2012 College Football

[ghost]

Florida is looking weak.......  

God I hate those assholes.

Addendum-  now they're getting destroyed.

[Paelos]

Tebow wept. 

[Ingmar]

SEC is not super impressing me this bowl season.

[ghost]

Nope.  Not at all.  You can tell where the Gators heads were last night.  It sounds as though it were a "let's get it over with" type game.  Everyone has been predicting Alabama in the title game, but I fully expect ND to give them a game.  The SEC is clearly overrated this year. 

[Paelos]

I will say this. Unless it's a national title, the SEC teams typically don't give a shit in bowl games. When Alabama lost to Utah in the Sugar Bowl, I didn't really believe it was because that Utah team was head and shoulders above that Alabama squad, even though that Utah team was very good. Alabama just couldn't motivate themselves to play for anything less than a top spot 4 weeks after the season was already over.

USC is a good example. Preseason #1 and they get beat by Georgia Tech in a crap bowl. More and more I believe these bowl games are more about motivation, and less about the strength of a team. There are just so many, they happen so late, and the teams just don't give a shit. West Virginia gets pasted by Syracuse, and only puts up 14 (they normally average 40). Clemson beats LSU because Les Miles is a moron, and plays the game like some sort of crazy experiment in space-time. Oklahoma State decides to run up 58 on a Purdue team that could not give less of a fuck. Texas escapes Oregon State because the Beavers head coach absolutely under no circumstances will pull a bad QB in a meaningless game.

The SEC is way down this year, and I've said that before. The top spot is outstanding, the next 5 are good, and the bottom 8 are a total trainwreck (with the exception of Vandy who I believe is decent).

In my mind the Big 12 is the best conference this year, and they don't even get a shot in the title game because their champ couldn't hold water against an unranked team (again).

[HaemishM]

I don't follow college football. Why was a #21 ranked team playing in the BSC Sugar Bowl with the #3 team in the country? Why wasn't #4 in this game?

[Rasix]

I don't follow college football.

Don't worry about it then.  It's just BCS shenanigans.  Same reason we got Northern Illinois playing Florida State.

Florida did look like the worst BCS #3 I've seen in recent history.  How did they manage to beat teams while not fielding an offense all year?

[ghost]

Their defense was amazing during the year.  It's just that all of them had their heads up their asses thinking about declaring for the draft. 

I actually think that this year has made me change my mind on the playoff.  There have been too many teams mailing it in. 

[Paelos]

The sec East was also bad.

[01101010]

I will say this. Unless it's a national title, the SEC teams typically don't give a shit in bowl games. When Alabama lost to Utah in the Sugar Bowl, I didn't really believe it was because that Utah team was head and shoulders above that Alabama squad, even though that Utah team was very good. Alabama just couldn't motivate themselves to play for anything less than a top spot 4 weeks after the season was already over.

USC is a good example. Preseason #1 and they get beat by Georgia Tech in a crap bowl. More and more I believe these bowl games are more about motivation, and less about the strength of a team. There are just so many, they happen so late, and the teams just don't give a shit. West Virginia gets pasted by Syracuse, and only puts up 14 (they normally average 40). Clemson beats LSU because Les Miles is a moron, and plays the game like some sort of crazy experiment in space-time. Oklahoma State decides to run up 58 on a Purdue team that could not give less of a fuck. Texas escapes Oregon State because the Beavers head coach absolutely under no circumstances will pull a bad QB in a meaningless game.

The SEC is way down this year, and I've said that before. The top spot is outstanding, the next 5 are good, and the bottom 8 are a total trainwreck (with the exception of Vandy who I believe is decent).

In my mind the Big 12 is the best conference this year, and they don't even get a shot in the title game because their champ couldn't hold water against an unranked team (again).

Yeah I have no idea wtf is going on with the Hatter this year. The losses to Clemson and Florida fall on Miles... just poor coaching choices - leading the game and you call 3 passes in a row to give the ball back to Clemson? With that running game late in the game? ugh.

And it really does seem that Mett's is a good QB with a very poor OC. Changing of the guard there is in order... ASAP.

However, I think you hit it best with: "the SEC teams typically don't give a shit in bowl games." Call it whatever you want, but playing in a consolation bowl game if you are in the SEC is like taking your sister to prom. Of course, that works in some areas.

[Paelos]

I'm actually shocked that UGA showed up in the second half. After tossing an early pick 6 and another interception, it was all there for Georgia to fold up shop like we have the last 2 years in a bowl. I guess they finally got tired of that.

[Ingmar]

After Wisconsin dropped 70 on Nebraska even 45-31 has to feel like a loss. 

I was glad to see the Huskers at least bounce back a little after that Wisconsin game though, take away 2 big plays from UGA and it's a ballgame. (#1 pass defense my ass though.)

[Paelos]

Yeah they made Murray look like a world beater. (He's not, ask South Carolina).

[ghost]

South Carolina has a pretty good defense though.  I'm not sure Nebraska's compares after watching that game.

[Trippy]

I don't follow college football. Why was a #21 ranked team playing in the BSC Sugar Bowl with the #3 team in the country? Why wasn't #4 in this game?

Big East champion gets an automatic BCS bowl selection and the Fiesta Bowl which had to take Kansas State got to pick ahead of the Sugar Bowl so they grabbed Oregon.

