album review!!!
hi, i have decided to review my favorite album of the year so far, spoon's "ga ga ga ga ga." to accomplish this task, i have decided to synergize "spoon" with the concept of "college football," much as i did with college basketball.
and before i do this, i would like to say that i think that this is the best album that spoon has released. you may pine for "kill the moonlight" or "gimme fiction," but i believe that this album is packed quite tightly with quality song after quality song, to the point that songs like "was it you?," "paper tiger," and "back to the life" seem less meaningful in comparison.
and those were great songs!
while spoon was not as brave with their technique as last time, in some sense i feel that this album represents what happens when you have a more balanced perspective about art, life, and all of that jazz... each song doesn't have to be a tempestuous ballad or an emotionally-dripping soliloquy to be good. and that's something worth striving for. now on to the review.
1. don't make me a target.
mike hart, michigan.
by sheer will, mike hart has taken a team on his back, dragging them with his unbreakable desire to a place where anger meets mediocrity. allow me to present to you a group of tragic heroes: the 2007 michigan wolverines. let's win one for old lloyd, suckers.
don't make me a target. don't make me a target. NO, DON'T MAKE ME A TARGET!!!
2. the ghost of you lingers.
pat white, west virginia.
i still believe that louisville has the capacity to beat west virginia. maybe it's just a fool's errand, but i have to believe somewhere. still, when i listen to this song and consider the "cfb" simultaneously, i can't help but think of the slashing ability in the open field executed to perfection. and it scares me.
in the same vein, daniel and the gang execute this song to perfection, building tension through out with keyboard intensity and carefully-planned lyrics. touchdown, mountaineers.
**editor's note: this post was started before the 13th team in the sec, the south florida bulls, knocked off wvu on the friday nite. **
if you were here, would you calm me down?
3. you got yr. cherry bomb.
darren mcfadden, arkansas.
i consider mcfadden to be the next tomlinson. everybody in the tri-state area knows that arkansas is running the football, yet mcfadden manages to take the football to the house at an alarming frequency. he has embarassed sec defenses, which is next to impossible.
seriously, who was the last running back in the sec that was even close to being as good as mcfadden? was it joe addai? jamal lewis? brown/cadillac? emmitt smith ?!?!?!
it was the longest day that i had ever known.
4. don't you evah.
glenn dorsey, lsu.
one thing is consistent about sports: defense isn't sexy. when we revolutionize the idea of defense, defining it to be the last pure thing we've got, we'll be better off. dorsey epitomizes this idea, particularly when he's running around in the backfield terrorizing quarterbacks.
in the same way, spoon keeps constant pressure on the listener with this song, with a pace that clearly defines how daniel feels about love, relationships, and life.
don't ever need to worry, 'cause it's gonna feel all right.
5. rhythm and soul.
desean jackson, cal.
if you can't see jackson taking a punt to the house while this song builds to a pleasing climax, then i can't save you- it's already too late.
tract houses; square couches; short legs and square shoulders...
6. eddie's ragga.
andre woodson, kentucky.
the outstanding debate on my blog notwithstanding, this is my favorite song on the album. in particular, i am happy with two vocalists synthesizing their voices to create a richer sound, overlayed, of course, with tactful guitar and sensible lyrics.
by the way, i think that i'd like to see kentucky beat florida to avenge jared lorenzen and tim couch. that would be nice.
someone that i met but i hardly knew- he said everyone loves a defective heart.
he'd parted way with diction- this was late last night.
7. the underdog.
the usc trojans.
here is the spoon that we're familiar with and that we love. it would have been convenient to just throw south florida in here for the obvious title/reality comparison, but i think it's much more appropriate to compare the men of troy to this track, since we're really recognizing this song as a testament to sustained brilliance.
so grit your teeth and bear it.
and it may not be photo-op in the way that i spell it out.
8. my little japanese cigarette case.
colt brennan, hawaii.
we don't really know anything about the guy, but we do know that he can throw for a whole crapload of yards in an offense specifically designed for players like jeff george. now, here is a thought: how much do you suppose june jones loves hawaii?
as the song progresses in intensity, picture brennan and the rainbow warriors exploding for like, five touchdowns in the second quarter. then picture a nice luau.
break a mirror to my face.
