Dr. Pomade

My arguments are always valid. ALWAYS. Write that down. For 3 teams in the SEC to get in - for there to be a realistic shot at that - I think everything has to happen the way I laid it out AND several other teams need to lose, like some combination of Ohio State, Florida State, and TCU/Baylor. Also, remember, I'm just being all doomsday here and basically talking about it because I can and it's fun to conjecture. So, for the sake of argument, let's say my SEC scenario plays out like I said and Ohio State doesn't lose, but Oregon does and so does TCU. Here are your contenders then for the Top 4: -Ohio State -Florida State -Georgia -Baylor -Alabama -Miss State -UCLA After Ohio State and Florida State, you have 2 slots and 5 contenders. Baylor gets left out easily because of shitty SOS and the fact they don't play a CG. That's 4 contenders and 2 slots. Georgia has to get in by virtue of #SEC. So now that's 1 slot remaining and 3 possibilities: Miss State, Bama, and UCLA. I think Miss State and Bama have just as good resumes as UCLA. For instance, both were higher ranked for a lot longer than UCLA. So, pick one - Bama or Miss State - and you have 2 teams from SEC in, voila! If Florida State loses, Ohio State loses, Oregon loses, and either TCU/Baylor loses, you're telling me that 3 SEC teams won't have a good shot of making it? If any of those teams I listed lose, they are not sniffing the top 4. Therefore, here's your possibility pool: -Georgia (they just won SEC) -Bama (they just lost SEC title game, but they are Bama and it's the #SEC) -Miss State (yup, these fucks just lurking around) -UCLA (they just beat Oregon) -Baylor/TCU (whichever that didn't lose would be here) I spy 3 SEC teams for 4 slots amongst 5 possible contenders. Granted, if FSU, Ohio State, Oregon, and either TCU/Baylor lose, that's a shit ton of craziness (and likely won't happen, I get that), BUT, if it did...swan dive from the 19th floor time.

I didn't say mine was realistic, I implied that mine would be fantastic. For the sake of argument, you don't give Mizzou a good chance against Bama, but you do Georgia? How is Georgia any more viable than Mizzou? Seriously, both have flat out stunk this year. I'm telling you, you do not want Georgia even sniffing that title game. With Georgia in the title game, you run the risk of having 2 SEC teams make it - and maybe even 3 if things work out just right (and, by right, I mean wrong). Let's say Georgia beats GT and Mizzou loses to Arkansas. Both are realistic possibilities, for sure. Now we have Georgia "on a roll" and entering the SEC title game. And let's say Alabama straight smokes Auburn. That's realistic too. Auburn kind of sucks, Bama is motivated, etc. Of course, everyone will then be declaring Alabama the second coming of the '95 Huskers. Meanwhile, in the Egg Bowl, Miss State rolls Ole Miss. That too is a possibility, since I think Ole Miss kind of sucks. What does the landscape look like then? Consider: -Georgia would get bumped up a few notches for sure - especially if some upsets occurred in front of them (like a TCU loss or an Ohio State los). They are already sitting at #10 in rankings. Obviously, the committee likes Georgia. This was a team that was manhandled by a Florida team that I am pretty sure was starting my wife as the QB that game. -Alabama will have a stranglehold on #1. The committee is obviously in love with them too. -So, great, you now have a "MASSIVE CRAZY POWERHOUSE MATCHUP OF EPIC PROPORTIONS" in SEC title game between the "surging" Dawgs and the perennial behemoths in Alabama. You know how this will go: the media will conveniently forget how fucking terrible Georgia has been and forget about their annual chokejob earlier in the season and make it out like the 49ers are matching up against the Seahawks for the NFC title game. -Meanwhile, those stupid fucking Cowbells from Miss State are just lurking around. They'll likely be #4 this week, and certainly no lower than #5. After they curbstomp the Eli Mannings in the Egg Bowl, everyone will be back on their nuts. Fucking awesome, right? -Fast forward to the SEC title game. Let's say it's one for the ages, a tight-fought battle, one in which every fucking SEC honk is naming their hillbilly kids after. And let's say Georgia manages to come away as the victor. -YOU CAN NOW PROCEED STRAIGHT TO DEFCOM 5. Why? Because you'll have the perfect recipe for at least 2, and maybe 3, SEC teams in the playoffs. "Georgia is the mighty victor of the SEC!" they'll say. I mean, doesn't the champ of the strongest conference in football deserve an invite? That's what the media will say, and people will agree. Georgia's in. -But wait, what about Alabama? They were pretty much the strongest team for the majority of the year, they played the toughest schedule, and their two losses were (1) on the road and (2) IN AN EPIC CRAZY SEC SLUGFEST. Of course, some narrative will be spun about how Blake Sims had a stomach bug during the SEC CG game or how Cooper was still recovering from his injury. People will come up with some excuse to give Bama the benefit of the doubt. Don't believe me? See Exhibit A, the BCS championship game featuring a Bama team that didn't even win it's own fucking division. So, Bama was at #1 going into SEC CG game and they lose to a "really strong" Georgia team. Think it's realistic that they only drop a few spots? Well, how far did Miss State drop from #1 when it lost to Bama? And far did Ole Miss drop from #1 when it lost to LSU? Yeah, go ahead and start making the intention marks on your wrist, because it's a coming. Remember, down the street, not across the road. -And just when you thought the nausea had passed, now you get to consider Miss State. They were at #4 or #5, they stomp Ole Miss, and now they just get to watch shit play out. And let's say Oregon loses, or Ohio State loses, or TCU or Baylor lose at some point. All of those are very realistic, and it would only take one of them losing - not all - in order for the ESPN idiots to start clamoring for having Miss State included as well. /rant

