College Football Bragging Rights Thread

[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...

 

[loseyourname]

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 don't know what happened to Fresno State. This really looked like the year they'd turned the corner, finally beating Boise and nearly beating SC and Oregon. I wasn't actually that surprised by Virginia Tech losing. FSU's losing streak coincided with them losing a lot of their offensive line for a few games and Weatherford getting pressured out of his mind. When their offense is intact, it isn't nearly that bad, and when they're not turning the ball over, their defense is elite.

Georgia winning wasn't really all that surprising, either, although I didn't expect them to win that easily. LSU has been winning close and ugly all year, often because the other team just chokes (Auburn not being able to hit a field goal, ASU having two consecutive blocked kicks returned for touchdowns). Georgia doesn't have quite the overall talent, but they execute much better, especially on the offensive side. LSU's receivers drop a ton of passes.

I actually did say that I thought Georgia could easily beat LSU (but I made my bowl predictions based on who was currently leading), but there was no way I would have called the FSU win, even if I knew they were better than they had looked the last couple weeks. I honestly thought Va Tech was an elite team that simply hiccuped against Miami. Heck, I thought they'd go undefeated and eventually jump Texas on the virtue of a better schedule. So much for that one!

On the plus side, Ohio State will get an automatic BCS bid now, as they'll move up to #4 in the rankings. They were #6, but they'll undoubtedly jump both Va Tech and LSU. On the minus side, a 4-loss FSU trumps last year's 3-loss Pittsburgh debacle. FSU will likely draw Penn State in the Orange Bowl, which should be one hell of a defensive battle.

 

[Moonbear]

Insight Bowl: Arizona State v. South Florida

That'll be Arizona State vs. Rutgers! RU had really turned around their team (it also has helped that most of the Big East teams that were way out of their league when they joined have moved out of the Big East conference). It's been 27 years since RU was last in a bowl game.

 

[russ_watters]

Go Navy, beat Army!

And VaTech - screwing Penn State. Now they get a big-name bowl and a no-win situation: Beat FSU and ehh, they lost to East Cupcake anyway. Lose, and they drop out of the top 10. Darn them to heck.

 

[Gokul43201]

Go Navy, beat Army!

Finally Russ can cheer. The Navy runing backs, led by Ballard, easily took the game away.

And - pardon the OT, but - what about them Bengals, eh ?

 

[Gokul43201]

For Ohio State, it's all about the Tostitos again ! We've been to the Fiesta bowl twice in 3 years and won both. Let's see what the Irish can do this time...

The official Bowl Schedule :

Tostitos Fiesta
Notre Dame (9-2) vs. Ohio State (9-2)
Tempe, Ariz. Jan. 2
4:30 p.m. ABC

Nokia Sugar
West Virginia (10-1) vs. Georgia (10-2)
Atlanta Jan. 2
8:30 p.m. ABC

FedEx Orange
Penn State (10-1) vs. Florida State (8-4)
Miami, Fla. Jan. 3
8 p.m. ABC

The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi
USC (12-0) vs. Texas (12-0)