9. finer feelings.
matt ryan, boston college.
if eddie's ragga is my favorite track, then this is a close second. and this guy is my personal choice for the heisman, because i feel that boston college is one team that has played well enough to vaguely deserve their ranking.
oh, wait, they played umass that closely? well, matt ryan is still pretty sweet.
one thing that daniel does particularly well on this entire album is tell stories without making the story the whole song, as does, say, colin meloy of the decemberists. i appreciate that, as i have sort of tired of the whole idea of grandiose. incidentally, on "picaresque," i tend to think that the best songs aren't the ones that make statements, rather, they are the slow songs that express love. so there's your "aside of the day."
i was dreaming in the drivers seat... when the right words just came to me... and all my finer feelings came up.
10. black like me.
brian brohm, louisville.
say what you want about louisville, but brohm has been remarkable again this year.
what's gonna get me out of this?
so there you have it.
and before i do this, i would like to say that i think that this is the best album that spoon has released. you may pine for "kill the moonlight" or "gimme fiction," but i believe that this album is packed quite tightly with quality song after quality song, to the point that songs like "was it you?," "paper tiger," and "back to the life" seem less meaningful in comparison.
and those were great songs!
while spoon was not as brave with their technique as last time, in some sense i feel that this album represents what happens when you have a more balanced perspective about art, life, and all of that jazz... each song doesn't have to be a tempestuous ballad or an emotionally-dripping soliloquy to be good. and that's something worth striving for. now on to the review.
1. don't make me a target.
mike hart, michigan.
by sheer will, mike hart has taken a team on his back, dragging them with his unbreakable desire to a place where anger meets mediocrity. allow me to present to you a group of tragic heroes: the 2007 michigan wolverines. let's win one for old lloyd, suckers.
don't make me a target. don't make me a target. NO, DON'T MAKE ME A TARGET!!!
2. the ghost of you lingers.
pat white, west virginia.
i still believe that louisville has the capacity to beat west virginia. maybe it's just a fool's errand, but i have to believe somewhere. still, when i listen to this song and consider the "cfb" simultaneously, i can't help but think of the slashing ability in the open field executed to perfection. and it scares me.
in the same vein, daniel and the gang execute this song to perfection, building tension through out with keyboard intensity and carefully-planned lyrics. touchdown, mountaineers.
**editor's note: this post was started before the 13th team in the sec, the south florida bulls, knocked off wvu on the friday nite. **
if you were here, would you calm me down?
3. you got yr. cherry bomb.
darren mcfadden, arkansas.
i consider mcfadden to be the next tomlinson. everybody in the tri-state area knows that arkansas is running the football, yet mcfadden manages to take the football to the house at an alarming frequency. he has embarassed sec defenses, which is next to impossible.
seriously, who was the last running back in the sec that was even close to being as good as mcfadden? was it joe addai? jamal lewis? brown/cadillac? emmitt smith ?!?!?!
it was the longest day that i had ever known.
4. don't you evah.
glenn dorsey, lsu.
one thing is consistent about sports: defense isn't sexy. when we revolutionize the idea of defense, defining it to be the last pure thing we've got, we'll be better off. dorsey epitomizes this idea, particularly when he's running around in the backfield terrorizing quarterbacks.
in the same way, spoon keeps constant pressure on the listener with this song, with a pace that clearly defines how daniel feels about love, relationships, and life.
don't ever need to worry, 'cause it's gonna feel all right.
5. rhythm and soul.
desean jackson, cal.
if you can't see jackson taking a punt to the house while this song builds to a pleasing climax, then i can't save you- it's already too late.
tract houses; square couches; short legs and square shoulders...
6. eddie's ragga.
andre woodson, kentucky.
the outstanding debate on my blog notwithstanding, this is my favorite song on the album. in particular, i am happy with two vocalists synthesizing their voices to create a richer sound, overlayed, of course, with tactful guitar and sensible lyrics.
by the way, i think that i'd like to see kentucky beat florida to avenge jared lorenzen and tim couch. that would be nice.
someone that i met but i hardly knew- he said everyone loves a defective heart.
he'd parted way with diction- this was late last night.
7. the underdog.
the usc trojans.
here is the spoon that we're familiar with and that we love. it would have been convenient to just throw south florida in here for the obvious title/reality comparison, but i think it's much more appropriate to compare the men of troy to this track, since we're really recognizing this song as a testament to sustained brilliance.
so grit your teeth and bear it.
and it may not be photo-op in the way that i spell it out.
