Mumme Poll: Week 7 (Ballot #3)

1. Alabama (7-0)

The clear #1 team, with the most valuable offensive player (Mark Ingram, pictured above running through Stephon Gilmore) and the most valuable defensive player (Rolando McClain, the real Superman). That said, Greg McElroy's QB play and the inability to get Julio Jones properly involved is a bit unsettling. To the film room!

2. Florida (6-0)

Anyone else think a close win was the worst thing that could've happened to the Gators? Remember, Tebow's (in)famous "promise" last year came after a close loss and it galvanized Florida on the way to their championship run. After a close win, what can you do but exhale?

3. Texas (6-0)

The Texas offense hasn't looked particularly sharp this year, but I'm gonna cut the Horns some slack regarding the Red River Slugfest. The OU D has made every offense work for its points, so Saturday was par for the course. Let's see how the Horns fare against Missouri and Oklahoma State before putting Bevo on the overrated wagon.

4. Iowa (7-0)
5. Cincinnati (6-0)
6. USC (5-1)

Even though I agree that USC has better players than Iowa and Cincy, why should USC be rewarded for finding a way to lose a game? Don't get me wrong, Trojan wins at Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Cal all look good. But, are they really objectively better than Iowa's wins at Penn State, at Wisconsin, and home against Arizona? And Cincy's wins at Oregon State, at Rutgers, and home against South Florida (pictured above) are maybe a small step down. Which still leaves USC's loss to Washington. That has to matter.

7. TCU (6-0)
8. Boise State (6-0)

BSU's victory at home over Oregon is the best win of these two programs. However, their second best win is a struggle on the road against Tulsa, who is decent, but come on. It's Tulsa. Meanwhile, TCU went on the road to beat Clemson and Virginia, neither of whom are that great, but significant steps up from Tulsa, let alone anyone else on either schedule. While I'm not crazy about either team being this high, you can't penalize a team too harshly for being undefeated in mid-October.

9. Miami (FL) (5-1)
10. Georgia Tech (6-1)
11. Virginia Tech (5-2)

While these teams have all lost to each other, VT comes last because of the 2 losses and Miami comes first because of the head-to-head win over GT. But, they could be interchangeable and can each point to at least 1 quality win. Miami soundly beat 1-loss GT and I think their win over Oklahoma is still good, despite the Sooners being 3-3. The Jackets just beat a very good Hokies squad (pictured above) and are a complete pain in the ass to prepare for on a week's notice. VA Tech, of course, thrashed the Canes and Boston College, and held on to beat a good Nebraska team. That they're this high with 2 losses is mitigated in my eyes by the fact those losses came to teams whose combined record is 13-1.

12. Houston (5-1)

OK, so the loss to UTEP was a head-scratcher. But, has anyone else noticed that the Cougars have beaten 3 BCS teams? Granted, one of those teams was Mississippi State, but a road win is a road win, especially when you consider Conference USA vs. SEC. And wins at 1-loss Oklahoma State and home against 2-loss Texas Tech aren't too shabby. Let's just say, find me another 1-loss team with a bona fide quality win, let alone 2 such wins, and I'll put them here. Can't be done.

Fielding-Optional Strategy Backfires on Halos

Ugh. In a performance best described as Washington Generals-esque, the Angels stumbled, bumbled, and fumbled their way to a 4-1 loss in Game 1 of the ALCS. That's the bad news. The good news is they're still fully capable of achieving their objective, which is a split in New York. In fact, deficiencies in the leather department obscured the reality that Halos pitching was pretty solid, keeping the team more or less in the game despite giving the Bombers extra outs.

Game 2 features Joe Saunders vs. A.J. Burnett and first pitch will be approximately 7:00 CST.

Mumme Poll: Week 6 (Ballot #2)

Please note: This week's Mumme Poll was completed on Monday, but I was unable to publish here until this morning. So, Cincinnati's win over South Florida on Thursday night will be addressed on next week's poll. Word.

First things first. There is no way in hell that Texas deserves to be higher than either Bama or Florida. This is no dig on the Horns, who I'm openly rooting for to win out ... and I'm not just saying that because I live in Austin and don't wanna hear the whining. Burnt Orange has championship bona fides. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. But, we have to judge teams on their talent AND resume, and after 5 games the Horns' resume is pretty weak. However, should they beat OU, Mizzou, and Okie State in consecutive weeks, then that resume becomes a strength. So Texas fans, trust me when I say that if yer boys win out, they will be in the Rose Bowl ... aka VY's House ... if for no other reason than someone has to lose between Bama and Florida. Allrighty then. Onto the Top 12.

1. Alabama (6-0)
While you can certainly make a case for Florida at 1, Bama's win over Virginia Tech is better than UF's win over LSU. And please don't play the "winning at Death Valley at night" card. VT is better than LSU. Deal with it. In terms of question marks, the Tide offense needs to go through Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, by way of Greg McElroy, and then to Julio Jones, Darius Hanks, Colin Peek, etc. Run to set up the pass, not the other way around.

2. Florida (5-0)
Florida's defense and special teams are freakin ridonkulous. However, is it OK to mention the fact that Florida's offense is distinctly not ridonkulous? I get that Tim Tebow is a Christian warrior and touched by God, but the running game outside of TT is meh, there's no one remotely close to Percy Harvin in terms of production, and if Riley Cooper is your go-to WR, you don't have a go-to WR. I'm not saying the Gator offense is terrible, but I feel like there's a conspiracy of silence regarding the team's actual flaws.

3. Texas (5-0)
Texas and Florida are basically the same team, the Gators simply have better wins. Both schools have lights out D and special teams, a dominant QB that is an inordinate amount of the offense, and questions in the running game. However, even the Gators don't have an equivalent to Jordan Shipley (pictured left). Dude might be the most valuable player in all of CFB going into this weekend's game.

