2008 College Football In-Season Thread!

[vcjack]

Nov 15, 2008 17:31:57 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

After a Badger was taken off the field in an ambulance (he was moving his extremities, thankfully), Tim Brewster declined to try and score, despite decent field position, 2 timeouts and 2 min remaining. Heck, the Gophers got 2 first downs crossed midfield and let the clock run out without ever using a timeout.

Apparently a 21-7 lead is more than enough for Tim Brewster. There is no way that wasted drive doesn't come back to haunt the Gophers. You don't give away points by not trying, and that's exactly what Brewster did. And on the road!

Yeah, about that...

[hides, grips axe tightly]

[AustinHoya03]

Observations from this weekend:

Dynamite! Congrats to Vanderbilt on acheiving bowl eligibility. Now, beat the hell out of Tennessee and get to 7 wins. Also, note to Kentucky -- the all-blue uniforms are hideous.

Canned music sucks, but it's particularly offensive in a tradition-rich environment such as Bryant-Denny Stadium. Dixieland Delight? Sweet Home Alabama? Give me a break. Note to Crimson Tide Administrators -- you have a much better sound system. It's called the Million Dollar Band, and it plays one of the oldest and best fight songs in CFB.

As for the Alabama football team, I was not impressed Saturday night. Throw out the yards gained on special teams, and the offense was anemic yesterday. The defense was fine, but keep in mind the opposing QB was 5' 9". (Mike Patrick says Tyson Lee has "moxie," but any quarterback who has to take a 39 step drop just to see over the offensive line severely handicaps his team.) If Mississippi State had any kind of backfield or offensive line, this football game would have remained close in the second half. The Bulldogs don't -- and as a result the defense had compeletely broken by the 4th quarter. I certainly wouldn't rule out an Alabama loss in the Iron Bowl on the 29th, and I would bet big on Florida in the SEC Championship Game.

Memo to RichRod: The season is a complete and total loss. Go balls out against Ohio State next Saturday. Let's see some trick plays, fake punts, and onside kicks. Things can't get any worse.

Oregon State cleared one big hurdle to a Pac 10 championship by beating Cal in Corvalis. If the Beavers beat Arizona in the desert next weekend and then Oregon at home in the Civil War, they'll have earned the honor -- that's no easy 3 game stretch.

TAMU got rocked by Baylor (that's right, Baylor) in Waco this weekend. The final score was 41-21, but the Aggies added some points in garbage time -- at the start of the 4th quarter the score was 41-7 in favor of the Green and Gold. The lopsided loss knocked A&M to 4-7, meaning the Aggies will not travel to a bowl this season.

Thank you, Cougar High. I won't have to hear about Tulsa again in 2008 after this weekend.

Another lopsided win for Nebraska in the Little Apple this weekend. The 'Huskers have the right man in Lincoln -- Bo Pelini's team has won all the games it was favored to win, and come close to upsets against Va. Tech and Texas Tech. Nebraska now sits at 7-4, and will likely get to 8-4 against a Colorado team that is not playing well. Look out for Big Red next season.

Someone please explain the myriad championship possibilites in the ACC -- I can't keep up. In exchange, here's the scoop on the Big 12 logjam:

www.burntorangenation.com/2008/11/16/662935/race-for-the-bcs-a-texas-f

Note there are also possible scenarios there for Texas to pull a Nebraska 2002 and wind up in Miami without making a stop in Kansas City first.

[hifigator]

Nov 14, 2008 19:30:10 GMT -5 hoyarooter said:

Haven't we been down this road before? Is Calathes related to Teddy Dupay?

9797 wrote:

It is absolutely unbelievable how out of control the Florida athletic department has become in recent years. Yet, it's Miami that will always be known as the thugs. What a joke. I hope the Gainsville Clown College gets the all sports death penalty. They deserve it.


As for the Calathes incident, it has been confirmed that he played only online poker and never wagered on sports of any sort. There is no NCAA violation there at all. As for the "out of control" athletic department, I think you are excercising selectve memory. Certainly Florida has had its share of off-the-field incidents, but what reflects on the athletic department is more how they were handled. There were no "slap on the wrists," when legitimate punishment was warranted. There were also no convenient oversites when the student-athletes are involved. As for how Florida's image compares to Miami's, I would say that neither has nearly the tarnished image of FSU, and rightfully so. If I wanted to offer argument specifically against Miami, it would be pretty easy to point out that very ugly Miami-Flroida Atlantic game a few years ago. Huge brawls involving helmet swinging and the sort, certainly reflects more on the athletic department as a whole, than a handful of isolated off the field issues involving specific players. But I do admit that we have had our share of incidents recently.

