iggymcfly

Got my Top 25: (Previous week's ranking in parenthesis) 1. Ohio State 12-0 (1) 2. Michigan 11-1 (2) 3. Florida 10-1 (3) 4. USC 9-1 (5) 5. Arkansas 10-1 (6) 6. Notre Dame 10-1 (8) 7. Louisville 9-1 (9) 8. West Virginia 9-1 (10) 9. LSU 9-2 (7) 10. Boise State 11-0 (11) 11. Texas 9-2 (12) 12. Oklahoma 9-2 (13) 13. Auburn 10-2 (14) 14. Wisconsin 11-1 (16) 15. Rutgers 9-1 (4) 16. Georgia Tech 9-2 (18) 17. Boston College 9-2 (21) 18. Tennessee 8-3 (20) 19. Virginia Tech 9-2 (23) 20. Nebraska 8-3 (22) 21. California 8-3 (17) 22. Maryland 8-3 (19) 23. Clemson 8-3 (24) 24. Wake Forest 9-2 (15) 25. Brigham Young 9-2 (25) Close: Hawaii (8-2), Georgia (7-4), Penn State (8-4), Texas A&M (8-3), Cincinnatti (6-5) Edit: Hawaii's leading 13-7 in the 2nd quarter, but I'm not going to be moving them above BYU this week anyway, and I didn't want to hold off the rankings just to decide the #26 spot.

Speaking of rematches being dull, if this happens, not only would OSU and Michigan likely play a rematch in the national title game in that situation, there would also be a very good chance of USC and Notre Dame playing a rematch in the Rose Bowl. Maybe just the low ratings for the two premiere games under that scenario would be enough to finally get a playoff.

Well, that sucks that the Cal TD got called back. 10 point swing on that play. As far as the OSU/Mich thing goes, home field is widely considered to be worth three points. Playing in the 110,000 seat Horseshoe, you could easily argue that it's worth more. In that environment, Michigan lost by three. So basically, OSU had the scheduling edge, but the teams looked pretty equal. If they play a rematch at a neutral site, I don't think there would be any question that the winner of that game was the true champion. As far as Rutgers/Cincy goes, I couldn't quite bring myself to take UC in the pick 'em, but I'm not surprised at all. It's a textbook letdown situation, and I did bet Cincinnatti at +6.

Fuck USC! Good luck getting to the national title game with three losses.

What does a conference title have to do with anything. All that means is that Michigan has a tougher game on their schedule than any that USC played all year. A loss to Oregon State is about 100x worse than a loss to Ohio State, and I doubt that USC will beat Notre Dame by more at home than Michigan did on the road. USC blew their chance to be in the national title on October 28, and objectively comparing their resume to Michigan's I don't know how you can say USC's is better. If Florida's offense finally comes alive against Arkansas, and they score 40 points or more, I could see them getting the spot over Michigan, but no way in hell should USC get in.

I really doubt that Notre Dame will be ranked ahead of Michigan in the polls next week. USC will be #2 if they win and Michigan will either be #3 or #4. If USC loses, I think there's a very good chance that Michigan stays at #2, and the Wolverines will be no lower than #3 in that scenario. If Notre Dame does jump Michigan, it won't be until after the USC game. The computer rankings, lacking the biases toward end of the season losses that the humans show will likely be near unanimous with the top three, going: #1 OSU #2 Rutgers #3 Michigan

How do these statements not mesh with each other. Are you having issues with your reading comprehension? I said that USC and Florida would get in ahead of Michigan. I just said that Michigan was the better team and more worthy.

I think Notre Dame just got eliminated from the title hunt tonight. No way you can justify putting them ahead of Michigan with the game those two played earlier in the season, and how close Michigan was to beating OSU on the road tonight. Yeah, if USC, Florida, or Arkansas finishes the season with one loss, one of them will get in, but I don't think they should. Michigan's the best one-loss team in the country right now. The only team I'd put ahead of Michigan other than OSU is an undefeated Rutgers squad. I think that if WVU beats Rutgers, we should get a rematch on a neutral field.

Not over yet. This game's going right down to the wire. Honestly, this has been such a close, well-played game that I'd have a really hard time putting USC or Florida ahead of the loser of this game.

It's about time one of those calls went Michigan's way. They missed a really obvious facemask earlier and the holding call was pretty dicey too.

God I hate that rule. That's a part of football. You're going as fast as you can trying to make a play and sometimes your helmets will touch. It's not like he was blindsiding him in the pocket or something.

