bukie

Now I want someone to shop a coupe with Theo driving and Ryno riding shotgun.

Jim Bowden apparently wrote an insider article about how Theo should beware of the GM spot in Chicago, because it's nothing like Boston. I haven't read it and won't link to it, but if Jim Bowden thinks it's a bad idea, I'm driving the Epstein bandwagon.

Now that all the ratings are updated for the current week (except Wolfe, who won't release his until next week), here's a far more accurate estimate of the BCS ratings as they stand now: |---------Overall BCS-------|---AP Poll----|----Harris-----|----------Computer Ratings-------| |---------------------------|--------------|---------------|---------------------------------| | # Team Score| Rank Score| Rank Score| JS BI MA CO AH Score| | 1 Alabama 0.9627| 2 0.9525| 2 0.9489| 1 2 1 1 2 0.9867| | 2 LSU 0.9605| 1 0.9831| 1 0.9784| 2 1 5 4 3 0.9200| | 3 Oklahoma 0.9381| 3 0.9369| 3 0.9440| 3 3 3 2 1 0.9333| | 4 Oklahoma State 0.8258| 6 0.7973| 6 0.8000| 5 5 2 3 4 0.8800| | 5 Boise State 0.8156| 5 0.8285| 5 0.8184| 7 4 6 7 5 0.8000| | 6 Clemson 0.7575| 8 0.7322| 8 0.7270| 4 6 4 8 7 0.8133| | 7 Wisconsin 0.7540| 4 0.8427| 4 0.8459| 6 7 14 14 15 0.5733| | 8 Stanford 0.7027| 7 0.7892| 7 0.7990| 15 9 23 12 12 0.5200| | 9 Michigan 0.6048| 11 0.5885| 10 0.5993| 13 17 12 5 6 0.6267| |10 Arkansas 0.5909| 10 0.6244| 11 0.5882| 9 10 10 21 16 0.5600| |11 Georgia Tech 0.5687| 12 0.5024| 12 0.5638| 10 23 9 10 10 0.6400| |12 Illinois 0.5020| 16 0.4027| 14 0.4365| 8 13 11 9 8 0.6667| |13 Oregon 0.4905| 9 0.6780| 9 0.6602| 16 8 -- -- -- 0.1333| |14 Kansas State 0.4713| 17 0.3932| 17 0.3541| 11 12 8 6 9 0.6667| |15 South Carolina 0.4093| 15 0.4122| 15 0.4157| -- 20 13 15 13 0.4000| |16 Nebraska 0.3749| 14 0.4353| 13 0.4494| 17 11 24 22 21 0.2400| |17 Texas 0.3006| 22 0.1464| 20 0.1955| 14 -- 7 11 11 0.5600| |18 West Virginia 0.2878| 13 0.4468| 16 0.3899| 24 -- -- -- 23 0.0267| |19 Virginia Tech 0.2867| 19 0.2780| 18 0.3287| 21 18 18 23 20 0.2533| |20 Arizona State 0.2761| 18 0.2807| 19 0.2543| 18 15 19 19 19 0.2933| |21 Baylor 0.2234| 20 0.2088| 21 0.1948| -- 24 15 17 17 0.2667| |22 Houston 0.1350| 25 0.0963| 24 0.0953| -- -- 22 13 14 0.2133| |23 Auburn 0.1242| 24 0.1058| 26 0.0668| 12 16 21 -- -- 0.2000| |24 Texas A&M 0.1235| 21 0.1702| 23 0.1203| 25 21 20 -- -- 0.0800| |25 Michigan State 0.0983| 23 0.1227| 22 0.1722| -- 25 -- -- -- 0.0000| |---------------------------|--------------|---------------|---------------------------------| The computer ratings are missing Wolfe, but just as the BCS does, the best and worst computer rating are removed for the score calculation. Other than that, these ratings are completely accurate. Team most helped by computers: Texas (13th in computers, 22nd in polls) Team most hurt by computers: Oregon (24th in computers, 9th in polls)

Can you link this up for me? I'd love to share it with this yahoo Steeler fan that came up to me with about 3 or 4 minutes left to go in the game and explained how bad of a QB Cutler is. His comment left me so angry, I berated him loud enough for everyone in the building to hear me and basically shoved him away rather than just knock him out. And it's more because he's a bandwagon fan rather than a legit fan. He would NOT be able to name off the front four of the Steel Curtain if I asked him. And we sort of got a small peak on Sunday night what can happen when even Aaron Rodgers has no offensive line to speak of. There were back to back sacks at one point. His saving grace in that game however, as was already mentioned, was Jennings, Driver, Jones, Nelson and Finley. All better receivers today than ANYONE on the Bears team that played last night. That's not to say that I think Cutler is anywhere near the level of Rodgers. It's just a sad commentary that Jay Cutler is our brain surgeon and he has been given a butter knife and a spoon as his only tools. In other words, an absolute mess. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/quick-reads/2011/week-5-quick-reads

