College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 8

In the last 2 weeks, we've seen 5 teams ranked in the Top 5 go down. I love it. A little more chaos never hurt anyone. So as we look ahead at Week 8, it's finally time to start thinking about the Death to the BCS Playoffs that are going to be amazing to think about. Only 12 unbeatens remain, and since the Big East and SEC have half of those, that number will go down. Part of me still hopes that we'll have more than two unbeatens left when all is said and done, if for no other reason than to keep poking holes in the dying BCS.

So before we get going with a playoff preview, here's how the conferences' scheduling checks out going into Week 8 of the season.

1. WAC (6.43): Everyone is either in-conference or off this week, so no change at the top.
2. Conference-USA (6.42): Also no out of conference tilts this week. These are becoming rarer and rarer.
3. Sun Belt (6.1): Middle Tennessee is off to Mississippi State, which gave the conference a bit of a boost this week. Other than that, everyone is in conference or off.
4. MAC (6): Eastern Michigan hosts Army, while Buffalo and Toledo host Pitt and Cincinnati, respectively. Good scheduling this week.
5. Mountain West (5.3): No change this week with a lack of out of conference play.
6. Big East (5): Moved up a bit with Pitt and Cincy off to MAC schools. I like their willingness to hit the road for those types of games.
7. Big 10 (4.58): Indiana is off to Annapolis to face Navy. Other than that all play stays within Big 10 borders.
8. ACC (3.42): Nobody playing outside the confines of the conference this week.
9. Pac-12 (3.33): Stands pat with no out of conference games.
10. SEC (2.86): Mississippi State hosts Middle Tennessee to add a small amount to the scoring, but other than that, everyone is staying in the SEC.
11. Big XII (2.5): No one playing outside the conference means they remain in last place.

Now comes the fun part: looking at who would make the playoffs under Dan Wetzel's system. As a reminder, this is a 16 team playoff where the 11 conference champions make it along with 5 at large teams. Higher seeds host in the first 3 rounds before the national title game played at a neutral site. Bear in mind that this is with several games still to be played and something of an "if the season ended today" setup. Please also note that teams listed as "conference champions" are the teams currently with the best conference records, and for the purposes of these rankings they are given the championship bid. Obviously these spots are the most subject to change, but here's where we're at so far. A lot of the top does coincide somewhat with the BCS rankings.

College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 7

It's weeks like this most recent one that give me joy in college football. 3 of the top 5 teams fell over the weekend, there are only 16 unbeatens left in the FBS realm and there was upheaval. I love weekends like that, if for no other reason than to throw the convoluted BCS formula into utter chaos. I know, I'm a college football sadist. Need to take some joy after having another off week in picking NFL games.

But I'm also a realist and someone who knows to put things in perspective. Before getting into the rankings, I want to take a moment (however belatedly) to pay respects to D-III's Washington and Jefferson running back Tim McNerney, who was killed a week ago. NCC doesn't play these guys (unless they were to meet in the playoffs), but there's nothing that can prepare you for losing a teammate and a friend in such a senseless matter. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Presidents and their fans, especially the family of McNerney.

This week held a fair share of non-conference games at the DI-A level now that we're a short time away from the first BCS rankings coming out. You already know my stance on these rankings, which is why next week I'm going to at least try to come up with some sort of system for a playoff preview in the construct of the Death to the BCS playoffs. But for now, we stick to ranking the conferences in terms of how they've scheduled thus far.

