Film history is littered with bad sequels to fantastic movies – Godfather, Caddyshack and The Matrix come to mind as examples of producers who didn’t know when to stop.

You have no doubt seen this analogy heading in to the 2012 BCS Title Game between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide but it has two flaws – 1) the original game was not entertaining nor played at a high level, and 2) there is always the chance we will get a “Wrath of Khan” or a “Dark Knight” followup.

Defense. Honey Badger. Trent Richardson. The verbal stylings of Les Miles. Here is the SportsCentral Preview:

My take on the matchup after the jump.

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Herman Cain presents a 9-9-9 Plan to overhaul the US Tax Code (one can imagine the German response), but the Alabama Crimson Tide has already rewritten a few complex offensive game plans in 2011. That is why they rank atop our rankings of the most difficult defensive matchup in the college football country 1-1-1.

Alabama Crimson Tide coach Lou Saban applauds his #1 ranked defense (Icon SMI)

Lou Saban’s squad sets the standard at all three of the defensive efficiency stats that make up our unique Fantasy College Blitz BLITZIndex – 3.2 yards per play allowed , 26.3 yards per point allowed and a mere 6.9 points per game allowed. Compare that to the national median average at each stat and it really drives home how good they are: 5.4 YPPL (Arkansas) 14.5 YPPT (South Carolina) and 25.4 PPG (West Virginia). Yeah, about twice as good as average.

Oh, ten days until Alabama meets LSU and their #3 ranked D for the defacto national title semifinals…

Your top 25 defenses (alphabetical sort to set your roster. BLITZIndex_24Oct2011_alpha):

No position in college fantasy football relies more on weekly matchups than starting a defense.

Ladies and gentlemen, your USC Trojan Defense (Icon SMI)

While there are teams that are traditionally solid year after year such as Alabama or Virginia Tech or TCU on the defensive end, many weeks you need to find the Major school playing a lesser school. Week 1 is the perfect example, as lets say you have drafted Oklahoma but they face a high flying Tulsa team led by GJ Kinne.

Would you rather play the Sooners defense or maybe even LSU’s who goes against Oregon or lets say UCONN’s.   Just so happens the Huskies are playing Fordham…yes Fordham.  Or maybe take a flyer on the powerhouse (saying that with a giggle) of the Michigan State defense when they play Youngstown State.

The bottom line is never draft a defense early, but be early when hitting the waiver wire to expose matchups every week. But we all still need rankings, so here are the top 25 fantasy defenses for 2011.

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The final tally for Week One is in, and it should be no surprise that the Boise State Broncos received a fair share of first-place votes. Most voters will keep Alabama there until they lose. Both positions very defensible. I will jump back in with my vote next week.

Results for Week 2

#	School	Points/blog	SD	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide (60)	23.4	4.21	–
2	Boise St. Broncos (30)	23.0	3.02	1
3	Ohio St. Buckeyes (12)	22.5	3.57	-1
4	TCU Horned Frogs (1)	20.9	3.65	3
5	Texas Longhorns	18.4	5.05	–
6	Oregon Ducks (1)	18.3	4.09	5
7	Nebraska Cornhuskers	16.7	5.45	3
8	Iowa Hawkeyes	16.2	5.16	1
9	Florida Gators	14.6	6.20	-5
10	Miami Hurricanes	14.4	4.75	2
11	Wisconsin Badgers	13.5	4.67	2
12	Oklahoma Sooners	12.6	6.46	-6
13	Virginia Tech Hokies	11.3	5.51	-5
14	Utah Utes	9.4	6.51	11
15	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	8.9	4.88	–
16	Penn St. Nittany Lions	8.3	4.59	–
17	Georgia Bulldogs	7.9	5.22	4
18	Florida St. Seminoles	7.7	4.84	4
19	LSU Tigers	7.4	6.15	1
20	Arkansas Razorbacks	7.2	5.10	-1
21	Auburn Tigers	5.2	4.45	2
22	USC Trojans	5.0	5.25	-4
23	South Carolina Gamecocks	3.1	4.19	9
24	Arizona Wildcats	3.0	5.04	7
25	Michigan Wolverines	2.9	5.46	31
Others Receiving Votes: BYU Cougars | West Virginia Mountaineers | Stanford Cardinal | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | Pittsburgh Panthers | Oregon St. Beavers | North Carolina Tar Heels | Fresno St. Bulldogs | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | Clemson Tigers | Houston Cougars | Missouri Tigers | Kansas St. Wildcats | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | Texas Tech Red Raiders | Maryland Terrapins | California Golden Bears | Michigan St. Spartans | Iowa St. Cyclones | Northwestern Wildcats | Texas A&M Aggies | Boston College Eagles | Colorado Buffaloes | Tennessee Volunteers | San Diego St. Aztecs | East Carolina Pirates | Syracuse Orange | South Florida Bulls | Arizona St. Sun Devils | Nevada Wolf Pack | Kentucky Wildcats | Idaho Vandals | Air Force Falcons | Temple Owls | N.C. State Wolfpack | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Troy Trojans | Connecticut Huskies
Updated: Sep 8, 2010 11:30 AM EDT

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

From reader Steve via e-mail, rock solid research and based in fact, but I fear this will likely go the way of the “Barack Obama was not born in the USA so he cannot be President” campaign. But let’s see if we can break down this BC-Mess, shall we? Please forward to your favorite blogs, websites and writers:

It appears that either the USA Today Coaches poll members must re-vote in order to recalculate the final BCS standings, OR The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc. should move up the University Cincinnati’s football team to play the University of Texas football team in the BCS Championship game.

At the bottom of the AFCA page with the Coaches Votes it specifically states:

“The AFCA prohibits coaches from voting for schools on major NCAA probation.”
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm

And I think it is very clear they are on “major” probation due to a textbook scandal.
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/061109aaa.html

Even though they appealed, the infractions are not set aside per below NCAA Bylaw:

32.10.2 – Determinations of fact and violations arrived at by the Committee on Infractions shall not be set aside on appeal.
http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/2007-08_d1_manual8716ea01-9388-4d68-bb93-2b6ff5ba2e36.pdf

Based on these circumstances, the University of Alabama football team is required receive 0 (zero) points from the USA Today Coaches poll, giving them a recalculated BCS average of 0.6656, thus moving them down to number 8 on the BCS final standings:

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/10485922_37_1.pdf