Take Florida, Texas, Georgia Tech

Count Dick MacPherson among the many counting down the seconds until Saturday’s Florida-Alabama showdown. But if the former Syracuse coach had his way, fans would have to wait a little longer for the SEC’s division winners to meet.

Say, 38 days from now. In Pasadena, California.

Click on the image below to read the full story in SN Today

	Legends Poll
November 30, 2009 – Week 13

Legends Poll Nov. 29, 2009

WEEK: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |

November 29, 2009 How the Legends voted

Rank Team Record Points Last Week 1 Florida (12) 12-0 418 2 2 Alabama (4) 12-0 405 1 3 Texas (1) 12-0 394 3 4 TCU 12-0 381 4 5 Cincinnati 11-0 352 5 6 Boise State 12-0 332 7 7 Ohio State 10-2 324 8 8 Oregon 9-2 309 10 9 Iowa 10-2 272 11 10 Penn State 10-2 271 12 11 Georgia Tech 10-2 228 6 12 Virginia Tech 9-3 226 14 13 LSU 9-3 212 19 14 Pittsburgh 9-2 190 9 15 Oregon State 8-3 183 16 16 BYU 10-2 170 17 17 USC 8-3 140 20 18 Houston 10-2 129 21 19 Miami 9-3 127 22 20 Stanford 8-4 99 25 21 California 8-3 58 24 22 Clemson 8-4 56 15 23 Oklahoma State 9-3 54 13 24 Arizona 7-4 42 – 25 Utah 9-3 39 23 Others Receiving Votes Wisconsin 27, Nebraska 25, West Virginia 16, Oklahoma 14, Mississippi 9, South Carolina 9, Arkansas 5, Texas Tech 5, Tennessee 2 , Teams Dropped Out from Last Week’s Poll Mississippi

Ballot: Broyles, Cooper, DeBerry, Donahue

Go to: Page 2 Vince Dooley Pat Dye LaVell Edwards Don James Go to: Page 3 Frank Kush Dick MacPherson Bill Mallory Don Nehlen Go to: Page 4 John Ralston John Robinson RC Slocum Gene Stallings George Welsh
Frank Broyles		John Cooper		Fisher Deberry		Terry Donahue
1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Penn State 10. Houston 11. Georgia Tech 12. Iowa 13. Pitt 14. LSU 15. Virginia Tech 16. BYU 17. Miami 18. USC 19. California 20. Oregon State 21. Oklahoma State 22. Stanford 23. Arizona 24. West Virginia 25. Tennessee		1. Florida 2. TCU 3. Texas 4. Alabama 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Oregon 8. Ohio State 9. LSU 10. Georgia Tech 11. Iowa 12. Penn State 13. Stanford 14. Wisconsin 15. Virginia Tech 16. USC 17. BYU 18. Oregon State 19. Houston 20. Miami 21. Pitt 22. Utah 23. Oklahoma State 24. California 25. Clemson		1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Penn State 10. Georgia Tech 11. Iowa 12. Virginia Tech 13. Oregon State 14. LSU 15. Pitt 16. BYU 17. Houston 18. Miami 19. Nebraska 20. Oklahoma State 21. Stanford 22. California 23. USC 24. Clemson 25. Arizona		1. Florida 2. TCU 3. Texas 4. Alabama 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Oregon 8. Ohio State 9. LSU 10. Georgia Tech 11. Iowa 12. Penn State 13. Stanford 14. Virginia Tech 15. Oregon State 16. BYU 17. USC 18. Miami 19. Pitt 20. Houston 21. Utah 22. Oklahoma State 23. Clemson 24. California 25. Mississippi
Click to see the other Legends’ Transparent Ballots 2 | 3 | 4 | »

Ballot: Dooley, Dye, Edwards, James

Go to: Page 1 Frank Broyles John Cooper Fisher DeBerry Terry Donahue Go to: Page 3 Frank Kush Dick MacPherson Bill Mallory Don Nehlen Go to: Page 4 John Ralston John Robinson RC Slocum Gene Stallings George Welsh
Vince Dooley		Pat Dye		LaVell Edwards		Don James
1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. LSU 9. Oregon 10. Penn State 11. Iowa 12. Stanford 13. Pitt 14. Georgia Tech 15. Wisconsin 16. Virginia Tech 17. USC 18. Clemson 19. BYU 20. Houston 21. Utah 22. Oklahoma State 23. Oregon State 24. Miami 25. Mississippi		1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. TCU 4. Texas 5. Ohio State 6. Oregon 7. LSU 8. Penn State 9. Virginia Tech 10. Cincinnati 11. Iowa 12. Boise State 13. Oregon State 14. USC 15. Miami 16. BYU 17. Stanford 18. Georgia Tech 19. Clemson 20. Pitt 21. Houston 22. California 23. Mississippi 24. South Carolina 25. Arkansas		1. Alabama 2. TCU 3. Texas 4. Florida 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Penn State 11. Virginia Tech 12. BYU 13. Georgia Tech 14. Pitt 15. LSU 16. USC 17. Clemson 18. Miami 19. Oregon State 20. Arizona 21. South Carolina 22. California 23. Utah 24. Houston 25. Arkansas		1. Alabama 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Georgia Tech 11. Penn State 12. Virginia Tech 13. Oregon State 14. BYU 15. LSU 16. Houston 17. Miami 18. USC 19. Pitt 20. Oklahoma State 21. Stanford 22. California 23. Clemson 24. Mississippi 25. Utah
« | 1 Click to see the other Legends’ Transparent Ballots 3 | 4 | »

