Soul

Trojans haven't been all that impressive. Play that first half against the Irish and they'll be finished. It will be a good game. I'm not rooting for anyone. No, check that: I'm rooting for more USC cheerleader footage. 8)

Not exactly. If WVU wins out, their only loss will be to Louisville on the road. They'll have a legitimate case. As would Louisville for that matter. A legitimate case for what? :-k The National Title game. WVU over a school like Michigan, USC, or ND for the national title game? They wouldn't even be in the discussion.

200+ innings in each of his last 3 years, All-Star appearance, reasonable ERA for a pitcher in the AL. I think the "excitement" over Westbrook from Hendry's perspective might have much to do with the likelihood that he will actually be capable of taking the ball every 5 days. And there's something to be said for that, especially given the merry-go-round nature of our staff the past few years.

Not exactly. If WVU wins out, their only loss will be to Louisville on the road. They'll have a legitimate case. As would Louisville for that matter. A legitimate case for what? :-k

me likey. Ole Miss beats LSU, LSU beats Arkansas, Arkansas beats Florida, Cal beats USC, USC beats ND, Cincy beats Rutgers, Rutgers beats WV, Pitt upsets Louisville... Big Ten finishes 1,2,3 in BCS standings. LOL, and Wisconsin goes to the Rose Bowl! That would be hilarious. Maybe then someone would finally tell these old, crusty bowl organizers to take their precious money and shove it and put in a damn playoff system like we should have had 10 years ago. it won't happen because the pollsters just can't find there way clear of voting UW ahead of certain teams. they would never see their way clear of voting UW ahead of USC, even if Cal blew them out. Probably true. They'll go to Capitol One, and that's just the end of it. Good start for the career of Bielema in any case. I think Wisconsin is going to continue to be a solid program for years to come.

Hahaha, now everyone wants to be Devin :D

me likey. Ole Miss beats LSU, LSU beats Arkansas, Arkansas beats Florida, Cal beats USC, USC beats ND, Cincy beats Rutgers, Rutgers beats WV, Pitt upsets Louisville... Big Ten finishes 1,2,3 in BCS standings. LOL, and Wisconsin goes to the Rose Bowl! That would be hilarious. Maybe then someone would finally tell these old, crusty bowl organizers to take their precious money and shove it and put in a damn playoff system like we should have had 10 years ago.

Freaking Alou. It was his incredible overreaction to Bartman that set the tone of the club and doomed us in '03. I'll go to my grave believing that. If he just walks away instead of throwing a fit, we're talking about the Cubs getting back to the World Series right now.

Some of these SEC teams that Florida beat don't look all that great. LSU getting beat by Ole Miss at the moment.

That was a Cincy TD. Going to be reviewed. Rutgers are pretenders.

Rutgers now on the verge of getting slaughtered. By Cincy. I think we've heard the last of the NY crowd screaming that Rutgers deserves to play in the big game.

I think he's been much better in the college booth. Not his football IQ.....but he seems to be more relaxed. It's easier to listen to him. With Thiesman he seemed to always be on the defensive. Cal not backing down so far. Good to see.

There's a tendency to try and quantify all of this with stats and whatever. I just think the Heisman is won and lost based on those few big pressure games where the player plays----unless he simply blows it against lesser opponents. Troy has had 2 this year and shined in both. Quinn had 1 and didn't look all that great, for whatever reason. Even if he plays lights-out against USC, they aren't #2 and it won't be that huge mega-game that the Texas and Michigan games were for Troy Smith. Oh, that's a perfectly logical argument-but ND has played the better defenses and a better schedule, and I'm just responding to the statement that Ohio State had better in each of those. BTW, Quinn wasn't all that bad for a player running for his life the entire Michigan game (2 INT's weren't his fault, only 1 was a bad decision or bad throw). I do understand though that his game was not nearly as good as Smith's games-but I do think Soccers argument that ND has had no offensive line pretty much all year and yet Quinn has done this has credence also. Remember that year when Woodson won the Heisman over Peyton? Peyton was the favorite to win it, but then Woodson was having this great year-----and in the biggest regular season game, he comes up big again. I think Peyton takes it if not for that final big game (I think it was OSU too). For better or for worse, that's the Heisman in a nutshell. Tennessee fans still burn up over that one. I know-I heard the complaining about that one just today from a Tennessee fan :D And of course the much better pro player, Peyton by light years.

There's a tendency to try and quantify all of this with stats and whatever. I just think the Heisman is won and lost based on those few big pressure games where the player plays----unless he simply blows it against lesser opponents. Troy has had 2 this year and shined in both. Quinn had 1 and didn't look all that great, for whatever reason. Even if he plays lights-out against USC, they aren't #2 and it won't be that huge mega-game that the Texas and Michigan games were for Troy Smith. Oh, that's a perfectly logical argument-but ND has played the better defenses and a better schedule, and I'm just responding to the statement that Ohio State had better in each of those. BTW, Quinn wasn't all that bad for a player running for his life the entire Michigan game (2 INT's weren't his fault, only 1 was a bad decision or bad throw). I do understand though that his game was not nearly as good as Smith's games-but I do think Soccers argument that ND has had no offensive line pretty much all year and yet Quinn has done this has credence also. Remember that year when Woodson won the Heisman over Peyton? Peyton was the favorite to win it, but then Woodson was having this great year-----and in the biggest regular season game, he comes up big again. I think Peyton takes it if not for that final big game (I think it was OSU too). For better or for worse, that's the Heisman in a nutshell. Tennessee fans still burn up over that one.

