2010 College Football

[Trippy]

Nice finish to the drive there Bama

[Paelos]

I wanted to post another WTF, UGA, but thought better of it :smugface:

It's pretty clear Richt has lost this team.  And they don't have the horses necessary to run the 3-4.

WTF, Bama?

Had to do it, Snake 

[01101010]

WTF, Bama?

Had to do it, Snake 

No really... WTF BAMA? I was wondering why people were screaming in the neighborhood and shooting off fireworks (read: guns). Well, at least Clemson lost.

Now, if LSU survives FLA and Miami somehow turns Jacory Testaverte around, it might be a good evening for me.

[Paelos]

Les Miles is the craziest stupidest most ridiculous son of a bitch in college football. The man is Forrest Gump.

[01101010]

Les Miles is the craziest stupidest most ridiculous son of a bitch in college football. The man is Forrest Gump.

While he is the coach of my team and hails from my hometown, I could not agree more. I'd venture to say that the man hears the calls for his head and figures, "what the hell - let's just do some shit here and see."

And just for humor's sake...
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2010/10/6/1734272/why-lsu-is-the-frontrunner-for-national-championship

[SnakeCharmer]

WTF, Bama?

Had to do it, Snake  

Totally outplayed.  

Garcia had the game of his life, Alshon Jeffery caught everything thrown his way (even with absolute perfect coverage), and the D couldn't tackle anybody.  USC exploited every possible weakness of the D:  bad tackling, bad angles, over pursuit.  

Weird gameplan by the OC.  Our O has just looked....lazy.  No urgency, no real fire.  And McElroy did what he always does:  Gives up coverage sacks (8 of them tonight, I think).  He telegraphs his receivers, goes from his 1st read to his safety valve and skips everyone else.  Ingram and Richardson looked very tenative, as I thought they have all year - they weren't running with the same authority and pissed off attitude they usually do.

This was honestly the scariest game on the schedule so far.  USC is a really balanced football team with a good defense.  How they respond to this will determine the rest of the year.  Win out?  They go to the SEC CG, then the BCS NCG.  Doable, but not likely.

[Triforcer]

No way in hell any SEC team makes the National Championship game.  Alabama will probably only drop to 5 or 6 or so, but they need all but one of Boise, OSU, Oregon, TCU, and maybe Nebraska to lose.  Not happening. 

[Abagadro]

No way in hell any SEC team makes the National Championship game.  Alabama will probably only drop to 5 or 6 or so, but they need all but one of Boise, OSU, Oregon, TCU, and maybe Nebraska to lose.  Not happening. 

Knowing how college football works in this country, watch for Auburn or LSU to rocket up into the top 4 in short order.

[Muffled]

A one loss SEC team usually competes with undefeated teams from other conferences in terms of bowl votes, but we'll see.

I agree with Snake as to the game.  South Carolina's offense played the best game of their lives, Alabama was completely pedestrian.  I think being down early really hurt Alabama's usual run heavy attack, and USC's defense did a very solid job all game long of shutting down plays over ten yards.

[Ingmar]

I could easily see Boise St. losing to Nevada, they're very very good.

[Abagadro]

Utah had a combined 917 offensive and return yards today against Iowa State (plus 109 yards in INT return):  

[SnakeCharmer]

No way in hell any SEC team makes the National Championship game.  Alabama will probably only drop to 5 or 6 or so, but they need all but one of Boise, OSU, Oregon, TCU, and maybe Nebraska to lose.  Not happening. 

A 1, even a possibly 2 loss, SEC team will make it to the BCS NCG over most of the teams you listed - even if they go undefeated.  History has shown that. 

[Paelos]

No way in hell any SEC team makes the National Championship game.  Alabama will probably only drop to 5 or 6 or so, but they need all but one of Boise, OSU, Oregon, TCU, and maybe Nebraska to lose.  Not happening. 

A 1, even a possibly 2 loss, SEC team will make it to the BCS NCG over most of the teams you listed - even if they go undefeated.  History has shown that. 

Boise is not getting to the show. People need to get that in their heads right now. Their marquee matchup games were VA Tech and Oregon State, and both of those programs have taken huge tumbles from their supposed top 25 preseason clout.

Ohio State will go if they win out. They play in a Big Ten that's a resurgent conference with a lot of good teams. Oregon will be the biggest question mark. If they win out, it's likely they will have only played one top 25 team all year in Stanford, if Arizona continues to falter. I believed at the beginning of the year that the PAC-10 would be much stronger, but it has been very lackluster this season outside of Oregon and Stanford. Auburn or LSU have the most realistic shot if they can navigate each other and Alabama. If they all end up with one loss, I think Oregon goes in ahead of them to play OSU. South Carolina has no shot. Utah and TCU have no shot even if undefeated.

