For the last week or so, roughly 9 out of every 10 seconds of my Ohio State stream of consciousness has been dedicated to the traveshamockery that is the purported rescheduling of the Greatest Show on Earth.  Suffice it to say, I am spent.  I have written email upon email to Gordon, Gene, and Jim. Their email addresses are here if you wish to pick up my slack:

gordon.gee@osu.edu
genesmith@buckeyes.ath.ohio-state.edu
jdelany@bigten.org

Thankfully, Frank the Tank has captured the reality of the situation better than I ever could.  I consider the this link mandatory reading for anyone that loves Ohio State or Michigan football, the Big Ten, or college football.  Enjoy.

THE BIG TEN: THE NEW COKE CONFERENCE

Here it is, one of the most unofficial preseason college football polls you will ever see.

RANK	TEAM	2009 RECORD	2009 RANK
1	Alabama	14-0	1
2	Ohio State	11-2	5
3	Oklahoma	8-5	NR
4	Florida	13-1	3
5	Texas	13-1	3
6	Virginia Tech	10-3	2
7	Wisconsin	10-3	10
8	Boise State	14-0	4
9	TCU	12-1	6
10	Oregon	10-3	11
11	Miami	9-4	19
12	Georgia	8-5	NR
13	North Carolina	8-5	NR
14	Florida State	7-6	NR
15	Iowa	11-2	7
16	USC	9-4	22
17	Arkansas	8-5	NR
18	Nebraska	10-4	14
19	Auburn	8-5	NR
20	Penn State	11-2	9
21	Pittsburgh	10-3	15
22	LSU	9-4	17
23	Texas A&M	6-7	NR
24	Michigan State	6-7	NR
25	Boston College	8-5	NR

Prolouge: As usual, this poll is based on how good I believe the teams to be at this moment, not where they will finish.  Just like every year, I will strive to maintain this philosophy for the entire season.  I will struggle against the perceived transitive properties of college football.  I will trust my subjective ability to evaluate teams that are rounding into shape while others are demonstrating a pronounced ability to come unglued.  It is not entirely unusual for there to be teams with two losses that look much better than a handful of undefeateds.

As the faithful reader(s) know, I rank the teams based on how good I believe them to be at this moment, not at the end of last season, and not how I think they will finish.  Schedules are not taken into consideration but the natural off-season development is relied upon.  For me, the test is whether I believe a team would defeat the team immediately ahead of them on a neutral field this weekend.

Also, and this sounds obvious, someone has to be ranked in each spot. There are no ties.  Even though I have team X four spots ahead of team Y, the spread may be very narrow in my mind.  I know there are vagaries that make it difficult to determine who is truly better than whom, but remember these rankings are subjective.

Finally, the rankings are always subject to change. Teams may jump five or ten spots in one week, or may drop even when they win. Likewise, teams may rise when they lose. I take injuries and suspensions into consideration, so a team may win its game and lose its best player (see Oregon 2007) and drop in my poll.  This poll will not reward teams simply for winning.  Again, these rankings are subjective.

Sexy Outs: There are a lot of sexy squads out there that garner trendy votes.   South Carolina, Arizona, Notre Dame and Washington immediately jump to mind.  Reasons exist to hit the ‘buy’ button for those teams but honestly, the smart money has been on ’sell’ for a long time.  I understand that 5-10 of the teams I have placed in my lineup will promptly plummet out within a matter of weeks.

Saturday is the annual day that the media proclaims one college football player top dog of his sport.  Its good to see a couple of new guys get their shot at the bronze stiff arm in “Big Suh” and Toby Gerhart, as well as knowing that Tim Tebow will most likely not win his second Heisman thus preserving the legacy of Archie for at least one more year.  Anyhoo, here’s the rundown on the finalists:

Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford:

• 311 attempts
• 1,736 yards
• 5.6 yards per carry average
• 26 TDs
• 0 Fumbles
• 10 receptions
• 149 yards

Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska:

• 82 tackles
• 47 solo tackles
• 12 sacks
• 1 interception

Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama:

