The College Football Thread 10/10 - 10/14

[Bored 0]

Not nearly as many big games as the past couple of weeks on the schedule but with the way this season is going something fucked up is bound to happen. T.V. note for this week, no ESABCPN primetime slot and for the 3:30/12:30 slot the Wisconsin/Penn State game will be the primary reverse mirror game. FSN lucks out as they get the biggest game of the week.

 

Reminder the first BCS rankings of the year will be announced on Sunday.

 

Network/Basic Cable Schedule

 

WEDNESDAY

Navy at Pittsburgh, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

THURSDAY

#21 Florida State at Wake Forest, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN

 

FRIDAY

#16 Hawaii at San Jose State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

SATURDAY

Georgia Tech at Miami, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN

#18 Illinois at Iowa, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2

#23 Texas at Iowa State, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, FSN

 

#1 LSU at #17 Kentucky, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS

#4 Boston College at Notre Dame, 3:30/12:30 PM, NBC

#19 Wisconsin at Penn State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN*

#7 South Carolina at North Carolina, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN*

Arizona at #10 USC, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

Texas A&M at Texas Tech, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC*

 

#24 Georgia at Vanderbilt, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN2

#11 Missouri at #6 Oklahoma, 6:30/3:30 PM, FSN

Oregon State at #2 California, 7:00/4:00 PM, Versus

#22 Auburn at Arkansas, 7:45/4:45 PM, ESPN

 

Colorado at Kansas State, 9:15/6:15 PM, ESPN2

Washington at #14 Arizona State, 10:15/7:15 PM, FSN

 

SUNDAY

Nevada at Boise State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

 

Digital Cable/Satellite/Gameplan Schedule

 

SATURDAY

UCF at #5 South Florida, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU

Purdue at Michigan, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Minnesota at Northwestern, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

Kent State at #3 Ohio State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN*

#12 Virginia Tech at Duke, Noon/9:00 AM, LFS*/GP

Rutgers at Syracuse, Noon/9:00 AM, GP

Eastern Michigan at Ohio, Noon/9:00 AM, GP

Baylor at #20 Kansas, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, FCS Central

Alabama at Mississippi, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, LFS*/GP

New Mexico at Wyoming, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn.

Bowling Green at Miami of Ohio, 3:00 PM/Noon, GP

Connecticut at Virginia, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU

Rice at Houston, 3:30/12:30 PM, CSTV

Fresno State at Idaho, 5:00/2:00 PM, GP

Air Force at Colorado State, 5:30/2:30 PM, Mtn.

Louisville at #15 Cincinnati, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU

Indiana at Michigan State, 7:00/4:00 PM, BTN

New Mexico State at Louisiana Tech, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

Louisiana-Monroe at North Texas, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP

SMU at Southern Miss, 7:30/4:30 PM, CSTV

BYU at UNLV, 9:30/6:30 PM, Mtn.

 

All Other Div. I-A Games

 

SATURDAY

Oklahoma State at Nebraska

Toledo at Buffalo

Western Kentucky at Ball State

#25 Tennessee at Mississippi State

San Diego State at Utah

Army at Central Michigan

Washington State at #9 Oregon

Western Michigan at Northern Illinois

TCU at Stanford

Temple at Akron

Tulane at UAB

Marshall at Tulsa

Louisiana-Lafayette at Arkansas State

Middle Tennessee at Memphis

East Carolina at UTEP

[HarleyQuinn 0]

San Diego still hasn't cracked the Top 25 in the real FCS... booo. The Pioneer Conference = solid but the FCS gives it no love at all. Overall, every team but Jacksonville is playing .500 football with Butler, Dayton, Morehead State, Drake, and San Diego all playing at a winning percent of 67% or higher.

 

Rankings are my own, BTW.

 

FCS Spotlight Games

 

12:00 PM ET: Iona (5-1) @ 13 New Hampshire (3-2)

1:00 PM ET: Villanova (4-2) @ 2 Massachusetts (4-1)

2:00 PM ET: Hampton (4-1) @ Norfolk State (4-1)

2:05 PM ET: Missouri State (4-2) @ 19 Western Illinois (4-2)

5:05 PM ET: 7 Southern Illinois (6-0) @ 3 Northern Iowa (5-0)

8:00 PM ET: 22 Sam Houston State (2-3) @ 6 McNeese State (5-0)

9:00 PM ET: 20 Drake (5-1) @ 18 San Diego (5-0)

[Bored 0]

Didn't even know about this play until today, Akron's miracle win over Western Michigan.