1. WAC (6.43): Louisiana Tech hosts Texas A&M (kudos to the Aggies) and (holy crap) UTSA is playing at Rice in an attempt to counterbalance their double dose of D-II schools this season. Not going to save you, guys. This just barely got them to the mountaintop again.
2. Conference-USA (6.42): One point this week in the aforementioned UTSA-Rice battle. Hard to come out on top with the conference schedule in full swing.
3. Sun Belt (5.8): No out of conference games here this week.
4. MAC (5.62): They get the military involved this weekend with Central Michigan hosting Navy and Kent State heading to West Point. The MAC is catching up...
5. Mountain West (5.3): They stand pat as well with no play outside of its own.
6. Big East (4.5): Took a hit this week with Cincinnati hosting its second cupcake of the season, the only contest out of conference. Fairly or not, this is the first week where a conference finished with a negative aggregate score.
7. Big Ten (4.42): Standing pat with no out of conference games. Getting closer to the Big East though because of Cincy's weak schedule.
8. ACC (3.42): Another conference staying in house and staying where it's at.
9. Pac-12 (3.33): Oregon State (BYU) and Stanford (Notre Dame) hit the road this week to raise their score. That Stanford-ND game should be an interesting one.
10. SEC (2.78): Texas A&M is off to Louisiana Tech in a battle of ranked teams. Nice to actually see an SEC team hit the road against a mid major.
11. Big XII (2.5): Holding as firm as the weakest out-of-conference scheduling conference can by staying in house.

We're sure to see some of the 16 unbeatens fall this week and help clear up the picture. My biggest concern with a playoff preview is the prospect of having multiple unbeatens in a conference that requires a championship game (I'm looking at you, SEC) that muddles the whole picture. It won't last, obviously, but it may make next week's playoff look a complicated one.

Meanwhile in the NFL, hopefully Week 6's picks go smoother. I got a point in our ESPN pool that I shouldn't have because of accidentally clicking Seattle when I committed in writing to Carolina. We'll see if that comes into play come the end of the season. You can find mine an Nathaniel's picks this week over at SSLYAR later today.

October Baseball Awards

Being the Cubs fan that I am, there wasn't much to watch this baseball season. But for a fun pastime, this really was an excellent season overall, with a lot of history being made and plenty of drama to unfold as the months went by. The addition of the second wild card I would say was a rousing success and definitely did not take away from the end of the season. And I did make it to games in 3 different cities this year, running my ballpark bucket list to 11 of 30 with a trip to Arlington in June to briefly tie my dad before he and my brother went off to Fenway.


I was talking yesterday morning with a couple guys at work right when I got to the office about how wide open the postseason really is. It's easier to count out the teams that likely don't have a chance versus the teams that have the best chance to win it all. And even that is iffy. While I haven't seen enough baseball to really figure out which teams have the best shot, I do think I can answer the important questions about who will win what awards in the MLB this season.

Manager of the Year

National League
Davey Johnson, WAS- Take a team with a teenage star in the making in Bryce Harper and a squad that people figured were on the way up but not quite ready yet, and lead them to the best record in the majors? Other than the shutting down of Stephen Strasburg (I think it was premature) he handled this group in excellent fashion.

American League
Robin Ventura, CHW- I was one of many who wrote the White Sox off before this season. And go figure, they played incredibly well up until late September. For a guy with no managerial experience to come in and not only exceed expectations, but have a team in the race until the final week is astounding in my book. Give him props.

Rookie of the Year

National League
Norichika Aoki, MIL- At this point I'm trying to grasp at straws I feel. There were so many directions I could have gone with no one rookie standing out and Anthony Rizzo didn't have enough service time in my opinion. Aoki hit well (.288), stole 30 bases, and had a very good K/BB ratio (55-43) in 151 games. 37 doubles helps too. All in all a good year for him.

American League
Mike Trout, LAA- Who else? More on him a little later.

Cy Young

National League
R.A. Dickey, NYM- 20-6, 2.73, 233.2 IP, 54 BB, 230 K, .226 BAA, 1.05 WHIP. Tough call between Dickey and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers. I opted for Dickey because of his 20 wins to Kershaw's 14, but also because of the fewer walks in more innings and the league lead in innings pitched and strikeouts. Honestly the numbers are so close I'm looking for one thing that put it over the top, and for me it was the wins. But I wouldn't be upset if Kershaw takes the trophy again.

American League
Justin Verlander, DET- 17-8, 2.64, 238.1 IP, 60 BB, 239 K, .217 BAA, 1.06 WHIP. Another tough race between Verlander, Jered Weaver of the Angels and David Price of the Rays. Weaver led the AL in WHIP, but struck out almost 100 fewer batters than Verlander did. Price won 20 games and had the lowest ERA, but Verlander pitched more innings (thus having more opportunities for stats) and only walked one more batter than Price did. That's insane.

