iggymcfly

THURSDAY West Virginia at Louisville FRIDAY Air Force at Army SATURDAY Indiana at Minnesota Penn State at Wisconsin Baylor at Texas Tech Missouri at Nebraska Kansas at Iowa State Tulsa at Houston LSU at Tennessee Arizona State at Oregon State Boston College at Wake Forest Arkansas at South Carolina Oklahoma at Texas A&M Virginia Tech at Miami Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the LSU/Tennessee game? 44 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Arkansas' Darren McFadden have against South Carolina? 96

Seriously, unless you're going to have an OSU/Michigan rematch (which no one wants to see), I don't see how you can keep an undefeated Big East team out of the title game.

I'm pretty sure it is predetermined. The auto bid leagues just aren't listed there. The Southern and Southland conferences definitely get automatic bids, but I'm not sure if you've got the other ones. Oh, and the Big Sky. That's possibly the best conference in I-AA year in and year out. I tried searching on Google, but I got a bunch of conflicting answers, so I really can't tell you which leagues are auto-bids and which aren't. I do know that the Ivy League never accepts playoff berths though, because they're too stuffy. Here's a ranking of I-AA conferences by Sagarin: 12 GREAT WEST (AA)= 60.50 59.53 ( 12) 5 13 ATLANTIC 10 (AA)= 57.37 57.66 ( 13) 12 14 GATEWAY (AA)= 56.60 55.11 ( 16) 8 16 BIG SKY (AA)= 55.19 55.31 ( 15) 9 17 SOUTHERN (AA)= 50.19 50.89 ( 17) 8 18 IVY LEAGUE (AA)= 49.79 49.83 ( 18) 8 19 BIG SOUTH (AA)= 45.39 44.52 ( 19) 5 20 SOUTHLAND (AA)= 43.57 43.27 ( 20) 7 21 PATRIOT LEAGUE (AA)= 43.26 42.95 ( 21) 7 22 OHIO VALLEY (AA)= 41.96 42.46 ( 22) 9 23 SOUTHWESTERN (AA)= 39.73 39.53 ( 23) 10 24 MID-EASTERN (AA)= 38.91 37.87 ( 24) 9 25 NORTHEAST (AA)= 35.56 34.93 ( 25) 8 26 I-AA INDEPENDENTS (AA)= 31.58 32.34 ( 27) 4 27 PIONEER (AA)= 31.03 33.23 ( 26) 8 28 METRO ATLANTIC (AA)= 21.89 21.88 ( 28) 5 It starts with 12 because it includes I-A conferences as well, and skips 15 because that's where the Sun Belt belongs.

West Virginia's slightly better than Louisville. As in by a very marginal amount. Probably two or three points. Louisville's home advantage is worth nine points on average. I like the Cardinals a lot in this game.

You can skip the Boise State game. It will be 28-3 by halftime. And the Air Force/Army game might be neat for the tradition, but Army's looked awful the last few weeks, losing to UConn and Tulane by double digits.

Well that was disappointing. I get the idea of a cliffhanger finale, but you need something to happen first. Absolutely nothing got resolved there, it was just the same conflict as the previous episode.

Episode 5 was very good, and looks like the last "character-driven" episode for a while, before the new plot really starts to heat up. All around, I like the depth they've given Dexter, especially through his relationship, and it's really easy to identify with his character. Can't wait for next week's ep.

Can someone explain to me how anyone but the Heat can be the favorite to win the title this year? The predictions on ESPN.com have five people each picking the Spurs and Suns to win the title, four for the Mavs, and only two picking the Heat. That just seems ridiculous to me. Dwyane Wade's 24 years old right now, and he was the best player in the league last year. Don't you think he'll be better this year? Duncan's in the twilight of his career, and if Dallas wasn't good enough to beat Miami last year, I don't know what will be different this time around. I can at least see the "trendy sleeper" appeal with Phoenix since they haven't had Amare and Diaw in there together for a season yet, but I really don't understand how anyone but Miami can be the favorite. They're young (outside of Shaq), they're the defending champs, and they've got all the key pieces back from last year. What am I missing here?

