2006 College Football Season

It seems like Arkansas is being vastly overrated right now just because people want to see them upset USC. Arkansas is going to come out looking very bad: I think USC is gonna walk all over them.

Good game on ESPN right now between Michigan and Vanderbilt. Michigan is up 7-0, but Vanderbilt doesn't look like it's just gonna roll over.

Other than my team's opener today (Arizona, BYU visiting), I'm quite excited about the Cal/Tennessee game. I want to see how Cal's back does at a place like Neyland.

Most amazing jew boots

There is not a single team I hate more than Notre Dame. I don't even hate any other teams (other than our rival, ASU). Their situation is so absolutely ridiculous. I hope Georgia Tech beats the crap out of them (and I think they can, Notre Dame is always overrated by about 5-15 positions to start the season).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It was nice to know that everyone overrated the crap out of Notre Dame.

It is not nice to know that the media and the fans will never learn.

I was glad to see USC blow out Arkansas. Slow start, but Booty looked terrific. USC's QB, who never played a meaningful down, looked quite a bit better than ol' Heisman hopeful Quinn.

Marshaun Lynch also looked very average against Tennessee. Interesting how many questions were answered so early on this season.

My team (Arizona) looks like crap against BYU right now. Sigh.

I'm really gearing up now for that Ohio State/Texas game next week. This ABC Saturday Night Football is programming genius. I'll start planning my Saturday's around it like people used to play their Monday's around the NFL. Great games every week.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

A
R
I
Z
O
N
A

Stoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops.

Nick Folk hits a game winning, 48-yard field goal with 1 second left! Arizona 1-0!


This is refreshing after two 3-8 seasons. Great start for my 'Cats.

BRING IT ON, LSU

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'm not too surprised to see Notre Dame still there, overrated pricks.

Notre Dame got 5 more 1st place votes in the AP poll than USC, who also went on the road to the deep south and completely blew out the team they were playing. How did anyone put Notre Dame as #1 over Ohio State or Texas? Are they fucking insane?

This also shows what's wrong with the polls: Florida State only got a 1 or 2 place bonus for beating Miami. How can the coaches say that Florida State's performance (beating a Top 15 team on the road) was only 1 spot better than Oklahoma's (barely squeaking out a win over UAB)?

And West Virginia. I mean, they're good, and with Louisville's RB out for the rest of the year, they'll walk over the Big East. But getting first place votes is laughable. They'll be in the BCS, they may even be undefeated, but they don't have a murder's row of a schedule to go through like Florida and Auburn. Ohio State or Texas will knock out one of those from the possibility of the top spot next week, USC and Notre Dame will do the same later.

Usually I don't get all worked up over this until bowl season. I hate how the NCAA ruins what could be the best sport over an entire season by giving it such a weak finale.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Welp, here we go, week #2.

The big game, of course, is Ohio State/Texas. I'm liking Texas in this game, mostly because it's in Austin. I think it's going to be nice and close, though, should be a really great game.

Penn State at Notre Dame...I think ND will win, even though I really, really hope PSU knocks them off. ND is overrated, but I never go into a season believing in Penn State anymore.

All of us here in Tucson are hoping for the upset over LSU but...eh, wah. We'll lose by 3 TDs probably.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Man, Notre Dame looks good today. Brady Quinn looks like the real deal. Their defense is as good as it was last week.

I hate this. :\

FELIPE NO

Yeah this is rough.

I actually stopped watching it for a while to see the end of that Iowa/Syracuse game. Holy cow! Syracuse had 6 golden chances to tie the game from the 1-yard line and Iowa stopped them. Amazing.

It sounded like the end of the Clemson/BC game was good too, but stupid ABC went to their dumb post-game show rather than showing the other OT game still going on.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

OSU has looked really, really good in this game. Texas is obviously hampered by the suspensions and by having a completely new QB. Texas's performance is still good enough to play with 95% of teams in the NCAA, but it really shows you that Texas isn't a part of this year's national championship race.

