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SI.com college football writer Stewart Mandel shares his commentary, analysis and random tidbits on the latest developments around the country.10/21/2007 06:24:00 PM Five Things We Learned This Weekend
1) That two of your Heisman finalists played in Lexington yesterday. Much like the national title race, sorting through the Heisman candidates this season has often felt like a process of elimination. Colt Brennan got hurt. Ray Rice struggled. DeSean Jackson disappeared. Brian Brohm's team went in the toilet. Darren McFadden's team became irrelevant. One by one, the popular preseason candidates exposed their blemishes (some by no fault of their own) to the point where filling out my top-five list last week for the HeismanPundit.com straw poll was nearly as difficult as my past few AP ballots.
Kentucky's Andre Woodson threw for 415 yards and five touchdowns but lost his duel with Florida's Tim Tebow.Jim Owens/Icon SMI
Which is why watching Saturday's Florida-Kentucky shootout was not only entertaining but enlightening, providing some much-needed clarity. In what has been a rare occasion this season, two transcendent players each delivered the type of jaw-dropping performances on which Heisman seasons are built. It's nowhere near time to project a winner (as so many of us had already done for Troy Smith by this point last season), but I do think it's safe to predict that, barring injury or a total collapse by one or the other, Tim Tebow and Andre Woodson will be in New York the second Saturday of December. Tebow currently holds the advantage, having beaten Woodson head-to-head and having now delivered three of the most impressive individual performances all season (against Tennessee, LSU and Kentucky). Come December, however, voters may wind up siding with Woodson because he A) beat LSU (if the Tigers remain in the national title mix until the end) and B) has helped elevate a longtime doormat, whereas Tebow took over the reins of the defending national champs.
There are no shortage of other factors that will come into play as well (most notably, Tebow and Woodson would likely need to keep their teams in SEC title contention until the end), and the pair certainly aren't the only worthy candidates out there. Despite missing Saturday night's Illinois game, Mike Hart still has ample opportunity to rise to the top, especially if he were to go off on No. 1 Ohio State in the season finale. And Boston College QB Matt Ryan is already high on a lot of lists heading into a golden showcase opportunity Thursday night at Virginia Tech. If someone winds up outshining current leader Tebow, so be it -- so long as age is not the deciding factor. It's 2007, people. In an age when Vanderbilt has a better football program than Notre Dame, an underclassman should certainly be able to win the Heisman Trophy.
2) That reports of the Pac-10's ascendancy were premature. I wrote it, as did so many others. Through the first month of the season, no conference had done more to distinguish itself than the Pac-10, with rousing non-conference wins by Cal (over Tennessee), Oregon (over Michigan), Washington (over Boise State) and USC (over Nebraska). In the weeks since, however, we learned that shredding Tennessee's defense, as Cal did, isn't particularly difficult (ask Alabama) and that Nebraska is closer to No. 120 than No. 20. The Trojans wound up losing to Stanford, the 2-5 Huskies haven't won since that Boise State game, and the Bears have now lost consecutive games to Oregon State (itself a 34-3 loser to Cincinnati) and UCLA (44-6 loss to Utah, only team this season to lose to Notre Dame).
Obviously, it doesn't speak particularly well of our West Coast friends that, at the near-halfway point of the conference season, those same Bruins are tied for first at 4-0 in the Pac-10. Its co-leader, 7-0 Arizona State, had been looking toward Saturday's home date with Cal as chance to finally prove its worthiness, but suddenly everybody's beating Cal. Still, this coming weekend will be a very interesting one for the conference. In addition to Cal-ASU, No. 9 USC visits No. 5 Oregon in a game with serious BCS implications. The Ducks, despite losing that home game to Cal, remain the league's most viable national title contender. That Michigan beatdown looks better and better with each subsequent Wolverines victory. But Oregon finds itself having to reinvent the nation's No. 2 offense on the fly after losing a bevy of key personnel (three receivers, plus No. 2 tailback Jeremiah Johnson). They did more than fine against Washington, riding RB Jonathan Stewart to 55 points, but USC brings a far more challenging defense.
