by Wally
They way things are going, it won’t be long before Cam Newton is named as a co-conspirator in the JFK assassination. Chances are that he wasn’t stationed in the book depository though, given his reputation for not doing his own studying … but some folks have come forward claiming he was seen on the grassy knoll that tragic day. Anyway, as this drama unfolds, we can also ponder this weekend’s action ON THE FIELD. Here’s a look at the big games:
— #4 Boise State at Idaho (Friday): The Spud Bowl! The Broncos will turn the Vandals into mashed potatoes. Shouldn’t be close.
— #13 Iowa at Northwestern: Three Big 10 games loom large as Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State are all vying for a Rose Bowl spot. Look for the Mildcats to pull the upset in this one.
— Indiana at #7 Wisconsin: The Hoosiers look like Hosers in this match … Badgers by 17.
— Penn State at #9 Ohio State: Buckeyes are REALLY tough in the Horseshoe and will take it by 13.
— Georgia at #2 Auburn: How distracted will the Tigers be amid the Cam Newton fiasco??? Auburn can clinch the SEC West with the win. As much as I’d like to see the Bulldogs pull the upset, I just don’t have much confidence in Mark Richt’s troops. Auburn by 11.
— San Diego State at #3 TCU: If this were a road game for the Horned Frogs, I’d be tempted to predict the letdown upset. However, it’s a home game and the TCU faithful will spur the home team to a comfortable win.
— #23 SCarolina at #22 Florida: Normally wouldn’t be talking about this one, BUT the winner of this game will likely win the SEC East … somebody has to. When has Spurrier’s squad ever come up big on the road??? Go with the Gators.
— #1 Oregon at Cal: Just don’t see Cal scoring over 40 points, so it’s pretty simple …. Quack Attack prevails!!
— Lousy-Monroe at #5 LSU: Yep … these SEC teams play such a tough schedule week in and week out. Puh … lease!!!
— #6 Stanford at Arizona State: This should be over at halftime … the Tree wins by a bunch.
— #14 Utah at Notre Dame: Not really sure why I’m gonna torture myself with peeking in on this one. Utah was embarrassed by TCU last week while ND is desperate for any bit of good news. Irish were off last week and have had 2 weeks to prepare. As much as I’d love to see the Irish beat a quality opponent and get on the right track, I cannot predict an ND victory. Utah by 1 … it might be 35-34 or 10-9 … somehow the Irish will find a way to lose. That’s just the way it’s been going. Coach Smelly … Prove me wrong!!!
Wait … this just in … Cam Newton has been blamed for starting global warming.
Okay … everyone have a great weekend! 🙂
I saw Cam Newton in Queens yesterday. He was buying a ham, egg and cheese from a roadside vendor near LaGuardia.
Psych.
You picking against my Vandals?
Stink … Uh, you betcha! Any sane person would. No offense to the Vandals intended though, it’s just that Boise State cannot be stopped. But if you were still there, there’s no way anyone would diss Idaho.
Idaho stinks, Stink!!
Wow! ND is proving me wrong, delightfully so. Not even Brian Smelly could screw this one up. ND 28-3 over Utah. Nice to have something to cheer for. These guys needed some good news for a change. Now don’t go and lose to Army next week 😉
Okay, now that we know for sure that Utah stinks … And since the voters jumped TCU ahead of Boise State under extremely false pretenses after last weekend … Can we now please just move the Broncos to their rightful place ahead of TCU?? Thank you.
Oh, did I mention Boise State won 52-14 and it wasn’t even THAT close.
What was Wisconsin trying to do?? Over 80 points?? C’mon man! Where’s the sportsmanship?
C’mon Wally. You needs all caps if you are going to employ the C’MON MAN! 🙂
Where’s Chas with some PSU mojo?
C’MON, MAN! I DO NOT NEED ALL CAPS 🙂
Wow again! Oregon squeaks by Cal 15-13. Cal missed a short field goal early in the 4th which prevented them from going up by 1. Oregon was a 19-20 point favorite! Meanwhile, TCU was a 27 point fave and only won by 5. So “to be fair”, Boise State should be a firm #2 in the human polls by Sunday afternoon. SHOULD BE: Auburn, Boise, Oregon, TCU. So will it? Probably not … and if not, that’s pathetic and further points to the double or triple standard employed by the pollsters as a bias against the “little guy”.
Oregon should still be number one. That was a close win on the road in conference late in the season. Besides, teh Ducks ran out the clock late in the game when they could have scored again.
Wally, nice call on Northwestern!
BTW, watch out for Wisconsin. I am guessing 80+ points, even against the likes of Indiana, will jump them ahead of Boise. The pollsters have to build SOME cushion for the eventual Auburn loss (either to Alabama or the Cam Newton controversies). If Oregon loses the Civil War (coupled with an Auburn loss), it will be interesting to see what the pollsters and computers do to keep Boise out of the championship game.
Casey —
C’MON, MAN! “That was a close win on the road in the conference late in the season”. Yes, and today is the second Sunday in November. So????
The Ducks were afraid to do anything fancy late cuz they didn’t want to turn it over …. BECAUSE CAL WAS WITHIN A FG OF WINNING!!! That’s the whole point … Cal, a mediocre team at best and a 20 point dog, missed a chippy FG in the fourth quarter that woulda put them in the lead. Clearly, Auburn played better and had a more comfortable win vs a team thats probably better than Cal … and after falling behind by 14. But, among the undefeateds, Boise State clearly “played the best” this weekend … they beat the 32 point spread by 6 and were up by 40 most of the game.
