It's the College Football thread!

[Donegeal]

Wisconsin... looses!

... meh. Imran was right on this one. It was't a surprise. I knew this was going to happen. Still should get a good bowl game.

[reismark]

THE STATE OF THE BCS - Week 4

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, 2]
2. Texas [2, 2, 1]
3. Alabama [4, 3, T4] (+1)
4. Miami [3, 4, T4] (+2)
5. Penn State [6, 6, 3] (+2)
6. Virginia Tech [8, 8, 6] (-3)
7. Louisiana State [5, 5, T13] (+1)
8. Ohio State [10, 10, 7] (+2)
9. Georgia [9, 9, T12] (+2)
10. Oregon [11, 11, 8] (+3)
11. Notre Dame [7, 7, 18] (+3)
12. Texas Tech [12, 13, 10] (+3)
...
14. West Virginia [17, 15, T13] (+3)

-----

Lots of shifts in the standings this week thanks to losses by UCLA, Florida State, and (most surprisingly) Virginia Tech. With Alabama having many obstacles standing between them and an unbeaten record (obstacles I don't believe that they can completely conquer), USC & Texas are now your clear #1 and #2, and at this point the BCS just needs to concern itself with getting its secondary job (getting the other bowl matchups put together) done right.

Notre Dame rose in the right direction this week, but they've still got a long way to go to get in position for a potential berth. Basically, at least three of the five teams ahead of them need to lose (while they win out) in order for them to have a realistic shot.

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

-----

The SEC takes center stage this week with two gigantic marquee matchups, as Alabama puts its national championship onlooker status up against LSU and Georgia tries to get back on track against Auburn. I'm going with the road team in both games, as LSU's offense is somewhat stronger than Alabama's, and I don't have confidence in Shockley being the same player he was earlier in the season against a team that he'd likely have trouble with even if he was at full speed. (But this is the guy who predicted that Virginia Tech would destroy Miami... so why would you listen to me?)

PROJECTED MATCHUPS
Rose Bowl: Southern California v. Texas
Fiesta Bowl: Penn State v. West Virginia
Sugar Bowl: Alabama v. Virginia Tech
Orange Bowl: Miami v. Louisiana 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 Miami 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 Big Ten champion Penn State 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. Since Big East champion West Virginia is the only conference champion not allocated and trails ACC at-large Virginia Tech and SEC at-large Louisiana State in the BCS rankings, they would be ranked second on all lists and thus be allocated to the Fiesta Bowl. Finally, since BCS representatives would not want to match teams from the same conference, Louisiana State would be selected by the Orange Bowl and Virginia Tech would be selected by the Sugar Bowl, despite their BCS rankings dictating the opposite.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
True, but that was 'Bama's first game without their playmaker (Prothro), IIRC.

They'll figure it out as they go throughout the year. Though I'm not sure they beat Auburn or a Shockey led Georgia squad (which would have beaten Florida).

2nd game, but part of your point still stands. Their offensive output plummeted without Prothro, and hasn't gotten any better, unless you count the 35 they put up on Utah State. They've had four games now to figure out how to get into the end zone without him and, as DanS points out, couldn't do it against MSU. I doubt they see Georgia, mainly because I don't see them getting by LSU Saturday. Which of course means they finish 9-2.

JohnT, if you wander by this thread, care to place an avatar bet on Auburn-Georgia?

[Dis]

. The 2 Carolina Panthers cheerleaders were fired after getting arrested for having sex in a bathroom stall. .

Poor cheerleaders don't have the players union to fight for them like Terrell Owens does.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2216124

[Drake Tungsten]

Notre Dame rose in the right direction this week, but they've still got a long way to go to get in position for a potential berth. Basically, at least three of the five teams ahead of them need to lose (while they win out) in order for them to have a realistic shot.

As it should be.

[DanS]

By the way, isn't a bathroom stall the most disgusting place in which to have sex?

[DanS]

Notre Dame rose in the right direction this week, but they've still got a long way to go to get in position for a potential berth. Basically, at least three of the five teams ahead of them need to lose (while they win out) in order for them to have a realistic shot.

I hate to keep coming back to this, but are you sure of those rules?

http://www.bcsfootball.org/index2.cfm?page=eligibility

By my reading, the Irish get an automatic at-large bid if they are in the BCS top 6. They are eligible for an at-large bid if they are in the BCS top 12, and have 9 wins. If the Irish are eligible, they are evaluated for inclusion as an at-large team based upon a whole range of criteria ($) allowing a great deal of judgment by the bowls.

Neither VaTech nor LSU get automatic at-large bids, even if they are ranked in the top 6, because they aren't conference champs and are neither Division I-A independents nor teams from Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt or Western Athletic Conference.

[pchang]

Originally posted by DanS
By the way, isn't a bathroom stall the most disgusting place in which to have sex?

There much worse places

[Imran Siddiqui]

I think DanS has the proper reading. I doubt ND will get in the BCS top 6 (though stranger things have happened), meaning they won't get an auto bid, but if they finish int he Top 12, then they are "in the discussion" so to speak.

The question is, ND is, say, 10th in the BCS (for example), will the bowls pick them over a team which may be #5? They truely may. Of course that would end up causing a lot of outrage, but the money may be worth it.

[pchang]

Outrage shmoutrage. Follow the Benjamins. As for the BCS, any publicity is good publicity.

[DanS]

Regarding outrage, where do you propose ND would be ranked in the human polls at the time?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Not for the BCS it ain't

[DanS]

Looks like we cross-posted. I proposed an interesting hypothetical question that I think is important for Imran to answer.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Maybe 6, maybe 7?

I can see Bama or LSU dropping out of the Top 10, but I can also see VTech leaping back over them if they win out.

[DanS]

That sounds about right. Now why would anybody be outraged that a team ranked 6 or 7 in the human polls is in the top 4 games?