Simon says...

I hear you went up to Saratoga and your horse naturally won.

The Jeff Mentzer College Football Rankings - Final

After the mythical championship game has been played, here are the final top 25 for the first ever Jeff Mentzer Rankings.

1. Texas 1.0000
2. USC 0.9940
3. West Virginia 0.9615
4. Penn State 0.9461
5. Ohio State 0.9440
6. TCU 0.8887
7. Oregon 0.8764
8. Alabama 0.8438
9. Virginia Tech 0.8295
10. LSU 0.8033
11. Georgia 0.7565
12. UCLA 0.7505
13. Florida 0.6723
14. Oklahoma 0.6649
15. Notre Dame 0.6579
16. Wisconsin 0.6283
17. Texas Tech 0.6235
18. Miami (FL) 0.6129
19. Auburn 0.6109
20. Boston College 0.6085
21. Louisville 0.5693
22. Nebraska 0.4213
23. Tulsa 0.3975
24. Toledo 0.3966
25. Michigan 0.3927

Still playing with the suggestions, may incorporate into next years rankings. The higher ranked teams in the top 25 from pre-bowl rankings went 11 - 5 in the bowls.

The Jeff Mentzer College Football Rankings

As I have been encouraged to publish my rankings, I will not tell you how I come up with these numbers, but I will let you know my top 25. I rank all of the teams, but the following is just the top 25.

Have fun and let's see if my #1 Texas is really better than my #2 of USC.

1. Texas 1.0000
2. USC 1.0000
3. Oregon 0.9897
4. West Virginia 0.9571
5. Penn State 0.9527
6. Ohio State 0.9388
7. Georgia 0.8670
8. TCU 0.8668
9. Alabama 0.8395
10. Virginia Tech 0.8219
11. Auburn 0.7943
12. Notre Dame 0.7863
13. LSU 0.7820
14. Miami (FL) 0.7613
15. Louisville 0.7600
16. Texas Tech 0.7382
17. UCLA 0.7063
18. Florida 0.6824
19. Wisconsin 0.6283
20. Oklahoma 0.6169
21. Boston College 0.5706
22. Michigan 0.5699
23. Minnesota 0.5248
24. Northwestern 0.5145
25. South Carolina 0.4940

How this top 25 has fared in the bowl games this year.

#1 Texas to play #2 USC
#5 Penn State to play #30 Florida State


#3 Oregon lost to #20 Oklahoma
#4 West Virginia beat #7 Georgia
#6 Ohio State beat #12 Notre Dame
#8 TCU beat #40 Iowa State
#9 Alabama beat #16 Texas Tech
#10 Virgina Tech beat #15 Louisville
#11 Auburn lost to #19 Wisconsin
#13 LSU beat #14 Miami (FL)
#17 UCLA beat #24 Northwestern
#18 Florida beat #29 Iowa
#21 Boston College beat #26 Boise State
#22 Michigan lost to #32 Nebraska
#23 Minnesota lost to #50 Virginia
#25 South Carolina lost to #46 Missouri

9 wins to 5 losses so far for the higher ranked teams with 2 to go. I guess that's not too bad.

Stay tuned for the post bowl rankings.

JSM

Nero fiddled......

In the old days, the Minnesota Vikings played NFL football in Metropolitan Stadium, an outdoor facility in Bloomington, MN. Even though the Vikings hey-dey during those years was under the leadership of "Nice Guy" head coach Bud Grant, the Vikings were a bunch of tough, cold and ruthless overachievers. Playing outdoors in Minnesota in December will do that to a football team.

Then the Vikings moved indoors into the Metrodome; and they got soft. They've had some good teams, but have yet to win a big football game in the indoor era. Not one.

Vikings management in the indoor era has fiddled around, coddling players and coaching staffs, ignoring weaknesses on one side of the ball or the other and never demanding accountability from anyone in the organization.

Yesterday, the Vikings whipped the division champion and hated rival Chicago Bears 34-10 to finish with a 9-7 record after a 2-5 start. A nice turnaround, but, apparently nice isn't going to cut it anymore.

Zygi Wilf, who bought the Vikings this past summer from former fiddler Red McCombs, fired head coach Mike Tice after the victory. Before the locker room had even cleared. Tough, cold, ruthless. Accountability demanded.

No more fiddling. Zygi plays guitar.

Should old acquaintance....

Happy New Year!