Yes, I know there’s the double or even triple standard when applied to non-AQ teams, but at least Boise should jump back over TCU … turnabout is fair play … and Auburn should jump Oregon. Human polls I’m talking about … who knows what the computers will say?
Pete … Wisconsin is a quality team … but beating the snot out of Indiana should only solidify their position as the best B10 team … nothing more. Hope that’s the case … but I know you’re buying into the conspiracy against the little guys as much as I am.
Hahaha – yeah that works well for your argument. Did you watch the game? Cal missed the field goal on the first play of the fourth. Oregon wasn’t at their best, on the road and they still won with the ball driving late in the fourth.
Idaho isn’t even a mediocre team. Your words: they stink.
Casey —
That’s the whole point in this “beauty pageant system” being used. Agreed … Oregon was “not at their best” … they were extremely fortunate to win that game vs a medicore team. The Ducks at one point were like 3 of 18 on 3rd down conversions. To their credit, they grinded out first downs during the last 3-4 mins to run out the clock. Mark of a good team. But, do they deserve to be #1 now in human polls? No … they should be #2 behind Auburn.
Hey … I like the Ducks and would like to see them do well … just trying to be objective as much as possible. When BSU lays an egg, I’ll be the first one to te tell you.
Casey … point spreads are like market-based stock prices … all publicly available information should be incorporated into them. Boise State clearly beat expectations vs Idaho … yes, they stink which is why the spread was so high. The market expected Cal to lose by 19 or 20 … at home. You could say they kinda stink too.
If everyone agrees that a playoff needs to be in place so it is resolved on the field, then why argue about who’s ranked where? It is completely counter-productive. So Oregon narrowly escapes another DI team on the road? Whether they are 1 or 2, how does that even matter? Arguing for Auburn to be ranked over them because of point spread, margin of victory, home/away, etc. is no more objective than someone else saying Oregon has won more games by a greater margin of victory than Auburn. So what is the objectivity here?
Short answer: there is NONE.
Rey —
The NCAA has not agreed there should be a playoff, so we’re left with a system based purely on opinion polls. Hence the arguments. Well … i guess there is a playoff … but only between two teams who are selected 1 and 2 … via opinion. If 1 or 2 lose from here on out, it’s gonna be quite important to be ranked 3rd right now.
All other divisions of college football have a playoff system that features … I’m guessing … about 16 teams at each level. Could be more, not sure. So 1AA, Div 2, Div 3 all have a significant playoff system to determine champion. Div 1A does not. Just one game between 2 teams.
Top 10 in the newly released BCS standings … no change in the top 4 order, but things have tightened up a bit:
RK TEAM AVG PVS RK PTS % RK PTS % AVG A&H RB CM KM JS PW %
1 Oregon .9753 1 1 2788 .9782 1 1457 .9878 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 .960
2 Auburn .9687 2 2 2733 .9589 2 1397 .9471 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1.000
3 TCU .8966 3 4 2583 .9063 4 1318 .8936 3 4 1 3 5 6 3 .890
4 Boise State .8634 4 3 2591 .9091 3 1329 .9010 6 5 4 6 7 12 8 .780
5 LSU .8243 5 6 2241 .7863 6 1175 .7966 3 3 5 2 4 4 4 .890
6 Stanford .7553 6 8 2118 .7432 8 1066 .7227 5 9 10 7 3 3 5 .800
7 Wisconsin .7258 7 5 2268 .7958 5 1197 .8115 12 14 9 14 11 11 11 .570
8 Nebraska .7203 8 9 1971 .6916 9 1061 .7193 8 8 7 9 8 5 6 .750
9 Ohio State .6674 9 7 2142 .7516 7 1107 .7505 13 13 11 12 16 17 13 .500
10 Oklahoma State .6601 10 12 1657 .5814 10 913 .6190 6 6 8 5 6 7 7 .780
I understand that, Wally, but this argument is anything but objective. That’s why I don’t understand that word being tossed around. My point was until they get to that system, arguing who should be 1-2, 3-4 is anything but. What we have is everyone’s personal set of evaluative measures. Your argument that BSU is somehow objectively worthier week-in and week-out is completely relative. Anyone can focus on any number of stats they want to support their claim for ranking, but in the end what does it matter? You will continually cry foul for BSU and support that with whatever stats are most convenient for your stance, just as anyone one else will do.
As an example: You use the spread to claim how great BSU played this weekend against Idaho of all teams, then say that Wisconsin scoring 80 against Indiana only shows how good a Big 10 team they are. So when does “winning by a lot” truly matter???
Actually, what I meant to say is that Wisconsin is in the process of proving they are the best one loss team in the country. But still, Rey, at this point what do they really have to gain by pouring it on? A 60+ point win? uncalled for.
Oh … and I won’t switch my criteria to suit BSU. If I do, call me on it. I’m trying to persuade people to pay attention to what happens ON THE FIELD …. ACTUAL RESULTS and the merits of those. Then vote. Don’t first ask:, Which conference is this team a member of? … and then apply one set of criteria to it and another set to teams from other conferences.