TruffleShuffle

No kidding. That was a travesty of monumental proportions. One of the critcisms of a playoff system is they say "oh, the advertisers don't want to lose money, bla bla", to which I respond: MORE people would watch your bowl game if it actually MEANT something. How is that a bad thing for them? Yeah, more people are gonna watch a 1-4 or 2-3 game with national title implications. As for it costing advertisers in the other games, how will it do that? The other games don't mean anything right now (as far as winning a title) - will a playoff make them mean less than nothing?

I'm in the Lilly will "not be great, but won't be bad" group. But I rather have him, then say....Jeff Suppan or Jason Marquis. My camp is expanding to: "Lilly=bad, Suppan & Marquis=also bad." They're average-ish guys who are likely to be even worse in Wrigley (especially Lilly). Not worth the money. Padilla would be almost worth the money, but I've heard of too many character issues with him. Pass. ok, so who do you want the cubs to get then?

I too picked Texas. USC probably did have a better all around team, but I just love Vince Young. He doesn't necessarily put up great passing stats (though last year he was #3 in passer rating in the NCAA), but he wins. His Rose Bowl game was one of the best performances I've ever seen from an athlete in that big of a situation. That's why I really liked him this year in the NFL draft. Look at this year even - that team was awful last year, and even though his passer rating is pretty lousy, they've won 5 of the 9 games he started. I think he'll make several Pro Bowls before his career is through.

I still don't like any system in which an undefeated Auburn doesn't get a chance to play for the title.

me too, he couldn't possibly be bad enough on defense to make up for the huge difference in offense.

can he play shortstop?

Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will start 2007 with the Chiefs

It looks like the gambling public seems to think that Florida is not the 2nd best team. USC (-7.5) vs Texas

yeah I didn't really hash out how the BCS rankings would be done in my system, because I liked the playoff that resulted, regardless of what formula the BCS was using that week. But I agree, get the AP back (I think they'd come back if you installed a 4 team playoff).

Other games: Northern Illinois vs TCU (-13) BYU (-5) vs Oregon Troy vs Rice (-7) East Carolina vs South Florida (-3.5) San Jose St vs New Mexico (-5.5) Utah (-3) vs Tulsa (like tulsa here) Arizona State vs Hawai'i (-8) - Over/Under of 75! awesome Middle Tennessee St vs Central Michigan (-8) - what's the point? Oklahoma St (-2.5) vs Alabama Kansas St vs Rutgers (-7) Texas A&M vs Cal (-5) Kentucky vs Clemson (-10) Houston vs South Carolina (-7) Purdont vs Maryland (-3.5) Minnesota vs Texas Tech (-7) - minnesota Navy vs BC (-7) - I like Navy, but they can't beat good BCS teams Iowa vs Texas (-11.5) - Iowa; Ferentz is a great coach Va Tech (-3) vs Georgia Nevada vs Miami (FL) (-3) - will Miami bother showing up? Nebraska vs Auburn (-3) Penn State vs Tennessee (-4.5) - sorry, I love Tennessee at this line Wisconsin vs Arkansas (-1.5) Ga Tech vs West Virginia (-7) - always bet against Reggie Ball Western Michigan vs Cincinnati (-8.5) Ohio vs Southern Miss (-7) So, Vegas thinks the five most lopsided games are: 1. TCU-Northern Illinois (should've been fat Kansas coach, not NIU!) 2. Texas-Iowa 3. Central Mich-MTSU 4. Clemson-Kentucky 5. Louisville-Wake and the five most even matchups are: 1. Wisconsin-Arkansas (looking forward to this, even more than some of the BCS games) 2. Michigan-USC (must think it's a home game for USC) 3. Oklahoma St - Alabama 4/5. Nevada-Miami, Nebraska-Auburn, Va Tech-Georgia, and Utah-Tulsa

yeah, he was consistent, as in consistently bad. He had the worst quarterback rating in the entire NFL. He was considerably worse than Brooks Bollinger and Kyle Boller, for God's sakes.