Shouldn't you ask your girl that? After all, she's choosy.

Ohio State fans should pull for Mizzou to win for a couple of reasons. One, we don't want Georgia in the title game, because a surging Georgia that beats the SEC West representative - especially if it's Alabama - makes a really good case for being included in the playoff. Second, Mizzou is capable of beating Alabama, and having a mediocre Mizzou beat Alabama would almost certainly kill any remaining chances Alabama have at making the playoff. Third, you don't want Arkansas winning, because then all the SEC honks will use that as rationale for bolstering the resumes of Alabama and Miss State (who both beat Arkansas). UCLA plays Stanford this weekend, correct? If so, Ohio State should be pulling hard for the Cardinal. UCLA is gaining a bunch of momentum. The media is falling in love with them all over again and, quite frankly (and like DJ said a while back), I'm not really in a hurry to play them. Obviously, it would be fantastic for Auburn to knock off Alabama. I don't see that happening, however. Alabama has revenge on its mind from last year and they are playing in Tuscaloosa. That being said, I'll be going all War Eagle this weekend. Ohio State fans will agree with Brandon and be hoping for Georgia to get smoked by Georgia Tech. For one, it gets Georgia out of the playoff picture. Also, it gives Tech some momentum and confidence going into the ACC title game against Florida State. (BTW, I think Georgia Tech has a good chance of rolling the Seminoles especially if they can get up on them early - which just about every team has done against FSU.) Ohio State will want Wisconsin to beat Minnesota. Us beating Minnesota again won't help our playoff resume as much as a win over Wisconsin. Of course, I'm kind of afraid of Wisconsin right now, so there's a part of me that will be okay if Minny pulls the upset... I think Ole Miss beats Miss State, mostly because I don't think Miss State is any good and it's being played in Oxford. This, of course, would be fantastic for Ohio State. Yup, I agree with Nathaniel that Texas could beat TCU. TCU isn't that good and Texas isn't that bad. (Side note: I think there's a ton of parity in CFB right now.) If the SEC isn't careful, it could cannibalize itself right out of the playoff. Consider what would happen if the follow results occurred: - Bama loses to Auburn - Miss State loses to Ole Miss (doesn't that mean Ole Miss would represent the West?) - Georgia loses to Georgia Tech - Mizzou then represents the East in the SEC title game and beats the West representative (Ole Miss, or whoever - all of them would have 2 losses entering game and thus with the loss to Mizzou would have 3 losses) - that would leave Mizzou as the SEC champion (LOL!) and everyone from the West with the exception of Bama having 3 losses. Bama with 2 losses wouldn't be appealing by virtue of having just lost at home to Auburn and the fact that they didn't even play in their conference championship game, let alone win it - if that happens, and Ohio State gets in, I'll spend the $50 that jive owes me on buying everyone beers.

/0 Universe implosion imminent

I contend that had we beat Florida that Ohio State team would be talked of as the greatest team of all time, or at least in the discussion. They'd be up there with 1995 Nebraska and 2001 Miami (and 2004 USC).

Well, yeah - I was just embellishing my misery.

Honestly, I've tried my best to repress those years. You know why Ohio State fans regard the Rose Bowl win over Arizona State so highly in our lore? Because it was one of the few fucking big games we ever won under Cooper. So much potential, so much disappointment. How we didn't win like 2+ national championships with Cooper I'll never know. Wait, yes I do: Michigan. To his credit, at least Cooper smacked Notre Dame around twice. Of course, Notre Dame was on its way out around that point and pretty much everyone has smacked them around since.

LOL, for real. Everyone dominated us in the bowls during the Cooper era, minus Arizona State and Texas AM. (I can't remember if he had any other bowl wins?)

If I am mounting an argument for why FSU deserves to be #1, then I play up the fact that the defending national champions (which they are) and those highly ranked (which they are) always get everyone's best shot. For crappy ACC teams, playing FSU is their bowl game. So, you could make the rational argument that FSU winning ugly might be because they are having to fight off teams that are throwing everything they can muster against them.

Right? When I was younger, it seemed like the East was always decided by the winner of Florida and Tennessee (and it always seemed like Florida got the better of them). I remember Spurrier trolling Tennessee by saying you couldn't spell "Citrus" (as in the Citrus Bowl") without "UT."

