College Football Bragging Rights Thread

[Entropy]

Oh, man you should have been at Florida state when we beat Maimi. Holy crap it was crazy!

 

[GCT]

currently at GA tech but for now I think I'll let the bulldogs represent my team...go uga dogs! oh yeah!

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, your alma mater is bowl eligible for the first time since 1978! Go Scarlet Knights! Greg Schiano is turning things

Holy crap! I mean, yay!

RU Rah Rah! RU Rah Rah!
Hoorah hoorah, Rutgers Rah!
Upstream red team, red team upstream,
Rah, rah, Rutgers Rah!

 

[SpaceTiger]

Mmmmm...the sweet smell of rancid cheese. Michael Robinson and Tony Hunt are really impressive, I'm glad the latter is only junior.

 

[loseyourname]

Well, I'm probably going to have to take back that pick of Virginia Tech overtaking Texas. With Florida St. and Boston College both losing today, their computer rankings will take a hit. Even if they beat the crap out of Miami and Florida State, it probably won't be enough. Especially if Texas keeps winning games by 60 points.

I really hope the dumb-ass Big-12 doesn't throw another cupcake into the BCS title game by virtue of beating up on a crappy conference. First, Nebraska over Oregon, then Oklahoma twice, first over a more deserving USC, then over a more deserving Auburn. If Texas gets there and lays an egg, there needs to be a new rule put in place forbidding the Big-12 champion from playing for the title. I can't say the Longhorns won't deserve it, though. Even though Virginia Tech will have played a tougher schedule, Texas looks as good as anyone out there. I think the argument for Alabama is all but moot even if they win out. The SEC offenses are just pathetic this year, aside from Auburn and Georgia (when Shockley plays). Watching them go out and put up anywhere from 3-14 points against each other, then watching Arizona State put up 31 on LSU, Notre Dame put up 41 on Tennessee, and USC put up 70 on Arkansas, it really makes you wonder why they can't score on each other, but actual good offenses don't seem to have any trouble. If FSU can run the score high on Florida, that'll really make the conference look bad.

 

[Gokul43201]

Hey LYN, you must be watching UCLA vs Arizona. Well...what do you think ? Another fourth quarter miracle ?

EDIT : I think I'm now ready to put down money against UCLA.

 

[Gokul43201]

Speaking of bowl games, if WVU gets walloped by whoever, I think the Big East ought to lose its bowl eligibility.

 

[loseyourname]

Hey LYN, you must be watching UCLA vs Arizona. Well...what do you think ? Another fourth quarter miracle ?

EDIT : I think I'm now ready to put down money against UCLA.

Actually, it's not being televised here. I'm watching the Virginia Tech v. Miami game right now. UCLA looks done, though, from the coverage on yahoo. The Pac-10 is going to get a lot stronger next year if Arizona can keep up the level of play they've had since Tuitama has taken over at QB. They already had a strong defense.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Hey LYN, you must be watching UCLA vs Arizona.

Whoa, not a pretty way to go down...

We may have lost to Michigan in the last second, but it looks like this was decided in the first.

 

[Gokul43201]

Az 45, UCLA 7 - Arizona looks like their going to rack up over 700 yards of offense in this game, if things go anything like they have so far.

VT - UM is showing all the signs of being a defensive slugfest. I wonder if both teams together will get half of Arizona's total offensive yards...

 

[russ_watters]

How did I not venture into this thread before? Perhaps I was too hung up on the Eagles. That's over...

Penn State.
Navy.

 

[russ_watters]

Army 27, Air Force 24.

The Army-Navy game matters this year (sorta).

 

[dduardo]

Looks like VT isn't doing to well

Go Canes!

 

[BobG]

Arrggh!

Kansas beats the Bugeaters for the first time since man has walked on the moon. Army beats Air Force in the Springs for the first time since Ted Koppel brought us Nightline.

I think it's time to give up on this thread and go make fun of the Eagles.

 

[loseyourname]

So much for the USC/UCLA showdown of unbeatens at the end of the year. And so much for Virginia Tech. It looks like the rest of the season is a countdown to USC v. Texas. Let's hope both teams stay healthy and the Longhorns put up more of a fight than the Sooners did last year.

By the way, that was a great decision Nebraska made letting go of Solich. All he did was win 9 or 10 games every year.

 

[loseyourname]

So, the BCS is officially letting out a huge sigh of relief. Alabama's undefeated season is over, leaving only Texas and USC, neither of which is likely to slip up in their final two games (both rolled to easy wins today). The Big-12 is showing its incompetence again this year, with Texas Tech falling to Ok State and north power Colorado down early to Iowa State. Meanwhile, another 80+ point Pac-10 shootout is shaping up early between UCLA and Arizona State.

So, there could be a lot of movement around the bottom of the rankings this week, with Florida State, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and possibly Colorado all losing and falling out of the top 25. Florida and Texas Tech will likely take big falls, and Louisville, Fresno State, South Carolina, and Michigan should all take a nice jump up the rankings.

The national championship picture is all but settled now. Barring a huge upset of Texas, or possibly UCLA seriously stepping up in the last week of the season, the Trojans and Longhorns will be facing each other in the Rose Bowl. It should be a really good matchup. As bad as the Big-12 has been, I do think that Texas will put to rest the memories of Nebraska and Oklahoma failing to show up over the last several years.

Penn State has probably won the Big-10. It's hard to see them losing to Michigan State in their final game. Michigan/Ohio State should be another really good game this year; Michigan stepping up and ensuring that the Buckeyes do not sneak into a BCS bowl is certainly not out of the question.

The Big East is still up in the air and might come down to the final week's matchup between South Florida and West Virginia. The conference has to be praying that the Mountaineers step up so that the Big East is able to put a legitimate team into their BCS bowl.

The SEC is really the only interesting race left. LSU controls its own destiny in the west now, and Georgia has won the east, barring a huge collapse. The championship game matchup should be a dandy.

I can only surmise that Miami will avenge their season-opening loss and take Florida State to the woodshed when the ACC championship game comes around. The 'Noles have not looked good the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, my picks at this point for the conference champs:

ACC: Miami
SEC: LSU
Big-10: Penn State
Big-12: Texas
Pac-10: USC
Big East: West Virginia

BCS at large: Notre Dame, Alabama (Virginia Tech, Oregon, and Ohio State all have a shot here)

Rose Bowl: USC v. Texas
Fiesta Bowl: Penn State v. Notre Dame
Orange Bowl: Miami v. Alabama
Sugar Bowl: LSU v. West Virginia

Capitol One Bowl: Ohio State v. Georgia
Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma v. Florida
Outback Bowl: Michigan v. South Carolina
Peach Bowl: Florida State v. Auburn
Sun Bowl: Minnesota v. UCLA
Holiday Bowl: Oregon v. Texas Tech
Alamo Bowl: Colorado v. Wisconsin

Game of the week: The epic battle of great defenses between Alabama and LSU did not disappoint. JaMarcus Russell stepped up big. An honorable mention has to go to Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks, stepping up and taking care of the Gators. That's two wins against the SEC east's 'big three,' and the 'Cocks were not far from beating Georgia, either.

 

[BobG]

As bad as the Big-12 has been, I do think that Texas will put to rest the memories of Nebraska and Oklahoma failing to show up over the last several years.

In 2001, was there any team that would have looked better against Miami than Nebraska did? If you judge by the NFL draft, that Miami team has to go down as the greatest ever in NCAA history and they nearly pulled off a repeat the next year. Considering how all of the challengers played the final few weekends of the season, either there was no respectable number 2 team in the nation or else they were so intimidated by Miami that they were all trying to get out of the number 2 slot.

 

[tribdog]

Go Mesa Comm College
go weber State U.
go Southern Oregon State
go University of Nevada, Reno
go Boise State U.

 

[loseyourname]

Big-12 Championship:

Colorado - 62
Nebraska - 36

Fiesta Bowl

Oregon - 38
Colorado - 16

Who do you think deserved to go? I'm not saying Oregon would have beat Miami, but given the evidence, it seems they would have made a better showing than Nebraska. USC probably would have beaten LSU two years ago, and there is no way Auburn allows 55 last year. For whatever reason, the BCS just favors the Big-12.* Thankfully, if there are indeed only two unbeatens this year, there won't be any questions regarding who deserves to go to the Rose Bowl.

*Note Colorado's and Texas Tech's high computer rankings this year. Tech plays the easiest schedule in the land, gets destroyed by the one legitimate team they play, and now lose to a terrible Ok State team. Colorado lost once again, and even before, what were they doing ranked 11th in the computers? Just one case in comparison: Colorado v. Notre Dame. Both have two losses. Notre Dame loses one game, by 3 points, in double overtime, and another, by 3 points, on the last play of the game to the #1 team in the country. Granted, Colorado's two losses had come to the #2 and #3 ranked teams out there, but they were by 20 and 25 points each. Clearly, one team belongs on the same field with the top teams and one doesn't. I guess the computers don't have any way of factoring that in.

 

[Gokul43201]

Go Mesa Comm College
go weber State U.
go Southern Oregon State
go University of Nevada, Reno

Yeah, go...them !

go Boise State U.

Bad day for Boise State...your timing's off Tribby.

LYN : Are you calling for an Ohio State win over Michigan, then ?

 

[Gokul43201]

Just one case in comparison: Colorado v. Notre Dame. Both have two losses. Notre Dame loses one game, by 3 points, in double overtime, and another, by 3 points, on the last play of the game to the #1 team in the country. Granted, Colorado's two losses had come to the #2 and #3 ranked teams out there, but they were by 20 and 25 points each. Clearly, one team belongs on the same field with the top teams and one doesn't. I guess the computers don't have any way of factoring that in.

Don't know how it is now, but used to be that the Computer algorithm didn't consider the margin of victory unless it was greater than some cutoff number. Still I doubt that a 30 point margin counts the same as a 3 point margin. Anyway, two weeks ago, when the computters had Colorado at about 10 they had ND at about 4, so I don't see such a big discrepancy there.

 

[ray b]

BIG PROBLEM is NO PLAYOFF
and the limited out of conference play between real top teams

there should be a national body controling who plays who
not the current system of conference play plus weak sisters
that the schools now use with the odd old rivals throwen in
top 25 teams should play against other top 25 teams

why the TV networks who bankroll the system can't see this I do not understand

 

[loseyourname]

BIG PROBLEM is NO PLAYOFF
and the limited out of conference play between real top teams
there should be a national body controling who plays who
not the current system of conference play plus weak sisters
that the schools now use with the odd old rivals throwen in
top 25 teams should play against other top 25 teams
why the TV networks who bankroll the system can't see this I do not understand

I'd really like to see them schedule the games the season before. For example, when USC scheduled their home and home against Arkansas, the Hogs had just come off winning the SEC west, and it looked like it would be a marquee early season matchup. Nobody could have known they would fall like they did and just become another patsy. You've got to give credit for the top schools that are playing each other, though. Arizona State and LSU, Ohio State and Texas, USC and Notre Dame, Oklahoma and UCLA, Auburn and Georgia Tech, Florida and Florida State. I'm pretty sure USC has Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Fresno State scheduled next year, which could prove to be a damn good non-conference schedule if Nebraska and Arkansas can step up to their former glory.

To Gokul, I'm wavering on that Michigan/Ohio State game. It's always a tough one to call. As hard as it is to see a Michigan team with as much talent as they have losing 4 games in the regular season, Ohio State is clearly the better team, and they've really gotten on a roll as of late as their schedule strength has eased up a bit. We'll see. It should be a good game, and I hope it's televised on the west coast.

 

[LeBrad]

Time to bring home that Big 10 title!