1. I didnt know those 2 teams play against each other freqeuntly. Well its a good opportunity for PSU to prove themselves other than the 4 tough losses to top 12 teams. 2. There seems to be a lot of people in and even outside of B10 that thinks this game is going to be a OSU route. I believe they've played each other in a Bowl game at least twice in the last 10-15 years. Not frequent, but they've played before EDIT: PSU beat the Vols 42-17 in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl and 31-13 in the 1993 Citrus Bowl. They've also played Auburn twice in that span You can't spell Citrus without UT! Penn State played Alabama 3 times, twice in the Sugar Bowl during the Bear Bryant era. Aside from that, they've played nobody more than twice, although this will be the third time facing Tennessee.

Which idea do you support? Feel free to share details on how the teams are chosen in "your" format.

Columbus discovers West Indies! more at 11...

ooh, a sparkling 12-3 record for me this week ATS

jeez, jake plummer could've done THAT

Well, I was ignoring the no-BCS Bowl rule for the mismatches... but I guess if you want to replace it, you could put in Penn State-Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, or Texas vs Iowa in the Alamo Bowl.

OK well we've spent lots of time talking about the 5 BCS bowls - here are what I think are the 5 best non-BCS bowls, along with the 5 worst, and the 5 biggest mismatches (IMO): 5 Best 1. Wisconsin vs Arkansas - Capitol One Bowl 2. Nebraska vs Auburn - Cotton Bowl 3. Tennessee vs Penn State - Outback Bowl 4. Oregon vs BYU - Las Vegas Bowl 5. Texas vs Iowa - Alamo Bowl 5 Worst 1. Troy vs Rice - New Orleans Bowl 2. Central Michigan vs Middle Tennessee - Motor City Bowl 3. East Carolina vs South Florida - Papjohns.com (???) Bowl 4. Western Michigan vs Cincinnati - International Bowl 5. Oklahoma State vs Alabama - Independence Bowl 5 Biggest Mismatches 1. Rutgers vs Kansas State - Texas Bowl 2. TCU vs Northern Illinois - San Diego ... Poinsettia Bowl 3. Arizona State vs Hawai'i - Hawai'i Bowl 4. LSU vs Notre Dame - Sugar Bowl 5. Boston College vs Navy - Meineke Car Care Bowl

:?: :?: Kenny Lofton has made the playoffs 8 times, and the team has been eliminated every time. Some bad times include 2003 Cubs and 2004 Yankees. in other news, the Cubs have made the playoffs eight times - since 1932.

notre dame has a basketball program? who knew?

NO, NO, and NO. Rutgers clobbered by Cincy. Out. WVU lost at home to South Florida. Out. Both teams played schedules ridiculously easier than ND's. Out. hate to say it, but I have to agree with you on this one. ND didn't lose to an average team like the other two did.

this bites as that matchup will do nothing to settle the long debate. Wake blows. ratings for this game are going to be terrible. Nobody cares much about either of these clubs. At least Rutgers would've gotten some people to watch since they're a national feel-good story.

Auburn won 10 games against a top 25 schedule - and they beat two top 10 teams.

I hope everyone in America agrees with you. And I mean that. Agreed. because that means that everyone else in America realizes, like you do, that Notre Dame doesn't deserve a BCS spot. Under the BCS rules, with only 2 teams allowed per conference, ND does deserve a bid. I realize that. And that's why Notre Dame gets in with no argument, really. But that doesn't change the fact that they don't deserve it. That rule really does favor a team like Notre Dame, it's pretty ridiculous.

I realize you're exaggerating but you might be underrating Boise State just a bit. I like Boise State, but OU has been a buzzsaw for about 2 months now. Add in that they have a vast physical/talent advantage and I think it's going to get ugly. The last time Boise St played a really good team from a power conference, they got slaughtered (48-13 against Uga last year)