[SnakeCharmer]

If OSU and Nebraska win out?  That's your BCS championship game.  Maybe.  Otherwise it's a OSU vs SEC Champion (undefeated or 1 loss).  NO WAY does Oregon, TCU, or Boise go ahead of a/the SEC champion for the BCS.  I like Oregon, and think they would probably beat OSU because The Vest would do what he always does which is to play 'not to lose' football'.  But, they won't beat an SEC team.

HurfdurfSEChomer, I know.

If the OregonsBoisesTCUs of the world want to be taken seriously, they need to play a more serious schedule.  They can't help that their conference sucks, but they CAN do themselves some favors and schedule some better noncon games.

[Chimpy]

Why is it that "playing in the SEC" is always a "tougher schedule" by default than the ones played by other conferences? Oh wait. That is because the algorithm says that the SEC conference is "better teams" even if they don't prove it on the field because they barely play outside their conference (just like every other conference).

Football needs a playoff instead of a beauty contest.

[SnakeCharmer]

Why is it that "playing in the SEC" is always a "tougher schedule" by default than the ones played by other conferences?

Because the SEC is the toughest conference in the NCAA.

Oh wait. That is because the algorithm says that the SEC conference is "better teams" even if they don't prove it on the field because they barely play outside their conference (just like every other conference).

This makes zero sense.  You're basically saying the SEC only plays SEC schools and don't play any noncons?  SEC teams don't need tough noncons because their league schedules are brutal enough as it is.

Football needs a playoff instead of a beauty contest.

It is a playoff.  It just lasts 12-13 games.  A playoff would favor the SEC even more.  Nobody really wants that.

[Paelos]

Why is it that "playing in the SEC" is always a "tougher schedule" by default than the ones played by other conferences? Oh wait. That is because the algorithm says that the SEC conference is "better teams" even if they don't prove it on the field because they barely play outside their conference (just like every other conference).

Football needs a playoff instead of a beauty contest.

Because they win bowl games, win recruits, win in the big non-cons, and are undefeated any time they have been given a chance to play for the national title game? I'll put it this way, when the SEC champion starts losing in the national championship, all the other conferences can start complaining that the conference isn't worthy to play there.

The SEC East is an unmitigated disaster this year. Most of the teams lost their starting QBs and in the case of Tennessee they lost their coach. The only standout is South Carolina, which features a balanced if rather average offensive attack, but a stout defense who holds opponents to less than 20 a game. The West is dramatically stronger with 4 teams and a combined 2 losses (both to opponents in the top 15). LSU, Auburn, Alabama, and Arkansas are all amazing programs that feature very different winning styles. Arkansas is 3rd in the nation in overall passing yardage. Auburn is 8th in the nation is rushing yards. Bama is 5th in defense, holding opponents to an average 13 points. LSU is without a doubt the luckiest, weirdest team in the country. Also, in the non-cons Bama beat Penn State, LSU beat West Virginia.

[ghost]

Auburn looks very, very good.  They played a tough game last night and pulled it out and also beat South Carolina.  They've got a lot of tough games left, but I think they have a very good shot at the title game. 

An undefeated Big Ten, SEC, or even Pac 10 or Big 12 team should go ahead of Boise State or TCU.  I'm just tired of hearing about those teams. 

[Abagadro]

SEC teams don't need tough noncons because their league schedules are brutal enough as it is.

I don't disagree that the SEC has generally very good teams and is likely the best conference in the country, but this statement is tautological.  The only real way to measure them is against good non-conference opponents. They have a pretty good record on that score, but just playing yourselves and pre-conference patsies doesn't justify them being considered "the best" conference in and of itself.  The flip side is just as true as the only way to tell how good midmajor teams are is to see them against good non-conference schools.

[caladein]

It is a playoff.  It just lasts 12-13 games.  A playoff would favor the SEC even more.  Nobody really wants that.

It's not a playoff.  If it were, Alabama's season would be done and they wouldn't be able to ride their SEC pixie magic to a 1-loss national championship berth over an undefeated team.  It's a regular season with a beauty contest at the end.

That's not to say that Alabama isn't a really good team or the SEC a very solid conference but "playing in the SEC" isn't any different from any other regular season in every other sport known to man.

Furthermore, I'm really sick of hearing "Schedule better non-conference games."

A consistently good team from an automatic qualifier conference has zero incentive to schedule a good non-automatic qualifier.  So, all they get are middle-of-the-pack teams which are sometimes pretty good, and other times not so good.  Add on to that how far in advance these schedules are worked out and a non-automatic qualifier faces a total crap shoot for its two non-conference games.

[Chimpy]

But the SEC is better, see. And they are ALWAYS winning the title game, see. And they don't need to prove it because Craig James and his pals at ESPN say so, see.

