The Tell at the Turn

If you’ve ever watched the movie Rounders, starring one of my favorite actors - Matt Damon - after all…he’s a Red Sox fan…you will recognize the importance of reading body language to get a true measure of the hand the opponent holds. Although Separation Saturday has already been used this year by media magnet ESPN, the term truly applies this weekend. In a season where we have witnessed an array of shocking upsets, which seem to be coming in greater and greater jaw dropping proportions from week-to-week, we will all have a better understanding of the tell of the tape for this 2007 season come Sunday morning.

For this is the first weekend of the “07″campaign where we have numerous match-ups involving teams who are still in the hunt for conference, or division-conference championships, not to mention some excellent “hated” rivalry games. Consider Oregon - Washington, Tennessee-Alabama, Florida State-Miami and USC-Notre Dame, not to mention more civilized affairs between Virginia-Maryland, Kansas State-Oklahoma State, California-UCLA, Mississippi State-West Virginia, Wyoming-Air Force, Auburn-LSU, Michigan-Illinois and Wake Forrest-Navy.

Ohio State and Kansas, two teams who still remain undefeated and who are still untested due to the ridiculous easy schedule factor, face their first true tests of the 2007 season. Although I still find it unacceptable that Ohio State is ranked #1 and Kansas is ranked 13th in the BCS and 15th in the AP Poll, maybe justice will be served by seasons end?

Don’t count on it. Considering the BCS era specifically, the only teams who have competed in the BCS national championship events have been those who supported the CFA issues back in 1984.

If you look at both teams, Ohio State is the name brand model - the Sony if you will - compared to the Vizeo model - Kansas. Both television sets work perfectly fine if you ask me. I can still get all the channels, in stunning visual clarity, whether I’m using one model (Sony) or the other (Vizeo). Why then would one be ranked number one and the other ranked 15? I’m sure more people buy the Sony model, due to the advertising “TOMA” campaigns aiming at developing a branding identity, but don’t both television sets work equally efficient? I think you would agree that the Vizeo model is the better buy. The reason most people don’t buy Vizeo is because they haven’t been in business very long, and don’t bring the track history of a Sony to the table. College football works in much the same manner.

If you compare Kansas to Ohio State, the Jawhawks appear to be superior, as they not only rely on a stingy defense, but a rock solid offense as well. This is where Ohio State falls by the wayside…the offense relies on the defense to create field position and there is not a balance between the two. I love watching the Buckeye’s and coach Tressel is one of the best, but you can’t deny that the Buckeye’s schedule thus far looks to be about equal to the Jayhawks.

 

Kansas (Big 12)
9/1	Sat	vs.	Central Michigan	W	52	7
9/8	Sat	vs.	Southeastern Louisiana	W	62	0
9/15	Sat	vs.	Toledo	W	45	13
9/22	Sat	vs.	Florida International	W	55	3
10/6	Sat	@	*Kansas State	W	30	24
10/13	Sat	vs.	*Baylor	W	58	10
10/20	Sat	@	*Colorado
10/27	Sat	@	*Texas A&M
11/3	Sat	vs.	*Nebraska
11/10	Sat	@	*Oklahoma State
11/17	Sat	vs.	*Iowa State
11/24	Sat	vs.	*Missouri
			6-0		302	57

Ohio State (Big Ten)
9/1	Sat	vs.	Youngstown State	W	38	6
9/8	Sat	vs.	Akron	W	20	2
9/15	Sat	@	Washington	W	33	14
9/22	Sat	vs.	*Northwestern	W	58	7
9/29	Sat	@	*Minnesota	W	30	7
10/6	Sat	@	*Purdue	W	23	7
10/13	Sat	vs.	Kent	W	48	3
10/20	Sat	vs.	*Michigan State
10/27	Sat	@	*Penn State
11/3	Sat	vs.	*Wisconsin
11/10	Sat	vs.	*Illinois
11/17	Sat	@	*Michigan
			7-0		250	46

Kansas has outscored its opponents 302-57, while The Ohio State has outscored its opponents 250-46. The schedules are a wash, but the hyped agenda off the field is not, which AGAIN, is why the BCS needs to be altered for we are playing in one paradigm (85 scholarship Rule) and judging in another (pre-85 scholarship rule where the big-wig teams created their branding identity). I think that you would agree, College Football is much different than buying a TV set, but it is amazing how many people buy into the hype blasting from the network frame of mind.

