Starting 11: Florida Is Very Bad Edition
A Florida prosecutor holds the college football season in the palm of his hand.
If he charges Jameis Winston with sexual assault, there goes the Heisman trophy and the Seminoles place in the BCS title game.
If he doesn't charge Winston then Florida State will play in the BCS title game and Winston may well win the Heisman trophy.
Welcome to college football, the most morally corrupt sport in our country.
Happy Thanksgiving.
1. Will Muschamp, assuming he returns, will be the Lane Kiffin of 2014.
That is, he'll enter on such a hot seat that he could be fired mid-way through the season with any lapses.
The first three games of Idaho, Eastern Michigan and Kentucky should be easy wins -- although when you lose to Georgia-Southern, who knows.
But then things get difficult in a hurry.
at Alabama
at Tennessee
LSU
Missouri
Georgia in the Cocktail Party
at Vandy
South Carolina
That, my friends, is what we call a gauntlet.
Will Muschamp still be the coach at the end of these seven games?
Here's one vote for no.
2. SEC teams Auburn and Missouri could leap undefeated Ohio State.
Trust me, it could happen.
I don't think Alabama is going to lose, but a 12-1 Auburn with one loss at LSU -- where the Tiger are 30-1 in their last 31 home games -- or a 12-1 Missouri with one overtime loss to South Carolina, both have stronger overall resumes, in my opinion, than 13-0 Ohio State.
Put it this way, do you think Ohio State would go on the road and win at LSU? If you don't, and I don't, then how do you hold that against Auburn when you compare resumes with Ohio State?
Just keep it in mind as the next debate looms.
3. What would happen if FSU's Jameis Winston gets charged with sexual assault?
FSU would get leaped in the BCS standings.
I really believe this would happen.
FSU without Winston is 9 or 10 points worse according to Las Vegas.
Do we really want Nick Saban to have a month to prepare for a third-string Florida State quarterback? That would be a total disaster.
Meanwhile, it's worth pointing out that FSU has exactly one win against teams presently ranked in the BCS top 25. The same number, by the way, as Ohio State.
How come no one talks about how weak FSU's schedule is?
4. Johnny Manziel has to be perfect against Missouri to win the Heisman.
There's a void at the top of the Heisman list right now.
Jameis Winston could get charged with a felony, Manziel was not good on the road at LSU, no one but Alabama fans believes AJ McCarron deserves the Heisman.
This vote's going to be a mess.
5. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee in back-to-back years for the first time since 1925-26.
They did it on a fake jump pass that they set up by running a jump pass on fourth down late against Kentucky.
Vandy is now 14-4 in its last 18 games. The only team in the SEC with a better record over the past 18 games?
Alabama.
James Franklin has done an unbelievable job with the Commodores.
6. Oklahoma State crushed Baylor.
Hopefully you took my FS1 advice and played OSU on the money line.
If you did, that was a nice payout.
What in the world happened to OSU at West Virginia?
7. Here are the TV ratings for all the national college football games on ABC, Fox, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1 from Saturday:
As you can see below, CBS's SEC game of the week continues to be the most valuable single television deal in the country.
To reiterate, CBS pays the SEC just over $4 million per game. ESPN pays Monday Night Football nearly $120 million per NFL game. (There are studio packages surrounding each game as well, but the games are what costs the money).
The first number in the ratings is the one to pay attention to, each ratings point is equal to just over 1 million viewers. So, for instance, Texas A&M at LSU, the highest rated game of the day in college football, would finish with somewhere over five million viewers. The second is the share of TVs that were watching at the time of the game.
ABC
ABC College Football 3:30p- 2.8/6
(Regionalized)
Baylor-Oklahoma State 4.1/8
FOX
Arizona State-UCLA - 7p- 1.9/3
FOX Sports 1
Oklahoma Kansas State 12n- .76
Cal at Stanford 4p- .19
Kansas at Iowa State 9p- .09
CBS
Texas A&M-LSU - 3:30p- 4.8/10
NBC
Notre Dame- BYU - 3:30p- 1.6/3
ESPN
Michigan State-Northwestern- 12n 1.7/4
Wisconsin- Minnesota -3:30p 1.2/3
Mizzou at Ole Miss- 7:45p- 1.3/2
ESPN 2
Duke-Wake Forest 0.7/2
College Football 3:30p- 0.6/2
(Regionalized)
Vandy at Tennessee 7p- 0.9/2
Washington-Oregon State - 10:30p- 0.8/2
ESPNU
Virginia at Miami .4
Idaho at Florida State .4
Kentucky at Georgia .5
If you guys enjoy seeing the national ratings numbers for college football, let me know and I can include them every Monday in the Starting 11.
8. David Cutcliffe won his ninth game at Duke.
My final three for national coach of the year honors is now made up of Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Mizzou's Gary Pinkel, and Cutcliffe.
If the Blue Devils go on the road and beat North Carolina, they win the ACC Coastal outright.
But if they lose?
Oh, boy.
We're likely to end up with a four or five-way 5-3 tie.
Virginia Tech would win a five-way 5-3 tie.
9. Butch Jones, Mark Stoops, and Bret Bielema are a combined 1-20 in the SEC this year.
The only win?
Tennessee beating South Carolina.
Gus Malzhan, meanwhile, is 6-1 in his first year in the SEC.
This weekend Tennessee plays Kentucky, meaning someone has to win.
Arkansas is likely to finish 3-9, with nine straight losses since Jen Bielema Tweeted out #karma in the wake of Wisconsin's tough loss at Arizona State.
10. Outkick's national top ten. You can see more explanation by clicking here.
1. Alabama
2. Florida State
3. Missouri
4. Auburn
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Baylor
8. South Carolina
9. Michigan State
10. Clemson
11. Outkick's SEC power ratings, you can see more explanation by clicking here.
1. Alabama
2. Missouri
3. Auburn
4. South Carolina
5. LSU
6. Texas A&M
7. Georgia
8. Ole Miss
9. Vanderbilt
10. Mississippi State
11. Tennessee
12. Florida
13. Kentucky
14. Arkansas