It's the College Football thread!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
1. Texas
2. USC
3. LSU
4. Texas Tech
5. Virginia Tech
6. Alabama
7. UCLA
8. Georgia
9. Miami
10. Florida State

WTF?!

[Apocalypse]

1. Texas
2. USC
3. LSU
4. Texas Tech
5. Virginia Tech
6. Alabama
7. UCLA
8. Georgia
9. Miami
10. TCU


Better Imran?

[DanS]

No, of course not. You're supposed to be a model of objectivity.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
WOW WOW WOW!

I watched the 4th Q and OT of the UCLA v. Stanford game. UCLA IS the most explosive team in college football (bar none). 3 TDs in less than 7 minutes to tie the game and then a TD in OT. Amazing! If they can just get motived for the first 3 Q of the game!

That was an amazing game! For 3 1/2 quarters, UCLA did nothing. They were not plagued with bonehead plays or bad calls; the Bruins were just getting solidly outplayed by Stanford. Momentum wasn't shifting back and forth; it was just Stanford, Stanford, Stanford. Then halfway through the 4th quarter, BOOM! the real Bruin team showed up.

[gjramsey]

1. USC
2. Texas
3. Virginia Tech
4. UCLA
5. Alabama
6. LSU
7. Penn State
8. Notre Dame
9. Florida State
10. Miami

[DanS]

Notre Dame moved up 4 spots in Jeff Sagarin's ELO-CHESS computer ranking to 19, even though they had a bye week. Further convergence of the humans versus computers that should accelerate in the coming weeks.

http://www.kiva.net/~jsagarin/sports/cfsend.htm

Props to Michigan for fighting back and salvaging the year.

[Guynemer]

1. USC (+1)
2. Texas (-1)
3. Virginia Tech
4. Notre Dame
5. UCLA (+2)
6. Alabama (-1)
7. LSU (+1)
8. Penn State (+1)
9. Ohio State (+1)
10. Wisconsin (+1)

[reismark]

THE STATE OF THE BCS - Week 3

CURRENT BCS STANDINGS
The bracketed sequence following a team's name in the BCS standings refers to (in order) the team's Harris Interactive poll ranking, the team's USA Today coaches' poll ranking, and the average of the six computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe). The average of these three rankings determines the team's BCS ranking.

1. Southern California [1, 1, T2] (+1)
2. Texas [2, 2, 1] (-1)
3. Virginia Tech [3, 3, T2]
4. Alabama [4, 4, 4] (+1)
5. California-Los Angeles [6, 7, 6] (+1)
6. Miami [5, 5, 10] (+1)
7. Penn State [10, 11, 5] (+2)
8. Louisiana State [7, 6, T14]
9. Florida State [8, 8, T14] (+1)
10. Ohio State [12, 12, 8] (+3)
11. Georgia [11, 10, 12] (-7)
12. Wisconsin [14, 14, 7]
...
14. Notre Dame [9, 9, 22] (+1)
...
17. West Virginia [18, 16, 13]

-----

I added Notre Dame to the standings just to further highlight the shafting that they are receiving from the computers. It's only going to get worse thanks to the Volunteers blowing it again last week at home against South Carolina, and when the Irish win out and miss out on a shot at a BCS bowl, it'll be the computers blowing it again just like they did with California & Texas last year. (I don't care if Texas ultimately won the game against Michigan - Cal should have been there, period.)

Obviously, the big shakeup this week comes from Georgia falling from the ranks of the unbeaten. I do think they fell a bit too far though - they clamped down well on Florida after a slow start and had a chance to win a game I figured that they'd never be in at the end. The question at this point is whether Shockley can be the same player and still navigate the Bulldogs on their collision course with Alabama in the SEC championship - but with a tough November ahead (at home against Auburn and on the road at Georgia Tech), it's no longer a sure thing.

PROJECTED BERTHS
Projected automatic conference berths are based on a team's record in conference play. Mandated conference tiebreakers are used where possible to break ties for automatic conference berths. In the case of a tie that cannot be broken, the tied teams' BCS ranking is used to break the tie.

ACC: Virginia Tech
Big East: West Virginia
Big Ten: Penn State
Big 12: Texas
Pac-10: Southern California
SEC: Alabama
At-Large #1: California-Los Angeles (Pac-10)
At-Large #2: Miami (ACC)

-----

The status quo held for the leaders in the Big Ten, and this week's matchup between Penn State & Wisconsin, while not officially a Big Ten championship game, will put the winner on a clear inside track. Michigan re-entered the picture with the win against Northwestern, but a lot has to go right for them: They must win out against Indiana this week and then in the Big Game against Ohio State, and hope that Penn State beats Wisconsin but then loses to Michigan State. There's still much to be said here, but Penn State & Wisconsin still control their own destiny.

Miami moved up into the second at-large spot this week, but it's probably not going to last: The Hurricanes must travel to Blacksburg this week, and I haven't seen anything out of them to convince me that they'll be able to derail Michael Vick's kid brother and the Hokies' quest to crack the BCS and get into the title game (which won't happen unless the Trojans or the Longhorns lose). Should the Hurricanes prove me wrong, you'll see them for sure in the automatic spot next week.

