iggymcfly

Not much to do tonight, (don't really feel like celebrating the Cougar loss), so I figured I'd go all out and give commentary for the Top 25. Feel free to comment in any manner you find appropriate. (Previous week's ranking in parenthesis) 1. USC 6-0 (1) They gave Notre Dame a real chance to beat them, but in the end, Bush and the Trojans came through with yet another big road win. Penalizing the Trojans for almost losing at this point would be ridiculous given that they've played probably the toughest road schedule in the country, and have come through it with three big wins. 2. Texas 6-0 (3) Texas finally played up to their potential, absolutely dismantling Colorado on Saturday. Vince Young had the performance that we all wondered if he was capable of, going 25-29 for 336 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs. If he can play like that consistently, the Longhorns definitely belong in the Rose Bowl. 3. Virginia Tech 6-0 (2) The Hokies still have big games on their schedule against Miami and in the ACC Championship (likely against Florida State), so they will have a chance to regain the #2 spot. However, at this point, their schedule is actually weaker than Texas's, as West Virginia is the only team they've beaten that is currently in the Top 25. 4. Georgia 6-0 (5) The Bulldogs didn't exactly light the world on fire against Vanderbilt, but they picked up another SEC win and move to 6-0 on the season. While they continue to look sloppy against inferior competition, they've found another gear this year when facing ranked teams, and there's no reason to think they couldn't run the table and end up SEC champions at 12-0. 5. Alabama 6-0 (4) Yes, the Tide have also played down to the level of their opposition all year, but the game against Ole Miss was different. Without the deep threat of Tyrone Prothro, the offense struggled to gain any ground, only putting 13 points on the board. The defense may be the best in the country, but unless Brodie Croyle finds another go-to receiver in a hurry, the BCS won't be in Bama's future. 6. Miami 5-1 (8) The Canes have been extremely sharp following the opening road loss to the Noles, picking up nice wins over Clemson, Colorado, and South Florida. However, until they go to Blacksburg on November 5th, we won't really know if this team is a legitimate BCS contender. 7. Florida State 5-1 (6) It might seem unfair to drop Florida State below a team they already beat early in the season, but it's not for two reasons. One, the FSU/Miami game was extremely close, and the small edge of having the game in Tallahassee could easily have been enough to tip the scales in the Noles' favor. Secondly, if you look at it objectively, losing to Virginia on the road is a worse loss than losing to FSU on the road, and represents poorer performance on the season. However, Florida State is still a one-loss team with two wins over Top 15 opponents which is more than can be said for anyone else in the country. 8. Ohio State 4-2 (9) The Buckeyes picked up a big win over Michigan State on Saturday, and once again look to be the frontrunners in the Big Ten race. If they'd followed the lead of so many other major conference teams and scheduled three cupcakes, they could easily be a one-loss team so it's fair to put them in the Top Ten, even with the two losses. 9. LSU 4-1 (14) LSU is probably the most talented team in the SEC, but they just can't stop making unforced errors. They did just manage to overcome the five turnovers against Florida, but they won't be able to do the same against a more disciplined opponent like Alabama or Georgia. 10. UCLA 6-0 (10) Perhaps trying to imitate their famous LA brethren, the Bruins continue to dig themselves huge deficits only to come back and win late in the fourth quarter. The performances they've had against the Washington schools have to make one extremely skeptical, but until they actually lose, they'll continue to get the benefit of the doubt. 11. Notre Dame 4-2 (13) The Irish played USC tougher than anyone has all year, but still came up one play short of pulling off the huge upset. Unlike ASU and Oregon who wilted in the second half, Notre Dame continued to play well and showed they're on the same level as the Trojans, if just a hair behind them. Despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, the Irish are still two plays from being undefeated, and deserve the 11 spot, even with two losses. 12. Penn State 6-1 (7) The Nittany Lions lost a heartbreaker against a Michigan team that's finally catching its stride, but they really have no reason to hang their heads. This was an extremely well-played game, and it took Chad Henne's best performance all season to put away Penn State, even in the Big House. The Nittany Lions are still tied for the Big Ten lead, and have the crucial tiebreaker over OSU so if they don't let this loss get to them, a BCS berth is still a definite possibility. 