The Front Row

Geno Smith! The cat nobody's talking about, yet!

There is an old wise idiom that says, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!” Hustla’s from around the way express it a bit differently. They say, “It’s my money until you take it from me homeboy!” Either way you can’t count it until you get your hands on it. So why do the “powers that be” in the world of college football always count joints that don’t exist before they actually exist?

Every year we start the season with preseason rankings that mean absolutely nothing until the first weekend of October but by then it’s too late to fix it. All of the rankings at this point are weighed by what boyz did last year and by who returns what. It doesn’t tell you who the best teams in the country are in 2012! Right now USC, Alabama, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma rounded out the top 5 going into week one.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! All of those teams are good but are they the best teams in the country right now? We don’t know bruh! They’ve only played one game. LSU is without the Honey Badger this year so they’ll take a step back on GP alone. He made big plays for them down the stretch and saved them in at least 3 ball games in 2011 that won't happen this year. Oklahoma, which is my squad, looked suspect on Saturday against UTEP! USC, Bama and Oregon looked great. However, West Virginia looked better than anybody even though they only played Marshall.

Yeah, I know Bama fans think I’m smokin' right now but Mickey Mouse was calling plays for Michigan on Saturday and made it easier than it should have been. They did what they were supposed to do against a scared offensive coordinator. However, Bama in my opinion IS the real deal. But what’s wrong with waiting until the 4^th week to rank the teams? That way you keep from screwing teams that are deserving because a wack team that is ranked ahead of them that hasn’t lost yet.

For example, in 2011 Boise State started the season off ranked like 5^th and as teams lost they rose to 2^nd. Now were they the 2^nd best team in America? Absolutely not! So that screws everybody sitting behind them until they get knocked off which is crazy.

The same goes for the Heisman campaign! Why is Matt Barkley the front runner for the Heisman in week 1? He hasn’t even done anything yet bruh! He’s the front runner based off of last year’s numbers. Is it the 2012 Heisman or the 2011 Heisman? If it’s base off of this years accomplishments then let this year stand alone!

That’s why Adrian Peterson got screwed out of a Heisman Trophy his freshman year in 2004. He was clearly the best player in the country but no one knew who he was the year before because he was in high school.  I know y’all remember how Vince Young got overlooked for that joint in 2005 because Reggie Bush had a monster year in 2004. Clearly Vince was the best player that year but a 500 yard + all-purpose day against lowly Fresno State hand delivered that joint to ole Reggie.

The biggest robbery in the history of the Heisman was in 1987 when Tim Brown won that joint because of a great career instead of a great season.He should have to wear a ski mask for the rest of his life.  Syracuse’s Don McPherson should have won it but the Notre Dame love across the country walked it all the way to South Bend.

 All I’m saying is let boyz play for a month before you start ranking teams and players because it’s not fair to put them in the front row based off of what they did last year. Quietly, boyz better pay attention to West Virginia’s Geno Smith when it comes to the Heisman in 2012! I’m just sayin’ bruh!

 Holla At Ya Boy!

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport