Andy

There is almost no reason at all for a team that loses a Heisman finalist to be ranked in the top 5. Maybe they will be fine, but it's ludicrous to put them that high. Hell, USC lost TWO Heisman winners and are ranked 3rd. Just because a team loses a Heisman trophy winner or finalist doesn't mean they shouldn't be ranked high in the polls the next year. USC lost Carson Palmer going into the 2003 season and ended up winning a share of the National Title. Last year USC returned both Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart but their downfall was their defense. Oh, I don't disagree that teams can turn out to be just as good without their Heisman finalist/winner. I just don't believe that you can assume that said team will be just as good by ranking them so high. I'll probably be saying this again next season when ND is ranked way too high in the preseason polls.

Murton gets double-switched out of the game again for Pagan who is worse in the field. Thanks, Dusty. (only the 50th time he's done that)

I want Cy Z back please.

While ND is the specific example used in this thread, I wouldn't say this is "separate thread"-ish. I think examining where traditional powers are helped out by polls and nontraditional powers are hurt is a valid discussion on all counts. True, but you guys who have huge wood about the upcoming season can barely keep it in your pants now. Just think what's going to happen once the season starts. I think a separate ND thread is a very good idea. In theory, but separate ND threads have been created before, and everyone stops talking then for whatever reason. I'll tell you why. This is how every thread involving Notre Dame inevitably goes: ND FAN: nd is awesome charlie weiss best coach ever i want brady quinn's seed he is awesome nd is the best program ever gnute rockne 4 life Other people: Shut up, we don't care. Yes he is a good coach, yes BQ is a good QB, yes they have an excellent history, no we don't want to hear about. If you had your own thread, the people who don't give a damn about ND wouldn't be there to say that they don't want to hear about it. Then you ND fans wouldn't be able to tell us why we should care. ND is the Yankees of College Football. Do you want to hear about how awesome Jeter is constantly? Do you want to hear about what a great manager Joe Torre is? Actually, it usually goes more like, me or Adam or SSR voices our ND-related opinion on something, usually never even making any kind of proclamation about anything, then an overzealous ND hater makes a smartass comment about money or not being in a conference or having an easy road to the BCS or a national TV deal etc. which then forces us to defend them (you wouldn't let someone make a negative statement you disagreed with about the Cardinals, would you?), then more ND-haters start arguing with me/Adam/SSR, and soon the thread is completely hijacked. Adam and SSR have been better than me in this regard, but I'd say all three of us as well as the other ND fans on this board have done a pretty damn good job not being argumentative in these threads.

While ND is the specific example used in this thread, I wouldn't say this is "separate thread"-ish. I think examining where traditional powers are helped out by polls and nontraditional powers are hurt is a valid discussion on all counts. True, but you guys who have huge wood about the upcoming season can barely keep it in your pants now. Just think what's going to happen once the season starts. I think a separate ND thread is a very good idea. In theory, but separate ND threads have been created before, and everyone stops talking then for whatever reason.

There is almost no reason at all for a team that loses a Heisman finalist to be ranked in the top 5. Maybe they will be fine, but it's ludicrous to put them that high. Hell, USC lost TWO Heisman winners and are ranked 3rd.

While ND is the specific example used in this thread, I wouldn't say this is "separate thread"-ish. I think examining where traditional powers are helped out by polls and nontraditional powers are hurt is a valid discussion on all counts. Twice in the last decade (1998 and 2005), Notre Dame has made a huge leap from 20th or lower into the #10 slot after an impressive victory over Michigan early in the season. (Coincidentally, in both those years, UM fell considerably below their expectations for that season.) I think that's evidence of a greater ill at work: Pollsters almost trying to find an excuse to keep the major powers at the top of the polls. I don't think it's coincidence either that the Irish - arguably the most traditional of all the traditional powers - are the only team in history not to drop in the polls after a loss after that USC game last year.

Ok seriously, why the Joe Buck commercial? I have yet to get a satisfactory answer as to why we need that.

Brenly: "I have to believe Rothschild is approaching a National League record for visits to the mound".

You've got to be kidding me.

The Beatles will win.

Aramabomb!

I think it was SSR who said Prior wasn't injury-prone. But at the time, it was true.

