Andy

And ND very well could lose. I think ND would have a very legit chance of losing to any team they play in a BCS game. I would be OK if they lost also. I never thought they would be in a situation where I could be talking about a BCS game this season. It would suck if they lost, but they have already exceeded my expectations for the year. Adam, you and I finally disagree on something! I predicted ND to have 8 wins this year...while nine would exceed my expectations, once we get to a bowl I want to win it. I am so sick and tired of hearing about "we haven't won a bowl since 1994". I want to get a bowl win so that's not hanging over our heads anymore. I'd be upset if we lost a hypothetical BCS game - not incensed, but still unhappy.

Anything .500 or better is a success. I don't want to make predictions for the roadtrip (lot harder to do NBA picks because of the game to game fluctuations), but I did pick a Bulls win tonight. Remember we didn't have Du when we beat GS in Chicago.

Tennessee, BYU, or Pitt would be ND's second best win. You could debate on which one is exactly second, but they're similar. How are Pitt and Tennesse similiar? Every game Tennessee lost was to a top 25 team. A few of those games could have gone either way. Pitt is just bad. If Tennessee doesn't fumble the ball against Bama, they're 6-4 with a win over a very good team. And they should have beaten Florida and South Carolina too. That team is an 8-2 team that ran into a bunch of bad breaks, like Charlie Weis said in the presser the week before the game.

I'd do backflips. I don't much like Mitre and I haven't heard a lot of great stuff about Nolasco.

If we can get Pierre for two mid-level prospects then that's a good thing, I guess.

I'm truly sorry for Todd Walker if this deal is made. Hendry already agreed not to trade him without consent, and to send him to the baseball hell of KC would be an indefensibly jackass move on Hendry's part. If we're going to trade Todd, send him somewhere he wants to go and throw him in a package to get a big name like Abreu or Dunn.

Flames, I'll be rooting for your Huskies as a Toledo loss can potentially pull us to within one game of first place in the division. :)

ND is guaranteed a spot if they are in the top 8, or if a non-BCS team is in the top 6, gets an at-large, and ND is in the top twelve with 9 or more wins. So right now they aren't in a BCS bowl? Eligible, but not guarenteed. They will get an at-large undoubtedly, but they are not guarenteed one. How the hell do you spell guarenteed? Is that right? Sure doesn't look right. It is guaranteed. ND will get in if they're eligible, except for 2002 when the at-large situation was very mucked up and BCS-eligible ND was passed over. Thanks for the spelling help :oops: 2002 they did not deserve it, IMO. They lost two of their last three and got smoked by USC. They also got killed by NC State, so I know they would have been embarrassed by any BCS team. The beginning of the end for Ty. In fairness to the Irish, they were competing until Holiday got hurt and we had to put Dillingham in. I love Pat for throwing the game winner against MSU in 02, but he's quite possibly the worst backup QB in the history of Notre Dame football and it showed in that bowl game. I just stopped watching once it got to around 21-3 because it was embarrassing.

Skiles loves having certain guys come off the bench. Deng, Gordon, and last year Chandler. Reminds me of when Phil Jackson would always start Ron Harper, but Steve Kerr would always end up with more minutes Kerr was my 2nd-favorite Bull behind MJ, but his pro-Wiz commentary during the playoffs last year, as well as referring to the Argentinian-born Nocioni as a "Euro", annoyed me.

ND is guaranteed a spot if they are in the top 8, or if a non-BCS team is in the top 6, gets an at-large, and ND is in the top twelve with 9 or more wins. So right now they aren't in a BCS bowl? Eligible, but not guarenteed. They will get an at-large undoubtedly, but they are not guarenteed one. How the hell do you spell guarenteed? Is that right? Sure doesn't look right. It is guaranteed. ND will get in if they're eligible, except for 2002 when the at-large situation was very mucked up and BCS-eligible ND was passed over.

So a 1 loss WVU is in. However if they lose to South Florida they are out, even though they have a better all around record then SF, in the same conference? If USF won out, beating WV, then USF would be in because they'd be tied and the Bulls would have the tiebreaker.

Bulls headed for the West Coast. Game 1 of the trip, tonight against the Warriors at 10:30 ET. Going for a season sweep. Duhon is probable with his knee contusion and will start. Starters for the Bulls: Duhon Hinrich Nocioni Songaila Chandler For the Warriors: Baron Davis Jason Richardson Mike Dunleavy Troy Murphy Adonal Foyle

All six BCS conference's champions get automatic bids no matter where they are in the BCS. (See 2004 Pitt Panthers) I don't know what the requirements are an at-large berth for BCS teams.

11th in the CPU polls. ND is 13th. I will refrain from revealing my double standard. :wink: That's a joke.

Cuse, what was the other "undeserving" ND Heisman winner? I know Hornung screwed over Jim Brown thanks to the racial climate of the times in 1956, but I wasn't aware of a second case.

