contender remaining in the form of LSU. You could argue that Ole Miss is the only SEC team that doesn’t have a legitimate shot each week of beating any other SEC team.

The Patriots are playing stupid. Yes, this is a blog dedicated to Texas A&M Aggies and college football, but the Patriots are worth bringing up because they transcend the NFL right now. Yes, they’re scary-good, and yes, Bill Bielichek is pissed off about the whole tape scandal and is intent on not only killing every team but also pillaging their respective cities, but he’s being stupid. Not only is keeping your first team on the field stupid because a Brady or Moss might get hurt when the score is 34-7, but you’re just enlargening the bull’s eye on your back. Maybe no team will get you this year, but the moment the Patriots start to lose their lackluster, every team in the NFL will look to return the humiliation. And despite Bielichek’s supreme arrogance and the Patriot’s great front office, the natural rhythms of the draft and free agency will diminish the Patriots some day, and perhaps some day soon.

Next update: Friday