4. Virginia Tech (5-1)
The nation's best 1-loss team has two excellent wins at home (Miami and Boston College). The home win over Nebraska looks better on paper than it was in reality, but I'm not gonna penalize the Hokies too harshly for finding a way to win.

5. Iowa (6-0)
6. Cincinnati (5-0)
7. Boise State (5-0)

I'm grouping the 2nd tier undefeateds together because, if nothing else, they should be rewarded for not losing. I think Iowa's win at Penn State is the best of the bunch, but they also have good wins over Arizona and Michigan. Cincy has 2 good wins on the road (Oregon State and Rutgers), but not much else. Boise State's win over Oregon looks better with each passing week. Unfortunately, the rest of their schedule looks worse.

8. LSU (5-1)
9. Miami (FL) (4-1)
10. USC (4-1)
11. Oregon (5-1)
12. Ohio State (5-1)

I think the difference between 8-12 is a few plays here and there. Each of these teams has at least 1 quality win, and outside of Miami, no truly terrible losses. In fact, other than Miami they're all basically the same team. All solid D and workmanlike O. I think what sets Miami apart is that their wins over Georgia Tech and Oklahoma are better than anyone else's 2 wins, and those more or less offset the shellacking in Blacksburg. As always, next Saturday will clear some things up and muddy others all to hell. Can't hardly wait.

FYI, as a point of comparison, here are the AP and Coaches Poll rankings going into Week 7.

Red Sox Death Star Destroyed By Halos

Did I just see what I thought I saw??? How do you process the utterly implausible? The Angels winning a playoff series against the Red Sox is an upset by any metric. But, to complete a sweep of their arch-nemesis, on their home field, after being down by 3 runs with 4 outs to go, with 3 batters facing 5 separate 2-strike pitches, and against a closer who prior to today's game had given up 0 runs in 26 postseason innings ... absolutely stunning. Suffice to say, this was not just another Halo victory. This was the baseball equivalent of the Lakers beating the Celtics in '85, a purging of demons and curses and ghosts. Donnie Moore, may you finally rest in peace.

Hidden Play: Howie Kendrick = Dave Roberts?

Last night's Angels-Red Sox Game 2 turned on a sequence in the bottom of the 7th inning that eerily recalled Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. We had one of the most dominant big game pitchers of his generation yielding an unexpected walk to lead off the inning. We had a pinch-runner stealing second, putting himself into precious scoring position. And finally, we had the clutch base knock into centerfield to score said runner and profoundly shift the game dynamic. From there, the floodgates opened and the Halos now find themselves in possession of a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Granted, there were significant differences between the two plays, namely that in '04, Boston needed to score simply to keep the postseason alive. Also, the play with Dave Roberts wasa bit more bang-bang . But, I think the most amazing element of either sequence was that the guy working the base on balls for the Halos was none other than Vladdy Guerrero! We're talking about a player whose hitting philosophy is best summed up by the Dominican credo: "No one walks off the island." And yet, you can make a strong argument that of the Impaler's many career achievements, none have been more significant than last night's patient, seemingly innocuous 5-pitch walk. Welcome to postseason baseball. Go Halos.

Oh Torii, you had me at, "Show some balls."

Sure, it was only one game, but there was a lot to love about last night's 5-0 victory. John Lackey pitching 7 1/3 strong and giving up only 4 singles, Hunter's monumental 3-run HR into the rockpile and subsequent helmet-slamming in the dugout (so cool), Chone Figgins flashing leather at 3rd base, Darren Oliver's rock steady 1 2/3 of relief, and Bobby Abreu working the count to the tune of 4 walks. It was the first shutout in Angels postseason history and the first postseason shutout suffered by the Red Socked in 14 years. Even the tales of Bostonian food poisoning were flavored in karmic redress, at least to those of us who remember guys like Casey Kotchman suffering the same fate prior to Game 3 of the 2007 ALDS. Ironically, Kotch is now in the opposing dugout, so maybe it's all his fault.

In the interests of fairness, I should note that Boston was screwed on two fairly obvious calls at first base. However, neither call had an impact on the final outcome and it wasn't like the Halos weren't screwed themselves by a phantom catcher's interference call and a Mike Lowell whiff at 3rd base on the back end of a 5-2-5 double play. Incidentally, the name of the umpire manning 1st base ... Bucknor, pronounced, you guessed it, BUCKNER.

Hidden Play: Rolando "Superman" McClain

There's an old saying in sports, "You can't coach ______? Typically, ______ is a reference to something like speed because an athlete can't be taught to be fast. Sure, a coach can improve technique and that may result in a slightly faster time, but you either have world-class speed or you don't. Similar to that is game intelligence, the ability of the best players to slow the game down and react accordingly. This effort by Alabama middle linebacker, Rolando "Superman" McClain, is such a play.

Early in the 3rd quarter, Kentucky has a 2nd and 9 at their own 34. Wildcat QB, Mike Hartline, fires a laser beam at a blanketed Derrick Locke and the ball ricochets off his hands. Superman sees the ball, but knows he's not in position to haul it in for the pick. So, in a move that recalls Celtics great, Bill Russell, in his prime, he intentionally keeps the ball alive by tapping it into the air. McClain knows that the Tide defense is coached to attack the ball, so if he keeps the ball alive, chances are pretty good that a Bama defender will be in position to make the catch ... which is exactly what happens when Eryk Anders comes up with the pick. You can't coach this kind of heady badassery, you can only hope to capture it on film. Thanks to 'bama7Xbox' for giving us that opportunity.