• 249 carries
• 1,542 yards
• 6.2 yards per carry average
• 15 TDs
• 30 receptions
• 322 yards
• 3 TDs

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida:

• 182/279 passing (65.2%)
• 2,413 yards
• 18 TD, 5 INT
• 203 rushes
• 589 yards
• 13 TDs

Colt McCoy, QB, Texas:

• 330/468 passing (70.5%)
• 3,512 yards
• 27 TDs, 12 INT
• 128 rushes
• 348 yards
• 3 TDs

Now, who do I think should win the trophy?  Well, if I had a vote I’d cast it for either Ndamukong Suh or Toby Gerhart.  They both played like men among boys during their respective seasons, easily head and shoulders above anyone else at their positions this year in college football.  Who do I think will actually win?  Probably Mark Ingram.  He had a great performance in the SEC championship game on national TV and that game, coupled with his season stats, will probably catapult him to the stage on Saturday.

By now you know who is facing whom in all of the BCS games this year.  But for the record here is the rundown:

Sugar Bowl:

Cincinnati vs. Florida

Fiesta Bowl:

Boise State vs. Texas Christian

Orange Bowl:

Iowa vs. Georgia Tech

Rose Bowl:

Oregon vs. Ohio State

BCS National Championship Game:

Texas vs. Alabama

Well, as much as it would seem that the BCS hates the Big Ten, they’re one of only two conferences to get two teams into BCS bowls.  (Partially due to the two “mid-majors” in the Fiesta Bowl.)  I would love to see Texas beat Alabama because I really don’t like the SEC and never have, but I’m kind of getting tired of this whole “Big 12 vs. SEC” game for the national championship.  And I really don’t understand the Fiesta Bowl matchup.  I know both TCU and Boise have been trying to make a case to play for the title, but playing each other isn’t going to get it done.  If anything, I think the greatest interest would have come from switching TCU and Cincy in their respective bowl games.  But I digress.  For the state of Ohio football, I hope that Florida puts Cincinnati in their place by 30 and that Ohio State is able to muscle out a win against Oregon.  Tell me your predictions below in the comments section.

Now, bear with me a for a moment after what I’m about to say.  Terrelle Pryor has been pretty good passing the ball the last two games.  I mean good to the tune of 24/48 (50%), 374 yds, 3 TDs, and only 1 INT.  While the completion percentage doesn’t look quite like Colt McCoy’s the TD:INT ratio is where I like to see it.  Want to hear something more surprising than those numbers?  In the past two games, Pryor has only been sacked once.  Now, granted, one of these games was against New Mexico State, but that doesn’t mean that the starting 11 doesn’t have to go out there on Saturdays and do their jobs right.

Does anyone else see a correlation between the two stats?  Well, compare those numbers for the past two games with the Oct. 17 loss at Purdue.  Pryor was 17/31 (55%), 221 yds, 1 TD, 2 INTs.  In addition, Pryor lost two fumbles.  And as for the offense line that game?  They gave up 5 sacks.  Yeah, I’m starting to see a pattern here.

It may be elementary that passers who get better protection are going to pass better, but Pryor has been taking heat all year for his throwing, but the fact of the matter is he’s been under pressure all year behind an offensive line that has been more porous than swiss cheese.  Now this doesn’t absolve Pryor from all the blame, but surely it at least covers some of it.  I would love to have some numbers on the amount of time Pryor has had from the snap of the ball until he throws or is forced to scramble/roll out because of pressure.  But as a college kid who lives off of $60 every two weeks for groceries, I’m not really in the market for a DVR.

However, what I will be doing this weekend as I’m downing Budweiser’s watching the game from the comfort of my living room is taking the time and effort to calculate that exact stat for examination.  Make a mental note of it yourself, if Pryor is given ample time in which to make a decision about where he should throw or whether he should tuck it and run without being chased from the backfield by a defensive lineman or a blitzing linebacker he should have games comparable to his last two and the team will have a greater chance of coming out of Happy Valley with a Happy W.