8. my little japanese cigarette case.
colt brennan, hawaii.
we don't really know anything about the guy, but we do know that he can throw for a whole crapload of yards in an offense specifically designed for players like jeff george. now, here is a thought: how much do you suppose june jones loves hawaii?
as the song progresses in intensity, picture brennan and the rainbow warriors exploding for like, five touchdowns in the second quarter. then picture a nice luau.
break a mirror to my face.
9. finer feelings.
matt ryan, boston college.
if eddie's ragga is my favorite track, then this is a close second. and this guy is my personal choice for the heisman, because i feel that boston college is one team that has played well enough to vaguely deserve their ranking.
oh, wait, they played umass that closely? well, matt ryan is still pretty sweet.
one thing that daniel does particularly well on this entire album is tell stories without making the story the whole song, as does, say, colin meloy of the decemberists. i appreciate that, as i have sort of tired of the whole idea of grandiose. incidentally, on "picaresque," i tend to think that the best songs aren't the ones that make statements, rather, they are the slow songs that express love. so there's your "aside of the day."
i was dreaming in the drivers seat... when the right words just came to me... and all my finer feelings came up.
10. black like me.
brian brohm, louisville.
say what you want about louisville, but brohm has been remarkable again this year.
what's gonna get me out of this?
so there you have it.
posted by mike at 8:08 AM
7 Comments:
What say you about the possibility of Ohio State not playing a single opponent ranked in the top 15 this year? The Big 10 is bad and Ohio State's schedule this year is roughly comparable to what Boise St. went through last year - okay, maybe slightly tougher. If South Florida goes undefeated, they've got to be in a title game ahead of OSU, right? I mean the Big East is the tougher conference this year. And what about BC running the table in the ACC - which is even worse than the big 10! (I think they'll lose, but still...) You're going to have some 1 loss Pac 10 and SEC teams clamoring for their heads if they go undefeated -and the computers should and will show them love in the BCS standing later. I was no Boise State apologist, which means I've got to say a 1 loss LSU, South Carolina, Cal, or Oregon (no USC - nothing justifies losing to Stanford) might have a case to leapfrog the Buckeyes using the Boise State corollary. (I'm also intrigued by the possibility of Missouri running the Big 12 - would that put them in a title game?)
I didn't used to be a fan of playoffs - I liked the bowl system. But conference stratification in recent years has led me to think a playoff is where it's at. Here's my proposed format:
6 conference champions and 2 at larges make it to an 8 team playoff. (I think the "and 1" idea is stupid - I want to see what all the conferences have to offer.) Seed teams 1-8.
The first round is played in late December at the higher seed's stadium. The 2nd round is the 4 big BCS bowls who trade between 2 games for the winners of round 1, and 2 consolation games for the losers of round 1 to play each other. BCS championship 1 week later against the last 2 teams.
I want to see where every conference winner has a chance to win it so that people will stop complaining and arguing that Team X should get in over Team Y because Conference Z is blah blah blah blah... I'm tired of hearing these arguements.
i am totally in agreement with your comments on missouri. that is the nightmare scenario to end all of the nightmare scenarios.
by the time osu plays wisconsin/illinois, one of them should be in the top 15. but let's suppose that this isn't the case. what does being in the top 15 mean this year relative to other years? there's not a lot of variation between 5 and 35- to the point that i would put florida at 5 now without hesitation.
ohio state deserves to be in over south florida (should sfu run the table, which i find an unlikely possibility) for three reasons:
1) osu would probably win head-to-head. this is because ohio state's defense is the gold standard in this game. their defense has looked scary good at times this year, and you could easily argue that they are the best defense in the country. they obliterated purdue last night on the defensive end.
2) the big east is rapidly losing its strength of competition edge over the other conferences: rutgers and louisville have nasty out-of-conference losses, and i don't think it's a stretch to say that wvu is kind of a one-trick pony. that being said, sfu is clearly the class of the league right now, although they still have to play a few offensive juggernauts (louisville, at this point, has to be looking to fire stevie k... so he might be looking to save his job with this one.)
now, i don't know too much about cincy, so i'm reserving judgment until next week, when they play louisville.
3) osu has to play wisconsin, illinois, and michigan in november. if they win out, those wins are legit on any level. we really have negligible barometers for the big 10 this year: we saw that illinois lost to mizzou in a shootout, and michigan is not themselves. penn state, however, might be a good team, and wisconsin, while overrated, is good as well.
