iggymcfly

I was just thinking, wouldn't it have done an even stronger rating if they just spoiled that Batista would drop the title and that they were going to have a 20-man Battle Royal to determine a new World Champion? I'd think that fans would be more likely to tune in to see who wins the title than to tune in just to see Kurt win it.

"North Carolina loses" doesn't really capture it. Try North Carolina loses at home to Miami. Now that's embarrassing.

My point was just that at this point of the season, 2005 Duke's ahead of where 1996 Kentucky was. They both played tough schedules, Duke went undefeated in the early part of the season and Kentucky lost an early game to UMass. As for the Mashburn thing, I was ten years old at the time, and I didn't recheck the roster like I did the schedule before posting. I remembered they had a big-time scoring forward who did well in the NBA, and I was thought it was Mashburn, but I guess I was actually thinking of Antoine Walker. I think that my comments on Duke might have been misconstrued a little bit. I wasn't saying that they've solidifed themselves as the best team of the last two decades or anything like that. I was just saying that I haven't seen a team look this dominating at this point of the season. They were the consensus most talented team going into the year, they've played an extremely tough schedule, and they're undefeated, winning by huge blowouts against some of their toughest competition.

Seattle's going to have at least one really good playoff game. There's no way they lose to no-offense Washington. My predictions are: Seahawks 31 Redskins 6 Panthers 20 Bears 13 Colts 31 Steelers 17 Patriots 24 Broncos 17

I told you that I didn't start really following college basketball until 1994 or 1995. The first tourney I remember is the one with the Webber game, but I wasn't exactly an authority then. As for the Virginia Tech game, Duke was fucking around. They didn't think VT had a chance, and they played like it. Coming off tough wins over Indiana and Memphis, you can't expect them to get up for the Hokies. In games they've taken seriously this year, they've been awesome. They destroyed Maryland and Texas, and beat Wake really solidly on the road. Memphis is still a really good win even if it was a close game; I could see the Tigers in the Final Four this year. The top criterion for a great team isn't how much they blow out the jobbers by, it's how they do against good teams in big games. That '96 Kentucky team split with UMass, and lost to Mississippi State with the SEC Championship on the line. That keeps them from being the best as far as I'm concerned. The image everyone has in their mind is of Mashburn dunking all over an overmatched Syracuse team, but that doesn't express their dominance through the whole season. If the Wildcats had faced a better challenger in the title game, I'm not sure they'd be remembered so well.

Nice win for the Sixers there. They're not my team or anything, but I've always liked AI, and I'd like to see them make the playoffs at least. That steal by Webber at the end of the 3rd OT was just classic.

Really good game going between the 76ers and the Celtics right now on ESPN2. Korver hit a 3 to tie at the end of the 2nd OT, and the Celts are up in the 3rd OT right now.

What were his top conferences, out of curiosity? The way I see it this year, we have: ACC: Way down, nobody's very good after Duke Big XII: Way down, nobody's very good after Texas C-USA: Way down, nobody's very good after Memphis SEC: Way down, nobody's very good after Florida Pac-Ten: Down, Washington and UCLA look decent, but after that, there's nobody. Big East: Way way way up. Far and away the best conference in America. Big Ten: Actually, they're having a pretty good year too. I almost forgot about them, but they look to be the only other top-level conference this year. After the Big Ten and Big East though, I can't imagine any other major conference getting a positive review. If I was forced to pick a third best conference this year, I'd probably still go with the ACC. Duke's pretty damn good for a #1, and Wake, NC State, and UNC are all solid mid-level teams as well.

Definitely a good episode last night. I think The Office has actually surpassed Lost as the show that I enjoy the most each week. The only thing I hate is that it's so damn short. It seems like they don't even fill their half hour each week. It seems like most comedies nowadays either go for subtle humor, or just do really bad, broad jokes that aren't really funny at all. The Office is the only show that really does over-the-top comedy right. I usually end up spending about half the episode laughing out loud.

When did the Bucs come into existence? They were one of the worst teams in the league for a while there weren't they? I'm sure that turned out good for him. Ha ha. Dama can't read. He's stupid.

1. Weed- probably the most fun for me, although I never did it too regularly. Never smoked more than about once or twice a week, and I smoke a lot less than that now. 2. Alcohol- Tons of fun. Kind of mundane when you do it all the time, but still quite enjoyable. 3. Cocaine- I have a feeling that I never really did enough to get the full sense of this. It was kind of fun, but nothing special for the amount of money that it costs. 4. Vicodin- Overrated as shit. Puts you in kind of a happy mood if you take three pills, but that's about it. 5. Nicotine- Good for a little buzz occasionally. 6. DXM- I only did it once, but it made me never want to do it again. First I felt sick, and then I was absolutely exhausted for about two or three days. Felt a little buzz, but nothing that would even be comparable to alcohol.