Most Valuable Player

National League
Buster Posey, SF- .336/.408/.549, 24 HR, 103 RBI, 39 2B. Wow. Had a tough time deciding between Posey and Ryan Braun again. I'm not holding anything against Braun's positive test last year that was overturned on a technicality. Braun led the National League in homers with 41 while stealing 30 bases and was a big reason why Milwaukee finished with a decent mark this year. But Posey played a tough defensive position that involved calling games for a pitching staff while also helping lead his team without Melky Cabrera? Let's also remember that Braun without Prince Fielder saw his team drop in the win column and miss the postseason. It's not an end-all, be-all, but it certainly plays a role. Tough call, but I'm taking Posey. Yet this was nothing compared to the choice for the final category.

American League
Miguel Cabrera, DET- .330/.393/.606, 44 HR, 139 RBI, 40 2B. Let's forget for a second that Cabrera won the Triple Crown, something that hasn't been done in a very long time. That has no relevance in this argument. By contrast, let's look at Mike Trout's season:

.326/.399/.564, 30 HR, 83 RBI, 27 2B, 8 3B, 49 SB

Staggering as well in its all-around brilliance. The big arguments for Trout have been his WAR (I think 10.5 is what I've been hearing, tops in the AL) and the fact that he plays better defense (a .988 fielding percentage for Trout compared to .966 for Cabrera with 13 errors), though manning the hot corner and patrolling center field are two totally different things. My big difference lies in the fact that Detroit made the playoffs while the Angels did not (granted, the Angels did finish with a better record), but in the process, Trout faded in September while Cabrera shined (.308/.378/.654, 10 HR, 24 RBI). Let's also look at one more stat: batting in late/close situations (as defined by MLB.com).

Cabrera: .310/.403/.517, 3 HR, 10 RBI

Trout: .267/.333/.378, 1 HR, 7 RBI

Sorry Mike. Maybe next year.

COAS/SSLYAR Pigskin Pick 'Em Week 5

It's amazing what a difference a week makes. Week 3 was a terrible week for me and Nathaniel, both in terms of picks and at least for me in what happened on the field. Instead this week, we both finished above .500 (I'm very pleased with how Week 4 went), both our teams won, and I got followed on Twitter by Green Bay's M.D. Jennings. Not a bad haul. And to you, M.D. Jennings, if you're reading this: thank you for the follow, good luck, and Go Pack Go!

Anyway, Nathaniel and I hammered out picks for this upcoming week, now that Lovie can move on to the second quarter of his season.

Arizona Cardinals at St. Louis Rams (+1.5)

Lucas: Cardinals. Kevin Kolb or not this team is for real. This should be a good game but I like this spread.

Nathaniel: Rams. I played an electronic game of Yahtzee once where I rolled Yahtzees on my first four rolls and ultimately scored 826 – I thought I’d broken the game. The Cardinals’ season so far has basically been the equivalent of that one crazy round of Yahtzee. I scored a 193 the very next game. Let’s see if the Cards can do any better.

Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals (-4.5)

Lucas: Bengals. Do you really think Ryan Tannehill can throw for 400 yards again? I mean, it is the Bengals defense, but still…

Nathaniel: Dolphins. I hate to say a team is “due” to win a game, but if anybody is, the Dolphins certainly are. They outplayed both the Jets and Cardinals and Ryan Tannehill is wildly exceeding the puny, puny expectations I had for his season. He’s completed MULTIPLE forward passes this year! It’s still shocking, just to type that out.

Green Bay Packers at Indianapolis Colts (+7.5)

Lucas: Packers. Aaron Rodgers’ career indoors including playoffs: 378-552, 4,977 yds, 36 TD, 6 INT. That’s a 113.9 passer rating, by the way. Facing a rebuilding Colts defense? It’ll be like Goku versus Nappa and Vegeta.

