And so it begins, the most controversial section which I’ve been looking forward to writing for the last month. Let the debate begin with gusto, as any of these teams has more than a great shot at winning the whole enchilada.  In fact, I’d go as far as saying that these four teams are so far ahead of the rest of college football that this might as well be a Final Four as there will be two games, pitting two of the teams against each other in what will most likely be the most hyped meetings all year, and maybe, of the last decade.

I can’t remember a single year where there was such a fortuitous scheduling for college football teams, and the winner of each of the two games will probably meet in for the National Championship.  It’s classic, baby…two conference rivals playing at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and the ultimate, classic Rose Bowl matchup between the best Big Televen and Pac-10 teams in their conference’s histories.

So rather than look at each team individually like I did in the previous sections, I’m going to look at these two games, as nothing else really matters.  The loser of Florida and Georgia will not get a chance to win the SEC and the loser of OSU/USC will not get a nod over the winner provided they, as expected, finish with nearly identical records.  It truly is a PLAYOFF, so here we go…dear fucking God am I excited.

Georgia vs. Florida (in Jacksonville): These two teams are the cream of the SEC crop, which as any decent Southerner will tell you, is the best crop in the land because of their…ahem…let me clear my throat to get this as accurate as possible…ESSSSSSSSSSSS-EEEEEEEEEEEEE-SEEEEEEEEEEE SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!11!!!!!!!11!!one!!

So let me start this off with a quick question…why is Georgia considered an elite team?  If anything, they mirror the 2006 Ohio State team that was destroyed by Florida in the National Championship, a team that, coming off of a STRONG BCS performance against a team that simply didn’t belong, rode the hype machine to make the public believe they were invincible.  I definitely fell into the hype trap, but the fact remains, OSU’s evisceration of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl largely fueled said hype machine, and it was painful.  Likewise, Georgia destroyed Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl…Hawaii, a team who’s OL was outweighed by Georgia’s LB’s and stood absolutely no chance whatsoever, especially considering it was an essential home game for the Bulldogs.

Looking at the team, are they really that strong?  They have a pretty good OL, great RB’s, decent WR’s and a QB who was hyped out the ass, but barely completed more than half of his passes last year.  How good is their defense?  Nobody really knows as they had wide open lanes straight into Colt Brennan’s chops the entire game, and frankly, we have no idea how’ll they’ll shape up against a much improved Florida team.

Florida, on the other hand, has the best player in the entire nation, and a dude who can rightfully claim to be one of the best players in college football history.  Tim Tebow is a force who’s pretty unstoppable, regardless of the caliber of defense you throw at him.  Percy Harvin is an insane target and the Gators are loaded on offense.  The defense, at least in the secondary is a little suspect, but really, they should be much improved over last year.

Regardless my feelings about Georgia, they are a GREAT team, and Moreno is a great talent, so at least to me, they are about as evenly matched as it gets, and if you don’t watch this game, you really don’t care about college football because it’s going to be insane, with the crowd getting absolutely nuts all throughout the weekend, like always.  Plus, there’s the added bonus of Urban Meyer’s seething hatred of the bullshit move that Mark Richt pulled last year, sending his entire team out to celebrate a TD during last year’s Cocktail Party…this game is going to be intense.

Prediction: Florida wins this by two scores, but the game is hotly contested until the final whistle.  Florida moves into position to take the SEC crown and get a free pass to the National Championship game, even with two losses, because either USC or OSU will not have the benefit of the brutal SEC schedule to propel them into a rematch of the game I’ll discuss next.

Ohio State vs. USC (in Los Angeles): This is the game that has my undivided attention, and has ever since Ohio State’s drubbing at the hands of LSU in January.  Regardless of how much you hate, and you probably hate them a shit-ton, Ohio State, you must admit they have an absolutely LOADED team, perhaps the most talented roster in the nation.  Last year was a rebuilding year, and Ohio State was fortunate(?) to even make it to the NC game, considering their only position with more than one senior on the two-deep roster was at FULLBACK, by all accounts, this was the target year.  Beanie Wells is the best individual running back in college football, and if you saw the .gif from yesterday’s post, you know how fucking beastmode he truly is.  The defense has two of the best linebackers in the country in Lil’ Animal and Marcus Freeman and a stacked line and secondary, to boot.

USC on the other hand…well, a decade worth of top 5 recruiting classes tends to turn a team into an NFL breeding ground, and their defense, shit, gives me nightmares.  Rey Mala…Mala…fuck it, Rey is the scariest defender in college football, and Brian Cushing, Taylor Mays and Everson Griffen round out a defense that will all be HIGH first round draft picks when they decide to declare.  Just thinking of Rey and Beanie colliding makes me drool in anticipation…fucking A, this game is going to be sick.

The difference between the teams?  USC’s offense is a LITTLE suspect…Mark Sanchez really isn’t that great, no matter what ESPN tries to tell you and the offensive line, while talented, is inexperienced.  USC’s WR’s are unproven, yet, also, fucking talented, and who knows what to make out of their RB’s considering none of them could stay healthy last year.  Ohio State has question marks at QB as well, as Boeckman was pretty pedestrian towards the end of the year and, outside of the two Brians, Hartline and Robiskie, there isn’t a proven third WR seeing as Ray Small has found his way into Senator Tressel’s doghouse.

Speaking of Tressel, the coaching matchup here is legend.  Tressel versus Carroll.  Midwestern values versus California cool…shit, September 13 cannot come fast enough.

Prediction:  On good days, I think OSU wins by a single score.  On bad days, I think OSU just can’t handle the long trip and loses a heartbreaker.  Frankly, nobody has a clue of what’s going to happen as USC is deadly against Big Televen opponents…but Big Televen opponents that couldn’t sniff this OSU team’s jock.  Frankly, I have no idea what the outcome is going to be, but seeing as I’m the author, I’m predicting an Ohio State win by a TD in one of the best regular season games since Colorado versus Michigan that ended on Kordell Stewart’s Hail Mary to Michael Westbrook over Ty Law.

Oh, and are you proud of me?  Not ONE mention of Terrelle Pryor!

If all goes according to my plan, we’ll be treated to Ohio State given one last shot at redemption against another elite SEC team, the team that literally ripped out every Buckeye fan’s heart in Glendale.  And if that’s the case, the hype that these two games receive will pale in comparison as the rest of the college football bowl season will be rendered obsolete with full attention paid toward the National Championsip game.

Hell, any combination of the teams above would be insane.  Ohio State’s inclusion inciting the rest of the country to throw up in hatred, USC assuming their “rightful” place on top of the game’s biggest stage, Tebow having the opportunity to win a National Championship by himself, and I don’t mean sharing snaps with Chris Leak, I mean totally by himself because he’s that good, or Georgia rockin’ and rollin’ with a balanced attack that just oozes SEC football.  Be it OSU/USC versus the SEC, there will be a matchup between two of the most stacked teams since the Miami teams of the early 2000’s or the Nebraska teams from the 1990’s.

And I don’t mean this to slight any of the previously covered teams…the Big XII in particular, as Oklahoma is a few parts and a good coaching season away from being part of the discussion, or even West Virginia who has, in the past, proven their cajones by slicing teams apart in big bowl games and has their own player with Heisman aspirations.  It’s just that USC, Florida, Ohio State and Georgia are so unbelievably good that it’s just plain difficult to imagine the winners of the aforementioned games not being in the discussion.  And the winner of this year’s National Championship?  Well, they very well could go down being talked about next to the 1971 or 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers, the 1972 USC Trojans and the 2001 Miami Hurricans as being in the conversation for the best team of all time.

Needless to say…I cannot wait.

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