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jones Top Ten – Week 15 – 2008
Posted by jonestopten on December 8th, 2008 under Football
The bitterness fades with each bite of jambalaya. This version comes from a seventh-generation and self-described coonass from Slidell. He throws in some outrageous venison sausage—the herd’s got to be thinned out right?—and I washed it down appropriately. I’ve already lost one bet to the Florida fan in attendance: Alabama plus ten losing by eleven equals Jones minus one fifth divided by whatever friends the winner invites over to imbibe away my largesse. Get all of that?
I’m now watching the Oklahoma Sooners slowly torture Chase Daniel and Wazzu. Check that, Mizzou, although it is hard to tell the difference. How about you Show Me something else Missouri? Defense, perhaps.
With the score 41-7, we loaded up the kids and I predicted the 62-21 final as we left the house, complete with garbage time touchdowns. Easy prognostication, Bob Stoops has become addicted to scoring 60; that’s what he does, just like Kilgore from “Apocalypse Now” drops playing cards on the vanquished. I love the smell of computer algorithms in the morning.
Almost 30,000 came to Jacksonville for the Big East title game. Tough economic times, I guess (of course no one came to last year’s ACC title game either, or the one before that now that you mention it). Virginia Tech walked home with the hardware in a 30-12 dismantling of Boston College, ending the strangest conference race I’ve ever seen.
Va Tech will play Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. Had the Bearcats had any inkling that they would win the Big East this year, there would have been no way that the athletics department would schedule an end-of-season trip to Hawaii. Cincy came back from a 24-10 fourth-quarter deficit to the Warriors the old fashioned way: pick six, field goal, safety, 70-yard touchdown, eat a little poi, get on the plane.
Whatever is old is new again. Proust, right? Anyway, East Carolina came full circle by upsetting Tulsa and winning Conference USA.
Southern Cal and UCLA both played in their home jerseys, the way the rivalry was meant to be played. The Trojans had to give up a time-out as penance for violating the NCAA uniform policy. In a class move, UCLA immediately burned a first-half timeout to even the ledger, to great applause. So the setting was beautiful; the football not so much. USC 28, UCLA 7.
West Virginia also defied the NCAA by wearing white at home in honor of the sublime career of Pat White. Actually, the NCAA gave them permission, which I am guessing resulted from successful completion of the NCAA’s 86-page “Intent to Alter Standard Wardrobe Configuration Waiver.” You know, it ought to work like this:
West Virginia AD: “Hey, we are going to wear white on Saturday, you guys bring your dark jerseys.”
South Florida AD: “OK”
But life is no longer that simple. West Virginia 13, South Florida 7.
Navy thrashed Army, 34-0. Ram Vela, he of the famous Kato-like leaping quarterback takedown at Notre Dame last season, returned an interception 68 yards to cap yet another great season for the Midshipmen.
Ball State suffered through four fumbles and lost both their undefeated season and the MAC title to Buffalo, 42-24, on Friday night. Buffalo just won a conference championship. Buffalo. Turner Gill, to my knowledge, has no job offers. Huh.
Back to Florida/Alabama…the Crimson Tide played out the perfect “How to Beat Florida for Dummies” guidebook for three full quarters, before being overwhelmed in the fourth by a better football team, playing impressively without Percy Harvin. The silver lining for Alabama was Julio Jones’s coming out party; the kid looks like next year’s Michael Crabtree. But it will be Florida advancing.
Oklahoma will meet them in Miami.
Yes, I am still pissed about that.
Impressive Showing of the Week: Virginia Tech
1. Texas, me and six AP voters
2. Oklahoma
3. Florida
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Penn State
8. Texas Tech
9. TNAIOSU
10. TCU
Stay tuned for the Jones Top Ten Bowl Preview, timed to reach your inbox at the exact moment you can no longer stand to look at whatever moronic quarterly report is on your desktop. Ahhhhhhhh…
Rose Bowl Dreams: A Memoir of Faith Family and Football is the new book by Adam Jones.
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Activity
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Basketball is Dangerous 1 hour, 1 minute ago
nordberg, I agree with you, but what’s he supposed to tell a guy with a nationally read blog?
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James commented on the blog post Mike Leach with some VERY hot sports opinions 1 hour, 12 minutes ago
He’s right. Leach is the best thing that ever happened to Tech athletics. I wish Fran would of had even 10% of that piss and vinegar. Mediocrity blows ass.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Basketball is Dangerous 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
Just because you say it doesn’t mean you believe it.