 

[Gokul43201]

OSU both outplayed and out-screwed-up Michigan today, but finally pulled off an amazing win in the Big House. That makes the Buckeyes co-Big Ten champs (Penn State is likely to beat the Spartans) and gives them a possible shot at a BCS game.

 

[Pengwuino]

Why don't any of these pansy pac 10 and bcs and other conferences ever play at Fresno State? Chickens...

 

[Gokul43201]

Why don't any of these pansy pac 10 and bcs and other conferences ever play at Fresno State? Chickens...

Fret not. You'll have the opportunity of having your pants handed to you by the Trojans tonight.

 

[loseyourname]

Why don't any of these pansy pac 10 and bcs and other conferences ever play at Fresno State? Chickens...

Personally, I'd like to see the Pac-10 incorporate Fresno State and Boise State and start playing an annual championship game. I don't think they meet the conference standards, though. I remember hearing a while ago that the only schools west of the Rockies that meet all of the requirements, but aren't in the conference, are Utah and Colorado.

 

[Pengwuino]

Fret not. You'll have the opportunity of having your pants handed to you by the Trojans tonight.

Yah after years of demanding a game and they STILL won't come to Fresno. They all know remember what happened to Oregon State...

 

[Gokul43201]

Fret not. You'll have the opportunity of having your pants handed to you by the Trojans tonight.

Sweet mother of...

 

[Gokul43201]

Miami falls to Ga Tech ! Hooray ! Trojans still struggling against Fresno State...

Edit : ...not any longer, it appears.

 

[Pengwuino]

Awww what horse crap!

They should have ran that last play! HE THREW LIKE 6 INTERCEPTIONS AND YOU LET HIM THROW IT WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE!?!?

Fresno state: 42 , SCU - 50.

Game ends on a stupid interception into the end zone with 1:30 left

I hate how everyone acted like fresno state never had a chance even up to the last second. If they weren't idiots and went to the running game, they could have sent this into OT.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Go Texas A&M and UCLA! (and Arkansas, I suppose)

 

[Gokul43201]

Go Texas A&M and UCLA! (and Arkansas, I suppose)

uhhh?

Pengwuino : Despite the 3 INTs, your strength was definitely in the passing game (7 yds per pass against 3.5 yds per rush). But that last play call was just idiotic...it was exactly the same mistake that Miami made a few hours earlier, that lost them their game. Stupid, stupid mistake...at least the Miami QB was a rookie !

What will be sad is if Fresno State drops in rankings after this loss.

 

[SpaceTiger]

uhhh?

They're playing USC, Texas, and LSU, respectively. Our regular season is over, we just have to hope for some upsets.

 

[Pengwuino]

Pengwuino : Despite the 3 INTs, your strength was definitely in the passing game (7 yds per pass against 3.5 yds per rush). But that last play call was just idiotic...it was exactly the same mistake that Miami made a few hours earlier, that lost them their game. Stupid, stupid mistake...at least the Miami QB was a rookie !

What will be sad is if Fresno State drops in rankings after this loss.

4 interceptions to be exact. Still, that last play was soooooooo stupid. They should have ran it! I mean there was 1:30... they had to make sure USC didnt have a chance to score after a touchdown... and pinegar was turning to absolute crap in the 2nd half... but no, they just had to throw it into clear double coverage. I knew hte instant he threw that ball that the game was over and it was goign to be intercepted. Fresno state SHOULD be top 10 after that because we were literally one play away from tieing and possibly eventually beating one of the, if not the, greatest college football teams ever.

Pinegar was throwing like crap in the 2nd half. First half, all his passes were bullets, on target, on the spot. 2nd half was just a bunch of pansy lob tosses (hence, interceptions). There was one lob of a pass that wasnt intercepted only by the grace of god.

 

[russ_watters]

OSU both outplayed and out-screwed-up Michigan today, but finally pulled off an amazing win in the Big House. That makes the Buckeyes co-Big Ten champs (Penn State is likely to beat the Spartans) and gives them a possible shot at a BCS game.

