bukie

I'm envisioning a Holland-France group, just for kicks.

So, if Oregon State beats Oregon, does Oregon still make a BCS bowl ahead of Iowa/PSU/Boise?

The rules are different for every World Cup. It would seem that FIFA basically has in their minds who the strongest teams are, and will find a set of numbers that agree with their estimations to announce the seeds. This year, they absolutely didn't want to have to deal with the backlash of seeding France after the controversial playoff (where they were clearly outplayed), and they likely considered Holland a better team (which they are, by a lot).

At least it makes sense now why FIFA decided last week it was going to use the October FIFA rankings for seeding instead of the November rankings. If they had used November, the seeds would have been Spain, Brazil, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Germany and France. England would have been (rightfully) pissed. And they would have had to match CONCACAF with CAF, due to one less seeded CONMEBOL team. EDIT: Also, screw FIFA for not just using the rankings for 2006.

I'm thrilled they seeded the Netherlands, except for the fact that makes one less seeded team I'd want to see the USA matched up with.

Would you be more pissed if you bet VT and Iowa pulled out a win?

you and derwood both! I retract my statement.

Haven't seen Va Tech yet, but have a hard time thinking they will lose to Iowa. They lost to Temple on the road, and got taken to OT by Delaware at a neutral site. It could actually be a close game.

What I want to see is a PSU-FSU bowl game, loser has to retire after the game. Like one of those old Wrestlemanias.

So, ACC-Big Ten challenge this week, with less fanfare than ever! Here's what I'm thinking, in order of confidence (from highest Big Ten to highest ACC) Purdue over Wake Forest - Purdue at home against an over-matched WF team, should be the most lopsided game of the challenge. Ohio State over Florida State - Florida State actually looked pretty good over the weekend, but OSU has a solid team and HCA. Michigan over Boston College - Michigan hasn't exactly looked that good, but they're still at home against a lower-half ACC team in BC. Minnesota over Miami - Would have been higher, but Miami has looked good early, and is at home. Northwestern over NC State - Would have been near the bottom last week, but Northwestern actually looks competitive. Michigan State over North Carolina - Who knows, really? MSU should be better, but... Virginia over Penn State (yes, I know they already played this one, but this is what I thought going in) - PSU looked awful (well, more awful than VA) early on, and the game was in Virginia. Virginia Tech over Iowa - Even though the game is in Iowa, Iowa did lose to TX-San Antonio at home already this year, and VT, though possibly the worst ACC team, is better than TX-San Antonio. Maryland over Indiana - If Indiana has really made progress this year, the game could be close. They didn't have a very good run in Puerto Rico, though. Clemson over Illinois - The game is at Clemson, probably the third best team in the ACC this year, and Illinois didn't exactly look impressive last weekend in Vegas (although, they didn't look near as awful as some may have stated...trouble closing out teams, and new players struggling) Duke over Wisconsin - Even though the game is in the Kohl Center, Duke has looked like the best team in either conference so far, and blew out a much better Purdue team in WL last year.

It's the 4th, no? Oh right, the Browns and Cards were both at noon also.

Plus, it's only the second noon game the Bears have played all year.

So...what happens if more than one person is left at the end of the year? :)

Well, Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan should be Big Ten wins, and Maryland and Virginia Tech are likely ACC wins, so the Big Ten can win the challenge if 2 of Minnesota, Illinois, MSU, Wisconsin or Northwestern wins.

Yes, Virginia is the ACC's version of 2009-10 Iowa. That said, if the Big Ten can go 2-3 or better tomorrow, they have a real shot at actually winning this Challenge this year.

It was a terrible, obvious no-call that directly led to the winning goal. Barring the correct call, it directly affected the outcome of a game, and should have resulted in a replay. Unfortunately, due to the timing of everything (2 week turnaround to pool selection), it was just unfeasible, and simply sucks for Ireland and Portugal, since France is going to get a seed unless FIFA specifically tailors their seed selection process to avoid it.

Since they've only had 10 BCS teams for what, 3 years now, no, never happened. Well yeah, but the top I'm quite certain the top 8 never were in it together either. True, but if there were only 8 spots this year it wouldn't be the top 8 either. EDIT: BCS History: 1998-99: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 15 (the year #3 Kansas State got screwed) 1999-2000: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 22 (the year the Pac-10 sucked, and #6 Kansas State got screwed again) 2000-01: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 17 (Virginia Tech #5, Notre Dame #11, ND loses 41-9 to Oregon State) 2001-02: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13 (Nebraska loses Big 12 championship and finishes #2, gets blown out in NC game, Colorado wins Big 12 and finishes #3, gets blown out in Fiesta bowl anyway) 2002-03: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14 (the only year everything went right with BCS selection, but Kansas State still demands to feel screwed at #8) 2003-04: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 (#1 Oklahoma loses Big 12 championship to #10 Kansas State, who finally figures out how to make a BCS bowl) 2004-05: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 21 (the year the Big East really sucked) 2005-06: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 22 (the year the ACC really sucked) 2006-07: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14 (the year #2 Florida passed #3 Michigan 3 weeks after Michigan finished their season at #2; also Notre Dame unceremoniously blown out in BCS at-large game) 2007-08: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 (the year Missouri went from #1 to out of the BCS in one week, thanks to BCS at-large bids snapped up by #8 Kansas and #13 Illinois, probably their two biggest rivals) 2008-09: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 19 (the other year the ACC sucked)

Since they've only had 10 BCS teams for what, 3 years now, no, never happened.

It's really odd that there are six undefeated teams, and zero one-loss teams.

Well, 3 more games for the Nets until a possible winless streak snap in Chicago. I don't know why I'm concerned about it, but I can just see it happening.

No they couldnt' have. They got rid of the 5 yard incedental, which is all that Hunter's was. You misunderstand what they did. They didn't "get rid" of incidental face mask. They made ALL face masks 15 yards. Not true, they're only calling the 15 yarders now, and incidentals are no longer penalties, according to the rule book.

This is by far the longest I've ever lasted in a survival contest.

It's not an ESPN-sponsored event. There was a Luke Winn article from a few days ago detailing how ESPN has taken over the early-season tourneys, and the few that have held out (Great Alaska Shootout and Las Vegas Classic were two mentioned) are basically shut out of coverage. ESPN didn't even have it listed in the scoreboard until earlier today.

Northwestern might actually win. Maybe they won't be terrible this year.

Wow, the Pac-10 hasn't looked good at all this year. What's the conference's best win to this point? Arizona vs. Colorado? Who's the best team in the Pac-10 this year? Wazzu?