The previously struggling Trojans, meanwhile, turned in their crispest offensive performance of the season at Notre Dame, with QB Mark Sanchez shining in his second career start, but how much can we really read into performances against the Irish this season? (Other than the fact USC obviously fared far better than its cross-town rival ... you know, the one leading the conference). Right now, Oregon and ASU seem like the league's teams to beat; by this time next week, however, it could be back to USC and UCLA. Think about how crazy that would have sounded just two weeks ago.
3)That USF is not-yet-ready-for-primetime. Last Sunday, I was one of the 11 AP voters to elevate the 11-year-old South Florida Bulls to No. 1 in the AP rankings -- yet even then I could see Thursday night's Rutgers upset coming from 33 miles away (the distance from Manhattan to Piscataway). Just four days after debuting at No. 2 in the BCS standings, the young Bulls would not only be facing the pressure of trying to prove themselves to a nation full of newfound skeptics, but they'd have to do so in a sold-out Thursday night road game against the one team in their conference that's caused them the biggest matchup problems in the past. (Specifically, one matchup: Physical RB Rice, he of the 202-yard day against USF's otherwise unmerciful run defense just a year earlier.) The fact is, USF's D is all about speed -- hence why they've performed so well against West Virginia -- whereas Rice and the Knights are all about power. Sure enough, Rice exploded for 189 yards and Rutgers pulled off a 30-27 win.
So why, might you ask, did I move the Bulls up to No. 1 if I already had such reservations about their ability to beat a 4-2 team? Well for one, as I said last week, we're supposed to vote based on past results, not predictions of the future. I could not have known at the time whether my instinct would prove true, whereas USF's resume at the time was undisputable. And secondly, as I wrote from Thursday night's game, is there really that big a difference between USF losing at Rutgers and LSU losing at Kentucky? Or Oklahoma losing at Colorado? These days, everybody's vulnerable. I happen to share Rice's opinion (expressed in that column) that the week-in, week-out difficulty in the Big East is not dramatically different than the SEC's or Big 12's. Preemptive note to the expected, indignant SEC fans: I am not saying the Big East is a "better" conference than yours; I'm saying that, just like there are almost no "weeks off" in your conference anymore, the Big East's schedule, albeit shorter, is similarly grueling due to that league's depth and balance. (In fact, it's arguably more difficult to run through the Big East undefeated now than it was in its previous configuration, which for the majority of its non-Michael Vick existence was basically Miami and the seven dwarfs).
All of that said, I'd be lying if I didn't say covering my first live USF game was a bit of letdown. While the Rice shredding was not entirely unexpected, the Bulls' offensive line made Rutgers' previously struggling defense look like an NFL team's. QB Matt Grothe, while obviously supremely talented, was far too reckless with the game on the line -- and then, with reporters waiting outside the locker room afterward, refused to conduct a single interview. While I'm told that's not entirely uncommon in MLB clubhouses or NFL locker rooms, in nearly a decade in this business, I've never encountered that from a high-profile college athlete (except in instances where school officials or coaches purposefully shielded the player.) But alas, how could Grothe have known? He and his teammates are completely new to this kind of stuff -- to the point where Thursday night marked the first time in its young history than an opposing team's fans stormed the field after beating USF. The Bulls should certainly hope it's not the last time -- that is, if they're planning on making such big games a regular occurrence.
4) That Notre Dame's woes likely aren't over yet. Following the Irish's 38-0 loss Saturday to rival and traditional measuring stick USC on Saturday, Charlie Weis was asked whether his team had hit rock bottom. His responded in part, "People better enjoy [it] now, have their fun now." Was Weis referring to the people who've already had their way with ND -– or issuing an invitation to others?
When the Irish's lopsided losses initially started piling up in September, one could look at their schedule and reasonably conclude that, even if Weis' team started an unthinkable 0-8 (thanks to Dorrell, they made it through at 1-7), they could at least count on four wins at the end. At this point, however, that no longer seems like a given, and in fact none ND's four remaining opponents –- Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford -- seem like all that much of an underdog anymore. The Midshipmen and Falcons are a combined 10-5. The Blue Devils, though 1-6, have a dangerous quarterback (sophomore Thaddeus Lewis, one spot below Ryan among NCAA pass efficiency leaders) and have been more competitive than the Irish (beating 5-3 Northwestern and playing the likes of Virginia, Wake Forest and Miami tough). And much-improved Stanford not only beat USC but improved to 2-3 in the Pac-10 with Saturday's comeback win over Arizona.