13. Wisconsin 6-1 (21) It took a miracle blocked punt with :30 remaining, but the Badgers won at Minnesota, and remain in the forefront of the Big Ten race. Showing they could get the job done on the road was crucial, both for nationwide respect and self-confidence, especially with a visit to Happy Valley remaining on the schedule. 14. Boston College 6-1 (15) The win over Wake Forest combined with FSU's loss moves BC into a tie for first in the Atlantic division and gives them a shot to reach the ACC championship game. While Wake definitely exposed some weaknesses, BC did do the important thing by making up the 17 point deficit and living to fight another day. Also, FSU's loss on Saturday makes BC's 11 point win over Virginia look that much better and solidifies BC's spot in the Top 15. 15. Michigan State 4-2 (11) The Spartans have faced a real murderer's row of a schedule over the last month, following up the huge win over Notre Dame with a game against a freshly healthy Michigan team and a trip to the Horseshoe. While today's loss may have killed their Big Ten title hopes, MSU can still have a very successful season and should finish up somewhere in the 8-3 range. 16. Florida 5-2 (12) The Gators continued to disappoint against LSU, as the Tigers gave them every opportunity to win the game, and Florida just couldn't pull it out. Urban Meyer's "revolutionary" spread option has been anemic with Chris Leak at the helm, and unless the Gators turn it around quick, they might give the creators of fireRonZook.com an idea for a new domain name. 17. Tennessee 3-2 (16) The Vols are still clinging to that win over LSU to keep respectablity, but they're going to need at least a split with Notre Dame and Alabama if they want to remain in the Top 20. To be fair, they did have two of their three big games on the road, and 1-2 against Top 16 teams isn't exactly shameful in that situation. However, with Florida looking worse by the week, the Vols are going have to do something soon to avoid being seen as a second-tier team in the SEC. 18. Oregon 6-1 (22) The Ducks are looking to be a good sleeper for the Holiday Bowl, as they have a big conference road win over ASU, and they're undefeated against teams that aren't the undefeated defending national champions. Furthermore, the schedule breaks well the rest of the way, as home dates against fading Cal and arch-rival Oregon State are the only major tests standing between them and a 10-1 record. 19. West Virginia 6-1 (22) The Mountaineers took the driver's seat in the Big East, winning a 3OT thriller against Louisville on Saturday. The loss to Virginia Tech is nothing to be ashamed of, and in this down year for the Big East, West Virginia might be the conference's only hope of fielding a respectable champion. 20. Texas Tech 6-0 (20) Florida International. Kansas. Nebraska. Kansas State. This is a complete list of the Division I-A teams that the Red Raiders have faced this year. When you factor in that they would have lost to Nebraska if Le Kevin Smith knew how to fall down, it's pretty easy to see why the 6-0 Red Raiders are this far down the list. 21. Virginia 4-2 (NR) The Cavaliers turned their season around Saturday night, picking up an absolutely huge victory over the previously undefeated Seminoles. The Cavs picked up both losses on the road against good teams, and have gone from looking like an early-season disappointment to a program that just might be turning the corner. 22. Auburn 5-1 (25) The Tigers got the job done against Arkansas, but they haven't faced a truly legitimate opponent since the opener against Georgia Tech. We'll find out whether that opening loss was a fluke or not when the Tigers play the other Tigers next Saturday in Death Valley. 23. Minnesota 5-2 (19) The Gophers looked to be on the way to another huge win against Wisconsin behind 260 yards from Laurence Maroney when the roof caved in. Giving up two late TDs to lose the game is the kind of crushing loss that can just destroy what was previously a promising season. However, they do still have the big road win over Michigan, and going 2-2 in four big conference games is still not that bad of a result. 24. Michigan 4-3 (NR) Michigan made a statement that they're back in a big way knocking off previously unbeaten Penn State on a Chad Henne touchdown with no time remaining. Perhaps most encouraging for Michigan was the fact that they're finally limiting their mistakes, as they only turned it over once against PSU. They have played better since Hart came back, and with games remaining against NW and OSU, the Wolverines still have a chance, albeit a small one, to come back and win the Big Ten title. 25. Arizona State 3-3 (NR) Arizona State was off this week, but that didn't stop their prestige from rising. The critique that the Sun Devils really haven't beaten anyone is starting to go out the window as Oregon State and Northwestern are loooking more impressive by the week. Given that their losses are all to Top 20 teams, ASU deserves this spot at the bottom of the Top 25.

