Andy

Except for you would probably lose. Sure. Anyone who plays UNC is probably going to lose. But it'd be great to get a shot at them.

The Orange Bowl has the last at-large pick, so if Utah (or any other outsider) is in a BCS bowl it will be that one. Sugar will get the 1st pick because they lose the SEC champ, who will presumably be No. 1. Fiesta gets the 2nd because they lose the Big 12 champ, at No. 2. Then Fiesta goes again because they had the first pick to begin with, then Sugar, then Orange. The Rose isn't in the selection because they have the Big Ten/Pac-10 thing. So what we're looking at is these eligible teams - removing the SEC and Big 12 champs because they'll be in the national title game, and the Big Ten champ and Pac-10 champ because they'll play in the Rose Bowl. I'm also assuming that Missouri won't upset the Big 12 South champ in the Big 12 title game, that PSU will beat MSU, that Ohio State will beat Michigan, that Oregon State will lose one of their remaining two games, and that Utah, Boise, TCU and Ball State all win out. In that scenario, the Rose Bowl would be USC vs. Penn State. As for the rest of the bowls: 2nd place Big 12 South team (Texas Tech/Oklahoma/Texas) Ohio State Utah Boise State TCU Ball State Big East champ (Cincinnati/Pitt winner) ACC champ (obligated to Orange Bowl) Sugar: Will probably pick loser of SEC title game (Alabama/Florida). Fiesta: Has two picks in a row and will probably take Ohio State and whoever finishes 2nd in the Big 12 South. Sugar again: Most likely takes the Big East winner to play Alabama/Florida. Orange: Takes the highest-ranked outsider. According to the BCS, the highest-ranked outsider MUST be taken - there is no discretion for more than one qualifier. In this scenario, it'd be Utah. So we would see: Sugar: Alabama/Florida vs Cincy/Pitt Rose: USC vs Penn State Fiesta: Ohio State vs Texas/Oklahoma/Texas Tech Orange: ACC champ vs Utah If Oregon State does win out and so does USC, USC enters the at-large pool. What is crazy is that, due to auto-bids and the fact that Alabama/Florida and Texas/Oklahoma/Texas Tech could be more favorable due to the region of the bowls they'd be playing in, USC or Ohio State in this scenario would be passed over, unthinkably enough.

We disagree. Can't you let it go? Everyone knows you think we'd get crushed. And Truffle, thanks to TV we play Tuesday or Wednesday all of November.

Barry Bonds. And Howard's probably-undeserved 2006 MVP.

Hoping the Cardinals ever win anything except a game against a team in direct competition with the Cubs for something is too strong.

I really want a piece of Tyler Hansbrough and UNC in the Maui final - I'd love to see Luke Harangody go up against him, and of course there's my loathing of UNC. And the obvious benefit of boosting our SOS. Hopefully we can get through IU and Texas to get there.

For selfish reasons, the only hope I have left for my Cardinals (or will, if we get the job done tomorrow) is that Utah, Nevada and (shudder) Michigan all win this week. If those three do not all win then our hopes are done. Thankfully, I am going to a career fair tomorrow in Indy so I won't have time to think about the BSU game until shortly before it happens - otherwise I'd be a nervous wreck all day.

And I find it rich coming from you to be telling me I'm whining about the refs. I don't usually care, but Saturday was one of the worst-officiated games I've seen in a long time.

the one that was caught with no feet in bounds? the guy's toe landed in bounds, then the heel came down out of bounds. i don't think that should count as a catch, but it was ruled a catch in penn state's 2005 loss to michigan. i have no idea if that's the right call, but i've seen it reviewed and upheld before. i think you might be wrong on the illegal batting penalty too. by the way, you know notre dame is lousy when they need to bitch about the refs (and insinuate that the refs were trying to get a team a win, which is even more mind-boggling) to justify a close win over navy. None of it would've happened if Charlie would quit taking his foot off the gas too early. No one's asking him to be Steve Spurrier, but for chrissake, ten minutes left when you're up by 20, even against a team that can't pass, is NOT appropriate time to be taking the starters out. The refs were abysmal, but it shouldn't have mattered if we didn't have a coach going way too far trying not to embarrass anyone in the few games we're actually in a position to do so.

That was quite a game. Quinn did not play very well, but in the end it goes down as a win and his first (of hopefully many) fourth-quarter comeback win.

Brady Quinn going up against a much better defense than he faced in his first start. Should be interesting.

Verne said that Tebow had told him he would make an educated vote and that if he felt he was playing better than anybody else he wouldn't rule out voting for himself.

Notre Dame creamed USC Upstate 94-58 after a semi slow start. Luke Harangody had 30 and 14. A nice warm-up for @Loyola Marymount and then Maui next week.

Both games now have their own label.

Panthers looked like crap for a second straight week (except for another great running performance as both Stewart and Williams went over 100), but again it doesn't matter because of the opponent. This won't fly in Atlanta next week though.

How many games have they won on this trip since the Jordan days? It's gotta be less than ten. I think a the 06-07 season was the first time they'd won any circus trip games in a few years - like since 2002 or something.

