hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Sept 7, 2006 20:54:53 GMT -5
Actually, Austin, according to the oddsmakers, your very first pick is an upset. Boise is, I believe, an 8 point favorite over Oregon State.
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by hifigator on Sept 8, 2006 13:16:37 GMT -5
Yes, but he said it would be an upset free weekend. Boise St. clobbered them with 42 straight points after falling behind by 14 early. So far, it is an upset free weekend.
As to the FSU-Maimi game, I can't help but think that the fact that both teams looked so bad the past two years playing into the decision. Still, from the National perspective, I think it is in both of their interests to play the game early. The losing team has a good chance to win enough to climb right back up in the polls yet the winning team will elevate itself to "elite" status almost immediately. If you play in October, it is fine as long as both teams are undefeated, but if FSu has lost to a Clemson or if Miami has lost to a Louisville, then the game has already lost some luster and the losing team will have a very difficult time climbing back into the nation championship picture .... well, except for that year where the cheaters were handed the title after losing to Notre Dame late in the year. Amd before anyone says it, yes I know we lost late in 96, but the planets aligned properly and God smiled on the Gators giving us a chance to avenge that loss.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 8, 2006 15:32:21 GMT -5
Actually, Austin, according to the oddsmakers, your very first pick is an upset. Boise is, I believe, an 8 point favorite over Oregon State. Yeah, I saw that one as more of a game where neither team could really "upset" the other. Looks like the oddsmakers are smarter than I at this point.
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TigerHoya
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Post by TigerHoya on Sept 8, 2006 16:01:52 GMT -5
Anybody have any thoughts on BC for tomorrow? I think the Ryan injury is sandbagging and he plays. The rotation on the DL and in the LBs for Clemson may make the difference in the game. 2 starting LBs are out now so the backups will have to step up to stop Callender.
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by hifigator on Sept 8, 2006 16:36:23 GMT -5
Tiger, I honestly like your chances tomorrow. I picked them in our pool down here ... not sure that's a good thing. For what it's worth you looked much better in your first game than BC did that Thursday night they played. From what little feedback I hear from two of my reps who are diehard Clemson fans, the makeup of this year's team is much better. They don't expect to see the ups and downs from years past. He still gripes about beating Miami one week and then losing to ... who was it ? Duke? the next week. He says that stuff is behind them.
Incidentally, they have great connections for tickets. Shoot me a pm if you need any at any point. One brother is an Economics professor at Clemson and big time booster. Another works for the Atlanta Falcons, was a Clemson grad and also on the selection committee for the Peach Bowl and the third brother is "just" a sales rep but also a Clemson grad and has a lot of connections for various tickets. He has taken me to the Masters twice among other things and I was invited this past year but couldn't make it. Another friend got 12 tickets to the Peack Bowl last year. I can't stop laughing about that one. They were Miami fans. Hee hee hee. He didn't think it was very funny when I asked his "how was the game" .... his only response was "The tickets were GREAT!"
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by hifigator on Sept 8, 2006 16:37:45 GMT -5
Tiger, did you go to your first game? I am sure you watch it on tv if not. How did CJ Spiller look? I saw his stats. They were nothing special .... something like 18 yards on 6 carries and one reception for 6 or 8 yards if I remember correctly. What was your opinion?
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 8, 2006 23:18:48 GMT -5
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 8, 2006 23:55:53 GMT -5
So, Texas vs. Ohio State. Unless some Buckeye fan desperate for tickets offers me a grand for mine tomorrow outside the stadium, I'll be at this one. Unfortunately, I don't think Texas is going to win. Here's why.
1. The Selvin Young/Jamal Charles Clusterf**k. Jamal Charles has a problem with fumbling the football. Selvin Young has a problem with fumbling the football. Young has never developed into a great back (or even a good back depending on who you ask), but the coaches won't name the sophomore Charles the #1 guy, senior Young started against UNT. So half of UT's carries will be made by a guy who won't be effective and may turn the ball over. The other half will be made by a guy who may break some big runs but may also turn the ball over.
2. Colt McCoy. He's a redshirt freshman who has played one game. He is going to make some mistakes over the course of this season. It's a pretty solid bet he will make one in a #1 vs. #2 showdown. Protection for McCoy is going to be key and should be pretty good, but I am still expecting at least one poor decision with the football under pressure. (I expect a couple of nice long balls as well, though.)
3. No Vince. Last season Texas won by making up for mistakes with explosive plays from Vince Young. The skill players listed above can't match what Vince brought to the table, and there is no indication that the stupid mistakes (read: fumbles) will disappear this season.