Duke's the shit this year. I don't want to jinx them with any USC-type hyperbole, but they look like the best college basketball team I've ever seen. I've only followed college basketball for ten years, but still, his Duke team is the most dominant team I've seen over that time period. I could easily see them going undefeated this year.

No way. Montana's the shit this year. Best they've been in decades. As for favorite time of year, it's got to be the NCAA tourney. The actual tournament's more pure fun than any other two events combined.

Are you sure they didn't just want to see the first main event confrontation segment with the new champ? That was enough to keep me a lot more interested in Raw than usual. No matter how they billed it, it was the segment that set up the main event on Raw for the next month or so.

I disagree. I think Ohio State's going to be the consensus #1 coming off the Fiesta Bowl with most of their talent intact. Notre Dame should be a solid #2 though. If I were to guess, I'd say the rest of the Top Ten goes something like: 3. USC 4. LSU 5. Texas 6. West Virginia 7. Florida 8. Florida State 9. Oklahoma 10. Michigan

For comparison's sake, here's the new coaches poll: 1. Duke (31) 14-0 775 2. Florida 14-0 739 3. Villanova 10-1 672 4. Connecticut 12-1 662 5. Memphis 13-2 653 6. Illinois 15-1 604 7. Gonzaga 11-3 556 8. Indiana 10-2 499 9. Texas 12-2 490 10. Louisville 12-2 463 11. Pittsburgh 12-0 404 12. UCLA 13-2 396 13. Washington 12-2 356 14. Boston College 11-3 309 15. Michigan State 12-4 287 16. Ohio State 11-1 275 17. Wisconsin 12-2 256 18. N.C. State 12-2 251 19. George Washington 10-1 218 20. North Carolina 9-2 192 21. Maryland 11-3 174 22. Oklahoma 9-3 173 23. West Virginia 10-3 131 24. Syracuse 13-2 96 25. Arizona 10-4 77 I see Ohio State's still getting hosed here. There's no way in hell that they should be behind a four loss Michigan State team or a three loss Boston College team who's best win on the year was over Oklahoma State. Also, even though Texas is now widely accepted as a Top Ten team, the one-loss Tennessee team that beat them can't even crack the Top 25. Of course, that Tennessee game was something like three weeks ago, I can see how it's completely off the radar.

Experimented with just putting the rankings in with the college basketball thread, but they kinda get lost there, and I figured that will all the shakeups this week, a thread for reranking the teams was pretty easily justified. NCAA Basketball Rankings for 01/09/06 Duke 14-0 (1) Florida 14-0 (4) Villanova 10-1 (3) Memphis 11-2 (5) Connecticut 12-1 (2) Texas 12-2 (19) Ohio State 11-1 (8) Indiana 10-2 (17) Illinois 15-1 (6) UCLA 13-2 (16) Gonzaga 11-3 (9) Pittsburgh 12-0 (14) Tennessee 10-1 (18) Louisville 12-2 (15) North Carolina 9-2 (NR) Washington 12-2 (7) NC State 12-2 (12) Wisconsin 12-2 (NR) West Virginia 10-3 (NR) George Washington 10-1 (24) Wake Forest 11-3 (NR) Michigan State 12-4 (10) Iowa 12-4 (NR) Boston College 11-3 (11) Michigan 11-2 (22) Narrowly missing the cut: Northern Iowa (14-2), Arizona (10-4), Cincinnatti (13-2), Maryland (11-3), Air Force (14-1) Dropped out: Maryland (13), Oklahoma (20), Kentucky (21), Arizona (23), Wichita State (25)

OK, Marcus Vick's getting a lot harder to defend now. Got caught smoking weed? No biggie. Got caught giving underage girls alcohol? Bad luck. It happens. Stomped a defensive player's leg? Heat of the moment; probably didn't mean to hurt the guy. Got caught speeding with a suspended license? Just a driving infraction, nothing serious. Pulled a gun on some 17 year olds at a McDonalds, just because he's badass Marcus Vick and he can shoot whoever he wants? That's just fucking dumb. I mean, why would you do that? Are you really that insecure that you need to feel tough by pulling a gun on high school kids? I'm turning in my Marcus Vick apologist card.

