Football rankings, season final (or, How I swallowed my Vanderbilt pride and learned to love the Gators)

I don't think I've ever gotten so much satisfaction from a Florida win than I did on Thursday night. That they beat Oklahoma by the same margin Texas did only made it that much more perfect. Sadly, I don't think anyone will learn anything from this. Pollsters will still be starry-eyed at every team that runs up the score against drastically inferior competition. Bob Stoops will continue to do so, and continue to fail when he's faced with a team of comparable or superior skill, as he's done over and over again both during the regular season and in his bowl games. The only people that will continue to be surprised every time this happens are the pollsters and OU's coaching staff. Pretty much everyone else has already figured out the Sooners.

The Gators? Eh, they didn't play great, especially not in the first half. Their defense gave up big chunks of yardage, but made the game-saving plays when it came down to the wire. Their two first-half red zone stops (one on an interception, the other on downs) were massively impressive. Then Tebow and Harvin just took the game over after the break. Harvin had explosive plays all over the field. Tebow was unstoppable on third down, even the long ones. And that jump pass touchdown? A thing of beauty. You can see it coming a mile away, but you still can't do a damn thing about it.

In general, however, none of the purported "national championship contenders" really impressed me in their bowl games, except for one. USC played one good quarter. Texas was flat until the third, and then again for most of the fourth, up until the last drive. Oklahoma kinda sucked. The one team that really impressed me? Utah. The Utes came out on the field and immediately punched Alabama in the throat. It was 21-0 Utah before the Tide even got off the bus, and they never recovered.

That having been said, what follows should come as little surprise:

Rkg Team                        Rating   Record   SOS   PF/PA   LW (Chng)
  1 Utah                        8.1311    13-0     76    2.14     4 (+3)
  2 Florida                     8.1002    13-1      4    3.38     3 (+1)
  3 Texas                       8.0325    12-1      3    2.26     2 (-1)
  4 Southern California         7.5853    12-1     63    4.17     8 (+4)
  5 Oklahoma                    7.3709    12-2      1    2.09     1 (-4)
  6 Boise State                 7.2438    12-1     90    2.98     5 (-1)
  7 Alabama                     6.9262    12-2     39    2.11     7 (0)
  8 Texas Christian             6.8107    11-2     54    2.97    12 (+4)
  9 Texas Tech                  6.7954    11-2     45    1.57     6 (-3)
 10 Pennsylvania State          6.7168    11-2     66    2.71     9 (-1)
 11 Georgia                     6.3256    10-3      8    1.28    14 (+3)
 12 Ohio State                  6.2486    10-3     15    1.98    10 (-2)
 13 Ball State                  6.0325    12-2    118    1.70    11 (-2)
 14 Cincinnati                  5.9751    11-3     57    1.28    13 (-1)
 15 Oregon                      5.8074    10-3     73    1.49    20 (+5)
 16 Pittsburgh                  5.4979     9-4     11    1.26    15 (-1)
 17 Virginia Tech               5.4831    10-4     20    1.32    24 (+7)
 18 Rice                        5.4813    10-3    105    1.24    29 (+11)
 19 Brigham Young               5.4776    10-3    106    1.56    16 (-3)
 20 Florida State               5.4739     9-4     14    1.66    21 (+1)
 21 Missouri                    5.4473    10-4     29    1.55    25 (+4)
 22 Oregon State                5.4134     9-4     18    1.32    30 (+8)
 23 Mississippi                 5.4133     9-4     24    1.69    31 (+8)
 24 Nebraska                    5.3350     9-4     30    1.24    27 (+3)
 25 Oklahoma State              5.3254     9-4     35    1.45    19 (-6)

Dropped out: #17 Georgia Tech (to #28), #18 Michigan State (to #26), #22 Northwestern (to #32), #23 Western Michigan (to #33)

111 San Diego State             0.2586     2-10    58    0.52   111 (0)
112 Iowa State                  0.1428     2-10    74    0.71   113 (+1)
113 Tulane                      0.1410     2-10    71    0.48   112 (-1)
114 Western Kentucky            0.0346     2-10    83    0.64   115 (+1)
115 Idaho                      -0.0224     2-10    87    0.46   114 (-1)
116 Miami (OH)                 -0.1362     2-10   101    0.56   116 (0)
117 Washington State           -0.3208     2-11    61    0.29   117 (0)
118 Southern Methodist         -0.3993     1-11    42    0.56   118 (0)
119 North Texas                -0.8073     1-11    86    0.42   119 (0)
120 Washington                 -0.8934     0-12     7    0.34   120 (0)

The complete reports.

