2008 College Football In-Season Thread!

[kchoya]

Nov 21, 2008 14:31:27 GMT -5 AustinHoya03 said:

Interesting piece on the Holy War in today's NYT:

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/sports/ncaafootball/22utah.html

Having lived in Salt Lake City for a little over three years now, I must say that I think the Utah-BYU rivalry is probably the most unique and intriguing in all of college sports. There are several factors here that you don't see elsewhere. First, the proximity between the two schools. Only about 45 miles apart down I-15, it's a rarity for conference foes to be so close. Off the top of my head, only Cal-Stanford, USC-UCLA and the research triangle schools experience this.

However, the unique factor is that these are THE two schools in the area and a great percentage of people here went to one school or the other. I don't think you can say that in any other major metro area. Even in Kansas City, where it's all KU/MU, there are a ton of KSU grads. Here, there are no other major universities for hundreds of miles.

Finally, the religion aspect. Not only does the rivalry pit the big state school versus the private, religious school, but BYU is the only LDS university (of any import - sorry Chad Ford). Additionally, a good percentage of Utah students are LDS, so it's almost as thought it's one brand of mormonism versus another. It would be like GU versus UMCP if GU was the only Catholic university in the country, had 20,000 students and UMCP had a large percentage of Catholic students as well.

[SoCalHoya]

Re: Snowballs in South Bend.

C'mon people, it was ND and Syracuse! In games like this, don't we always wish for a meteor to strike? I always envisioned a giant city-sized meteor hitting the field, not hundreds of little snowballs.

[kghoya]

Nov 24, 2008 6:54:06 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

the worst thing about nd is that he set up this ridiculously easy schedule and they still can't finish above .500. next year, the schedule is even easier, including games against both washington and wsu. weis is a fraud. his intention was to play these crap teams to get wins and get people off his back. hopefully, it blows up in his face again next year.

i hope pete goes big for style points this week to the tune of 77 - 6

c'mon pete...dont take your foot off the gas...

[AustinHoya03]

What's old is new again: your next HFC at K-State is Bill Snyder.

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hiJMMQs6Q1MGZMzOT4lCOOwZ3tsQD94LCVK02

[hoyarooter]

Nov 24, 2008 6:54:06 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

the worst thing about nd is that he set up this ridiculously easy schedule and they still can't finish above .500. next year, the schedule is even easier, including games against both washington and wsu. weis is a fraud. his intention was to play these crap teams to get wins and get people off his back. hopefully, it blows up in his face again next year.

I have no love for Weis, but I'm not sure this is really a fair criticism. When were these games scheduled? Remember that as bad as WSU is now, they were pretty good a few years ago.

[kchoya]

Nov 24, 2008 12:46:48 GMT -5 hoyarooter said:

Nov 24, 2008 6:54:06 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

the worst thing about nd is that he set up this ridiculously easy schedule and they still can't finish above .500. next year, the schedule is even easier, including games against both washington and wsu. weis is a fraud. his intention was to play these crap teams to get wins and get people off his back. hopefully, it blows up in his face again next year.

I have no love for Weis, but I'm not sure this is really a fair criticism. When were these games scheduled? Remember that as bad as WSU is now, they were pretty good a few years ago.

2004- 5-6
2005- 4-7
2006- 6-6
2007 - 5-7

From ESPN.com: "SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame will face Washington State in San Antonio on Oct. 31, 2009."

The date of that announcement? July 20, 2007.

[Boz]

Personally, I think we should be criticizing Pete Carroll for continuing to schedule such a patsy as his last game of the season just so he can impress the BCS voters.

;D

(when you have nothing to cheer for....be snarky)

[FormerHoya]

Nov 24, 2008 6:54:06 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

the worst thing about nd is that he set up this ridiculously easy schedule and they still can't finish above .500. next year, the schedule is even easier, including games against both washington and wsu. weis is a fraud. his intention was to play these crap teams to get wins and get people off his back. hopefully, it blows up in his face again next year.

Fanny, if you don't know what you're talking about, don't comment.

ND's former AD, Duke's current AD, Kevin White, created the WSU game b/c he liked to reward his cronies. The WSU game is a product of ND's new (and total garbage, imo) scheduling procedure of one "neutral site" game per year. This was a White creation. Same as his plans for a Jumbotron, same as any number of his garbage ideas while he was there.