Nathaniel: Colts. Who knows, maybe this is the week the Packers turn it on and win 45-17. But the Green Bay team I’ve seen so far this year doesn’t deserve to give 7.5 points on the road against anybody…well, anybody other than Kansas City.

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs (+4.5)

Lucas: Ravens. “I was wondering what would break first: your spirit, or your Cassel.”

Nathaniel: Ravens. This line is bananas. Has Vegas seen Baltimore’s offense this year? More importantly, have they caught three minutes of any Chiefs game? You’d have to tack on another touchdown to this line before I would even consider taking Kansas City. Patently ridiculous.

Cleveland Browns at New York Giants (-9.5)

Lucas: Browns. Coughlin’s team covered last week! I’m 2-2 in Giants games! (Corrected after last week's mistake in Nathaniel's post). The fact that this line is so high probably means Cleveland will backdoor cover! Of course, that probably also means Eli will throw for 5 touchdowns, 2 to Victor Cruz as CBS’ TV crew admonishes NBC for playing salsa music on Sunday night under his touchdown.
Nathaniel: Giants. Don’t really have anything interesting to add to this, so let’s all just enjoy the great Eli GIF from last Sunday night one more time...

Philadelphia Eagles at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.5)

Lucas: Steelers. Mike Tomlin’s team has won 4 straight coming off the bye week, and amazingly Vick and crew took care of the ball last week. Return to normalcy?

Nathaniel: Eagles. Not sure what I’m getting from either team here. Well, scratch that, I have some basic idea of what’s going to transpire; Michael Vick’ll hold onto the ball too long and get COMPLETELY F-ED UP at least 15 times, James Harrison will try to literally decapitate someone, etc. The score, however…I could see the score ending up any which number of ways. Thus, I’m taking the points and hiding.

Atlanta Falcons at Washington Redskins (+3.5)

Lucas: Falcons. Matt Ryan is being touted as the early MVP by some folks. He adds to his numbers in Washington in a fun contest against RG3. Speaking of RGIII...

Nathaniel: Redskins. I’d just like to take a moment to write a special message to Robert Griffin III: LEARN HOW TO SLIDE RGIII. WE NEED YOU TO STAY HEALTHY AND PLAY FOR A LONG TIME. AND AS LONG AS YOU RUN UPRIGHT AND LET ANY NO-NAME LINEBACKER SMACK THE GATORADE AND SUBWAY SANDWICHES OUT OF YOU, THAT AINT’ GONNA HAPPEN. PLEASE CONSIDER TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF OUT THERE. THANK YOU. /end all-CAPS.

Seattle Seahawks at Carolina Panthers (-3.5)

Lucas: Panthers. Seattle is not the same team away from Century Link. And Cam Newton is probably due for a bounceback game.

Nathaniel: Seahawks. The matchup between Cam and the Panthers offense against that outstanding Seahawks front line may be the most fun matchup of the week – other than possibly that one quarterback duel they’re having in Massachusetts at the same time. When in doubt, take the points.

Chicago Bears at Jacksonville Jaguars (+5.5)

Lucas: Bears. I want to amend this matchup: Chicago Bears defense at Jacksonville Jaguars (+5.5). I’m still taking the Bears. Holy crap, this defense looks like 2006 all over again.

Nathaniel: Bears. Unless Lance Briggs is still too winded from all the running he had to do last Monday night…

Tennessee Titans at Minnesota Vikings (-5.5)

Lucas: Vikings. I’ll take an 85-90% Adrian Peterson over a “100%” Chris Johnson. Also Christian Ponder over a probably washed up Matt Hasselbeck.

Nathaniel: Titans. Tennessee has actually had surprising success moving the ball this year and I don’t trust Christian Ponder to fully take advantage of the Titans’ defensive inadequacies. This should be a close one.

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots (-6.5)

Lucas: Broncos. Good to see one more Brady/Manning duel. The Pats win but don’t beat the spread. Too much firepower on both sides.

Nathaniel: Broncos. I’d just like to extend a hearty SCREW YOU to the NFL for not putting this game on Sunday night where it would run unopposed. As a Bears fan, I feel an obligation to watch my team play in the same time slot, but I’m going to be flipping back and forth between that game and this one like crazy and I’m not going to be able to enjoy either of them properly and I’m sure fans of the other teams playing at the same time feel the same way. Not cool.