Oh, thanks to random screening, I just wanted say, I was really impressed with Ekpe Udoh this week, and I bet he could leave if he felt like it.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Basketball is Dangerous 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
Just because you say it doesn’t mean you believe it.
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HenryJames commented on the blog post Texas Basketball is Dangerous 1 hour, 53 minutes ago
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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Trips Right wrote a new blog post: Texas Basketball is Dangerous 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
Or that’s what they’re telling Andy Katz anyway.
Well that’s good to know. I’ll sleep better at night knowing that for some poor 7 or 8 seed armageddon is imminent when the mighty Longhorns come to town. Then after Texas dispatches of that unworthy mid-seeded patsy there’s a one seed primed to go
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docnice wrote a new blog post: Miguel Paul is the face of this team: Redux 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
A while ago, I posted that this team belongs to Miguel Paul, and the more I watch them, the more I think that. It’s a team that show great athleticism and effort, but loses focus for crucial stretches, and makes questionable decisions sometimes. When I first posted this, Hiphopopotamus said that this was a
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Hiphopopotamus wrote a new blog post: Two Down, One To Go 3 hours, 30 minutes ago
Goals one and two have officially been checked off the list. Now comes the biggie.
That’s three stern tests from our in-state rival Wildcats, and three tests passed with flying colors. Each had a different atmosphere. Each had its own unique style. But each eventually played out the same way. And
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 14 minutes ago
Kevy, I corrected it for you.
Two disarray equal = totally fucked up which is a good description of Texas at this point in time.
Florida State D would make Mason cry and Travolcity would refuse to step on the court .
The Cuse would still eat your shorts for breakfast after spending the night -
Trips Right commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 30 minutes ago
Kevin doesn’t have edit functions, so I fixed it for him. Dude can’t spell for shit.
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Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 4 hours, 37 minutes ago
Florida State plays D like Texas used to play D. Texas might bust 40.
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skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 4 hours, 58 minutes ago
Kevy , That was a great game and Huggybear did his thing which is to manage a very good team that plays “old school” defense. I have always liked huggy because he always put out a defense that would have you talking to yourself when it was over and you lost by 10.
Great write up
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Farmer Ted wrote a new blog post: Castille Day 5 hours, 32 minutes ago
If you’re looking for something to do today, how about submitting your name for the NFL’s supplemental draft? Evidently anyone can do it, even Quentin Castille.
Pelini unceremoniously booted the once promising running back on August 22 for the usual mysterious undisclosed violation of team rules, ending Castille’s shot at the riches and fame of pro football.
Or so
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Another game vs. Kansas, another loss 8 hours, 51 minutes ago
honga. Forget it. It’s Chinatown. Fuck it, let’s go bowling.
Kansas is going to win it all. They have their shit toegther.
Great columns.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 9 hours, 29 minutes ago
Oh, and most importantly, fuck bandwagon Spike Lee. When does 30: Reggie Miller vs. NY Knicks come out?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 9 hours, 29 minutes ago
Kevin – That’s a great article and a great game.
I felt like the refs let a lot go. Love to see your Tourney officiating Primer. Who it helps and who it hurts in terms of teams and leagues.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Metoyer Commits to OU and a Brief Commentary on Life 9 hours, 47 minutes ago
Baby Heupel. Fantastic. No more excuses about your writing output!
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 9 hours, 51 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 9 hours, 51 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Is this the Burlington thing or something else?
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 9 hours, 51 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
And what’s with these Oregon fuck sticks? Dudes, Uncle Phil will take care of you. Just pick up the Duck Phone.
Masoli had a bad history here in the Bay Area. Shaking kids down at Serra, I think.
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admin commented on the blog post Masoli out for ’10–Did Kelly make the strongest play? 9 hours, 51 minutes ago
I know what Stoops DID do…
Are you alluding to the Burlington thing or something else?
And what’s with these Oregon fuck sticks? Dudes, Uncle Phil will take care of you. Just pick up the Duck Phone.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Trey Metoyer to OU 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
Jesus. Echoes of combinology. He plays college. First. He doesn’t need to be Usain Bolt. Or even Teddy Lehman. Kid’s a player.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 10 hours, 4 minutes ago
If the bloggers aren’t smart enough to figure it out, only Dez knows.
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Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Damion…prepare for glory 11 hours ago
Are you correcting yourself when you properly spell words with properly spelled words?
Sweet Jesus.
Been to the hot gates. F Ephialtes.
