ISUCubsFan

Remember all that talk about who is going to replace Dan Hawkins at Colorado? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/11/26/hawkins.colorado.ap/index.html

I'm hoping ND can beat Northwestern and ISU can take care of St. Louis Friday to set up Brackins vs. Harangody in the final of this tournament. Iowa State played like crap for 10 minutes vs Mississippi Valley State today before they realized they were playing a SWAC team, put down the hammer, and cruised to a 96-55 win. I think everyone on the roster who isn't hurt/redshirting had 2+ points and 2+ assists+rebounds. Just a night and day difference between this year's offense and last year's.

You think the Fiesta would take a Big Ten team and Okie State? Here's how I see it as of now: NC- Fla/Bama vs. Texas Rose- Ohio State vs. Oregon Sugar- Fla/Bama vs. Cincinnati Orange- Georgia Tech vs. TCU Fiesta- Iowa/PSU vs. Boise I think it would be tough to sell two 2 loss teams over undefeated Boise with a win over Oregon. If they got Iowa they wouldn't have to worry much about ticket sales and Boise would probably bring nearly as many people as Okie State. The Fiesta Bowl is tied to the Big 12 and from what I hear, they might want to stay in conference for their at-large. I'm pretty sure they're a bigger draw than the Broncos as well, though not as much as some other BCS teams. For selections, I would guess it goes: Sugar - SEC loser Fiesta - Oklahoma St Orange - Iowa/PSU Fiesta - TCU Sugar - Cincinnati Leading to: MNC: SEC winner v Texas Rose: Ohio St v Pac10 Sugar: SEC loser v Cinci/Pitt Orange: Iowa/PSU v ACC Fiesta: TCU v Oklahoma St That's assuming Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma, which would be a sizable upset. Now that I look at that, that's a terrible match up for the Fiesta. Maybe they do go Big 10, but I think the Orange would still take a BCS team like Oklahoma St or (gasp) USC. We'll see who's eligible at the end of the season, but I still think the bowls avoid taking Boise if they can. Edit: VT is in the hunt too, but the Orange can't take them.

I'm guessing the Fiesta Bowl is taking Oklahoma State if their eligible, so Boise State's BCS hopes now rest on Oklahoma.

Carolina was -3.5 I believe, so only if Carolina scores another TD. And why didn't Miami take the 15 yards on the conversion?

To emphasize how bad this is, Oklahoma State doesn't have a completion at halftime.

Eh, I think Ricky is a better back anyway, so at least he'll get more carries. Wildcat will need to be adjusted though. Now that he's out for the year, I think there is the potential for a big negative impact to the Dolphins. Not because I don't think they have another running option, but because I think Ronnie was an important part of the wildcat, which was an important part of the Phins scheme on offense. Yeah, that changes things significantly. Not that I had high hopes for the season at this point anyway, but long term reliance on Henne (or Pat White in the wildcat) isn't good for the Dolphins offensive performance. The silver lining is that Henne/White get extra development time to see if they need to use yet another draft pick on a QB. In more bad news for Miami, Joey Porter is expected to start tonight.

Just got back from this game. I don't think Drake will be very good this year, but 20 point road wins are the sign of a pretty good team, especially when your center is in foul trouble, one of your forwards has an off night, and your best big man off the bench is out with an injury. Also, Staiger is good at this 3 point thing.

Eh, I think Ricky is a better back anyway, so at least he'll get more carries. Wildcat will need to be adjusted though.

See, voters aren't complete morons.

Looking at that replay on 360 I think they're right.

they had momentum, I don't deny that. But I'm not sure how much of it was based on the ability of their QB to move the ball effectively down the field. I guess I don't trust him b/c it's pretty easy for a long pass to turn into a sack/fumble or a pick. An INT at that point doesn't have to be a pick-6. Any INT other than on a bomb is going to give OSU the ability to gain just 0-25 yards and kick the winning FG. And I have more trust with my QB in OT b/c I'm at the 25, have a solid kicker from inside 40 yards and I have a good defense. You can run the ball effectively in OT. With 50 seconds to go, OSU can come after the QB pretty hard. I just don't trust him to make good decisions/throws in that situation. Obviously, one of the things you can't have in OT is a 10-yard sack to take you out of FG range. Eh, I don't trust a freshman QB in that situation that much either, but I don't think the chances of OSU getting a turnover + getting in FG range are greater than the chances of Iowa getting in FG range. It's not a terrible decision to run out the clock, but I probably would have gone for it.

Great way to put it, since he's getting killed by the media right now. This reaction might have set smart 4th down decisions back a decade, since most coaches either don't know the numbers, or don't want to deal with the backlash. Advanced NFL Stats analysis of the decision (scroll down a little): http://www.advancednflstats.com/2009/11/belichicks-4th-down-decision-vs-colts.html

It wasn't By middle of the field I meant away from the endzone so the defense has to account for plays of more than 10-20 yards.

Going is absolutely correct. 4th and 2 in the middle of the field has like a 60% conversion rate, probably higher for the Pats. You get that and the game is nearly over. You guys really think the difference between 30 yards and 70 yards for Manning in a 2 minute drill is 60%? Not a chance.

Love going for it there. I think the chances of stopping Manning with 2 minutes and a timeout are less than your chances of converting 4th and 2.

Yeah, I'm not very confident either. The line is +13 or something, and ISU hasn't had an impressive offensive performance since Baylor. 6-6 could be good enough for a Big 12 tie in though. There's 11 teams fighting for 8 spots, so they need 3 of the following to happen to be guaranteed a bowl game: Kansas St losing to Nebraska (likely) Kansas losing out (@Texas, Missouri, about a toss up) Texas A&M losing out (Baylor, Texas, unlikely) Baylor losing once (@A&M, Texas Tech, likely) Oklahoma State getting a BCS bid (win out + get at large, unlikely) North team beats Texas in the Big 12 CG (unlikely) Even if 3 of those don't happen, they can either be selected over another Big 12 team for a spot, or get an at large which is still a pretty good bet for a BCS team. Beating Missouri would still be a good idea though. Too bad it won't be televised (stupid Big 12).

Not this. This might be the worst group of games I've seen in a long time. Cal-Stanford is by far the biggest game this week.

Miami is ranked ahead of UNC when they lost to them 24 hours ago. Polls make no sense. you wonder if/when the BCS formula will start moving more towards the computer polls and away from the human polls I doubt we see too much of this. When the human and computer polls disagree the BCS tends to change the computers so they conform with the human polls. That's why we now have crappy computer rankings that don't take MOV into account. This may have been posted here before, but here's a Bill James article on the situation.

That's genius as long as he's not on your fantasy team.

Pretty much an epic failure from the Dolphins. Throw an INT with under 2 minutes to go on 3rd down deep in your own territory with a 6 point lead. Now trailing by one because they missed a PAT earlier. Edit: Two minute offense showed up, Dolphins get a FG, up 2 w/ 0:10 to go.

TCU up 38-14 at half. That's with TCU having a missed 26 yard FG and throwing a tipped ball interception from the Utah 5. These guys are really good.

TCU taking care of business, up 28-7 on Utah with 12 minutes to go in the 2nd.

QFT

Don't worry, Tressel will run up the middle 3 straight and leave a 37 yarder for his kicker.