College Football - Week of 10/25

[Mephistopheles]

Well no duh Florida reached their peak. You're trying to make it a negative that Florida offense has reached their peak in:

 

1. Ripping off 63 points against the best defense in the conference.

2. Statistically speaking, the best offense in the nation.

3. Ripping off 51 points against the defending national champions (granted theyve been exposed)

 

Alabama has no business getting in a shootout against Florida. Alabama matches up poorly against Florida. They will want to play a grind it out game where the game decided in the trenches. That's Saban's style. The problem is Florida has no problem doing that, except they won't lineup and run it right at you. Florida's run game is all about stretching the game with speed. Mt Cody rush presence is essentially useless against Florida. Demps and Rainey don't run between the tackles. Alabama's top four defensive backs are fine, but Florida's going to be in four and five wideout sets most of the game and their fourth and fifth wideouts are as good as Bama's. Their defense matches up well against teams that try to play their style of game, but their secondary's youth will REALLY get magnified against four and five wide sets. They're just a year away there and that's a problem. They don't have the depth in the secondary to matchup with Florida's passing game. They can try to drop back to give them extra protection, but you and I both know that's not Saban football. He'll try to pressure Tebow first, but the emergence of Rainey and Demps will make that risky. With their speed if they don't get to Tebow a simple dump off to Rainey or Demps will go for 40 yards every time.

 

 

You're saying that Alabama is getting better every game and that UF has peaked. Um Florida has played better every game since Ole Miss and no one's playing better than them right now. Don't be surprised if Florida hangs 50 on Georgia and wins by four touchdowns. I don't think anyone will be surprised. Don't forget that UGA outplayed Alabama for most of the game earlier this year.

[Mark_R]

How did Ole Miss approach Florida

[Derwood]

I get what Meph is saying. He's arguing something different than everyone else is. He's not saying losses are unimportant in determining who should play in conference championship games or where teams rank in the BCS standings. He's just saying that just because Boise St. is 8-0 and Florida is 7-1, that doesn't make Boise St. BETTER. If Florida played Ole Miss at home 9 more times they'd probably win all 9. Losing by 1 point to Ole Miss doesn't make Florida a worse team than if they had won. Less deserving, yes, but not worse.

[Mephistopheles]

How did Ole Miss approach Florida

 

They brought pressure on Tebow -- but at the time Rainey and Demps hadn't emerged. They got a combined four touches. That was when Harvin was the rush offense and pass offense. Since that game they've pretty much lined him up exclusively on the edge (even though he went 10 for 82 on the ground). The problem was the Florida game plan. It was essentially pass the ball to Harvin, run the ball with Harvin. He ran the ball 10 times and he caught 13 passes. Since then Florida has really become more complete as an offense as far as not relying on Harvin (and Tebow).

 

Arkansas, LSU and Kentucky weren't stupid. They tried the same gameplan about getting pressure on Tebow. The problem is the offensive line got healthy, Harvin wasn't the offense and Demps and Rainey emerged to the point that pretty much every time they were showing blitz Tebow would check down to a draw or swing pass to Demps or Rainey for 10 yards every time.

 

Losing to Ole Miss was probably the best thing to happen to the Gator offense. It made them realize that they can't look just at Harvin. The numbers speak for themselves.

 

Before:

4.4 Yards Per Rush

7.8 Yards Per Pass

5.9 Yards Per Play

 

After:

6.3 Yards Per Rush

10.0 Yards Per Pass

7.6 Yards Per Play

 

That particular gameplan has been figured out by Tebow and Meyer. And Alabama's pass rush isn't better than the ones the Gators have seen

 

Today the Gators only needed to complete 13 passes - They went to 9 different players. They had 8 different guys rushing the ball. Including three by Vincent Brown....a CB.

[RedFlash]

(Admittedly I am using last weeks stats)

 

While Florida is the highest scoring offense in the SEC, Alabama is 2nd in the conference in scoring.

Alabama and Florida are 1-2 in rushing yrds per game.

While Florida is 2nd in scoring defense, Alabama is 4th.

Both Florida and Alabama are in the Top 5 of the conference in Total Offense.

Florida and Alabama are 5 and 6 in Total defense in the conference.

Alabama and Florida are 2-4 in rushing defense.

Florida and Alabama are 6 and 10th in the conference in passing offense.

Here's where you have a legit claim:

Florida is 6th and Alabama is 11th in passing defense. (But this is a product of teams can't run on Alabama)

Alabama/Florida are 6/7 in the conference in defensively effenicency

Biggest legit claim:

Florida is 2nd and Alabama is 10th in kickoff returns.