Of all the historic indignities Weis' team has accrued this season, losing to 4-3 Navy in two weeks would invariably represent the most galling yet. As has been well documented, ND currently holds an NCAA-record 43-game winning streak over the Midshipmen, having last lost to them in 1963 when Roger Staubach skippered Navy. Even as Paul Johnson's program has erased years of misery to reach bowl games the past four seasons has been unable to topple the Irish. This would certainly seem the year to do it, it's almost impossible to handicap how well an opponent will handle Navy's option attack. (So far this year, Navy has beaten Pittsburgh and Duke but been crushed by Rutgers and Wake Forest). Similarly, while Air Force has won five of its first six Mountain West games (including Saturdays win over Wyoming), the Falcons themselves lost to the Midshipmen. The guess here is that ND wins those but loses to the Blue Devils and Cardinal.
5) That Temple has found a home in the MAC. Lost in the wilderness, a program without a home after getting the boot from the Big East, long-hapless Temple went 1-22 the past two seasons while playing an often murderous, mercenary's schedule. In this, the Owls' first in the Mid-American Conference, however, Al Golden's team is currently enjoying its first three-game winning streak since 1990 –- and is sitting a half-game out of first in its new division (the MAC East).
Give oodles of credit to Golden, Temple's 38-year-old, second-year coach, whose relentless energy and enthusiasm since taking over Division I-A's biggest reclamation project reminds many of Rutgers' Greg Schiano. It takes a team with a sense of confidence to do what the Owls did Saturday, which was to overcome a second-quarter, season-ending injury to starting QB Adam DiMichele and hold off a late Miami of Ohio rally to beat the division leader, 24-17. This on the heels of previous close victories over Northern Illinois and Akron.
Note that the RedHawks (2003) and Zips (2005) have both won recent MAC championships, while the Huskies have been to bowl games two of the past three years. Not taking anything away from the Owls' accomplishments, but they seem to be joining the conference at a perfect time. For whatever reason (your theory is as good as mine), the MAC is really struggling right now. There was a time just four or five years ago when you could count on the league to produce at least a couple legitimate stars (Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, et. al.) each season, not to mention pull off its share of BCS-conference upsets. But with the exception of Bowling Green and Kent State's early wins over Big Ten and Big 12 cellar-dwellers Minnesota (by Bowling Green) and Iowa State (by Kent State and Toledo), that hasn't been the case at all lately. The door is open for a rising program like Temple to become an immediate contender, which in turn should spur much-needed fan interest. Saturday's win drew 21,041 to the Linc, up from 15,629 for their first MAC home game against Buffalo.posted by Stewart Mandel | View comments |Comments:
Huge anti-Big 10 biasThis post has been removed by the author.I've not once heard an interesting "bias" comment. The article wasn't about the big 10. He had plenty to say about the big 10 yesterday. People who see "bias" against their league or team everywhere obviously think that everyone who doesn't think obsessively about their team/league is "biased."Please tell me how Ray Rice struggled. Lens Crafters is having a sale on glasses, I suggest taking a ride over there sometime this week and picking up a pair."Mike said...
Please tell me how Ray Rice struggled."
Well, he went a month without gaining 100 yards, during which his team lost twice at home. Other than that ...Stew, putting USF as No. 1 (or No. 2, 3, etc.) was kinda ridiculous. C'mon, they're obviously not in the same league as the LSUs and USCs of the world. Just look at them.