I'd forgotten that there was a PPV tonight, and just glanced at the WWE forum because I was bored. Well, wow, I'm very surprised to say the least. Even when I remembered there was a PPV, I was thinking that NYR would just be another throwaway show where nothing much was accomplished. Edge winning the title was the furthest thing from my mind. As it is, this development has me (for the first time in 6 months or so) interested to see what happens on Raw. I think I'll definitely tune in for a while tomorrow night to see how Edge works out as champion. Cena was boring me to death, but Edge is fresh enough that I'll at least give him a try.

1. Texas (13-0) - The Texas Longhorns are the undefeated, undisputed champions of the world. They went into Pasadena and they just outscored the defending national champion Trojans. A lot of people thought that the Longhorns' defense woud have to make the difference for Texas to win, but they just went score for score with the champs. In the end, Vince Young just ran too fast and threw too well for Leinart, Bush, and Co. to keep up. Tremendous win to cap a tremendous season for Texas. 2. USC (12-1) - No way that the Trojans can possibly fall further than this. They were one or two coaching decisions away from being crowned "best team in the history of college football" by the national media. If they give Bush the ball on the last third down, or run play action on fourth down, or maybe if Bush runs upfield instead of going to the sideline with 0:08 to go, we might be looking at a three-time champion right now. As it is, the Trojans will have to settle into their place in history alongside the 2002 Miami squad, as a great team that just didn't quite get it done when it mattered most. 3. Ohio State (10-2) - Yes, they lost to Penn State with the conference title on the line, but that doesn't mean they're not the third best team in the country. They lost to Penn State because they were on the road, the same reason Penn State lost to Michigan. The loss to Texas is also a non-issue, as there's no one in the country that could stop this Longhorn team. After watching the Buckeyes pick apart Notre Dame while Penn State struggled with FSU, deep down I just know that Ohio State's the better team at the end of the year. 4. Penn State (11-1) - Now, despite the the slight of dropping them a spot at the end of the year, I'm not trying to take anything away from Penn State's run this year. It was incredible. A Nittany Lion team that was supposed to do nothing at all blew through their schedule, and were 0:02 against Michigan away from going 12-0. The fact is that Penn State passed every test this year, and accomplished more than they could possibly be expected to. Great year for JoePa's crew. 5. West Virginia (11-1) - The Mountaineers were disrespected all year, but they came up huge when it mattered most. They came back from a big 4th quarter deficit to beat Louisville with the Big East on the line, and then they ran all over an elite Georgia team. West Virginia not only won respect for their program with that win, but may have saved their entire conference from being relegated to the ranks of mid-majors. When your looking at what a team's accomplished in a year, winning the Big East, and then winning the Sugar Bowl has to be right up there near the top. 6. Notre Dame (9-3) - This may look a little high after watching what the Buckeyes did to ND in the Fiesta Bowl, and seeing USC's aura of invincibility get crushed in the Rose Bowl. However, every upper echelon team has two goals for the regular season. Get to a BCS bowl, and win the national title. If they can't do the second, then the first is the most they can hope to get out of the regular season. Notre Dame got the job done there, going through a very tough schedule to end up with nine wins, and they were still one close call away from a Fiesta Bowl victory. The fact of the matter is, there are only two teams that in the nation that could beat OSU at a neutral site, and they were deciding something a little more important on Jan. 4. 7. Georgia (10-3) - Okay, so the Bulldogs didn't look very good in the Sugar Bowl, getting embarrassed in their home state. However, if they hadn't solidly beaten LSU with the conference on the line, they never would have gotten that opportunity. If I'm Mark Richt, I take a Sugar Bowl loss over a Peach Bowl win every day. Also, it's not like WVU was that much more talented than Georgia; the Dawgs just overlooked their opponents and came out a little flat. The BCS bowls are a showcase, and earning the right to play in that showcase is more crucial than coming out a little rusty when you get there. 8. LSU (11-2) - LSU may not have accomplished everything they wanted to this year, but that doesn't mean that they don't have scary talent. The Tigers absolutely destroyed a highly ranked Miami team in the Peach Bowl, and have every reason to look forward to next year. Not only does Matt Flynn look as if he might take JaMarcus Russell's job next year, he looks like he could lead LSU to the Fiesta Bowl. Great finish to the season for the Tigers. 9. Virginia Tech (11-2) - The Hokies may have lost their undefeated season against Miami, and their conference crown against Florida State, but they were still the best team in the ACC, as they blew through most of the competition en route to a 7-2 conference record. If that's not enough, they also have a road win over Sugar Bowl champ West Virginia, and a Gator Bowl win over Louisville to keep them warm through the off-season. The Hokies still have an elite program, and definitely have the kind of talent that you wouldn't want to face in a playoff. 10. Alabama (10-2) - The final rankings are about what a team accomplished throughout the entire season. Well for half of the season, Alabama was the third best team in college football. Their defense was the best in the country, and their offense was still relatively explosive behind Brodie Croyle and Tyrone Prothro. Unfortunately, Prothro went down for the season, and with him Alabama's SEC title hopes went downhill as well. However, that defense was still more than enough to completely shut down an explosive Texas Tech team holding them to just 10 points in a Cotton Bowl victory. Definitely a Top 10 year for the Tide. 11. Wisconsin (10-3) - Wisconsin played a very tough schedule this year, and still managed to send off Barry Alvarez with a ten win season. The Badgers picked up huge regular season wins over Michigan and Minnesota, and then finished off the season with a dominating victory over the Auburn Tigers. The Badgers were a couple wins short of elite status this year, but their Capital One Bowl victory shows that they are still a very good football program. 12. Auburn (9-3) - The Tigers both started and ended the season with disappointing losses (to Ga. Tech and Wisconsin respectively). However, in between those games the Tigers played some of the best football in the country. They beat the SEC Champion Bulldogs with DJ Shockley in the lineup, and then followed that up with a win over Alabama as well. Take out a missed FG against LSU and Auburn might have been playing in the Sugar Bowl. While not consistent enough to crack the Top Ten, the Auburn Tigers definitely showed flashes of brilliance during a very good 2005 season. 