The College Football Thread 11/25 - 11/29

[Psycho Penguin 0]

If Ball State is forced to go to Motor City Bowl, I don't see any reason for the MAC to continue to exist as a FBS conference. If they are not going to respect an undefeated team from there, how far can anyone there go?

 

I've been saying this since 2003, when a 10-2 (or 10-3, I forget) Northern Illinois, who won vs a top 15 Maryland and won AT Alabama, did not even MAKE A BOWL GAME. I was pissed when that happened.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

No, they can break that "commitment" very easily. Just a matter of whether it happens or not. A lot of other bowls will have trouble filling their slot and a 13-0 (potentially) team will be very appealing to some bowls. I still say Liberty Bowl vs. Boise State would rock, as challenging as it might be to set up for that bowl's committee.

I highly doubt there will be space for Boise or Ball State in the Liberty Bowl; it's for the C-USA champ and the #6 SEC team. The issue of commitment goes both ways, and the Liberty Bowl certainly isn't going to blow off the SEC after they worked pretty hard to get them involved, nor is there much incentive for them to blow off a lower-conference's champion. There really isn't anything better than the Motor City Bowl out there for the MAC, unless you want to send them to Honolulu to play Hawaii--the Pac 10 probably won't be able to fill the slot.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Which bowl is played on Boise's field? They could invite Ball State to come play ball with them.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

That's an ACC slot, in the prestigious Roady's Humanitarian Bowl. This year's the last time, but I expect someone will still be going there.

[Chazz 0]

I don't think anyone is really creaming their pants over a 7-3 team this year.

 

You'd be surprised.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

They'll take an ACC team over Ball State. The ACC has a lot of good bowl eligible teams.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Lane Kiffin has apparently been offered the Tennessee job and will accept on Monday so as not to interfere with "Phillip Fulmer Day". His dad Monte Kiffin could be coming in as Defensive Coordinator.

 

Source: ESPN.com

 

Straight BANGIN Pick for my Vols. Great recruiter and great defensive mind. Two for the price of one.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Lane Kiffin has apparently been offered the Tennessee job and will accept on Monday. His dad Monte Kiffin could be coming in as Defensive Coordinator.

 

Source: ESPN.com

 

Straight BANGIN Pick for my Vols. Great recruiter and great defensive mind. Two for the price of one.

 

Fuck. That's a tremendous hire. Aren't they also bringing in Ed Orgeron to do recruiting? I can see Tennessee being a national powerhouse again in three years.

[Chazz 0]

Nice fucking throwing Stull.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Lane Kiffin has apparently been offered the Tennessee job and will accept on Monday. His dad Monte Kiffin could be coming in as Defensive Coordinator.

 

Source: ESPN.com

 

Straight BANGIN Pick for my Vols. Great recruiter and great defensive mind. Two for the price of one.

 

Fuck. That's a tremendous hire. Aren't they also bringing in Ed Orgeron to do recruiting? I can see Tennessee being a national powerhouse again in three years.

 

A guy that's never won anywhere and a cheater at recruiting and now they're going to be a powerhouse? It's possible, but I don't see that happening if they hire Kiffin. I could be wrong, though.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

I believe Cincy just won the Big East, or do they still need to beat Syracuse?

 

And the announcer just confirmed it for me. Congrats, Cincy. I'm wondering if Brian Kelly will be staying there now.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

... USC? The Raiders aren't a good barometer of success, otherwise Mike Shanahan never gets hired by Denver.

[Chazz 0]

I believe Cincy just won the Big East, or do they still need to beat Syracuse?

 

And the announcer just confirmed it for me. Congrats, Cincy. I'm wondering if Brian Kelly will be staying there now.

 

No. Even if Cinci loses to The Orange, they still own the tiebreaker via their win over WVU. Great comeback win for Pitt. McCoy carried them on his back today. Sure hope he sticks to his word and doesn't go pro next year.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

You mean when he became OC (not head coach, so I don't know why it was brought up) and they didn't win national titles in 2 years after winning one and sharing another the prior 2 years?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

You mean when he became OC (not head coach, so I don't know why it was brought up) and they didn't win national titles in 2 years after winning one and sharing another the prior 2 years?

