Sobered Up - Week 15

***Foreword from OBJ:

Unfortunately, Jon Bon, sometimes we must.

Unless you're a Florida fan, this is a fairly depressing weekend in the world of sports. Now, primarily that's because the greatest sport there is, College Football, is winding down to a pitiful close. Perhaps if last year's season wasn't so epic, perhaps if Notre Dame sucking it up wasn't the best thing going for my season, perhaps if Georgia wasn't preseason-ranked #1 and going to a sure-to-be hungover as shit New Year's bowl - losing in embarrassing fashion in all three games where they failed to become the victor (sorry, but I think a supposed stud like Reshad Jones 1/2 tackling, 1/2 queefing Roddy Jones and allowing the game-securing touchdown was not only embarrassing, I think it was a perfect microcosm of the Dawgs' season), perhaps if there was another SEC team going to the Championship game for me to root for instead of the Gators, again, I don't know...maybe this season wouldn't seem like such an overwhelming disappointment. At least I get to look forward to another Notre Dame coach-shopping spree next year.

The most disconcerting element of the end of the season, of course, is the last full version of Sobered Up 2008. As noted below, it is very comforting to know that we have more fans than the ACC. Surely, you can look forward to the inevitable Elation/Crestfallen post when Knowshon and Stafford decide the fate of the 2009 Bulldogs in a month. Certainly a Bowlgasm or two, followed by whatever College Football talk we can conjure without the aid of an actual season in progress. Recruiting. The draft. [Sigh.]

While you will undoubtedly miss Sobered Up like the blanket that you carried around for 12 years as a child and now must leave behind, I assure you that we will miss you more. Be strong, my friends. Sobered Up will return, bigger and better than ever. See you then.***

You're probably looking at a short edition of Sobered Up, seeing as how there is very little to complain about/overanalyze regarding Georgia this week. Two weeks after Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for THAT.

Karma was a bitch for Ball State. After passing on the chance to play at Bosie State in the Humanitarian Bowl (and generate some legitimate interest in an otherwise lackluster bowl game for both teams), they go out and get stomped by Buffalo 45-24, leading to a chain of events where it appears Turner Gill is a front-runner for the Auburn job. The job Gill has done at Buffalo is absolutely impressive, but with only three years of head coaching experience in the MAC and a career best record of 8-5, I'm skeptical if he's ready for the life as an SEC coach. Espicially since the conference has lost it's damned mind.

That SEC championship game lived up to it's considerable hype, the Big 12 championship played out according to plan, and now we are looking at a BCS Championship where an over/under of 120 is a distinct possibility. I'm so ready for this game and cannot express in words how much I loathe the 40+ day break that assures at least one of these squads will be rusty as hell.

Pour one out for Alabama. Needing JP Wilson to air it out and win a game from behind was exactly the situation they successfully avoided all season, as well as the worst case scenario with the SEC title on the line. Still though, great season and bright future ahead for those guys, as they lose only 8 seniors (albeit some very important ones) after this season.

Whose fans are more disappointed with how their season played out, Georgia or Missouri? I have to go with Georgia here simply because I thought all this "Missouri National Title Contender" talk was insane to begin with. However, to an objective eye, perhaps the Georgia hype was equally ludicrous.

Not that they need motivation in the friggin BCS Championship, but I get the feeling all the Florida/SEC love and "SHOULD OKLAHOMA EVEN BE THERE" talk over the next month will play right into a convenient "NOBODY BELIEVED IN US" wheelhouse that seem to be all the rage for championship teams lately.

Annual shot of the ACC Championship's attendance woes, courtesy of Doc Saturday. That game really needs to be moved on-campus, or at the very least, to Charlotte. FSU/Miami fans will travel moreso than most of the teams in that conference (this assumes Clemson continues their in-conference mediocrity), but not so much that they will have to stop the buy-one-get-one-free promos.

Fans of Sues are unimpressed. And outnumber the attendance...

If Cincinatti is going to want to be taken seriously as a BCS program, needing a 4th quarter comeback to overcome a two TD deficit against an average Hawaii team is not the way to do it, time zone bitching notwithstanding.

And finally, congrats to the Wannestache, who lives to coach another year after leading Pitt to a solid 9-3 record and contention for the Big East crown, for whatever that's worth. For some reason, that program and coach just complete each other.

Now, the Sue's 10 and Mumme Poll extras:

1. Florida - This was inevitable, and they probably should have been here the last three weeks.

2. Texas - I get the arguments for Oklahoma, I appreciate the statistics, and I am not outraged that they are playing for the national title. That said, I simply place head-to-head matchups on a higher pedistal when comparing seemingly evenly matched teams. Texas' one "L" was a one-point loss on a crazy play to a Top 10 team on the road. Other than that, they haven't been much less impressive at all than Oklahoma. Ergo, if Sue's had a vote, Texas would be our #2.

3. Oklahoma

4. Alabammer

5. USC - I'd like to put Penn State here, but truth be told I'm expecting another USC Rose Bowl Romp.

6. Penn State - The Big 10 should really amend it's rule that all regular season games be done by Thanksgiving. Not only does it make its best teams wait 50+ days for a bowl, but these teams can totally fall off the consciousness of fans and voters. Note the tepid support for Penn State sneaking into the BCS picture compared to USC.

7. Texas Tech

8. Utah - Why is the Sugar Bowl becoming the de-facto "mid-major plays elite SEC team" bowl? How did this happen? Please tell me it has something to do with rotations and this won't be the case forever.

9. Ohio State

10. Oklahoma State

Mumme Extras: Sorry Cinci, you lose your spot for that piss poor performance on the islands. GaTech can hold their spot, and let's throw the ACC a bone (finally!) and give VaTech some love here as well.