College Football - Week of Nov. 14th

[dew1679666265]

There's pretty much no way a 6-4 Tennessee team gets ranked.

 

Yeah, even with one of the 4 losses being by two points to the #2 team in the nation, it's hard to justify a 4-loss team over the 2-3 loss teams currently inhabiting the bottom of the rankings. Tennessee's playing well enough right now that I think they compete with or beat most of the teams from about 20 down.

 

If Tennessee can win out, I wouldn't be surprised to see them slip into the top 25 before the bowl.

[dew1679666265]

As for the game Saturday, I like our chances. McCluster might be a problem, but I don't know that Snead will do much better against our defense than Alabama's.

 

As usual, a smart offensive day likely gives the Vols a win. Too many turnovers or not containing McCluster will almost certainly turn into a Rebel victory.

[TheVolCub08]

There's pretty much no way a 6-4 Tennessee team gets ranked.

 

And after looking at the voting, there's no way Ole Miss picks up enough votes to make it either.

 

Never say never. From no votes whatsoever to #31 in the AP in two weeks. Stranger things have happened.

 

Truth is, UT does not deserve to be ranked. But, looking at the past 4 games, they are playing as well as maybe the best 20 teams in the country. Again, I;m not saying they are one of the top 20 teams, but they've played that way in their past 4.

 

Win out, and they get Iowa or Penn State. Win that, and I'd have to believe they finish in the top 15-20, which is miles ahead of where anyone expected them to be.

[Cubswin11]

With Mississippi, Kentucky and Vanderbilt left. The only way, IMO, they finish top-25 (before the bowls) is if they finish 3-0 and win all those games by 2+scores. But if they do finish 3-0 and presumably go to a bowl against a top 3 Big Ten team and win that game then I can see a top 25, maybe 16-20 finish.

[dew1679666265]

With Mississippi, Kentucky and Vanderbilt left. The only way, IMO, they finish top-25 (before the bowls) is if they finish 3-0 and win all those games by 2+scores. But if they do finish 3-0 and presumably go to a bowl against a top 3 Big Ten team and win that game then I can see a top 25, maybe 16-20 finish.

 

A lot depends on what other teams do. If there are still a bunch of 2-3 loss teams in the lower half of the rankings at the end of the year, then I doubt a 4-loss Tennessee team gets in. If, however, a few teams at the bottom of the rankings start losing, you might see some 3-4 loss teams moving up - and I'd have to imagine Tennessee is one of, if not the, highest ranked 4-loss teams in the nation.

 

I could be mistaken, but I think by the end of the season there are usually 8-4 teams scattered around the 20-25 range.

[OleMissCub]

With Mississippi

 

ugh

[OleMissCub]

 

I could be mistaken, but I think by the end of the season there are usually 8-4 teams scattered around the 20-25 range.

 

Ole Miss was ranked 20th with an 8-4 record last year before the bowl.

[Guest]

With Mississippi, Kentucky and Vanderbilt left. The only way, IMO, they finish top-25 (before the bowls) is if they finish 3-0 and win all those games by 2+scores. But if they do finish 3-0 and presumably go to a bowl against a top 3 Big Ten team and win that game then I can see a top 25, maybe 16-20 finish.

 

A lot depends on what other teams do. If there are still a bunch of 2-3 loss teams in the lower half of the rankings at the end of the year, then I doubt a 4-loss Tennessee team gets in. If, however, a few teams at the bottom of the rankings start losing, you might see some 3-4 loss teams moving up - and I'd have to imagine Tennessee is one of, if not the, highest ranked 4-loss teams in the nation.

 

I could be mistaken, but I think by the end of the season there are usually 8-4 teams scattered around the 20-25 range.

 

Mississippi, Oregon State, Missouri and Virginia Tech were all ranked between 19 and 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls.

[OleMissCub]

 

Mississippi, Oregon State, Missouri and Virginia Tech were all ranked between 19 and 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls.

 

You know Mississippi is Ole Miss right? :-)

[RedFlash]

As for the game Saturday, I like our chances. McCluster might be a problem, but I don't know that Snead will do much better against our defense than Alabama's.