It is unfortunate we don't have a playoff, because the way that the SEC has looked this year, there are a couple of teams who could win it all, but the tough conference means it will be almost impossible for everyone to escape without a loss. The Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and Big East don't really have more than one team that looks like a contender.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's almost like the BCS has screwed everything up so much that people don't even know what the hell they are voting for anymore.

Huge, huge games next week. Michigan visits Notre Dame, Miami goes to Louisville, LSU at Auburn, Oklahoma at Oregon, Clemson at Florida State (tough loss at BC vs. almost lost to TROY), Texas Tech and TCU, Nebraska and USC, Florida and Tennessee.

I can't remember there ever being this many ranked teams playing each other this early in the year.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Has been a fun day so far. That LSU/Auburn game was great (if not screwed up a bit by the refs), it's always fun to see Notre Dame get blown out, and we still have some great games tonight. Plus, how great would that be to be a fun of Boston College, going to two double OT games in a row?

LSU got screwed by the call at the end, and could have had a much easier time scoring had they been 15 yards closer. The refs definitely blew the call. It's unfortunate that the national championship race is set up in a way that LSU has basically no chance at all of getting into the championship game, even if they win out. With a playoff, a great team like LSU would have a chance.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Switching between ND and LSU, it was making me wonder the entire game why Brady Quinn gets so much attention when you have a guy like JaMarcus Russell who was completely tearing it up.

Anyone catch the end of that Oregon/OU game? Holy cow. Oregon got a TD, a recovered on-side (followed by a TD) and a blocked FG as time expired to win the game. Great, great stuff. Could go down as the finish of the year.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Damn. Well, Arizona gave USC hell. Almost held Southern Cal under 20 points for the first time in 5 years. The tackling just fell apart at the end of the game and a big injury led to a very late TD (muffed punt by a backup returner) at a point where Arizona still had a fighting chance.

I'll take a 3-0 halftime against USC at this point. Arizona's gonna be good next year, I think. I think we're looking at a bowl game this year, too, if we keep playin' like this.

Nothing else major today (so far). It looks like Boston College's magic finally ran out with a last minute TD from NC State.

Double Post:
Gah, and there goes Notre Dame. Poor Michigan State.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by xman25

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!! Notre Dame won 40-37!!!! I thought they were done for. I prayed to God that Notre Dame would make a come back and they did. I'm serious. Thank God for miracles. This will probably be the only miracle Notre Dame gets all season.

xman25

Maybe that's what Notre Dame is overrated: pollsters trying to get on God's good side.

No, seriously. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Notre Dame back in the top 5 after needing a complete miracle against yet another Big-10 team that scored at least 37 points on them just to squeak by in the last few minutes. Hell, even Idaho was only down a touchdown to Michigan State on the road with 9 minutes left.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

How would Notre Dame even get to the national championship? There is no way they are in the Top 2; there is no way they even deserve to be in the Top 10 after the last two weeks, but because they began soooooo overrated, they will likely sneak back in. See, if Notre Dame had begun the season around #15th (like they probably should be) they'd be ranked about #20th in this coming poll, which is pretty close to accurate after stinking up the joint two weeks in a row.

For example, Notre Dame will be ranked probably at least 4 places higher than Clemson. Clemson's one loss came to a team in the Top 25 (or just outside of it), on the road, in overtime, from a blocked extra point. Clemson also went on the road and completely blew out Florida State.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, nearly got beat at Georgia Tech, at Michigan State, and completely got blown out at home by Michigan. Notre Dame's one good win, at home against Penn State, looked good until Penn State showed that they aren't any good at all and have no offense.

The difference between Notre Dame and the Yankees is that the MLB championship isn't decided by votes or a crazy computer system, but wins and losses in a fair system followed by a playoff. Notre Dame gets special clauses written into the BCS system just for them that gives them a special advantage that no other team enjoys. Votes are a huge, huge portion of the national championship, and the fact that people who are voting have bias (and not just for ND, the coaches vote for their own teams and conferences, like when Mack Brown completely fucked over Cal), means that the system cannot be fair.