Yeah, uh, I was at the WSU/UCLA game. Rooting for WSU. Because I attend school there. I pretty much want to shoot myself right now. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Cougars are the worst team to root for in all of Division I-A. They're the anti-USC in that no matter how big of a lead they have, no matter how desperate it looks for the other team, they'll always find a way to fuck it up. God damn it.

This makes no sense whatsoever. How is making the offense worse going to help their defense. If anything, it should help them recruit on the defensive side of the ball, and improve their defense in the long run.

Yeah, if you notice on the video, it says that the Dharma project researches zoology, psychology, parapsychology, meteorology, electromagnetism, and utopian social... (cut off and moved to another part of the video). That's six fields of research, for the six stations in the Dharma project. I'm guessing that there is a hatch for each one. The hatch that Locke found is obviously the hatch for psychology, as they are testing to see whether people will take the medicine and type in the code every hour and a half when it's clear that neither one is necessary. Of course, even folowing that theory, they could still have the hatch for electromagnetism, given what we've seen of the magnets in the bottom of the facility. If there is anything real to entering the code, the only reasonable explanation I can think of is that it's a self-destruct mechanism to destroy evidence of what's in the hatches should anyone else take over that's not specifically linked to the Dharma project.

I don't know. I can't help thinking that Notre Dame might win tomorrow. We know the Irish players are going to believe in the mystique, and if the Trojan players start believing it, even a little bit, they're done. With Cal losing to UCLA, this is probably going to be the toughest test the Trojans face the entire regular season, and it just seems unlikely for anyone to go wire-to-wire two years in a row. I picked USC in Bored's contest, and if I had to wager my life savings on one team straight up, it would probably still be USC. However, I think this game will be extremely close, and it could definitely go either way. I'd predict a final score of something like USC 38 Notre Dame 37

I just drove 8 miles over to Moscow, completely shitfaced to get some Jack in the Box. And not only did my roommate eat my Chicken Ciabatta, he threw his Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger on the ground, instead of letting me eat that. Fuck Jake.

Don't worry. I think Penn State's computer rankings will be hurt significantly when they lose to Michigan this weekend. The thing about the computer rankings that people always forget is that they're not allowed to take into account margin of victory. Basically, it means that they can't objectively evaluate which teams are better between undefeateds, only who played a tougher schedule. Compare, for example, Sagarin's real rankings to his official BCS version: Real rankings: 1. USC 2. Virginia Tech 3. Texas 4. Miami 5. Penn State 6. Florida State 7. LSU 8. Minnesota 9. Oregon 10. Alabama BCS Version: 1. Penn State 2. Florida State 3. USC 4. Georgia 5. Alabama 6. Virginia Tech 7. Miami 8. Texas 9. Oregon 10. Florida Obviously, you can't expect any computer rankings to be perfect at this time of year, with the lack of decent comparison between teams. However, I think that when margin of victory is factored in, the rankings much more closely approximate agreed upon opinions as to where various teams stand.

Oh well. They've got too many cops as it is. The more they fire, the better.

The study doesn't look like it proves a whole lot, and it could have been done a lot better. However, I think it's obvious that religion has caused a shitload of problems. Islam is taking center stage right now, but Christianity was just as destructive during its heyday. Really, I think organized religion is quickly becoming archaic in the modern world, as people lose their naivete and start looking at things rationally. People still say they believe in God because they heard it so much when they were growing up, but out of the close to 100 peope I know between the ages of 18 and 25, I'd say that maybe one or two actually attend church on a regular basis.

