Bored at Poolside #4 - Getting Back Together with a Lousy Ex-Boyfriend, and the usual College Football Rankings

Resuming a Toxic Relationship

Don't ask me. Ask America. Glad to get that out of the way. On to the fun stuff.

The College Football Rankings

Well, Oregon continued its march, dominating a fairly meh Michigan team - but it was still at the Big House. Texas A&M falls out of the lead in the SEC, and just like that an old friend takes the SEC's championship spot for now. With Iowa State and Kansas State losing, BYU had a great week by just not playing. And the ACC mess got cleaned up a bit, with Louisville likely pushing Clemson off the island. Let's see if my Jackets can shock the world and upend the ACC some more. As far as what happened the last time these teams met?

First, there was the spectacle of Miami handing the ball off in the last minute when Georgia Tech had no timeouts left. Then, this happened.

And then finally ...

As a Tech fan-alum, it was one of the wildest endings I can remember. Here's to a reprise.

Games thru 11/2/24

Notes

• Navy's loss to Rice of all teams pushes them off the Group of Five island for now. Boise State is firmly in the drivers' seat there with the wins over Washington State and UNLV and barely losing at Oregon.

• The first Committee CFP rankings came out. Their Top 12 was (in order)

  • Oregon (auto)

  • Ohio State

  • Georgia (auto)

  • Miami-FL (auto)

  • Texas

  • Penn State

  • Tennessee

  • Indiana

  • BYU (auto)

  • Notre Dame

  • Alabama

  • Boise State (auto)

• Looking at my rankings vs the CFP, BYU and Boise State not getting as much credit makes sense from a human voter perspective. Ohio State was my #2 team if you don't consider conference title, so that checks out also. The committee put in Tennessee and Notre Dame, where I had SMU and Pitt from the ACC.

2024 College Football Rankings - 10/30/24 edition

The Rankings

Cut to the chase this week. Texas A&M stands as the lone undefeated SEC team, while Oregon gets another big win over a solid team. I do not think the top 2 are the 2 best teams in the country beauty-contest wise ... but they have the wins.

Notes

• Congrats to Kennesaw State who got its first FBS win. It also basically crushes Liberty's prospects for making the playoff in real life - or putting much of a dent in whatever the hell I'm doing.

• I've talked about BYU already in terms of "do I think they are" this good? Not really - but all we can do is judge the resumes.

• Ohio State-Penn State is the clear game of the week. But #12 Pittsburgh vs #13 SMU and #45 Duke v #3 Miami-FL and #24 Louisville v #19 Clemson are three super interesting games which could tidy up some of the ACC pecking order. Duke-Miami is particularly a fun strength v strength matchup with Duke's D against Miami's Offense.

• Oregon going to Michigan is one of those games where there is nothing to indicate that Michigan should win or that Oregon should stub its toe - but at the same time ...

Bored at Poolside #3 - The Joy of the Uninteresting, Irresponsible NBA Predictions and Responsible Weekly CFB Rankings

A Beautifully Boring Team

The NBA season is here. I have been a Celtics fan since I was first aware of sportsball as a thing people cared about. I am old enough to remember that the C's won in 1986, but 1987 was my first real season following this stuff. 2008 was a terrific title to win of course - the comeback against the Lakers to win the series altering Game 4 is still one of the great sporting events of my lifetime.

The 2024 title lacked any such fireworks. Boston was the best team in the league from moment one, and the 64-18 record ended up being 7 games more than any other team in the NBA. A 15-3 playoff run was the culmination - aided by some injury luck, but of course ain't that life. But what the 2024 title was more than anything was the culmination of a years long process by a couple of the Celtics high lottery picks, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum - and as a fan, that is particularly gratifying.

Don't get me wrong. This is not some anti-free agency screed, but there is a real joy to follow players from the start of their career. Jayson Tatum started for the team as a 19 year old - fans like me have gotten to see him grow up. Heck, I got to see his son grow into a 7 year old or whatever? (I have no idea how they navigate his bedtime - he's at all of the games!) And, as the team's #1 player - he has been frankly, kind of boring. His quotes are all pretty corny, he has never asked for a trade and never really had any takes. He has never been injured in any serious way, and he has taken the ball more often than any other player of his peer group.

The Js have not been the "best players in the NBA" - and I would not elevate them to the level of Giannis Antetokoumpo or Nikola Jokic etc in the sort of "who's the man" debates that permeate league discourse. But - next to Jokic, the Js are like a good utility - they are always there, and create more value than better players by just being more reliable. Brad Stevens, the Celtics President, has surrounded him with other low-drama professionals like Al Horford, Jrue Holiday and the remarkable Derrick White. What is left is a great team, that is drama and worry free. It's a poor reality show, but a damn wagon on the court.

Irresponsible NBA 2024-25 Season Predictions I Will Disavow Next Week

EAST

1. Bucks

2. Celtics (I am too nervous a fan to pick them #1)

3. Knicks

4. Cavaliers

5. Sixers

6. Heat

7. Pacers

8. Magic

9. Hawks

10. Hornets

    
    

There is a pretty big gap between #9 and #10. The Wizards, Hornets, Raptors, Bulls all have chances to be in the mix. The Hornets are the most interesting, and Charles Lee - longtime assistant - is a good breath of fresh air.

WEST

1. Thunder

2. Nuggets

3. Timberwolves

4. Mavericks

5. Suns

6. Warriors

7. Clippers

8. Lakers

9. Spurs

10. Kings

    
    

The Grizzlies and Rockets will be in the play-in mix too, but I felt like calling my shot. If Victor Wembanyama is as transformationally ridiculous as he looked in the summer and in the 2nd half of last season, then "Wemby and some randos" coached by Popovich should be a team in the fringe playoff mix. I have no other basis for optimism.

EAST FINAL: Bucks over Celtics

WEST FINAL: Thunder over Nuggets

FINALS: Bucks over Thunder

MVP: Giannis rides again

The College Football Rankings

The rankings shakeup (thru Games of 10/19/24) after Georgia beat Texas in the season's latest Game of the Century (methodology here):

Notes

• With the loss to Georgia (who lost to Alabama), Texas got the triple whammy of the loss, Alabama losing, and Texas now being behind in the SEC. It is nothing that winning games can't fix however.

• Boise State at #3 basically is attributable to their own conference lead in the Mountain West. It pushes them up from a #5 ranking otherwise. Ohio State is the raw #2, who slipped due to the conference race.

• Indiana at #6 is clearly the best story of the season. Their 56-7 thrashing of Nebraska is one of the most impressive results any team has put up this season. And now they get to host College Gameday for the first time.