And no, you're pick is not supposed to be a prediction of future results -- but it's not solely a reflection of past performance, either. Instead, it's a judgment call by you, the journalist, about how good you think THIS team is now. By that measure, USF at No. 1 was illogical.This post has been removed by the author.Jake 2-Take a look at Stew's top 25 rankings...there is clearly a Big 10 biasAl Golden definitely deserves credit for his great job at Temple. And USF...were they just not that good, or is Rutgers back on track?The last I hear the Heisman means the MVP on the potential best team. I thought it was for the best player in college football. I think I'm going to stop reading your articles, they are becoming more and more idiotic. I'm pretty sure that Mike Hart and D. Mcfadden are pretty much the best players right now. Also what the heck is up with you and the SEC? Face the facts, they SEC has great talent but sadly they waste it with lack of preparation. Why do the loose so often to unranked teams? And please do not use, "Well the SEC struggles because they conference is so tough, they get beat up." Toughness is relative and winning is just that, WINNING.Stewart's changing view of the PAC 10 illustrates the folly of trying to predict the strength of conferences. There are few head to head matchups between teams in competing BCS conferences other than early season matchups between teams just forming their identify. Going into mid-November last year, after 80% of the season was complete, everyone agreed Michigan and Ohio State were the best two teams in the country. Everyone was wrong.
Then, everyone said the SEC was by far the best conference, but they lost the other two head to head matchups with the Big 10.
There are good teams in each conference, and it is impossible to compare teams across conference right now. LSU looks very tough and battle-tested, but it would not surprise me if Oklahoma were to beat them by 4 touchdowns.Massive anti-Sportscenter biasOutrageous pro-MAC biasI am one of those obnoxious SEC fans that constantly rant on about how ridiculously stacked our conference but...I still feel that South Florida is getting shafted by losing to a quality team on the road and being downgraded to No. 11 in the latest AP poll. Like Stewart I feel that teams should be judged on what they accomplished this season and Rutgers has beaten two top 20 teams and played another quality team tough. In my book, that ranks them above a lot of the teams that were slotted above them.Completely acceptable anti-ND biasKathy: That may be the most rational, level-headed comment ever posted on this blog.
What's wrong with you?Ridiculous Steelers biasStewart: If Kathy is right, then why do you hate the Big 10 so much?I can see it now. OSU, BC, and LSU win out. The AP moves LSU ahead of BC, but the coaches and Harris polls send the undefeated teams to New Orleans for the title game. LSU goes to the Orange bowl and dismantles Oklahoma, then BC squeaks past OSU in a mistake-filled title game. The AP votes LSU #1 while BC gets the BCS title. Knowing how LSU feels about shared titles, do they refuse their half of the national championship?About time somebody on SI gave Andre' Woodson some credit (Gene Menez get your stuff strait) That said, without a doubt, Kentucky still belongs in the top 10 if Florida and LSU are there. First, they beat LSU, and then have part of a week to prepare for Florida, the early part of the week spent resting from LSU, and with your #1 runningback out, it gets even harder. And the PAC 10 has always been weaker than anyone believes, with exception to Oregon and maybe USC it is overall a joke. On USF's #1 ranking in your poll, i 100% agree. Although without a doubt they are no where close to the best team in the country, you have to look at what they have done to establish themselves (and on that scale OSU would not be in the top 15) Go UK!Knuckles, you're not smart. There won't be a split national championship in that situation. You're trying to compare it to 2003, but it's not the same.This post has been removed by the author.Chris- its not a matter of hating the big 10, but its that the big 10 has not performed at all in the few decent nonconference games it has played thus far (see Michigan- Oregon) Also, the big 10 is admittedly having a down year, as anyone in the country will acknowledgeFollowing Chris . . .
Complete (though understandable) pro Kathy Bias.I've had just about enough of this ridiculous anti-Red Sox bias.Unjustifiable anti-'95 Nebraska bias
We all know you think the USC dynasty was betterThree #2 teams lose to unranked teams in successive weeks.
#2 USC loses to 1-3 Stanford. Drops to #10 in the AP.
#2 Cal loses to 3-3 Oregon St. Drops to #10.
#2 USF loses to 4-2 Rutgers. Drops to #11.
USF drops a bit more than the others for losing to a team now #25 in the AP poll; neither Stanford nor Oregon State are even receiving votes in the AP poll.
It's even worse in the Harris poll (USC drops 6 spots, Cal drops 8 spots, USF drops 9 spots) and the USA Today (USC drops 6 spots, Cal drops 7 spots, USF drops 10 spots).