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Ibas water bottle commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 11 hours, 27 minutes ago
Whiskey as soon as I figure out what the flip cards are for you’ll be the first to know. Until then our opponents have to take an extra ten minutes trying to figure them out, Every minute they spend not working on stopping Kendal Hunter is a net gain for OSU.
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whiskey commented on the blog post The FanTake network guest lecture series 11 hours, 32 minutes ago
Good stuff Ibas. I think Gundy might be able to kick it up to the next level in short order if he plays his cards right. At some point you have to tell me what’s up with those crazy tic tac toe boards he uses to call offensive plays. I still have
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Nate Heupel commented on the blog post Trey Metoyer to OU 11 hours, 33 minutes ago
I’m not backing down from that comment. He doesn’t have the kind of top end speed you hope for, but his ball skills are insane. Watching his film, I don’t see him outrunning anyone. But no one is taking the ball from him.
He’s not actually “slow” per se, his speed
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Luke wrote a new blog post: Another game vs. Kansas, another loss 12 hours, 33 minutes ago
I’m not going to sit here and say Kansas State would have won tonight if Jacob Pullen would have been his usual self, but it sure would have been nice to find out.
Instead, Pullen scored just 13 and shot 5-17 from the field, including just 1 of 8 on threes, a few of which were
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Trips Right commented on the blog post Basketball Bets 3/12 12 hours, 38 minutes ago
Dick, we’ll see, but I’m not encouraged by OSU’s path to get to this point.
Diego, that’s great, glad you made some money.
Anyone have anything for tomorrow? I’m looking at Duke over again, and the Ohio State over. Not sure if I’m going to play anything. I may just sweat my
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Kevin Berger wrote a new blog post: Big East Beast: The West Virginia Mountaineers 12 hours, 42 minutes ago
Bob Huggins doesn’t recruit basketball players he recruits tough guys who happen to play basketball. He did the same thing at Cincinnati with hard-nosed players like Danny Fortson and Steve Logan and he’s doing it for the West Virginia Mountaineers if tonight’s rough and tumble play was any indication.
In the
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UofC said:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:11 am
The irrational anger exhibited here against OU is a) childish, and b) reflects poorly on a fan base that prides itself on the security of pulling for a perennial power like Texas. Instead of aiming your tantrums at OU and Stoops, why not at the BCS, which in truth should have a system in place that allows the two best teams (Texas and Oklahoma) to play, instead of Oklahoma and Florida?
That aside, why is it that Texas doesn’t step aside, do the honorable (and consistent) thing, and let the team that beat them go to the Fiesta Bowl? That would allow most of you, who aren’t allowed by the terms of your probation to leave the state, to watch the Horns play in Dallas.
jonestopten said:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:22 am
What “irrational anger” did I just exhibit toward OU?
That I am pissed Texas isn’t in the national title game?
Or that I think Texas would beat OU (or Florida) on a neutral field if the game were held tomorrow?
Bob in Houston said:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:23 am
OU fans should know the meaning of childish, I’ll give them that.
Texas got screwed by the computers last week and the voters this week. Nowhere to turn, dude.
As to the honorable thing, when OU steps aside for the team it lost to, then Texas will consider following the example. In any event, Texas earned its BCS slot by the BCS rules.
Nero said:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ughh, for the last time, it’s CIRCULAR. By your logic, the honorable thing would be for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona and for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona and for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona and for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona and for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona and for oklahoma to let UT into miami and for TTU to let OU into the Cotton and UT to let TTU into arizona.
It was a fucking TIE!
Nero said:
December 8th, 2008 at 11:28 am
That was for UofC, not Bob in Houston
Txcastle said:
December 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
UofC:
EABD
That aside, why is it that OU doesn’t step aside, do the honorable (and consistent) thing, and let the team that beat them go to the Orange Bowl?
burnt orange dog said:
December 8th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Nero,
You act like somebody who feels guilty about receiving something you did not deserve. Otherwise, why would you be on the opponets board, defending your prize.
Basically, only one of those three circular games that you reference was played on a neutral field, and you know that outcome. The UT loss was on a field where OU has lost the last two times they played there. Both times, I believe, OU was the superior team. It is a field where the home team enoys quite an advantage. The OU win in this triad, of course was on its home field. It was such a blowout, that it proved that TTU did not belong in the equation,
limonjello said:
December 8th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
It’s funny that one cannot write about OU without subconciously having to mention probation.
jonestopten said:
December 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Does anyone give a shit about my piece this week?