[hifigator]

Here are the latest Sagarin rankings:

www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm


Keep in mind that the "elo-chess" is used in the BCS. Those are the numbers in red. In Jeff's own determination, the "pure points," also known as the "predictor" is the most accurate for predicting future spreads/outcomes. The "actual" Sagarin ranking, which is the one printed in the USA Today every Tuesday, is a hybrid of the two. Not surprisingly, that number is always between the other two.

One thing jumped out at me big time. Utah is #4 in the Elo-Chess rankings, while Florida is #5. Using this ranking, Utah would be slightly favored on a neutral field against the Gators. But in the predictor, Florida is #1, just ahead of USC, while Utah is way down the list -- a whopping 17 points behind. That is really the one oddity in my opinion. The specific rankings for Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida and USC are all within a few points of each other, and in all fairness, are realistic. I could see any of those teams beating any of the other on a good day, and I would expect any of those teams to be favored over any of the others if playing at home. But Utah is definitely the outlier if you will.

[hoya9797]

Nov 17, 2008 13:35:38 GMT -5 hifigator said:

Nov 14, 2008 19:30:10 GMT -5 hoyarooter said:

Haven't we been down this road before? Is Calathes related to Teddy Dupay?

9797 wrote:

It is absolutely unbelievable how out of control the Florida athletic department has become in recent years. Yet, it's Miami that will always be known as the thugs. What a joke. I hope the Gainsville Clown College gets the all sports death penalty. They deserve it.


As for the Calathes incident, it has been confirmed that he played only online poker and never wagered on sports of any sort. There is no NCAA violation there at all. As for the "out of control" athletic department, I think you are excercising selectve memory. Certainly Florida has had its share of off-the-field incidents, but what reflects on the athletic department is more how they were handled. There were no "slap on the wrists," when legitimate punishment was warranted. There were also no convenient oversites when the student-athletes are involved. As for how Florida's image compares to Miami's, I would say that neither has nearly the tarnished image of FSU, and rightfully so. If I wanted to offer argument specifically against Miami, it would be pretty easy to point out that very ugly Miami-Flroida Atlantic game a few years ago. Huge brawls involving helmet swinging and the sort, certainly reflects more on the athletic department as a whole, than a handful of isolated off the field issues involving specific players. But I do admit that we have had our share of incidents recently.

First of all, right now, Florida is hands down the #1 outlaw program with FSU a distant second. Frankly, despite that ugly fight, Miami hasn't even been in the team picture for years. It's ridiculous to suggest that a bad on field fight three seasons ago is worse than the nonstop parade of Gators getting arrested for drug issues, weapons possession, and battery. These are not isolated incidents. This is a pattern of behavior. Florida is filthy and I'm positive that it's only a matter of time until we can add recruiting violations by the coaching staff to this list of transgressions.

[hifigator]

Nov 17, 2008 15:39:24 GMT -5 hoya9797 said:

Nov 17, 2008 13:35:38 GMT -5 hifigator said:

9797 wrote:

It is absolutely unbelievable how out of control the Florida athletic department has become in recent years. Yet, it's Miami that will always be known as the thugs. What a joke. I hope the Gainsville Clown College gets the all sports death penalty. They deserve it.


As for the Calathes incident, it has been confirmed that he played only online poker and never wagered on sports of any sort. There is no NCAA violation there at all. As for the "out of control" athletic department, I think you are excercising selectve memory. Certainly Florida has had its share of off-the-field incidents, but what reflects on the athletic department is more how they were handled. There were no "slap on the wrists," when legitimate punishment was warranted. There were also no convenient oversites when the student-athletes are involved. As for how Florida's image compares to Miami's, I would say that neither has nearly the tarnished image of FSU, and rightfully so. If I wanted to offer argument specifically against Miami, it would be pretty easy to point out that very ugly Miami-Flroida Atlantic game a few years ago. Huge brawls involving helmet swinging and the sort, certainly reflects more on the athletic department as a whole, than a handful of isolated off the field issues involving specific players. But I do admit that we have had our share of incidents recently.