Not that this is new or even surprising, but it seems worth mentioning. Again.MJD- Simple reason- USF was not as good in the first place as USC or Cal, and being the new team to the top 10, they will naturally drop more because AP voters don't have much respect for them yet. Let them keep on winning a few years, and without a doubt they will recieve the same kind of respect as a USC or CalKentucky - Wow. You really don't think USF is as good as USC or Cal? I suggest you buy another television and have Sportscenter (complete with USF highlights and USC/Cal lowlights) running on one and the 1992 NCAA Final Four on the other.Anthony said...
I still feel that South Florida is getting shafted by losing to a quality team on the road and being downgraded to No. 11 in the latest AP poll.
Excellent point. I don't claim to be inside the heads of the pollsters, but a move like this almost looks like that time-honored football practice of rookie hazing. Smells like there may have been a lot of people out there looking for an excuse to dock USF on their ballots. What's so different about losing to Kentucky in 3OT from losing to Rutgers by a FG that makes the former worth a 3-spot poll drop and the latter a 9-spot fall? Makes no sense.
This, by the way, from a guy whose team (OSU) benefits as much as any from this type of poll bias. You know, since we're taking a break from the mindless chest-beating and all. :)In the minds of the AP voters, i'm saying. Yes USF would beat USC or Cal if they played them, just the history of USC and Cal being decent teams gives them more credibility than USF.AND by the way chris i'm all football fan at UK. I go to about 1-2 UK basketball games a year, but haven't missed a UK home football game in 7 years. I'm just happy we're finally good, and people can stop giving me crap about being a football fan and not as much of a basketball fanI can't believe you are hating on Charlie Weis!
This anti-cheeseburger bias will bankrupt McDonaldsTim Tebow is God he'll be the first to win it 3 straight years
Go GatorsKentucky - To be honest, I was reaching for an epic Kentucky football collapse, but I couldn't come up with one.Bryan - I thought moonshine was illegal? You making your own these days?YesChris- Yes I am, I'm also making a trophy case for the gators to house Tim's 3 heisman trophiesChris- Not this year man, not this yearBryan - You sound extremely familiar. Were you an Oklahoma fan in 2004?Memo to Charlie Weis: Believe me, bro, I AM enjoying it.
And, frankly, I expect to be enjoying it for many years to come ... or at least as long as you're the head coach.
Never before have I praised Notre Dame's ludicrous NBC deal, but now I think it's the greatest thing ever. Nothing beats watching the Irish stumble around on a beautiful fall Saturday.Definitely the most amusing comment list I've read this entire season. Can't we all just put aside the biases and get along?
Anti-bias bias.If ND loses to Navy, Weis should prepare his resume for the upcoming vacancy in Seattle, when Holmgren steps aside.Stewart - you said the USF loss "rendered the Big East irrelevant" in the national title picture in your postgame analysis. But in this blog, you acknowledge that the Big East has parity similar to that of the SEC.
Do you really believe that it is impossible for a one-loss USF or West Virginia to make it back into the #1 or #2 BCS ranking?Tankerdawg - Stewart has a tiger tattoo on his butt and he does the gator chomp in his sleep. Asking him to be impartial is like asking Northwestern to be relevant.tankerdawg- the reason the parity of the Big East is similar to that of the SEC is because the whole conference's talent level is on a lower scale than the SECAndre' Woodson= Mr. HeismanAny shot at that interview Mr. Mandel?
This is the exact kind of interaction I want to discuss. ;)
--One academic's final desperate pleaThis post has been removed by the author.The anti-MAC West bias is inexcusableThe Big Ten this year can boast of two victories over Syracuse, four over Notre Dame, and a victory over Pitt, Wash & Wash St. Not a quality win anywhere. They have played two good schools, Missouri & Oregon, and lost both, plus they have losses to Duke & Iowa St. I just don't see anything in the resume to be proud of. The eleven members have played a total of two quality teams thus far. Could it be sadder?Let us get this out into the open. I am a Buckeye fan.... an alumna of the University and a faithful follower of all things Buckeye football.
I will not bash another school.... unless they wear maize and blue (instinct...sorry). I will not insult another person's intellectual level based on the love they have for their school and conference. I would hope that other people would have the same amount of courtesy.
