College Football - Week of 9/15

[NCCubFan]

I'm an IU fan, but I think Illinois wins this game. They have more talent and had IU down last year and should've won. Plus, with Lynch coaching instead of Hep, Illinois likely has an advantage there, too.

On the other hand, IU is probably dedicating this season to Hep's memory and is motivated to do their best each week. IU wins.

[Keener98]

I'm an IU fan, but I think Illinois wins this game. They have more talent and had IU down last year and should've won. Plus, with Lynch coaching instead of Hep, Illinois likely has an advantage there, too.

On the other hand, IU is probably dedicating this season to Hep's memory and is motivated to do their best each week. IU wins.

 

U of I by at least 10

[TruffleShuffle]

ND, hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

 

How long until the genuis gets a win this year?

 

Oct. 6.

 

yeah i was looking at ND's schedule and i just gave that game to UCLA, but after yesterday's clunker it's not a given. UCLA is better than ND this year, but if you can lose by 38 to Utah then you can lose to just about anyone.

 

I'm not convinced that ND won't beat Moo. You never know what you're going to get with Moo, and yesterday they barely beat a pretty lousy Pitt team.

[jjgman21]

Let me just say

 

HAHAHAHA!! The Big 10 is HORRIBLE!! There is no doubt in my mind that it's the worst of the BCS conferences.

 

Wisconsin tied with The Citadel at half.

Minnesota losing to FAU

Iowa losing to ISU

Northwestern losing to Duke.

 

The Big 10 is garbage and there's no other way to say it.

 

And I'll go ahead and predict it: Michigan will beat Penn State next week which will make the conference lose even more credibility.

 

 

 

The Big XII is 2a more times than the Pac and Big Ten. Let's not be stupid here. More times than not the second best conference is the Big XII. And the ACC is generally better than not so Big Ten. Those two conferences have been down the last few seasons but theres no doubt in my mind that four years from now they will be better than the Pac 10 and Big Ten.

 

 

this is the exact type of garbage I was talking about a couple pages ago, although Khmennu came up with a new delusional twist on the subject.

 

 

plucking things like this out from yesterday can be used to declare every single conference crap.

 

BE

Louisville lost to seventh or eighth best team in SEC

Pitt lost to six or seventh best B10 team

Syracuse is Syracuse

UConn struggled against a team that was so bad it dropped out of D1

 

P10

UCLA gets crushed by Utah

Washington gets thumped on their home field by OSU

Arizona loses to New Mexico

 

B12

Texas scabs one out, and has looked like crap in all three of their games

OK State crushed by Troy

Nebraska gets destroyed

Colorado losses on home turf to a bad FSU team

 

SEC

Auburn losses to dormat MSU

Tennessee losses by 40, their second blowout loss of the season

Arkansas and Alabam play the ugliest game of football in recent memory, both of whom would have lost if they weren't facing each other last night.

 

 

ACC

with FSU and Miami down, do they really even belong in this discussion?

 

 

but we'll just elevate the importance of an admittedly embarrassing rivalry game loss and the two worst teams in the Big10 losing close games. we'll elevate an admitted inability to adjust to the basketball offense in the first half by Wisconsin, and ignore that they outgained their opponent 273 to 29 from second half kick off until the starters were pulled.

 

 

 

 

 

as for the B12 being better than the B10 and Pac10 in most years, I guess it's how you define better, but either way, I'm not the one being stupid here. I think you prove that with your comments about the ACC being better than the B10. sure the B12 probably has a national title contender more often that the B10, but the conference is always top heavy with too few teams. by that measure, I think the Pac10 is consistently better because of USC.

 

I think it can be implied from the part of my post that you snipped, that I agree that they are the second best conference in years when everyone but OK and TX aren't dormats or even in years when OK and TX are both dominant and everyone else is dormats. but those years are far too long in between to declare the B12 the second best conference in the country.

 

 

 

I am pretty sure that even all the SEC homers are pretty much in agreement with my post. why the Big10 haters won't come around to reality, I have no idea.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Iowa State has been embarrassed at home by the Kent State Fighting Librarians and I-AA Northern Iowa.