[Hoax]

That's the thing, we all know outside of the south that ESPN is the kingmaker here and all this other shit is just that. Shit.

Pretty sure Carroll's USC in its prime could have crushed the SEC champion more times than not in the NCG but somehow that didn't magically make the Pac-10 the best conference in the nation.

We all know that the SEC is the best conference right now but the current system means that even when that isn't true they always have a stranglehold on the top 15 because they only lose to other amazing SEC teams so those loses don't count as loses because the SEC is so brutal and tough and look the team that won is now top 15 so it really is understandable that it was a loss.

I'd also like to point out that unlike anyone in the SEC, The Ohio State University has scheduled home and aways against Texas followed by USC and now Miami (FL) and frankly I'd like to see a lot more of that.

[caladein]

Top of the polls were a procession as Alabama went down to eight and everyone above that moved up a place.  First place votes got distributed around a bit more, but I just can't see a undefeated Ohio State losing No. 1 now that they have it.

Inertia is strong with the polls.

[ghost]

Regardless which side of the bowl/playoff fence you fall on, there is no quicker path to a playoff than to have a Boise State/TCU BCS title game.

[Chimpy]

Regardless which side of the bowl/playoff fence you fall on, there is no quicker path to a playoff than to have a Boise State/TCU BCS title game.

Which will never happen because the BCS is set up to keep the entrenched "powers" on top.

[ghost]

Regardless which side of the bowl/playoff fence you fall on, there is no quicker path to a playoff than to have a Boise State/TCU BCS title game.

Which will never happen because the BCS is set up to keep the entrenched "powers" on top.

I hope they do.  I don't want to see all these crappy teams playing for a title.  I'm so sick of hearing about Boise State. 

[Muffled]

Boise has certainly been over-hyped in the past few years, but calling either them or TCU "crappy" is completely overshooting the mark.  They're both legitimately among the 15 best teams in the country at the moment, weak schedules or not.

[Paelos]

Boise has certainly been over-hyped in the past few years, but calling either them or TCU "crappy" is completely overshooting the mark.  They're both legitimately among the 15 best teams in the country at the moment, weak schedules or not.

Then leave. Join up with a real conference. There are more than enough chances to move around in the coming years as conferences inevitably have to deal with realignment talks. You cannot be a big fish in a small pond and have a shot at playing in the magically computer designed national title.

Also, the fans don't want that. Having Boise in the final wouldn't be any better than putting Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl was three years ago. At best, they get beat down and people say they should have known their place. At worst, they actually win the thing, and people will give them no credit because they got to relax for 11 weeks before they got there.

[Abagadro]

Having Boise in the final wouldn't be any better than putting Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl was three years ago.

Or putting Utah in the Sugar Bowl two years ago. Oh wait...

[Triforcer]

I know the AP isn't a factor anymore, but anyone who thinks a one-loss SEC team gets in before an undefeated Big 12 or Pac 10 team is smoking some mighty fine crack.  Has a one-loss team EVER gotten to the BCS championship before an undefeated major conference champ?

[ghost]

I think it would be very unlikely for a major conference team with one loss to get picked ahead of another major conference team that is undefeated.  The computerized portion of the BCS is supposed to control for that, I believe.  Unless it's the Big 12 this year, which blows ass.

Edit:  and FYI, the Boise State-TCU bowl game last year was pretty miserable in viewership.  There's a reason that the BCS doesn't want these small time teams to play-  they bring no money to the table and nobody cares other than the people that went to school there. 

[Trippy]

I know the AP isn't a factor anymore, but anyone who thinks a one-loss SEC team gets in before an undefeated Big 12 or Pac 10 team is smoking some mighty fine crack.  Has a one-loss team EVER gotten to the BCS championship before an undefeated major conference champ?

Doesn't look like it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_Championship_Series

[01101010]

I know the AP isn't a factor anymore, but anyone who thinks a one-loss SEC team gets in before an undefeated Big 12 or Pac 10 team is smoking some mighty fine crack.  Has a one-loss team EVER gotten to the BCS championship before an undefeated major conference champ?

Doesn't look like it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_Championship_Series

Hehehe... I had that up after he asked that question also. Prolly the most striking is the 2 loss LSU team.

[Paelos]

Having Boise in the final wouldn't be any better than putting Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl was three years ago.

Or putting Utah in the Sugar Bowl two years ago. Oh wait...

Not the same, I actually respect Utah. I don't respect TCU or Boise.

[ghost]

Having Boise in the final wouldn't be any better than putting Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl was three years ago.

Or putting Utah in the Sugar Bowl two years ago. Oh wait...

Not the same, I actually respect Utah. I don't respect TCU or Boise.

There's a reason Utah is going to the Pac 10 and the other two are not.