4) your osu/boise state argument? well, boise state did beat oklahoma last year, but throw that aside: what?!?! osu's schedule this year is like five times more difficult than boise's: going to play at michigan and penn state, coupled with home games against wisconsin and illinois is brutality. the environments are a lot more hostile then say, nevada, and there are well-defined rivalries there. ohio state has the toughest road out, bar none. there is no comparison between schedules: only hawaii and maybe nevada would have a chance at breaking .500 in the big 10, but virtually every big 10 team would have a shot in the wac. and you would have to put four or five big 10 teams as favorites over hawaii in the wac this year. purdue could potentially run the table in the wac, as could michigan state, simply because there's no defense.
cal gets to play usc and arizona state and then they're home free. that's it.
some other points to consider: the big 12 is not that great, and everyone yells about how bad the acc is, but we don't have a good barometer for them either. florida state did beat colorado out of conference, and maryland beat rutgers. those are two wins that carry some weight. i personally think that bc is good, if not great, and i would rank them quite highly.
so i would rank the conferences this year as follows:
1) SEC
2) Pac-10 (I guess)
3) Big 10
3a) Big East
5) ACC
6) Big 12
based on this, does the Big 12 champ (Oklahoma) really deserve to get in over Florida? I don't know, I guess.
more comments: almost no one-loss Pac-10 should ever get a chance at a title game. This is because Pac-10 teams hardly ever win tough games on the road out-of-conference. Only Oregon has a good case here, and that's based on beating Michigan.
if you want playoffs, then give us a nine-game regular season. i'd at least like to pretend that we're interested in the athletes' academic performances.
if one of the top 8 teams gets exposed in round 1, you have the same problems as before, no? consider the obvious at-large teams this year, florida and oregon. if oregon gets clocked by lsu, isn't usc going to be chirping? if florida gets decimated by cal/osu, won't we hear whining from west virginia? choosing 8 teams is nearly as hard as 2.
The Big 10 is terrerrerrerrerrerrible! They are terresistable! They are terretastic!
If we're going to call Wisconsin "legit," why not throw in every team that played them within 1 score - UNLV, Iowa, and Michigan State! For the love of New Jersey, UNLV!!! I go to Purdue - they are not even a top 40 team! Penn State and Michigan - I'm flummoxed - I'm flabbergasted - live in the now Sinkey!!! It's 2007, not 1962! You're throwing the same logic at me that every SEC apologist I can't stand does. "Every Big 10 game is a tough test..." Says freakin' who?!!
If your signature wins are Washington, and take your pick on who is going to be ranked at the end of the year between Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan (I swear only one of them will actually be ranked when they play) and South Florida's signature wins are at Auburn, over West Virginia, and over other randomly ranked Big East team (Cincinnati), I'd say you've done more to "earn" a national championship spot than Ohio State. Thems the breaks... that's the way it is - tradition be thrown into a blender and be made into a nice fruity margarita. I hate any system that rewards a team for tradition - because that's what would put OSU into a title game. I have no idea what the computers would say. I made the Boise State comparison (a bit hyperbolic, I admit) because Ohio State can skate to a national championship game by beating abso-freaking-lutely nobody (well, maybe one somebody) and we'll pat them on the back. Obviously Ohio State has a tougher schedule than boise state last year - they might have lost a game in this year's big ten. The point I'm trying to make is the double standard applied to the O-H-I-O and the BCS schools in general.
Also, your conference rankings hurt me - the Big 12 as the worst in the country? Look, it's been a crazy season - by the transitive property of college football, Stanford is the #1 team in the country right now - and the bottom four conferences are a crap shoot. But it's not because of who lost to who - it's because the perceived preseason powers have all gone down spectacularly leaving a power vacuum. Someone's got to fill it.
Here are my strength of conference rankings:
1) Pac-10 (pending on how Cal and Oregon show for the rest of the season)
2) SEC (It's been a bloodbath, but does that mean the difficulty is unfair to the teams, or they are all just pretty good, but not title good outside of LSU?)
3)Big 12 (straw poll of the rankings shows that Big 12 has more ranked teams than any of the lesser 4 conferences - admit it - you are taking your hatred of Gary Barnett out on the whole of the Big 12, aren't you?) Anyway, let's say Illinois beat Missouri in that first game - would Illinois winning the Big 10 be a doomsday scenario for the BCS? I would say no more or less so than Missouri - they seem to be evenly matched.
4) Big East - They have 2 kind of legit top 10 teams. That's a quarter of your conference - which I don't blame them for only having 8 teams. I blame the ACC. However, not as good as advertised in the beginning.
