College football 2010

[Tom]

Michigan's big game is this weekend, and I'm hearing MSU is favored over U of M.  If MSU wins, this will be historical, as the Spartans have never beaten the Wolverines 3 years in a row.  Go Green!

Not since 1967, but it happened again!

I believe it's Denard "Interception" Robinson now.

Go Green!
Go White! 

Edited to remove excessive number of smileys and sunshine and happiness because there is no happiness when U of M loses

Yes, I stand corrected on the 3-in-a-row, as it happened as you said, so now I suppose I should do some research to see if MSU has won over U of M 4 years in a row.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The only "OSU" that matters is #1 again in football. Suck it, state up north. 

[algorerhythms]

The only "OSU" that matters is #1 again in football. Suck it, state up north. 

Since when was Oklahoma State #1?

[Brandon]

The only "OSU" that matters is #1 again in football. Suck it, state up north. 

Since when did The Game^TM matter?  I'd rather see a real match up between the real contender in the State of Michigan and OSU rather than the pretender in the state.

[mightyace]

Then you have the added BCS bullshit on top of that. Just have a playoff, the same way HS football below you and NFL above you do. Oh, what's that, you're worried about affecting the students? Hmm. Well, it's a good thing you weren't affecting them in any way for the rest of the season! Wait, you were? Oh.

Actually, it's only Division I-A that doesn't have an NCAA playoff system.  All other divisions (I-AA, II and III) have playoff systems.  I know  because my alma mater (Bloomsburg University of PA) has often made the D-II playoff and, once, in 2000, made the national title game.

Now, if football players in D-II and D-III who rarely, if every, make pro and actually NEED a degree, can take time away from their studies, why can't they in D-IA?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The only "OSU" that matters is #1 again in football. Suck it, state up north. 

Since when did The Game^TM matter?  I'd rather see a real match up between the real contender in the State of Michigan and OSU rather than the pretender in the state.

I'll have to check Ohio State's schedule to see if Central or Western Michigan are on the schedule in the coming years.

[golden eagle]

For the third week in a row, #1 falls as Oklahoma (#1 in the BCS rankings) loses at Missouri 36-27. Does anybody want to be #1 now?

[KEK Inc.]

UW beat OSU by 1, which is slightly surpising, but we're getting raped by AU...

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

UW beat OSU by 1, which is slightly surpising, but we're getting raped by AU...

I could have swore Wisconsin defeated Ohio State by more than one point the week before. Auburn can run over anyone.

[bugo]

Auburn can run over anyone.

Auburn had to have help from the refs to beat Arkansas.  They should have lost that game.

[SSOWorld]

An unwritten rule for the BCS - only an SEC or Big soon-to-be-less-than 12 team shall be top seed in the BCS.  This is further restricted to Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Texas, Nebraska, or Oklahoma.  Pac 10 teams (outside USC when the man is not keeping them down), garner no respect.  If your not part of the inner circle, you don't deserve #2 even, (Boise State, TCU), The Big East is weak as it is.   Big Ten - Ohio State and Michigan get respect, maybe Mich State or Wisconsin.

The fact that Auburn leapfrogged Oregon and Boise State pisses me off - whoever is programming those computers is getting paid very well.

[bugo]

An unwritten rule for the BCS - only an SEC or Big soon-to-be-less-than 12 team shall be top seed in the BCS.  This is further restricted to Alabama, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Texas, Nebraska, or Oklahoma.  Pac 10 teams (outside USC when the man is not keeping them down), garner no respect.  If your not part of the inner circle, you don't deserve #2 even, (Boise State, TCU), The Big East is weak as it is.   Big Ten - Ohio State and Michigan get respect, maybe Mich State or Wisconsin.

The fact that Auburn leapfrogged Oregon and Boise State pisses me off - whoever is programming those computers is getting paid very well.

"The Man" is holding U$C back?  "The Man" didn't force them to cheat.  U$C deserves everything they get and more.  I think they got off light considering what they did.  They deserve the death penalty.

And Boise State, TCU, and Utah have no business being in the top 25, much less the NC title discussion.  Their schedules are jokes.  If you don't play anybody, you don't deserve to play in the NC game.  Period.  If BS were in the SEC West, they would have 3 losses by now.  And the weakest SEC team would go unbeaten if they had BS's schedule.  BS hasn't beaten anybody.  They beat a horrible Virginia Tech team who lost to James freaking Madison and a 3-3 Oregon State team.  No quality wins = undeserving to play in the NC game.

Utah made a great move by going to the Pac 10/12.  If they go undefeated in that conference, then they deserve to be in the NC conversation.  BS and TCU need to move to a real conference.

[mightyace]

Their schedules are jokes.

Until Division I-A has a playoff system like the rest of the NCAA, the so-called National Champion is a joke!

[corco]

Utah made a great move by going to the Pac 10/12.  If they go undefeated in that conference, then they deserve to be in the NC conversation.  BS and TCU need to move to a real conference.