 

They will redeem themselves in their fans eyes and piss me off by beating what should be a heavily favored Iowa team next week.

 

whaddya know?

[NewUserName]

Holy crap Illini....where did this come from?

 

 

I got some bad news for you. Lou Holtz predicted they would surprise in the Big Ten this year.. Looks like a 1-7 conference record for sure now.

 

Want to place a wager on that?

 

 

I think Illinois is going to be pretty solid also. I was just saying that Lou Holtz gave them a "Kiss of Death"

[Keener98]

Holy crap Illini....where did this come from?

 

 

I got some bad news for you. Lou Holtz predicted they would surprise in the Big Ten this year.. Looks like a 1-7 conference record for sure now.

 

Want to place a wager on that?

 

 

I think Illinois is going to be pretty solid also. I was just saying that Lou Holtz gave them a "Kiss of Death"

 

yea I kinda thought that was your point

[Bruno7481]

I'm an IU fan, but I think Illinois wins this game. They have more talent and had IU down last year and should've won. Plus, with Lynch coaching instead of Hep, Illinois likely has an advantage there, too.

On the other hand, IU is probably dedicating this season to Hep's memory and is motivated to do their best each week. IU wins.

 

U of I by at least 10

 

Don't be so quick to discount Indiana. Indiana has won the last two games against UI.

 

Kellen Lewis has been having a great year as well.

 

I will echo NCFan's sentiments in that I think UI has the better team, but IU isn't as bad as they have historically been.

 

SHould be an entertaining game.

[Warpticon]

New polls.

 

AP Top 25

1. USC (46) 2-0 1,605

2. LSU (19) 3-0 1,577

3. Florida 3-0 1,437

4. Oklahoma 3-0 1,434

5. West Virginia 3-0 1,388

6. California 3-0 1,232

7. Texas 3-0 1,169

8. Ohio State 3-0 1,142

9. Wisconsin 3-0 1,111

10. Penn State 3-0 1,041

11. Rutgers 3-0 956

12. South Carolina 3-0 814

13. Oregon 3-0 810

14. Boston College 3-0 792

15. Clemson 3-0 615

16. Alabama 3-0 516

17. Virginia Tech 2-1 458

18. Louisville 2-1 367

19. Hawaii 3-0 343

20. Texas A&M 3-0 342

21. Kentucky 3-0 338

22. Georgia 2-1 333

23. South Florida 2-0 285

24. Nebraska 2-1 277

25. Missouri 3-0 228

Others Receiving Votes

Arkansas 179, Georgia Tech 128, Arizona State 69, Cincinnati 53, UCLA 41, Texas Tech 16, Air Force 8, Purdue 6, Appalachian State 5, Florida State 5, Washington 2, Tulsa 1, Kansas 1, Michigan State 1.

Dropped From Rankings

UCLA 11, Georgia Tech 15, Arkansas 16, Tennessee 22.

 

USA Today Poll

1. USC (44) 2-0 1,478

2. LSU (8) 3-0 1,438

3. Florida (7) 3-0 1,368

4. Oklahoma (1) 3-0 1,308

5. West Virginia 3-0 1,244

6. Texas 3-0 1,103

7. Wisconsin 3-0 1,098

8. California 3-0 1,093

9. Ohio State 3-0 1,062

10. Penn State 3-0 942

11. Rutgers 3-0 863

12. Boston College 3-0 754

13. Oregon 3-0 702

14. Clemson 3-0 595

14. South Carolina 3-0 595

16. Texas A&M 3-0 530

17. Virginia Tech 2-1 485

18. Hawaii 3-0 404

19. Louisville 2-1 383

20. Alabama 3-0 345

21. Georgia 2-1 271

22. Nebraska 2-1 228

23. Kentucky 3-0 168

24. South Florida 2-0 165

25. Missouri 3-0 145

Others Receiving Votes

Arkansas 143, Georgia Tech 143, Texas Tech 142, UCLA 122, Arizona State 67, Purdue 40, MICHIGANST 21, Cincinnati 20, Boise State 14, Florida State 7, Air Force 6, Tennessee 4, Washington 4.