Now about OSU for a sec.... did they look into a crystal ball and predict the wins and losses of every other team in the country when they made their schedule in advance? I seriously doubt it. After losing the number of talented players last year to the NFL, they were expecting a rebuilding year to develop young talent for the next couple of years. They were probably expecting a loss by now. That did not happen. They are playing well and winning when other teams are not- which to me is the most important thing in ranking a team. They can't help that other teams in the Big 10 are not playing as well. Don't blame them for doing what they are scheduled to do every Saturday.
I can't tell the future. I don't know if the Buckeyes are going to do undefeated or not. I hope so... I'm a fan. But I will not wallow in self pity and cry " oh, woe is me" and " you don't like us because we're Big 10," if we lose a game... after all.... it IS just a game.Lets make it clear which Anthony Lock Ness Monster is referring to... I'm a
huge Nittany Lion Fan and heading into Saturday night's showdown with OSU lets make that clear. And I think
South Florida should be #5.first of all the sec is by far the toughest conference in football. If you take florida lsu auburn south carolina or kentucky and put them into a differnt conference they would easily be undefeated every year. They should get rid of the bcs and creat a new system that says the team that wins the sec championship atomaticly goes to the national championship. Oh and for any ohio state fans, remember last year everyone said yall couldnt be beat, well u saw what happen when u played a good team. What was the score? oh ya 41-14. Yall suckAlexis - You are saying that when OSU scheduled Kent St, Youngstown and Akron for this year there was a genuine feeling that these schools would constitute quality competition? I am having a really hard time seeing it.Michigan fans for chaos!
Here is hoping for an Arizona State - Kansas national championship game, with Michigan winning a rematch against Oregon in the Rose Bowl!This guy is so biased towards the east, it is really funny. Why would Mike Hart get the nod for Heisman over Dennis Dixon, or Jonathan Stewart? Because the media thinks Michigan is important for some reason even though Oregon destroyed them in the Big House. The west coast anti-bias has been obvious for years, but it is so blatant this year it is laughable. Whatever, let the Big 10 keep their traditions, I mean, I feel sorry for the people that live there, have you visited the
Big 10 states recently? Ha. West is the best.Stuart,
I wish more sports columnists used the same level of critical thought in crafting their editorials. I find your pieces to be insightful, economical, peppered with a good amount of self-humor, and never bogged down in fluff. Despite being a rabid Buckeye fan, I find it deplorable--but not surprising--that so many of your readers take umbrage at the critiques/judgements of their favored team. Silly. These are the "value-added" moments, the insight, that helps people like me better understand our team's strengths, weaknesses, and national perception. Whether it is gained from observation or through communicaiton with coaches, this is where I find value and insight. No one else provides this value. More should. Stewart, I'll continue reading your submissions as long as you continue your diligent work.
Doug K
Silver Spring, MDStewart, I hope you have as much fun reading the comments as me. It's a treat. On to which conference is the best, No one will know, every conference is the same. Any one team can win, College Football is unpredictable. That's what makes it the best sports program to watch. I see all the talk of this conference being better and this conference being weak, Being a fan of Ohio State
I'll use the Big Ten as an example. When Akron came in, they came into Columbus to win, as did Kent State, these teams might not be the best teams in football but, every game played was played hard, this goes for all Big Ten teams, your going to get a hard played team each week, no matter what the pollsters think. This goes for every conference out there. Who can actually put a finger on which one is better and how ? Everyone I see, can only judge Ohio State by last year, why ? Are we forgetting the Miami/OSU game ? Same game, different year. This applies to every conference, any one team can win, Vandy/South Carolina ring a bell, Stanford/USC, Colorado/Oklahoma, Whatever the outcome this year, it's been a heck of a ride so far. Go Bucks !!!!Chase Danials has looked good all season. Even in the loss to Oklahome he moved the ball ans scored points. He doesn't play defense."USF was not as good in the first place as USC or Cal"
