The College Football Thread 2006

[pchang]

Why

is California scheduling 1-AA teams?

I root for them, but there is no honor in spanking (and injuring the 1st and 2nd string QBs of) a 1-AA team.

[Tuberski]

So they can at least have one win?



ACK!

[PLATO]

I really detest the Gators...

I mean really.

Grrrrr

[Darsnan]

Last week then #14 Iowa barely beat #114 Syracuse in 2OT. This week SU beats Illinois 31-21 at home. So is SU that much improved, or is Illinois that bad? Regardless, looks like Gregg Robinson has the SU program headed in the right direction!


D

[Drake Tungsten]

Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame and Colorado all lose. Great weekend!

[asleepathewheel]

and Nebraska

[Drake Tungsten]

No surprise there.

[asleepathewheel]

were any of the ones you listed surprises, excepting ND?

The other 3 have looked terrible this year. Neb at least had that shellacking of Nicholls state to feel confident about

[Drake Tungsten]

Florida State and Miami were both moderate surprises. They're supposed to beat the likes of Clemson and Louisville.

[Lord Avalon]

U-M 47, ND 21.

Hail to the Victors!

I had hoped for a win, but this was amazing! Our D got pressure on Quinn, forced some INTs. Sacked or hit him plenty of times. We covered kicks well. After some trouble early on, we pass-blocked well enough to give Henne time to throw Manningham 3TD passes.

Now if we could just improve the play calling. I get tired of run, run, pass, punt.

I know a couple guys at work I want to talk to.

[TCO]

Navy is 3-0. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=262590024

[Guynemer]

Hey Dan, I was just curious about something.

Notre Dame has several rivals: USC, MSU, U-M, Purdue, Navy, etc. etc. Is there a hierarchy to these rivalries, or are they all roughly equal?

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by reismark
I think with all the major games this weekend that this is a good week to start our Apolyton Top 10.

One more week. Everyone will have at least played one conference game by then.

[Guynemer]

Oh, and for the record, Oklahoma got absolutely jobbed, but they still had a chance to win and blew it. That's about as ugly as it gets.

[DanS]

Yes, there is a hierarchy. USC is basically the only real rivalry. Well, that's not strictly true. Army was a real rivalry for a long time. Navy could be a real rivalry, if it decides to be an elite team. We have had monstrous crowds for all 3 of those teams (~120,000 a game in the 20s at Soldier Field). Miami was a real rivalry, for the short time that we played them regularly. All of these are for various historical reasons, not necessarily because the series is close. The USC series is heavy to the Irish (42-30-5), f.e. All except Miami are respectful rivalries, not hated rivalries.

The Michigan beatdown felt no worse because there was a rivalry, f.e. Charlie Weis will not be judged good or ill, specifically because of his record against Michigan. In contrast, Willingham was fired in part because of being thrashed by USC 3 times in a row. There is a lot of history in the Michigan series, but mostly it's history about why ND and Michigan and ND didn't play each other and develop an early rivalry. Michigan is always a tough early-season game, so no disrespect intended.

We have no real rivalry with MSU, but the school deserves several beatdowns for its abhorrent behavior last year, being disrespectful of the hosts (who try hard to be good hosts). Boston College deserves several beatdowns for an incident that I can't even remember right now, but it ended the series. Georgia Tech deserves several beatdowns for the rotten fish episode. No real rivalry with Purdue.