Dropped From Rankings

UCLA 11, Georgia Tech 15, Arkansas 16, Tennessee 24.

[Derwood]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

[Keener98]

Mizzou at 25 huh? Umm ok, but if they are a top 25 team in the nation, there are a lot of terrible teams out there.

[jjgman21]

New polls.

 

 

I give them credit for a new found willingness to rearrange, but those polls are a fricken joke.

[Warpticon]

Go Arkansas :/ I guess Alabama doesn't care how the Hogs do against Kentucky now, since they jumped all the way to 16 by beating them. Gotta love that logic.

 

Haha @ South Carolina and Clemson tied in the coaches poll. Being in South Carolina should be fun this week. SC being 12 and 14 this early is...unexpected, to say the least.

 

South Florida rides a huge win against what apparently isn't a good Auburn team at all into the rankings. Their only other game was against Elon (who?), and they won 28-13. Oookay.

 

Ditto Oregon, who rode into the top 13 from being unranked by beating 1-1 Houston, 1-2 Michigan, and 1-2 Fresno State. Unranked to #13 on the strength of beating 3 teams with a combined 3-5 record. Right.

 

Texas has barely beat Arkansas State and Central Florida, and needed a blown call on an onside kick to ensure the ASU game and some questionable call in the CFU game. There's no way they're #6 in the nation. No freaking way.

 

Nice of Virginia Tech to finially score their third offensive touchdown 3 games in, against Ohio. Talk about a team that hasn't looked impressive.

 

There totally shouldn't be polls until October.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Warpticon

[soccer10k]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

Yes, because the polls are perfect.

[Derwood]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

Yes, because the polls are perfect.

 

or because they're all 3-0 (as well as Purdue, Illinois and Indiana, all un-ranked).

[Warpticon]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

Yes, because the polls are perfect.

 

or because they're all 3-0 (as well as Purdue, Illinois and Indiana, all un-ranked).

 

Illinois?

[Keener98]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

Yes, because the polls are perfect.

 

or because they're all 3-0 (as well as Purdue, Illinois and Indiana, all un-ranked).

 

Illinois not 3-0 should be but they arent

[soccer10k]

ACC

with FSU and Miami down, do they really even belong in this discussion?

 

I think we can agree on that.

 

but we'll just elevate the importance of an admittedly embarrassing rivalry game loss and the two worst teams in the Big10 losing close games. we'll elevate an admitted inability to adjust to the basketball offense in the first half by Wisconsin, and ignore that they outgained their opponent 273 to 29 from second half kick off until the starters were pulled.

 

You do realize that Wisconsin was playing The Citadel, right? The Citadel picked up 23 first downs and had 377 yards of total offense. Their QB threw 4 TD's and even if you take out the one in garbage time, it's still 3 TD's. If they were playing an actual 1-A team I would cut them some slack.

 

And I'm not just citing the two worst teams losing in the Big 10 as my reasons the conference stinks. They are just examples from this week to add on to those from previous weeks.

 

Week 1:

 

Michigan loses to App State.

Wisconsin not looking too good at home against Washington St.

Iowa only beating NIU 16-3.

Minnesota losing to Bowling Green.

 

Week 2:

Northwestern barely beating Nevada.

Michigan State barely beats Bowling Green and are tield at halftime.

Minnesota needs OT to beat Miami (OH)

Ohio State's offense against Akron though their defense was very good.

Michigan gets slaughtered at home to Oregon

Illinois only wins 21-0 over Western Illinois.

Wisconsin needs a late TD to beat UNLV.

 

I know Penn State hasn't been mentioned but any team that has Anthony Morelli as their QB and got outgained by Buffalo, I just can't take seriously.

[NewUserName]

Michigan St is 3-0. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm though

[soccer10k]

Michigan St is 3-0. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm though

 

They showed a stat on ESPN when I was at a bar yesterday that showed the last three times MSU started 3-0 they finished 4-8 (2006), 5-6 (2005 when they started 4-0), and 5-6 or 5-7 (2001 I think).