So, I have a question: is that an official thing - that the title really is shared? Because it seems to me that in the only way that matters (the automatic BCS bid that goes to the Big 10 champ) there is only one Big 10 champ: Penn State.

Navy beat Temple ( ), and will likely go to a bowl game even if they lose to Army (which they won't, so why did I even mention it?)...

 

[Moonbear]

Fret not. You'll have the opportunity of having your pants handed to you by the Trojans tonight.

Now I'm starting to understand why some people like football so much...you get to say things like that and it's perfectly acceptable in mixed company!

 

[BobG]

Yah after years of demanding a game and they STILL won't come to Fresno. They all know remember what happened to Oregon State...

Fresno? The Trojans won't even travel to Akron, OH to play the Zips in the Rubber Bowl. (And for those wondering what a zip is, the zipper was invented in Akron)

 

[LeBrad]

Fresno state SHOULD be top 10 after that because we were literally one play away from tieing and possibly eventually beating one of the, if not the, greatest college football teams ever.

Hold your horses there sonny. I think it does show two things: Fresno state is not a top 10 team because they can't get over the hump and win big games, and USC is overrated.

 

[Pengwuino]

Hold your horses there sonny. I think it does show two things: Fresno state is not a top 10 team because they can't get over the hump and win big games, and USC is overrated.

Cant get over the hump and win big games? USC is possibly one of the greatest college football teams ever! To win it meant one of hte greatest upsets in college football history. How nearly doing that translates into something bad or wrong is beyond me.

 

[Gokul43201]

Uh oh...struggling against Nevada so far. If they lose this one, Fresno (State) could fall a long, long way.

EDIT : Looks like it's all over now.

 

[Gokul43201]

Okay, now I feel positive that Ohio State deserves a BCS berth over ND. ND played only two ranked teams while OSU played 4. And today's struggle against Stanford (which has a losing record) is another sign of weakness. The only game the OSU won narrowly, was the finale against (#22)Michigan. And ND too had only a one-score win over Michigan. Finally, OSU's losses were against teams that are ranked 2 (Texas) and 3 (PSU), while ND's losses were to #1 USC and unranked Michigan State (5-6 overall, 2-6 Big Ten).

Should there be any sporting reason then, for OSU to not make a BCS game ?

 

[Pengwuino]

Ok, no more supporting fresno state.

We nearly beat USC and we basically take it up the butt to nevada. I'm absolutely amazed at how horrible the special teams did. We should have won that game in the last quarter abotu 480 times... but hey, why win when you could just as easily lose. But then again, It must have taken some effort to lose that bad, that wasn't just a simple loss... it took some guts to suck that bad... ugh, pathetic.

 

[loseyourname]

I didn't see the game, but something gives me the feeling the Bulldogs might not have been too up for this game. They already locked up a WAC title and a Liberty Bowl bid. They had nothing to play for and just phoned it in. Not that that's any excuse. Pat Hill should be tearing his team a new one for the next month.

Notre Dame is definitely in the BCS. What it comes down to is Oregon and Ohio State. Both have good resumes. Oregon hung tough when their senior quarterback went down, beat Cal and ASU when they were still legitimate teams, beat Fresno State, and has only one loss to the #1 team in the country. Ohio State has played a tougher schedule, and though they have two losses, they're to the #2 and #3 ranked teams by a combined margin less than the margin of defeat for Oregon to USC.

Most of the berths are about settled.

Rose Bowl: USC v. Texas

This one is simple. The title game gets the BCS #1 and the BCS #2.

Sugar Bowl: LSU

SEC champ goes to the Sugar Bowl automatically if not in the title game.

Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech

ACC champ goes to the Orange Bowl if not in the title game.

Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame

I don't think there is any question that the Fiesta Bowl takes the Irish as the first non-automatic team.

The Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl get the next two selections, and will probably take Penn State and West Virginia, which both get automatic bids as BCS conference champs. So the Fiesta Bowl will get the last selection. If I had to guess right now, I'd say that they take the Ducks. Oregon has several things working in its favor. First, it is a team that travels well and pulled off a huge win last time they were in the Fiesta Bowl in 2002. Second, Ohio State has already been to the Fiesta Bowl two out of the last three years, which isn't that big of a deal, but could work against it if the committee wants to see some fresh blood. Third, a Notre Dame/Ohio State matchup is certainly good, but it's also a little regional, with both teams being from the midwest and only separated by a few hundred miles. A west-coast v. midwest matchup would probably pull in bigger numbers nationally. Fourth, Oregon can easily benefit from the fact that the Pac-10 was shafted last year when Texas slipped into the Rose Bowl ahead of Cal, in what could have been a very good, traditional Pac-10/Big-10 matchup (of course, the Texas/Michigan game turned out to be a classic). The fact that the Fiesta Bowl is a Pac-10 stadium could really help them this year.

So anyway, my updated predictions for this week are this:

Rose Bowl: USC v. Texas
Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame v. Oregon
Sugar Bowl: LSU v. West Virginia
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech v. Penn State

Of course, these could be upset if either Texas, Virginia Tech, or LSU loses in its conference championship game, but the only team that I think really stands a chance of losing is LSU, which can easily be beat by Georgia. Assuming all three teams win, the rest of the bowls should shape up as such:

Capitol One Bowl: Ohio State v. Auburn
Gator Bowl: Miami v. Louisville
Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech v. Alabama
Outback Bowl: Michigan v. Georgia
Liberty Bowl: UCF v. Fresno State
Peach Bowl: Florida State v. South Carolina
Independence Bowl: Missouri v. Florida
Sun Bowl: California v. Northwestern
Music City Bowl: Iowa v. Boston College
Holiday Bowl: UCLA v. Colorado
Alamo Bowl: Wisconsin v. Oklahoma
Insight Bowl: Arizona State v. South Florida
Champs Sports Bowl: Georgia Tech v. Nebraska

 

[Pengwuino]

I didn't see the game, but something gives me the feeling the Bulldogs might not have been too up for this game. They already locked up a WAC title and a Liberty Bowl bid. They had nothing to play for and just phoned it in. Not that that's any excuse. Pat Hill should be tearing his team a new one for the next month.

Yah they didn't look like they were up for it. Pat Hill was PISSED though at the end of the game. Even my father was saying Hill is probably going to be blowing up at the team this week... They could have had sole possession of the WAC title and they screwed it up...

 

[Gokul43201]

Notre Dame is definitely in the BCS.

But why ? Just because they're an independent ? How did they do better than Ohio State ? They looked - at the beginning of the season - like they were playing a tough scedule...but most of their big opponents (MSU, Tenn, etc.) turned out a pretty pathetic showing this year.

The only explanation I will buy (for now) for OSU not making the Fiesta Bowl, is that they've been there twice in the last 3 years. On the other hand, OSU does have a huge following in the Phoenix/Tempe areas.

 

[loseyourname]

But why ? Just because they're an independent ? How did they do better than Ohio State ? They looked - at the beginning of the season - like they were playing a tough scedule...but most of their big opponents (MSU, Tenn, etc.) turned out a pretty pathetic showing this year.

They have the most fans of any team in the country. I don't think Notre Dame deserves to go over either Oregon or Ohio State, but that doesn't matter. Outside of the title game, the bowl selections have nothing do with merit. The teams that go either go based on how they finished in their conference standings or based on what matchups the bowl committees want to see. The Fiesta Bowl will want Notre Dame. Any year they're eligible, they're in, on the merit of their name alone.

 

[Gokul43201]

What a giant mess ! LYN, have you ever been this wrong before ? Who'da thunk ??! LSU losing is one thing, but Va Tech (not to say anything about Fresno's continued woes) !

 

[Pengwuino]

What a giant mess ! LYN, have you ever been this wrong before ? Who'da thunk ??! LSU losing is one thing, but Va Tech (not to say anything about Fresno's continued woes) !

I think the fact that the crowd started boo'ing State is ... well...

they deserved it...