[snuffbox 0]

I dont even know if I'll watch the Badger game.

 

I would like to acknowledge that iggymcfly was right/I was wrong.

[Broward83 0]

Texas Tech suspends selling of "Vick 'em" T-Shirt

[iggymcfly 0]

I dont even know if I'll watch the Badger game.

 

I would like to acknowledge that iggymcfly was right/I was wrong.

 

If it makes you feel better, I'm likely even more disillusioned with Georgia Tech than you are with Wisconsin. I thought they were a legit Top 10 team going into the year and now they could easily miss a bowl.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, GT looked great squashing ND this year, but at that point we didn't know ND would be as hopeless as they have been this year.

 

What does it say about U of L this year that the Cards are a 10 point underdog against Cincy? That game will go one of two ways. Either U of L shows up for once and pulls the upset, or Cincy is going to win by about 4 TDs.

 

UK vs. LSU could be interesting. Let's see what Woodson does against a team with an actual defense.

[MFer 0]

Great game between Navy and Pitt.

[iggymcfly 0]

Here are some new BCS projections. This isn't 100% the most likely outcome I see for the season, but I still think it's a pretty reasonable guess.

 

BCS Championship game: Florida (11-2) vs. LSU (12-1)

Rose Bowl: UCLA (9-3) vs. Michigan (9-3)

Orange Bowl: Boston College (11-2) vs. Ohio State (11-1)

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma (12-1) vs. South Florida (11-1)

Sugar Bowl: USC (10-2) vs. Boise State (11-1)

 

Side note: In this scenario, I'd expect Oklahoma to be ranked #1 in the AP going into the bowls, so we'd be looking at a very strong possibility of a split champion.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

No Cal or Oregon? How does UCLA make it when they looked pretty less than impressive lately?

[Guest]

Those predictions make no sense.

[iggymcfly 0]

UCLA's got both Cal and Oregon at home this year. Aside from the ND game when they had a 3rd string QB and lost the turnover battle 7-0, UCLA's been very good at home this year, and could easily win both of those. Then, even if they get pounded by USC, they could still win the conference at 8-1. Of course, even if those games go according to plan, there's a good chance they'll end up losing some stupid game like at Arizona, but if they make 9-3, they're almost certainly in the Rose Bowl.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Not too long ago you had Oregon pegged the conference champion. Nothing changed besides the fact that they lost to Cal. And yet you have neither in the bowl scene and you have some out of place random Pac-10 team in instead.

[CanadianChris 0]

There's a lot of sucktitude in that set of bowls.

[Guest]

The problem with your predictions is, you have Florida beating LSU in the SEC Title game, then both teams playing each other in the National Title Game. There's no way in fuck a two loss team is going to go to the Title Game ahead of Ohio State or Oklahoma, with one loss. Secondly, there's no way they're going to do a rematch of the last game of the season in the Title Game. I thought we learned that from last season.

 

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

 

Your predictions are a joke.

 

Here are my, much better predictions.

 

BCS Championship Game: LSU (undefeated) v. Oklahoma

Rose Bowl: Cal v. Ohio State

Orange Bowl: South Florida v. Boston College

Fiesta Bowl: USC v. Florida State

Sugar Bowl: West Virginia v. Missouri

 

[CanadianChris 0]

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

If UCLA does beat Oregon and Cal and lose to USC, they'd be co-Pac-10 champions with Oregon and Cal, holding the tiebreaker, if USC beats Cal and loses to Oregon.

 

EDIT: Corrected the original post.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

If UCLA does beat Oregon and Cal and lose to USC, they'd be co-Pac-10 champions with Oregon, holding the tiebreaker, if USC loses another Pac-10 game (which is what I'm assuming in this scenario, that they lose to either Cal or Oregon on the road).

 

That's what I figured Iggy was trying to go for here, but he has USC in the Sugar Bowl instead of the other co-Pac 10 champion.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

UCLA's got both Cal and Oregon at home this year. Aside from the ND game when they had a 3rd string QB and lost the turnover battle 7-0, UCLA's been very good at home this year, and could easily win both of those. Then, even if they get pounded by USC, they could still win the conference at 8-1. Of course, even if those games go according to plan, there's a good chance they'll end up losing some stupid game like at Arizona, but if they make 9-3, they're almost certainly in the Rose Bowl.

