jjgman21

unless the brewers and nationals can be spoilers... plus...it is still early in that game...i know it sounds unrealistic, but the mets could conceivably come back... I agree the games not over, but if the Mets lose it won't matter. it will take both Philly and the Mets winning in order to force a wild card playoff scenario where the Cubs would end up in either Philly or NY.

wow. 7-0. looking like it will be Wrigley West.

trying to summarize as this topic relates to the Cubs, since that is what it has become about: 1. SD wins, Cubs play in AZ 2. SD loses, Rockies win, one or both NY/Philly lose, Cubs play in AZ 3. SD loses, Rockies lose, both NY/Philly win, loser of NY/Philly plays SD. a. loser of NY/Philly wins, Cubs play there, b. if SD wins, Cubs play in AZ 4. SD loses, the other three win, then there is the above playoff. a. Rockies win, Cubs play in AZ b. SD wins, Cubs play in AZ c. loser of NY/Philly wins, cubs play there.

little rant here.... how stupid is it of MLB to not have a contingency plan to nationally televise some of the games today? four games with post-season births on the line, and I can't see any of it.

Well thankfully this week, the teams that lost in front of Wisconsin were all pretty big upsets. I can't see a reason why Wisconsin wouldn't be 5 or 6 in the polls. But generally, ever since I have been a Badger fan, Wisconsin hasn't built the teams that acheive lopsided victories consistently. This year is no exception. They're amazing inconsistent on both sides of the ball. Today it looked like their offense was clicking, but defensively, this might be one of the worse games I've seen them play, ever. It was just absolutely horrid. They'll need to improve bigtime next week, otherwise they'll be in a very long day. how long have you been following Wisconsin football? http://www.redwear.com/1998/football.html http://www.redwear.com/1999/football.html the inconsistency is maddening. I think they were treated unfairly after the WSU game as they really kicked their ass, but got alot of bad press. a flukish sequence of events lead to WSU's first score, and a shortfield due to a personal foul after punt and run back lead to WSU's third score. they really only put together one drive on the defense. the offense was clicking. 35 points in three quarters. an 8:15 drive in the fourth, running out the clock instead of going for points like Meyer and Carroll would do. then the next week they play like crap on both sides of the ball. then the next week they play a crappy half of defense, and a great half of defense. then they play a great game of defense, but with bad offense. then they play a great game of offense, but with bad defense. the defense returns 9 starters from one of the top units in the country last year.(actually 8 since Bielema suspended Cooper, 7 when Shaughnessey is with his brother, 6 when Ike can't stay on the field). the new safeties have to start tackling better. the free safety got run over time after time today. of course that was always 10 yards up the field. in any case, I feel they will put it together soon, and they really need to next week. hopefully the three spread offenses they faced earlier in the year will allow them to figure out Illinois. as for the offense, I haven't been disappointed, but again they lack consistency. the linework could be a little better, but when Hubbard returns, with Donovan having a good 10 games experience under his belt, they may become downright dynamic. Hill, Smith, Beckum, Hubbard, Swan, Graham, and this new Jefferson kid (just don't hit him in the hands!), and a gigantic yet agile line. stompin. if the Badgers survive the next two weeks, they might just run the table, and the Badgers have a knack for pulling upsets in bowl games.

After USC and LSU, there are no dominant teams out there. Florida has incredible talent, but plenty of issues. WVU has little to no defense. Texas has looked bad every week (nearly). Now, after the top two will likely be Cal, OSU and Wisconsin. That's honestly a very iffy 3-5. make no mistake about it, there will be at least two and probably three one loss teams ahead of Wisconsin. this is another broken record. year after year teams ranked ahead of Wisconsin that lose are not dropped below Wisconsin. no chance that changes in a year where Wisconsin's wins haven't been impressive and they are inconsistent on both sides of the ball. I would not be surprised if Wisconsin's position in the polls doesn't change. only one or two of the 4 losing teams ahead of them will drop below, while they get passed by UK, BC, or both. Florida, Oklahoma, WVU, Texas and Rutgers will all be below Wisconsin. If Wisconsin doesn't move up from #8, then BC would have to move up four spots to pass them, Va Tech 7 spots, Kentucky 8 spots, and Georgia 9 spots. Remember, that's if Wisconsin doesn't move up. After winning and everybody losing in front, I think they have to move up a spot or two at the very least. I don't see Wisconsin being outside the top 6 after today, probably in the top 5. I probably over reached with 'probably three once loss teams.' Rutgers already was below Wisconsin, who is currently #9. you really couldn't see a whole lot of pollsters going USC LSU Cal OSU 3-4 of Fla/OK/BC/UK/WVU UW ? I think it's exactly what will happen. not that it will matter anyway, because the Badgers still can't stop the spread formation, much less one with a couple of world class athletes, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a one week visit to the top 5-6 anyway.

I assume you're assuming the winner of Tennessee/Georgia next week loses a second SEC game? Because in your scenario, the winner of the Tennessee/Georgia winner vs Kentucky game wins the East. With the parity inside the SEC East this year, two losses will put Florida in with everybody else and it's likely that Tennessee, Georgia or Kentucky (possibly even South Carolina) will finish with just one loss. Florida winning the East is no slam dunk. while I did not consider Tennessee, I don't think that will be necessary. in the context of the exchange previous to this, by definition my assumption includes Florida beating Kentucky, Georgia and USC, which would be all three teams second conference loss, with Florida winning head to head against all of them. I realize that Florida winning the East isn't a slam dunk. that's really part of my point. doesn't matter how much they struggle through conference play, if they win the SEC championship game, they are likely to go to the BCS championship game. not directed at you dew: as for parity, I'm beginning to see the pattern here. if there's parity in the BigTen, it's because their top teams suck. if there's parity in the other conferences, it's because their middle teams and bottom teams are so good.