I'm going to make a point of avoiding Chevy next time I buy a car. Christ, enough is enough.

There's a tendency to try and quantify all of this with stats and whatever. I just think the Heisman is won and lost based on those few big pressure games where the player plays----unless he simply blows it against lesser opponents. Troy has had 2 this year and shined in both. Quinn had 1 and didn't look all that great, for whatever reason. Even if he plays lights-out against USC, they aren't #2 and it won't be that huge mega-game that the Texas and Michigan games were for Troy Smith.

I agree. Smith's pretty small, not all that tall, and not fast enough IMO to be a Vick/Young style QB in the NFL. It'll be interesting to see if he becomes a WR or something else. He could try the Seneca Wallace thing, which interestingly enough appears to be working out for the kid. But I definitely agree, Quinn's the more attractive pro prospect.

Cal would obviously need to hang on to the football to beat USC.

Before the OSU/UM game I agreed with you. Quinn's stats are still better. More yards, more TD's, same # of INT's and Smith doesn't have the benefit of a bunch of rushing yards and TD's like he did last year. Quinn's been the better QB this year. And I'm not exactly one to hand out compliments to ND or their players very often. It's not a stats race---never has been. Quinn had a prime shot to show he was the Heisman favorite against Michigan in his own building, and they got slaughtered. Quinn looked overmatched at times. Smith has faced down two #2 challengers and looked real good against both of them. Smith is the clear Heisman winner IMO. I doubt the voting will be particularly close. Smith had 2 good games and a bunch of eh/crap games. Quinn had one bad game and a bunch of solid/good games. Do you know how many games Smith has been held under 200 yards passing? 6. Quinn? 0. Want to talk about who is more important to his team? It's Quinn and it's not even close. Quinn has to play well because ND's defense isn't that good. OSU has one of the top defenses in the nation. Coming into today, Notre Dame's defense has allowed 67.5 more ypg than OSU. Offensively, OSU has a far better running game than ND and is averaging 65.5 more rushing ypg than ND. Ohio State has a better team than ND and Smith doesn't have to do as much to keep his team in the game. Quinn is a better player, has better stats, and is more important to his team than Quinn is. To me, that means the Heisman winner should be from South Bend. And, as with many of my Brady Quinn posts, and to annoy ndistops, I have one more thing to say. Quinn is going to look good in Silver and Black next year. We'll see when the voting comes down. I'm telling you it's not going to be close soccer. I realize that it's not going to be close and that Smith will win easily. But that doesn't make it right now does it? I still think it's right for Smith to win. I'm NOT an OSU fan, btw. Was rooting for Michigan today. It's all so subjective......but I just view Smith as being the more masterful, solid player this year. I'm probably biased by that ND/Michigan game, where it looked to me like Quinn was overmatched. Now that I saw Smith just rip them to shreds------I'd vote for Troy.

Voters are going to look at what Quinn looked like against Michigan, and what Troy looked like. And then they'll cast their vote for Troy, unless they are an ND alum. That's how I think it will go down.

Before the OSU/UM game I agreed with you. Quinn's stats are still better. More yards, more TD's, same # of INT's and Smith doesn't have the benefit of a bunch of rushing yards and TD's like he did last year. Quinn's been the better QB this year. And I'm not exactly one to hand out compliments to ND or their players very often. It's not a stats race---never has been. Quinn had a prime shot to show he was the Heisman favorite against Michigan in his own building, and they got slaughtered. Quinn looked overmatched at times. Smith has faced down two #2 challengers and looked real good against both of them. Smith is the clear Heisman winner IMO. I doubt the voting will be particularly close. Smith had 2 good games and a bunch of eh/crap games. Quinn had one bad game and a bunch of solid/good games. Do you know how many games Smith has been held under 200 yards passing? 6. Quinn? 0. Want to talk about who is more important to his team? It's Quinn and it's not even close. Quinn has to play well because ND's defense isn't that good. OSU has one of the top defenses in the nation. Coming into today, Notre Dame's defense has allowed 67.5 more ypg than OSU. Offensively, OSU has a far better running game than ND and is averaging 65.5 more rushing ypg than ND. Ohio State has a better team than ND and Smith doesn't have to do as much to keep his team in the game. Quinn is a better player, has better stats, and is more important to his team than Quinn is. To me, that means the Heisman winner should be from South Bend. And, as with many of my Brady Quinn posts, and to annoy ndistops, I have one more thing to say. Quinn is going to look good in Silver and Black next year. We'll see when the voting comes down. I'm telling you it's not going to be close soccer.

Safety Cal! It's a ballgame ToooooNITE!

Yeah, I would have a hard time disagreeing with that. Although Troy-----he just seems to have alot of different skills in one package, and despite the fact that he CAN run, he has seemed to master pocket passing pretty darn well. It's really his height that works against him, and I admit that's going to really hurt him in the pros.

Yeah, they can Chop Chop all they want, but I don't want to see a club that gets down by 17 to Cincy anywhere near the national championship game.

Before the OSU/UM game I agreed with you. Quinn's stats are still better. More yards, more TD's, same # of INT's and Smith doesn't have the benefit of a bunch of rushing yards and TD's like he did last year. Quinn's been the better QB this year. And I'm not exactly one to hand out compliments to ND or their players very often. It's not a stats race---never has been. Quinn had a prime shot to show he was the Heisman favorite against Michigan in his own building, and they got slaughtered. Quinn looked overmatched at times. Smith has faced down two #2 challengers and looked real good against both of them. Smith is the clear Heisman winner IMO. I doubt the voting will be particularly close.