Also, history repeats itself? In 1998, the first year of the BCS, Ohio State was widely regarded as one of the best teams. Many thought they deserved to be in the inaugural BCS championship game, but were left out. Their doom? Losing at home to a fairly awful team (Michigan State). This year, the first year of the playoff, many are considering Ohio State to be playing as well as anyone in the country. However, will they be left out of playoff because of a home loss to a fairly awful team? Note: Florida State was beat by an SEC team in first BCS championship game. This year Florida State could very well face an SEC team in playoff.

The committee has actually done a really good job of putting itself in a defensible position regardless of how the season plays out. Take, for instance, the situation involving Ohio State, TCU, and Baylor for the #4 slot. -If any of those three lose, they automatically take themselves out of consideration by virtue of their loss. So, time in on the committee's side. They can just allow attrition by loss to do their dirty work. -Let's say none of them lose. The committee has a couple of contingencies at its disposal: a) Ohio State looks really good and TCU/Baylor look not as good. Committee moves Ohio State over both of them. Committee can use Rationale 1: "Sorry TCU/Baylor, you don't play in a championship game. We value those. Tell your commissioner to get your shit straightened out and come talk to me when you're ready to play football into December." b) All three look good. Committee can use Rationale 1 as above and still justify moving Ohio State up. Or, committee can use Rationale 2: "Sorry, Ohio State, but there was a reason we had you ranked behind TCU/Baylor for long stretches. Also, you can't really whine when you lost at home to an unranked, fairly terrible opponent."

<3

Reflections on this past Saturday: - Jalin Marshall is the new hotness. Really like how he had such a dominant come-back performance. Josh said he could be something special, and I agree. He's the type of guy that can take a game over with his skill. I really hope we continue to make him a focal point of the offense going forward. - Our defense is going to get us killed. Seriously, shit needs to be better. We almost lost to an Indiana team that might not beat Pickerington North. - Barrett was a longshot for the Heisman going into yesterday, and now I think he's pretty much out of consideration. Those INT's pretty much kill his chances when compared to Mariotta (who has like 2 INT's for the entire year). Barrett needed to pad his stats yesterday, and didn't. If the QB competition was less tough this year - say, if Mariotta wasn't doing as well - then Barrett would still be a viable candidate. I think he gets an invite this year, but doesn't win it. Next year though... - Note, Barrett could put himself back into the thick of the race if (a) he goes absolutely bonkers the last two games and (b) Mariotta implodes at some point in his next two games. Unlikely to happen, but still a possibility, IMO. - Ole Miss should be tossed out of the rankings. Seriously, GTFO of here with that shit. Zach's spot on: these fucking charlatans from the SEC have had their 15 minutes of fame and can exit stage left. - Of course, Arkansas will be ranked like #19 in next poll, LOL. - Ole Miss getting throttled helps Ohio State. If Miss State beats them, everyone will be like, "Oh well." If they lose to them, well, GTFO. Either way, Ohio State's playoff chances are helped with Ole Miss' ineptitude. - I am absolutely convinced Florida State will lose one of its last two games before the playoff starts. Of course, Florida State will continue to troll me and the rest of CFB and win both of those games by a combined 3 points. - UCLA is going to beat Oregon in Pac12 championship game. Write that down. - speaking of UCLA, I love it when they and USC play each other and both wear the home jerseys. Seriously, that is some of the best looking stuff on a field, period.

Ole miss LOL

Maybe top 4 FCS is little ambitious. More like top 20 FCS

Top 4 in FCS

The style points just keep racking up.

Yay for turnovers. It's the best way to keep teams hanging around...

Let me see if I am understanding this correctly: the only cities in which light rail "makes sense" are overly populated and likely too far beyond the help that a light rail system could provide. YUP MAKES PERFECT SENSE I think more proactive is needed here and less reactive. Think bigger picture, and think what the next 30 years holds, not the next 3. It's small-mindedness that, I think, cripples this city and stagnates the development of its identity. Columbus citizens should think Columbus-first, should be proactive in finding ways of promoting the city and enhancing it's image, and should be committed to finding ways of improving the livability and sustainability of the city for decades to come. No, Columbus isn't NYC. Good. It doesn't need to be and it shouldn't want to be NYC. And just because it isn't NYC doesn't mean that it can't strive to have really cool advances that some people only think "fit" in cities like that. DJ is spot on - outside of Chicago, Columbus is likely the finest city in the Midwest. It ranks highly on all the desired metrics: affordability, culture, educational opportunities, job growth, economic sustainability, political interests, a good balance of liberal and conservative values, low crime, etc. The weather kind of sucks, and the geography does too, but that's reflected in the affordability of the city.

Coleman is great in that he actually cares about promoting Columbus. It sounds like you don't like to promote Columbus. Or you're a racist. Either is a legitimate reason to invite you to bathe with a toaster. I'll await your 16 paragraph response ranting about democrats, liberals, African Americans, immigration policy, paleo dieting, and metrosexuality.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you Exhibit A: a person that gets it."