Buffalo Bills at San Francisco 49ers (-9.5)

Lucas: 49ers. I almost took Buffalo here, but then I remembered their defense is atrocious and gave up 52 to New England last week (somewhat understandable, minus the fact that almost all of it came in the 2^nd half) and 48 to the Jets in Week 1. The JETS! Even Alex Smith can beat this spread.

Nathaniel: Bills. 9.5 points is an awfully large spread to be giving a team that’s averaging close to 30 points a game, isn’t it?

San Diego Chargers at New Orleans Saints (-3.5)

Lucas: Chargers. New Orleans is starting to get its act together, but still holding on the interim interim coach I think the Bolts at least cover.
Nathaniel: Saints. I was all prepared to write something this week about how this would be a perfect time to pick the Saints because they’re going to be undervalued and the Chargers aren’t actually any good and so on and so forth. And this line comes out. Well then. Screw it, I’m still taking the Saints.

Houston Texans at New York Jets (+7.5)

Lucas: Texans. Here’s the intriguing question: will one of Houston’s skill players outgain the entire Jets offense? I say yes. This is going to be a laugher.
Nathaniel: Texans. Maybe the Jets will get more first downs than turnovers this week…

Records so Far
Lucas: 35-28 (11-4 last week)
Nathaniel: 26-37 (8-7 last week)

College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 6

Boy, Week 5 was insane, wasn't it? So much offense, and a decent shakeup in the rankings according to the AP, though the top is still the top. But the crazy thing so far is that through 5 weeks, there are still more than 20 unbeaten teams in the FBS. It really says something when you then consider that the NFL only had 3 unbeatens after just 3 weeks. Either there are several really good college teams or they are scheduling cupcakes, and I certainly think a large portion of it is the latter.

Within the next couple weeks we'll have a clearer picture of who's who among the FBS teams and I can start previewing the Death to the BCS playoffs (though some things just won't be solved until the conference title games), so until then we'll have to continue to settle for the scheduling rankings so far.

1. Conference USA (6.33): UAB took its cupcake this week, while Tulane is off to Louisiana-Lafayette. Houston and Southern Miss are hosting other FBS squads, and that's it for non-conference play this week. At this point half the conference has too much fat in their scheduling diet.
2. WAC (5.86): Texas State and Utah State aren't taking it easy this week, and Louisiana Tech has another mid-major at home. Other than that, play is either in conference or off this week. No new cupcakes leaves Louisiana Tech as still the only conference with no cupcake to its name.
3. Sun Belt (5.8): North Texas is at Houston and Louisiana-Lafayette hosts Tulane. Nothing incredibly tough on schedule this week, and the rest are all playing amongst each other if at all. Troy, FIU and ULM remain the 3 teams without an FCS team in sight thus far.
4. MAC (5.38): There's only one conference game this week and it's Miami-Ohio playing in-state at Cincinnati. The non-conference slate has calmed down a lot from when the MAC was constantly off to face the big schools, and the average scores have certainly helped balance out this conference with some of the smaller ones.
5. MWC (5.3): There's a small handful of out of conference tilts this week (Boise State @ Southern Miss, UNLV @ LA Tech, with Air Force and New Mexico at home against non-MWC foes). Boise State is still the only MWC team that's stayed exclusively in D-IA.
6. Big East (4.63): No change from last week, with all conference play this weekend.
7. Big Ten (4.42): Also no change, with 5 conference games and a couple teams off.
8. ACC (3.42): It's mostly within the ACC this week, though the 2 non-conference tilts are on the road (BC @ Army and Miami @ Notre Dame). Everyone has a cupcake in its stomach so far.
9. Pac-12 (3): All conference games this week makes for no changes.
10. SEC (2.64): No change here either, with some byes, but everyone playings is staying in conference.
11. Big XII (2.5): Once again there is no change with everyone staying in conference.

