Who Needs a Blogpoll: Week 15 Is Glad Auburn Has a New Slogan

DATELINE: Last Tuesday, I wrote the following " I think Mizzou wins the SECCG pretty handily." Nostradamus, I ain't. Rarely has a team been so ill-equipped for a physical football game than Missouri was Saturday night in Atlanta. Auburn's defense didn't fare much better. That said, although I was an early believer in this team, I just could never pull the trigger to put them in the elite tier. As badly as most people have played down the stretch, the Tigers, Spartans and 'Noles have closed better than anyone, and I am tired of doubting. They've proved themselves in two ugly national semi-final games. On tap is an almost certain beating by Florida State. Until then, enjoy your SEC Title, guys.

Speaking of closing strong, some teams did not fare so well: Ohio State, playing with fire all year, finally got burned by a Sparty team that won the game with...offense. WTF? And Oklahoma State secretly replaced its coach with 2013 Bob Stoops. While the Sooners replaced 2013 Bob Stoops with 2000 Bob Stoops.

It's all over except the shouting, and the inevitably ugly BCS bowl matchups. I personally would kill to see Alabama-tOSU in the Orange or Sugar bowl. I doubt -with Urban Meyer on the other sideline, we'll see a letdown like the 2009 Sugar Bowl. Those men respect-hate each other, and it would be fantastic to play his teams again. That said, we'll probably play UCF in a mind-numbing, low-energy game :(

Finally, I forgot to include Sparty last week when I was copying and pasting. They were originally slotted for 6^th, as I've had them the past 2-3 weeks.

O, Hai! Fresno State Bulldogs- Fine, you choked. But, you also had a great season. Bowling Green Falcons- Your 2013 MAC champions lived the impossible dream and shut down Jordan Lynch. Mississippi State fans have to feel significantly better about a tough win over the Falcons. Dave Clawson will not be manning the Clawfense in the MAC much longer.

Be Gone! Texas Longhorns - One step forward, two steps back. It boggles the mind that this team smacked the Sooners around, then gets trucked by every other decent team they faced. Cincinnati Bearcats - Nice run comes to an end in a close loss to the Cardinals. The Bearcats are in good hands...until Tubs jumps ship for the next open SEC job. Duke Blue Devils-10 win season was very nice, and Cutcliffe has to be your ACC COY, but more than usual the ACC's middle tier did not distinguish itself, and, aside from FSU, the "top" wasn't much better. Great year for the Devils to catch fire.

Social Promotion: Auburn - Fine, dammit. The running game can put up points, but they're gonna need a passing game, and a defense, to beat FSU. Neither particularly exist. Stanford Cardinal - This team is built to do one thing...smack around passing teams, and that's generally enough to earn you a PAC12 title. Inconsistent passing game is all that separated this team from a BCS MNCG berth. Oklahoma - Um, decent passing game (including the game winner), disciplined defense, energetic effort, good coaching. Where was this team all season? Baylor- Played lights out defense the first half against the 'Horns; the second half was more of the same, but the offense awoke. Art Briles deserves better than Baylor. UCLA- The games have all been played; and, after review, this was a pretty damned good team that will be superb next season. Michigan State Spartans- Why is the rest of the country downgrading this team? A tough road loss, marred by questionable officiating, to nemesis Notre Dame is all that keeps this team from perfection. Contained the Buckeyes, made Carlos Hyde look mortal, kept Braxton in check, and put points on the board. Great game; excellent team.

Held Back: NIU - I'm not even sure what I watched on Friday night, but it was not a fluke. BGSU was the better team. Oklahoma State -The Baylor win was very nice; the bad losses to a very human Oklahoma team and an awful WVU squad are not so nice. Missouri- Maybe, just maybe, the East was so bad that Mizzou looked pretty good by comparison? The alleged best DL in the conference was clueless against three running plays all night. I could probably write as many words (545) as rushing yards surrendered by the Tigers.. Arizona State- bad game for Grice to be absent. That said, Stanford just mashed this team to tiny little bits...again. Ohio State-Questionable linebackers, a tendency to wear down up front, and the effects of playing most of the season against down-ish opposition finally caught up to the Buckeyes, who have lived on the edge all season. Like Alabama, picked the worst possible moment for all of the season's flaws to coalesce into a perfect storm of fail.