First of all, right now, Florida is hands down the #1 outlaw program with FSU a distant second. Frankly, despite that ugly fight, Miami hasn't even been in the team picture for years. It's ridiculous to suggest that a bad on field fight three seasons ago is worse than the nonstop parade of Gators getting arrested for drug issues, weapons possession, and battery. These are not isolated incidents. This is a pattern of behavior. Florida is filthy and I'm positive that it's only a matter of time until we can add recruiting violations by the coaching staff to this list of transgressions.

I am not trying to dismiss the off the field issues. But first things first: forget Miami for a minute, to call FSU a distant second just shows that you haven't been paying attention. They have continued to be in the news on a daily basis. I think it gets to be such a common occurrence that we get desensitized to it. Just last week, FSU had 10 players involved in what amounted to a gang fight between football players and Phi Beta Sigma fraternity brothers. In fairness, minor incidents like this happen all the time and if these weren't football players, none of us would ever have heard about it. Still, football players at premier schools are under a microscope. Additionally, the NCAA is still conducting their investigation over the wide spread grade fiasco from last year. That involved a lot of players from multiple sports as well as the knowledge of at least a few coaches from different sports. That, my friend, is at the institutional level, and dramatically different than individual students making bad personal decisions on their own.

That being said, there is no doubt that overn the past year and a half, Florida has had more than its share of student-athlete incidents. There have been a good half-dozen marijuana possession issues from Noah to Marcus Thomas among others. There have also been 2 very major incidents in Avery Atkins and Jacques Rickerson -- both of which were dismissed from school almost immediately. Atkins was dismissed with the potential to come back in a year if he satisfied certain conditions, but those in the know were pretty convinced that he would never come back. It's too bad. You always wonder if the kid might have been able to turn his life around under the friendship and supervision of coaches and teammates. In any case, I don't want to go any further into details for fear of reprimand of "bringing all this Gator stuff to 'our' board." But you did bring it up. Let the short record show that while I admit that Florida has had more off the field issues than I would like, the severity of most of them were relatively minor and when they weren't, they were dealt with with real discipline not the kid gloves and slaps on the wrist that FSU is famous for.

As for Miami, my point wasn't to throw them under the bus. I have been on record for complimenting Randy Shannon and the job he has done with his "rebel team" image. I only mentioned the FAU incident becuase it illustrated a lack of controlling the TEAM as a whole, not individual players.

Finally, as for your "recruiting" allegations, I guess I will have to report you to the moderators. That is the kind of totally unsubstantiated criticisms which are seemingly not allowed.

In all seriousness, Meyer has an immaculate reputation in the area and has consistently been an excellent recruiter. It's not surprising that he has continued that treand at an institution like the University of Florida, with its excellent facilities and fertile recruiting ground. I'm not going to pretend that we couldn't ever get in trouble, but there isn't one iota of evidence to even suggest it, other than the presence of highly recruited student-athletes.

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that Nick Saban at Alabama will have such issues before they ever rear their head around here. In fact, since we are talking about innuendo, I have heard through the grapevine, that some things involving Julio Jones might end up being investigated.

[FLHoya]

Without stepping into the pointless "who's a bigger outlaw program in the Sunshine State" debate, I'll merely suggest to hifi that he'd gain a pinch more credibility on addressing past issues in Coral Gables if he'd correctly identify the on-field altercation as happening between Miami and Florida International University.

[hifigator]

Thanks for the correction FL. It doesn't change the point at all however. What I was saying was in response to 9797's claim of essentially a lack of institutional control. I object to such claims. I have said all along that Florida has its share of bad apples. I think what really sets Florida apart from many schools, but especially FSU and Miami (prior to Shannon) was how those issues were handled. Like I said, I do think that Shannon is doing a great job with the program as a whole in Miami. As for the specific incident, my point was simply that a gross and widescale lack of team control like was shown between Miami and FIU is much more reflective on the program than a half dozen individual incidents involving isolated student-athletes. That really is my honest opinion, regardless of my orange and blue goggles. And with respect to FSU, they haven't "cleaned up their act" by any stretch of the imagination. We have just grown so accustomed to hearing the stories that they no longer have a lot of impact.

