Ramon goes on an adventure

So for work, I had to journey to the governor's mansion on Tuesday afternoon and I took along the Ramon Escobar Trophy.

I, hopefully, have attached some photos of the day's adventure.

Jim Guy was and still is my favorite governor. Mostly because he gave me an award back in the day. Anyway, Ron Maxwell, the mansion administrator, didn't want to be seen with Ramon, but a member of the state police security detail did. His picture is thoughfully included, I have about 10 total, but posting pictures is a pain in the butt.

Ramon is available for speaking engagements and photos, please contact me for more information.

McFadden's Uphill Climb to the Heisman

Looking at McFadden he is, to most all of us, a Heisman winner.

We all have our own methods of predicting our favorite football teams upcoming regular season record. 7-5? 9-3? 12-0? Personally I predict 9-3 for the Arkansas Razorbacks with losses to Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU.

One can't help but wonder what Arkansas' regular season record and ranking at the time of the Heisman vote will do to Darren's chances of taking home the most coveted individual trophy in all of college sports. Let's take a look at how others have fared over the years with respect to record.

Below you will find the last 20 Heisman trophy winners dating back to 1987.

Heisman Winners and Poll Ranking at the time of the Heisman Vote (in parentheses):

2006 Troy Smith Ohio State QB (1) Lost BCSCG
2005 Reggie Bush Southern California RB (1) Lost BCSCG
2004 Matt Leinart Southern California QB (1) Lost in NC game
2003 Jason White Oklahoma QB (1) Lost in NC game
2002 Carson Palmer Southern California QB (3) Won Orange Bowl
2001 Eric Crouch Nebraska QB (1) Lost in NC game
2000 Chris Weinke Florida State QB (1) Won Nat'l Championship
1999 Ron Dayne Wisconsin RB (5) 9-2 record at vote, B10 runner-up, Won Orange Bowl
1998 Ricky Williams Texas RB (16) 8-3 record at vote, B12S runner-up, Won Cotton Bowl - 1997 Charles Woodson Michigan DB/WR (5) 9-2 record at vote, B10 runner-up, Won Rose Bowl
1996 Danny Wuerffel Florida QB (1) Won Nat'l Championship
1995 Eddie George Ohio State RB (4) 10-1 record at vote, Big10 runner-up, Lost Citrus Bowl
1994 Rashaan Salaam Colorado RB (4) 9-1-1 record at vote, Big12 runner-up, Won Fiesta Bowl
1993 Charlie Ward Florida State QB (1) Won Nat'l Championship
1992 Gino Torretta Miami QB (2) Lost Sugar Bowl (to NC Alabama)
1991 Desmond Howard Michigan WR (1) 10-1-0 record at vote, Lost Rose Bowl (to NC Washington)
1990 Ty Detmer Brigham Young QB (10) 10-2-0 record at vote, Lost Holiday Bowl
1989 Andre Ware Houston QB (Top 15) 8-2 record at vote, offense scored 589 points...5 games over 60 pts (95 v SMU)
1988 Barry Sanders Oklahoma State RB (14) 9-2 record at vote, Won Holiday Bowl - Rushed for 2,628, 37 TD's on 344 attempts
1987 Tim Brown Notre Dame WR (Top 20) 8-3 record at vote, Lost Cotton Bowl

• Of the last 11 Heisman winners, 7 have played in the National Championship game.
• 1998 is the most recent year a Heisman winner's team finished outside of the top 5 (Williams)

For the 5 winners of the 20 listed who played for teams outside of the Top 5 in National Polls, the achievements for their respective winning years should be noted. Each is very impressive and likely a NCAA record setting year in either rushing or passing.

Lower ranked Heisman winner notes:

Williams notes: Ricky Williams gained 2,124 yards with 27 touchdowns on 361 carries (5.9 avg) on his way to securing the Heisman trophy in 1998. Williams set NCAA records with two 300-yard rushing performances - 668 rushing yards & 11 touchdowns during the two-game span. Williams became the NCAA career rushing leader in 1998 with 6,279 yards. He also broke the NCAA Division 1A career rushing touchdowns and career scoring records in 1998 with 73 TD's and 452 points respectively. Both records have since fallen (Dayne/Prentice)

Detmer notes: Ty Detmer won the Heisman trophy in his Jr. season. Detmer passed for 5,188 yards and 41 touchdowns in 12 regular season games, and finished the year with 42 NCAA records. His final career statistics were 1,530 pass attempts; 958 completions, 15,031 passing yards, 121 touchdown passes and 14,665 yards of total offense.