[NewUserName]

Michigan St is 3-0. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm though

 

They showed a stat on ESPN when I was at a bar yesterday that showed the last three times MSU started 3-0 they finished 4-8 (2006), 5-6 (2005 when they started 4-0), and 5-6 or 5-7 (2001 I think).

 

I am tempering my enthusiasm as I said. They really looked good yesterday. The only reason the game was close was because they kept shooting themselves in the foot. Of course this is why they have struggled the last few years. Too many mistakes.

[Andy]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

Yes, because the polls are perfect.

 

or because they're all 3-0 (as well as Purdue, Illinois and Indiana, all un-ranked).

The best win by all six of those teams put together is @Washington. We'll see how long that lasts once conference play starts.

[Andy]

Louisville ranked ahead of Kentucky, who just beat them. Uh-huh.

[soccer10k]

Michigan St is 3-0. I am trying to temper my enthusiasm though

 

They showed a stat on ESPN when I was at a bar yesterday that showed the last three times MSU started 3-0 they finished 4-8 (2006), 5-6 (2005 when they started 4-0), and 5-6 or 5-7 (2001 I think).

 

I am tempering my enthusiasm as I said. They really looked good yesterday. The only reason the game was close was because they kept shooting themselves in the foot. Of course this is why they have struggled the last few years. Too many mistakes.

 

Just remember, no more John L.

[Mephistopheles]

Big 10 has the #8, #9 and #10 team in the country. Damn that conference sucks.

 

They're incorrect ratings. Wisconsin beat UNLV and the Citadel by a combined three touchdowns. Oregon beat a team better than Wisconsin by four touchdowns. Penn State beat Notre Dame! Lovely. Wisconsin beat Washington State. Lovely. Ohio State beat Washington, that's a decent win. The three teams haven't played anything yet. It's just a case of them scheduling crap and not pulling a Michigan. Burn.

 

In other words, the polls are wrong. Wisconsin is a top ten team for one reason: They played a weak schedule last season. Wisconsin's schedule so far is 101st in SOS. Penn State's is 159th. Based on their work on the field PSU should be ranked 41st and Wisconsin 36th. Im not saying theyre not top 25 teams, I am saying they havent done anything to justify those rankings and it's not very likely that they do.

 

Using the same ratings the top 25 teams are:

 

1. LSU

2. Oklahoma

3. Florida

4. Cincinnati

5. USC

6. WVU

7. OSU

8. Kansas

9. Oregon

10. California

11. Boston College

12. Oregon State

13. Purdue

14. Arkansas

15. UCLA

16. Arizona State

17. Rutgers

18. Washington

19. Alabama

20. Nebraska

21. Kentucky

22. Louisville

23. Texas A&M

24. Boise State

25. Georgia Tech

 

 

As the only one here who knows how to do the math behind the rankings, I believe I can discuss them more accurately than you and Big Ten Fandom. There are two little twelve teams there and the system loves Washington thus far. Cincinnati and Kansas are cases of two teams playing weak schedules and mauling their opponents, so it's a sample size issue. These are the Saragin ratings which comprise part of the BCS. The BCS does NOT use this ranking. They use the elo modifications, which do not adjust for score. It's always 1-0, for a win and a loss which is stupid but politically correct. Its kinda early to really look at these individually but one thing is apparent, the Big Ten hasn't played anyone.

 

A stupid person would say the system undervalues wins and losses. A smart person would say that the elo system overvalues wins and losses so Saragin also publishes an average of the two. As for right now they are:

 

1. LSU

2. Southern California

3. Florida

4. Ohio State

5. West Virginia

6. Cincinnati

7. Oklahoma

8. California

9. Oregon

10. Boston College

11. Alabama

12. Texas

13. Oregon State

14. Arkansas

15. South Carolina

16. Missouri

17. Arizona State

18. Nebraska

19. Kentucky

20. Washington

21. Texas Tech

22. Clemson

23. Wisconsin

24. Boise State

25. Purdue

26. Tennessee

27. UCLA

28. Kansas

29. Texas A&M

30. Air Force

 

Once again the Little Ten suck.

 

And if you go by conference ratings they sit fifth behind the BE, Pac 10, SEC and Big XII. The Pac 10 and SEC are essentially tied right now.