Ballot: Kush, Mac, Mallory, Nehlen

Go to: Page 1 Frank Broyles John Cooper Fisher DeBerry Terry Donahue Go to: Page 2 Vince Dooley Pat Dye LaVell Edwards Don James Go to: Page 4 John Ralston John Robinson RC Slocum Gene Stallings George Welsh
Frank Kush		Dick MacPherson		Bill Mallory		Don Nehlen
1. Alabama 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Pitt 11. Penn State 12. Virginia Tech 13. BYU 14. Georgia Tech 15. Oregon State 16. LSU 17. USC 18. Houston 19. Miami 20. Stanford 21. California 22. Oklahoma State 23. Clemson 24. Mississippi 25. Arizona		1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Penn State 10. Iowa 11. Georgia Tech 12. Virginia Tech 13. Pitt 14. BYU 15. Oregon State 16. LSU 17. Houston 18. Miami 19. Oklahoma 20. USC 21. Stanford 22. Clemson 23. Nebraska 24. Arizona 25. West Virginia		1. Alabama 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Ohio State 7. Boise State 8. Oregon 9. Penn State 10. Iowa 11. Georgia Tech 12. Pitt 13. Virginia Tech 14. LSU 15. Oregon State 16. BYU 17. Stanford 18. USC 19. Oklahoma State 20. Miami 21. Houston 22. Nebraska 23. California 24. West Virginia 25. Clemson		1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Virginia Tech 11. Penn State 12. LSU 13. Oregon State 14. Houston 15. Pitt 16. BYU 17. Utah 18. Arizona 19. Georgia Tech 20. USC 21. Texas Tech 22. Wisconsin 23. Arkansas 24. West Virginia 25. South Carolina
« | 1 | 2 Click to see the other Legends’ Transparent Ballots 4 | »

Ballot: Ralston, Robinson, Slocum, Stallings, Welsh

Go to: Page 1 Frank Broyles John Cooper Fisher DeBerry Terry Donahue Go to: Page 2 Vince Dooley Pat Dye LaVell Edwards Don James Go to: Page 3 Frank Kush Dick MacPherson Bill Mallory Don Nehlen
John Ralston		John Robinson		RC Slocum		Gene Stallings		George Welsh
1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Ohio State 7. Boise State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Penn State 11. Pitt 12. Georgia Tech 13. USC 14. Virginia Tech 15. Oregon State 16. LSU 17. BYU 18. Houston 19. Miami 20. California 21. Utah 22. Clemson 23. Oklahoma State 24. Mississippi 25. Stanford		1. Florida 2. Texas 3. Alabama 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Penn State 11. Miami 12. Oregon State 13. Georgia Tech 14. LSU 15. Virginia Tech 16. Pitt 17. BYU 18. USC 19. Oklahoma State 20. Clemson 21. Stanford 22. Arizona 23. Houston 24. Nebraska 25. South Carolina		1. Texas 2. Florida 3. Alabama 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Pitt 9. Oregon 10. Iowa 11. Penn State 12. Georgia Tech 13. Virginia Tech 14. Oregon State 15. Arizona 16. Houston 17. LSU 18. Stanford 19. Oklahoma 20. USC 21. West Virginia 22. Nebraska 23. BYU 24. Clemson 25. Tennessee		1. Florida 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Oregon 8. Ohio State 9. Iowa 10. Penn State 11. Virginia Tech 12. LSU 13. Oregon State 14. Miami 15. Georgia Tech 16. BYU 17. Pitt 18. California 19. USC 20. Houston 21. Nebraska 22. West Virginia 23. Oklahoma State 24. Utah 25. Stanford		1. Florida 2. Texas 3. Alabama 4. TCU 5. Cincinnati 6. Boise State 7. Ohio State 8. Oregon 9. Penn State 10. Iowa 11. Georgia Tech 12. Virginia Tech 13. Oregon State 14. BYU 15. Miami 16. Pitt 17. California 18. USC 19. Houston 20. Arizona 21. Utah 22. LSU 23. Clemson 24. Oklahoma State 25. Stanford
« | 1 | 2 | 3 Click to see the other Legends’ Transparent Ballots

Legends: No upset for Bama or Florida

Do you think Auburn can upset Alabama?