Ware notes: Andre Ware won the Heisman trophy in his Jr. season. Ware threw for 4,699 yards, 46 touchdowns and set 26 NCAA records during his Heisman season. Ware led the Houston Cougars as they scored 95 points against SMU. Lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Sanders notes: In 1988, Sanders rushed for 2,628 and 37 TD's on 344 attempts. Barry set 34 NCAA records during his Heisman campaign.

Brown notes: During his Heisman season, Brown caught 34 passes for 846 yards, returned 34 punts for 401 yards, rushed for 144 yards, and gained 456 yards on 23 kickoff returns. Tim scored 8 touchdowns.

So ... will 8 - 4 or even 9 - 3 be enough for Darren McFadden to win the Heisman this season?

It doesn't look promising.

ESPN's new college football show

This apparently started last week. I wish it would come on at night instead of in the middle of the day...

From USA Today:

College football has produced some of sports TV's most memorable, dramatic moments of recent vintage. Recall Boise State's wild 43-42 overtime victory against Oklahoma during last month's Fiesta Bowl or Vince Young and Texas upsetting Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Southern California in the national title game in 2006.

Looking to capitalize on college football's growing popularity, ESPN plans to launch this summer a weekday series, College Football Live. The 30-minute show will kick off July 23 and run through bowl season in January, says David Berson, ESPN senior vice president of programming.

Modeled after the network's daily NFL Live, the new show will be hosted mostly by Rece Davis and feature breaking news, features and analysis. Davis will be joined by a rotating mix of ESPN's college football talent, including Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit from College GameDay, Lou Holtz, Mark May, Bob Griese, Doug Flutie, Todd Blackledge, Craig James and Ed Cunningham.

The show will come on at 3:30 p.m. ET Monday-Friday on ESPN. When Monday Night Football starts, the Monday edition will shift to 2 p.m. on ESPN2. To make room for the new show, the first half of ESPN's afternoon programming block, including Outside the Lines First Report, 1st and 10 and Best of Mike and Mike, will start 30 minutes earlier.

Why now? Berson says ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC posted record TV ratings for college football programming in 2006. College GameDay posted its highest ratings in 20 years, and ABC successfully launched Saturday Night Football.

"College football fans want more content," Berson says. "This has been a long time coming. It's a natural extension for us. We expect it to become a staple of our programming, like NFL Live and Baseball Tonight."

NOTRE DAME'S MYTHICAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not involved in the selection process.

However, this doesn't stop some Irish idiots from claiming up to 23 national championships. Congratulations on the three outright titles the Irish deserve.

Let us take a closer look at the championships the Irish can claim with some validity:

1988 - LEGITIMATE
Notre Dame has a legitimate claim to #1. They are the only undefeated team and ranked #1 in the AP. That said, one can question the legitimacy of the Irish's victory against the Hurricanes:

With Miami trailing 31-24 and facing a critical fourth-and-7 from deep in Irish territory midway through the fourth quarter, Walsh connected with Miami running back Cleveland Gary streaking across the middle of the field at the Irish 11-yard line. Gary picked up the first down and turned up-field but was tackled at the Notre Dame 1-yard line. The ball came loose at the end of the play and the ball was recovered by Notre Dame linebacker Michael Stonebreaker. But that play has become one of the most innacurately remembered and described plays in college football history. Even major accounts of the greatest games in college football history routinely botch the description. Lou Holtz got it wrong in his autobiography, calling it a fumble. Gary was ruled down at the one yard line. It was not ruled a fumble. But the split crew of referees mistakenly believed it was fourth and goal, not fourth and 7. Incredibly, the ball was given to Notre Dame on downs. Jimmy Johnson can be seen on the tape of the game, coming out onto the field and motioning first down, while saying "first down, it's a first down." The placement of the ball verifies the officials got it wrong, since the ball is placed where it was when Gary's knees went down, not where the ball was when Stonebreaker recovered. Here is a section of an article in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel from October 18, 1988: "In my mind, I believe we probably made a mistake in giving Notre Dame the football," the official told the News. "There was confusion as to whether there was a fumble or not, but there was also a great question about giving Notre Dame the football over on downs. That's why they got the football."

