The College Football Thread 11/20 - 11/24

[cabbageboy 0]

I think McFadden may well have won the Heisman today. The difference between him and Tebow is this: Tebow is doing well on a team that is very good, but has underachieved a bit in my opinion. McFadden seems like he's the only thing keeping Arkansas from being a bottom tier SEC team.

 

Yet again, what is with this bizarre bashing of WVU by the media? Who in their right mind would want to see boring as fuck OSU in a title game instead of Pat White and Steve Slaton? Further, provided WVU wins tomorrow that is another win over a top 25 team in UConn which can only aid WVU's resume. Cincy, Rutgers, and UConn would be wins roughly equal to OSU's biggest wins this year (Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn St.). And what was seemingly a ho hum squash with Miss St. is now a nice little OOC win for WVU. In other words there's really nothing so special about OSU this year to consider putting them ahead of WVU if WVU wins out.

[Hawk 34 0]

For some reason people still think the Big East is inferior.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The public stature of the Big East is still pretty low on account of one of their new big-name programs sucking hard this season (Louisville) and South Florida dropping 3 in a row. Still, I agree completely that the White and Slaton show versus anybody would be a lot of fun.

[Hawk 34 0]

Shouldn't there be more of a issue with the ACC being putrid for a conference that is filled with these "big name" schools? The ACC really needs to shape up.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Shouldn't there be more of a issue with the ACC being putrid for a conference that is filled with these "big name" schools? The ACC really needs to shape up.

 

Amen brother. I get sick and tired of commentators acting like the Big East is the worst of the major conferences in college football when the ACC hasn't done much of note over the last several seasons. Also, I don't see what the fuss is about with the Big Ten versus the Big East. Sure, Louisville underperformed this year BUT what did the Big Ten have outside of a surprising Illinois team and Ohio State? Not much.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Ohio State leapfrog West Virginia, though, because the Big Ten has way more pull than the Big East has. The Big East can get pushed aside and there won't be much fuss but if it was the other way around we'd probably never hear the end of it.

 

The whole situation makes me laugh anyway because in NCAA Football 2007 in my sixth season at Western Kentucky (which I moved to the SEC after my fifth year) I leapfrogged a #2 West Virginia team after crushing Tennessee in the SEC title game to play Arizona State for the national title. Poor West Virginia won like 38 straight games in that dynasty and they NEVER got to play for the national title because they were leapfrogged every single year in the BCS (mostly due to the computers).

[Bored 0]

That's probably the game. Hawaii is one win away from likely the Sugar Bowl.

[Mecca 0]

For being thought of as a top 15 pick in the NFL draft, Clady sure looked like a bitch on a key play.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Shouldn't there be more of a issue with the ACC being putrid for a conference that is filled with these "big name" schools? The ACC really needs to shape up.

I think you missed my point. The Big East is perfectly fine this year--really, none of the conferences stand out this year--but they'll continue to get dogged publicly and by poll voters who don't actually pay much attention to college football for reasons like the relative disappointments of last year's rising stars (Louisville and Rutgers).

 

By the same measure, I'm not sure what makes the ACC any more "putrid" than any other conference either. Miami's way down, FSU is average, but Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Virginia are up. They're likely to finish with two teams at 10-2 and two at 9-3, not much different than anybody else. Only the Big XII, Big East, and Big Ten have 1-loss teams left, and every conference has plenty of inconsistent 3-5 loss teams (and a good number of ass-horrible teams). 2007 is a season when conference affiliation really doesn't mean a lot.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

As much as I want to see West Virginia in the title game just to help break down the "Big East=step above mid major" notion, I really HONESTLY cannot see them beating any of the traditional powerhouse teams. With Boise State last year, they caught Oklahoma napping. West Virginia is a big enough name that I don't see anyone sleeping on them, so it would be very difficult for them.

[Secret Agent 0]

Damn you, Boise State!! Mecca's starting to look like a freaking genius over the 2 Friday pick em games.

[SilverPhoenix 0]

As much as I want to see West Virginia in the title game just to help break down the "Big East=step above mid major" notion, I really HONESTLY cannot see them beating any of the traditional powerhouse teams. With Boise State last year, they caught Oklahoma napping. West Virginia is a big enough name that I don't see anyone sleeping on them, so it would be very difficult for them.

 

Walking, lets be honest here. Who is going to have a chance to beat West Virginia? Especially when they don't turnover the ball?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Teams with fast defenses?

[Guest]

I think West Virginia would wreck any of the other one loss teams. Since when can Ohio State defend against a spread offense? Missouri and Kansas just don't have the athletic ability.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Of the top four most likely to go that aren't West Virginia, I can't think of anybody that they can't beat.

 

I mean, LSU was the top team and McFadden ran (and threw) all over the place. McFadden's backup had a big game, their third string HB/starting FB had a big game and their QB was a 50% passer at best whose biggest contribution was throwing a block 40 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. White's a better QB than Dick (and a better running threat too) and Slaton is about even with McFadden; lack of depth is the only thing that I could foresee going wrong in that game.

 

Ohio State couldn't shut down the Juice, so the White should have a similar game.

 

Kansas is a fluke. They go undefeated the year they don't have Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech on their schedule (and I'm not saying TTU is on par with the other two, I'm saying TTU has a shootout offense that is better than anything they've played all year).

