Last night, after Florida marched down the field and scored on the opening drive, Appleby looked like Johnny Unitas and the receivers looked like Raymond Berry clones. I thought we might have a problem. Hurts fumbled a snap and Alabama went 3 and out. I thought we might have a problem. Appleby came back to earth and the Alabama defense almost totally eliminated the Florida running game. I thought the Alabama running game was the safest and most efficient way to dominate but Kiffin didn't agree and we struggled on offense for the whole first half but thank goodness for the defense. Hurts did not have a good night but thank goodness for the defense. We have 3 young, very good running backs, I hope they will stay with us because someday they may get a chance to run the ball throughout the whole game.
Amazingly if UF scores after a first and goal at the 2... and they almost did.... it's 33-23 in the middle of the 3rd quarter with Florida having handed over 17 points on TOs and leading in yardage gained by 254-172. Alas.... three straight runs against the brick wall brought a forced failed pass on 4th down and then a deflated Gator D sat on their ass and gave up a 98 yard game ending drive. I'm pretty sick of that script.... saw it in the last three games last season and now the same damn thing in Florida's past two games. I'm not going to be so stupid as to spend the money for pricey Outback bowl tickets here in Tampa and watch Nebraska do the same number on the Gators as Michigan did last year. I'm staying home on the 2nd and watching on TV.
If Oklahoma had scheduled three doormat non conference foes like Washington did, they would have been 12-0 and a 2 seed. That is the message the committee provided by its selections.
Well I expect Bama will be a huge favorite over Washington and Clemson and Ohio State to be pretty much a pick'em. I do think these are the best 4 based on the season resume.
Terry, I grew up in Tidewater,Va and the Baltimore Colts were great in the early and mid 60's. It's funny my youngest daughter briefly dated a pretty good football player in Southern Maryland in the late 90's and I said something about Bear Bryant. He said " who?". I kicked him out of the house...and my daughter didn't object.
Funny enough, the Pac 10 (12) for years led college football in aggressive scheduling and that notion was dismissed because what was important was the super conference title. You can't deny this, I spent a decade here making this very argument. Quite often, to people who have seemingly flipped position on the subject this season. The Pac10 went to the Pac12 and began to do what those being rewarded by the system had been doing for years. They cut it down to 3 noncon games, split into 2 division and implemented the conference title game. All because they were told, and shown, that the conference game means more than noncon games. Now the BCS is gone, the playoff is here and we're cutting our way through new ground. The problem is that the scheduling isn't something that's done year to year. These schedules are often made 5 to 10 years in advance. Washington had become a punching bag thanks to Gilbertson and Willingham. The most competent coach they've had since Slick Rick was a fall down drunk (Sarkisian). I'm not defending their schedule, it's garbage and historically Washington has played much better competition. I hope to see them return to that some day. At the same time, take a look at schedules like Michigan. Their noncons were Hawaii, UCF and Colorado. That's a punching bag and 2 traditionally O for programs. What saved them is Colorado's historic turnaround this year. Some of these things just can't be predicted. That being said, we're all just wasting time and air until they go to the 8 team format. Until then, each year will present some new unspoken rule or exception and someone will get screwed. It's a numbers game. As Scott mentioned, there's the power 5 and 4 spots. That doesn't even take into account the other conferences and independents. They gave us playoffs, which is good. However, what they gave us is a start, not the final destination. Until people realize (and it took people forever to realize the flaw in the BCS) that 8 teams is where we need to be and 4 teams is a flawed format, we'll have this every single year. Until then, enjoy the BCS on steroids known as the playoffs.
Corey, I'm for the 8 team format too and as you know I always have been....but....I've pretty happy with how the BCS on steroids has worked out so far too. :lol:
Whenever it does go to an 8 team playoff I'll be very interested to see how many teams seeded 5th through 8th actually are able to win the damn thing.
MCG, that will be interesting but Michigan would be in that group and I guess Penn State and Wisconsin might play each other again? Add Oklahoma. Or if we go with conference champs + 3 at large. Alabama, Clemson, Penn St., Oklahoma, Washington, Ohio St., Michigan, Wisconsin. ? Interesting line up. 8)
Out of 5-8 this year only Michigan imho would have the physicality and chip on the coach's shoulder to possibly pull it off. Last year.... 1 and 2 were in the Final. The first year of course #4 OSU did win it but played #2 Oregon. I'm willing to bet that the National Champion in 9 out of 10 years would come from the top 4 in an 8 team playoff. So this may be much ado about relatively nothing.......
kp - I like that list, other than Wisc. I would replace them with WMU being a highly ranked, undefeated G5. If there's not a highly ranked (T20?) G5 team, I don't mind going with another P5 team. The UM pick would be a tossup between UM and USC, but UM wouldn't be wrong.
I think in an 8 team format you run the risk of just diluting the result. Not saying it might not be worth it though. But consider a 7th seeded team must beat a #2 to start.... then probably a #3 or #4..... and finish up beating #3, 4 or #1. How likely is that to ever happen with a 10-2 team not deemed good enough to merit a top 4 seed? How about a 6 team format with 1 and 2 getting a first round bye?
Well I would agree that in college football esp that 2 of the top 4 would finish in the finals...but you do leave open what happens in all other sports..the hot team at the end of the season can win it all. While acknowledging that Alabama is not only the best team, but also the hot team...if we went to 8 teams it would leave open that a team like USC which has plenty of talent and is a hot team, I mean that win in Seattle over UW was no fluke it was a dominant win and if they had played in the Pac12 championship game again I would expec that USC would have won the Pac12. So if they were in I could easily see them making the finals.
Yeah USC is also a team that if in the 8 could cause trouble. But would they run a gauntlet of very highly rated teams above them and go 3-0? In basketball it's kind of a freak thing when you lose key players to injury in the NCAA playoffs. Florida was missing 38% of it's starters when it took the field vs. FSU last week and only a couple marginally returned for Bama. Football is extremely physical.... people get hurt. By the 3rd playoff game who knows what product is left on the field.
Let's not forget that USC had 3 early losses before they miraculously got hot. They dug their own hole. You can use "ifs" ad infinitem. If ND hadn't lost 8 games, we would be in a bowl game. :roll:
Remind me again, who Ohio State beat in the Semi-final? And lowly #2 Oregon destroyed a seemingly unbeatable Florida State in the most violent of fashions. Well, looking at just this year, I think solid cases could be made for Rape State to do well in the playoffs. Then you have Michigan. That's not even covering a Wiscy team (3 losses) who has a defense good enough to beat anyone on a given day.
The way the PSU QB who nobody had ever heard of, tore up the Wisc secondary I have to wonder why Mich and Ohio State didn't do the same.