I really wish Michigan would stop passing it on first down every play. They've tried it about the last 8 first downs in a row, and it's been incomplete every time. They need to pound Hart for a few plays to start with, and then go over the top after OSU adjusts. Using the pass to set up the run just isn't getting the job done right now.

TD Michigan! Great call going with the end around when everyone in the stadium was expecting some kind of slant or fade route.

The "amazing" adjustment he needs to make is just to put a dime corner in the game every time OSU's in the spread. Anyone who's ever played a football video game would know what needs to be done right now.

Huge drive for the TD there. That's exactly what they needed to get back into the game. The first drive, the passing game worked great because OSU was up to defend the run. When the Buckeyes realized UM was passing almost every play, they just put a couple extra DBs in there and shut it down. It wasn't until Hart ripped off that 30 yard run, and forced OSU to move up and defend the run again that the passing game became effective again. Now if Michigan can make a similar adjustment to shut down Troy Smith, I can see this game going down to the wire.

Wow, what a huge drive for Ohio State. Looks like they're on the verge of breaking the game open. Honestly, Michigan has to get a score on this next drive or they could be out of it by halftime.

The reason you never see the penalty called is that usually no one's stupid enough to hit the snapper on a punt block. That's something you learn not to do in high school.

Nice start for the Wolverines. People forgot how good this Michigan passing game is when healthy. They were shredding teams early in the year before Manningham got injured.

Agreed. I am pumped up for this game now. GO BLUE!

Why should the whole thing be decided on non-conference schedules. Do conference games just not count now or something? The Pac-Ten's been pretty miserable this year, and USC lost to Oregon State who's not even a Top 30 team right now. Rutgers had a slightly worse schedule than USC, but if they get by West Virginia, they'll be undefeated. As in no losses. As in who cares if Nebraska's better than Navy if they won all their games. Also, the WVU and Louisville wins would be just as good as the two best wins on USC's schedule. You don't look down to the 7th toughest game of the schedule to differentiate a 12-0 team from an 11-1 team. As for Florida, look at the whole schedule. The important games are Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida State and Arkansas. USC's important games are Arkansas, Nebraska, Oregon State, Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame. I don't care if Stanford's better than West Carolina. Looking at the important, difficult games, I think Florida's got the tougher all-around schedule. Assuming the OSU/Michigan winner's in, I think the teams with the best claim to the title game if they win out go in this order: 1. Rutgers 2. Florida 3. USC 4. Arkansas Those are the only teams that should really be in the race right now. Notre Dame shouldn't get in over the OSU/Michigan loser unless Michigan beats OSU by at least 3 TDs.

I guess I was in the minority, but I didn't like this episode very well at all. Michael was way too over the top, Dwight was way too over the top, and then adding Andy just made it even worse. I liked him a lot better when he was just playing 'the asshole' at the other office. Everything with Jim and Karen was good though. For being a new character, she's actually meshed with the rest of the cast really well and is quite likeable and funny. The secondary Scranton characters were good too, but seeing Michael on overdrive interacting with all these blank types from Stamford was just too much.

That's a terrible article. The whole point is that we should reward SC for their scheduling, even though that was done five years in advance, and they had no idea that teams like Arkansas would even be good. How about we reward Florida for you know... playing a tougher schedule, taking on Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, and Arkansas regardless of whether those were conference games or not. The national title's not for who has the most courageous athletic director; it's for whose players accomplished the most. The worst part's the line at the end. "USC won't be rewarded for that attitude, but they should." Uh, are you kidding? If the Trojans win out the rest of the way there's about a 95% chance that they'll go to the national championship game, and about 4.5% of the other part is the small chance that Rutgers goes undefeated and jumps them. Acting like USC's in danger of getting jobbed here is just silly.

Pretty sure that if you were going to intentionally guarantee that all your picks were the same, you wouldn't have a tiebreaker that was fourteen points higher than your opponent's. Now if your tiebreaker was 36 or something, then I might say you cheated.

Did anyone else catch Pat White mocking the Panther growl on the sideline toward the end of the game? It was hilarious. I missed most of the game, but I really love watching WVU play just for Pat White. I think he's the most fun player to watch in the country. His speed and tackle-breaking ability are just unreal for a QB.

THURSDAY West Virginia at Pittsburgh SATURDAY Miami at Virginia N.C. State at North Carolina Iowa at Minnesota Connecticut at Syracuse Maryland at Boston College Illinois at Northwestern Oklahoma State at Texas Tech Auburn at Alabama Michigan at Ohio State Kansas State at Kansas Virginia Tech at Wake Forest Utah at Air Force California at USC Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Michigan/Ohio State game? 44 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Michigan's Mike Hart have against Ohio State? 85