THURSDAY Clemson at N.C. State FRIDAY UTEP at Tulane SATURDAY Wisconsin at Minnesota Michigan State at Ohio State Ohio at Central Michigan Northwestern at Purdue Iowa State at Missouri East Carolina at SMU Penn State at Michigan USC at Notre Dame Florida at LSU Louisville at West Virginia Memphis at Houston Nebraska at Baylor Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the UTEP/Tulane game? 61 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst have against N.C. State? 215

I don't care about the history of Big Ten scheduling practices. I'm just talking about which football teams are good right now. Last year was a definite down year for the conference, and their bowl record was still 3-3, so saying that they're destined to do terrible in the bowl season makes no sense whatsoever. The point was that the Big Ten is just as legitimate as most BCS conferences, (and much more so than the Big XII or Big East), so saying that they shouldn't have any teams ranked in the Top 20 (or Top 10 for that matter) is just silly.

OK, that list just shows that you don't know much about college football right now. Texas Tech should have lost to Nebraska. Other than that, the best team, they've played all year is Kansas, and they beat them by 13 at home. Arizona State has lost three home games this year, with their best win being either at Oregon State or home against Northwestern. I certainly hope your not advocating ranking either of them over Penn State. Even looking at UCLA, their only decent win this season was over Cal at home. Cal's so untested that their best win was a 15 point home win over Illinois, probably the worst team in the Big Ten. You say that the Big Ten teams haven't beaten anybody, but really what big non-conference wins does the SEC have. Just looking through schedules quick, here's what some notable SEC teams have done in non-conference play (with conference records): Alabama (3-0): Beat Middle Tennessee State and Southern Miss Georgia (3-0): Beat Boise State and Louisiana Monroe Auburn (2-0): Lost to Georgia Tech at home before beating Ball State and Western Kentucky Florida (3-1): Beat Wyoming and La. Tech Vanderblit (2-1): Beat Wake Forest and Richmond before losing to Middle Tennessee State LSU (2-1): Beat Arizona State by 4 Tennessee (2-2): Beat UAB by 7 And that's the best of the best. Three games against BCS teams for the seven teams who have winning records in conference. Other than Arizona State, there isn't one win over a Top 40 team. Now, let's look at the bottom portion of the conference: South Carolina: Beat Central Florida and Troy Kentucky: Lost to Louisville, beat Idaho State by 12, lost to Indiana by 24 Mississippi: Beat Memphis, lost to Wyoming, beat the Citadel Arkansas: Beat Missouri State, lost to USC, beat La. Monroe Mississippi State: Beat Murray State and Tulane Wow, so on a whole, that leaves the SEC with a record of 2-4 against teams from BCS conferences. Wow, that really shows how they proved themselves by picking up big OOC victories, doesn't it. Although to be fair, SEC member schools did split with Wyoming and Middle Tennessee State. Now, I'm not doing this to say the SEC is a bad football conference. It's not. It's probably the second best in the country behind the ACC. The point is that teams don't play a lot of tough non-conference games and dismissing the entire Big Ten due to it as a matter of course, is nothing if not ridiculous.

Texas Tech at #11, that's a joke. The only team with a pulse that they've played all year is Nebraska, and if that LB hadn't fumbled, they would have lost that game. The Nittany Lions are completely legitimate. I really don't get why you hate Penn State so much, Mike. They beat an above average South Florida squad in their opener, beat a solid Northwestern team on the road, destroyed an otherwise undefeated Minnesota team, and then beat Ohio State. They've accomplished more than almost any team in the country, and at least at this point, they look like the class of the Big Ten. Other than the fact that SEC teams are so much better than everyone else that they should have six teams in the Top Ten, give me justification for who should be ahead of Penn State right now. Looking at the coaches poll, not only can I not justify raising any of the lower ranked teams above Penn State, I can't even imagine how they justify having Penn State behind Notre Dame. At this point of the season, Notre Dame is basically a Big Ten team, and they lost to Michigan State at home. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions have played just as tough of a schedue and are currently undefeated. The Sagarin rankings are unbiased and look only at who teams have played, and how well they did against each other. They have Penn State at #5, LSU the highest ranked SEC team at #7, and Tennessee all the way down at #29. Your idea that PSU is not a top-level football team is just completely unfounded. This isn't to say that they're likely to go to the Rose Bowl (they're not) or that they couldn't easily lose to Michigan next week (they could). All I'm saying is at this point in the season, given what they've accomplished, it would be sheer lunacy not to rank Penn State in the Top Ten.

