Going to California

“Made up my mind to make a new start;
Going to California with an aching in my heart.”
                                                  ~Led Zeppelin
(Correct me, Keith!)

My plane leaves DFW at 10:35 Texas time this morning and lands at high noon Pacific time in Fresno. And there’s no aching in my heart. I’m actually pretty excited about this trip. I’ve never been to California before. And although I may see nothing but the road between Jim Gardner’s house and his church and the inside of the Woodward Park building the whole time I’m there, I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be speaking five times in four days at their annual workshop there in central California. And I can’t wait to experience the multi-cultural flavor of that body of believers. I’ll write more either tonight or Thursday morning. Right now I’m running late. I can’t afford to not be ready just in case Lance actually shows up on time to pick me up for the airport run. (Cheap shot, I know.)

Here’s the poll. Have fun.

KK&C Top 20 Logo 

The Trojans of Southern Cal retain 14 first place votes and the top five remain unchanged. Georgia takes two first place votes while LSU takes the other. Richard still refuses to name a #1, keeping USC and OU tied at #2. Auburn slips this week from #9 to 14. BYU moved way up from 16 to 12. Oregon and East Carolina fell out completely. And Alabama leaps over Wisconsin into the top ten.

Congratulations to Mark Hooper who sent in his poll this week from Cambodia! What dedication. Aaron & Jenn, that trumps your Hawaii submission from last week. Who can top Hooper? Who’s going to Lubbock?

Despite overwhelming and indisputable physical evidence, Aaron keeps holding out hope for his Vols. Larry this week has officially disowned his Mississippi State Bulldogs, calling them “a disgrace to the SEC!” That’s big news! The poll is off just a little because Charlie forgot to give us a #9 team in his list (He’s probably busy writing a small groups discussion guide). Enjoy.

September 23 , 2008

1. USC (14-1st place votes, 354 total votes) – “I’m bored with USC already.” TedS; “Put us out of our misery and move them to the NFC East where they’d still be #1.” MarkH; “This week’s practices has been their best competition.” BillyW

2. Oklahoma (316) – “Sooners are responsible for TCU not getting a vote from me this week.” JimG; “OU 30, TCU 17″ SteveF; “Will play Georgia in the national championship game.” LarryT; “He Hate Me.” TedS

3. Florida (310) – “Awful nice of Tennessee to Volunteer for a beating.” RichardA (Boo.); “Sorry, Steve, the Vols are not contenders.” PaulD; Urban Meyer gets on my nerves.” JimG; “Best team in Florida including the Bucs and Fins.” MarkH; “I want to see them play Georgia.” JennG

4. Georgia (2, 303) – “Barely gets by Arizona St. SEC is always overrated.” MarkH; “Mark Richt is the anti-Urban Meyer.” JimG; “Will still lose two games in the SEC.” CharlieJ; “A-J. A-J. Moreno. Moreno.” PaulD

5. Missouri (290) – “Wow.” LarryT; “Chase may be #1 in New York at the end of the season.” PaulD; “Defense is suspect. Anyone else see this?” CharlieJ

6. LSU (1, 285) – “It’s odd calling the national champions a ’sleeper.’” CharlieJ; “3rd best team in SEC.” MarkH

7. Texas (250) – “Don’t tell Carter I moved them up.” JerryK; “Lickin’ their chops.” CharlieJ; “Get a ‘name-your-score’ game against a woeful Arkansas team.” JimG; “Bring on the bacon!” RichardA; “Texas 34, Arkansas 17″ SteveF; “Will fall out of Top Ten once they play a ranked team.” LarryT; “Apparantly Colt McCoy has a new set of guns.” BillyW; “Note to Colt: aspire to be Major, not Vince.” TedS

8. Alabama (227) – “Top Ten after BBQing the Hogs.” MarkH; “Convinced they are a Top Ten team.” CharlieJ; “They’re back!” JimG; “Alabama 20, Georgia 18″ SteveF; “The Tide is on a roll!” LarryT (What are we doing?); “I guess Nick Saban should stay in college.” BillyW

