I have to be honest, I'm not an expert when it comes to college football beyond the confines of the SEC. I don't read MGoBlog unless Michigan loses to App. State, and I don't read Bruins Nation unless they think Spurrier is heading out west. Nothing personal. But this also means I'm not qualified to have a nomination endorsement like my colleagues at Dawg Sports and Rocky Top Talk. In this situation, everyone else is the New York Times and Washington Post, while I'm the Carrollwood News or whatever newspaper shows up on your driveway three days a week, soaking wet in a yellow bag.
With that in mind, here are my College Football Blog Awards endorsements. I encourage you to vote the same way I will be, through the nomination gizmo at MGoBlog.
The Dr. Z Award (for analysis): Saurian Sagacity because it's smart, sarcastic, and has enough Gator snobbery to make me smile. Their Empires Fall series was tremendous, especially the chapter about FSU.
The Keith Jackson Circa 1995 Award (for writing): Dawg Sports because every last detail is researched and each post reads like a senior thesis on college football. When I started Alligator Army, there were three blogs I looked at for inspiration; Burnt Orange Nation, Dawg Sports, and EDSBS. I wish my serious posts were as good as BON or Dawg Sports.
The Brady Quinn Award (for best looking blog): Rocky Top Talk. It's packed with charts, graphs, tables, flash animation.
Best New Blog: The only blog bandwagon I jumped on was Best of The SEC which I think was suggested by Ryan Ferguson in a Fanhouse article. The writing is well researched without a bias to one team and instead a love for the SEC.
Best Community: EDSBS because the comments are funnier than the posts.
Best Multimedia Thing: EDSBS Live with Orson and Peter Bean is absolutely hysterical. I started listening in the off-season and remain on the bandwagon. Sometimes creative writing doesn't translate but for these two it does. Until you have to host a two hour sports show, which I did in college, you have no idea how hard it really is.
Best SEC Blog: Orange and Blue Hue is the best Gators blog by far. They can be homers and still criticize the team. Most of all, they are flame throwers when someone takes a cheap shot at UF. That's what you want in a blog.
Best National Blog: EDSBS; like a great band, they have outgrown their original audience and have found success among the people. It may be a Gator blog at heart, but it's a place where all fans go.
Mythical National Champion: The perfect combination of analysis, commentary, and humor; Burnt Orange Nation. It's one thing to have a huge following, but BON also has tremendous content, even on their short posts. There is not one wasted word. It is what all blogs should aspire to become.
Remember to send in your nominations here. Next week, we reveal our endorsements for the Florida Presidential Primaries, so get your political science degrees ready.