College Football 2010: So it begins

[Boris Godunov]

Same exact record, but it's Pac 10 vs. Big 12. Go ahead and be a fan. It's all good. I would hope that at some point you could actually recognize and acknowledge the difference. If not, it's fine. We all have our realms of fantasy.

This... is not even remotely comprehensible as a response to what I said. Have you been hitting the hooch again, Tex?

And Solomwi? Texas Tech, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and TCU (who SHOULD still be in the conference, will give any team besides Alabama a Hell of a game. So don't get cocky.

Oh, so you get to count teams in the Big 12 that aren't even part of the conference?

And wait a second... Texas Tech? They're 2-2 and lost to Texas, a team you just called fodder, and Iowa State. Talk about trying to pad your case... You could have at least picked Oklahoma State or Baylor, for ****'s sake.

[Solomwi]

It was UCLA. Which is as low down in the Pac-10 as Texas is in the Big 12 (same exact record, in fact). And didn't just win, they stomped Texas. By a much bigger margin than Big 12 team Oklahoma beat the Longhorns. And UCLA got stomped by Stanford. Which just got stomped by Oregon...

Come on, you can piece things together, can't you?

In fairness, UCLA's come on pretty strong since that beatdown (and the loss to Big 12 K-State ). On a somewhat related note, I'm not sold on Oklahoma by any stretch. Their two notable wins have come against teams with a combined one good win (FSU v. UVA), and they have two "bad" wins, against AFA and Cincy. Similarly, Nebraska has one win of note, but at least they've been blowing out the teams they're supposed to blow out. The two undefeated Pac-10 teams certainly look stronger thus far.

[Boris Godunov]

In fairness, UCLA's come on pretty strong since that beatdown

Oh definitely, they've improved. But they're still not even close to being the best team in the Pac-10, which was my point. You've got Oregon, UA, Stanford, Cal, USC and possibly Oregon State that are better Pac-10 teams.

[Solomwi]

Same exact record, but it's Pac 10 vs. Big 12. Go ahead and be a fan. It's all good. I would hope that at some point you could actually recognize and acknowledge the difference. If not, it's fine. We all have our realms of fantasy.

And Solomwi? Texas Tech, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and TCU (who SHOULD still be in the conference, will give any team besides Alabama a Hell of a game. So don't get cocky.

Uh huh. There's a reason Tommy Tuberville's in Lubbock now, and not the SEC. Throwing out TCU, since it's not, you know, actually in the Big 12 (and never was), you're left with two teams that could compete in the SEC, and two that would be around the Ole Miss level. Congratulations.

Apropos of nothing, Tuberville got 52 points hung on him by his defensive coordinator (last at Auburn), who was using another former Tuberville DC's players alongside his own. The other two DCs from Tuberville's Auburn run (ignoring the assclown before Chizik) are David Gibbs, DB coach for the Texans, and Muschamp at UT. Of course, Chizik's path back to Auburn led through Austin and Ames. Not making any point here other than noting the coincidences.

[Solomwi]

Oh definitely, they've improved. But they're still not even close to being the best team in the Pac-10, which was my point. You've got Oregon, UA, Stanford, Cal, USC and possibly Oregon State that are better Pac-10 teams.

No doubt; we agree on the larger point. I just wanted an excuse to bring up the K-State loss. The one constant about the Big 12 since its inception is that you could get rich buying it for what it is and selling it for what it wishes it is.

[SlowwHand]

This... is not even remotely comprehensible as a response to what I said. Have you been hitting the hooch again, Tex?



Oh, so you get to count teams in the Big 12 that aren't even part of the conference?

And wait a second... Texas Tech? They're 2-2 and lost to Texas, a team you just called fodder, and Iowa State. Talk about trying to pad your case... You could have at least picked Oklahoma State or Baylor, for ****'s sake.

I don't know why I bother talking to you idiots. I think that in the future I won't. Just beat your gums.

[Ben Kenobi]

Teams are highly ranked for a reason, not because of arbitrariness

Performance last year? Because they have shiny uniforms? Why is Ohio still number 2 other than the fact that bigwigs in preseason thought they were good.

I love it how nobody's talking about OK State...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Imran, any offense can work with UF's athletes. Anyone who said otherwise (not denying it was said, as I heard plenty of it, too) was being stupid, ignorant or obstinate.

Agreed. The thing I most liked though was some other SEC teams adopting a more wide open offense in response (Arkansas and Auburn are two).

[Imran Siddiqui]

Performance last year? Because they have shiny uniforms? Why is Ohio still number 2 other than the fact that bigwigs in preseason thought they were good.

Should preseason or early season rankings not take into account perfromance last season? Why not?

[Boris Godunov]

Performance last year? Because they have shiny uniforms? Why is Ohio still number 2 other than the fact that bigwigs in preseason thought they were good.

Why shouldn't they get credit for winning the Rosebowl in the previous season? The only reason BSU is as high as it is in the rankings is due to its previous season performance, since they've not played any very strong teams so far. Ohio State at least beat Miami, which is 4-1, as opposed to VT's 3-2 record.

At this point in the season, Ohio State and Oregon have pretty similar records. I think it's entirely reasonable that if all else is equal, this year's Rosebowl game is the tiebreaker for determining which of them is ranked above the other. Oregon will have to continue to put up big wins and Ohio State will have to exhibit weakness for that to change.

What, you think Boise State and Maryland should have been equally ranked in Week 1 because they both had 1-0 records? Hilarious...

[Guynemer]

Michigan is a 4.5 favorite over Michigan State.




Has anyone actually watched these teams play? Unless DRob can play cornerback as well, the Spartans are going to take Michigan to poundtown.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Are we making the assumption that Michigan State has a defense?

[Guynemer]

A far better defense than any Michigan has faced thus far. Don't get me wrong, I still expect DRob to hang at least 300 total yards and 28 points, minimum, on MSU. But the Spartans are going to go through the Michigan D like they aren't even there.

[Solomwi]

Agreed. The thing I most liked though was some other SEC teams adopting a more wide open offense in response (Arkansas and Auburn are two).

Hey, the fans will say what they want, but the guys getting paid (you know, the coaches and players) have never been afraid to adopt whatever they thought might give them an advantage. I'm actually kind of proud of Auburn fans for not showing a lot of apprehensiveness about bringing in Malzahn and his system, given the oh so recent disaster that was Tony "Unmade Waterbed" Franklin. There's a world of difference between the two, but a lot of fans would have just seen that both were spread-based and started the lamentations.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Auburn fans, though, have struggled through some of the worst offense imaginable lately. I'm sure they wanted any change as long as it was exciting .

And Guy, MSU gave up more points to ND than Michgan did .