Fiesta Bowl (Notre Dame vs. Ohio State)

[Mike Aller]

Location: Tempe, AZ

[mhuber92211]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

[adamb0719]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

[rocket]

OSU by 2 touchdowns.

[Andy]

ND will win 27-21.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

[Mike Aller]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

Exactly. Just because a team has 1 loss doesn't mean it should be a higher ranked team. Especially with Ohio State, you can make a strong case.

 

Ohio State's strength of schedule is the 3rd toughest in the nation compared to 49th in the nation by Oregon and 69th by TCU. With Notre Dame at the 39th for SOS you might have a legit beef.

 

Ohio State, with a much tougher schedule than Oregon beat their opponents by an average of 17.73 points per game while Oregon with a schedule that is much weaker beat their opponents by an average of 12.63. (I used Points For Per game and Points Against Per game to come up with that).

[Mike Aller]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

I agree with you completely. If Texas, who scores 50.9 PPG and get on average 522 yards per game can't put up 27 against OSU, I don't see Notre Dame, who scores 38.2 PPG and gets on average 505.4 YPG, putting up 27.

[Andy]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

I agree with you completely. If Texas, who scores 50.9 PPG and get on average 522 yards per game can't put up 27 against OSU, I don't see Notre Dame, who scores 38.2 PPG and gets on average 505.4 YPG, putting up 27.

When it comes to offense:

 

Charlie Weis > Mack Brown

 

JMHO.

 

Although I wouldn't be at all surprised if the game ends up being lower-scoring than that.

[adamb0719]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

I agree with you completely. If Texas, who scores 50.9 PPG and get on average 522 yards per game can't put up 27 against OSU, I don't see Notre Dame, who scores 38.2 PPG and gets on average 505.4 YPG, putting up 27.

 

Also wasn't Texas/OSU at the very beginning of the season? There is about 10 more games to evaluate OSU, and find their tendencies. Something that Texas probably had a hard time doing for the first game of the season.

 

I think ND will lose, but I don't think it will be because they don't score a lot. They will just be outscored.

 

Tennessee only allowed one team score over 28 points, and that was ND who hung 41 on them. I have said it before, but UT and OSU are very similiar in D. The difference is OSU has an offense, which will kill ND. They don't have trouble exploiting good D's, just trouble stopping good offenses.

[Mike Aller]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

I agree with you completely. If Texas, who scores 50.9 PPG and get on average 522 yards per game can't put up 27 against OSU, I don't see Notre Dame, who scores 38.2 PPG and gets on average 505.4 YPG, putting up 27.

 

Also wasn't Texas/OSU at the very beginning of the season? There is about 10 more games to evaluate OSU, and find their tendencies. Something that Texas probably had a hard time doing for the first game of the season.

 

I think ND will lose, but I don't think it will be because they don't score a lot. They will just be outscored.

 

Tennessee only allowed one team score over 28 points, and that was ND who hung 41 on them. I have said it before, but UT and OSU are very similiar in D. The difference is OSU has an offense, which will kill ND. They don't have trouble exploiting good D's, just trouble stopping good offenses.

There are also 10 more games to evaluate the tendencies of the Notre Dame offense. It works both ways.

[adamb0719]

ND will win 27-21.

 

That prediction made me wonder, so I checked and I was surprised. OSU has given up more than 25 points just once this year, 31 at Minnesota. Other highs were 25 v. Texas, 24 v. Michigan St., and 21 at Michigan. They gave up 10 or fewer points 5 times(N'western, SDSU, @Indiana, Iowa, Illinois). Not trying to make anything of your prediction, just seeing it got me thinking, and what I found I thought was interesting.

I agree with you completely. If Texas, who scores 50.9 PPG and get on average 522 yards per game can't put up 27 against OSU, I don't see Notre Dame, who scores 38.2 PPG and gets on average 505.4 YPG, putting up 27.

 

Also wasn't Texas/OSU at the very beginning of the season? There is about 10 more games to evaluate OSU, and find their tendencies. Something that Texas probably had a hard time doing for the first game of the season.

 

I think ND will lose, but I don't think it will be because they don't score a lot. They will just be outscored.

 

Tennessee only allowed one team score over 28 points, and that was ND who hung 41 on them. I have said it before, but UT and OSU are very similiar in D. The difference is OSU has an offense, which will kill ND. They don't have trouble exploiting good D's, just trouble stopping good offenses.