From today's FO Quick Reads: When we invent BVOA (Blocking-adjusted Value Over Average), Jay Cutler will be its patron saint. It was remarkable watching him survive on Monday night, let alone thrive, evading one Lions lineman after another and picking up first downs. Cutler was like the hero in a zombie movie, fighting valiantly and alone against wave after wave of relentless attackers, until finally he was overwhelmed and Ndamukong Suh ate his brain, which drew the requisite 15-yard penalty.

Big East to consider adding 6 football schools The list of possible schools? Memphis, Temple, Central Florida, East Carolina, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Villanova.

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/830426/H5qTS_medium.jpg

Honest question: how many OOC wins are clearly better than Illinois' vs. ASU this year? I'd wager fewer than 5. The only one I'd say for sure was LSU over Oregon, and even that is questionable if ASU beats Oregon this weekend. LSU over West Virginia is arguable, Alabama over PSU is comparable, Arkansas over A&M is comparable, Boise State over Georgia is comparable. Aside from that, there really haven't been any non-conference games between two top-25 teams.

I can't help but wonder if it's all due to their feelings that ND is just too good for the Big Ten. They downplay the geographical rivalries, dismiss any evidence of success, and quickly latch onto the SEC as the only conference worthy of calling themselves not terrible. It just can't be that you're overrating your own conference and that's my objection. It must be that I think it's terrible. I'll sum up the discussion to this point: Assertion: The Big Ten isn't terrible because they have 4 teams in the top 15 of the faux BCS rankings this week. Your response: They've beefed up on cupcakes to inflate their conference ranking. They're terrible until shown otherwise. Us: No more than the SEC does, and in fact less. The SEC has better wins, but an overall much weaker OOC schedule. You: The SEC has better wins, and the Big Ten hasn't beaten anybody. Us: The Big Ten has at least all played AQ teams, and has beaten ASU and ND You: That doesn't count because ASU isn't good and anybody can beat ND. Plus Alabama beat PSU, so the SEC is better. Us: When did we say the SEC wasn't better? I'll handle the summary: Me: rational thought. You: insanity Oh, is my summary a tad biased? Of course it is, since that's apparently all you've read in the last 4 pages.

I can't help but wonder if it's all due to their feelings that ND is just too good for the Big Ten. They downplay the geographical rivalries, dismiss any evidence of success, and quickly latch onto the SEC as the only conference worthy of calling themselves not terrible. It just can't be that you're overrating your own conference and that's my objection. It must be that I think it's terrible. From what I understand, everyone is arguing that the Big Ten is the 3rd best BCS conference. How is that overrating the conference? My discussion is related to "4 teams in the top 15" or whatever it was. Someone said the top of the conference is solid and I said how would you know. And we've responded with as many objective measures as possible since the majority of teams don't play each other. By any reasonable objective measure the conference sports 7 of the top 35 teams in the country, and only the SEC can compare to conference depth like that.

Winning the division objectively means an extra conference championship game and a shot at a BCS bowl. They won't be favored by any means, but they have a shot. And are you really denying that the SEC, Pac-12 and ACC don't have an inherent geographical advantage in bowl games? Or are you just going to be smug and dismissive of everything that refutes your subjective dismissal of the Big Ten? Because if that's the case, there's no point in further discussion, since you're not really interested in a discussion. I agree that there are benefits to winning a division. I disagree that winning a division is indicative of a good team. ETA I forgot the bowl thing. I'm sure UW sees itself as having a huge geographic benefit. And I know USC sees the Orange Bowl as a home away from home. Yes, some schools are closer to the bowl location than others. Other than usc playing in the rose bowl type situations, I'm not sure how much of an impact it really has on the outcome. Some northern schools have rabid fans that travel well, some southern schools don't travel as well. Either way, I don't think the difference in travel distance is much of a factor (and my school isn't significantly closer to any bowls). Maybe the bowl geography annoys me specifically because Illinois' last 3 bowls have been against Baylor in the Texas Bowl, USC in the Rose Bowl, and LSU in the Sugar Bowl. And it looks like this year it'll be the Capital One bowl against Florida, just for kicks.