Thoughts:

• As I mentioned, the Longhorns didn't play particularly well in the Fiesta Bowl. So-so play-calling and terrible execution stymied the offense in the first half. Poor defense put the game in jeopardy in the fourth quarter. But they came together and pulled off another dramatic win. Obviously, it doesn't do anything to assuage the pain of allowing a shot at the national championship to almost literally slip through our fingers. Based on the way we played in our bowl game, I don't know if we'd have been able to beat Florida, but I also don't think we'd have quite as badly if we'd gotten to the national championship game. There is some small vindication in being the only Big 12 South team to win their bowl game, but in the current system, that really doesn't mean much. Yeah, recruiting, blah blah blah. I call bullshit on that argument. In reality, recruiting classes are already pretty much set for next year, and by the time future signing periods have rolled around, another season has already gone by. We saw how useful the "I want to win national championships" argument was when Adrian Peterson made it.
  
  Next year is supposed to be the year everything comes together, but that was almost this year. We have to replace Quan Cosby and the entire starting defensive line. The offensive line desperately needs to improve. We need a tight end, probably more than one. We need Sergio Kindle to stay in school, or failing that, to find another hard-hitting linebacker. Next year's schedule is the perfect set-up for a national title run: everyone in the conference except for Texas (and possibly Oklahoma State) are going to take some pretty dramatic steps back. From Missouri, Chase Daniel graduates and Jeremy Maclin has declared for the draft. From Tech, Graham Harrell graduates and Michael Crabtree is reportedly headed for the NFL. Sam Bradford will almost certainly declare as well, since he loses almost his entire offense to graduation (four linemen and two receivers). The only game that looks to be even remotely difficult is the trip to Oklahoma State.
  
  
• Vanderbilt won a bowl game! Don't get excited, though. It's not a predictor of future success. The only halfway decent player on the team has already declared for the draft, and there's no one behind him. Anyway, it was an exciting game, and Vandy barely saved it at the end. CB Myron Lewis made up for getting burned twice in the passing game on BC's last touchdown drive (once for a big first down and once for the score) by picking off a pass at the sideline to bring the Eagles' last gasp effort to a halt.
  
  Next year won't be as good. Chris Nickson graduates, bringing his career at Vanderbilt to a merciful end, which puts Mackenzi Adams in the starting slot. Adams was decent early in the season, but kinda stunk the rest of the way. The platooning looks to continue with freshman Larry Smith. The defense probably won't be particularly good with the departure of DJ Moore. The 2009 schedule is identical to this year's, just with the conference games swapped between home and away. No joke, the non-conference schedule is exactly the same: Miami of Ohio, Duke, Rice and Wake Forest.
  
  
• Can't say much about Georgia Tech's performance, as I didn't watch the bowl game. From the box score, it looks like they just imploded after not being able to put up a touchdown in the first quarter. LSU led 28-3 at halftime, but pretty much had it won after converting an onside kick following their second touchdown. The triple-option rushing attack just isn't designed to dig out of a big hole.
  
  Nesbitt and Dwyer are both sophomores, so this team has at least some future on offense.
  
  
• Fuck the Tennessee Titans. I can't even begin to describe my utter lack of surprise that this team of overrated defense and non-existent offense came out and sucked ass in a playoff game in their own goddamn home stadium. Congratulations, Jeff Fisher, on having absolutely nothing whatsoever to show for being the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL. And thanks for finally taking away the last reason I had to pay any attention at all to professional football. I can honestly say that I won't miss it.