Catch of the Day.

THE BIG THREE (and a half)

Think of a sculpture (if hypothetically you like sculpting-we will pretend).  At the beginning, there is a vision, but no proof.  We just have a block of stone or wood.  You start carving away, or doing whatever people in the sculpture world call it.  ANYWAY, the preseason college football poll is that block of stone or wood.  If I have decided to carve the block of wood into an elephant, it is just in my head thus far.  We are now a couple weeks in.  Teams now have tendencies and personalities.  In other words, we just now see the downward curve of the head and the upward curve of the trunk.  It is exciting because things are now real.  They are stats.  They exist outside of someone’s head.  ANYWAY, we have three weeks in the books and this week there are three big time games with playoff implications.  Things are now starting to come together, and we want the pretenders out of the way.  These three games help us out with that process. The odd thing about these games is all four have a 73% or higher chance of the favorite winning.  But each have interesting side stories and nuances that make them special.

Florida at Bama

This is SO interesting.  Bama looks broken in comparison to past years, but still is winning.  It is at their crib.  Uncertainty at QB.  Coming in is a perennial winner who hasn’t been that in the last five years.  BUT.  Most of us think they are getting closer.  It is not like recruits have stopped going to UF, so they DO have the talent to beat anyone on any given day.  This one will be fun.  I think Bama wins again, but it is again close, and we can write these same things about Bama and their odd inconsistencies again in coming weeks.

Auburn at Kansas State

This is simple.  We want to know if Auburn is for real, We want to know if the Big 12 is more than just OU and Baylor.  We want to eliminate pretenders.  Well, whoever loses this game can pretty much make other plans as 1) there are too many good teams in the SEC for us to forgive a loss to K State 2) Well, K State plays in the weaker Big 12, so this loss will be too much unless they run the table (and Auburn runs the table to improve this win-fat chance).  I like Auburn to run wild.

Clemson at Florida State

I think Clemson had a shot in this game BEFORE Jameis was yelling profanities on campus and suspended for a half.  I assume “sean macguire” might be testing Google’s bandwidth, Clemson’s QB is a senior who had to wait, and I think they give FSU all they can handle and more.  Even winning the weak ACC doesn’t necessarily get you in the playoff, but the committee won’t take into account Winston was out-book that.  They will say they simply lost to an ACC team at home.  With Clemson, their only loss thus far was at Georgia in the opener.  Lose early and away to a good SEC team, run the table after that, and I say you are in the mix.  I am not saying they will.  I am simply saying they win this game.

The half game…

OU at WVU

OU will not lose this, but them going into one of the toughest places to play AND looking good?  You might as well just say they are a Baylor win and a rivalry game away from the playoff.  They will take Texas, get K State at home, and that away Texas Tech game is not so dooming looking these days.

That is all for today.  In a few more weeks, we will be seeing those tusks.  Exciting as hell.  Peace.