Really? Cal doesn't look that great. USC has yet to do anything really spectacular. At least USF went in to Auburn's massive stadium and got a W. Their loss is also against a respectable Rutgers team.any team of the top 6 teams in the sec would absolutly kill the osus and uscs and the oregonsCharles-
By contrast, the best the SEC can do, in regard to non-conference play, is boast wins over Kansas St., Oklahoma St., Louisville, Va. Tech, and Southern Miss (combined 22-14). They've also lost to Florida St., USF, Missouri, WVU, and Cal (combined 27-8). In other words, they've won against the mediocre and lost against the so far so good while the rest of their non-conference games have been played against traditionally weaker opponents. This might be better than the Big Ten's non-conf. schedule, but is it really something for all the SEC boosters to pound their chests over? Unfortunately for the Big Ten, the conference is suffering greatly from the poor showing of Notre Dame and some other teams that do in fact have strong traditions. It can also be said that Minnesota and Northwestern are doing more than their share to drag the conference straight into the trash heap. However, just because the stars have not been aligned favorably for certain teams' strength of schedule, does not mean that they are not good teams. Why penalize Ohio State because Notre Dame is lousy? It makes no sense.dg, alexis,
Spoken from true OSU fans. Well said!first of all the sec is by far the toughest conference in football. If you take florida lsu auburn south carolina or kentucky and put them into a differnt conference they would easily be undefeated every year, blah, blah, blah, and other opinions backed up by not one single fact
Tyler, please, we're trying to have a serious discussion here. You're not quite ready for the Big Kids' Table.
The fact that you would even include Kentucky, the biggest one-hit wonder in recent college football history, in your so-called example pretty much tells the rest of us every single thing we need to know about you. Newsflash for you, genius: that's not much of a football program. Here's UK's recent history:
2000: 2-9
2001: 2-9
2002: 7-5
2003: 4-8
2004: 2-9
2005: 3-8
2006: 8-5
I'll let you do the math; you clearly could use the practice.Charles-
In response to your question posed to Alexis, no I do not think that OSU intended to schedule quality competition when they slated YSU, Akron, and Kent. Instead, I think they hoped to schedule some fairly easy warm-up/"pre-season" games while placing some regional programs in the spotlight. I believe that their motivation was the same as LSU's when they scheduled Middle Tennessee, Tulane, and La. Tech or when Florida scheduled Western Kentucky, Troy, and Florida Atlantic. Is there a difference? Here's a question for you: Do you really believe that Big Ten programs hoped to schedule easy games when they made dates with ND, UW, WSU, or Pitt?There is only one undefeated team that deserves the No. 1 position in the polls, and that is Ohio State. The rest of the Big 10 is unspeakable. The Big 12 is a mess. Pac-10 can't figure out which games to show up to. The SEC is great, but they too have their flaws. Did anyone really think S. Carolina should be ranked as high as they were?
Please be more responsible with your voting, and vote who you believe to be the best team as No. 1. None of this USF No. 1. That is irresponsible.
We all know BC isn't the No. 2 team in the nation. If they really are, why isn't Hawaii sniffing the Top 10? Talk about disrespect, if that is how you vote.In brief, what the Big Ten and the Big Ten region has done for the SEC and the Big 12:
-Urban Meyer- Born and raised in northeast Ohio and graduated from U of Cincy and Ohio State. Started his head coaching career at Bowling Green.
-Les Miles- Born and raised in northeast Ohio and graduated from U of Michigan. Started his coaching career at Michigan.
-Bo Pelini- Born and raised in northeast Ohio and graduated from Ohio State.
-Mark Mangino- Born and raised in western Pennsylvania. Graduated from little old Youngstown State University in 1987. The same school that brought us Jim Tressel.
-Bob Stoops- Born and raised in northeast Ohio. Graduated from the University of Iowa.
Need I go on? Heck. Even the best pro football team to ever come out of the southeast, the 70's Miami Dolphins, were coached by Don Shula, a guy born and raised in northeast Ohio. I'm starting to sound like a broken record.Indeed, this is the most amusing comment thread I think my blog has ever seen. I'm loving it.
Especially this ...
"Chris said...
Tankerdawg - Stewart has a tiger tattoo on his butt and he does the gator chomp in his sleep. Asking him to be impartial is like asking Northwestern to be relevant."
