It's the College Football thread!

[PLATO]

I am in mourning


So much talent...so little offense....

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Solomwi
Since 2002, USC is tied with Mississippi State for number of SEC wins.

however, I can't laugh too much, as I join in mrmitchell's sentiments of last week.

[Guynemer]

Recap of the big games:

#6 Florida 16
#5 Tennessee 7

#8 Florida State 28
#17 Boston College 17

Michigan State 44
#10 Notre Dame 41 (OT)

#13 Miami 36
#20 Clemson 30 (3OT)

UCLA 41
#21 Oklahoma 24

Oregon 37
#23 Fresno State 34


A number of sorta-surprises in there, but nothing terribly shocking.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel




however, I can't laugh too much, as I join in mrmitchell's sentiments of last week.

I thought you'd enjoy that.

As the season progresses, it may become clear that the "lost to Vandy" stigma is a little less shameful this year. It's always shameful, of course, but they actually look to have an all right little team this year.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Solomwi


I thought you'd enjoy that.

As the season progresses, it may become clear that the "lost to Vandy" stigma is a little less shameful this year. It's always shameful, of course, but they actually look to have an all right little team this year.

Yeah, I'm in rationalization mode.

I did see in person on Saturday Indiana demolish Kentucky, which was extremely unexpected. Not that that makes up for anything, as they are at best my #3 team...

[Guynemer]

The new AP poll (without Oklahoma for the first time since Genesis!):

#1 USC (57)
#2 Texas (8)
#3 LSU
#4 Virginia Tech
#5 Florida
#6 Florida State
#7 Georgia
#8 Ohio State
#9 Louisville
#10 Tennessee
#11 Purdue
#12 Miami
#13 California
#14 Michigan
#15 Georgia Tech
#16 Notre Dame
#17 Michigan State
#18 Arizona State
#19 Texas Tech
#20 Alabama
#21 Iowa
#22 Iowa State
#23 Virginia
#24 Oregon
#25 UCLA

Notre Dame beats Michigan on the road; Michigan State beats Notre Dame on the road; and Michigan is ahead of Notre Dame who is ahead of Michigan State.




Anyway, a look ahead to a big weekend...

The Main Event

#10 Tennessee at #3 LSU
Can the Vols rebound? Short answer: no. Long answer: nooooooooooooooooooooooo. (Apologies to John Stewart.) ESPN, 7:45 PM Eastern.


The Undercard

#1 USC at #24 Oregon
The unstoppable Trojans travel to Autzen, the most hostile stadium in the country. 7PM Eastern, ABC.

#15 Georgia Tech at #4 Virginia Tech
An ACC BCS elimination game, 2:30 Eastern, ABC.

#22 Iowa at #8 Ohio State
A Big Ten BCS elimination game, noon Eastern, ABC.

#14 Michigan at Wisconsin
Michigan's always-perilous first road game of the year is under the lights in Madison, 6PM Eastern, ESPN2.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Notre Dame beats Michigan on the road; Michigan State beats Notre Dame on the road; and Michigan is ahead of Notre Dame who is ahead of Michigan State.

To analogize it to the NFL, just because San Francisco beat St. Louis last week doesn't mean they are the better team. A head to head matchup doesn't always tell you who is better. One team may have had an off game for instance.

I'd probably put Michigan State over Notre Dame, but it was a barely won game. I'm sure if ND didn't come back on Michigan State, State would be ahead of ND.

[DanS]

The polls are there to promote interest in the matchups. They want the USC-ND and ND-Purdue games to be big, so they rank ND higher than they might otherwise. More interesting to write about highly-ranked teams, no?

[DanS]

You know, I've been reading the transcripts of Charlie Weis' press conferences and it's clear that ND has one of the best football coaches at any level. He's surprisingly forthcoming about the methods to his madness.

One of the toughest things to do in life is to prepare for a situation, make a plan, and execute the plan -- and have it work all the time. I get the sense that Weis is prepared for every situation himself and has a plan that he knows will work. Even though I've played football, I didn't realize before now that the game has a finite number of situations. If you can teach your team in the classroom about those situations, and they buy in and execute the plan, then that's a team that is incredibly tough to beat. The playbook might be large in order to address all of the permutations, but it's not several volumes large. It's something that can be taught like any other college course of study.

[Guynemer]

Early action:

Ohio State is slapping Iowa around like a $10 whore.

Minnesota leading Purdue at the half.

Arkansas leading Alabama.

Northwestern thumping Penn State.


Everything else going according to Hoyle.

[asleepathewheel]

Man, purdue's #1 run defense is being shredded.

And I'm loving it.

Too bad Minny's only up by 6 at the start of 4th

[Imran Siddiqui]

But Purdue comes back... they'll lead by 1 after the extra point.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Purdue INT returned for a TD!!!!!

[asleepathewheel]

Yup. Minny can't score when they have the chance in the first and it comes back to bite them.

The worst call was late in the third when it was 3rd and 4 and instead of runnning, they have their RB Maroney try to pass. get a field goal . rolleyes

[Imran Siddiqui]

Now tied... 1:15 left.