Not as many big games but still a big weekend. 1. Auburn, Oregon, and TCU all were idle so nothing will change at the top. Boise State played Friday night and I watched some of the game. They are an impressive and resourceful football team. But they will have to depend on one of Auburn and/or Oregon to lose inorder to have a shot at getting to the game. This however has the potential to come down very odd, Oregon could lose a close game to Oregon State (not likely but possible) and Auburn could lose to Alabama and then beat So.Car. In that case I would not be suprised to see 1 loss Auburn get in the game and 1 loss Oregon get dropped because they don't play another game after their loss. If that happens it will be controversial. In any case I can not see a TCU/Boise State BCS Champ game. Only way I see people being happy with the pairings is if Oregon wins out and Auburn loses to both Bama and So.Carolina taking them completely out of the picture. I do think that there will be talk though that any number of the 1 loss BCS conference teams being more worthy of being in the BCS championship game and SOS will be thrown down as the reason. 2. B10. Man Wisconsin just running and running the ball on their opponents is impressive, UM defense just looked helpless and Chris Speilman dissected the UM defensive scheme (3-3-5) and wasn't very kind to that system. I keep reading fans saying that UM AD is going to force RR to change and bring in a new DCoord, but I also read that RR said no changes are needed. Great win by Ohio State at Iowa, not spectacular but did what they needed to do to grab the win. And the win by MSU vs Purdue is exactly the kind of late season loss that previous Spartan teams would have and scuttle their season. Looks like Dantonio has gotten this program turned, may be on the verge of getting back to where they were in the 60's under Duffy Daugherty. Big 10 likely to have 3 11-1 teams and only 2 can go to BCS games, the 2nd team will likely get chosen based on how well their fans travel rather than who is most worthy. Sucks but bowls want TV's and fannies in seats. 3. Big East....what a freakin' mess. They don't deserve an autobid but they'll get one. I'm sorry I am just against automatic bids for conference champions, any conference champion. Let the best teams play in the big bowls. 4. ACC... No compelling team will come out of this league either and will displace a much more deserving team. Did anybody see crowd shots of the Va.Tech/Miami game? Looked like a Marlins game. ACC Champ game will also be lightly attended. 5. PAC10. As JO'Co said USC got hammered by Oregon State. Looks like they have lost Barkley at QB for the ND game and Marc Tyler as well. I watched the UCLA/Wash game on Thurs night and those 2 teams are awful, how did Texas lose to UCLA? Chow, Slick Rick, Sark and his OCoord are all supposed to be QB guru's and all of the QB's that I saw just sucked, awful. I have read that the Pac10 will could have as few as 3 bowl eligible teams, looking at the standings that doesn't seem possible. Oregon, Stanford, Arizona, are eligible, they have a bunch of 4-6/5-6 teams so it would seem that a few will win out or something. But I also wonder if Stanford will get the short end of the BCS stick when it comes to "at large selections". Stanford isn't known for it's legions of traveling fans. I don't know if Oregon goes to the BCS game, does the Pac10 automatically get another team in the BCS system or could Stanford be left out for another team. 6. B12. Well a healthy discussion already going on in another topic, it's all going to come down to next weekend. Neb is a virtual lock as the NChamp and if OSU beats OU then OSU is in, but if A&M beats Texas and OU beats OSU then we are back to the 3 way tie, so the highest ranked BCS team will go as we have the same circular situation as in 2008. A&M has edge on OU, OU has edge on OSU and OSU has edge on A&M. I don't think A&M can get past OU or OSU so I think if OU wins and wins very big against OSU they will get the edge. I think B12 is likely to get 1 team in the BCS and that is all. And I expect that Neb will have to beat the refs and the opposition to win the B12. Oh yeah I fully expect Texas to beat A&M. Aggies are sky high after big wins over OU and Neb back to back at home. They will not be able to get back up again. Texas has nothing to lose, and they just hammered an inferior opponent so they might finally be in the right mindset to play another full game. Also remember we beat Neb with a healthy Martinez at Lincoln by more than the Ag's beat Neb with 75% Martinez at their place in front of 90K+ rabid Ag fans frothing at the mouth!! 7. Thoughts on how the big bowl's will sort out. 1. TCU 2. Boise State 3. Oregon 4. Big East 5. ACC 6. B10 7 B10 8. SEC 9. SEC 10. B12 No second team for either Pac10 or Big12. Not fair as Stanford may be the best 1 loss team in the country, but I think that is how it will sort out with TV sets and fannies who travel being the key factors. 8. ND/Army From all reports by those who attended it was a glorious weekend with ND fans all over New York, and everybody having a great time remembering old times! Irish won, Bob Diaco's defense played great, and stuffed Army (really should have been expected but due to Navy game nobody knew). Personally while glad for the win, and all I don't really want to play Army again, I like our long standing Navy game and that is enough for me. The whole neutral site deal for me is sort of contrived, but lots of teams are doing it, Mich will travel to Dallas/Ft. Worth to play Alabama in the near future, great game I'm sure..but why do they go to Texas to play it? We play Az State in Cowboy Stadium sometime, I'll go to the game but again I don't get why it's better than playing them at Notre Dame. 9. Cam Newton saga will not be decided for at least a year, long after he's gone to the NFL. He's the best player, no doubt. His father has refused to talk on the record. If he has truly not done anything against the rules, then why wouldn't he voluntarily go to the FBI and be deposed and go on the record that he hasn't done anything. Of course lying to the FBI is a Federal crime, might be why he doesn't want to do it.