Panthers won tonight doing what they do best, giving up only 74 yards to Buffalo in the first half and the defense scoring as many TDs as the Bills did (on a Kenny Lucas INT). About what I expected as the Carolina defense looks as promising as it ever has.

Junior Glymph has actually looked really good tonight as well. He's had 2 sacks and 2FF's that I've caught. Ellis did a much better job than I was expecting against the pass and when covering the QB when he rolled out of the pocket. I think the move will work pretty good, but our LB's are pretty stacked right now. Ellis, James, Shanle, and Ware got the start but we've also got Carpenter, Ayodele, Singleton, and Burnett as well. I really don't care about the offense, this defense is getting me jacked up already. I think ya'll are going to like Kevin Burnett. At Tennessee, he was the best player on some very solid defenses. He plays very hard and was beginning to get some comparisons to perhaps the greatest linebacker to ever play at Tennessee, Al Wilson. While I don't think he'll ever get that good, I think he'll be a starter for ya'll for a very long time. I look forward to seeing what BSU alum Justin Beriault can do for you guys too, as Parcells had him on track to play a lot of minutes at SS before he suffered a season ending injury last year.

They probably have to have a team first.

My first thought when reading this was USSoccer's, to the letter. We need Freel on this team, I think he and Z would get along great.

Len was already one of my 5 favorite current nonplayers involved in baseball, I think that interview moved him to the top of the list no question. This guy echoes mine and many of this board's sentiments exactly and knows what it takes to win. If only our front office and coaching staff were so intelligent.

Tonight I saw him whine about a call that was clearly correct (Konerko missing the bag while trying to double off Abreu on a fly ball). He then said it had been a terribly umpired series, which I assume means that close calls were correctly called against the Sox.

Wow, Len really defended Ned Yost too.

That game was one of the wildest games I've ever seen. Baker actually snapped in that game as well as he couldn't execute a double switch properly. That whole season was wild. 2003 was a great run, but for sheer entertainment value 2004 was the most fun baseball season I've ever followed.

I'm going to obsessively condemn you for pointing this out. :wink:

I thought the Pierre trade was longer but I couldn't even find the thread for it.

I don't see any mention of what they need to do to be eligible however. Perhaps they must finish in the top 8 to get there? I have to be missing something here. Soccer says they are guaranteed a spot if they finish in the top 8. I'm wondering if they can be eligible without being guaranteed a spot or if they must be in the top 8.

Bo is right. Why do you say that? Notre Dame is annually rated the most popular team in the nation. It's not like they have to compete with the Wolverines for fans. Although I despise Michigan and want to see the series continued for rivalry purposes, ND isn't really getting much out of the series other than road money. It gives Notre Dame a usually guaranteed good matchup for their schedule. You know every year there are going to be a couple teams in every conference with 0, 1, or 2 losses so you'll get good games every single year in conference. Because they don't play in a conference, Notre Dame doesn't have many teams that are guaranteed to be good. Look at last year. Notre Dame's only good scheduled opponent was USC. Every other team they played was eh at best. Michigan provides them an opponent that is likely to be in the hunt for a BCS bowl year in and year out. I think they both help each other but as Pedro said, Bo is right. The thing is though, Notre Dame has several series they have taken off thier schedule in order to get a slightly more managable schedule. If we lost Michigan, one of those teams would play us. Tennessee, Florida State, and to a lesser extent Boston College are three teams who ND has basically chosen only to play from time to time because of the strength of their schedule. I do think though that Michigan needs Notre Dame less for only one big reason. Michigan can get into a BCS bowl with a Notre Dame loss meaning very little if they do well in a conference. For Notre Dame, every loss is vitally important as it's all based on where they finish in the BCS standings-and I believe they now have to get top 8 to get considered starting this year, so that will make a loss even harder to take-which means to cushion themselves against a loss, they have to play a tough schedule, which includes Michigan. BCS Info It says if Notre Dame finishes in the top 8 in the BCS standings they are guaranteed an at-large berth. So they can still make it if they don't finish in the top 8 but they wouldn't be guaranteed a birth. I don't see any mention of what they need to do to be eligible however. Perhaps they must finish in the top 8 to get there?