2011 College Football

[Montague]

The Big 10 is really... REALLY crap this year.

At least it'll be Wisconsin going 10-1 then getting the shit kicked out of them in a bowl instead of OSU.

[Paelos]

The SEC is really terrible this year too, except for LSU and Bama.

I think if either of them drop a game to anybody else besides the obvious head to head, they don't deserve a title shot.

[Nebu]

The SEC is really terrible this year too, except for LSU and Bama.

I think if either of them drop a game to anybody else besides the obvious head to head, they don't deserve a title shot.

Arkansas and Auburn don't look too bad, though Arkansas has had it very soft so far. 

[Paelos]

Auburn can't tackle my grandmother. Clemson scored at will on them, and Clemson sucks.

Arkansas, not sure yet.

[SnakeCharmer]

Auburn's glass slipper got cracked today (finally).  They survived the first two games 2-0 because of out of this world special teams play and a little bit of luck.  They have zero defense (1600plus yards given up in 3 games) and zero offense except for Michael Dyer.   

Bama vs LSU is going to be perhaps the most boring game of the year.  Two NFL caliber defenses squaring up against pretty pedestrian offenses.  Having said that, every game you think is going to be a low scoring defensive stuggle is going to be a shootout.  This game scares me more than anything.  It's at the 6th game of a 7 game SEC meatgrinder run (Arkansas, @ Florida, Vandy, @ Ole Miss, Tenn, LSU, @ Miss State), and 9 games straight without a break.

[01101010]

Auburn can't tackle my grandmother. Clemson scored at will on them, and Clemson sucks.

Arkansas, not sure yet.

Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, LSU, and.... VANDY!! i would say they are just fine.

[Paelos]

I've discovered that Ole Miss and Kentucky are both absolutely god-awful by watching them play. MS State lost to Auburn's "stellar" defense.

Auburn lacks any semblance of D as Snake also noted, and Georgia is (insert me flying into a fucking rage).

South Carolina barely contained Navy. Vandy is Vandy and irrelevant. Tennessee is still reeling from the fact they got fucked over last year.

Florida is impossible to figure out. I have a feeling they are terrible but they haven't played anybody good enough to be exposed.

I haven't seen Arkansas play yet, LSU and Bama are devastating on D and infuriating on offense. So I think if you average out Arkansas and Florida that's 3 teams who are worth a damn.

[ghost]

Yeah, LSU and Alabama are good enough to carry the SEC.  

I was also happy to see OU beat Free Shoes U.  Now if we could just get Rasix's bunch to get off their fucking asses and play some football......

I've discovered that Ole Miss and Kentucky are both absolutely god-awful by watching them play.

You needed to watch Kentucky to know they are bad?  I thought you were some kind of smart CPA....  

Fake edit:  I thought you were  a Georgia fan.  Oh, you might think Kentucky was good because of that. 

[Paelos]

Kentucky has years where they don't suck. I have to see them against a team of medium skill to get a gauge. Louisville, who lost to FIU, beating them was a bad bad loss.

[01101010]

LSU's schedule: ORE, Nobody State, Miss St, WV, Kentucky, FL, Tenn, Aub, Bama, Western who-cares, Ole Miss, Ark
Bama's sched:   Kent St, PSU, N.Tx, Ark, FL, Vandy, Ole Miss, Tenn, LSU, Miss St, GA Southern, Aub.

Aside from LSU playing ORE, these are pretty damn close. I'd give the edge to LSU for the fact they have WV rather than PSU, but if both teams run the gauntlet till they meet... I fully agree, the game will be a nightmare to watch and probably end 10-3 with the winner to whomever gets a lucky touchdown. Of course, none of this matters since LSU will fuck up the Ark game yet again to end the year.

[Nevermore]

So with the ACC expanding to 14 with Pitt and Syracuse, will they and the other three conferences finish off what's left of the Big 12 and Big East sooner rather than later now?  Or will what's left of the latter two conferences merge and form the Big Leftovers conference, to slowly be picked over by the big four conferences for the next few years?

[Abagadro]

Suck it Zoobs!

Way, you dodged a bullet with Heaps. He sucks.

[Rasix]

Now if we could just get Rasix's bunch to get off their fucking asses and play some football......

We are just.. so bad.  It fucking hurts.  That's the first game I haven't stayed until the end in 3 years.  To Stanford's credit, they are pretty damn good and Luck is a hell of a poised QB.  Didn't help that we hit him like twice.

Stoops will be fired at the end of this year.  Without the injuries, we might be good enough to not get him fired and maybe eek out 6 wins and a victory over ASU (saved many a coach's ass). 

I'll be surprised if Oregon doesn't hang up 50+ on us and the place will be deserted by the fourth quarter.  Or maybe our offense will wake the hell up and turn our yardage into some fucking points.  And the defense will actually produce some turnovers.  HAH.  Who am I kidding. 

[Tannhauser]

Tennessee did the same thing they've done before; let Florida jump out in front and then try to mount a comeback in the second half.

I've seen that game before. 

Tennessee is a mediocre team this year.  Florida may be a mediocre one as well, though they do have two outstanding RB's.  I don't think Brantley is that great a QB yet.

[ghost]

This should be an interesting couple of weeks what with Pitt and Syracuse bolting for the ACC.  I expect to see some major movements coming soon in the alignment front.   

[WayAbvPar]

Suck it Zoobs!