Florida and Alabama are 2 and 6 in the conference in punt returns

Florida and Alabama are 5th and 9th in the conference in punting

 

Admittedly these stats are a week old and I got them from secsports.com, but seeing as the stats won't be changing all that much in a matter of a week (there will be some changes but not major). In other words, Alabama has the legit claim of being the SEC's best team regardless of your argument. There are catergories that Florida leads, that Alabama isn't far behind, and vice versa. I maintain Alabama is the better team, but I will admit there's not that much difference between the two teams. So while I will come down off my high horse and boasting Alabama as the best team, Florida cannot make any claims other then being an arguable best team in the SEC. So I stand by my opinion: Alabama is 1A in the SEC, and Florida is 1B. So if Florida and Alabama meet in the SECCG it will be a fun game to watch. But there is an odd stat, Alabama has been to the SECCG 5 times since it's inception in 1992, and all five teams they've played the Gators. That's it. Alabama has never played a non-Florida Gators team in the SECCG....Hmmm....So I guess this will make it 6th time, with Alabama looking to even the series.

 

Edit: And if you are using Alabama often plays to the level of it's competion more then Florida as the basis as to why you think Florida better, then you truly nitpicking. Of course, Alabama does have a nasty habit of having to "play" against weaker foes, and for one would love for Alabama to put up scores like Florida does against similar opponents, but that doesn't have any affect to who is better. But Nick Saban will get Alabama to the point that they will "destoryed" those kind of opponents, but as Nick constantly reminds this is all part of a "process" he's trying to install at Alabama. Florida has had 10 or yrs to work on being able to play roughshod on lower D1 or D11 teams (between Spurrier and Meyer) but Alabama has always implore a more conservative offense, which means we don't expect blowouts even against lower competition at the rate that Florida does. So this "showing up against weaker competition" theory working in, is pretty weak. I much rather pplay very well to great against the tough competition,a nd play play well enough against the weaker competition. So blowing out the weaker competition adds nothing to this conversation.

Edited October 26, 2008 by RedFlash

[Mephistopheles]

78.7% #13 Boise State over San Jose State - BSU W, 33-16

80.5% #14 South Florida over Louisville - LOU W, 24-20

51.4% #24 Florida State over Virginia Tech - FSU W, 30-20

84.2% #17 Pitt over Rutgers - Rutgers W, 34-24

54.0% North Carolina over #23 Boston College - UNC W, 45-24

69.1% #2 Alabama over Tennessee - Bama W, 29-9

93.8% #5 Florida over Kentucky - UF W, 63-5

90.3% #16 Missouri over Colorado - Mizzou W, 58-0

89.2% #4 Oklahoma over Kansas State - OU W, 58-35

60.2% #9 Georgia over #11 LSU - UGA W, 52-38

52.5% #19 Kansas over #8 Texas Tech - TTU W, 63-21

97.4% #20 Ball State over Eastern Michigan - BSU W, 38-16

81.6% #1 Texas over #7 Oklahoma State - UT W, 28-24

89.3% #6 Southern California over Arizona

89.5% #18 BYU over UNLV - BYU W, 42-35

71.9% #3 Penn State over #10 Ohio State - PSU W, 13-6

99.4% #15 TCU over Wyoming - TCU W, 54-7

74.4% #21 Georgia Tech over Virginia - UVA W, 24-17

66.1% #25 Minnesota over Purdue - Minn W, 17-6

 

Upset Alert

Game of the Week

 

This Week:

90-100 4-0

80-90 3-2 (USC In Progress)

70-80 2-1

60-70 3-0

50-60 2-1

 

Overall

90-100 31-4 89%

80-90 21-3 88%

70-80 14-9 61%

60-70 8-4 67%

50-60 8-7 53%

[Andy]

The Cardinals' next three games are a week from Wednesday vs NIU on ESPN2, the following Tuesday at Miami (OH) on ESPN2 and a week later on Wednesday at Dan LeFevour and a Central Michigan team that owns us, on ESPN2. The final regular season game, vs WMU the Tuesday after THAT, may be picked up by ESPN2 if it affects the bowl picture. This is by far the biggest month in the history of this program.

