Week 5 Most Surprising Results

1. Almost Everyone Agrees that the Excessive Celebration Penalty was Excessive 

Everyone from Mike and Mike in the Morning to Mr. College Football to Douche McDoucherson himself has spoken out against the awful call on AJ Green at the end of the Georgia/LSU game. Tim Brando went on one of his tirades and basically said that SEC refs are racists and that they only throw excess celebration flags against black players. Shockingly, even the SEC issued a statement saying that they screwed up. I don't remember many instances where the league has issued a statement at all regarding a call in the game, let alone an admission that they got it wrong. It's kind of nice and refreshing to see people come to UGA's defense on this one - the last time we got this much national media attention was when people were railing us for what indeed actually counted as "excessive celebration ."

Ironically, the only person who is being a Negative Nancy about the call is Vince Dooley, who went out of his way to defend the existence of the rule instead of agreeing with everyone that, yeah, it was a bullshit call.

On Sunday I was concerned about the long-term ramifications that the incident might have. Our 2009 team is so young and prone to mood swings that, much like 2007, we need to maintain the passion and intensity level as much as possible. Would there be a negative effect on our guys' effort if they knew that after an amazing play they had to walk on eggshells? Who is able to turn off their motor that quickly? It's just not human. But after this firestorm I think the SEC has no choice but to calm the f*** down on calling these things. Because this is a conversation that Tim Brando does NOT want to have, but damnit he will if he has to!


2. Check Out the Teams at the Top of the ACC Standings 

Oh, Maryland and Virginia, you crazy ACC teams you. You spend the month of September competing for "worst BCS team outside of Washington State" but then somehow after last week you're both undefeated in conference play.  And Maryland, explain to me how you're actually leading the ACC Atlantic, aka the most ridiculously wide open division in all of college football. It makes about as much sense as that guy who thought he could get away with blackmailing Letterman. Really, 2 million doesn't even seem like it's worth the trouble and the certainty that you'll go to jail. Letterman makes like 30 million a YEAR, you would think if the guy was gonna go through with this idiotic scheme he would have at least asked for a Dr. Evil over-the-top type figure.

3. Florida State fans in Meltdown Mode

So after listening to Florida State fans complain on talk radio for two straight days about the assistant coaches that Bobby Bowden has hired this decade, I can certainly empathize with them ( cough John Fabris cough). But I still think that Bobby and Joe Pa have earned the right to go out on their own terms.

Every power program has gone through some lean years...Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Tennessee, and even Miami have all had worse seasons and reached lower depths than Florida State in this decade!  Alabama was like a yo-yo before Nick Saban got there, and in 2007 they actually did lose to a Jacksonville State type school, whereas Florida State just flirted with it this year. USC, Oklahoma, and Texas were kind of irrelevant for most of the 90s. And from 2000-2004 while Bobby was winning 3 ACC titles,  Joe Pa and Penn State were suffering through 4 losing seasons.

Just because other teams imploded is it OK for yours to suck? Of course not. But it's unrealistic for Florida State to sustain the level of dominance that they achieved for 14 years ( in other words, as dominant as Pete Carroll has been this decade he's only halfway there). Florida State won the ACC as recently as 2005 and they probably still have a shot at it this year ( see #2 above). Bobby Bowden is the third greatest college football coach of all time. If you don't think he's quite able to guide Florida State back from the abyss like Joe Paterno did at Penn State earlier this decade, he's at least earned the right to try.

If I'm an FSU fan, the biggest problem I have is not with Bowden but with coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher. What has this guy done to inspire confidence, when all of FSU's glory years were before he got there? Since Jimbo Fisher arrived in 2007, Florida State has been an anemic 80th and a mediocre 54th in total offense. That sounds even worse when you consider that Jimbo Fisher is FSU's offensive coordinator. Obviously the coach-in-waiting thing is not working out, and I think that situation is to blame for all the turmoil and unrest. If FSU was free to go pursue Cincinnati's Brian Kelly or whoever the hot commodity is whenever Bobby retires, I doubt that FSU fans would be as concerned or alarmed as they are now.

4. Oklahoma is the first "Double Elimination" team to be Eliminated 

As my colleague Dexter so astutely pointed out, there are certain teams in college football, like Boise State and Cincinnati, that can't afford to lose a single game if they want to play for the national title. Other teams like Ohio State can possibly afford one slip-up and yet still reach the title game. However, there are three "double elimination" teams that one cannot rule out of the national championship game until they have 2 losses: Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas. This rule could potentially work for any SEC or Big 12 Champion, but it's hard to imagine voters giving Kansas, Missouri, or Ole Miss the benefit of the doubt like they do the Big 3.

So with their 2nd loss this past weekend, we bid adieu to the Sooners' title chances. It's probably the earliest this decade that they've been removed from the discussion. Oklahoma has played in the national championship game 4 times this decade, more than any other team.

Of course if the "fit hits the shan", as it does in Toby Keith's new song, and every other team has at least two losses, then Oklahoma will of course be the first two-loss team to be considered. It's pretty sickening.

# 5 -  There were only 4 Surprising Things this Week

I've scoured over the results from this past weekend and I can't find a damn thing to write about for #5. Dex you got anything?

-Drew