Andy

Just for the record, no good ND coach has ever lost to Navy, let alone been blitzed by a team that got crushed by [expletive] Duke the next week, and whatever anyone can say about Kelly, at least he doesn't learn from his mistakes. Once again, he stupidly chucks it to the end zone with the backup QB when 3 points is all but assured, just like he did against Michigan. Then he spent the press conference claiming that Tulsa's coach was wrong about the defense that Tulsa's coach said Tulsa was running on the pass to Floyd (Kelly said they had a 1 on 1 matchup when they obviously did not). I'm not sure if he was always this stupid, but I'm sick of the man. I don't care how many injuries you have, you don't get annihilated by [expletive] Navy, and you don't lose to [expletive] Tulsa. And now that I've gotten all that off my chest, I like Tommy Rees too. I think he looked very good at times today and definitely has a future.

The discussion originated with a kid losing his life, but I appreciate the concern. Speaking of the almighty Buffs, what are their chances in Norman on Saturday?

in 2007, Nick Saban in his first year at Alabama lost to Louisiana Monroe. You're trying to tell me that they were the best team in CFB just 2 years later? You must be smoking something. Not to play negative nancy, but Nick Saban already had a national championship on his resume by the time that loss happened and it was completely reasonable to assume he was going to quickly get Bama into contention. Brian Kelly's greatest accomplishment so far is going 12-0 in the Big East, which might as well be the MWC at this point.

Bob Veale. Huh?

Ah, we're still on the 'you should be forced to accept a bowl bid without a head coach or offensive coordinator and with your two best players already polishing up their NFL resumes whether it makes any sense whatsoever to do so' kick. If anyone's read the book "Death to the BCS" it should be blatantly obvious why accepting a minor bowl bid at 6-6 is stupid for anyone, especially so without a coach.

I for one can't believe they practiced outside in those winds. I live here and the wind was ridiculous the last two days. I feel horrible for the kid's family and I don't understand why Kelly held practice outside in those conditions, or at least why people felt the need to film from above in them. R.I.P. Declan Sullivan.

Yeah, it's frustrating because they had an opportunity to get some separation late in the 3rd and couldn't do it and sort of went into the tank in the last few minutes, but there's no shame in losing a road game to OKC. This team will be a lot better in January, so as long as the Bulls win games they should until then, they'll be fine. My lone takeaway from the game that wasn't something I already knew is that I kinda like C.J. Watson. Nice little sparkplug to have as your 7th/8th man.

Careful. If they lose to Tulsa there won't be a bowl season to have.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Auburn at Ole Miss (6 pm, ESPN2) (2) Oregon at (24*) USC (8 pm, ABC – Regional) Louisiana Tech at (3) Boise State (8 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) (4) TCU at UNLV (11 pm, CBS College) (5) Michigan State at (18) Iowa (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) (6) Missouri at (14) Nebraska (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) (8) Utah at Air Force (7:30 pm, CBS College) Colorado at (9) Oklahoma (9:15 pm, ESPN2) (11) Ohio State at Minnesota (8 pm, ABC – Regional) (13) Stanford at Washington (7 pm, Versus) (15) Arizona at UCLA (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) (16) Florida State at NC State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) (17) Oklahoma State at Kansas State (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Vanderbilt at (19) Arkansas (7 pm, ESPN3) Tennessee at (20) South Carolina (12 pm, SEC Network) Kentucky at (21) Mississippi State (7 pm, ESPNU) (22) Miami at Virginia (12 pm, ESPN) Utah State at (24) Nevada (10:30 pm, ESPNU) (25) Baylor at Texas (7 pm, FSN/CSN) (* denotes USC's AP ranking: ineligible for BCS rankings) Games of interest ------------------------ Northwestern at Indiana (12 pm, BTN) Purdue at Illinois (12 pm, ESPN2) Louisville at Pittsburgh (12 pm, ESPN3) Northern Illinois at Western Michigan (12 pm, ESPN3) Kansas at Iowa State (2 pm) Tulsa at Notre Dame (2:30 pm, NBC) Ball State at Kent State (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Texas Tech at Texas A&M (3:30 pm) Troy at UL Monroe (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Duke at Navy (3:30 pm, CBS College) Michigan at Penn State (8 pm, ESPN) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- On TV West Virginia at UConn (8 pm Friday, ESPN2) VMI at Army (12 pm, CBS College) Syracuse at Cincinnati (12 pm, ESPNU) Wake Forest at Maryland (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Florida vs Georgia – in Jacksonville (3:30 pm, CBS) ESPN3 games Clemson at Boston College (12 pm) Miami (OH) at Buffalo (3:30 pm) William & Mary at North Carolina (3:30 pm) Toledo at Eastern Michigan (4 pm) San Jose State at New Mexico State (4 pm) I-AA games of interest --------------------------------- Southern Illinois at Missouri State (3 pm) Northern Iowa at Youngstown State (3 pm) Southern Utah at UC Davis (5 pm) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------------------- North Carolina A&T at Bethune-Cookman (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU) Duquesne at Robert Morris (12 pm, ESPN3) Lafayette at Bucknell (1 pm, ESPN3) Murray State at Eastern Kentucky (3 pm, ESPN3)