[Andy]

Jimmy Clausen made one of the best passes I have ever seen in my life tonight, but it ended up being an interception. ND went for it on a 4th and 19 because it was outside Brandon Walker's range (one of two 4th and 19's we went for it on, which has to be a record) and Clausen zipped one to Kyle Rudolph about 25 yards upfield right in the middle of three Huskies defenders absolutely perfectly into Rudolph's hands - probably the only spot he could've put it. But Rudolph had the ball batted out of his hands and a Husky caught it. Go figure. Still a freaking outstanding throw. Course, Bob Davie tempered my enthusiasm by soon after predicting Jimmy to be right in the mix of the Heisman race the next two years, which I never again want to hear about an ND quarterback until he actually is.

[TruffleShuffle]

Pryor was disconsolate.

 

“I can’t explain this,” he said. “I just didn’t hold the ball. I saw the end zone. It was there and the ball just fell out. I thought I was on my way to a touchdown but I just lost the ball. As soon as I fumbled it, I knew they would score.”

 

there's the freshman inexperience. they needed less than a yard and he was thinking he could roll around the outside and take off. i don't know what the hell he was looking at though; rubin (the guy that knocked the ball away) was right there. anyway, all he needed was half a yard to keep the drive going and keep the clock running. he'll learn.

[Guest]

1. Ripping off 63 points against the best defense in the conference.

 

Where are you getting Kentucky is the best defense in the conference? They're 10th in rushing defense, 3rd in pass efficiency defense, 8th in total defense, 7th in scoring defense and third in pass defense.

[sethuel1]

1. Ripping off 63 points against the best defense in the conference.

 

Where are you getting Kentucky is the best defense in the conference? They're 10th in rushing defense, 3rd in pass efficiency defense, 8th in total defense, 7th in scoring defense and third in pass defense.

forget it, he's rolling

[Derwood]

Nothing like waking up on a Sunday morning, making a cup of coffee, and reading 12 pages of bitter OSU coverage in the Columbus Dispatch.

 

The Spin: The loss was good for the maturation of Pryor, and now PSU can go be the Big 10 team that's embarrassed in the NC game instead of OSU.

[Derwood]

I think State College has had more riots in the past 10 years than South Central, LA

 

http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/923472.html

[Mephistopheles]

1. Ripping off 63 points against the best defense in the conference.

 

Where are you getting Kentucky is the best defense in the conference? They're 10th in rushing defense, 3rd in pass efficiency defense, 8th in total defense, 7th in scoring defense and third in pass defense.

 

Going into the week they were top ten (in the nation) in yards per rush, yards per pass, and points per game. Obviously that all changed. They still have one of the best defenses in the SEC. It's not like they're a Big XII defense: they still have the best pass defense in the nation. It's a very good defense. That's not negotiable. And at the time I was running through RedFlash's logic. I didn't mean they had the best defense in the SEC, I meant based off of the information that he was using they had the best defense in the nation (and he was trying to spin the results as a negative). Read the entire conversation.

[shnsajax]

Another week, win or loss, that PSU can't overtake Alabama and Texas..........Should be a fun month or so of college football.

 

that's nice and all, but alabama is still the number 2 team in the sec.

 

That's debateable and not something I am willing to debate right now. Suffice to say, Alabama can and could beat any team in the SEC even Florida.

 

On the contrary, word on the street is that they cease to exist between 1:26 AM and 2:07 AM on Tuesdays.

 

Actually no their not. Florida has beaten only one legit quality team all yr and that is LSU .v. Alabama "supposedly" only quality win with GA. UF beat a Kentucky team who lost several key members of their team (if people are going to say beating Clemson isn't impressive, then beating Kentucky without their best players isn't impressive. Both teams have impressive wins over Tennessee, and Arkansas. Both teams have impressive wins over NOW mediocre teams; Clemson .v. Miami. Both have routine wins over crappy/inferior teams; Hawai'i .v. Western Kentucky. The difference between Alabama and Florida is that Alabama beat Ole Miss. I don't look at scores as indication to the quality of the team. At worst I would put Florida as 1B to Alabama's 1A until the situation changes. Face with a similar schedule Alabama has held strong, and Florida had one sign of weakness. So i SUSPECT this debate will be answer in Atlanta in December. And I love Alabama's history against Florida in SECCG.

 

This history:

1992 Alabama 28 Florida 21

1993 Florida 28 Alabama 13

1994 Florida 24 Alabama 23

1996 Florida 45 Alabama 30

1999 Alabama 34 Florida 7

 

Bama is 2-3, not much to love.