Yeah, I think so. The teams are really even, but I think GT's pass defense will shut BC down and they don't quite have the pounding running game Clemson does that wore out the GT D-line over 4 quarters. BC's got a good defense too, and they'll keep it low-scoring and close, but the Jackets will hit a couple good plays over the top that should be good for a win. Also, the ACC championship game's in Jacksonville, and I'd expect about 80% Ga. Tech fans. And yeah, I think Rutgers can knock off Louisville. They get them the week after the WVU game, so there's the letdown factor, plus Louisville's about 14 points worse on the road than they are at home. I haven't run stats or anything, but I think they're right up there with Boise State and Hawaii for the biggest home/road difference in the country. The Heisman talk's low because there's no challenger for Troy Smith. Peterson got hurt, Wolfe had back to back games under 50 yards, and Leak single-handedly gave the Auburn game away. If Brady Quinn has a big game against USC, he'll get some hype, but no one really cares what he does against Purdue and Navy.

Since I got as far as I did already, here are my projections for the BCS games: BCS Championship: Ohio State (12-0) vs. Florida (12-1) Rose Bowl: California (11-1) vs. Michigan (11-1) Sugar Bowl: Tennessee (11-1) vs. Notre Dame (10-2) Fiesta Bowl: Texas (12-1) vs. Boise State (12-0) Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech (11-2) vs. Louisville (11-1) Snubs: West Virginia (11-1), Rutgers (11-1)

I certainly wasn't saying that Rutgers or Arkansas was likely to win out. Just that if they did, they'd each have pretty good shots at going to the title game, especially with the games they have remaining on their schedule. As far as BYU goes.....no. If you've got Notre Dame and Boise State in, that leaves one at large for a one-loss Big East or SEC team, and one spot for the OSU/Michigan loser. No way in hell does a two-loss Mountain West team with a loss to Arizona deserve to be in over an 11-1 Tennessee or West Virginia. Oh, and I also disagree that BYU's better than Boise. When Boise State's motivated, they're very very good. They'll screw around with an Idaho or New Mexico State occasionally, but they beat Top 30 caliber teams in Oregon State and Hawaii (Oregon State by 28), and stomped a decent Utah team on the road. I think they can actually give Texas a game whereas BYU would probably lose by 3 TDs.

I know we've kinda hammered it already, but I was thinking, it's kind of interesting how college football sort of has tiers right now, in terms of who's likely to play for the national championship. Tier I: Guaranteed to go to the title game if they win out; will have a decent chance of getting there even if they pick up a loss Ohio State Michigan Tier II: Will very likely go to the national title game if they win out, but not guaranteed to do so. West Virginia Louisville Rutgers Tier III: Still have a good chance of reaching the title game if they win out, but likely will need all three Tier II teams to pick up losses Florida Auburn Arkansas Tier IV: Very outside shot. Will need all Tier II teams to pick up losses and will have to get lucky with the Tier III teams as well. Texas California Notre Dame Tennessee USC OK, it fits a little better at the top. It's really hard to say who'd get in between a one-loss Texas team and an Arkansas team that had just beaten Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, and Florida, and it's hard to predict what would happen with one loss Notre Dame or Cal teams against Arkansas either. Basically though, it looks like the national title game will pit the winner of Tier I and Tier II against each other. If there's a tie in Tier II (which I think there will be), then it reverts to Tier III and the winner of that tier faces the OSU/Michigan winner. If all the teams in Tier II and Tier III pick up losses, then the most impressive Tier IV team would get in. No one outside of these 13 teams has any chance at the championship as if all teams from Tiers II-IV pick up losses, there will be an OSU/Michigan rematch in the title game. Oh, and how cool is it that Rutgers is one of five teams that basically controls their own destiny to win a championship?

OK! Glad to see I made a move this week. My only goal this year is to win the BCS championship game, and I'm glad to see I'm only three spots from making the championship game. Just need to catch up 2 or 3 picks and I'm there.

While we're at it, since I'm home, and (somewhere remotely near) sober, here's my Top 25: (Previous week's ranking in parenthesis) 1. Ohio State 9-0 (1) 2. Michigan 9-0 (2) 3. Florida 7-1 (4) 4. Tennessee 7-1 (6) 5. Texas 8-1 (7) 6. West Virginia 7-0 (8) 7. Louisville 7-0 (9) 8. Auburn 8-1 (5) 9. California 7-1 (11) 10. Notre Dame 7-1 (12) 11. LSU 6-2 (13) 12. Rutgers 7-0 (14) 13. Boise State 8-0 (15) 14. USC 6-1 (3) 15. Arkansas 7-1 (16) 16. Boston College 7-1 (17) 17. Oklahoma 6-2 (21) 18. Wisconsin 8-1 (18) 19. Texas A&M 8-1 (22) 20. Clemson 7-2 (10) 21. Georgia Tech 6-2 (25) 22. Washington State 6-3 (NR) 23. Wake Forest 7-1 (23) 24. Alabama 6-3 (24) 25. Maryland 6-2 (NR) No close teams this week. 25's enough.

