Andy

I think there are 2 major stumbling blocks. The NBC TV package and some joint academic stuff that may be against Notre Dame's beliefs. I think the Big Ten would take them in a heartbeat, but they want to TV money shared. I am sure the academic stuff could be worked out if the NBC thing got worked out. there is zero financial incentive for ND to join a conference. PSU only joined because they needed a conference to prop up the 26 non-football sports programs There will be when their football program continues to suck for the next ten years. i don't foresee NBC pulling out of that deal anytime soon The deal expires after the 2010 season, and I wouldn't be shocked to see NBC pull out of it after that. They don't seem to care that much about ND as it is - even the last two years when they were good, their coverage left a lot to be desired. Anyway, ND is not joining the Big Ten. There's a lot on both sides that will prevent that from happening.

That would be pure bullcrap. There's no excuse for allowing a team with a losing record to play in a bowl game, division champion or not. They wouldn't be conference champions under that scenerio. If the logic is that they're bowl eligible because of having 6 wins the rule that a team with 7 or more wins from the same conference has priority should still be in effect. Even if they're considered eligible, though, I don't think that means a bowl game has to give them a bid, if they think Davis and a 7-5 BSU team would be more attractive. I remember reading or hearing a few years ago that, except for the conference champions, bowls don't have to award bids based on order of finish (even though more often than not they do). The second bid from a conference means that the bowl game has second pick from the conference, but it doesn't actually have to be the second-place team if another team would be more attractive. Thinking more about the MAC situation, I don't think that move would keep Ball State out. According to the most recent ESPN bowl projections (last Tuesday), three conferences (Pac 10, WAC, and Big 12) were expected to fall short of having enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their slots. Even with last weekend's upsets possibly giving the Pac 10 enough teams, there's still the WAC and Big 12. So perhaps the MAC believes that Ball State will get a bid anyway and they are trying to get 4 teams in bowls as opposed to leaving BSU out. I can see that logic. Had Miami been 6-6 but not in the championship game they'd be eligible. So if losing the championship game and finishing 6-7 would rule them out, that would in effect mean that they'd be punished for winning the division and playing for the championship, and that makes no sense to me. So I think what they're really looking for is an interpretation that an extra game playing for the championship shouldn't hurt a team with 6 wins in the regular season, and I agree with that logic. If the MAC isn't in line for an extra bid due to other conferences falling short I think BSU would still be protected by the rule that a 7-win team has priority over a 6-win team from the same conference.I've looked it up, and Purdue and TCU are both 7-5 teams that didn't qualify for a bowl who will get the nod over Ball State. With only two such slots open, that would leave us on the outside looking in. I hope you're right about the MAC though. It's all such a giant mess, and it all started with Temple joining and the MAC inexplicably having some teams play 7 league games and some 8.

Yeah, if UCLA beats USC and Arizona beats ASU, UCLA would go to the Rose Bowl. If UCLA loses, THEY DON'T GO TO A BOWL GAME. That had to be the ugliest football game I've watched since Illinois at UCLA in 2003. And I only got to watch the first half. UCLA has already clinched a bowl bid. There are 6 bowl tie-ins in the Pac-10 and UCLA can finish no worse than 6th. I've become expert on this because Ball State may end up being the only 7-5 team that doesn't go bowling, and Dennis Dixon blowing out his knee may have been one of the culprits.

I'm going to need some explanation. The best baseball teams almost never win 60 percent of their games and the worst don't often win under 40. Meanwhile, in college football, there are normally plenty of two-loss or fewer teams and plenty of two-win or fewer teams. From what I've seen, college football, more than any other sport in America, is the most likely to have the better team win a game.

I just remembered something: Wasn't all the discussion around late September to early October about the scenarios that would come into play with three or more unbeatens? How ironic. I love this season (well except for the ND having its worst year in history part). Also of note: The MAC is trying to get the NCAA to grant a waiver to Miami (OH) to get into a bowl game in the (likely) event that Central Michigan pounds them on Saturday and they finish 6-7 on the grounds of them being a division champion. This waiver, if granted (and all indications are that it will be), probably would make Ball State the one and only 7-5 or better team to be left out in the bowl cold. That's fun.

good thing some guy in USA Today's rankings have no actual effect on the real world Except one of his polls is used for the BCS Computer rankings... Florida's top five in all scientific polls that involve SOS and score as well as other things. It should be certain that theyre one of the top five teams in the country. which of FLorida's 3 losses was your favorite? I prefer the 12 point loss at home to Georgia. Good stuff. I prefer the home loss to an unranked mediocre Auburn team. Great stuff.

Conference championship games ------------------------------- MAC – C. Michigan vs Miami (OH) in Detroit – 11 am, ESPN2 Conference USA – Tulsa at C. Florida – 12 pm, ESPN ACC – (12) Boston College vs (6) Virginia Tech in Jacksonville – 1 pm, ABC SEC – (14) Tennessee vs (5) LSU in Atlanta – 4 pm, CBS Big 12 – (1) Missouri vs (9) Oklahoma in San Antonio – 8 pm, ABC Top 25 games -------------- Pittsburgh at (2) West Virginia (7:45 pm, ESPN) UCLA at (8) USC (4:30 pm, ABC) Washington at (11) Hawaii (11:30 pm, ESPN2) Arizona at (13) Arizona State (8 pm, ESPN2) Oregon State at (18) Oregon (4:30 pm, ESPN2) (21) BYU at San Diego State (6:30 pm) Army-Navy ---------- Navy vs Army in Baltimore (12 pm, CBS) Div. I-AA playoff games of interest --------------------------------- UMass at S. Illinois Delaware at N. Iowa

These pictures make me want HD.