 

As usual, a smart offensive day likely gives the Vols a win. Too many turnovers or not containing McCluster will almost certainly turn into a Rebel victory.

 

For as talented as Ole Miss is, Houston Nutt showed his true colors as a coach. He cannot coach a team that has expectations put on them. Put them in the underdog and Nutt can succeed, but expect him to win and he folds like a wet paper bag. So I really like Tennessee's chances against Ole Miss.

 

As for Snead, he is talented, but he gets easily rattled by any kind of defense (USCeast, Alabama, etc) so if Monte can create blitz's that cause confusion (which, IMO isn't that hard to do with Snead) with Jevon you guys will kick Ole Miss butt. Defensively, Ole Miss is one of three physical defenses Bama's has played (USCeast and Tenn be the other two with LSU being a step behind) so I expect a hard fought game. But with the way Crompton is playing, I think Tennessee wins a tight game.

[OleMissCub]

Snead would get picked 10 times a game if he brought his current skill set to the NFL. All you have to do is just watch his head. I honest to god cannot recall him EVER pump faking and he always without fail stares down the receiver he is throwing to.

 

As much as I've hoped against it, I've come to the conclusion that he just isn't all that good of a QB. I think he got super hot at the end of last year and thus fooled everyone into thinking he was actually competent, when in fact he clearly isn't.

 

Unless McCluster gets the ball well over a dozen times and breaks a big one or two, no way the Rebels win the game. If the Vols contain him then they should be ok. It would also be wise for them to not kick it to Jesse Grandy on kickoffs because he has only been returning kickoffs for 4 games and already has 2 TD returns as a true freshman.

[hawkeyecub]

I'm not confident that Iowa will score a single point (on offense).

 

Vandenberg will be better. Not sure he'll be good enough to win but he won't be 9-27 for 82 yards and a pick. The real problem is that we can't run the ball.

 

I'm confident the defense will hold OSU's offense down though. We need a positive (likely +2 or more) turnover margin to win.

 

OSU has a top 10 defense. It's going to be quite difficult for Iowa to do anything on offense, especially since you won't be able to run the ball.

 

True. I also don't think they're going to run on our defense and would like to think we can bait Pryor into getting impatient and throwing a pick or two.

 

I don't expect our offense to put up much at all. Like I said we need to win the turnover margin to win the game and probably by a couple. Will need our defense/special teams to get a score or give the offense short field.

[Derwood]

 

True. I also don't think they're going to run on our defense and would like to think we can bait Pryor into getting impatient and throwing a pick or two.

 

I thought the same thing last week and you saw how that worked out

[dew1679666265]

With Mississippi, Kentucky and Vanderbilt left. The only way, IMO, they finish top-25 (before the bowls) is if they finish 3-0 and win all those games by 2+scores. But if they do finish 3-0 and presumably go to a bowl against a top 3 Big Ten team and win that game then I can see a top 25, maybe 16-20 finish.

 

A lot depends on what other teams do. If there are still a bunch of 2-3 loss teams in the lower half of the rankings at the end of the year, then I doubt a 4-loss Tennessee team gets in. If, however, a few teams at the bottom of the rankings start losing, you might see some 3-4 loss teams moving up - and I'd have to imagine Tennessee is one of, if not the, highest ranked 4-loss teams in the nation.

 

I could be mistaken, but I think by the end of the season there are usually 8-4 teams scattered around the 20-25 range.

 

Mississippi, Oregon State, Missouri and Virginia Tech were all ranked between 19 and 25 in both the AP and Coaches polls.

 

Yeah, I think it's a pretty normal thing to happen. I'm not sure there's a 3 or 4 loss team that's playing better than Tennessee right now, but it's hard to justify them in the top 25 when there are still plenty of 2 loss teams in there.

[dew1679666265]

As for the game Saturday, I like our chances. McCluster might be a problem, but I don't know that Snead will do much better against our defense than Alabama's.

 

As usual, a smart offensive day likely gives the Vols a win. Too many turnovers or not containing McCluster will almost certainly turn into a Rebel victory.

 

For as talented as Ole Miss is, Houston Nutt showed his true colors as a coach. He cannot coach a team that has expectations put on them. Put them in the underdog and Nutt can succeed, but expect him to win and he folds like a wet paper bag. So I really like Tennessee's chances against Ole Miss.