13. Florida (9-3) - Expectations were sky-high for the Florida Gators coming off the hiring of Urban Meyer as head coach. It seemed that pretty much anything less than an SEC Title would be a disappointment for the mighty Gators this year. While they didn't quite reach that goal, they have plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the future. Their wins were as impressive as any team in the nation's as they defeated both SEC Champion Georgia and ACC Champion Florida State in the same year, the latter being by a huge margin. The Outback Bowl may not be where Gator Nation wanted to end up this year, but the win there is something that Meyer can build on, and the Florida program should be back to contending for national titles in the near future. 14. Florida State (8-5) - Consistency was a huge issue for the Seminoles this year, as they lost games to the likes of Virginia, NC State, and Clemson. Yet in really big games, Florida State's talent still shone through. Season opening clash with Miami to establish dominance in the ACC? Win. Battle with BC for the Atlantic title? Win. ACC Title game with Virginia Tech? Win. Sugar Bowl against #4 Penn State? One missed FG away from victory. The Seminoles got the job done in big games this year, and had about as good of a five-loss season as any team could possibly have. 15. Oregon (10-2) - A ten win season's a ten win season, even if the competition is somewhat mediocre. The loss to Oklahoma was disappointing and will cast some of the Ducks' accomplishments in a rather unflattering light. However, the Sooners were the worst possible matchup for Oregon and their weak front four. Against another mid-level opponent, the Ducks could have easily finished the year 11-1. 16. Miami (9-3) - The vaunted Miami defense that looked so dominant against the Hokies earlier in the year looked absolutely lost in a 40-3 Peach Bowl loss to LSU. If you don't think the bowl game mattered or if you don't think this year was really a failure for Miami, just ask Larry Coker. The man fired nearly his entire staff after the loss, as the Canes were absolutely embarrassed. The Canes still have the building blocks for a big year, but until they can come up with a big win without the stigma of being an underdog, they will not return to their previous level of prominence. 17. UCLA (10-2) - UCLA also had a ten-win season in 2005, defeating Oklahoma and Cal along the way, before finishing up with a Sun Bowl victory over Northwestern. While they played very well for the balance of the year, the black marks on their season were so black that they can't be ignored. When most of your wins come by 3 or 4 points, and your losses come by 45 and 48, you just have to say that the team overachieved and leave it at that. UCLA did all they could with their talent, but against a tougher schedule, they might have been exposed much further. 18. TCU (11-1) - The Horned Frogs accomplished about as much as they possibly could this year. They beat Oklahoma in the opener, went undefeated through MWC play, and then beat a very good Iowa State team in the Houston Bowl. They were a letdown game against SMU away from being undefeated, and finished with a much better year than most of the BCS teams they're not supposed to compete with. When wondering why TCU isn't higher however, remember this. The worst bad loss for the other "top" programs doesn't approach the quality of the SMU loss. If TCU faced the kind of opposition week in and weak out where a "letdown" game was NC State or even Stanford, their results might not have been as good. 19. Oklahoma (8-4) - After a start that looked like it could lead to the most disappointing season in recent Sooner history, Oklahoma rebounded nicely, and ended up one bad call away from finishing the season on a seven game winning streak. The wins at Kansas and Nebraska look much better in hindsight, and the Holiday Bowl victory over Oregon was a great capper to the season. With Vince Young likely going to the NFL, Oklahoma may be the favorite to pick up another Big XII title in 2006. 20. Boston College (9-3) - The Eagles didn't have a big year, but they steadily and consistently pounded out a solid season. Coming from a very down Big East, there was a question if BC would be able to compete with the traditional ACC powers. They answered that question with a resounding yes, finishing one loss away from qualifying for the ACC title game, and then defeating a game Boise State team in the MPC Computers Bowl. 21. Michigan (7-5) - The faithful followers of the Maize and Blue won't want any positive spin on the school's first five loss season since 1984. However, there are many positives to look at here. The Wolverines defeated #4 Penn State, and were one of the most feared teams in the Big Ten when Mike Hart was healthy. They have many of the pieces coming back next year, and have more than enough talent to reach the Rose Bowl. Given all the things that went wrong this year from injuries to officiating, it seems likely that this will be remembered as one bad fluke season, not the start of a steady decline. 22. Texas Tech (9-3) - The Red Raiders didn't play the toughest schedule this year, but they did have a very successful season by and large. They finally established themselves as one of the top programs in the Big XII, finishing second in a conference that wasn't anywhere near as bad as it appeared early in the year. Mike Leach's program is slowly moving forward, and may challenge the Texas's and Oklahoma's of the world for the conference crown some time in the near future. 23. Clemson (8-4) - The Clemson Tigers finish 2005 on a roll, winning their last three games against Florida State, South Carolina, and Colorado. An upset, a rivalry win, and a bowl win, should be enough to keep the alumni happy, and the football program will have plenty of momentum and confidence going into 2006. 24. Nebraska (8-4) - The Huskers redeemed a disappointing season in the Big XII with a huge Alamo Bowl victory over classic power Michigan. Perhaps most importantly, this will buy Bill Callahan some time with Lincoln fans to allow him to rebuild the program. When you're changing 100 years of history, turning a Wishbone offense into a spread passing game, you're not going to be conference champions overnight. However, the Huskers definitely look to be on the right track for the future. 25. Louisville (9-3) - The Cardinals had all the talent in the world, but just couldn't come through in big games this year. They blew 14 point leads not once, but twice in the fourth quarter. You could see all the pieces for an undefeated run this year, but when Rutgers is the only bowl team you beat all season, it's hard to be overly effusive with the praise.