There are also 10 more games to evaluate the tendencies of the Notre Dame offense. It works both ways.

 

Except for the fact ND and OSU never played this season. Texas was used as an example, and I was pointing out that Texas did not know as much about OSU as can be known now. Yes it does work both ways, but my whole point was that using Texas as an example may not be the most telling, since it was the second game of the season.

 

Who has a better chance at putting together a winning offensive formula

Weis with a whole seaon of tape and a month to prepare or Brown with a week of tape and a week (of the current team) to prepare? Nothing against Brown, he is a great coach, but I give the advantage to Weis.

[rawaction]

ND will have trouble with OSU's speed on offense. I picked OSU by less than 7. I think it will be a bit of a shootout (both teams over 20, possibly 30). But OSU will pull it out late.

[Mark_R]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

Exactly. Just because a team has 1 loss doesn't mean it should be a higher ranked team. Especially with Ohio State, you can make a strong case.

 

Ohio State's strength of schedule is the 3rd toughest in the nation compared to 49th in the nation by Oregon and 69th by TCU. With Notre Dame at the 39th for SOS you might have a legit beef.

 

Ohio State, with a much tougher schedule than Oregon beat their opponents by an average of 17.73 points per game while Oregon with a schedule that is much weaker beat their opponents by an average of 12.63. (I used Points For Per game and Points Against Per game to come up with that).

 

Couple that with OSU's two losses to the number 2 and 3 BCS team (both very close games) and Oregon getting embarassed on their home turf by USC, its hardly an outrage. If Oregon plays USC like OSU played Texas, they would have that spot in the Fiesta.

[Mike Aller]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

Exactly. Just because a team has 1 loss doesn't mean it should be a higher ranked team. Especially with Ohio State, you can make a strong case.

 

Ohio State's strength of schedule is the 3rd toughest in the nation compared to 49th in the nation by Oregon and 69th by TCU. With Notre Dame at the 39th for SOS you might have a legit beef.

 

Ohio State, with a much tougher schedule than Oregon beat their opponents by an average of 17.73 points per game while Oregon with a schedule that is much weaker beat their opponents by an average of 12.63. (I used Points For Per game and Points Against Per game to come up with that).

 

Couple that with OSU's two losses to the number 2 and 3 BCS team (both very close games) and Oregon getting embarassed on their home turf by USC, its hardly an outrage. If Oregon plays USC like OSU played Texas, they would have that spot in the Fiesta.

Agreed.

[mhuber92211]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

Exactly. Just because a team has 1 loss doesn't mean it should be a higher ranked team. Especially with Ohio State, you can make a strong case.

 

Ohio State's strength of schedule is the 3rd toughest in the nation compared to 49th in the nation by Oregon and 69th by TCU. With Notre Dame at the 39th for SOS you might have a legit beef.

 

Ohio State, with a much tougher schedule than Oregon beat their opponents by an average of 17.73 points per game while Oregon with a schedule that is much weaker beat their opponents by an average of 12.63. (I used Points For Per game and Points Against Per game to come up with that).

 

Couple that with OSU's two losses to the number 2 and 3 BCS team (both very close games) and Oregon getting embarassed on their home turf by USC, its hardly an outrage. If Oregon plays USC like OSU played Texas, they would have that spot in the Fiesta.

 

Err, Oregon played well vs USC in the 1st half and are coming from a top conference (unlike TCU). I hate the idea of east coast bias but there really has to be something said for this to happen to Oregon twice now. Why is it that the other BCS conferences have teams getting at large bids but the Pac 10 is typically left out? The pac 10 provides the most NFL players. It seems that becasue there is a bigger disparity between the top and the bottom of the conference then the other majors it causes the nation to think that the top teams aren't good.

 

Regardless of strength of schedule and rankings, you tell me that a team loses once all season and that one loss is to the (eventual) national champion (who has won 35 in a row) and they aren't in the top bowl games then something is broken. I can't wait for the final rankings to come out and have Oregon ahead of ND, OSU, FSU, Georgia and West Virgina. This is why I can never get excited about college football. Its politics without the excitement of a gavel.

[adamb0719]

I vote Oregon to win, oh wait they aren't playing in this game. How can they not play in the game when they have 1 loss and the other has 2? I guess logic doesn't exsist in college anymore.

 

So it should be Oregon and TCU?

Exactly. Just because a team has 1 loss doesn't mean it should be a higher ranked team. Especially with Ohio State, you can make a strong case.

