Mephistopheles

Probably. But based on what both teams have done thus far it's a good game. Based on how they're playing? Maybe not. That said who knows if getting their butts kicked won't light a fire under KSU. It did for Nebraska. I think Missouri will win it, but by two TDs not a mistmatch kind of score.

Vanderbilt at (19) Tennessee (2 pm) Tennessee is about a 9 point favorite in that game. Mismatch? Not so sure. (3) Oklahoma at Texas Tech (9 pm, ABC) Oklahoma is about an 8 point favorite in that game. Mismatch? Not so sure. (6) Missouri at Kansas State (12:30 pm) Missouri is about a 4 point favorite in that game. Mismatch? Not so sure.

Honestly you shouldn't look at one non conference game to grade a team. Over the course of the season there are numerous mathematical paths to get from one conference to another. For instance here are three (of thousands) chains to link LSU and Oregon: LSU beat Florida by 4. Florida beat Tennessee by 39. Tennessee lost to Cal by 14. Cal beat Oregon 7. Thus for that chain LSU is 4 + 39 - 14 + 7 = 36 points over Oregon. LSU beat Alabama by 7. Alabama beat Houston by 6. Houston lost to Oregon by 21. Thus for that Chain LSU is 7 + 6 - 21 = -8 points over Oregon. LSU beat MTSU by 44. MTSU lost to FAU by 13. FAU lost to Okie State by 38. Okie State beat Nebraska by 31. Nebraska lost to USC by 18. USC lost to Oregon by 7. Thus for that chain LSU is -1 points over Oregon You can do this over and over across each possible chain in D1. You then average them to get a rating which allows you to compare teams. I simplified the system significantly, but that's essentially how Saragin's ratings work. I've done a ton of research on systems like this and hope to publish a paper on it some time next semester. In the Saragin rating the score is in points. So if team A has a score of 90 and team B 75, then we'd expect A to beat B by 15. A system like this is by far the best way to objectively analyze teams and their conferences. Doing this over and over we get something like this: 1. 95.8 Oregon 2. 93.4 LSU 3. 93.2 Kansas 4. 92.8 Oklahoma 5. 92.5 Ohio State 6. 92.2 Florida 7. 91.5 West Virginia 8. 89.5 USC 9. 87.5 Cincinnati 10. 87.3 Arizona State 11. 86.6 South Florida 12. 86.2 Clemson 13. 86.1 Missouri 14. 84.2 Texas 15. 83.5 Boise State 16. 83.3 Georgia 17. 82.5 Virginia Tech 18. 82.4 Texas Tech 19. 82.4 Penn State 20. 82.4 Kentucky 21. 81.6 Auburn 22. 81.4 Connecticut 23. 81.3 Arkansas 24. 81.2 Michigan 25. 81.0 UCLA Now to grade the conferences you can simply take the teams and average them. 1. 80.8 SEC 2. 79.0 Big East 3. 78.3 Pac Ten 4. 77.4 Big XII 5. 76.6 Big Ten 6. 76.2 ACC The difference between the SEC and the Big Ten is almost as big as the difference between the Big Ten and Mountain West. Yes the SEC is the best conference in football and it's not really debatable.

they dont play in tampa , they play in st pete. kinda the same way for the texas rangers. they dont play in dallas. they dont play in fort worth..they play in arlington but they want to attract all of the DFW area, so theyre called the texas rangers.

the cubs pitching is gonna be in a free fall next year though. we shouldn't compare them to what they did in 2007, we should look at what theyre gonna do in 2008

um you got none of that right. youre not giving pecota enough credit. the projections arent going to be correct all the time. the projections will, however, be more accurate than you or me coming up with statistic lines based on the spine tingling sensation we feel when we think of a player. fyi pecota does not and never has tried to project playing time.

WHICH IS IT

JARRED FAYSON TD GATORS USC wants to give this game away I guess. My lord. Faysons gonna be a star.

