Again, this is from the world's biggest UNLV homer, but what else can the Rebels do to get some love? Joe Lunardi is close to getting a new nickname and is still keeping the Rebs out of the dance and putting Utah above them. (By the way, see this article by Rick Reilly on the people's football champion) Obviously the voters aren't watching games (we know these guys aren't watching college football games but still voting for teams) At least he still has three more months to get it right.
Until then, the Rebels have to be concerned. The Mountain West is better this year but have failed to make some noise with the big boys. BYU had a chance to beat Wake Forest which would have sent ripples through the world of college basketball and Utah has played a tough non conference schedule that may elevate them enough to get on the bubble. UNLV has the best wins in my opinion vs. Arizona and @ Louisville. BYU could not beat the two baddies on their sched, ASU or Wake, San Diego's best win is at home against San Diego (in a game where the Toreros best player got hurt), UNM's best win is Mississippi, notable only because it is a SEC team, but a 9-5 SEC team that will barely finish in the top half of the conference. TCU and Wyoming have improved, but don't have the RPI or signature wins that get you attention.
I really think Utah has begun to figure it out with Luke Nevill inside and really should be a tough get this year. San Diego seems to live up to its reputation as an underachieving talented team. New Mexico is definitely improved and gave the Rebels all they wanted at home in each team's first conference game.
The last two years, UNLV has gone 8-0 at home and 4-4 on the road in conference. It is hard to see this year's edition improving on that mark. They are more talented and have made progress defensively, they will need to win each place they won last year and pick up a game or two (preferably two) of these opponents: @BYU, @UNM, @Utah and @Air Force. Conventional wisdom says this year they should be able to beat the Falcons in the Springs, but they most likely will give one back @ San Diego, a place they don't win often either. If Wink's injury lingers, they are very vulnerable to dropping a game at home, meaning they would have to get it back on the road. One encouraging sign is that they have been tougher on the road than at home. 13-2 is a desirable place to be, but their toughest work is still ahead of them.
In other news, UNLV football coach did not take my advice to hire Rocky Long. He ended up getting hired at San Diego, which means playing there will not be fun the next couple of years.
While I am enjoying the Celtics slide since their Christmas showdown with the Lake Show, I know it will not last. They will figure it out and turn it up as the weather gets warmer. I was impressed with how well the Cavs looked tonight vs. the C's. LeBron is truly elevating his game and giving whatever his team needs to win. They will have something to say about who plays in the Finals.
I think we are still many years away from a playoff in college football. The Big Six conferences have a stranglehold on this thing and will not share just in the name of fairness. There is too much money to share access with the smaller conferences and there really is no compelling reason for them to do it. It is a case of the rich getting richer and pulling further away from the poor. They do not want to see the same kind of parity you see in college basketball nowadays. They want the big powerhouses to feed on the small fish and until they are forced to do so, they will not. Utah's finish at No. 2 is as close as a non-BCS team will get to the national championship. I think when they have no choice but to let two non-BCS teams in, that's when you will see them panic a bit and work harder to keep them out. The thing I would like to see is delaying the start of the polls until October or so, because they play such a large role in how the BCS shakes out at the end. But, the polls sell newspapers or web page views now, I guess and they or the BCS aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Scrubs returns on ABC, tell your friends so it gets renewed....
laters
cvz
Rebels by 10
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