I've been nervous about the Central game since about 10 minutes after last week's game ended. Everything great that's happened the last two and a half months is made moot if CMU beats us - them winning would clinch a MAC West title for them and relegate us to possibly another trip to Toronto and the International Bowl. Dan LeFevour is gimpy but he still terrifies me. Notre Dame/Cuse is pretty irrelevant. We'll probably win, we'll probably play like crap doing it, and I probably won't be happy about any of it. The win will lock up a probable trip to the Sun Bowl although the Gator is a possibility if Pitt loses 2 of their last 3 games.

Notre Dame opens up against South Carolina-Upstate tonight. Looks like I'm going. Should be fun. Ball State beat Eastern Illinois yesterday. Five more wins to match last year!

Derrick Rose is awesome. And the Bulls might be alright after all. Hopefully they can steal a couple of circus trip wins.

Notre Dame should've won 34-7 if Charlie Weis had just not been 'respectful' and purposely not scored when we had the ball on Navy's 3 with ten minutes to go. I hope this ridiculous refusal to do anything remotely close to running up the score, ever, on anyone, stops now because it damn near cost us a game yesterday. And Navy got 4 timeouts in the second half and also were beneficiaries of a made-up 'illegal forward batting' penalty on a bat that was neither illegal nor forward that Robby Parris did on one of Navy's onside attempts. AND the pass they caught at the 1 to set up a TD, in addition to originally being called a score even though the ref was standing right there and the receiver didn't come within a yard of the end zone, was caught with no feet in bounds. I don't know if I've ever seen officials openly defy the rules of football so much in an attempt to get someone a win as they did with Navy. I hope Michael Floyd is ok. Hurt in the 1st quarter and didn't return. We're completely impotent without him. People that need to be fired if not physically beaten: offensive line coach John Latina and special teams coach Bryan Polian. Dear lord, please get them out.

You made it sound like Washington was winning or something. I had to check the score to make sure they were still losing to set up the ultimate pillow fight next week. Oh, it wasn't that bad or anything (though it was close in the first half). I see I'm not the only one who can't wait for the Apple Cup. Washington is going to beat the hell out of the Cougars. I will never actually wager on Washington State, but I doubt it will be that lopsided.

Top 25 games ----------------- (2) Texas Tech at (5) Oklahoma (8 pm, ABC) The Citadel at (3) Florida (1:30 pm) (17) Michigan State at (7) Penn State (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) (16) BYU at (8) Utah (6 pm, The Mountain) (9) Boise State at Nevada (4 pm) Michigan at (10) Ohio State (12 pm, ABC) (14) Ball State at Central Michigan (7 pm Wednesday, ESPN2) Air Force at (15) TCU (3:30 pm, Versus) Ole Miss at (18) LSU (3:30 pm, CBS) (20) Pittsburgh at (19) Cincinnati (7:15 pm, ESPN2) (21) Oregon State at Arizona (7 pm, Versus) Florida State at (22) Maryland (7:45 pm, ESPN) (23) Miami at Georgia Tech (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) NC State at (25) North Carolina (12 pm) Other games of interest ------------------------------ Northern Illinois at Kent State (7 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) Indiana at Purdue (12 pm, ESPN2) West Virginia at Louisville (12 pm, ESPN) Tennessee at Vanderbilt (12:30 pm) Syracuse at Notre Dame (2:30 pm, NBC) Arkansas at Mississippi State (2:30 pm) Illinois at Northwestern (3:30 pm, Big Ten – Regional) Iowa State at Kansas State (3:30 pm) Cal Poly at Wisconsin (3:30 pm, Big Ten – Regional) Duke at Virginia Tech (5:30 pm, ESPNU) Iowa at Minnesota (7 pm, Big Ten) The Rotten Apple Cup -------------------------------- Washington at Washington State (3 pm, FSN/CSN) Patriot League Championship Game ---------------------------------- Holy Cross at Colgate (1 pm) Southern Illinois at Illinois State (2:30 pm) Northern Iowa at Southern Utah (3 pm) UC Davis at San Diego (9 pm) Other nationally televised games ----------------------------------------- Fresno State at San Jose State (9:30 pm Friday, ESPN2) Boston College at Wake Forest (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) Stanford at California (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) UNLV at San Diego State (7 pm, CSTV) Connecticut at South Florida (8 pm Sunday, ESPN) Grambling at Texas Southern (9 pm Friday, ESPNU) Yale at Harvard (12 pm, Versus) Alcorn State at Jackson State (2 pm, ESPNU) Bethune-Cookman at Florida A&M (2 pm, ESPN Classic)

Great, the Cubs are refusing to keep Kerry Wood so he can make more money. That's ridiculous.

They forced it to OT, but I knew they had to get a TD when they were inside CMU's 10 with that little time remaining. They've been competitive in every game they've been in, save the Ball St. game, so that's an improvement. Unfortunately, this is a senior-oriented team so I don't really see this team doing too much more next year. Luckily both the QB and RB positions are manned by underclassmen, so that won't be a problem. But all of NIU's good WR's are seniors and Larry English is going to be gone. Next year is probably going to be another rebuilding year for NIU. Yeah. It did help to see you guys put the clamps on Dan later and get some offense going. If you can do both those things then we should be able to. Next week's game is going to be insane. I'm nervous already.

Dan LeFevour is a terrifying man. NIU trying to make things interesting here, though.