Wizards of Oz

"Life is fraughtless ... when you're thoughtless."

6.10.07

Cal #1!?

OK, maybe... not.

leland stanfurd junior university (archnemesis of the University of California Golden Bears) has just stunned the trojans of 'sc with a 24-23 victory in the L.A. Coliseum. Not bad for a team whose mascot is a color. With the Gators of Florida leading #1 LSU in the 3rd quarter at the Bayou, a loss by the Tigers would mean #3 Cal (with a bye this weekend) would become the #1 team in college football.

What a crazy season...

Addendum: LSU shut down Florida's final four drives (including two turnovers) and took a 28-24 lead with barely a minute to play. Good, tough football in Death Valley.

Looks like the SEC gets to hang on to the top spot in the AP Polls.

Labels: , ,

13 Comments:

At 6/10/07 22:23 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

We'll be lucky if Ohio State doesn't leapfrog us. Florida should have challenged their fumble at the 50, and most of the calls went against them. Their coach is an idiot, letting 20+ seconds tick off at the end. The UCLA loss makes the Pac10 look weak, now, even though they only lost because they lost their QB. We've got a hell of an uphill battle to get to a BCS game, but it's always nice to see $C falter. LSU is not that Good. It should be Ohio State, Cal, then LSU. U$C will probably be #5 when they come to Memorial. Hopefully we don't blow it in AZ or the Rose Bowl.

 
At 7/10/07 07:20 , Blogger deichmans said...

You're right about Ohio State "leapfrogging" -- I think many poll voters today may use OSU's 23-7 win over ranked Purdue as justification to leap idle Cal.... And with Cinderella teams like FSU coming into the BCS radar, it will be very tough to get two PAC-10 teams into BCS bowls. Oh well -- ROLL ON YOU BEARS!!

 
At 7/10/07 14:44 , Blogger deichmans said...

AP Poll results just posted -- LSU got all 65 "#1" votes, and Cal is now #2. OSU is close on Cal's heels (1538 pts for Cal vs. 1511 for OSU).

Way to go, Trees! :-)

 
At 9/10/07 08:01 , Blogger Allen said...

You guys are great! Of course, you're also a bit short on conclusions supported by data.

Top to bottom, the SEC is far and away the strongest conference, and LSU is CLEARLY the top team in the nation. To say that Ohio State and Cal are better than LSU is a feel-good conclusion, as it certainly doesn't make sense.

Do any of you people actually think that Cal would win more than 3 or 4 games against a tough SEC schedule? Come on...

 
At 9/10/07 09:28 , Blogger deichmans said...

Allen,

Welcome back -- even though once again you seem to leap to conclusions unsubstantiated by fact. :-)

Cal has already proven itself against a tough SEC team in the opener against UT. Or does a "tough" schedule to you mean repeated trips to Death Valley and the Swamp?

Is LSU top in the nation? Yes -- and they are happy to tell you so (just don't remind them about that SHARED championship in 2003, or they may just buy a billboard by your campus).

I'll leave the "conference debate" to Stew Mandel's blog at SI.com. It might be worthwhile, especially in this season, for SECers to remember Shakespeare's words: "Thou doth protest too much."

 
At 10/10/07 10:51 , Blogger Allen said...

Pshh. Shared championship my bohunk. I seem to recall that the crystal football was in BATON ROUGE that year.

And given UT's record, that win isn't very telling. Let Cal play LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn on six successive weekends and see what happens. Conversely, let's let LSU play Washington, Wash State, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, and USC on six successive weekends and see what happens. I'm betting LSU would have a better record.

Too much fun! :)

 
At 10/10/07 15:21 , Blogger deichmans said...

Allen,

If you're going to compare grapes (instead of apples to oranges), then why not pick the top teams in each conference? Rather than Washington State, you should have had Arizona State (presently ranked #14).

Or think about this: 40% of the PAC-10 is ranked in the top 15, while only 25% of the SEC is in the same league.

Of course, Miles is a gutsy coach who bet "all in" several times last Sat. in beating FL. I agree that LSU is deserving of #1 -- and wins in the next two weeks will leave them with a cakewalk in November. Then again, an upset by Louisiana Tech would be right in line with this weird season! :-)

 
At 11/10/07 07:29 , Blogger Allen said...

Yeah, I'll agree on the comparisons. I just started at Seattle and worked my way down the ooast. This repartee is too much fun...

And LA Tech winning would fit with this crazy season, right alongside all the injuries that are hurting USC. I hate to see these kids like Booty get injured. It potentially takes a lot of future $$ out of their pockets.

You know it's an off-beat season when BC and USF are both in the top 10. But, who knows, perhaps I-A really is becoming more competitive top-to-bottom. With the exception of Vanderbilt, the SEC sure is, and it looks the PAC-10 is as well. At the very least, it gives us something to 'discuss' whilst clinking mugs together.

 
At 15/10/07 07:40 , Blogger Allen said...

Geez...now what? 7 SEC teams in the Top 25, 4 PAC-10 teams in the Top 25, and the computers rank USF as #1.

This is getting seriously whacked...

 
At 15/10/07 08:20 , Blogger deichmans said...

Just wait 'til OSU plays Penn State in two weeks. If they win the rest of their schedule (incl. formerly top-25 teams like Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan) they'll be the BCS favorite. Similarly, BCS will lose interest in South Florida after it trounces Big East powerhouses like Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

I predict: OSU-LSU in the Championship, USC Trojans implode with two more losses this season, USF will get a BCS Bowl Berth (probably Sugar) and Cal returns to the Rose Bowl for the first time in my lifetime.

 
At 15/10/07 11:47 , Blogger Allen said...

I'm with you on OSU-LSU, but I think the Sugar Bowl is the championship game this year, so I would put USF in the Orange Bowl.

LSU must win out, and then win the SEC championship big, especially if BC and/or USF run the tables. Makes me wonder if we might have an LSU-UK rematch in the Georgia Dome.

Gonna be interesting...

 
At 15/10/07 12:03 , Blogger deichmans said...

Allen,

The National Championship Game will be in the Superdome -- so N'Awlins will get two games a week apart. The Allstate Sugar Bowl (my pick: USF v. SEC Runner-up, maybe the "other" USC) on Jan. 1st, and the NCG on Jan. 7th. Here's a link to the BCS page:

http://www.bcsfootball.org/bcsfootball/

 
At 16/10/07 06:25 , Blogger Allen said...

Right, right, not thinking was I... Either would be a home game for LSU, though. I still haven't got used to the idea of a championship game outside of the bowls. My hide-bound brain equated championship game in N'orlins with the Sugar Bowl.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home