It's weeks like this where most of the big conferences didn't play out of conference that makes me want to look into playoff scenarios. Unfortunately it's still too early and there's still too many unbeatens left to accurately paint a picture. In particular the Big XII and SEC, which have about half the nation's unbeatens in their ranks, are very murky at this point. Within a couple weeks that number should dwindle and clear the playoff picture a little bit. Until then this analysis will continue on its own as I prepare to figure out who should be able to play for a national title this year.

College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 5

It's Week 5- you can start to see the cream of the crop rise to the top of the rankings. It's not as convoluted as we near the end of September to start ranking these college football teams for what matters for 2 more years.

I think the new non-conference ranking worked out pretty well this past week in that taking the conference's scheduling outside of itself on a team average basis instead of a cumulative basis really worked well in figuring out which teams schedule better than others. These rankings start to take less meaning now that conference play is really starting to kick in all over this week, but there will still be the occasional out of conference game that will be played that needs to be taken into account when the Death to the BCS Playoffs begin. So without further ado, here's where we stand after 5 weeks of schedule analysis.

1. Conference-USA (6.08): Marshall has its second big school road test of the year (Purdue), with Southern Miss, UCF and SMU all getting one more big game in (Louisville, Missiouri and TCU, respectively) before they start conference play. They've also managed as a conference just 5 games against FCS competition in 5 weeks of the season. Impressive.
2. Sun Belt (5.5): Middle Tennessee gets to be a sacrificial lamb for Georgia Tech while Louisiana-Monroe gets a decent road test in Tulane. Other than that it's all byes or conference games. The Sun Belt had 7 FCS opponents through 5 weeks with all but one coming in the first 2.
3. MAC (5.15): This week Bowling Green hosts a cupcake while Buffalo is off to UConn. Bowling Green brings the MAC's total of cupcakes to 11 for the year, with only UMass and Ball State having the dignity to not face an FCS team yet this season.
4. WAC (5.14): No rounding was needed to determine the MAC/WAC placement. The WAC has a really tough schedule this week though, with Idaho (UNC) and Louisiana Tech (Virginia) off to ACC country. UTSA and New Mexico State open conference play, finally putting an end to the Roadrunners' sham of a schedule so far. Tech, as the only school without a cupcake so far helps offset the average and keeping the WAC toward the upper end of the rankings.
5. Mountain West (4.7): Hawaii, Nevada and UNLV are all on the road this week against non-conference FBS opponents. Nobody in big conferences, but still a good showing. Continuing with a trend of these conferences not having many schools without a cupcake to their name continues, as only Boise State has this distinction here.
6. Big East (4.63): I didn't realize until I started writing this that this is the first of the "major" 6 conferences to appear in this week's rankings... which kind of proves my original hypothesis, though not completely. The mid major conferences seem to have more out of conference tilts right now, which I do think skews the rankings a tad (not to mention half the conference being off this week), but Louisville is on the road, and South Florida and Cincy are facing big conference teams. That being said, UConn is the only team without a cupcake so far.
7. Big Ten (4.42): Another one that seems a little unfair with only Purdue facing a team out of conference, which helps explain the drop into the lower half. However a third of the conference hasn't had an FCS team on slate yet (both Michigan schools, as well as OSU and PSU). And even with those cupcakes, there have been some decent schedules (I look at Northwestern in particular).
8. ACC (3.08): Amazing what happens when FSU finally decides to get off its butt and hit the road while Virginia Tech is off to a neutral site against Cincy. Took the ACC long enough. Every team there has a cupcake on its resume (and remember, FSU has 2).
9. Pac-12 (3): No change from last week, as again, everyone is either off or facing other Pac-12 teams. Just over half the conference has a cupcake already faced with both Oregon schools, Stanford, USC and UCLA all avoiding that scarlet letter. Yet looking at their cumulative score they have one fewer point than the next conference down, a big reason why using averages is important.
10. SEC (2.64): Missouri is at UCF this weekend, but that's offset by LSU needing a recovery from barely getting by Auburn in Towson. This Tigers game puts them at over half of the conference hosting an FCS team this year. To give the polls some credibility, #1 Alabama is one of the schools that hasn't yet.
11. Big XII (2.5): These rankings have not been kind here. But when only Texas has held its head high without an FCS team in sight, there are some problems in house. This week, TCU's trip to SMU is the only game bringing points to an otherwise dismal non-conference slate this season.

