This Week in College Football 11/21 - 11/26

[Urban Warfare 0]

Quarterbacks tend to take longer than others to adjust than others, as well.  How many freshmen QBs can you name that were stars right from the get-go?  It's such a huge step up from high school, moreso than at any other position.

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Chris Leak was a starter as a freshman, and did pretty good, going 6-3, but other than that, I couldn't name another starting fresman QB who has done well recently.

[Bored 0]

The first name that came to mind for me was Kevin Kolb of Houston who has been a bit of a dissapointment after his great freshman year.

 

Here are the most recent freshman qb's who finished in the Top 10 in passing rating:

 

2003 Kevin Kolb, Houston

2001 Chris Rix, Florida State

2000 Rex Grossman, Florida

2000 Ryan Schneider, Central Florida

1998 David Neill, Nevada

1995 Donovan McNabb, Syracuse

[Guest]

1 out of 6 turning out to be great is pretty good.

[Guest Ether]

Just wondering but why the talk of the Big East losing its bid?  If things go as it should then WVU will simply win it and be 10-1, end the year in the top 10.  U of L can go 9-2 and finish maybe in the top 15 range.  Might be possible USF could crack the top 25.

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It's wishful thinking on everybody else's part. It's not happening. Last year, the Big East held it's own against the other conferences (the Big East's top ranked team was higher than the Big Ten's and the overall BCS score was higher than the SEC's). Like you said, WVU and Louisville should win out the regular seaon and finish in the top 15. USF can finish in the top 25 with a strong showing against WVU and a bowl win.

 

Next year, it appears that Louisville and WVU are both capable of fielding Top 10 teams. Pitt could be Top 25 with some more consistency and a few breaks that they clearly didn't get this year. I would guess USF could reach the top 25 - i don't know their schedule or whom they will return.

 

Admittedly, the Big East is aided by the expansion of the BCS to add one more game.

 

By the way, Cabbageboy, to answer your earlier post, I believe the Gator Bowl is Louisville's as long as they win out. WVU has gone to the last two Gator Bowls, so even if they lose to USF, I would suspect that the Gator would pick Louisville to have a different matchup unless Louisville has a clear history of traveling poorly to bowl games.

 

Notre Dame - return many starters, including Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija, plus have a top 5 recruiting class coming in.

 

Count me as someone who doesn't think Notre Dame will fare as well in 2006. Aren't they going to lose 5 O-Lineman? That will be far harder to endure than what USC could endure. And while Weis' first recruits may be good, the upperclassmen will be the recruits Willingham brought in, the same recruits that I have seen every Notre Dame fan trash when they talk about Willingham.

 

Chris Leak was a starter as a freshman, and did pretty good, going 6-3, but other than that, I couldn't name another starting fresman QB who has done well recently

 

Chad Henne?

[teke184 0]

The first name that came to mind for me was Kevin Kolb of Houston who has been a bit of a dissapointment after his great freshman year.

 

Here are the most recent freshman qb's who finished in the Top 10 in passing rating:

 

2003 Kevin Kolb, Houston

2001 Chris Rix, Florida State

2000 Rex Grossman, Florida

2000 Ryan Schneider, Central Florida

1998 David Neill, Nevada

1995 Donovan McNabb, Syracuse

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What about Peyton Manning at Tennessee circa 1994?

 

Peyton came in early in the season as Heath Shuler's understudy but, due to an injury to Shuler, was thrust into the starting role and never looked back.

[Bored 0]

He only threw 144 passes in '94 so he wouldn't have qualified.

 

Just for the hell of it here is the Top 10 in 1994.

 

1. Kerry Collins, Penn State

2. Terry Dean, Florida

3. Jay Barker, Alabama

4. Danny Wuerffel, Florida

5. Rob Johnson, USC

6. Mike McCoy, Utah

7. Max Knake, TCU

8. Steve Stenstrom, Stanford

9. Todd Collins, Michigan

10. Ryan Henry, Bowling Green.

 

Woof. Oh and not a misprint with the two Florida quarterbacks.

[therealworldschampion 0]

I remember Terry Dean being completely on fire the first few games of 1994, then having a terrible game against Auburn, which led to Spurrier yanking him and Danny Wuerffel taking over the QB position full-time.