 

Missouri's the unknown; they lost to a weaker-than-usual Oklahoma but have played very well against everybody else. I think WVU can take them but I haven't seen enough of them to definitively give favor one way or the other.

[Gert T 0]

Don't sleep on Ohio State not being able to stop WVU. Yes they struggled with the Juice, but I am guessing with 7 weeks to prepare (they probably are preparing for about 3 teams right now) they can be formidable against the spread. They have good enough athletes on defense to contain it.

 

The funny thing is this year, every team has looked bad or at least shown big flaws in their losses. I would agree that Missouri is quite the enigma right now, but with potentially 2 high profile games that will change quickly.

 

 

[cabbageboy 0]

Missouri has been pretty badass this year actually. I haven't really seen much of them but take a look at their results. We know Missouri beat the same Illini that beat OSU, so that's a solid win. Sure, they lost to OU but that was on the road (which Kansas didn't have to do). Other than that Mizzou has beaten the piss out of everyone, including beating the crap out of A & M and TX Tech.

 

Kansas? Well, for the most part very impressive but they did just beat KSU by 6 points. Beat A & M 19-11, though I don't think that one was ever in much doubt. Scraped past Colorado 19-14, while Mizzou beat them 55-10. In other words I'm thinking Missouri will beat Kansas tonight and likely by 2 TDs or so.

 

Here are the conference ratings according to www.realtimerpi.com:

 

1. SEC, 56.43

2. Big East, 54.32

3. Big 12, 54.04

4. Big 10, 53.26

5. ACC, 52.57

6. Pac 10, 52.31

 

I can't believe I heard Kirk Herbstreit actually say "We are a Mizzou/Kansas loss and a WVU loss away from USC being in the title picture." How the hell could USC possibly be in any sort of title scene when they currently wouldn't even win the Pac 10 AND have a loss to #108 Stanford? Not to mention a bleh SOS of 53. Hell I would take a 2 loss LSU over them, or 2 loss UGA.

 

OSU could still get into the title game with a loss by either the KU/Mizz winner in the Big 12 title game or WVU losing. But without that happening I see no way they can pass WVU and the Kansas/Missouri winner since OSU simply has no games left.

[Slayer 0]

cabbageboy beat me to the punch on Mizzou.

 

I was going to point out that they had that quality win over Illinois, and they handily beat three teams that KU struggled against (K-State, Colorado and Texas A&M), and unlike KU they actually played OU, even if they did lose in Norman

[cabbageboy 0]

You know something about Illinois I just now remembered? Do you realize that if they had simply beaten IOWA they would have won the Big 10? Talk about a costly loss. Not only did it cost the Illini the Big 10 it likely also cost them any sort of BCS at large bid.

[CanadianChris 0]

Bill Callahan has gotten the long-awaited axe at Nebraska.

[Hawk 34 0]

Don't sleep on Ohio State not being able to stop WVU. Yes they struggled with the Juice, but I am guessing with 7 weeks to prepare (they probably are preparing for about 3 teams right now) they can be formidable against the spread. They have good enough athletes on defense to contain it.

 

They had 7 weeks to prepare for Florida and you should remember how that went.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The Orgeron is done after three years and an 0-8 SEC season. Thought he would have gotten one more chance, but that was a pretty bad team.

[Bored 0]

In case you missed it yesterday, Eric Cartman introduces the Colorado offense and defense.

[iggymcfly 0]

I can't believe I heard Kirk Herbstreit actually say "We are a Mizzou/Kansas loss and a WVU loss away from USC being in the title picture." How the hell could USC possibly be in any sort of title scene when they currently wouldn't even win the Pac 10 AND have a loss to #108 Stanford? Not to mention a bleh SOS of 53. Hell I would take a 2 loss LSU over them, or 2 loss UGA.

 

If West Virginia lost today, I'd put USC #3. They're probably playing the best football in America now that they're healthy. The only thing that would keep them out in that scenario would be a hot Georgia if they were impressive vs. LSU or Oklahoma if they pound the Kansas/Mizzou winner with Bradford back. USC would easily get in over a 1-loss Kansas or a 2-loss LSU.

 

P.S. This will all be moot in 3.5 hours because UConn's chances of beating West Virginia are about nil. They're a 21-point underdog at the moment.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Not to mention USC would win the conference if Oregon and Arizona State lost one more game each while USC beats UCLA. By the way, I think West Virginia COULD beat anyone if everything went as they planned, but don't act like they are invincible or that they are too much for a team to overcome.

[iggymcfly 0]

Just to get some perspective on this, according to the betting line, it would be a bigger upset for UConn to beat WVU than it would be for Syracuse to beat Cincy today.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Massachusetts won their game 49-35 and advanced along with Appalachian State who pulled off the nailbiting 28-27 victory over James Madison.

[Mike wanna be 0]

McAfee just drilled a 70-yard punt without a bounce. He kicks from inside his own 20 and it's finally caught/bobbled/recovered back at the UConn 10.

[Bored 0]

You know things are going bad for Oregon when UCLA has only one first down and has yet to complete a pass halfway thru the 2nd quarter yet the Bruins lead 6-0.

[iggymcfly 0]

Well, FCS nuts: we've got our first upset of the playoffs. All-time FCS scoring leader Dan Carpenter missed a 49-yard FG as time expired and Wofford beat Montana 23-22.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Are you kidding me, CBS? UK/Tennessee is 31-28 with UK driving, and you're switching to commercials and the UF/FSU kickoff? Unreal.