I will stop hoping for Notre Dame to fail when they have to play by the same rules as everyone else.

Most amazing jew boots

Notre Dame's schedule strength right now, after Saturday's games, is #1, but, there are a few things we need to look at when arriving at that:

1) Schedule strength matters little until near the end of the season. The body of work is very small, so the accuracy of schedule strength is also very small. Only 16 teams are being taken into account when factoring it. And, as Sagarin says, the first few weeks are so unpredicable that starting ranks are taken into account as well.

2) 2-2 Penn State's computer ranking is flawed because of this same notion. They have the #4 schedule strength, but have looked awful and will be ranked in the computer top 30 until their body of work finally gets some influence over their schedule. Which inflates ND's rankings (this logic is part of the reason why Ken Pomeroy's own rankings are so much better than the RPI in college basketball).

3) This isn't something that is a knock against ND, but computer rankings and the BCS: Jeff Sagarin says that his best predictor cannot be used in the BCS because it takes into account score margin (as does his usual rankings, which aren't a predictor but a rating of past success). ND's ranking in the BCS formula is #7, ranking in the ratings is #14, and ranking in the predicted standings is #24.

That's not much to say, but I'd say the closest ranking to how Notre Dame has ACTUALLY played is probaly the #24. It would be easy to pick out #23 teams that would have a better than even chance of beating Notre Dame on a neutral field. It speaks more to the unnatural inflation of Notre Dame by voters, which is another signal that the BCS is bad, ND's special treatment is bad, voters are bad, and computers are bad.

Lock a committee in a room on Dec. 5th and have them add 2 teams to the 6 BCS conference winners and set seeds for a playoff. Works in basketball. And no special treatment for ND. If they want an automatic berth, they can join a conference and win it, just like everyone else.

Originally Posted by xman25

Anyway, the clause is another good reason to get rid of the BCS and the way college football decides who is the champion each season. Get rid of the bowl games and put in some kind of playoff system.

The problem would still exist.

See, the conference winners of the BCS conferences would be guaranteed a spot (as they should be), and Notre Dame would still whine and complain about how they should be guaranteed a spot above all else. Perhaps ND would get an automatic spot if they finished in the top 6 of the rankings, while teams from any other conference would have to finish in the top 4.

Originally Posted by xman25

One thing, if I am reading the article right, the clause only comes into play if Notre Dame wins nine games and/or if they are high enough in the BCS standings. If Notre Dame doesn't win enough, you people don't have anything to worry about. 2001 through 2006 Notre Dame has played in a BCS game twice, the Fiesta Bowl each time. 1/1/2001 against Oregon State and 1/2/2006 against Ohio State. They lost both. I'm wondering, can anyone complain about Notre Dame's schedule?

Here's the thing.

Notre Dame's clause trumps all other clauses after BCS champions. And Notre Dame's clause gives them an advantage: they can be lower than another team in the rankings and guaranteed the spot! The bowl wouldn't even have the option of taking the team that is ranked higher. You're telling us that it has to do with Notre Dame winning enough, but the "enough" part is the issue here.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Hey! I made it onto Sports Illustrated's website in the college football section!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...mailbag/1.html

Quote:

It looks like Tucson's love affair with Mike Stoops is coming to an end. Seeing someone like Tyrone Willingham rebuild Washington in a little over a year while Arizona is still stinking it up 2 1/2 years after Stoops took over has Wildcats fans sounding like they did in the Mackovic years. Any chance that Arizona turns it around? Any chance that Mike Stoops keeps his job?
--Mike, Tucson, Ariz.

Coach Stoops, this isn't you, is it? The beginning of his e-mail address does say "bluemikey."

