This Week in College Football 10/31 - 11/5

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Welcome Maryland to the top 25, as they knock off Clemson on the road with a last-second field goal to get to a very, very surprising 7-2.

 

And to think that Maryland struggled earlier this season to beat a pre-brawl Florida International. The Terps have really stepped it up from then to now.

[razazteca 0]

Anyone catch Andrew Siciliano (subbing for Jim Rome) saying that neither West Virginia NOR Louisville deserve to play for the national championship based on last night's game? He framed it in a larger "the system sucks, we need a playoff" rant, but I thought that was pretty harsh. Louisville played a pretty solid game, even if WVU was able to run on them.

 

How would a playoff keep Louisville from having a shot at the National championship?

Playoff system is a standard that the general public has accepted as THE legit way to crown champions in all sports while the BCS is a popularity contest that uses sports writers bias and computer polls. Too bad the bowl system is all about signing big names in attempts to get big money from the corporate sponsers. The bowl system is about watching the 90 year old head coach leading his school to the big game of the year and not about having competitive games outside of the usual rivals. Which is you have bowl games like Big East #2 vs SEC #4 and Pac-10 #3 vs Big 12 #4 or ACC #1 vs SEC #2 every year.

[Bored 0]

Mississippi State wins their first SEC road game in six years. Mike Shula's days in Alabama are probably over.

[Urban Warfare 0]

The fact that Florida can clinch the SEC East today is just amazing to me.

[iggymcfly 0]

Fun game to have $1800 to win $15 on Michigan today.

 

The Wolverines have been playing really underwhelming football and it all just came to a head today. I'm starting to think they won't be able to turn it around by the Ohio State game and may just get hammered by the Buckeyes. I mean if Ball State can exploit the Wolverine secondary like that, think what Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez will do.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Michigan probably wasn't playing their best, especially when they were up by two scores late. I think Ohio State's receivers will obviously do well, but today's game doesn't mean 2 TDs and 200 yards apiece or anything. Still, it shows why you can't always assume a clear run to the end of the year.

 

Matt Flynn is in for Jamarcus Russell. One of the best college back-ups in the country, really. I wonder how long UT will stick with Ainge today.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Some I-AA results to key matchups...

 

#22 Maine beat up on Northeastern 30-3.

#3 Massachusetts held off #9 New Hampshire 28-20.

#16 San Diego (underrated as hell rank wise IMO) beat up Jacksonville 38-21.

William and Mary upset #21 Towson 29-28.

#7 Youngstown State held off #12 Southern Illinois 31-24.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Kentucky goes up 24-20 on Georgia with 1 minute to go. If Kentucky hangs on, they only have to beat Vandy or UL Monroe to get a bowl game. 7 wins within reach? Astonishing!

[Bored 0]

Hell they have a better shot at 7 wins than Georgia or Alabama now. Crazy.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Mississippi State wins their first SEC road game in six years. Mike Shula's days in Alabama are probably over.

Nah. He'll get one more year.

 

Now that I can finally fucking see the LSU/Tennessee game, I'm wondering why the hell we can kick LSU's ass on first and second downs, but keep giving up third. Both defenses are beasts.

[MFer 0]

This will teach Michigan not to ignore the MAC bottom dwellers waiting for the Buckeyes. I mean, Ball State probably won't pull it off but it never should have been questionable this late.

It won't. Michigan has played down to the level of the jobber teams every time this year.

This is nothing new for Michigan. Lloyd Carr teams almost always play down to their level of competition. Meanwhile, Jim Tressel teams almost always stomp on inferior opponents. You wonder why Tressel owns Carr. Michigan doesn't have that killer instinct. Maybe OSU will underestimate UM but I know that's not gonna happen b/c the rivalry is too intense.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The LSU defense dragged Tennessee, kicking and screaming, to a touchdown. They've almost got ten penalties and it isn't even halftime!

 

Robert Meachem just bailed out Crompton for the rest of the game. The receivers haven't been making plays and you could see Crompton's form eroding a bit. Now we go to school.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Anyone catch Andrew Siciliano (subbing for Jim Rome) saying that neither West Virginia NOR Louisville deserve to play for the national championship based on last night's game? He framed it in a larger "the system sucks, we need a playoff" rant, but I thought that was pretty harsh. Louisville played a pretty solid game, even if WVU was able to run on them.

 

How would a playoff keep Louisville from having a shot at the National championship?

Playoff system is a standard that the general public has accepted as THE legit way to crown champions in all sports while the BCS is a popularity contest that uses sports writers bias and computer polls. Too bad the bowl system is all about signing big names in attempts to get big money from the corporate sponsers. The bowl system is about watching the 90 year old head coach leading his school to the big game of the year and not about having competitive games outside of the usual rivals. Which is you have bowl games like Big East #2 vs SEC #4 and Pac-10 #3 vs Big 12 #4 or ACC #1 vs SEC #2 every year.

 

If he doesn't think Louisville is deserving. Then he shouldn't want a playoff, since Louisville is all but guaranteed to be involved.

 

What do the hell do you think a playoff would be about? The love of college football. They'd show the same favoritism as the BCS. Where teams are seeded would be determined by the writers, and computers. The only difference you'd get 5 or 6 teams who really don't deserve a shot at the title.

[Art Sandusky 0]

This is getting seriously uncool.