In response to Tankerdawg, it appears the pollsters have jumped West Virginia back up high enough that the Big East has not been rendered irrelevant yet. So that's at least somewhat encouraging to the league. That said, as some of you pointed out, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why the Mountaineers are now so much better off than the USF team to which it lost. USF dropped from 1 to 7 on my ballot, WVU is 8.what does kentucks past have to do with how good they are this year? and yes those 6 teams would destroy osu. Look what happen last year a one lost sec team killeeddddddd a undefeated ohio st team that was suppose to be unbeatable. That proves my point sec is toughest in the landwhat does kentucks past have to do with how good they are this year?
Ummmm ... hey, genius? YOU were the one who brought out the "every year" argument. Or have you already forgotten your first post? (not that it's worth remembering, so I guess I shouldn't blame you for that).
So, in case you're having trouble following along, I was pointing out to you that not only would Kentucky not go undefeated "every year" in another BCS conference, they wouldn't even go undefeated in the Big Sky Conference.Let me see if I get this right Stewart...
If the SEC beats up on itself it's because the SEC is deep and talented. Auburn has 3 losses and is STILL RANKED!!!
If the Pac-10 beats up on itself it's because the conference is overrated. ASU is undefeated and still can't crack the top 5.
You're falling into the same logic trap the SEC has been employing for years. So much parity everyone says. How do you know that when they never leave their conference to play anyone??Kentucky would go undeafeated in any other confrence this year, and theres no questioning that. it should be who ever wins the sec championship atomaticly plays in the national championshipany team of the top 6 teams in the sec would absolutly kill the osus and uscs and the oregons
When I read nonsense like this from the SEC's Kool-Aid Nation, I always find it helpful (after first vomiting) to remember the wise words of a philosopher named Stewart Mandel, who discussed SEC fans' selective memory and separation from reality as follows:
"Tennessee beats Cal last year? Yet another feather in the SEC's cap. Cal beats Tennessee this year? Completely irrelevant.
"USC beats Auburn 23-0 in 2003? That wasn't one of Auburn's better teams. Auburn goes 12-0 the next year and gets left out of the BCS title game? A crime against humanity, seeing as the Tigers obviously would have beaten the Trojans.
"Big East champion Louisville comes within an offsides call of edging SEC champ Florida out of last year's BCS title game? Exhibit A why the whole system needs to be blown up. The fact that Big East champion West Virginia beat SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl just a year earlier? Eh -- the Dawgs weren't up for that game.
"Les Miles calls out USC's "soft" Pac-10 schedule? Well ... duh. But wouldn't that make SEC divisional champion Arkansas -- whom the Trojans beat 50-14 just a year earlier -- even softer? No, because Darren McFadden wasn't healthy, and he's obviously capable of producing 36 points on his own.
"Florida beating Ohio State like a rented mule in last year's title game? Indisputable confirmation that the Big Ten can't hold a candle to the SEC. The fact SEC teams lost their other two bowl games against Big Ten foes? Never happened."Why the h?ll is ND losing even comment worthy? With all the interesting things happening in college football, A bad team losing again is not interesting to anyone.I am a Buckeyes fan, OSU alumnus and follow college fb via the internet as I live and work in India.
I don't understand how the relevance that we earlier used to determine cf's worthy comabatants for a national championship can dramatically change because Appalachian St. beat Michigan. I can only point to embarrassment from the sportswriter fraternity over the heir apparent (OSU) losing to Florida in a dramatic fashion. Why that should require an overhaul of the system perplexes me though as it tends to happen most years. How many championship games actually have a nailbiting finish? Most seem to be over by the 3rd qtr which suprisingly isn't any different from the Superbowl. With that said, why is the Big 10 less or more deserving recognition than the Big East, Big 12, or dare I say S E C. At the end of the season like it or not most teams will have lost a game and based on the remaining # of unbeaten teams we "annoint" 2 opponents who will battle in the championship. Until a playoff is created, this is the system and winning is the main criteria.florida a 12-1 team destroyed a undeafted unstoppable team? but you know your right it should have been a rematch between michigan osu, because there were the better teams? i guess thats why mic
