soccer10k

Nice throw by Manning to Clark there. Huge shot from Ed Reed as well.

Too bad he couldn't pull that in.

Wow. Off the crossbar for Vinatieri. Nice kick.

Gumbel is such a moron. "Manning throws it away." If by throw away you mean right to Marvin Harrison for the completion.

That should have been intercepted.

Huge interception for Indy.

Manning forced that. Not smart.

2 words -- Bob Sanders I was thinking the same thing during last week's game with the Chiefs. The guy is a stud.

Colts D looking good so far.

Vinatieri is so good.

Addai, you gotta hold onto that. Indy short of the first down.

That's huge. Come on Indy, capitalize.

That's a fumble.

Unfortunately, Indy can't punch it in for the touchdown and have to settle for the FG. 3-0 Colts.

Horrible last chance by USC. With 4.7 seconds you have to do better than a halfcourt heave.

It depends on how much I've already had to drink that night but I said $10.

Baltimore is favored over Indianapolis in the game so Baltimore winning wouldn't be an upset.

Indianapolis (+3.5) over Baltimore New Orleans (-5) over Philadelphia Chicago (-9) over Seattle New England (+5) over San Diego

Offense please.

Wow. This is a ton of money and I think it's going to make or break the MLS. I just hope it doesn't break it.

This is where I think you and goony and others that are arguing this case are losing your argument. You're dismissing the chances of upsets out of hand. The thing is, the big schools have absolutely nothing to lose here then! If Podunk State can't be Ultra-Mega University, than why not let them play in the first round of a tourney and be done with it? Half the reason for the excitement around March Madness is the opportunity for a George Mason or a Wichita State to upset big teams like UConn. I think it's especially absurd to dismiss the smaller schools when Boise State won the game they did. Do I think they would be Florida at this point. I doubt it. But again, that's not the point. The point is the opportunity. And you can't tell me that Florida-Boise State wouldn't draw an audience. Of course I'm dismissing the chances of upsets in college football and I do it for good reason. It's because they don't happen very often. That's why when UC Davis goes to Stanford and wins, it garners national attention. Same thing with Montana State beats Colorado. It's a big deal in football because it doesn't happen very often. There is a reason there is Division I-AA in football and not in basketball. They need separate divisions because the I-AA schools generally can't compete with the I-A schools. You don't see this in basketball. When UC Davis beats Stanford in basketball, the upset gets attention locally but it doesn't get national attention. When Butler gets victories over Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee, and Purdue, it's not surprising anymore. Gonzaga upsetting major schools? Not surprising anymore. And why is that? It happens all the time. People like March Madness because the small schools upset the major conference schools and it happens all the time. But if there was only one, maybe two, upsets by small schools in the tournament every year, do you think it would be as enjoyable to watch the first round? Of course not. If you had a playoff and included the likes of Middle Tennessee St, Troy, Houston, etc., nobody would watch the games that pitted those teams against the likes of Oklahoma, Florida, and USC because the games would be blowouts. 9 times out of 10 (at least) the big school would blow out the small school. This includes the new media darling Boise State as well. Look at last year. Boise State traveled to Georgia to play. The result? The Bulldogs outgained the Broncos 574-292 and were up 38-0 at one point and won 48-13. Georgia won the SEC and Boise State won the WAC last year. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have wanted to see that matchup again. College basketball is completely different from college football and you can't say "well, a playoff works in college basketball so it should be used in college football as well". It doesn't work that way. I love college football and the main reason is because the regular season actually matters. The Cardinals this year lost 78 games in the regular season and even the best team will still lose 60. The Florida Gators finished tied for third in the SEC last year but caught fire in the tournament. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the last team in the playoffs last year in the AFC but won the Super Bowl. Were they the best team last year? No. But they were the best during a four game span in the playoffs. That's where college football is different. You can be assured that the team who wins the title is one of the top 3 or 4 teams in any given year. Compare this to my other examples of the Cardinals (13th best record), Steelers (tied for 5th with 6 teams so could be anywhere from 5th to 10th) and Gators (considering their 3rd seed in the tourney, somewhere between 9th and 12th though they got a higher seed than LSU solely because Florida won their conference tournament). I can go on if you would like me to. I like the fact that one of the top teams every year will win the college football national championship and not one that happens to get hot over a short stretch of the year. Every game matters. Don't get me wrong because I'm not saying I don't like the other sports. What I am saying is that I like college football's system because it's unique. I love that every game matters and it makes me want to watch every single Saturday because a team's National Title hopes could end every week. UCLA's victory over USC wouldn't have meant as much if there was a playoff because it wouldn't have ended the Trojans' shot at a National Title. It would have meant a ton because it's a rivalry game but the big national story was that it opened the door for Florida to make the title game. And that what makes college football different and that's why I love it.