 

You have to start somewhere. You act like teams are only allowed to hire head coaching retreads. Kiffin was a hot coach coming out of college to the Raiders, where he wasn't given a chance to succeed. Now Tennessee is giving him that chance, and making sure that he gets the most out of this chance by surrounding him with an all star cast of coaches. And he split the duties at USC with Steve Sarkissan, who still has yet to bring USC to a national title game. So it's possible that since Sarkissan is the preferred OC of Carroll's, he probably listened to Sarkissan more than he did Kiffin.

 

Though I'd say Norm Chow would probably have been a better hire if they were going this route. But it's hard to deny the politics of it (by bringing in Lane, they get a Super Bowl defensive coordinator in Monte as well).

[Hawk 34 0]

I believe Cincy just won the Big East, or do they still need to beat Syracuse?

 

And the announcer just confirmed it for me. Congrats, Cincy. I'm wondering if Brian Kelly will be staying there now.

 

It depends if ND lets Weis go.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

It'd cost 25 million or so to let Weis go. Ain't going to happen.

 

[edit] and now I'm reading it might not be so costly to let Weis go. Apparently his last potential shot is against USC tomorrow. If they get blown out like people expect, ND will explore the option seriously.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

You mean when he became OC (not head coach, so I don't know why it was brought up) and they didn't win national titles in 2 years after winning one and sharing another the prior 2 years?

 

You have to start somewhere. You act like teams are only allowed to hire head coaching retreads. Kiffin was a hot coach coming out of college to the Raiders, where he wasn't given a chance to succeed. Now Tennessee is giving him that chance, and making sure that he gets the most out of this chance by surrounding him with an all star cast of coaches. And he split the duties at USC with Steve Sarkissan, who still has yet to bring USC to a national title game. So it's possible that since Sarkissan is the preferred OC of Carroll's, he probably listened to Sarkissan more than he did Kiffin.

 

Though I'd say Norm Chow would probably have been a better hire if they were going this route. But it's hard to deny the politics of it (by bringing in Lane, they get a Super Bowl defensive coordinator in Monte as well).

 

I'm saying most people have to start at some lower school, not a team that expects to be in the national title hunt every year. And I'm saying I don't see how this instantly makes Tennessee a potential powerhouse in the making. It's a lot of assumptions right now. He may be fabulous. He may be terrible. We don't know yet.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Can't I be optimistic, man? I like Kiffin. I want him to succeed.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Can't I be optimistic, man? I like Kiffin. I want him to succeed.

 

That's fine. My original reply wasn't to you. It's fine to hope he succeeds. I just don't think he will, and if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Time will tell.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

At the very very very least, he fits what Tennessee fans has called for (more lively playcalling).

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

My thoughts on Lane Kiffin are well known, but with Saban, Nutt, Meyer, Miles, and to a lesser extent Spurrier (all except one have won national titles) all in the conference, it's really hard to see how Lane Kiffin could bring Tennessee back to being a national power anytime soon. I like USC and all, but looking back, Kiffin and Sarkissan had awesome talent (Bush, White, Leinart, Steve Smith, Jarret etc) that any coordinator worth a damn could have won with. And that was with Pete Carroll's recruits. You have no idea how he will recruit players, how he will handle the media, and will handle the pressure of being expected to compete for a national championship every season.

 

Lane Kiffin has never been successful on his own accord, and his tenure on the Raiders (who should have never hired him the first place) was an unmitigated disaster for both sides. Looking back, it sucks what happened to him, but he didn't help out the situation with his smug comments to the media and flirting with college programs after his first season with the Raiders. Al Davis is a shitty boss, but if he couldn't handle Al, it's going to spectacular to see how he handles the Tennessee boosters and fans. Good luck Lane.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I'd like to mention after a few years of hearing LSU fans thump their chests about their team, this season has been the most delicious to watch as a LSU hater.