[AustinHoya03]

Congratulations Phil. You did it. You killed the college football uniform.

www.faniq.com/blog/Oregon-Footballs-New-Uniforms-Have-Wings-Blog-14375

[hifigator]

At least Oregon is consistent. They are always in some crappy, snappy new uniform that's really ugly.

[hifigator]

Here are a couple of articles/interviews on exactly what we were talking about with regards to discipline and how certain institutions handle off the field problems:

www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/fsu/story/774533.html
floridastate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=877422

[hifigator]

This is pretty good:


forums.tidesports.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3631098265/m/4251043308/p/1

[AustinHoya03]

I have never liked the head coach in-waiting trend. Until now.

mackbrown-texasfootball.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/111808aab.html
____________________________________________________

Week 13 Picks for Games That Matter:

Central Michigan over Ball State (Wednesday)
Ga. Tech over Miami (Thursday)
Fresno State over San Jose State
North Carolina over NC State
Ohio State over Michigan
Indiana over Purdue for the Old Oaken Bucket
Vanderbilt over Tennessee
Colorado State over Wyoming in the Border War for the Bronze Boot
U-Dub over Wazzu in the Apple Cup
Penn State over Michigan State for the Land Grant Trophy
Ole Miss over LSU (on edit: this game is now being called the Magnolia Bowl, and the teams will play for the Magnolia Bowl Trophy. How original.)
Northwesten over Illinois for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk
Stanford over Cal in the Big Game
Utah over BYU in the Holy War
Iowa over Minnesota for Floyd of Rosedale
Cincinnati over Pitt in the River City Rivalry (Some rivalry -- if the Bearcats win it will be the first victory over the Panthers in school history)
Oregon State over Arizona
Maryland over FSU
Oklahoma over Texas Tech (wishful thinking?)

Harvard over Yale in The Game
Richmond over William & Mary in the South's Oldest Rivalry
UNH over Maine
Furman over Wofford
Lafayette over Lehigh in The Game Rivalry
Penn over Cornell
FAMU over Bethune-Cookman in the Florida Classic
Montana over Montana State in the Brawl of the Wild (seriously)
NDSU over SDSU for the Dakota Marker

Welcome to rivalry time.

(Edited to reflect J. Galt's corrections)

[hoyarooter]

Go Crimson! Isn't this the 40th anniversary of The Tie?

[CTHoya08]

I'm pretty sure had this conversation last year, but isn't Yale-Harvard "the Game"?

[washingtonhoya]

Nov 19, 2008 12:43:48 GMT -5 AustinHoya03 said:

Week 13 Picks for Games That Matter:


U-Dub over Wazzu in the Apple Cup

This game only "matters" in that will set the sport of football back 100 years. I hope everyone's ready to be going back to triple options and no forward passes next year.

[AustinHoya03]

Nov 19, 2008 17:18:33 GMT -5 CTHoya08 said:

I'm pretty sure had this conversation last year, but isn't Yale-Harvard "the Game"?

Yeah, yeah, I'll get it right eventually. Harvard-Yale is The Game, whereas Lehigh-Lafayette is The Rivalry. My bad.

[hifigator]

The fact that Lehigh and Lafeyette need a name for their contest is a bit of an oddity.

[hifigator]

Nov 19, 2008 18:10:33 GMT -5 washingtonhoya said:

Nov 19, 2008 12:43:48 GMT -5 AustinHoya03 said:

Week 13 Picks for Games That Matter:


U-Dub over Wazzu in the Apple Cup

This game only "matters" in that will set the sport of football back 100 years. I hope everyone's ready to be going back to triple options and no forward passes next year.

I think that this contest might be the perfect time to answer that age old question about a tree falling in the forest making a sound if no one is there ...

[kchoya]

Nov 19, 2008 12:43:48 GMT -5 AustinHoya03 said:

Week 13 Picks for Games That Matter:

Montana over Montana State in the Brawl of the Wild (seriously)

Only stupid marketing people and transplants from California may call it that. The rest of Montana calls it [the] Cat-Griz [game].

And go Bobcats.