Zuh? The same UCLA team that got annihilated at Utah and doesn't have a QB? Ben Olson's out for 3-4 weeks based on most projections, and his backup's hurt too. They're giving a former QB turned receiver practice snaps now because Bethel-Thompson was so insanely awful. I think you're giving an inconsistent, and injury-laden team way too much credit.

 

Also, the Florida/LSU thing is cute, but not going to happen, even with your layout of records. Three BCS conference 1-loss teams aren't going to get jumped by a 2-loss Florida; the computers certainly aren't going to give them that opportunity, and the human voters aren't either.

 

EDIT: Iggy sure got this week's thread a-hoppin'! 5 posts since I started typing mine!

[Guest]

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

If UCLA does beat Oregon and Cal and lose to USC, they'd be co-Pac-10 champions with Oregon and Cal, holding the tiebreaker, if USC beats Cal and loses to Oregon.

 

EDIT: Corrected the original post.

That sure is a lot of guesswork. Especially for a team that just lost to Notre freakin' Dame.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

And Utah.

 

The funniest part is:

 

This isn't 100% the most likely outcome I see for the season, but I still think it's a pretty reasonable guess.

 

His mind must be warped if this is a REASONABLE guess.

[iggymcfly 0]

FTR, my Pac-Ten predictions have:

UCLA (8-1) 9-3: loss to USC

USC (7-2) 10-2: losses to Stanford and Oregon

Oregon (7-2) 10-2: losses to Cal and UCLA

Cal (7-2) 10-2: losses to UCLA and USC

 

In that scenario, UCLA has sole possession of the Pac-Ten title and USC gets taken by the Sugar Bowl because they're a big-name program and will sell the most tickets. Honestly, what's probably more likely, is that even if all that goes as planned, UCLA drops the Arizona game, there's a four-way tie and USC gets the tiebreaker to go to the Rose Bowl anyway, but that scenario's not as much fun so I gave UCLA the benefit of the doubt over Arizona. Also, while Olson's out for a few weeks, I had the impression that Cowan would be back in time for the Cal game. If he's not, I agree that hurts UCLA's chances tremendously.

[iggymcfly 0]

Also, I don't think a Florida/LSU rematch is that unreasonable at all. I have OSU losing to Michigan on the last day of the regular season, so I'm guessing that if Florida beat LSU in the SEC championship game, the polls would look something like this:

 

1. Oklahoma

2. Florida

3. LSU

4. Ohio State

5. South Florida

 

Obviously, the pollsters wouldn't want a rematch, so they'd vote OU ahead of LSU and Florida. However, the Sooners have a pretty weak SOS and with the computers not taking margin of victory or time of losses into account, I'm thinking they'd rank the teams more like:

 

1. LSU

2. Florida

3. Ohio State

4. South Florida

5. Oregon

6. Oklahoma

 

If that's the case, the computer rankings would drop Oklahoma far enough that even at #1 in the polls, they wouldn't be Top 2 in the final BCS standings. And presto, we have LSU/Florida playing for the 3rd time to decide the official national title, while OU plays USF in the desert with a legitimate share on the line for the Sooners and a possible chance for a piece of the title for USF as well if LSU/Fla looks ugly and the voters are stubborn.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

FTR, my Pac-Ten predictions have:

UCLA (8-1) 9-3: loss to USC

USC (7-2) 10-2: losses to Stanford and Oregon

Oregon (7-2) 10-2: losses to Cal and UCLA

Cal (7-2) 10-2: losses to UCLA and USC

 

In that scenario, UCLA has sole possession of the Pac-Ten title and USC gets taken by the Sugar Bowl because they're a big-name program and will sell the most tickets. Honestly, what's probably more likely, is that even if all that goes as planned, UCLA drops the Arizona game, there's a four-way tie and USC gets the tiebreaker to go to the Rose Bowl anyway, but that scenario's not as much fun so I gave UCLA the benefit of the doubt over Arizona. Also, while Olson's out for a few weeks, I had the impression that Cowan would be back in time for the Cal game. If he's not, I agree that hurts UCLA's chances tremendously.

See, I don't think you're going to end up with that many 9 and 10-win teams. The addition of a 12th game has it made much easier to get to those figures annually, but there's still usually some degree of separation taking place as teams get into the meat of their conference schedules. I'll be very surprised if the Pac-10 yields more than two 10-win teams. Do you really expect Arizona State to lose to all four of those teams, or for those four teams to go undefeated against the rest of the conference from here on out?