5) Big 10 - I'm probably putting them behind the Big East just out of spite - but what has the Big 10 done out of conference? They're in conference games look pretty bad - teams that looked bad out of conference are beating teams that may have looked good, managing to non-plus the whole conference. BTW, I'm putting this year's Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Michigan State teams all at or below .500 in the WAC last year - how's that for ridiculous claims? (Maybe Michigan State would crack .500) Well, UNLV was 1 possession from beating Wisconsin...
6) ACC - surprisingly frisky, perhaps not as bad as I made them out #4, #5, and #6 in these rankings is sort of a mess - how does one decide? They could be better than the Big East... the Big Ten could be better than the Big East...
That's why I want conference champions to play each other at the end of the year.
Are you making some point about Cal's schedule being comparable to OSU's? 'Cuz if you are, you should include that they've already beaten Tennessee (what did you say about good out of conference wins? USC did beat Nebraska - can I put that in the kind of decent win category? Basically you are penalizing the Pac 10 for having everyone play everyone else in the conference, leaving less games to play out of the conference) and Oregon, and that Arizona State and USC are both ranked higher than any of OSU's Big 10 opposition. If that's not the point you were making then I apologize.
The end.
P.S. Nobody has classes passed the second week of December. I think one game should be removed from the season, but adding 2 games over someone's winter break isn't going to hurt academics all that much - if they were going to a bowl game anyway, it's not like they stopped practicing for finals anyway.
Double P.S.
You need the 2 at larges to appease the non BCS schools. My feeling is that the "tournament" should reward conference champions. You're right in that teams that get left out will still complain, but wrong in the fact than anyone will care about when a school complains about being left out - if you want in, win your freakin' conference championship. That is something that is never ever ever ever ever in the hands of subjective voters. Imagine how much more conference championships would mean in this scenario. What is not to like?
a few remarks:
1. you are not allowed to put nebraska in the quality wins category. this is because nebraska sucks. by the way, so does texas, and so does the big 12. when oklahoma kicks missouri in the teeth next week, you'll recognize that oklahoma is the only "great team" in a conference that you inexplicably have ranked ahead of the big ten. so here are some facts about that conference:
fact 1: oklahoma state lost by 18 at troy state. this implies that ok state is not a good team.
fact 2: colorado lost big to arizona state and lost at home to florida state. still, they beat the best team in that conference. i have no idea what that says about the conference. the best thing that could possibly happen is for missouri to win out, and that's not likely at all.
fact 3: kansas state lost at auburn, and to kansas. but they creamed texas.
fact 4: iowa state and baylor suck as much as northwestern, minnesota, and iowa.
fact 5: texas should not be ranked at all. this is because they are not a good football team. ranking them at this point is horse crap. they are much worse than, say, wisconsin. colt mccoy is no good
fact 6: texas a & m got exposed at miami.
so we have two, maybe three good teams in the conference: missouri, oklahoma, and colorado. i don't count kansas for beating four bad teams and winning a rivalry game. beat someone else, please. you still want to put them #3?
the pac ten has four good teams (asu, usc, oregon, and cal), four bad ones (oregon state, ucla, washington state, and arizona) and two that we could give the benefit of the doubt. only cal is a title contender at this point, unless usc can somehow beat both oregon and cal and make everyone forget that they sucked. so that probably won't happen. arizona state gets to start now.
the sec has two great teams (florida and lsu), seven good teams (georgia, alabama, south carolina, kentucky, arkansas, tennessee and auburn), one strange team (mississippi state) and two bad ones (ole miss and vandy). which is the deeper conference? you tell me that cal beat tennessee. i tell you that so did florida, and much more convincingly.
one thing we can agree on: the acc is a freakin' mystery, but it's probably not as bad as we think. of course, if we have to see miami play like hot and cold every week, it might throw off our views of the conference.
now on to your playoffs theory: what happens if a conference champion ties another with one loss and there's no conference championship? i'll give you an example of such a conference: the pac-10. make them play a playoff? yeah, maybe cal should have like an 16-game season (12 games + 1 conference championship + potentially 3 playoff games). any reasonable person would say that you're exposing college football players to some serious risks by putting on a schedule like this, both academically and physically. i say academically because these games would go on during finals. i say physically because they're not as skilled as the nfl, and are probably more prone to injury.
now we take off a game from the regular season to fix this problem. is it a conference game? if it's a non-conference game, that's an even worse idea because it removes the last vestiges of comparability.
this is why the playoffs don't work for college football. players get hurt over the year, and we expose kids to unnecessary risk. plus, making a four seed go on the road to play a five might be arbitrary if we can't agree on the seeding. consider a #4 ohio state taking on a #5 boston college. how did we decide that ranking? i picked it out of a hat. but bc gets to go to a major road game, and then if osu wins, they get to try out lsu on a neutral site. bc might fare better against lsu on a neutral site, who really knows?
i think the playoffs aren't the way to go on this, and your anger at osu is unnecessary. after all, they're a pretty good team.