 

Ohio State's strength of schedule is the 3rd toughest in the nation compared to 49th in the nation by Oregon and 69th by TCU. With Notre Dame at the 39th for SOS you might have a legit beef.

 

Ohio State, with a much tougher schedule than Oregon beat their opponents by an average of 17.73 points per game while Oregon with a schedule that is much weaker beat their opponents by an average of 12.63. (I used Points For Per game and Points Against Per game to come up with that).

 

Couple that with OSU's two losses to the number 2 and 3 BCS team (both very close games) and Oregon getting embarassed on their home turf by USC, its hardly an outrage. If Oregon plays USC like OSU played Texas, they would have that spot in the Fiesta.

Agreed.

 

 

Is everyone forgetting that OSU and ND got automatic bids. They weren't picked over Oregon, they got AUTOMATIC bids.

[Andy]

Apparently MHuber forgot. It seems that if some people here had their way, any Pac-10 team in the top 10 would get an automatic bid while ND would be Gator-bound unless they got to the national title game. Exaggeration I know, but ND is top-6 in the BCS, fulfilling the criteria for any non-BCS conference team to get an automatic bid. They did what they had to do, and that's the end of the discussion. Oregon got shafted, yes, but bitch about 8-4 Florida State getting in, not about 9-2 ND.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So, which is better: losing big to USC and not losing at all the rest of the season, or losing a tight game to USC then losing again at home to a team that isn't going to a bowl?

 

Regardless though, Oregon is about to face the same fate as Cal the year before. Complain about not making a BCS bowl, then getting stomped in the Holiday by the 3rd or 4th best team in the Big 12.

[Andy]

So, which is better: losing big to USC and not losing at all the rest of the season, or losing a tight game to USC then losing again at home to a team that isn't going to a bowl?

Both are better than losing to Virginia, NC State (at home), Clemson (big) and Florida (big).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

So, which is better: losing big to USC and not losing at all the rest of the season, or losing a tight game to USC then losing again at home to a team that isn't going to a bowl?

Both are better than losing to Virginia, NC State (at home), Clemson (big) and Florida (big).

 

Naturally, but they weren't an option for an at-large spot.

[Andy]

So, which is better: losing big to USC and not losing at all the rest of the season, or losing a tight game to USC then losing again at home to a team that isn't going to a bowl?

Both are better than losing to Virginia, NC State (at home), Clemson (big) and Florida (big).

 

Naturally, but they weren't an option for an at-large spot.

This is true. I'm just ranting on the general stupidity that is the conference title games.

[mhuber92211]

Apparently MHuber forgot. It seems that if some people here had their way, any Pac-10 team in the top 10 would get an automatic bid while ND would be Gator-bound unless they got to the national title game. Exaggeration I know, but ND is top-6 in the BCS, fulfilling the criteria for any non-BCS conference team to get an automatic bid. They did what they had to do, and that's the end of the discussion. Oregon got shafted, yes, but bitch about 8-4 Florida State getting in, not about 9-2 ND.

 

No I didn't forget, I mrele poitned out how broken the system is and how this continues to be proven. Regardless, I don't understand how ND is ranked higher then Oregon anyhow, but that is a different rant

[CubinNY]

Go bucks!

[adamb0719]

Apparently MHuber forgot. It seems that if some people here had their way, any Pac-10 team in the top 10 would get an automatic bid while ND would be Gator-bound unless they got to the national title game. Exaggeration I know, but ND is top-6 in the BCS, fulfilling the criteria for any non-BCS conference team to get an automatic bid. They did what they had to do, and that's the end of the discussion. Oregon got shafted, yes, but bitch about 8-4 Florida State getting in, not about 9-2 ND.

 

No I didn't forget, I mrele poitned out how broken the system is and how this continues to be proven. Regardless, I don't understand how ND is ranked higher then Oregon anyhow, but that is a different rant

 

ND is not ranked higher than Oregon in the BCS or the Coaches Poll (the 2 that count.) I really think that this year has turned out better than years in the past. 6 of the teams going are in the top 7. Of the other two FSU is a joke, and ACC may lose their automatic bid due it, and WVU is ranked 11th but should probably be higher. I really find more of a problem with the automatic conference bid than anything. Remember, while everyone talks bout NDs advantages, if they lose more than two game they are automatically out, and so is pretty much and non BCS school. A 4 loss FSU is more of a joke than anything.