Obviously with some non conference tilts left here and there, we may see more cupcakes scheduled. We have a couple months left though before these rankings really take on importance. Meanwhile in the NFL, at some point this morning Nathaniel will have our Week 4 picks on Someone Still Loves You, Alberto Riveron.

Taking Candy from a Packer

I'm typing this on my phone from the train on my way to work. Hopefully later I can go through and maybe add more imagery or detail or something. I don't know. But after last night I needed to vent. I will also freely admit that I am a little biased given my loyalties, but this was embarrassing.

For much of the night, the Green Bay-Seattle game was an excellent contest. And without the ending, it was a great game played by 2 teams who wouldn't give up. That gets lost in the chaos today: Seattle played a great football game. They gave Rodgers the Cutler treatment early and for the most part they played fantastic defense. And you have to credit Russell Wilson for putting Seattle in a position to win at the end.

I have said on here many times: the officials don't decide games, the players do, regardless of how poorly called a game was. The way Seattle played the first 30 minutes was worthy of a win, but the Packers made the necessary halftime adjustments. When Green Bay scored the go-ahead touchdown, for the half they had run probably 40 plays from scrimmage to the Seahawks' 6. 6 plays. A pair of three and outs. Dominance. They forced a turnover on downs with less than 2 minutes left after Russell Wilson moved them downfield (with some zebra help). You can say Green Bay left them too much time on the clock to score. You can say they couldn't execute on defense on that final drive. But that's where the problem lies.

Green Bay did execute on that final play. If you've listened to the analysis or watched the postgame last night and look at this close up you can see. At first I thought it was simultaneous possession. But the more you look at the play the more you realize they were wrong. Green Bay won the game. And it got taken away.

For what it's worth, I thought Mike McCarthy handled his postgame presser with as much class as one could in that situation. Had it been me I might have received the first million dollar fine in NFL history. But I love that Packer players went right to Twitter to vent. Tom Crabtree and TJ Lang were the first to get to social media and vent... Especially Lang. I like his take:

@TJLang70: F*** it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.

Most experts were saying it would take something like this to force the NFL's hand with the referees' union. I wish it wasn't my team that had to be the victim, but I'd feel bad for any team that lost like this.

The other fascinating thing to me about this game: the social media reaction as a whole. Other than the night Osama bin Laden was killed, this game seemed to make Twitter explode the most (and will probably stay so until the November elections.) But from an objective perspective, it's fascinating to see. We are a culture of immediacy. Everything that happened in the first 59:52 of that game was put on the back burner because of the final 8 seconds. It's fair because the referees decided this outcome, but at the same time it ruins what was otherwise actually a really good game.

I was pissed off last night and didn't get enough sleep. But what sleep I did get I think helped temper my anger over injustice. It's hard to, but part of me does feel bad for these replacements who are doing the best they can, but when a rule is not followed and the officials' mistake cost the team a game, we have problems. The NFL is a much faster game than the lower levels from whence these refs came. This is not to detract from D-II or D-III football because I love D-III football, but all these replacements regardless of level are having a tough time with the adjustment. Bring back the real refs. Now.

One final thought that again needs to be made. We saw based on social media how angry this has made people over a game. For a split second last night I wished harm on Golden Tate (moreso because of his blatant pushoff, not helped by the fact that he denies it) before I checked myself. Thats not what's important. This game overshadowed what should have been the top storyline from this week in Torrey Smith of the Ravens. He lost his brother early Sunday morning and with a heavy heart went out and played and had a great game in a win. All for his late brother. Recognizing our loved ones and cherishing every moment we have with them is what's most important. It's a damn shame that our eyes are drawn away from that and into a debacle that could have been and needs to be solved. Now. Before another fan base has to go through what I and millions of fellow Packer fans had to. I love the NFL. I don't want this to destroy it.