PROJECTED MATCHUPS
Rose Bowl: Southern California v. Texas
Fiesta Bowl: UCLA v. West Virginia
Sugar Bowl: Alabama v. Miami
Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech v. Penn State

Pac-10 champion Southern California & Big 12 champion Texas are automatically placed into the Rose Bowl due to their #1 & #2 rankings, respectively. ACC champion Virginia Tech is placed into the Orange Bowl and SEC champion Alabama is placed into the Sugar Bowl due to traditional conference tie-ins. The only bowl to lose a traditional tie-in is the Fiesta Bowl (Big 12 champion Texas) so it gets first choice of the remaining teams. Usually, the selections to fill the remaining slots after the national championship game and the traditional conference tie-ins are done in accord with BCS rankings, meaning that the Fiesta would select Pac-10 at-large UCLA as its first representative.

Priority for the remaining selections is based on a bowl's payout and its priority stature in previous years. (Each bowl submits a list of its top three teams, and the bowl is given the highest-listed team available based on the bowl's priority.) The BCS has established the following priority order based on these factors for this year's bowls:

1. Orange Bowl
2. Fiesta Bowl
3. Sugar Bowl

By rule, if a conference champion is available for this last stage of allocations, they cannot be ranked third on the list that a bowl submits. This means that by default, ACC at-large Miami would be allocated to the Sugar Bowl (since it has the lowest priority). Finally, based on BCS rankings, Big Ten champion Penn State is selected by the Orange Bowl, and Big East champion West Virginia is selected by the Fiesta Bowl.

[DanS]

Lots of good football this weekend, gentlemen.

[DanS]

reismark: What I don't understand is why the press says that Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if they only have two losses and are in the top 12 of the BCS.

[Guynemer]

Wisconsin - Penn State is the game to watch this weekend. The Lions get the edge thanks to home field.

The Hokies are going to run the overrated 'Canes out of the building.

[DanS]

Speaking of Penn State, ND's going to be playing them next year before they play Michigan. An extreme schedule. Interesting additions in Penn State and UCLA.

Date Opponent Game Time Network
Sept. 2 @ Georgia Tech tba tba
Sept. 9 Penn State tba NBC
Sept. 16 Michigan tba NBC
Sept. 23 @ Michigan State tba tba
Sept. 30 Purdue tba NBC
Oct. 7 Stanford tba NBC
Oct. 21 UCLA tba NBC
Oct. 28 @ Navy (site tba) tba tba
Nov. 4 North Carolina tba NBC
Nov. 11 @ Air Force tba tba
Nov. 25 @ USC tba tba

[DanS]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Wisconsin - Penn State is the game to watch this weekend. The Lions get the edge thanks to home field.

The Hokies are going to run the overrated 'Canes out of the building.

What happens when you have two overrated teams playing one another?

[DanS]

Sports is not about alcohol? Wha...

Updated: Nov. 1, 2005, 11:29 PM ET
Hawaii fans to say aloha to tailgating alcohol?
Associated Press

HONOLULU -- For Hawaii fans, it's not just the football season that seems to be slipping away. Warrior followers may have to do without a cold one when tailgating next year.

The Aloha Stadium Authority on Tuesday agreed to hold a public hearing on plans to ban alcohol in the stadium's parking lot during high school and college regular season sporting events.

The hearing will be scheduled after the University of Hawaii's regular football season ends Dec. 3, when the Warriors play San Diego State. The hearing could also be held on a weekend or at night to increase attendance.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona has been asking for the ban, along with UH interim President David McClain. They argue that beer drinking has contributed to unruly behavior at a stadium frequented by many families.

Alcohol will still be sold inside the stadium. Vendors who sell beer and food at the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium had spoken against banning alcohol inside the stadium, saying it would hurt their sales.

The proposal to ban alcohol from the stadium parking lot still needs approval from Gov. Linda Lingle.

Student government president Grant Teichman said he was upset with the authority's vote, saying most students oppose the ban.

"It's really going to hurt the students who just want to go out there and have a good time," said Teichman, noting that 40 student senators representing all university programs have unanimously voted against the ban.

"It will dramatically affect tailgating, one of the few traditions that our students have," he said.

But student Scott Alonso said the ban is needed to prevent fights like the one that happened in 2002 when Hawaii played Cincinnati, and in 2003, when the Warriors faced Houston.

"I think it's the right message," said Alonso, who is also sports editor for the school's student-run newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawaii. "Sports is not about alcohol. Sports is for people to enjoy."

McClain had originally sought to have alcohol banned inside the stadium because he didn't think police would be able to control it in the parking lot during tailgating.

"He thought that there might be enforceable problems with that," said university spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka. "But we will work with the authority."

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm thinking that AT LEAST for high school football games, alcohol should probably be banned in the parking lot .

Though alcohol is being sold inside the stadium... unlike other college stadiums.