Did the 12-hour round trip drive from Milwaukee to Ann Arbor to watch the game with a Badger co-worker. I think my time would have been better spent cleaning out the basement and garage, But, at least my mental state while watching the Badgers smash us to mush was better than RichRod's:
It appears that our DC Greg Robinson, who as Syracuse's head coach corkscrewed that program into the ground before getting his current job here, used a motivational tool that might cause someone at the University Hospital to fill out an emergency Zoloft prescription. Becoming unglued at a linebacker following yet another Wisconsin touchdown, the image below shows Robinson rubbing what appears to be a stuffed animal in the LB's face. I can't tell if it is a toy beaver, bear, or wolverine but this is really strange: I remember Jackie Sheriil becoming a subject of national derision after he had a bull castrated in front of his players prior to a game so, given the liberality of Ann Arbor, Robinson, by using a stuffed rather than live beaver or whatever, avoided generating the wrath of PETA's Ann Arbor office. But, if you are trying in instill a sense of ferocity into a defense that has served as a plaything for opposing offenses all season, I just don't think using stuffed ducks or teddy bears is really going to do the trick.
re: rumor http://pregame.com/forums/forums/t/139384.aspx?PageIndex=1 re: Stanford If nothing changes, they will be left out of the BCS entirely. The Rose Bowl MUST take either Boise or TCU before they take Stanford, who will probably wind up crushing somebody in either San Diego or El Paso... re: autobids What kind of a system is it that gives autobids to the Big East and ACC, but leaves out the Mountain West? Next year the MWC will have Boise State, TCU and more ranked teams than the 12Pac or most other conferences...
8) re: Taylor Martinez Well......if he quit because the coach yelled at him...then I guess he won't be coming to Notre Dame, eh?
That would unhinge me as well. Texas A&M only received 2 for 10???? WTF! If you watch football you know that many times calling a penalty or not calling it is at the discretion of the ref and what he 'thinks" he sees. It's not always cut and dried. You just want to see them call it the same for both teams.....and in this case that would be hard to believe. That's what the Huskers get for joining the Big 10 eh? :roll:
I want to see it called the same for both teams. You want even calls whether they are deserved or not. There is a big difference. Just because there is an uneven amount of calls made against your team does not raise a red flag. With your thought process, both teams have to commit the same amount of penalties. That's just not the case.
Uh no.......that's not what I am trying to say. Pellini was very p'od about something in the way the refs were calling the game and a 16-2 inequity is huge. If Pellini was mad at his team for committing that many more penalties then so be it but he was mad at the refs......and the numbers suggest the game wasn't being called the same for both teams. Sorta like the game that helped to bring about instant replay review in CFB......the last FSU victory over Florida in 2003. Every single possible change of possession call that day.....and there were about 7 of them....all went to the noles courtesy of the ACC refs calling the game even though TV replays suggested otherwise.
ND uses the other teams refs every single game. Seven years later and you still can let one game go? Do you sleep at all? :lol:
George.....it's FSU-Fla week.......and when I think of the noles I think of the last time they won and that was the game.......which is topical given what appears to be some serious ref issues in the Neb-Tex A&M game last Saturday. You don't forget a robbery like that one.
As far as Stanford getting shut out, it really gets down to will the big bowls want 2 SEC teams, I'm figuring LSU and SEC Champ. But if for some reason LSU is not chosen then I would assume that Stanford would be next up. But as JO'Co said the Rose Bowl has agreed to take an at large Non BCS Conf qualifier this year if one of thier teams (b10 or pac10 champ) goes to the BCS Champ Game. So really that makes it between LSU and Stanford for the Fiesta, Orange or Sugar where again travel and tv sets will be important.
Arkansas beats LSU...... But.....I could see LSU or Bama to the Sugar with two losses although Stanford is probably more qualified at that point.
In the article to which Terry linked, it was mentioned: Maybe that is why Nebraska was being watched closer IF that was the case. If that was the case, I don't agree with it, but Bo holds the key to stopping that issue.
Well in a discussion on another board it was pointed out that there can only be 1 AQ from the non-BCS conferences. So who ever is the highest ranked in the BCS standings will be the AQ. That means that if say Boise finishes in the Nat'l Champ game vs Oregon, then the Rose Bowl is off the hook and would certainly take Stanford. TCU would then be an at large team, not an AQ and that is the deal that the Rose has that they have to take a non-BCS conf AQ team if they lose one or both of their traditional teams.
Doc Saw the Cowboys-Lions game at Cowboy's stadium. It's an incredible facility. I would like to see an Irish-Horns game there. Only difference is that the Kilgore Rangerettes ain't the Cowboy cheerleaders (whew!)
Road Trip!!! Arizona State vs Notre Dame Oct 5, 2013 at Cowboy stadium. I wonder where we'll be as a team by 2013? Will we have the same coach, will we have joined the Ivy League and be playing Brown?
Well Pellini today said he spoke with the Neb Prez and he promised to keep his temper under control in the future. Also said there was nothing to the Martinez quitting rumour and that if he's healthy he will start against Colorado on Friday.