Week 5 NCAA Ruminations

In this episode:
1) SEC Officials - The Debbie Downers of NCAA Football
2) Hapless Cal
3) Luck of the Irish? Sort of..
4) The Folly of the Early Death Knell
5) NCAA vs. Pro: NCAA still wins

1) SEC Officials - The Debbie Downers of NCAA Football
WOW! DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THE LSU/GEORGIA GAME YESTERDAY!!! WHAT AN AMAZING GAME! IT WAS JUST AWESO....{Whistle} {Flag thrown from sideline}

I just got nailed 15 yards for excessive celebration.

So, if you didn't have the pleasure of watching LSU score in the last minute to deflate the puffy heads of 85,000 screaming Bulldawgs yesterday, you missed one heck of a game (perhaps you were watching one of the other two nailbiters...more on that later).

Three excessive celebration penalties were called in this game. Two of which occurred in the last three minutes. Not ONE of those "celebrations" was even close to excessive. The last of the three, a penalty called against AJ Green, played a crucial role in LSU's ability to position itself for a score with under a minute to play. After scoring the go-ahead TD on a reception at the 1:06 mark, Georgia's Green leapt into the stands, kissed three women, chugged a bourbon and coke, smacked an LSU fan in the face, jumped on top of a railing, dropped trou, and mooned the national television audience. Oh wait - THAT would be excessive celebration. In contrast, AJ Green, was mobbed by his teammates, exchanged high fives and headslaps, and proceeded back to the huddle for the conversion attempt. Was there a lot of excitement? Yes. Excessive celebration? If you are a Quaker, maybe.

The official explanation from the officials...“Following a brief team celebration, Green made a gesture to the crowd calling attention to himself.” To be honest, I didn't see it on the video replays but I'm sure that is possible. The reason I think that is possible is BECAUSE IT HAPPENS ON EVERY SINGLE PLAY IN A COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME. Seriously- watch a defender make a tackle and see what he does. Watch a running back gain 7 hard fought yards and see what he does. Since when does "calling attention" mean excessive celebration? Obviously the SEC officials decided they were going to crack down on the issue this year because this isn't the first game we've seen this happen (in the Florida Kentucky game a Florida defensive lineman was nailed for doing what basically amounted to a brief version of "the hand jive").

Now, I'm not a fan of the "look at me" actions. I'd much rather see a kid get a first down, hand the ball to the ref, and go back to the huddle as if that is exactly what he meant to do. To me, that would be MUCH more demoralizing to the opponent. But that said, a little emotion isn't going to kill anyone and for crying out loud, after what could have been the game winning touchdown - a little leeway please.

The two really big problems I have with yesterday is 1) a discretionary call regarding a non-timed incident (not while the clock is running) should NEVER impact the game in the way that call did and 2) CONSISTENCY is key. Given what passed for excessive with AJ Green, there should have been about, oh 75 flags yesterday. Now the league is standing behind the officials but there better be some behind the scenes meetings telling them to knock it off.

2) Hapless Cal
Every year, same old Cal. How do you bounce back from the thrashing by Oregon? By getting thrashed, at home, by USC. Two weeks, 6 points. Way to hold it together guys! This is with a healthy Jahvid Best! Best alone should be worth two TDs a game - he's that good. The luster should be WAY off of Cal Coach Jeff Tedford's resume. You've GOT to look at coaching in these situations. Thank goodness for Washington State because without them Cal, two weeks removed from a #6 ranking, would be dead last in the Pac10.

3) Luck of the Irish? Sort of..
Along with the late game fireworks from Athens yesterday, Notre Dame and Washington gave us their own version of Notre Dame's weekly drama with an overtime thriller capped by, yet again, another Notre Dame victory. Giving the Irish their due, at the end of the day winning games counts for something and the fact that Notre Dame, for the most part, ends up on the happy side of the equation can't be chalked up entirely to luck. It can, however, be chalked up to the competition. To wit..

106, 55, 66, 92, 84: What are those numbers? Those are the national rankings, in total defense for Notre Dame's 5 opponents to date: Nevada, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and Washington. The best defense played, Michigan's, doesn't even rank in the top 50 and that happened to be the Irish's lone loss. Coming up? USC's 3rd ranked defense followed by Boston College and its 20th ranked defense. Let's get through those games before we get too high on the Irish.

4) The Folly of the Early Death Knell
Quick, tell me which conference is over-rated? Now, which is the best? I bet you said the ACC for the first and the SEC for the second. Right? If not, most people would as would most commentators. Let's look at the numbers shall we? As of this writing, the Week 5 polls are not out, still, consider the following: the ACC has three ranked teams: #6 Virginia Tech, #17 Miami, and #25 Georgia Tech. The SEC has five #1 Florida, #3 Alabama, #4 LSU, #18 Georgia, and #21 Mississippi. Did you notice something? THREE TEAMS OUT OF THE TOP FOUR? Who's over-rated again? No let's look at the Big East. The league has eight teams, six of which have no more than one loss. How many teams are ranked? One. Cincinnati at #10. We say it time and time again, let the season play out some. The ACC is all ready out of the national title hunt according to many. Why? The SEC is unstoppable according to many. Why? The Big East - a few say it has some contenders but not many. Why? Repeat after me: No polls until mid October at the EARLIEST.

5) NCAA vs. Pro: NCAA still wins
LSU at Georgia; Washington at Notre Dame; FSU at BC - three mid-afternoon games. All decided in the last minutes. All playing out on three different channels. Who else was with me as I flipped back and forth between all three?

I defy you to show me anything remotely as excited as that in the NFL.