[HaemishM]

I don't follow college football. Why was a #21 ranked team playing in the BSC Sugar Bowl with the #3 team in the country? Why wasn't #4 in this game?

Big East champion gets an automatic BCS bowl selection and the Fiesta Bowl which had to take Kansas State got to pick ahead of the Sugar Bowl so they grabbed Oregon.

Ok, but why didn't they get like #5 or #6 or any of the teams between #3 and #21? Is Louisville in the Big East?

EDIT: Oh wait, I see it now. The Big East sucks donkey dick as a conference.

[Trippy]

Louisville is the Big East co-champion this season.

[Paelos]

The simple rule is this: The BCS has it rigged so that a conference can only send 2 teams to BCS bowls.

That means if the SEC has #1, 3, 5, 8 and the Big 12 has 2, 4, 6, 7, only #1-4 are going to BCS bowls. #5-8 would be relegated to crap bowls. Then you have to take into account that 6 champions get auto bids. That means if they aren't in the top 10, they get a bid anyway.

[ghost]

K-State Oregon was a decent game.  It may be Oregon's last chance at a bowl for a year or two. 

[Paelos]

I thought K State was completely outmatched tbh. I never really felt like they had a remote chance in that game once the initial kickoff went to the house. Their offense simply isn't that good. Colin Klein continues to self-destruct late in the year. 151 yards passing with a TD and 2 picks? Against an Oregon defense? Arkansas State had a better offensive day against the Ducks.

[ghost]

When I say "decent game", I mean "fun to watch".  Oregon owned them, particularly with that 10 point swing prior to halftime.  Prior to that K State was kindof in it, but not really.  I never really bought into the hype on them. 

[Paelos]

Yeah it was ok to watch until the end of the third. By the 4th quarter I'd switched to reruns of family guy. I had no belief K State could even cover a +8.

I picked Kansas because I believed they wanted to make a national statement after the Baylor loss, and that Oregon would be distracted by Chip Kelly whoring himself all over town. Turns out that even motivations don't matter when you can't complete passes.

[ghost]

K-State was clearly outclassed in talent.  I know you were putting the Big 12 as the best conference this year, but I would have put them at least at second behind the SEC.  They had a lot of teams that were 15-20 in the rankings.  Sure, K State beat them all, including Oklahoma, but that doesn't mean they were top 5 material.   I think Bama or Notre Dame would have destroyed them. 

Still, Snyder is a hell of a coach.  If he was at Alabama or somewhere decent we may have been talking about him as one of the best to ever coach the game. 

[Paelos]

I think the Big 12 is better balanced this year, while the SEC is wildly unbalanced. The top half of the SEC went 44-12 in conference, reverse for the bottom half.

In the Big 12, the top half went 30-15 in conference. That means Big 12 top half has a 66% win percentage, while the SEC has a 79%. The Big East is 72%, the PAC 12 is 70%, ACC is 69%, Big 10 is 75%.

I think this kind of "parity" rating gives me an idea of the relative health of a conference. Big 10 and SEC were very top heavy, while the Big 12 wasn't. The average tends to be around 70%. If you have a lot of crap in your conference, I can't really call it the best in the nation.

[ghost]

I would highly disagree that balance makes a conference good.  I'm of the opinion that having 4-5 teams in the top 10 is much more indicative of a great conference than of having balance.  Balance just means that the teams are good relative to each other.  It could mean that they are all equally shitty in the grand scheme of things.

[Shannow]

1 point safety ftw.

[Paelos]

I would highly disagree that balance makes a conference good.  I'm of the opinion that having 4-5 teams in the top 10 is much more indicative of a great conference than of having balance.  Balance just means that the teams are good relative to each other.  It could mean that they are all equally shitty in the grand scheme of things.

It's part of an overall equation. You look at the balance along with OOC record against SOS. That's part of why I think the balance in the Big 12 was a good thing this year. Their OOC record was good as well.

[ghost]

It's hard not to like Manziel.  He's exciting as hell to watch.

[Ingmar]

It's hard not to like Manziel.  He's exciting as hell to watch.

Nah, it's as easy as two letters: A & M. 

[ghost]

I would pull for Aggy all day over Oklahoma.   

So the middle of the pack SEC west team just completely destroyed the second best (or best) team in the Big 12.  I think that pretty much seals the deal that the SEC was a better conference this year. 

[Paelos]

A&M isn't a middle of the pack SEC team this year.

[01101010]

A&M isn't a middle of the pack SEC team this year.

Very true. I'd run A&M behind Bama and above LSU at this point.

[ghost]

A&M isn't a middle of the pack SEC team this year.

Yet they finished very much in the middle of the pack of their division of the SEC.    

Third out of 7, in fact. 

[Paelos]

That's because the SEC East for the most part is total shit, and Florida got extremely lucky to catch A&M before they gelled.

I think A&M would beat Florida and South Carolina for sure in an SEC title game, and probably give UGA a run for their money in a shootout.

[ghost]

I don't disagree with you in that I think they would beat anyone right now, but they still were technically a middle of the pack team.  So was South Carolina.  I would put any of the top 3 on either side of the SEC up against anyone in the country.  If they bring their game, they win.