Now, Texas' deficiencies alone won't lose them the game, OSU has to win it by beating Texas' defense. I think they can do that. Don't forget the Bucks 22 on the board against the 'Horns last season with Justin Zwick taking half the snaps. I think the Bucks will have some trouble passing the ball at the beginning of the game but it will open up once OSU establishes a running game. The big question for the Buckeye offense is whether Coach Tressel will let his players take risks. Will he go for it on 4th and short deep in UT territory or call for the FG? (And keep in mind OSU's kickers this season are reportedly not as reliable as past kickers.) One way UT wins this game is if Tressel keeps them in it and allows them to win it in the 4th quarter as in 2005.
However, I think a combination of OSU scores and UT turnovers puts the 'Horns in a first-half hole from which they fail to recover. As of Sunday the nation's longest winning streak will belong to Texas Christian University.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 9, 2006 0:05:40 GMT -5
Anybody have any thoughts on BC for tomorrow? I think the Ryan injury is sandbagging and he plays. The rotation on the DL and in the LBs for Clemson may make the difference in the game. 2 starting LBs are out now so the backups will have to step up to stop Callender. Yeah, even the BC folks are saying they'll be surprised if Ryan does not play in this one. I have y'all picked to win but I'm not overly confident. They did beat y'all at Clemson in 05 and Matt Ryan has an arm. I don't think the LBs are of too too much concern in this game with regard to Callender/BC's rushing game. They may be of some concern w/ regard to TE coverage, though. I also expect Davis to have a monster game -- I have liked him since I saw his debut against A&M last season and if I remember correctly BC lost a lot in front on D.
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Gold Hoya
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Post by Gold Hoya on Sept 9, 2006 17:17:13 GMT -5
If anyone on campus this afternoon heard a few phones at McDonough ringing off the hook, it was probably Northwestern AD Mike Murphy looking for an easier I-AA opponent - New Hampshire proved much too good. sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=262520077
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TigerHoya
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Post by TigerHoya on Sept 10, 2006 9:57:38 GMT -5
Ugh, no more OT against former Big East teams.....
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RDF
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Post by RDF on Sept 10, 2006 10:11:04 GMT -5
Don't worry Tiger--if you can score 20 pts this week against FSU, you win--they are TERRIBLE on offense. Everyone hyping the Miami-FSU game as if these teams were still relevant nationally is a moron. The game was NOT great defense--it was lousy offensive play calling on FSU's part and inept playcalling and no playmakers on Miami's part. I'll be pulling for the Tigers this weekend and hopefully FSU gets what is coming to them.
As for Miami--look for Louisville to beat Miami--that game yesterday against FAMU proved nothing. I'd rather see Kirby Freeman play too--Kyle Wright just continues to get worse in my opinion. That shouldn't be happening in your 4th year in a program.
Texas--nice to see that Greg Davis reminded Horn fans of just why they never did a thing until Vince Young's talents bailed them out time and time again.
Ohio State--that defense will NOT win a National Championship--Texas ran at will against them and then would decide to throw for absolutely what reason? Troy Smith is very impressive in how he's improved and love watching Ted Ginn run under the ball and just play--he's fun to watch. I thought game was vastly overhyped as Texas was missing entire key to their team from last year in Young--so how is this the #2 team in country? No way in hell. Problem is the Big Ten appears to be GARBAGE. Iowa struggling with an inept Syracuse? Michigan is only hope in that league and Lloyd Carr will find a way to mess it up--he's got a shot againt Notre Dame though. Penn State blows.
LSU/Auburn might be the National Title eliminator game this year--both appear to be strong--but LSU looks to be a bit stronger to me--should be Game of Week in a schedule full of them!! Next weekend will be finest weekend of CFB I can remember in September--but then again, every Saturday is always great!!