I thought the Colonel Kilgore line was pretty good.
Validation, always seeking validation…
Art Vandelay said:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Good line. Love the movie. Honestly didn’t know his name was Colonel Kilgore. If you had said “the Robert Duvall character that liked to surf” it would have killed.
so do we surf or fight in Glendale?
Nero said:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
whoah, burnt orange dog, I’m a longhorn through and through, BBA 2004. I don’t know what about my post made you think I was a sooner or red raider. I’m just tired of the whole three way tie. Sure there are good arguments for all sides, and I prefer UT’s argument, but it doesn’t change the fact that we tied for the South, lost out to OU for a bid, and now face Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. I’m ready to move forward.
burnt orange dog said:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Nero,
A thousand apologies. I agree with the setiments of your second post, I am thrilled with our season, and am ready to move on.
I do not agree that it is truly a circular arguement, which is what all of the OU faithful seem to spouting, and this is why I mistook you for a Sooner. Again, I apologize
Nero said:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
BOD,
No problem. Looking to the future just got easier since the news that Colt will be returning for his senior year!
ATXHornsFan said:
December 8th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Great job JTT. As always. AN reference was great – I can always visualize those Air Cav cards being flipped on bodies.
And as for all the sooners telling us to quit whining, I ask: what would your boards look like if the situation was reversed? And I don’t think it is whining on the part of most Horns Fans or anger at OU. It was the system, and neither OU nor Bob Stoops had anything to do with that. It just happened. If we had taken care of business in Lubbock (read: an offensive game plan that made sense) we wouldn’t have been in this situation.
And as far as this year goes for football, all that really matters now is beating the Buckeyes.
MDub said:
December 9th, 2008 at 8:15 am
That circular argument thing…don’t forget that Bama beat Ole Miss, which beat Florida, which beat Bama…guess Florida ought to give up its berth in the BCSCG using that logic.
NateHeupel said:
December 10th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Hang on for some crap you never saw coming…
1) OU deserved to be in the Big 12 Title game, but not for the reasons I originally thought. Because everyone agreed on the rules, there’s no justification for changing them in the middle of the game just because your team ended up on the short end. Want it different in 2009? Go nuts. Everyone knew the setup. 3 way tie? It’s going to the BCS, and OU won. THAT SAID……
2) UT deserved to be in the BCS title game. The Big 12 tiebreaker was merely designed to ferret out a team to be a divisional representative to a bs conference title game. However, when I look at the big picture, I look back at the Red River game, and I see the justification isn’t in the scoreboards, it’s in the way we got to where we are.
The OU offensive coordinator had no game plan to run the ball until after the Kansas game. Making OU one-dimensional was not terribly hard. The OU defensive coordinator had no backup plan for a MLB who’d never successfully gotten through an entire season healthy. Awesome.
OU’s loss was due to coaching, and that’s the least excusable reason in my eyes.
UT had to play a war against Oklahoma, a much hyped chip shot against Missouri, then another battle royale against Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. After I rewatched some of the UT-Tech game, I saw a team that just didn’t have anything left in the tank. It wasn’t about bad coaching. UT was just out of gas, and unfortunately they ran out on the road against the most fired up team they could hope to avoid.
But for me, it didn’t come down to the circular scoreboard of Texas beat OU beat Tech beat Texas…It came down to 48-28, 43-42, and 55-19. It came down to 38-37 and 41-38. Venables has yet to have properly prepared his game plan or his defense for a BCS game in the last 4 years. Hell, the only bowl win in that timeframe was against an Oregon team missing its starting QB.
When it came down to it, history told me what I needed to know. OU needed to earn their way back in for the future with a W in Glendale. Lord willing, Florida losing their offensive coordinator to Miss. St. and possibly their defensive coordinator to UCF will give OU the break they may need. But with Venables…who knows?
Canada said:
December 11th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Do you think that they will be ready this year?
NateHeupel said:
December 12th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Canada, I’ve learned that OU needs to be utterly antagonized for them to find the necessary motivation to win a big game. This was possible in 2000 because everyone in sports media still had their lips firmly wrapped around Bobby Bowden’s shaft.
For the first time since then, no one believes in OU at all. In fact, several ESPN talking heads don’t think OU belongs in Miami at all. That’s all good news for OU fans.
But if you’re all wondering how it is OU keeps getting love from the computers, I have 4 words for you: Photoshop and Bing Bong.