I can't help but wonder if it's all due to their feelings that ND is just too good for the Big Ten. They downplay the geographical rivalries, dismiss any evidence of success, and quickly latch onto the SEC as the only conference worthy of calling themselves not terrible. It just can't be that you're overrating your own conference and that's my objection. It must be that I think it's terrible. I'll sum up the discussion to this point: Assertion: The Big Ten isn't terrible because they have 4 teams in the top 15 of the faux BCS rankings this week. Your response: They've beefed up on cupcakes to inflate their conference ranking. They're terrible until shown otherwise. Us: No more than the SEC does, and in fact less. The SEC has better wins, but an overall much weaker OOC schedule. You: The SEC has better wins, and the Big Ten hasn't beaten anybody. Us: The Big Ten has at least all played AQ teams, and has beaten ASU and ND You: That doesn't count because ASU isn't good and anybody can beat ND. Plus Alabama beat PSU, so the SEC is better. Us: When did we say the SEC wasn't better?

FTFY That too. I just wanna keep the run game going to keep Cutler upright. If things go badly, he could die tonight. One thing that would keep the run game going would be to be up 20.

I can't help but wonder if it's all due to their feelings that ND is just too good for the Big Ten. They downplay the geographical rivalries, dismiss any evidence of success, and quickly latch onto the SEC as the only conference worthy of calling themselves not terrible.

Winning the division objectively means an extra conference championship game and a shot at a BCS bowl. They won't be favored by any means, but they have a shot. And are you really denying that the SEC, Pac-12 and ACC don't have an inherent geographical advantage in bowl games? Or are you just going to be smug and dismissive of everything that refutes your subjective dismissal of the Big Ten? Because if that's the case, there's no point in further discussion, since you're not really interested in a discussion.

FTFY

Maybe it'll make opponents think twice before messing with Kane.

And before anyone else mentions it as an "aha!", yes, Minnesota and Indiana are awful. They're probably the worst two teams in any major conference. And it makes the conference look terrible when they scheduled cupcakes and lost to them. Doesn't really take away from the overall point.

When you have 4 non-conference games per year, and nearly every school choose at least 2 cupcakes out of those 4, how can you determine anybody's ever any good? Are you going to argue that we don't know if Wisconsin is good yet? It's the teams fault for not knowing 3 years in advance if their opponents this year would be terrible. Right. We all thought this was going to be Oregon St's shot at the title. Guess Wisconsin just got unlucky. And of course, PSU had no idea what they were getting when they scheduled Bama. It's cfb, no one, least of all ADs, have any idea if the schools they schedule will be terrible, average, or great just 2-3 years down the road. Come on. You schedule Oregon St or ASU hoping they're ok but not too good. You schedule Bama knowing what you're in for. You schedule Duke or UVA knowing you get a W. And you schedule Pitt thinking they'll be a quality team 3 years down the road. Oregon State finished 2nd in the Pac-10 three years back, and now they're awful. Arizona State was awful three years back, and now they're going to win their division and finish in the top 15 (are you still arguing that it isn't a quality win?). Sure, you schedule Alabama, and you can pretty well assume that CNS is staying around another 3 years to keep the program going, because that's the kind of guy he is. But a lot of teams are more volatile than you think over a three year period. I imagine both Miami and OSU thought that game would be more significant than it was this year. If anything, the Big Ten actually learned something from the SEC: if the lower tier of your conference schedules a bunch of cupcakes and inflates their overall record, it makes the whole conference look better when they beat on each other later in the year. It's too bad they can't duplicate the other half of the SEC's success of being located in the south and getting a whole bunch of bowl games at or near home, but them's the breaks.

by "zook" you must mean suffer a devastating yet predictable loss to a superior team. but seriously, we got blown out by Purdue. which do you honestly think has a chance at beating Illinois?? Illinois lost at home to a similar Minny team last year. It's Zook, anything can happen.

Apparently they interviewed Zook about why he went for two up 20-13 in the second quarter, and his answer was that he didn't know what the score was and thought the TD put them up 14-13.

And Michigan, at that rate. I'm terrified of the Illinois game. Michigan will be coming off an emotional win/loss at MSU and a bye week. Teams have something like a 46% win percentage after a bye week. Not looking forward to the Illinois game. I'm terrified of every game, since Zook is the coach. EDIT: The Illinois-Michigan game is later than you think. Michigan plays Purdue after the bye week. Illinois plays Michigan coming off a bye week (now, why the bye week is week 10, who knows.)

And Michigan, at that rate. Heh, didn't even think of that. WE'RE YOUR ONLY HOPE EVERYONE All that's left to figure out is which game they'll Zook: @Purdue, or @Minnesota. Or both. EDIT: I don't consider a loss this week a Zook, because it's at least somewhat reasonable they'd lose.

Also, knock PSU's offense, but they're sitting 5-1 with their only loss being 16 points to Alabama, which looks more impressive in hindsight.

And Michigan, at that rate.