 

Heh, Robbie the Retard is on there. Seeing Kerry Collins on there reminds of me how great that Penn State offense was in 1994 and why I wish that no matter how flawed the BCS is, for it to be around in 1994 because I could not see the 1994 Huskers beating that Penn State team.

[Damaramu 0]

Well Bored mentioned Chad Henne but what happened this season? He didn't really duplicate his freshman success. Did Edwards make him?

[teke184 0]

Just wondering but why the talk of the Big East losing its bid?  If things go as it should then WVU will simply win it and be 10-1, end the year in the top 10.  U of L can go 9-2 and finish maybe in the top 15 range.  Might be possible USF could crack the top 25.

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It's wishful thinking on everybody else's part. It's not happening. Last year, the Big East held it's own against the other conferences (the Big East's top ranked team was higher than the Big Ten's and the overall BCS score was higher than the SEC's). Like you said, WVU and Louisville should win out the regular seaon and finish in the top 15. USF can finish in the top 25 with a strong showing against WVU and a bowl win.

 

Next year, it appears that Louisville and WVU are both capable of fielding Top 10 teams. Pitt could be Top 25 with some more consistency and a few breaks that they clearly didn't get this year. I would guess USF could reach the top 25 - i don't know their schedule or whom they will return.

 

Admittedly, the Big East is aided by the expansion of the BCS to add one more game.

 

 

The Big East won't get their bid pulled this soon.

 

However... The BCS rules allow for a conference's automatic bid to be put under review if their champion's average BCS bid over X number of years falls below a certain place (Worse than 12th place over 5 years, I think).

 

 

If so, that means that the clock is running on the Big East if they can't manage to get Louisville or WVU to win the Big East title every year.

 

Miami and Virginia Tech's high BCS finishes as Big East champs (2 runner-up finishes and a BCS title) are currently balancing out last year's Pittsburgh disappointment. (Pitt came in at #19 or so in the final pre-bowl BCS Poll, IIRC)

 

In about 2-3 years, a few bad Big East BCS bids could end up with the conference's automatic bid under review, but they may get saved if former Big East commissioner, and currently BCS commissioner, Mike Tranghese has anything to say about it.

[Damaramu 0]

Yeah and do you expect the Big East to stay on as hard of times as they have right now? Don't you think they may have a good season at some point soon to save their bacon?

[Guest]

Depends on the OOC's of the teams in the conference and recruiting. The OOC's are going to have to be weak and many of the teams are going to need to ramp up their recruiting. Pittsburgh will keep them from losing their bid every few years.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Looking at WVU's future OOC's, they're probably good for a few 9-2's or 10-1's if they win the Big East.

[teke184 0]

Looking at WVU's future OOC's, they're probably good for a few 9-2's or 10-1's if they win the Big East.

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WVU and Louisville, based on prior history in OOC scheduling and national respect, would probably rank within the Top 12 in the BCS should they have a presentable record (9-2 or better) and no embarassing losses.

 

 

Other teams in the Big East that could back into a bid, such as UConn, Rutgers, and South Florida, are less likely to have such presentable numbers.

 

I'm less concerned with OOC scheduling than whether a team can win the conference by splitting 7-8 Big East games and going to the BCS bowl with a 7-5 record.

[therealworldschampion 0]

I'm sorry but as an NJ resident, if Rutgers ever got to a BCS bowl it would be like Armageddon.

 

I agree with you though about WVU and Louisville, they seem to get enough respect nationwide that if they were 9-2 or 10-1, the'd be a top 12 BCS team and no one would complain. People tend to worry about stuff like the USF scenario, which could put a 7-4 team in the BCS.

[teke184 0]

Yeah and do you expect the Big East to stay on as hard of times as they have right now? Don't you think they may have a good season at some point soon to save their bacon?

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Define "good season".

 

 

If Miami or Virginia Tech were still in the Big East, I could easily see them playing in the title game and, thus, saving the league's bid for about 3 years.

 

 

The only teams I can see posting a 10-1 record over the next 2-3 years are Louisville and West Virginia, and either of them would still be a borderline BCS team.

 

Hell, West Virginia is 9-1 right now, with that one loss being against Virginia Tech, and they're still only 11th in the BCS poll.