[naiwf 0]

I'd like to mention after a few years of hearing LSU fans thump their chests about their team, this season has been the most delicious to watch as a LSU hater.

 

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Guest]

Ridiculously average coach, that Les Miles is.

[Damaramu 0]

Dama, we know its a 3 way tie. We know that if OU loses to OK State but Tech wins that its pretty much game over and Tech goes thru..all it is, is simply assuming what the rest of the Nation is (Tech simply destroying Baylor) and focusing on the team we'd have to be higher than to get into the Big 12 title game.

 

Trust me, if it were the other way around..needing to politic against Tech for a shot at the title game, we'd be doing that.

 

Yeah, but I'm basically trying to say the 45-35 stuff has no grounding here. Texas fans are basically arguing and promoting a completely invalid reason to get into the game, and that's why I keep saying this stuff. They have no basis in their argument because it's a 3-way tie. That's what I've been trying to say. The politicking is wrong. Now if you want to point out that Texas is playing better than OU and Tech and has the better road, that's fine. That works. But bringing up the OU/Texas game really has no bearing right here.

 

I don't even think OU needs to win impressively tomorrow. A 3-point win over a top 12 team on the road should be more impressive than blowing out a 4-7 team at home. Hell OU's win over A&M was probably more impressive because it was on the road. I don't see how Texas can possibly gain in the voters minds this week, unless the voters are just stupid.

Then again the voters obviously aren't seeing it like the talking heads on ESPN. Saunders, Flutie and especially Herbstreit are just politicking for Texas like they bleed burnt orange. It's obvious they want Texas in that game and not OU. They completely discount the 3-way tie and just keep going on and on about the OU/Texas game. Luckily the voters don't agree with these morons and obviously think OU is the better team right now. And if OU wins tomorrow, it'll probably stay that way. Like Iggy said, it'd take a massive swing by the voters to put Texas ahead of OU. And then that'd just probably completely invalidate the polls because it'd show the pollsters can be completely bought by a team that politicks hard. Because an OU win would do nothing to drop them behind Texas in the polls. The only thing that could move Texas ahead in the polls is if the politicking gets to the voters. Luckily OU has the advantage of going in to this week not only being ahead in the polls but playing a top 12 team on the road. Any win should impress voters. Especially in the Big XII where the home team has held serve all season.

I think it's pretty safe that even a 3-point OU win (as long as it's not cheap and swings all the voters in the other direction) is enough to put them in the Big XII title game. But, I'm sure Herbstreit will put on a Texas hat and campaign otherwise until he's blue in the face.

 

Plus it's completely astounding that Herby and the gang want to discount the Florida loss to Ole Miss because they're playing well right now but punish OU for their loss despite the fact OU is probably playing better than Florida!

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Not to mention, OU lost to Texas, who last I checked, was #3/#4, at a neutral site. Florida though? Ole Miss, while a top 25 team, is no Texas, and they lost that one at HOME. There really would be no justification for sending Florida in over Oklahoma if it came down to it.

 

At least not until Florida beats Alabama.

[Broward83 0]

Yeah...because you know, all those other times OU went into a BCS game as the "hot team" they just totally destroyed their oppon...

 

 

..oh wait. No...

 

Sorry Dama, if anything hurts OU its voters gun-shy at putting OU into another big game only to have them fall hard.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Not to mention, OU lost to Texas, who last I checked, was #3/#4, at a neutral site. Florida though? Ole Miss, while a top 25 team, is no Texas, and they lost that one at HOME. There really would be no justification for sending Florida in over Oklahoma if it came down to it.

 

At least not until Florida beats Alabama.

 

This is the funniest post I read lately. You do realize they won't be putting a team in the title game right now, right?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Actually it was a response to Dama's last paragraph in his last post. I'm fully aware there's approximately two weeks left of ball to be played.