God, I'm so fucking mad about basketball tonight. I had planned to set aside my night to watch the Cougs play the Huskies. Double-checked the time and everything. Well, I got kind of busy and I thought to myself, "oh well, we never even come close to beating the Huskies. We'll just get blown out playing in Seattle anyway." So I don't watch it and what happens? The Cougs get their first road win over a Top 10 team ever! I'm still glad they won, but I'm really pissed at myself right now.

Do you really need to ask? It's Damaramu. Just let him babble until the thread falls off the page. (iggymcfly notices that this is his football ranking thread which gives him a sexual thrill every time it gets a reply.) I mean, umm, why did you repeat that story Dama?

So basically, Tubby Smith doesn't measure up to Pitino and Rupp, (two of the greatest college coaches of all time), because he only went to one Final Four? Wow, Tubby's really EMBARRASSING THE PROGRAM. I mean honestly, "final four drought"? Who ever heard of such a silly term? You sound like one of the Nebraska fans that forced out Solich so that they could go 5-6 the following year. Get some perspective. Tubby Smith is a very good coach, and if Kentucky gets rid of him, it's only going to set the program back. EDIT: Well, not that you're a UK fan, but you know what I mean. Very unrealistic to expect a coach to get to multiple Final Fours in ten years.

I know. You're right though, there isn't anything really left to be said. Except that it looks like all signs are pointing towards Bush still going #1 and Leinart going #2. It'd be a monumentally stupid decision for Houston to take Young anyway when they have a decent QB in David Carr. It would be a monumentally stupid decision for the Texans to take Bush so that he can average 2.0 ypc next year behind that shitty O-line. What they need to do is trade down, get a decent OT in the trade, and then take Lutui in the first round. That guy's a fucking HOSS.

Hmm, why does this not surprise me. I wish I still had money in my sports betting account this morning, because asking "will Chris Simms lose his first playoff game" is like asking "will the sun come up tomorrow". Might have been the biggest lock in NFL history.