Congrats on a spectacular game Mizzou and by god give Chase Daniel a Heisman if you're gonna vote against Tebow.

Those two missed FGs are fairly large right now.

Man...Chase Daniel is good. Granted everyone's wide open but it doesn't seem like he ever misses.

Mizzou better beat Oklahoma in the rematch. I don't want to see OSU get blitzed in the national title game for the 2nd year in a row - and make no mistake WVU would destroy them.

Notre Dame with an unimpressive 12-point win over Youngstown State. They really will need to beat Kansas State on Dec. 4th for their OOC season not to be a complete washout.

Yea, I had visions of Pat Dillingham on that play. I think on two of those plays where he ate it and went out of bounds, they had a screen set up and their were lineman down field so he couldn't throw it away. At least that's what i hope happened because he had been very good at throwing the ball away before today. I can't wait to see what he does when he gets a line that will keep him healthy and give him time along with receivers who get open and learn to help him out when hes in trouble. Watching Robert Hughes run the past two weeks has been a beautiful thing. Ian Williams, Brian Smith, Darrin Walls, Dan Wenger, and Duval Kamara are other underclassmen who make me very happy. Kamara is really good. Once he learns to use his size like Stovall did, Jimmy/Hughes/Kamara will be able to do a passable imitation of Quinn/Walker/Samardzija. I'm already excited for 2008. Walls is REALLY good. I'm aching for him to get another shot at covering a top wideout. Throw Kerry Neal on that list of underclassmen I like.

They're the same thing as "We are!" "ND!" True. But that one has the advantage of not being the only chant we ever use. In any case, Mizzou is owning Kansas right now. To be fair to Illinois and Missouri, though, in a typical year they are really only using the cheer two or three times, so it doesn't get old. Hahahahahaha, point taken. C'mon Kansas, I want to see some excitement.

They're the same thing as "We are!" "ND!" True. But that one has the advantage of not being the only chant we ever use. In any case, Mizzou is owning Kansas right now.

Ball State uses their momentum from the Gtown game on Wednesday to blow a late lead and lose to freakin Evansville 51-50. Peyton Stovall had 22 points, but this team is handcuffed without Newell. 0-4 and now on a five-game road trip that will likely send this team back home 0-9.

Descenzo, I'm with you re: ND in 09 and Jimmy, but man...Jimmy did not play well today. Decent throws on the deep balls, but he wasn't getting rid of the ball under pressure, and when he did he tossed it to a Stanford linebacker. Kudos to the Irish defense for somehow not giving up any points on 4 turnovers. You know who is gonna be great? Robert Hughes. He's been studly of late.

I'd just like to note that the three-letter chants (MIZ and ILL) are kind of dumb.

Oh, and Ball State manages to come away scoreless on 3 redzone possessions but still beats NIU 27-21. Should've been a blowout, but now as long as CMU beats Miami in the MAC title game next week, we're guaranteed the International Bowl.

Wow. Stanford-ND was one of the worst games I have ever watched in every possible facet. Pathetic offense: Turnovers in the red zone like crazy, terrible throws by Clausen and Tavita, Stanford missing all 4 of their FG attempts, the dropped passes soccer10k mentioned. Notre Dame took a Hail Mary INT 98 yards back for a TD at the end of the 1st half using a bunch of laterals, only a Trevor Laws personal foul committed before the play nullified all of it. Pathetic officiating: On two separate occasions ND and Stanford were flagged by offsetting personal fouls when there was no evidence ND players did anything wrong. A TD catch by David Grimes was reversed on replay even though the ball clearly did not even glance the ground. There were plenty of penalties on both teams that weren't called. On the aforementioned Hail Mary INT play, they gave ND an untimed down after the personal foul for no apparent reason. Pathetic broadcasting: For no reason, in the 3rd quarter the broadcasters talked about Jim Harbaugh being the principal owner of an IndyCar championship team and how that compared to Charlie's Super Bowl rings. Pathetic camerawork: So many replays were shown that went nowhere near the actual play in question that I almost got sick. Well, at least we won.

Are you making the trip to DeKalb on Saturday for the football game? We were going to be there to broadcast the game, but NIU's incompetent SID apparently didn't even know we were coming or our incompetent sports director didn't tell them we were (pick a target). Anyway, long story short, we can't broadcast, so I will not be there. Luckily it is on Comcast Sportsnet so I can still watch. Are you going? Yeah, I'm back up here now so I'm going to go with some friends. It doesn't surprise me that NIU has an incompetent SID. They have a ton of things within that are incompetent. Well, have fun watching the next great MAC QB in person. :)

Slugger is the answer. We might have a CF if the organization will give him a chance to play consistently.

Are you making the trip to DeKalb on Saturday for the football game? We were going to be there to broadcast the game, but NIU's incompetent SID apparently didn't even know we were coming or our incompetent sports director didn't tell them we were (pick a target). Anyway, long story short, we can't broadcast, so I will not be there. Luckily it is on Comcast Sportsnet so I can still watch. Are you going?

Georgetown 57, Ball State 48. The Cardinals had it as low as 6, with the ball, with 2 minutes left, without their best player, Anthony Newell, who fractured a bone in his foot yesterday in practice and will miss the rest of the out of conference schedule. The Cardinals gave everything they had. The healing process continues from the Ronny Thompson Era...for all that was written and said about the Thompsons' return to Muncie, it came down to simply being a great basketball game, with 4300-some fans cheering their butts off for a great group of guys.