There were a lot of games that the Jets defense would have won this year if there was a competent healthy quarterback that wasn't hemmoraging the ball back to the other team every time he touched it. That's honestly why I thought an average QB like Vinny could turn them around. Their defense has been solid all year long; it's just that the offense has been so useless that it was pretty much impossible for them to win a game.

Told ya. The Jets are back.

Yeah, I don't like having Oio State that high either. The problem is that there's really no one else to put above them. UCLA's beaten one team of note, and they probably wouldn't have even won if they were playing on the road. Michigan State really hasn't done much either with a loss to Michigan that looks even worse now, and only one real win to show for their season. Florida lost their last real game by 30, and didn't exactly look sharp this week either. In principle, I'd certainly like to drop Ohio State more, but with Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Michigan all losing below them, I just don't see anyone else that belongs in the Top Ten. As for Cal, the game against UCLA was extremely well-played, and again they probably could have beaten them if they were playing at home. I still think they're better than Oregon, and I'm not going to reward Texas Tech over them for that debacle at Nebraska where they would have lost if that Husker LB would have just fell down after intercepting the ball.

Sorry for the weak teaser, but I couldn't think of anything witty. Anyway, here are the new rankings. 1. USC 5-0 (1) 2. Virginia Tech 6-0 (2) 3. Texas 5-0 (3) 4. Alabama 5-0 (4) 5. Georgia 5-0 (7) 6. Florida State 5-0 (5) 7. Penn State 6-0 (18) 8. Miami 4-1 (10) 9. Ohio State 3-2 (6) 10. UCLA 5-0 (22) 11. Michigan State 4-1 (12) 12. Florida 5-1 (13) 13. Notre Dame 4-1 (14) 14. LSU 3-1 (15) 15. Boston College 5-1 (20) 16. Tennessee 3-2 (8) 17. California (17) 18. Oregon 5-1 (NR) 19. Minnesota 5-1 (NR) 20. Texas Tech 5-0 (19) 21. Wisconsin 5-1 (9) 22. West Virginia 5-1 (23) 23. Louisville 4-1 (NR) 24. Colorado 4-1 (NR) 25. Auburn (24) I'm too into Season 1 of Lost to write out complete commentary, but I'd be more than happy to answer anyone's questions on the rankings. Feel free to comment in any way manner you wish.

They had freshmen step up, and they're a lot better than they were last year. What's hard to understand about that? Before the season, a lot of people (not including myself) though Alabama might struggle to stay above .500. Well, they're 5-0 after bitch-slapping the mighty Gators by 30 points. I'm sure there were people who thought UCLA would be struggling to stay above .500. Now, after beating Cal, they're pretty much guaranteed to get to 9-0 going into the last two weeks of the season. Having a surprise team do well, and pick up a couple of big early wins is indicative of nothing other than the great variance present in college football.

I like the new ranking system a lot better than last year's. It seems to be much fairer so far, and the days of consistently having ranked teams with losing records seem to be fading into the past. At least now, when somebody goes up or down, I can kind of tell why.

I made shitty picks this week and got a ton of games wrong. Luckily, I was going against the only winless team in the contest, so I still managed to eke out a 1-point win.

Fuck Cal. I bet on them as a 1 1/2 point underdog, and then they just have to give up the garbage touchdown as time expires to make me lose. I mean they were up 13 with 8:00 left, and then they can't even win my teaser bet at +6? Fuck them. Fuck them in their dirty asses.

I don't care much about most of the week's games, but I do have one thing to say. Vinny Testaverde is Moses. He may be old, but he's still the fucking man, and he's going to lead the Jets to the promised land of the playoffs. The Bucs are going down this week, count on it.

Wow, bold prediction there.

Wow, I sure picked the right time to turn on the baseball game. Got home just in time to see that huge bottom of the 5th for Chicago. It's going to be incredibly tough for Boston to pull it together at this point.

Not as long as you have cable, you're not. Cal and UCLA are playing on TBS.