Pat Dye: Alabama’s playing Auburn Saturday, but I don’t think that will affect the game in Atlanta.  Auburn’s in the same category as Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina. If Auburn is going to beat Alabama they’d have to help them a lot and Alabama hasn’t been helping anybody.  They don’t get many penalties and they do what they’re supposed to do to be a great football team.  I still think Alabama’s the best and they’re going to play to find out.

Who should be No. 1? Alabama or Florida?

Vince Dooley: You can argue strongly for both of those teams.  The thing FSU has been doing is scoring but I don’t think they’re going to score a lot against Florida.  They’ve given up a lot so I don’t think it’s going to be much of a test.  Trying to pick who is one and who is two, the only thing I think is the difference is that Tebow is still there and as long as he’s there I’m going to pick Florida.  The other kid (McElroy) is a little inconsistent.  That might be the difference.

Do you expect an upset this weekend?

Don James: I don’t think there’s any question who we think are the best but we have to remember these are all big rivalry games.  We’ve seen over the years what can happen in big rival games.  I’d take Florida, Alabama, and Texas to win but Florida State, Auburn, and Texas A&M are going to come in there flying.

Why has Texas dropped in your eyes?

Gene Stallings: I’ve watched them on the television and it seems that they’ve abandoned the running game.  I don’t know what they’re going to do against a good football team.  Unless their running game picks up I don’t think they have much chance to win it all.

Herbstreit joins the legends for a BCS roundtable

Kirk Herbstreit joined the Legends Poll voters on a conference call this week. Herbstreit and the Legends discussed the quandary that the BCS is facing with potential unbeatens: SEC Champion, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State.

The featured roundtable discussion offered a variety of views about No. 4 TCU and their argument to be included in the BCS Championship Game.

LaVell Edwards: I believe TCU is going to come out of this on the short end.  It’s a shame they won’t get a shot at it because clearly they’re the best team I’ve ever seen around here.  They are legitimate in my mind.  We kind of lock into Florida, Alabama and Texas all year long and that’s the way it’s been.   I definitely think TCU could beat Alabama, Florida or Texas, no question in my mind they can.

George Welsh: I saw TCU play Virginia and I was very impressed.  I really like TCU.  I don’t know what they have going for them but they have a lot.  They have a great pass rush; they do a great job on defense.  Now the quarterback who was off to a slow start against Virginia is obviously playing a lot better.  I like TCU also.

John Cooper: I saw Texas play last year.  I went out and watched the Fiesta Bowl.  I like Texas and we all like Mack Brown but Gene Stallings’ right- Texas is one-dimensional.  If McCoy has a bad day, Texas is going to get beat.  Their biggest win all year was over Oklahoma State.  I don’t know about you guys but I watched Oklahoma State last weekend and I was not impressed.

We talk about TCU but TCU went to Clemson and beat a pretty good Clemson team, went to BYU and won that game pretty easily over a pretty good BYU team, they beat Utah who is 9-2.  I would give TCU a slight edge over Texas.  We don’t even need to talk any more about Alabama and Florida.  Those two teams are going to play each other and the winner of that game is going to play for the national championship.  We need to be talking about Texas and TCU and see who should play the winner of that SEC game.  I think if TCU went against Texas right now they would beat them.

Gene Stallings: I’m not sure that Texas will beat Texas A&M.

Pat Dye: Looking at those four football teams, if they all played the best they could play, Alabama’s the only one TCU couldn’t beat.  I just think physically they would beat them.  I think Florida’s got some problems and y’all say Texas has some but I don’t see any problems in Tuscaloosa.

Terry Donahue: I saw TCU two weeks ago play in person.  I’ve seen Alabama twice (in person).  TCU has the best defensive football team I’ve seen all year except for Alabama.  I just thought they were so fast at every position.  They have eight receivers they throw into a game and it’s hard to tell one from another.  I voted them ahead of Texas in the poll because if you consider every facet of the game I believe they could beat Texas or at least deserve a shot at beating Texas.  So I voted them ahead of Texas.

RC Slocum: I have some of the feelings that everyone else has but I think Texas is a good defensive team and an explosive offensive team.  What happens is that we talk about the Boises who beat the people they have to beat and Texas does that too.  I don’t know if we’ve seen Texas’ best game.  They came back in the second half and beat Oklahoma.  They ran the ball some then.  I have the same concern Gene has, you’d like for them to be more balanced.  That’s what they do.  They make so many big plays in the passing game.  They’ll run it in there every once and a while.  I’d be more concerned about their kicking game than anything else.