The CUBS are division champs because they won more games than anyone else in the division. No d00d.. they backed into a playoff spot. 8.5 GB in late June and somehow 3.0 game lead at the very end. Just a 12.5 game difference. Big whoop. No, they bought the division title. They spent $300 million this year! Absolutely. You nailed it. All these other teams in our division, they were playing for love of the game and a ice cold soda pop after every game. The Brewers don't even pay their players. 8-) as someone pointed out in another thread, the Cubs total payroll increased about 5M this year. the Brewers payroll increased about 14M this year.

I just saw some Ubaldo highlights and he has some nasty breaking stuff. he potentially will be facing some non-regulars as well. if not him, I would say Homer Bailey.

After USC and LSU, there are no dominant teams out there. Florida has incredible talent, but plenty of issues. WVU has little to no defense. Texas has looked bad every week (nearly). Now, after the top two will likely be Cal, OSU and Wisconsin. That's honestly a very iffy 3-5. make no mistake about it, there will be at least two and probably three one loss teams ahead of Wisconsin. this is another broken record. year after year teams ranked ahead of Wisconsin that lose are not dropped below Wisconsin. no chance that changes in a year where Wisconsin's wins haven't been impressive and they are inconsistent on both sides of the ball. I would not be surprised if Wisconsin's position in the polls doesn't change. only one or two of the 4 losing teams ahead of them will drop below, while they get passed by UK, BC, or both.

Where they will beat the @#!% out of who ever they play, proving they deserved to be there? If they win the East and get to the BCs championship game, I'm asuming they'd have one loss. So they would have beaten LSU, UGA, USC, UK, FSU, + the SEC west champ? That seems like a decent season to me. yes, USC is good because they beat Georgia and FSU is good because they beat Alabama and Georgia is good because they beat....Alabama. I'm familiar with how this little circle works. you also make an incorrect assumption. it's perfectly conceivable that LSU beats Florida and Kentucky, then Florida beats Kentucky. Florida still goes to the SEC championship game, and if they win, they more than likely go to the BCS over one loss teams. why? because the pollsters have a Merkle for Florida and the SEC in general, and the computers have a Merkle for the way Meyer runs up the score against patsies. Merkle. the new Rusch?

while Florida losing is fantastic, this is predictable as clockwork. they'll still probably win the East, and if they win the SEC championship game, the pollsters will again engineer a way to get them to the National Championship game.

managers of the year? put me squarely in the anti-Jimmy Rollins for MVP camp. other than that, I don't care, but for a similar reason that I don't want Rollins, I don't want Dice K. Rollins is not the MVP of his team, Dice K is not the best rookie on his team.

while it's been different under Tressel, there was a nice run there in the 90's where Michigan and OSU would constantly knock the other out of a chance at the Rose Bowl. maybe we'll see that again this year, or maybe it will be enough for you to root for my Badgers in two weeks didn't think so.

bhogg

YES. :wink: We're gonna have our hands full with KSU next week. But just because they beat Texas doesn't mean we can't beat them. I figured someone would catch that.

I had Florida Auburn on most of the night. seemed everytime I clicked over, USC was getting a call or Pete Carroll was bitching about correctly called penalties. I did see the easy TD that UW missed early in the game when the QB over threw the receiver in the endzone. I don't think they got any points that drive. damn shame.

I don't think he'll go and he shouldn't go. After this season USF will come up with the money to keep him there. He has it made there. He has the hottest new program in the country and couldn't be in a better place for recruiting. They've recently been giving him the resources and he's got that thing rolling. He's in a good but not great BCS conference. Plus he doesn't have to deal with super-high expectations. It's funny, five years back when Ferentz was really looking into the Jaguars job I was told that IF Kirk left, Jim Leavitt was a guy identified as a top target. I had no idea who he was at the time but he spent 10 years in Iowa and was a grad assistant under Hayden Fry. He's turned down some interest in the last couple of years and I think he would be crazy to go anywhere now. I agree with just about everything you say, but it's tough for anybody to say no when they're offered double or triple their current salary. If someone throws a $3M per year offer at Leavitt, will USF find more money to keep him there - say an extra million? I'm not sure. This is true. I just think they'll come up with some extra scratch to keep him there. Think of the revenue he's created for USF in the last couple of years. They know they need to keep him and he wants to stay. we're talking about a team that started its program in 1997, mowed through 1-AA, moved up to BCS subdivision in 2001 and only took six years to become a ranked team. something tells me there is some money being pumped into the South Florida football program.

best week ever.

on Florida's fumble on 4th down right before half, how on earth is that not offensive pass interference?

Story someone resize that link for me this and Dye deal are going to kill that franchise. 12.5M for 2 years.

Thankfully the Wisconsin-MSU game is just as good, or else I'd be pretty pissed that the Oregon-Cal game isn't on over here. since when is defensive holding not an automatic first down? Cost the Badgers a TD (more than likely). That ref made a huge goof. where's the bloody coaching staff correcting them how about adjusting the that damn swing pass Badgers. and a brilliant defensive play by the Badgers covering that play to hopefully put this one on ice.

Thankfully the Wisconsin-MSU game is just as good, or else I'd be pretty pissed that the Oregon-Cal game isn't on over here. since when is defensive holding not an automatic first down? Cost the Badgers a TD (more than likely). That ref made a huge goof. where's the bloody coaching staff correcting them how about adjusting the that damn swing pass Badgers.

Thankfully the Wisconsin-MSU game is just as good, or else I'd be pretty pissed that the Oregon-Cal game isn't on over here. since when is defensive holding not an automatic first down?

Oregon 10, Cal 3 with 9:00 left in the third MSU 21, UW 27 at half. this is what we all expected, right?