Is the Pac 10 actually that much better? The programs are "names"- but against non BCS I-A schools they aren't doing that well this season

Cal lost to Nevada, UCLA beat Houston, Oregon beat New Mexico, Washington State lost to freaking SMU, Washington lost to BYU, Arizona beat Toledo, USC beat Hawaii, and Oregon State lost to BSU and TCU

That's a 4-5 record the Pac-10 has against schools you consider shitty (and some of those are bad Pac-10 schools, but some of those other schools aren't exactly the cream of their respective divisions). I don't think the talent gap is nearly as great as you think it is.

[bugo]

UCLA also beat Texas pretty badly.  Texas isn't that good this year, but the victory was still impressive.

[corco]

UCLA also beat Texas pretty badly.  Texas isn't that good this year, but the victory was still impressive.

So if a Pac 10 team beats a not-very-good BCS school it's impressive, but if a WAC team does the same thing it's not?

Non BCS schools are over .500 against the Pac 10. The WAC and Mountain West beat the Pac-10 more than they lose to them. How can you conceivably say they can't compete at the same level? They've proven that they can.


For those conferences to get a fair shot at competing, they don't have to play at the level of the Big 12 or SEC (who are really, really good conferences). They have to play at the same level as this year's Pac 10 or the Big East, because if one of those schools went undefeated we'd have no problem letting them into the championship game, and there's no evidence whatsoever to suggest the WAC or Mountain West can't hold their own against those leagues this year.

[74/171FAN]

They beat a horrible Virginia Tech team who lost to James freaking Madison and a 3-3 Oregon State team.  No quality wins = undeserving to play in the NC game.

VT has won 6 straight since losing to JMU.  I know that we have some tough games coming up(Georgia Tech at home, at UNC, at Miami) but if we can get through that to at least the ACC Title game I would consider that a quality win for Boise even though we did lose to an FCS school.  However, our defense needs to start playing much better because it will be hard to just go outscore teams like Miami with their defense.

[bugo]

UCLA also beat Texas pretty badly.  Texas isn't that good this year, but the victory was still impressive.

So if a Pac 10 team beats a not-very-good BCS school it's impressive, but if a WAC team does the same thing it's not?

Week in and week out, UCLA has a much tougher schedule than Boise State/TCU/Utah.  The Pac 10 isn't that great this year, but it's much tougher than the Mountain West and WAC.

[corco]

Week in and week out, UCLA has a much tougher schedule than Boise State/TCU/Utah.  The Pac 10 isn't that great this year, but it's much tougher than the Mountain West and WAC.

Again, I have absolutely no idea how you can say that. In 9 games this year against "easy" schools, the Pac-10 won FOUR of them. If those schools are so much easier, why did they lose to so many of them?

We have an objective and reasonably way to assess your claim that the Pac-10 is a lot harder than the WAC/Mountain West, by looking at out of conference play. Looking at out of conference play, we see the Pac-10 went 4-5 against non-BCS I-A schools. If you look, we see a good sample of quality level from both the Pac-10 and the non-conferences (there's good Pac-10 teams and good non-conference teams, as well as bad Pac-10 teams and bad non-conference teams), and we see that the Pac-10 really, in actual reality, played at about the same level as the non-conference schools. That's as objective an indicator you can possibly get that the Pac-10 doesn't play any better football than the WAC/Mountain West this year.

Long term is the Pac 10 a better conference? Absolutely. Over a 10 year period I'll take the Pac 10 over the WAC or Mountain West any time. But this year? There's no possible way to claim they are a better conference. They've proven it on the field.

[KEK Inc.]

UW beat OSU by 1, which is slightly surpising, but we're getting raped by AU...

I could have swore Wisconsin defeated Ohio State by more than one point the week before. Auburn can run over anyone.

University of Washington (Husky) and Oregon State University (Beavers).  

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Jeremy and Pac 10 supporters will appreciate these scales for strength of schedule(s)
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/current_congrove_rankings.html
http://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/ranking/strength-of-schedule-by-team
http://www.gberatings.com/sos/ - Readability of this list is akin to a vitologist blog 

[corco]

Wow, I knew Wyoming played a tough schedule but holy smokes!

I see a lot of Mountain West love in there though- most of the toughest schedules have had at least one game against a Mountain West opponent.

But yeah, I guess the numbers disagree on SOS.   Please hold while I eat my hat.

That said, I still maintain that the 4-5 record vs non BCS I-A schools makes the Pac-10 look really, really bad.

Look at Oregon all the way down there though! Number 1 team in the country according to humans!

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Wow, I knew Wyoming played a tough schedule but holy smokes!

I see a lot of Mountain West love in there though- most of the toughest schedules have had at least one game against a Mountain West opponent.

But yeah, I guess the numbers disagree. Please hold while I eat my hat.

Look at Oregon all the way down there though! Number 1 team in the country according to humans!

Several of the SOS computer rankings I posted there are heavy on Pac 10 teams (with the SEC coming up immediately behind)

[corco]

Several of the SOS computer rankings I posted there are heavy on Pac 10 teams (with the SEC coming up immediately behind)

Right, I just find it interesting that a cursory glance of those that played the toughest schedules have mostly at least one game against a Mountain West opponent. I'm not sure what that means, if anything, just saw that as interesting.

As for a school like Washington State, you may be playing a really tough schedule but a loss to freaking SMU pretty much negates any defense you have to the "oh my schedule is too tough" argument.

[Scott5114]

I hereby forbid OU from having football games while I'm trying to go to work.