I refuse to abide by arbitrary Team X lost to Team Y... who lost to Team Z... who lost to Team double Q comparisons. Texas may be down... but I'd say they can beat the following big 10 teams: Minnesota, Michigan State, Northwestern, Iowa, Penn State, Purdue, Indiana, Wisconsin. (I know you're going to throw an argument back at me about Wisconsin - I'm not going to listen - Wisconsin isn't very good this year either.) So let's see... the third or fourth best team in the Big 12 would be about the third or fourth best team in the Big 10 - sounds about like the same conference to me! (Nebraska has had a similar season to Michigan thusfar - so until you decide to say that playing Michigan at home isn't a marquee win this year, then I'm not prepared to say that about Nebraska.)
The Big 10: 1-10 in games against ranked teams!!!!!!! My hatred of Ohio State isn't really hatred of them - I like the Buckeyes, but the Big 10 is bad this year and it feels cheap that Ohio State is likely headed back to a National Championship game where they will likely get shellacked. (If they did make it, I'd be rooting for them though...)
The Big 12: 4-8 - you are absurdly subjective in your dismissal of the Big-12. (Oh right... all the rankings are wrong... look, a lot of teams have lost - somebody has to be in the top 25)
You're right in saying there is little or no basis for comparison between conferences right now - so why not compare them in a playoff? How is this not fair to them?
I guess playing 15 or 16 games in a season is too much... except that's how many every high school team in the country plays if they make it to the state finals. So we should cut that back as well.
Look, right now we let the schools pick 3-4 non conference games and we manage Cal/Tennesse, Oregon/Mich, and South Florida/Auburn as the only the only real games to decide which conference better than which. The best teams never play each other out of conference (except for those Texas/OSU games). The bowls are always going to be arbitrary until you let conference winners duke it out.
Yes the SEC is much deeper than Pac 10 and I probably put the Pac 10 higher just to ruffle the feathers of SEC people that think the SEC is more comparable to the NFL than the rest of college football, but there is just too much inconsistency among the merely good teams in the SEC. LSU is the best in the country, but I'm just tired of 2 and 3 loss SEC teams. There's really no differentiation after LSU. I think those top three in the Pac 10 could be 2-4 in the SEC. But there are much more free weeks in the Pac 10, so I'll say the SEC is #1.
I just think it's a shame that South Florida and Boston College can be written off as not legit title contenders if they win their conferences. You can't control how good the rest of your conference is, or how you program is perceived historically. I'm angry because if Ohio State makes it no one will complain, but if South Florida, BC, or Mizzou makes it, the system is broken. Then it is already broken. Don't bother crowning a national champion.
(Last thing - if you don't like the home game, then put it at a neutral site - I'm not married to that idea. We are talking about 1 extra game for 8 programs out of 100+ in the D IA, and 2 extra games for 2. The season is still wrapped up by the 2nd semester. Say what you will about this not being in the best interest of the players, but I AA schools go 15 games to win a championship. Are their student athlete's somehow unfairly put upon?)
Since everyone has an agenda and nobody is really capable of rational thought (why else would South Carolina be 5 or 6 spots lower in the Coaches poll as opposed to the AP Poll?) I thought it would be informative to post the conference rankings according to the computer ranking systems used in the BCS. They have their flaws, but I believe that it is a noble goal to apply some sort of objectivity to the circumstances. So presented without commentary are the computer rankings for conference strength (some of them don't post until next week when the first BCS standings come out).
Colley Matrix:
SEC
Pac 10
Big 10
Big East
Big 12
ACC
Massey Ratings:
SEC
ACC
Pac 10
Big 10
Big East
Big 12
Sagarin:
Pac 10
SEC
Big East
Big 12
Big 10
ACC
There will be 2 more conference rankings posted next week.
(Commentary: SEC, Pac 10 - I probably over valued the Big 12. I honestly can't differentiate the Big 12 from the other three lesser conferences, so I'm going to cheap out and put all 4 of them in a tie. )
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