[iggymcfly 0]

Do you really expect Arizona State to lose to all four of those teams, or for those four teams to go undefeated against the rest of the conference from here on out?

 

No, not really. I said UCLA will probably blow the Arizona game to finish 8-4 in a 4-way tie. Just thought it was interesting how with as bad as they've looked, they're still in a great position to win the Pac-Ten (3-0, easiest schedule the rest of the way among the contenders), and I thought that for the sake of making the projections a little different and interesting, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt over 2-4 Arizona.

 

As for Arizona State though, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see them go 0-4 against the other contenders. They have to play UCLA and Oregon on the road so I don't think they'll be able to get a win there and Cal's passing game's too good for the Sun Devils to shut down, even at home. They had way too much trouble with Washington State last week and I'm not sold on the Sun Devils as being for real at all. I guess if I was going to give them an upset, it would be the USC game, but that's a little dodgy too considering all the talent USC has and that ASU would be pretty depressed, riding a 3-game losing streak at that point. I guess I can give alternate Pac-Ten projections with those two upsets though.

 

UCLA (7-2) 8-4: Pac Ten champs, Rose Bowl

Oregon (7-2) 10-2: BCS at-large, Sugar Bowl

Cal (7-2) 10-2: Holiday Bowl

USC (6-3) 9-3: Sun Bowl (ooh, that's fun)

[CanadianChris 0]

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

If UCLA does beat Oregon and Cal and lose to USC, they'd be co-Pac-10 champions with Oregon and Cal, holding the tiebreaker, if USC beats Cal and loses to Oregon.

 

EDIT: Corrected the original post.

That sure is a lot of guesswork. Especially for a team that just lost to Notre freakin' Dame.

I'm with you there. I don't see UCLA beating either of those teams, much less both of them, even if they do get them both at home.

[cabbageboy 0]

UCLA has absolutely zero shot at going to the BCS. May as well say U of L can still win the Big East....at least they put up a better fight against the mighty Utah. Hell UCLA may be lucky to make a bowl at all, considering ND just waxed them in LA.

[Guest]

And what you just said about UCLA doesn't go in line with your predictions. If USC pounds them and finishes at 10-2, and UCLA finishes 9-3, USC wins the tiebreak and THEY'RE going to be in the Rose Bowl. Not UCLA.

If UCLA does beat Oregon and Cal and lose to USC, they'd be co-Pac-10 champions with Oregon and Cal, holding the tiebreaker, if USC beats Cal and loses to Oregon.

 

EDIT: Corrected the original post.

That sure is a lot of guesswork. Especially for a team that just lost to Notre freakin' Dame.

I'm with you there. I don't see UCLA beating either of those teams, much less both of them, even if they do get them both at home.

I don't even see them playing a single close game against any of the Pac 10 teams ranked in the top 15. They need a lot of help offensively, and what was supposed to be the backbone of their team, their defense, is crap.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I sense it's just Iggy not wanting to give USC some props, because the only teams that I think could give USC problems in the chase for the conference title are Cal and Oregon. USC will beat one or the other (I'd figure Oregon) and that leaves one to contend with USC. I think the way things fall, Cal probably wins the conference outright and USC finishes second. The Rose Bowl will either have USC (if Cal somehow goes to the BCS title game) or Cal (if they're snubbed or loses a game or two along the way).

[iggymcfly 0]

The difference between UCLA and Louisville is that while Louisville's 0-1 in the Big East, having already lost the easiest conference game on their schedule while UCLA's 3-0 in the Pac Ten and tied for first. Despite their "bad start", they're in a good position and have most of the key games at home. I don't think they're as talented as Cal, Oregon, or USC, but their schedule sets up best out of all of them.

 

Now, I'm saying that if Cowan comes back, you can basically write the Notre Dame game off as a total fluke as Bethel-Thompson was beyond incapable at quarterback and he was the only reason they lost that game. If Cowan can't make it back for the Cal game, yes, UCLA's probably sunk and Cal becomes the prohibitive favorite to win the conference.

[iggymcfly 0]

Also, UCLA's offense really isn't bad. When they have a walk-on at QB who goes 12/28 with 4 INTs and takes 5 or 6 sacks, yes they look bad. However, that same offense put up 45 on Stanford, 44 on Washington, and 40 on Oregon State with Olson or Cowan playing. If they're healthy, they can play with anyone in the Pac-Ten.