I just wonder in a match up with Florida or Alabama… all three of those teams are good defensive teams but how many can make the big explosive plays on offense and I would say Texas.  Alabama’s better at running the football and I appreciate that.  Florida is better at running the ball.  But if you ask which of those three offenses is the most explosive I’m going to say Texas is.  All three are comparable defensive teams.

Everything you hear about TCU is good and deservedly so.  That coach has done a great job.  They’re a speed defensive team that would give anybody problems.  I think that would be a good match up.  I would still take Texas in that match up maybe just for psychological reasons.  They played Texas a year ago and they played Texas for a half.  TCU was TCU and Texas was Texas.  If those two played today, I’d pick Texas.

I think they’re so good at what they’re doing that they’re choosing to throw the ball.  They’re promoting McCoy for the Heisman.  They had trouble in the Oklahoma game and they came out in the second half and gashed Oklahoma running the ball.  I thought it was the difference in the ball game.  I know Mack, way down deep, likes to throw the ball.  They do it by design and man, they do it in such a hurry.  My son’s up in Green Bay coaching and we’ve got guys who coached in the pros.  Coaches there talk a lot about explosive plays.  You can’t line up against those good NFL defensive teams and grind the ball down the field over and over and score enough points to win the game.  You have to make explosive plays.  That’s what prompts my question of which team out of Alabama, Florida and Texas can make explosive plays.

From what I’ve seen, I would take Texas first, Florida second and Alabama third in making explosive plays.  If you ask me who can grind the ball out I would put Texas third.  You get in those games and anybody’s going to have a hard time with those three defenses moving the ball.  It comes down to who can get the big chunks and I think Texas has the ability to do that more than the other two.  TCU is explosive too, they do a good job throwing the ball and they run the ball.  It would be a good match up.

Fisher DeBerry: Having played TCU for many, many years and knowing their background, they can play with anybody — I guarantee you defensively.  The reason I haven’t voted them higher than I have is because I don’t think their offense is that good.  The quarterback has played well the last three or four weeks and it would be a heck of a match up to see TCU play Texas just like it will be to see Alabama play Florida.

Kirk Herbstreit: I’m just intrigued listening to this.  I think the one thing that’s changed with the BCS from 1998 to now is non-automatic qualifier — the perception of the Utah, Boise State, TCU or whoever it happens to be.  I remember in ‘98,’99, 2000 you would never even imagine having this discussion about TCU.  I think the success of Boise and Utah and others of not just getting to a BCS bowl game but what they’ve done when they’ve gotten there, Utah beating Alabama last year in the Sugar Bowl, I think proves that these teams can play one game with these teams.

One coach was talking about the schedule and doesn’t TCU outpersonnel teams they play? I personally feel that the MWC is one of the most underrated conferences in the country because they have a TV program with Versus and nobody sees these teams.  For TCU to go to Virginia, to go to Clemson, to go to Air Force, to go to BYU, and go to Wyoming and beat these teams the way they have…I think that’s a more impressive resume that what Texas has gone through.

Texas hasn’t played anybody outside of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.  They’ve played nobody all year.  It doesn’t mean they aren’t a great team.  We just won’t know how good they are until they play Nebraska for the Big 12 championship and the national championship to play the winner of the Florida-Alabama game.  We can speculate but we really don’t know how good Texas is.

No. 18 Ole Miss earned higher ranking than No. 19 LSU

Listen to the conclusion of the Coaches vs. Computers podcast this week featuring BCS pollster Richard Billingsley and former Georgia head coach Vince Dooley. The Legends Channel roundtable features a conversation about coaching and the rankings of Ole Miss and LSU.

• Dooley says he still would have hired Mark Richt if Paul Johnson was a candidate.
• Dooley: “You first have to learn how not to beat yourself before you learn how to beat somebody else.”
• Billingsley has a head-to-head rule in his computer system. If they have the same record, the team that won must be ranked higher.
• Billingsley’s rankings and the Legends Poll had Ole Miss higher than LSU this week.

Click here to listen:

No. 6 Georgia Tech grinds away defenses

• Dooley says TCU has tremendous balance.
• Dooley believes Florida is a better team, but he understands the argument for Alabama to be No. 1.
• Dooley says Boise State doesn’t have the athletes over all that SEC teams have.
• Billingsley says Nevada may sneak up and surprise Boise State.
• Dooley says Georgia Tech wears down defenses and dominates into the fourth quarter of games.

Click here to listen:

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