Last year's Florida team started out like 16-0 and was ranked #1 for an extended period of time. Villanova and NC State are both power conference teams. Minor detail but Florida was never ranked #1. They were behind Duke since Duke started the year out ranked much higher than Florida. The last three undefeated teams (Duke, Florida, and another team that I don't remember) all lost on the same day. I think Florida was ranked #2 for a bit but not sure how long.

I don't think Oden will turn pro, but Durant is a nice fall back option. Oden needs to stay. He is so limited with only having his left hand. Plus it is good for the college game. Durant is great. Even if he had both hands I don't think Oden is polished enough offensively to be effective in the NBA right now. He just doesn't seem aggressive out there and doesn't demand the ball. There is no reason somebody like him should take just 6 shots in 30 minutes in a big game. I think he needs at least another year at the college level.

Wisconsin is trying to choke away this game.

The other thing that works with college basketball is that the small teams actually have decent shots to win games. Look at the Missouri Valley Conference. They have a few solid teams that have made the past few NCAA tournaments and have beaten major conference teams each year. Name me one small college football conference that routinely beats solid top teams from the major conferences. Sure, Boise beat Oklahoma and Oregon State this year and Fresno State has beaten top teams in the past. But it doesn't happen all that often. For every college football upset of a major conference team you see 15 other games where the major conference team wins by 30+ points and are playing their second team for much of the second half. Why should the champion of the Sun Belt get a shot at the title? Because they won their conference? Middle Tennessee St. and Troy St. tied for the title this year. Middle Tennessee St. lost to Big 12 Champion Oklahoma 59-0 and 45 of those points were scored in the first half. They also lost to Big East Champion Louisville 44-17. Troy gave Florida State a game (lost 24-17) as well as Georgia Tech (35-20) but lost to Nebraska 56-0. There is no reason to believe either of those could give a USC/Florida/OSU/etc. a game. The football players at the bigger programs are bigger, stronger, and faster than those at the smaller schools and there is a much bigger gap in talent in football than in basketball. I agree with what goony has been saying. I love college football and the thing that makes it unique is that every game matters. Sure, rivalry game would still mean a lot but would Michigan-OSU meant as much if a National Title game berth was on the line? Of course not. Look at today with OSU-Wisconsin in basketball. It's a #4-#5 matchup and it's a big game but it doesn't mean all that much because both teams will be playing for the title come March. That's what makes college football unique. Every game matters and if you lose one, you're likely done. He is right in calling out people with their opinions of how the National Title should be determined in football. Too many people have too many crazy ideas of how to determine who should be the National Champion and a majority of them are nowhere near realistic. When proposing a solution you have to consider all the factors and one of the huge factors in college football is money. You also have to consider what is in the best interest for all the conferences as well. It's great to propose an eight team playoff where the top 8 in the final BCS participate but there is no way the conferences would agree to that. They all think their conference champions should get an automatic spot which I definitely don't want because you could have a team like last year's Florida State team who lost four regular season games and was ranked in the 20's get a shot at the title.