ESPN has been switching from the AP to the BCS rankings on the bottom line once they're released for like 4 years now.

According to Brad Edwards, Auburn is going to leapfrog everybody and be No. 1 in the BCS next week, with Oregon as No. 2.

List of coaches that never lost to Navy: Gerry Faust, Davie, Willingham - though the latter two should have twice each. No good ND coach has ever lost to Navy, and definitely not in this pathetic a fashion.

I'm not sure I can overstate how happy those 2011 and 2012 schedules make me. Even the '11 one, which contains no team likely to be remarkable (presuming Luck leaves for the draft and USC starts feeling the hurt from scholarship reductions), is such a ginormous improvement over the schedule ND is in the midst of playing. Navy or Wake Forest is the worst team on it.

Notre Dame's top 3 receivers may all be out this weekend (Floyd is a game-time decision and Rudolph and Riddick already are). Armando Allen, who's #4, is banged up too. I'm a little worried about this. Crist has struggled enough with accuracy throwing to those 4 guys, let alone the guys he'll have to throw to this week.

The Panthers pulled a Brady Quinn on Clausen, yanking him after 3 starts. That's gonna make the kid a hell of a lot better. :roll:

Damn you 49ers for messing up the Toilet Bowl of winless teams next week in Charlotte. Now SF beating us will lack comic value.

BTW, if USC gets back into the AP poll at some point, I will put them in the Top 25 tab too and I'll figure out some way to asterisk them to make clear they're not BCS-ranked.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Oklahoma at (11) Missouri (8 pm, ABC) UCLA at (2) Oregon (9 pm Thursday, ESPN) (6) LSU at (4) Auburn (3:30 pm, CBS) Air Force at (5) TCU (8 pm, CBS College) (7) Michigan State at Northwestern (12 pm, ESPN) (8) Alabama at Tennessee (7 pm, ESPN) Colorado State at (9) Utah (6 pm, The Mountain) Purdue at (10) Ohio State (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Washington State at (12) Stanford (3:30 pm) (13) Wisconsin at (15) Iowa (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) (16) Nebraska at (14) Oklahoma State (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Washington at (18) Arizona (10:15 pm, ESPN) Iowa State at (19) Texas (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Syracuse at (20) West Virginia (12 pm, ESPN2) (21) South Carolina at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPN3) (22) Kansas State at Baylor (3 pm) Ole Miss at (23) Arkansas (12 pm, SEC Network) UAB at (24) Mississippi State (7 pm, ESPNU) Duke at (25) Virginia Tech (12 pm, ACC Network) Games of interest ------------------------ Indiana at Illinois (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Penn State at Minnesota (12 pm, ESPNU) Notre Dame vs Navy – in East Rutherford, NJ (12 pm, CBS) Western Michigan at Akron (3:30 pm, ESPN3) UConn at Louisville (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Central Michigan at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm, ESPN3) UL Monroe at Middle Tennessee (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Ball State at Toledo (7 pm) Texas A&M at Kansas (7 pm, FSN/CSN) Georgia at Kentucky (7:30 pm, ESPN3) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- On TV South Florida at Cincinnati (8 pm Friday, ESPN2) Houston at SMU (3:30 pm, CBS College) Arizona State at California (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Georgia Tech at Clemson (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) North Carolina at Miami (7:30 pm, ESPN2) ESPN3 games Temple at Buffalo (12 pm) Rutgers at Pittsburgh (12 pm) Maryland at Boston College (1 pm) Florida Atlantic at Arkansas State (1 pm) Hawaii at Utah State (5 pm) Eastern Michigan at Virginia (6 pm) Fresno State at San Jose State (8 pm) I-AA games of interest --------------------------------- Holy Cross at Colgate (1 pm) Illinois State at Northern Iowa (5 pm) South Alabama at UC Davis (5 pm) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------------------- Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alcorn State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU)