What does this have to do with how the bowl games will play out. All I am saying is OSU will win the NT. If they end up playing LSU, then LSU will probably win. Mainly because its a home game for them. I just dont think LSU will make it. They certainly dont deserve to go in in front of Oregon. Besides Va Tech early what have they done. Win a bunch of close games against overrated SEC schools. The SEC hasnt proven a whole heck of a lot more than the Big Ten out of conference. This is all I am going to say about this because we can sit here and bicker all day about the SEC. I am not going to change my mind. They are overhyped. I am saying OSU will win the NT and a Big Ten team will win either the Citrus or Outback bowl. If I am wrong I will come back and say I am wrong. Well that pick lasted long!

but hell never get the chance. infante might. infantes probably safer than cedeno though. also in this deal if the Tigers pick up all of Jones contract why the heck not?

Going into the week the Big Ten had 0 wins against top fifty non conference opponents The SEC had like 5 or 6.

actually infante isnt a terrible move. i'd liken it to be a similar move to the michael barrett move. infante is talented, but hasnt reached 300 abs since he died at age 23. hes no worse than theriot and has the upside to be a useful major leaguer. if i had a choice between opening the season with theriot as our starter at shortstop or infante, id take infante by a huge margin.

yeah but he was too good then for a middle infielder for hendry to be interested. now that he looks like a jose macias with power type player, hendrys all over him.

For those who didn't notice: I called the Infante interest.

Yes get Sexson to play CO. He won't be good out there, but he'll be useful. If we have his bat in right we can afford to play Pie in CF while his offense isn't good so he can cover ground

Are you serious? Stafford outplayed him. Yes. The game proved that he's the most important player in the country.

TIM TEBOW! The Georgia game proved this.

Wouldn't need defense if he struck more people out. Granted, that's oversimplifying, but it's the difference between a league average at best pitcher vs. a top 10 pitcher in the league. and the extra hits he (should) allow because he doesn't strike out hitters is completely negatived by Zambrano walking 80 batters more a season

Obviously, I have agreed with that in the A-Rod thread. A-Rod is tremendous, but he opted out and now wants 30-35 million per. I don't think he should get that much. plus that means you are paying him 40 in the last years, that is crushing! Funny, I was talking about Kaz Matsui here, and A-rod keeps coming up. That is why I stopped responding in the A-rod thread. I GET IT --WE DISAGREE. I hope A-Rod signs with the Cubs!! Then with the payroll you can be closer to the Yanks money and still never win! Yeah comments like that aren't going to make Cub fans like you, especially on a Cubs message board.

no ones saying you wont win without him. its just easier to win with him than it is without him, obviously.

His BABIP on the road has been about .330 the last two years. That's not the turf doing. He gets groundballs so his BABIP should be right around .300. Other than that he's been pretty much the same on the road as at home. The fact he plays on turf doesn't mean that he's a .330 BABIP guy. He'll be fine wherever he winds up. By fine I mean a fairly league average pitcher. There's no reason he shouldn't have an ERA in the mid 4s wherever he goes. Which is about where his defensive independent stats go. The *only* reason his defensive independent stats would be metrodome dependent is on his HR rate. His HR rate has been stable on the road as to home if you throw out the outlier of last year.

not really

In other words you say they're better because they won, but because they desired to win. If the 06/7 Yankees won a WS you'd claim they won because they desired it more? THe 1998 Yankees didnt desire it more than the 2007 Yankees. The 1998 Yankees didnt desire it more than the 2003 Tigers.

sure it is. his defense independent statistics rival carlos zambrano's three of the last fours seasons.

I'm not fighting you nor do I want to. I'm trying to convince you that the Yankees problems are not centered around Alex Rodriguez and letting him go is not the answer to all their problems. It's a move that makes them worse off and you can't seem to grasp that. You keep screaming team team team and bring up the 98 yankees offense being better because it was a team.