 

I wonder what it is, if anything, he does differently when his team has expectations surrounding it.

 

As for Snead, he is talented, but he gets easily rattled by any kind of defense (USCeast, Alabama, etc) so if Monte can create blitz's that cause confusion (which, IMO isn't that hard to do with Snead) with Jevon you guys will kick Ole Miss butt. Defensively, Ole Miss is one of three physical defenses Bama's has played (USCeast and Tenn be the other two with LSU being a step behind) so I expect a hard fought game. But with the way Crompton is playing, I think Tennessee wins a tight game.

 

Yeah, I think Monte will cook up some good blitz packages to throw off Snead. He's a talented QB, though, and at any point could look like the guy he did at the end of last year.

[SouthSideRyan]

There's pretty much no way a 6-4 Tennessee team gets ranked.

 

And after looking at the voting, there's no way Ole Miss picks up enough votes to make it either.

 

Never say never. From no votes whatsoever to #31 in the AP in two weeks. Stranger things have happened.

 

Truth is, UT does not deserve to be ranked. But, looking at the past 4 games, they are playing as well as maybe the best 20 teams in the country. Again, I;m not saying they are one of the top 20 teams, but they've played that way in their past 4.

 

Win out, and they get Iowa or Penn State. Win that, and I'd have to believe they finish in the top 15-20, which is miles ahead of where anyone expected them to be.

 

They're "#31" in the AP poll, but they only appeared on 5 ballots. I'd be surprised if they weren't ranked with a 9-4 finish, but voters don't view close losses the same way we do unless it happens to have happened that week.

[bukie]

Illinois trying to remain bowl eligible for the third consecutive week.

 

This one even looks winnable. Which means they'll probably get blown out.

[shnsajax]

Is GameDay going to be coming to Fort Worth this week?

[Andy]

Is GameDay going to be coming to Fort Worth this week?

Yep, they'll be at Utah/TCU.

[Jon]

What's football parking like in Champaign?

[Jon]

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_ncaaf_experts__26/ept_sports_ncaaf_experts-929966782-1257643534.jpg?ymPI7KCDzL2R64g0

 

Really makes you think.

[Andy]

Dear God. That kid was in my line of sight (I was 20-some rows up and to the left of him).

 

Ironic choice of insult, for sure.

[Outshined_One]

What's football parking like in Champaign?

 

That depends on how far you're willing to hoof it and whether you want to tailgate. Most of the lots around the stadium are set aside for football parking, so if you want to tailgate, you can go to the lots down along First Street south of the stadium and in the research park. You'll have to pay to park at those places, though. If you just want to go to the game, university parking is free on Saturdays, although most of that parking is a decent walk away from the stadium. This parking includes a long row of free meters between Windsor and Kirby on Lincoln along with a number of the lots on campus.

[Jon]

What's football parking like in Champaign?

 

That depends on how far you're willing to hoof it and whether you want to tailgate. Most of the lots around the stadium are set aside for football parking, so if you want to tailgate, you can go to the lots down along First Street south of the stadium and in the research park. You'll have to pay to park at those places, though. If you just want to go to the game, university parking is free on Saturdays, although most of that parking is a decent walk away from the stadium. This parking includes a long row of free meters between Windsor and Kirby on Lincoln along with a number of the lots on campus.

Thanks. I couldn't find any pricing information online and they didn't indicate that it was free.

 

No tailgating, just parking. I'll just try to grab a lot that is a little further out to avoid any traffic after the game.

[Guest]

Flames, SIU is the new No. 1 team in TSN's poll.

 

Interestingly, Montana easily had the most first place votes (64 to SIU's 37 and Nova's 32) but enough people must have voted like me and dropped Montana to 4 and 5. I'd be surprised if anybody had SIU and Nova outside of the top-3 but I'd bet Montana was No. 4 and No. 5 on plenty of ballots.

 

And in the "this doesn't make sense department" Cal Poly received more votes than UCD despite having a worse overall record (4-5 vs 5-4), worse conference record (1-2 vs. 2-1) and UCD having just defeated Cal Poly 23-10.

Edited November 9, 2009 by soccer10k