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 10, 2006 15:08:43 GMT -5
Texas--nice to see that Greg Davis reminded Horn fans of just why they never did a thing until Vince Young's talents bailed them out time and time again. Ohio State--that defense will NOT win a National Championship--Texas ran at will against them and then would decide to throw for absolutely what reason? Troy Smith is very impressive in how he's improved and love watching Ted Ginn run under the ball and just play--he's fun to watch. I thought game was vastly overhyped as Texas was missing entire key to their team from last year in Young--so how is this the #2 team in country? No way in hell. Problem is the Big Ten appears to be GARBAGE. Iowa struggling with an inept Syracuse? Michigan is only hope in that league and Lloyd Carr will find a way to mess it up--he's got a shot againt Notre Dame though. Penn State blows. Hit the nail on the head re: Coach Davis. After a drive where we effectively ran the ball before a fumble on the 2 yard line, Greg the Genius comes back on the next possession with a 3-and-out where we passed every down. Selvin Young averaged 8.5 yards per carry last night and Jamal Charles averaged 4.4. Why didn't we continue to wear down the defense by running the ball? McCoy's completion percentage was not bad, but was boosted by those idiotic Greg Davis screen passes we stopped running last year and for some reason re-installed as soon as Vince left. I think this offense will improve if and when a leader steps up that Davis can center the offense around as he did Vince. Last night's game plan appeared to be "let everyone touch the ball and see what works," a stupid game plan in any case but particularly against the #1 team in the nation. And I agree I was not particularly impressed by OSU last night. We were just so bad -- zero big plays, mistakes with the football, and no heart in the second half. The one exception was the O-Line, who gave McCoy decent protection and opened up nice holes for Young/Charles. I think Michigan with Mike Hart and Grady could run all over this defense if UM-OSU was next weekend. Unfortuately OSU has a lot of time to fix its run defense before playing any other school with a good running back.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 10, 2006 15:13:27 GMT -5
Ugh, no more OT against former Big East teams..... It will be interesting to see how that loss is viewed this winter if Clemson can get through the rest of the season unscathed. It could be "an early season loss because of a g****mn extra point," or it could be "a loss to underacheiving BC."
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TigerHoya
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Post by TigerHoya on Sept 10, 2006 15:21:33 GMT -5
I don't know if the sentiment among a great number of Clemson fans about BC the past 2 years is a regional thing or what, but BC already got little or no respect - so if BC is mediocre the rest of the season then it will definitely be viewed in a very unfavorable light.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 10, 2006 15:33:29 GMT -5
I don't know if the sentiment among a great number of Clemson fans about BC the past 2 years is a regional thing or what, but BC already got little or no respect - so if BC is mediocre the rest of the season then it will definitely be viewed in a very unfavorable light. I think BC gets no respect because they seem to always lose at least one silly game per season. Last year it was losing to UNC, in 2003-04 it was losing to Wake Forest. They usually put together a few impressive games but almost never put together an impressive season. This also seems to be okay with BC fans, many of whose fondest memory is beating Notre Dame in 1993. Never mind BC lost 3 games that season, including the next week to WVU.
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TigerHoya
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Post by TigerHoya on Sept 10, 2006 19:41:17 GMT -5
Just thought of something that makes my earlier comments even truer: 2004, Clemson @ Miami goes multiple OTs and Clemson wins 2005, Clemson loses in multiple OTs to Miami at home and in OT to BC at home 2006, Clemson loses in multiple OTs at BC
It makes me worry for the VT game this year already.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Sept 11, 2006 12:23:57 GMT -5
Tiger, if it's any consolation, I lost this week's pool because of you guys. I picked you to beat BC and of course you didn't. I finished 10-2 with the other loss being Minnesota and their lackluster effort against Cal. In any case the winner finished 11-1 but had BC. Had Clemson won then I would have been 11-1 along with 2 other people but I had the tiebreaker on both of them. I picked 45 total points in the Florida game and the final was 42-0. Neither of the other guys who would have been 11-1 were within a touchdown. Damn it .... 42 people in the pool .... there goes $420 bucks. Actually, it isn't quite that much. The winner always tips the pool master ... probably 40 or 50 bucks in this case and then you buy a round of drinks for anyone who was in the pool when you collect the winnings. That's normally about 8 or 10 drinks. Still, $300 could have come in handy.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 14, 2006 16:42:37 GMT -5
Week 3 picks for games that matter:
WVU over UMD (Thursday) BC over BYU Pitt over Michigan State Wake over UCONN Ohio State over Cincy Iowa over Iowa State (Revenge Game #1) Vandy over Arkansas OU (NW) over OU (SW) Auburn over LSU Miami over Louisville Michigan over Notre Dame (Revenge Game #2) Baylor over Wazoo TCU over Texas Tech U-Dub over Fresno State Arizona State over CU (Buffs fall to 0-3) Clemson over Florida State Rocky Top over The Swamp USC over Nebraska ("There is no place like Nebraska," but this one's in the Colisieum) Utah over Utah State for Beehive Supremacy Stanford over Navy
What a week! Too bad it falls on the same weekend as ACLFest in Austin. I'll be setting the recorder Friday night.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Sept 16, 2006 0:54:42 GMT -5
Holy Toledo! Mangino's contract extension is looking a bit Esh-like tonight...
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