1977 - NO
There are five teams which have a legitimate claim to #1. Notre Dame can make that claim, but so can one loss Alabama, Arkansas, Penn State and Kentucky. Investigating a little further, we see that both Notre Dame and Kentucky lost to 5-6 teams, which should probably eliminate them from consideration. Alabama lost to a 3 loss Nebraska team, Penn State lost to a 1 loss Kentucky team and Arkansas lost to a 1 loss Texas team. If one wishes to use the same criteria of transivity to say that Notre Dame is better than Arkansas because of their games versus Texas, then perhaps we should consider Alabama's and Notre Dame's common opponent, Ole Miss. Alabama won, Notre Dame lost. Does this deserve to be counted as a national championship? No. It should be shared at best.

1973 - NO
There are five undefeated teams this year: Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Unfortunately, Michigan and Ohio State tied each other and Oklahoma also had a tie ruining their perfect season, which leaves Notre Dame and Penn State. Notre Dame beat 4 teams with winning records: USC (9-2-1), Pitt (6-5-1), Air Force (6-4) and Alabama (11-1). Penn State faced 7 teams with winning records: Stanford (7-4), Air Force (6-4), West Virginia (6-5), Maryland (8-4), NC State (9-3), Pitt (6-5-1) and LSU (9-3). Does Notre Dame deserve to count 1973 as undisputed national champion? No. It should be shared at best.

1966 - NO
Notre Dame and Michigan State had identical records, 10-0-1, with both team's tie occurring against each other in a 10-10 game known as one of the greatest games played in college football. On the surface, that should suggest a split title, since neither team could beat the other. Michigan State faced three teams with winning records; Notre Dame faced four - both teams had sketchy schedules. What about Alabama? Bama had a perfect season, 11-0-0, and faced six teams with winning records.

1953 - LEGITIMATE
Notre Dame had the best record, tying one game, and were ranked #2 in the final AP poll prior to bowl games - which featured #1 Maryland losing to Oklahoma.

1949 - NO
Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Army all finished with perfect records. Notre Dame beat 5 teams with winning records, Army beat 3 teams with winning records, and Oklahoma beat 5 teams with winning records. It's close, but Oklahoma probably played a tougher schedule, making them in all likelihood the best team that year.

1947 - NO
Notre Dame, Michigan, SMU and Penn State all were undefeated, but SMU and Penn State had ties blemishing their records. Notre Dame beat 3 winning teams, while Michigan beat 6 winning teams. Again, at best a split title, with the edge going to the Wolverines.

1946 - NO
Notre Dame and Army were ranked 1-2 in the AP poll prior to bowl games. Notre Dame had a 8-0-1 record, while Army had a 9-0-1 record. Like the 1966 season, Army and Notre Dame tied each other, with the score being 0-0. Like 1966, Notre Dame got the advantage in the polls over a team they tied, even though that team had no losses. And like 1966, there was another team that was perfect and ignored: Georgia.

1943 - NO
How could anyway claim this title? Notre Dame, Iowa Navy Pre-Flight, Michigan, Navy, Duke, Del Monte Pre-Flight and March Field were all 1 loss teams in the AP top ten. Purdue was the only undefeated team in the AP. Notre Dame lost to a two loss Great Lakes Navy team. Purdue beat that team, but played a pathetic schedule.

PRE-POLL ERA:

1930 - NO
In 1930, you have two undefeated teams, Alabama and Notre Dame that both play killer schedules. This should be considered a split title.

1929 - NO
Notre Dame had a perfect record in 1929, but then again, so did Purdue and several others. This should be considered a split title.

1924 - YES
Notre Dame was the only undefeated major college team.

Notre Dame to Add Another National Championship

In light of the previous post, I thought I'd pass along this breaking news. Read more about it here: http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#7211284703962762177. Here's the quote from the Notre Dame AD:

Although we have great hopes for the future of our football program, Notre Dame has greater hopes for a facet of that program that is far more important to our university: our past," Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said in a press conference Monday. "With that in mind, we will be making improvements, additions, and revisions that, like our history itself, have been 118 years in the making. Hence I unveil to you the true 1953 National Champions, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish."