Awesome huh? If FSU wins the ACC some team is going to get really screwed out of a spot they deserve. Didn't FSU go to a BCS game a few years ago with a 7-4 record? Question: Does every team have the same requirements as ND? The reason I ask is because if scUM beats O$U, they could very well be in the BCS top twelve with 8 wins, not the 9 required for ND. I believe that all BCS conference teams have the same requirements for an at-large bid as ND. I could be (and probably am) wrong about that, though.

Rich Hill better be the lefthanded Carlos Zambrano if JH honestly feels that way.

Neifi tried. And from the looks of his contract, he succeeded.

The day that a team does anything with Jerry Hairston Jr batting 5th is the day I sprout four more limbs.

I believe Beltran's inactivity on the basepaths (one of the main intrigues that made him a hundred millionaire) was a result of him battling a leg injury all season long. What about Beltran's 2004 hitting (.367 OBP, 38 HR .540+ SLG, .900+ OPS) versus his 2005 hitting (.330 OBP, 16 HR, .414 SLG, .714 OPS)? That's not a concern at all with Furcal, who also had a great, and unusual, year in 2005?

I thought Papi was more deserving than A-Rod. No major complaints though. The voters tend to get the MVP right more so than anything else.

It's too bad football season is almost over. My favorite time of year...yes, even more than Cubs season. ND should beat Syracuse by at least 3 touchdowns. Ball State will try to end the season on a 4-game winning streak when Central Michigan comes to town. The Cards can also finish in 2nd in the division, which would be a great accomplishment after starting 1-6.

O$U is a great team, and they would probably do the same. I have never taken anything away from O$U. They are a victim of the weakness of the polls. If they were ranked above ND I would not complain, and there is a chance they will meet in the Fiesta Bowl which would be a great game. Here are some interesting stats about the ND wins this year (and losses) taken from an ND message board. Doesn't prove much but it is interesting, well some of it, some of it is irrelevant IMO. I am not by any means saying ND deserves to be ahead of all these teams. I do think their is an argument for it though, which it seems a majority of coaches and sports writers do to. My whole point was to find out why some people always complain about ND and not other teams in the same (or very similiar) situation. I was not putting anyone down or trying to start this whole debate again. I was an honest question. We could go around all day on the rankings, which is part of what is great about college football, but also shows what sucks about the system. You provided me with your argument and I accept it. It is very plausible that O$U has a legit reason to be above ND. I just never hear anyone complain about why O$U is ranked ahead of Oregon or UCLA, or why is Auburn ahead of UCLA or West Virgina; but why is ND ahead of so-and-so. Apparently people feel that way due to the schedule. Fair enough. I really doubt the voters are looking at those obscure facts. They go both ways as well. Only Hawaii and Illinois gave up more points to MSU than ND did. Same situation against Washington, only Idaho and Arizona were worse. Eastern Michigan and Indiana are the only teams to score fewer points against Michigan than Notre Dame this year. Food for thought. The biggest wins to ND and TCU's credit this year are road wins at perennial powerhouses have down years that have 3 losses this year. If you replace Army with USC on their schedule(a certain loss for the Horned Frogs), their opponents have a 54-54 record, compared to ND's 55-55 outlined above. Notre Dame is ranked 6/7, TCU 15th. Terrible example. No matter how disappointing ND's schedule has been, it's still much better than C-USA. And if we can hypothetically replace teams here and there, then I want to replace Cuse with a half-decent team. Then ND's opponent record is better. If we start opening up cans of worms like hypothetical schedule replacements, then this could go on a very long time.

Combined win lost of OSU opponents faced so far this year: 59-40 (.596) Combined win lost of ND opponents faced so far this year: 48-40 (.545) OSU has 1 game left with Michigan. ND has 2 games left with Syracuse and Stanford. Syracuse is going to lose to Louisville, and just for humor's sake, lets say that Stanford beats Cal. That would mean, if both teams win out, their final win loss of the teams they face would have been: ND - 55-55 (.500) OSU - 66-44 (.600) While I'm upset that ND is currently ranked higher than OSU, it would be a joke if they ended the season that way. (Given that OSU can beat Michigan) In all fairness, they could get a chance to prove it in the Fiesta Bowl, or, if they don't play each other, OSU could lose their bowl and ND could win, and then it would not be a joke.

I agree with Adam and you also look at the quality of play in the losses. ND lost a game in overtime after coming back from down 38-17 in the 4th quarter (even if it was just MSU...UCLA did something similar against Stanford who is IMO a worse team than MSU, and no one except me was arguing that the Bruins looked worse for it), and they lost on the final play to the best team in the country. The fact that they were both at home counts against them slightly, but ND has the high quality of their losses going for them. Whereas Auburn looked bad against GT, although they did not look bad against LSU. Georgia has not looked bad in either one of their losses. If DJ Shockley had been available for UF, we wouldn't be having this argument because the Dawgs would have one loss, and probably still be behind ND. The 1-loss thing is just part of the flaw of the poll system. It's a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, and ND hasn't had a loss that impacted their ranking (and rightfully so in the USC case) since September 21, whereas Georgia and Auburn have sustained both their losses since then. That's where the BCS is the equalizer.