Without question, Arizona has been one of the biggest disappointments so far. After the promise QB Willie Tuitiama showed as a freshman and with the recruiting success Stoops has had the past couple years, I really thought this was the season when the Wildcats would turn the corner. But no, they're pretty much awful, ranking 86th nationally in total defense and 109th in total offense. I don't think Stoops is in any danger of losing his job before next season -- he did step into a massive rebuilding situation due to the colossal disaster that was the short-lived Mackovic era -- but he definitely needs to make some changes, starting first and foremost with his offense.

It's into year three, and the Wildcats are still completely inept offensively, even more so than the past two years. Part of that, of course, is they're missing star tailback Mike Bell and are inexperienced on the line, but much of the blame falls on coordinator Mike Canales' shoulders. Arizona simply has no offensive identity. The defense, despite what the statistics indicate, isn't that bad. 'Zona held high-flying BYU to 13 points and USC to 20. But when your offense is incapable of producing first downs, it's inevitable that your defense is going to wear down and give up big plays. The Wildcats have the talent to still win a few games in the Pac-10, but they have to get some semblance of production from their offense, because you can't count on 16-13 wins in the Pac-10.

Most amazing jew boots

Florida convinced me tonight that they belong in the championship. Michigan may be better, but they couldn't win their conference, Florida did. If Michigan was a lot better, sure, but Florida is just behind, if at all.

Big East championship going to overtime, should be a fun finish.

Haha, ESPN was panning the crowd and they showed for a few seconds a kid wearing a shirt that said "West Fuckin' Virginia" pretty prominently.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah, but that's the thing. They did lose to them. In their last game even. If we already know that Michigan can't beat OSU, then we don't need to see it again.

(Yes, the margin was 3 points, but in the 4th quarter, Michigan didn't really have much of a chance. Just a 3-and-out when they had a chance to take the lead.)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Possibly. But let's say the game was at Michigan and Michigan won by 3. Would OSU deserve another shot then? I mean, we can guess at a lot of things in college football, but, at the end of the day, if you don't win your conference, you shouldn't get to play in the championship (or you should have to go through a playoff system like we should have).

Most amazing jew boots

Okay, so look at this.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/new...Dec_3_2006.pdf

It's the final rankings for the BCS.

Robert Lawless ranked the Top 5 in this way:

1) OSU
2) Michigan
3) Wisconsin
4) Louisville
5) Florida

Ray Melick

1) OSU
2) Florida
3) Louisville
4) Michigan
5) LSU

Tim Neverett

1) OSU
2) Florida
3) USC
4) Michigan
...
9) BYU

Ed Podolak

9) Rutgers

Jim Walden

1) Florida
2) OSU
...
7) Wake Forest
11) LSU

Frank Weedon

Unranked: Tennessee

Paul Ziese

1) OSU
2) Louisville

How the fuck are these people deciding the fate of college football?!

I was speaking idiomatically.

I know you're an Irish fan and all, but have you watched LSU at all? LSU is going to absolutely destroy Notre Dame. ND would have been much better off if Michigan had gotten in, forcing LSU to play in the Rose Bowl and setting up Notre Dame with a team it has a chance against, like Boise State or Oklahoma.

LSU destroying Notre Dame isn't going to make people happy that Notre Dame got picked over Auburn and Wisconsin. If anything, it could hurt ND the next time talks come up about ND's role in the entire system.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Oh yeah, I always forget about that rule. That means the next team down in the rankings would be West Virginia (Arkansas would be ineligible too), and it could be a toss up between them and ND.

FELIPE NO

The Fiesta Bowl is the best game I have ever seen. I mean, it isn't even close. There were like 15 spectacular moments within about 20 minutes. I just saw the highlights again on SportsCenter and I couldn't help but laugh, it was just great.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Just in case anyone missed it or wants to relive it:

YouTube Video

I still can't stop getting a chuckle or a smile on half these plays, I'm still amazed at what I saw.

Jam it back in, in the dark.