Ohio State is usually the exception that proves the rule when it comes to being ranked ahead of people they shouldn't be. But you tell me that they should be vaulted in front of Stanford or Arizona or Florida State, all of whom are in the 12-18 range that you feel Mizzou should be jumping? All those teams have wins far better than anything the Tigers have done, and both have played substantially better teams (and each of their 1 losses are to good teams as well, although Oregon St took a hit by losing to Washington). Mizzou's best win is Illinois, who might be in the top half of the Big Ten. The polls work themselves out. I don't think whining about them in mid-October before any of your team's meaningful games have been played has much of a point.

I'm not sure how they deserve to be any higher than they are considering they have played no one very good and didn't leave Columbia until last week. Where they are is about where they should be and they'll leap deservedly up if they upset OU. I'll get the new thread up late tonight after work when the BCS is out.

The dirty little secret of the 'SEC is the greatest league on the planet' story: The SEC East is absolutely brutal. South Carolina is pretty easily the best team, and I'm not sure they're really all that great. Florida is just plain average. But the West is monstrous. Bama, Auburn, Arkansas and LSU. It was pretty illustrative of the mistake Ball State made letting Hoke walk and hiring Stan Parrish that the Cardinals blew a 21-0 lead and lost to the worst team in FBS while Hoke led San Diego State to a win over Air Force, notching a win over a ranked team in just his 2nd year there.

Chapin, SC now.

Funny how losing 2 games in a row changed his mind about the severity of Rainey's actions.

Devine was like 2 minutes away from being fired by Green Bay when Notre Dame hired him.

I think a lot of schools had trouble getting their 12th game though, multiple Big 10 schools have wound up playing at MAC schools because everyone was scrambling at once to fill their schedules with only a couple dates to choose from. sure. and that's why you had UConn last year, USF next year, Wake the following year (which isn't part of the home and home series in 2011 and 2015), and maybe Temple in 2013. And it's why you'd expect to play either Tulsa or WMU this year. But when you move from 1 home game with no return to the opponent's place to 2 such home games, you end up scheduling both Tulsa and WMU. Hey, I don't want to play against Navy and 11 of the Top 25 every year. But I don't want to wake up one day and be like Michigan or Ohio State and play a bunch of close no-name or directional schools. I think Swarbrick has done a great job of scheduling, but this year was unavoidable. What of the rumors that we were scheduling TCU before that fell through and we ended up with Tulsa? Man, that would turn this stretch from what it is into a bit of a death march with Utah already waiting at the end. Next year's schedule appears to be 6-5-1 with the addition of the road game at Wake. Can't tell you how much of a relief that is. The 2011 schedule contains only two non-BCS opponents, Navy and Air Force, and I'm really looking forward to it. As for the WMU fans, ND has been having 'special ticket-buying opportunities' for that game off and on for months and still haven't gotten rid of them all (probably because people like me can find a pair for 67 dollars on eBay instead of 70 apiece). I don't think the Bronco fans, for whatever reason, are jumping on this game.