[hawkeyecub]

I think Iowa's defense will keep them in the game. It will depend on whether we can get the running game going or not. If PSU plays like they did tonight up front they'll probably win by two scores.

 

our defense was great against the run but pretty lousy on the pass rush. you aren't going to be able to run a whole lot; wells and the osu o-line are probably better than their iowa counterparts, and we pretty much ate them up.

 

I don't know Truffle. Wells hasn't looked the same to me the last few games. I honestly think Greene is better right now, though Wells is the better talent. As far as the o-line it's tougher to say. This may be our best o-line since '02 and OSU didn't impress last night. Like I said though PSU was swarming up front tonight and getting off blocks. If they play that well we have little chance.

 

Does Emmit Smith think Tim Tebow is a senior? They were talking to him on SportsCenter about how Tebow tied his record and he kept saying "remember he did it in 4, I did it in 3". He is just absolutely horrendous.

[Derwood]

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn233/OHCubsFan/osulol.jpg

 

"Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! My-yummy! "

[stuy119]

I'm pretty happy that FSU is back up to 16th in both AP and Coaches Polls.

 

If we keep winning, everything will take care of itself. Me likey.

[Mephistopheles]

Keep on winning and maybe you'll be top ten by the time the Gators massacre the Noles.

[Derwood]

Keep on winning and maybe you'll be top ten by the time the Gators massacre the Noles.

 

yeah, that's a bad matchup

[Derwood]

AP Top 25

1. Texas (65) 8-0 1,625

2. Alabama 8-0 1,542

3. Penn State 9-0 1,503

4. Oklahoma 7-1 1,361

5. Florida 6-1 1,337

6. Texas Tech 8-0 1,280

7. USC 6-1 1,234

8. Georgia 7-1 1,212

9. Oklahoma State 7-1 1,168

10. Utah 8-0 1,027

11. Boise State 7-0 946

12. TCU 8-1 848

13. Ohio State 7-2 834

14. Missouri 6-2 791

15. LSU 5-2 649

16. Florida State 6-1 558

17. Brigham Young 7-1 553

18. Ball State 8-0 542

19. Tulsa 7-0 527

20. Minnesota 7-1 438

21. North Carolina 6-2 228

22. Michigan State 7-2 219

23. Oregon 6-2 188

24. South Florida 6-2 100

25. Maryland 6-2 89

[dew1679666265]

AP Top 25

1. Texas (65) 8-0 1,625

2. Alabama 8-0 1,542

3. Penn State 9-0 1,503

4. Oklahoma 7-1 1,361

5. Florida 6-1 1,337

6. Texas Tech 8-0 1,280

7. USC 6-1 1,234

8. Georgia 7-1 1,212

9. Oklahoma State 7-1 1,168

10. Utah 8-0 1,027

11. Boise State 7-0 946

12. TCU 8-1 848

13. Ohio State 7-2 834

14. Missouri 6-2 791

15. LSU 5-2 649

16. Florida State 6-1 558

17. Brigham Young 7-1 553

18. Ball State 8-0 542

19. Tulsa 7-0 527

20. Minnesota 7-1 438

21. North Carolina 6-2 228

22. Michigan State 7-2 219

23. Oregon 6-2 188

24. South Florida 6-2 100

25. Maryland 6-2 89

 

LSU is way too high.

[Derwood]

LSU's rank will take care of itself

[dew1679666265]

LSU's rank will take care of itself

 

You're probably right.

[B]

AP Top 25

1. Texas (65) 8-0 1,625

2. Alabama 8-0 1,542

3. Penn State 9-0 1,503

4. Oklahoma 7-1 1,361

5. Florida 6-1 1,337

6. Texas Tech 8-0 1,280

7. USC 6-1 1,234

8. Georgia 7-1 1,212

9. Oklahoma State 7-1 1,168

10. Utah 8-0 1,027

11. Boise State 7-0 946

12. TCU 8-1 848

13. Ohio State 7-2 834

14. Missouri 6-2 791

15. LSU 5-2 649

16. Florida State 6-1 558

17. Brigham Young 7-1 553

18. Ball State 8-0 542

19. Tulsa 7-0 527

20. Minnesota 7-1 438

21. North Carolina 6-2 228

22. Michigan State 7-2 219

23. Oregon 6-2 188

24. South Florida 6-2 100

25. Maryland 6-2 89

 

LSU is way too high.

 

I think they are about where they should be. The two teams that beat them are pretty solid. I don't think LSU is very good this year, but I don't think there are too many teams behind them that could beat them.