Way, you dodged a bullet with Heaps. He sucks.

That warms my cold dead black heart.

UW got predictably handled by Nebraska, but they made a few plays. They are definitely entertaining to watch, at least on offense.

[Chimpy]

So Illinois actually beat a ranked team from another conference. 

Of course, it was like 55 degrees in Champaign last night, maybe ASU just could not handle the cold?

[ghost]

I think Illinois might be decent this year.  Not great, but decent.

[Chimpy]

I think Illinois might be decent this year.  Not great, but decent.

Worst thing I want to hear. Fucking Zook is a terrible coach and now that we have a new AD who might actually hire a coach who isn't just a good recruiter (Guenther made a ton of shitty football coach hiring decisions over the 20 years he was here) we might actually be able to land one.

[Abagadro]

That warms my cold dead black heart.

In case you didn't see the play, with bonus yakity sax for extra lulz:

http://www.youtube.com/user/superman7132#p/u/0/2ogDT9_NrRE

[ghost]

Zook is just good enough to avoid getting fired when he really deserves it. 

[WayAbvPar]

That warms my cold dead black heart.

In case you didn't see the play, with bonus yakity sax for extra lulz:

http://www.youtube.com/user/superman7132#p/u/0/2ogDT9_NrRE

Wow. That is pretty bad. Such a shame 

[ghost]

This is a pretty amazing article by Nate Silver analyzing the most popular college football schools. 

Not surprisingly the top 3 teams in popularity are tOSU, Penn State and Michigan. 

Sorry Ab, Utah is 67th.  But at least you beat Stanford!

[01101010]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6993604/big-east-big-12-talking-possible-merger-report-says

Well there it is... big east 12!

Oh and I completely forgot about TCU coming to the Big East, mainly (IIRC) because of Pitt-CIN-WV ... someone find the Nelson HA HA meme...

[Nevermore]

Because they'd be so much better off in the MWC, where the only relevant team is Boise?

The Big 12 East would at least still have West Virginia, Baylor and USF as far as currently ranked teams go, and would still be a power basketball conference (as if that really matters).  At least until the Big 10/ACC/SEC come knocking again, which will probably be sooner rather than later.

I really hope the SEC ends up taking FSU, which would suddenly make USF a whole lot more attractive to the ACC, but the Florida/Georgia/South Carolina bloc seems to make that unlikely.  Same reason Clemson or Georgia Tech would be unlikely.  Virginia Tech ($20 million withdrawal fee be damned considering the amount of money they'd end up making in the SEC) or maybe Missouri would make the most sense for the SEC to opening up new TV markets.  Everyone keeps saying West Virginia, but do they really bring anything to the table for a conference like the SEC?

I think Rutgers will be the most interesting case.  They suck as a football team, but everyone seems to think their TV market makes them attractive anyway.  Will the Big 10 move on them to head off the ACC or do they figure they can get them anytime they want regardless of whether they're in the ACC or not?

[Paelos]

The SEC should yank West Virginia. That would be a big addon.

[Nevermore]

Ok, you're an SEC guy.  What makes WV so attractive?  Not so much from a fan perspective, since I know they they usually field a good team, but from a value to the conference perspective.  What do they have that a Virginia Tech doesn't?

[Paelos]

Ok, you're an SEC guy.  What makes WV so attractive?  Not so much from a fan perspective, since I know they they usually field a good team, but from a value to the conference perspective.  What do they have that a Virginia Tech doesn't?

The are without a doubt the top football program in their respective conference, they have a good college town with a solid blue collar background, they have a national presence in the past 20 years, they command the entirety of their state's viewership, and they have rabid fans that travel well. They've shown they can play against top talent by beating Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, and by beating OU in the 2008 Fiesta bowl.

Plus as a personal favorite, they have a tradition of singing John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at every game. I mean damn they are a stone's throw from being complete hillbillys, why the hell wouldn't we want them! 

[sigil]

[Nevermore]

But it's a felony to burn couches in Morgantown now, so there goes that tradition! 

[Ingmar]

Plus A&M is an AAU university, they need to balance that out. 

[01101010]

Ok, you're an SEC guy.  What makes WV so attractive?  Not so much from a fan perspective, since I know they they usually field a good team, but from a value to the conference perspective.  What do they have that a Virginia Tech doesn't?

The are without a doubt the top football program in their respective conference, they have a good college town with a solid blue collar background, they have a national presence in the past 20 years, they command the entirety of their state's viewership, and they have rabid fans that travel well. They've shown they can play against top talent by beating Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, and by beating OU in the 2008 Fiesta bowl.

Plus as a personal favorite, they have a tradition of singing John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at every game. I mean damn they are a stone's throw from being complete hillbillys, why the hell wouldn't we want them! 

We'll see if they are up to snuff this Saturday. They beat my Tigers, I'll entertain the idea of them in the SEC. IMHO, I want FSU.

[Paelos]

Florida will block FSU.

[ghost]

Conference expansion now is going to get weird, I think.  As for WVU, they are a million times better as a football school than Pitt or Syracuse and have the biggest potential for viewership in the Big East.  I still don't understand the Pitt/Syracuse move by the ACC.  Those schools should have been some of the last men standing when it comes to poaching.  There just aren't a lot of strong schools out there other than UT, OU and ND to poach, unless you see FSU moving over to the SEC, something I don't see happening.  

[Paelos]

The ACC is trying to circle the wagons by making the buyout $20M