9. Wisconsin (217) – “Badgers will beat Michigan.” SteveF; “The ‘W’ on the helmet stands for ‘winning’ the Big 10.” MarkH; “Not convinced they are a Top Ten team.” CharlieJ

10. Texas Tech (198) – “Just waiting for the slip up.” CharlieJ; “History says defense will be their undoing.” JimG; “If we don’t vote for Tech, Leach will go all ‘tough, smart attorney’ on us.” TedS; “Waiting to play a real opponent.” BillyW

11. Penn St. (164) – “Looked good against Temple. So, what?” MarkH; “We are!…going to lose soon!” CharlieJ; “Did you see Joe Pa’s postgame comments? Can you say ’senility’?” JimG; “Joe Pa in the booth…look out!” PaulD; “Fight on, Joe Pa.” RichardA

12. BYU (152) – “Are we sure Ty Detmer wasn’t playing?” BillyW

13. South Florida (124) – “Barely beat a team with ‘International’ in their name.” MarkH

14. Ohio St. (120) – “Just because.” JimG; “Still too high.” PaulD

15. Auburn (104) – “Surely Auburn can recruit a punter.” PaulD; “Will bounce back.” BillyW; “If Vols will score 24 points they will win.” SteveF (Bless his heart)

16. Wake Forest (86) – “…even if they are the Demon Deacons.” MarkH; “Jim Grobe grateful today he didn’t take the Arkansas job.” JimG;  ”Yawn…gratuitous ACC team.” CharlieJ; “Are there any Demon Deacons at Legacy?” RichardA

17. Utah (73) –

18. Kansas (70) – “Because I’m envious of Mark Mangino’s physique.” JimG; “Struggling.” BillyW

19. Clemson (28) – “Beginning to find the groove.” PaulD; “Clemson 29, Maryland 13″ SteveF

20. Boise St. (25) – “I believe they belong here.” PaulD

Also receiving votes: TCU (24) “I’m a believer in the power of purple” RichardA; Oregon (18); Vanderbilt (12) “A blue jeans company that’s 4-0!” TedS; West Virginia (5); UConn (3); Fresno St. (2) “Get by UCLA and they go to Boise 10-1 to end the year.” JimG; East Carolina (2) “Are there 51 states now?” DavidB; New York Yankees (2) “Because they’re not in the playoffs. Let’s all celebrate.” TedS; ACU (1); Oklahoma St. (1) “Games are won in the trenches and OSU has a tough experienced line.” CharlieJ; Tennessee (1) “Will be #20 by the end of the season.” AaronG; Miami Dolphins (1) “Brady or not, it’s great to see New England lose.” TedS

6 Comments

  1. Janie R.

    Allan,
    did you not get my picks-or did my willingess to admit I didn’t get to watch a game negate them this week? Just wondering since you didn’t mention the 1 1st place vote my Sooners received :o( I realize that all loyal Texans DO tend to have a blind spot when it comes to their crimson neighbors to the North :o)

  2. Lance

    You punk! I was ten minutes early AND I took you to Sonic this morning! Oh you of little faith. Just because Jason doesn’t know what 8 AM looks like, doesn’t mean that I am not capable of getting up that early. (Cheap shot on Jason, I know) Have fun in Cali.

  3. Allan in CA

    Janie, I didn’t get your picks. I received 17 and your wasn’t one of them. I’ve checked my filters, too. Not there. What’s going on? Sorry.

    Lance, yes you were ten minutes early. And I got to the airport in more than enough time. And I publicly apologize. And cheap shots against Jason are fine.

  4. Paul

    Janie, I see a conspirasy brewing. I wondered how long it would be before he began to attack we folks who favor the crimson and creme.

  5. Janie R.

    No worries…I’m taking strong measures now to ensure that THIS native Okie’s picks aren’t ‘lost’ in the email twilight zone anymore ;o)

  6. Paul

    The gate is now open. 27 – 21

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