 

 

Not that them coming in at 11th is a BAD thing, as they make their target ranking to stay eligible, but it gives them less of a cushon than if, say, unranked South Florida miraculously gets the Big East's BCS bid by beating West Virginia.

 

Mix in Pitt's 19th place ranking last year and South Florida's projected miniscule ranking this year (the poll only goes up to 25 and they're unranked as of now) and you've got 2 bad years that will drag the conference down for a few years.

[Guest]

The other bad thing, is that if Florida State loses to Florida and finds a way to beat Va. Tech, then there's another bad team in.

[teke184 0]

The other bad thing, is that if Florida State loses to Florida and finds a way to beat Va. Tech, then there's another bad team in.

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I could deal with that slightly better than Iowa State or South Florida going to the Sugar Bowl.

[Guest]

I want Iowa State to go, but only for the Big 10 vs Pac 10 Rose Bowl. It would make a shitty Sugar Bowl though.

[Bored 0]

Iowa State or Colorado would automatically go the Fiesta Bowl if they were to upset Texas as that is the Big XII champ's BCS tie-in.

[Fökai 0]

All I want for Christmas is a USF BCS bid.

 

Give me that and I will hand all of my gifts over to this very folder.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I actually think it'd be sad if Texas lost. None of the other teams in contention would really have a good chance, to be honest.

[Urban Warfare 0]

Anyone know where GameDay is?

[Guest]

Houston, at the Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Houston for the Bayou Classic.

[Damaramu 0]

Anyone seen Grambling's band live? I did earlier this year. They kicked all kinds of ass.

[Guest]

The location kinda takes away the significance of the name for the game, don't you think?

[Art Sandusky 0]

They made the right call. That's where the real big game is tomorrow.

[Guest Ether]

Just wondering but why the talk of the Big East losing its bid?  If things go as it should then WVU will simply win it and be 10-1, end the year in the top 10.  U of L can go 9-2 and finish maybe in the top 15 range.  Might be possible USF could crack the top 25.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It's wishful thinking on everybody else's part. It's not happening. Last year, the Big East held it's own against the other conferences (the Big East's top ranked team was higher than the Big Ten's and the overall BCS score was higher than the SEC's). Like you said, WVU and Louisville should win out the regular seaon and finish in the top 15. USF can finish in the top 25 with a strong showing against WVU and a bowl win.

 

Next year, it appears that Louisville and WVU are both capable of fielding Top 10 teams. Pitt could be Top 25 with some more consistency and a few breaks that they clearly didn't get this year. I would guess USF could reach the top 25 - i don't know their schedule or whom they will return.

 

Admittedly, the Big East is aided by the expansion of the BCS to add one more game.

 

 

The Big East won't get their bid pulled this soon.

 

However... The BCS rules allow for a conference's automatic bid to be put under review if their champion's average BCS bid over X number of years falls below a certain place (Worse than 12th place over 5 years, I think).

 

 

If so, that means that the clock is running on the Big East if they can't manage to get Louisville or WVU to win the Big East title every year.

 

Miami and Virginia Tech's high BCS finishes as Big East champs (2 runner-up finishes and a BCS title) are currently balancing out last year's Pittsburgh disappointment. (Pitt came in at #19 or so in the final pre-bowl BCS Poll, IIRC)

 

In about 2-3 years, a few bad Big East BCS bids could end up with the conference's automatic bid under review, but they may get saved if former Big East commissioner, and currently BCS commissioner, Mike Tranghese has anything to say about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The Big East is allowed to use Louisville (as well as Cincinnati and USF) when using last years teams. THe ACC wanted to use Boston college in factoring in their rankings for last year, even though BC wasn't yet in the conference, so essentially the Big East said fine as long as they could use their incoming teams, and it was agreed upon by everybody else.

 

What the Big East needs is to do well in their non-conference games, as that will go a long way to restoring natioanl respect. Louisville was great for the Big East this year because they slaughtered all their non-conference foes. WVU and USF were all right in this regard, while the rest of the conference didn't fare very well.

[CanadianChris 0]

NC State is officially bowl-eligible. Are they going to be invited to a bowl, though?

[Bored 0]

There are plenty of open spots so yes. The Emerald Bowl seems likely unless Stanford shocks Notre Dame.

 

Kansas just tied up Iowa State with a minute left.