Both Kansas and The Ohio State are taking on similar opponents, who rank and break down very equally. Kansas takes on Colorado, while The Ohio State takes on Michigan State. Stewart Mandel ranks Colorado (4-3) at #33 and Michigan State (5-2) at #46. My guess is that Kansas will dominate Colorado, while Ohio State will beat the Spartans by about 10 points. Kansas will dominate a superior opponent, as compared to Ohio State, and yet, will still be ranked outside the Top-10 come Monday morning. What gives? It’s called the hidden agenda of the CFA alliance.

So here is your CFA / BCS game of the week:

#1: vs.

It will be interesting to see how far South Florida falls in the polls, compared to LSU’s loss last week. After all, doesn’t Kentucky have about the same football pedigree as Rutgers, and are the two programs not pretty equal?

 

Kentucky (SEC)
9/1	Sat	vs.	Eastern Kentucky	W	50	10
9/8	Sat	vs.	Kent	W	56	20
9/15	Sat	vs.	Louisville	W	40	34
9/22	Sat	@	*Arkansas	W	42	29
9/29	Sat	vs.	Florida Atlantic	W	45	17
10/4	Thu	@	*South Carolina	L	23	38
10/13	Sat	vs.	*Louisiana State	W	43	37
10/20	Sat	vs.	*Florida
10/27	Sat	vs.	*Mississippi State
11/10	Sat	@	*Vanderbilt
11/17	Sat	@	*Georgia
11/24	Sat	vs.	*Tennessee
			6-1		299	185

 

Rutgers (Big East)
8/30	Thu	vs.	Buffalo	W	38	3
9/7	Fri	vs.	Navy	W	41	24
9/15	Sat	vs.	Norfolk State	W	59	0
9/29	Sat	vs.	Maryland	L	24	34
10/6	Sat	vs.	*Cincinnati	L	23	28
10/13	Sat	@	*Syracuse	W	38	14
10/18	Thu	vs.	*South Florida	W	30	27
10/27	Sat	vs.	*West Virginia
11/3	Sat	@	*Connecticut
11/9	Fri	@	Army
11/17	Sat	vs.	*Pittsburgh
11/29	Thu	@	*Louisville
			5-2		253	130

People all over the country accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist, but isn’t it auspicious that California loses to Oregon State, who has certainly won more big games and achieved more than Kentucky in the last decade, by three, and LSU loses to Kentucky, who has been abysmal in the last decade, in overtime by 6, and is barely shaken from the Top-5?

It certainly was a big victory by Kentucky, not taking anything away from Rich Brooks because I am a tremendous fan of Brooks, but didn’t South Florida beat Auburn already this season? Kentucky beat number one and Rutgers beat number two. Just a hunch here but I’m pretty sure that Kentucky will be ranked well ahead of Rutgers and LSU will be ranked well ahead of South Florida.

So it will be interesting to see how the vaunted LSU Tiger team handles that prestigious defense in the battle of the Tigers, but will it make much of a difference in the polls? If Auburn beats LSU and LSU is still ranked ahead of South Florida…the proof is in the pudding!

I’m sure we will use the transitive properties against the boys from South Florida, but couldn’t we use the transitive properties against the boys from Baton Rouge? Just another example of the CFA bias that continues to dominate college football and just another example of how the dial only spins in the direction of the CFA alliance.

Look for the Les Miles factor to kick in big-time this weekend. Why Michigan is still enamored with this guy over Lloyd Carr is beyond me? If you can’t win the national championship, given all the talent in Baton Rouge - especially given the CFA compass (alliance) always spins in your favor - do you think you’re actually going to win one in Michigan? Do you think the administrators in Stillwater are glad to rid themselves of Les Miles, given the Cowboys are playing better with Gundy than they have with Miles? Stay tuned for another episode of “As The BCS Turns.”