Here's what your missing: Right now, before playing Louisville, Rutgers, or Pitt, West Virginia is ranked #4 in the BCS. After USC loses during their bye week, they're going to move up to #3. That leaves one spot for them to move up while Ohio State or Michigan loses, and they play their three toughest opponents. Not 15 spots. One. They will easily be able to do that. It would be one thing if they were trying to jump an undefeated Michigan team, but with Michigan picking up a loss they're golden. If it's Louisville instead of WVU, they'll move up to #2 overall just as easily. The only team that might get passed if they go undefeated is Rutgers, but even so, if they go 12-0, I think they're in.

WV hasnt played Pittsburgh yet so are you saying the Panthers are the toughest team on their schedule? I was saying that they're better than anyone WVU's played thus far, so when they do play them, it will help their SOS tremendously. I apologize if I worded it awkardly. Anyway, if your still in doubt, look at it this way: West Virginia's currently ranked 4th in the BCS. The team directly above them lost, and one of the other two teams ahead of them will lose as well. Also, WVU has the three toughest games on their schedule all left to play. Do you really think that if WVU wins out , their three toughest games of the year won't be enough to put them ahead of teams that pick up a loss? Of course it will. The only way there's not a Big East team in the title game is if all three undefeateds pick up a loss.

Looks like another win for me. I lost on Baylor, but won on Maryland and Washington State. That will show Spaceman Spiff to pick nothing but favorites.

They're going to pass USC this week, and a lot more teams will lose before the final BCS rankings. Also, even though Pitt's "unranked" right now, they're also the best team West Virginia's played this year, so they'll most certainly help them. When combined with Top 15 computer teams in Rutgers and Louisville, WVU will have no trouble moving up.

because the computers effect of the BCS....I dont think one of the Big East teams could leapfrog the Michigan-OSU loser unless they drop below number three in both polls...a 1 loss SEC champion or Texas has a better chance than the Big East teams Nah, the computers are only 1/3 of the results, and while WVU and Louisville have shitty computer rankings right now, if one of them beats the other one, Rutgers, and Pitt, they'll move up to at least to #3 or #4, and that will be enough to get them in the national championship.

I'm just happy Georgia Tech won. My bets are going kinda shitty, but the money doesn't mean that much to me right now anyway, so.... Jackets are Coastal Division champs!!! (All they have to do is beat Duke and UNC. I'm calling the race now.)

It's neat to see the Cardinals win the World Series. I've kind of been following them all year, (ever since I took Pujols on my fantasy team), and watching them overcome the odds this postseason has been fun. It's also really nice to see Pujols get a ring, since he's been the most dominant player in baseball for the last two or three years now.

Gay. I was watching the World Series tonight, and just now I went to my DVR all excited to watch 'Office' and 'Earl', but they weren't there. I guess I'll just have to rub one out and go to bed.

Western Michigan was 8-1 with their only loss of the season in the opener against Wisconsin. They were coming off of 52-22, 42-0, and 42-3 wins in their last three conference games. Central Michigan was 1-8 and coming off of 6 straight losses including a 52-3 loss to Ohio who WMU had beaten earlier in the year. As for how CMU won? I have no idea.

Hate to have to fix all your posts, but I think this one's important.

I'm not saying that the Cardinals were great in the sense that they dominated the game and played perfect baseball for nine innings. I'm saying it's great in the sense that they trailed going into the bottom of the 7th, and got three late clutch runs when they absolutely needed them. Yeah, the Rodney error was pretty bad, but most of the runs came from the Cards hitting the ball hard, and putting it where it was going to be very difficult for anyone from Detroit to make a play on it. All through the NLCS, everyone was saying that it didn't matter how many clutch plays the Cardinals made because the NL was teh suck, and they'd just get destroyed by the Tigers. Well, now they're making clutch plays to win games against that Tigers team in the World Series, and I think they deserve some credit.