[Bored 0]

Illinois is making it kind of interesting against Ohio State but need to recover the onside kick to have a shot.

[Art Sandusky 0]

MAN was that interception needed. Times like this are when I wish we had a running game.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Mississippi State wins their first SEC road game in six years. Mike Shula's days in Alabama are probably over.

Nah. He'll get one more year.

 

Now that I can finally fucking see the LSU/Tennessee game, I'm wondering why the hell we can kick LSU's ass on first and second downs, but keep giving up third. Both defenses are beasts.

 

If he loses to Auburn, he's gone.

[iggymcfly 0]

Awesome game going on between Tennessee and LSU. I think the safety slowed down just a little bit when he was looking back for the ball, but it was still an amazing play by Meacham to get the touchdown.

[iggymcfly 0]

It just amazes me how many announcers don't know the difference between a reverse and a double reverse. You'd think that with all the people in the booth, someone would keep them from making asses of themselves all the time.

[Art Sandusky 0]

4th and game for LSU just inside Tennessee territory ...

 

CONVERTED!

 

Fuck fuck fuck. Bright side: LSU has only one timeout left.

[Guest Princess Leena]

It just amazes me how many announcers don't know the difference between a reverse and a double reverse. You'd think that with all the people in the booth, someone would keep them from making asses of themselves all the time.

I'd actually like some clarification on that.

 

If the QB hands off to the WR, then it's an end around. If the RB hands off, it's a reverse. Correct?

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

And the Kotzenjunge suicide watch is on as we enter the waning seconds of one of the year's best games. Badassery all around.

[Art Sandusky 0]

MAN was that interception needed. Times like this are when I wish we had a running game.

This was the difference. LSU doesn't have a chance to make a game-winning drive otherwise.

 

Verne Lundquist, I love ya, but the last thing I wanted to hear about after that was that Florida was smiling.

[iggymcfly 0]

A double reverse almost never happens. It's when a receiver comes across the field and hands the ball to another receiver. However, because the action of a reverse goes in two directions, it often confuses the announcers who think that an end around is a reverse and a reverse is a double reverse.

 

As for the game, it was excellent. Tennessee was without Ainge, but LSU got some really bad breaks on the turnovers, and you really felt like neither team deserved to lose. To put it another way, it was higher quality football than we saw Thursday. Anyway, good to see LSU get at least one big win this year, as talent-wise, they're still one of the top three teams in the country.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Wake Forest winning and Arkansas beating the shit out of South Carolina would do a great deal to make me feel better.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Colt McCoy's great. I know he's got a hell of a line blocking for him, but wow, little dude just rifles stuff in there.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Tim Tebow, Mitch Mustain, and Matt Stafford might just not be the best freshmen QB's in the SEC after Crompton's performance in, for all intents and purposes, his only real game to significantly play in.

 

I still wish we didn't have to blow two score leads and have star players out to lose big games. It just leaves a disgusting taste in your mouth.

[Guest A Silent Presence]

"Exploit Michigan's Secondary" is a very loose term for what happened today. Especially when the defense doesn't have its starters in the entire game. I'm not sure if any of you actually saw the game, please don't watch the highlight reel shown on ESPN.

 

I'm not making excuses for the game, it was poorly handled from a coach's standpoint, but the reality of it is that if you honestly think the defense was exploited you may want to consider rewatching both the Northwestern and Penn State games. Especially those games - those are consistently used as evidence against them as the number two team, but those games were defensive dominations. 17-3, sure, against Northwestern, but did they give up the big play? No.

 

I feel like they're setting up the Buckeyes the same way they set up Notre Dame by showing so little of the offense and defense. If you don't have to show who you really are for your opponents, why show it? Penn State had two big plays that entire game, and they came in the form of a run and a pass play. Stat-wise, from what I've seen in terms of highlights and the college recaps, the Defense gave up one or two big pass plays, 1 interception for 6 today. They had over 300 yards rushing and had gone three deep on the depth chart by the first half. ESPN, to my understanding, never once showed this. All they did was mention that Michigan was at home and was trying to stop a game saving drive at the end of the game.

 

The same could be said for Ohio State, whom probably only gave up a handful of big plays that whole game against the Illini. It's just irresponcible coverage by ESPN.

[iggymcfly 0]

Funny since I mentioned the reverse thing earlier as the announcers in both the Wake/BC game and the Arkansas/South Carolina game both said "faked a double reverse" when the teams actually faked a reverse on an end around play.

 

Also, I just realized I didn't really answer Leena's question earlier. Yes:

QB to WR = End around

QB to RB to WR = Reverse

QB to WR to WR = Reverse

QB to RB to WR to WR = Double reverse

[CanadianChris 0]

What do the hell do you think a playoff would be about? The love of college football. They'd show the same favoritism as the BCS. Where teams are seeded would be determined by the writers, and computers. The only difference you'd get 5 or 6 teams who really don't deserve a shot at the title.

That's a bullshit argument. College basketball has a 65-team tournament, and you don't hear anyone complaining that everyone besides the top 2 or 3 teams don't deserve a shot at the title. Just the opposite, in fact -- George Mason making the Final Four was a huge deal. That's what makes it so great. That's what makes playoffs in general so great. You think the Steelers aren't happy they don't just playoff the top teams in the AFC and NFC to decide the NFL championship? Or the Cardinals in baseball?

 

Any system besides a playoff is a complete sham.