Here is my draft ballot for blogpoll ballot weak 5. Obviously Dorrell's program doesn't deserve to be anywhere in this list.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | -- |
| 2 | Auburn | -- |
| 3 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 4 | West Virginia | -- |
| 5 | Florida | -- |
| 6 | Michigan |
 2 |
| 7 | Texas |
 1 |
| 8 | Georgia |
1 |
| 9 | Louisiana State | -- |
| 10 | Louisville |
1 |
| 11 | Iowa |
1 |
| 12 | Oregon |
1 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech |
1 |
| 14 | Notre Dame |
1 |
| 15 | Tennessee |
1 |
| 16 | Oklahoma |
4 |
| 17 | Clemson |
1 |
| 18 | Cal |
3 |
| 19 | TCU |
3 |
| 20 | Boise State |
6 |
| 21 | Purdue |
5 |
| 22 | Florida State |
3 |
| 23 | Boston College |
6 |
| 24 | Rutgers |
2 |
| 25 | Missouri |
1 |
Dropped Out: Alabama (#18), UCLA (#19), Wisconsin (#23), Arizona State (#24).
Honestly I am not in the greatest mood to offer my thoughts on what happened around the country in the world of college football. But thoughts on couple of games are worth mentioning with our team in context:
Notre Dame: I am not sure where I fall in WRT to Willingham/Weiss debate. I am not that enamored with Willingham. I think he got Stanford team to the Rose Bowls in a decade when Southern Cal and UCLA were fielding weak teams. Perhaps he has the Huskies back on track. But make no mistake about it. The result of the UCLA-Washington game had lot more to do with Dorrell's incompetence than Willingham's great coaching. Now going back to Weiss, the Irish-Spartans game showed to me what it is like to have a coach, who the players and the fan base believe in. Simply put the Irish never quit. They were not holding back in a dire situation. Last year Bruins were running up the gut when Mildcates were walloping us in the desert. Yet there was Weiss going for it on 4th downs. From SMQ (via Rakes of Mallow):
SMQ isn't sure, for example, that Notre Dame can win a big game without fourth downs, as it hit two more critical conversions in its comeback in the rain-soaked yet defensively barren thriller Saturday night: when he says they have a very small margin of error, it's because the Irish always seem to be against the wall - on plays like the 27-yard fourth-and-one connection to John Carlson in the second quarter, immediately preceding a Jeff Samardzisosopo touchdown, and later the fourth quarter, fourth-and-five that Samaradzizjaija singlehandedly took 43 yards against flailing defenders to kick off the comeback - and delivering. ND was perfect on four fourth downs against Penn State, remember, and scored after all of them. Many teams wouldn't attempt or wouldn't convert those plays, especially not in such dramatic fashion, and difference in those teams and Notre Dame is often only that the Irish thrive on those crunch plays. Certainly they wouldn't have been anywhere near the victory without them Saturday.
Well we know our spineless, cowardly coaching staff wouldn't make those calls. And to make excuses they would point the fingers at their QB, who apparently needs to be babied despite being a 23 year old, red shirt sophomore, who was the number 1 player out of high school.CU v. Georgia: You wouldn't see Mark Richt making those kinds of excuses who rode the arm of his third string QB, red shirt sophomore Joe Cox to pull of a thrilling win against Dan Hawkins' scrappy and outmanned Colorado football program. The difference between a loser like Dorrell and an elite coach like Richt? Here is CAJason80:
Saturday is far and away the best example I can give of the coaching gap between UGA and UCLA. UGA's struggling against Colorado nearly the entire game, and I swear, I wasn't really all that worried. In the back of my mind, the whole time, I was thinking "Don't worry, Richt will figure out a way to pull this one out." And what does the man do? He makes a quarterback switch towards the end of the 3rd quarter which sparks the team, and the Dawgs pull it out against Colorado with under a minute remaining. Dawg fans often complain about some of Richt's play-calling, but the bottom line is the man just knows how to win, and when it comes to dictating pace, momentum, and belif in the team, he gets it done.
Contrast that with UCLA's debacle on Saturday. Is there any doubt that Dorrell is in way over his head? The man looks like a deer in headlights in every critical play-calling juncture, and even worse, he actively seeks out to destroy confidence and momentum for the team. Not even once do you consider going for it on 4th and goal from the 5 yard-line and in? Do you have that little faith in your offense? That little faith in your defense to hold a team if somehow you don't score?
The worst flaw about Dorrell is he has so little imagination it almost boggles the mind. Adjustments seem to be way beyond the scope of his intellect. I wonder what he does at halftime sometimes, while all other coaches are making adjustments. He seems to be so singularly focused on whatever gameplan he comes in with, no matter the adjustments made at halftime, he fails to react.
Contrast that with someone like Richt: gameplan not working? Quarterback struggling? He makes adjustments and the team is better off for it.
I don't have anything to add to that.Contrast that with UCLA's debacle on Saturday. Is there any doubt that Dorrell is in way over his head? The man looks like a deer in headlights in every critical play-calling juncture, and even worse, he actively seeks out to destroy confidence and momentum for the team. Not even once do you consider going for it on 4th and goal from the 5 yard-line and in? Do you have that little faith in your offense? That little faith in your defense to hold a team if somehow you don't score?
The worst flaw about Dorrell is he has so little imagination it almost boggles the mind. Adjustments seem to be way beyond the scope of his intellect. I wonder what he does at halftime sometimes, while all other coaches are making adjustments. He seems to be so singularly focused on whatever gameplan he comes in with, no matter the adjustments made at halftime, he fails to react.
Contrast that with someone like Richt: gameplan not working? Quarterback struggling? He makes adjustments and the team is better off for it.
As for the blogpoll lemme know if there are adjustments that needs to be made. And as always please use facts to make your case.
GO BRUINS.