As for myself, I would have chosen either 1989 or 1993 (both are alittle more recent). But, hey, I'm fine with ANY national title we can get right now (But watch out for Charlie & Co. in '09).

Why Notre Dame Sux

1. Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game in their last 8 attempts. And they've only been to 27 bowl games.

2. Notre Dame's fan base consists predominantly of fans who couldn't get into Notre Dame and have no idea where South Bend is on a map.

3. Notre Dame has a losing bowl record. And they've only been to 27 bowl games.

4. Notre Dame's Heisman winners are the product of popularity contests, not the product of the best performance by football players.

5. Similarly, Notre Dame's "national championships" are the result of popularity, and not the result of being the best team. You can be popular without being good. For example, consider the popularity of McDonald's and soccer.

6. Notre Dame's record in the past 50 years isn't in the top 10.

7. Notre Dame fans cite their record of excellence, despite most of their success occurring when the Charleston was popular.

8. The fight song is just terrible. Fortunately, we only have to hear it before the game.

9. Notre Dame has had major NCAA violations and went on probation for two years.

10. Notre Dame has had several incidents of racism.

11. Notre Dame represents itself as THE Catholic institution of higher learning, which is arrogant and untrue. There are many fine Catholic universities, such as Boston College and Georgetown.

12. Notre Dame represents itself as THE Catholic football factory. Perhaps someone should inform the Domers that recently, Boston College has the better record. And Boston College has faced a tougher schedule.

13. Firing Ty Willingham after 3 years, yet letting Faust stay on for 5 years. If you say this is a case of Notre Dame learning from their mistakes, then realize that Willingham had a better first year than Weis.

14. Hiring George O'Leary.

15. Joe Theismann.

16. Changing the pronounciation of one's surname from THEEZ-man to rhyme with Heisman. What a sellout!

17. Afraid to join a conference like the Big Ten. Could it be because Notre Dame has a losing record against the Big Ten since 1994?

18. Holier than thou attitude.

19. Fourth and short Jesus.

20. Exclusive TV contract with NBC, yet ever-forgetful of what Christ said: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24).

21. Notre Dame is always overrated by pollsters in pre-season polls, as evidenced by this study.

22. Notre Dame is always overrated in final polls, as evidenced by their bowl record. And they've only been to 27 bowl games.

23. The favoritism shown towards Notre Dame by media idiots like Beano Cook and Tom Lemming.

24. The Notre Dame hype machine.

25. That this is the only top 25 list Notre Dame deserves to be on.

Vegas odds to win the SEC title

Florida 2-1
LSU 2-1
Arkansas 5-1
Georgia 5-1
Tennessee 7-1
Auburn 7-1
South Carolina 10-1
Alabama 10-1
Kentucky 18-1
Ole Miss 50-1
Miss State 100-1
Vanderbilt 150-1

McFadden is SI.com cover story

The Boss Hog

All-SEC team announced

The media's version of the All-SEC team is out, and Arkansas once again dominates Auburn with both Darren McFadden and Felix Jones making the first team. Arkansas has five players on the All-SEC first team to Auburn's one.

All total, it's Arkansas 5, Auburn 3.

And a reminder from the coaches' version of the All-SEC team that came out last week, it was Arkansas 12, Auburn 8.

Full list of media team here

Welcome to Poolsville
the new blog for the college football pool

In past years, there's been a lot of trash talk by e-mail among the participants in the pool. Some people love it, some people don't. With the pool continuing to grow in number of entrants, I set up this web site to offer a place where all the trash talking and more can take place. That means unlimited haikus by the Beekeeper, unlimited talk from both sides about Auburn, and unlimited pro and anti Notre Dame commentary. Plus, I'll also post the weekly games here, and I plan to post the top 10 games earlier in the week for those people who want a head start. Anyone in the pool can become a contributor (I'll send you an invitation directing you on how to do it), or you can just post in the comments sections without having to register. Invitations to the pool go out August 16, and I anticipate that we will possibly break 100 people this year.