Derwood

Really, why not? because they are Notre Dame and they won, so no voter is going to drop them

FSU's spread offense sucks running against fast defenses. When you only have 5 blockers its hard to set up the run. They dont know how to play smash mouth football or run 'at' people. Its all misdirection, counter, run out of the shotgun, pass sets up the run mumble jumble. Their offense has gone downhill since that one guy left for NC State. right, it's a different style, but my point is that if Penn State can't establish the run, ND will be able to sit back in a Nickel package and put their effort towards shutting down the pass I may be wrong, because I did not watch all of the game, but didn't PSU have a real tough time with the run against Akron? If so is it due to the all new OL? yes, only one returning starter from last year (Levi Brown). The PSU/Akron game was in pouring rain, so I'll be interested to see if that had some affect on the running game or not. Also interested to see this new 3-4 defense (I was in Europe for the Akron game). So unlike JoePa!

FSU's spread offense sucks running against fast defenses. When you only have 5 blockers its hard to set up the run. They dont know how to play smash mouth football or run 'at' people. Its all misdirection, counter, run out of the shotgun, pass sets up the run mumble jumble. Their offense has gone downhill since that one guy left for NC State. right, it's a different style, but my point is that if Penn State can't establish the run, ND will be able to sit back in a Nickel package and put their effort towards shutting down the pass

defenses looked last week, PSU vs. Notre Dame could be a 9-7 ballgame. That said, it will be like 55-52

FSU pretty much illustrated my greatest fears about PSU this year. Good defense, decent passing game, but an O-Line that won't allow the team to run, leading to short possessions and low scoring games. That said, I'm glad Miami lost. They are my least favorite college team ever.

Akron is no guaranteed win for Penn State. PSU has 4 new O-linemen, all new secondary and 2 or 3 new D-linemen. If Morelli can find his receivers and the linebackers hold strong, they'll win. But I'm thinking it's a 24-14 type of win.

How many WS have the Yankees bought in the last 6 years?

There are so many ways to go with that....

Could Pie project better as a corner OF? With that power, he seems out of place in CF. Sure, you have Carlos Beltran doing it, but are we better served putting Pie in RF?

The 20 homers is the one I would most question. I think he has the ability to be a batting-title type of hitter, but I think he looks more like a 10-15 homer type of guy with more doubles. I wouldn't be opposed to a few Olerud like years. I see him in a similar mold. Around a .300 average with probably fewer HRs but a few more doubles and triples than Olerud. I could live with that out of LF, especially if we were able to get higher than expected SLG out of CF and 2B. I was just thinking Olerud too. Or Paul O'Neill, that type of guy.

Pagan looks bad at the plate? What part of .300 with almost as many HR as Murton doesn't make sense to you?

I know the Cubs are going nowhere this year, but games like this are still somehow satisfying.

He'd hit about 18 HR at his current pace if he played everyday. What other numbers are you looking for? Just musing on if I think Murton/Pierre/Jones/Pagan again next year is any good, assuming Ramirez/Lee/Barrett are healthy and productive. Pierre has won me over. He sucked in April, but is now 3rd in the league in hits. Jones hasn't been a world beater, but he's been far from the .250 hitter people expected him to be.

What would Murton's #'s be if he were a fulltime player?

I like Pagan. This is exactly what a 4th OF should be. Speed, some pop, switch-hitter, can play all OF positions. Keep this guy around.

and yet he still managed to be successful.

um, no Ortiz/Ramirez? Or who batted 3-4 for the Indians 10 years ago? Thome/Ramirez? Thome/Belle? Ramirez/Belle?

ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT! ROOKIE LEFTY ALERT!

Hendry did not want to hand the Cardinals the final piece of their World Series puzzle

Len made a great point. He said Kalas can make the most boring NFL game ever sound dramatic. "After 14 punts, the game was scoreless going into the 4th quarter. Which of these field weary warriors would carry his winless team to victory?"

The area itself is conducive to making this conference better. If kids want to play where their families can see them most of the time they can stay here in the untapped East. We are now starting to get those Virginia kids that Tech and Virginia once had a lock on and have the talent rich Florida. Rutgers has just as much or more history as a lot of the Big Ten teams and both they and UConn went to a bowl game last year. NJ has a huge talent base and if you have read the rivals.com at all Rutgers is now in with many Jersey kids if not most. I admit you're stadiums are much bigger, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State than ours but in time your going to see something special out of this conference. People also thought the BE was crazy for taking a small school with no history called VTech too and look at them now. Untapped east coast market? Rutgers has as much history as a lot of Big Ten teams? There isn't much talent out here. Dilution from others sports is huge. The east hasn't competed in football for a very long time for a very good reason. Outside of PA, there is nothing to contend with the southeast, midwest or west coast. Jersey always has top prospects and as does Mass. NY always has some top guys, not the numbers as Ohio, Florida or California but some good recruits. JoePa owns Jersey recruiting

http://www.simleaguebaseball.com/derwood/rcedeno.jpg PROOF!!!!

FWIW, Jon Koronka was sent to AAA in Texas. Guess the bloom's off that rose.

Well, they used to have Miami, Boston College, etc. The good teams jumped the ship, but you can't punish the conference for the state of the teams now. What happens if you kick them out of the BCS, and then in 2 or 3 years they have 3 teams in the Top 10?

Crap, does this mean Detroit won't win the WS this year?