Weis is not up for the job, but you're picking the wrong reasons.

[RDF]

Cougs will be improved--as one of the things that wasn't mentioned all year--and I'm as guilty as anyone--they decided to Redshirt a huge amount of players and start to build-instead of always having to rely on JC players. It's a systematic change--and it won't be shown for another year or so (likely) but they should be much more competitive then what we saw this season.

As for ND-SC---don't be shocked to see this be close--Sarkisian will go away from whatever would give his team easy victory/points--and while I don't see ND getting much on Trojan defense--I see Sarkisian deciding to unveil some fullback traps and QB sneaks as focal point of offense--okay that is a bit much--but the USC season has alternated games on when they score and when they don't--and they are on pace to NOT score a lot this weekend. Part of the problem is they never have everyone practicing/always have guys missing practices due to injuries/bruises, and their offense has no cohesion, then people show up to play on Saturday and haven't practiced much.

Funny thing watching ND--their best QB is Dayne Crist--who was/is a better NFL prospect then Clausen and a better player. He is 6'5, rifle arm, but can run/much more mobile and more importantly--more accurate. Thing is--with Clausen being like his brother Casey--he'll be at ND 2 more years and even with the redshirt year--Crist will only have 2 years to play--unless ND wakes up and makes correct move and benches Clausen.

[TigerHoya]

I can actually make a Clemson game this year if they beat SC this weekend - looks like that would send them to play Navy at RFK

[hifigator]

I was looking at the Sagarin rankings this week, and there are a couple of interesting points:

The "Elo-Chess" rankings, which is the Sagarin ratings that the BCS factors in their aggregate computer rankings, is pretty much unchanged, except for Texas Tech's drop. It still has Alabama #1 and Texas moving up a spot to #2. Down the list a bit, Florida is #7 and USC is #10. But look at the Pure Points or Predictor rankings, which are in Jeff Sagarin's own opinion, the best predictor of future outcomes -- in other words the best rankings for what teams will do in the future:

1. USC
2. Florida
3. Penn. St.
4. Texax
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas Tech
7. Missouri
8. Alabama
9. Ohio St.
10. Iowa

Wow, for all the criticisms that the Big Ten is always getting, that's not bad at all. They have 3 teams in the Top 10. And Missouri is a bit higher than some might expect. And what about Alabama all the way down at #8?

[hifigator]

Wow, just wow! I just heard a recap from a game last Saturday that I missed. In a division II playoff game, round of 16, Abilene Christian beat West Texas A&M 93-68. That's amazing enough on its own. How can you score 68 points and lose by 25??? The QB for West Texas threw for 590+ yards and 7 touchdowns, and yet his team lost by 25 points. Abiline had a running back rush for nearly 300 yards and 6 td's. He added a touchdown reception as well, accounting for 7 td's on his own. That is just some incredible stuff.

[AustinHoya03]

Nov 24, 2008 18:44:58 GMT -5 buffalohoya said:

And is there a strong ND alum contingent in the Lone Star state?

No. And recruiting is your answer.

[FormerHoya]

Nov 24, 2008 18:44:58 GMT -5 buffalohoya said:

So ND is going to play Washington State in San Antonio and Arizona State in Dallas (Arlington)??

Uh... why?

And before you give the standard "money" answer we all know it is, I suppose my question is more along the lines of "what is ND's justification for having these games down there?" Are they honest and do they come right out and say "we're making boatloads of cash by selling these games" or what?

And is there a strong ND alum contingent in the Lone Star state?

Are you looking for a good reason? There isn't one.

Money. They can do these games as one-offs without having to offer home and home, and that way not have to pay bad teams to come to them for one game series.

Along the way to this was lip service about Rockne's barnstorming tradition and letting fans all over the country get to see the Irish live, but it's all b.s. ND will start playing 6 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game.

It would be one thing to go play texas in dallas, Florida in Orlando, and Georgia in the Georgia dome, but the way they're doing it is garbage. It hurts the fans and the program.

Kevin white was an assbag (who wanted to put a Jumbotron in ND stadium), and I can only hope that he'll do similarly awful things to Duke hoops now.

Edit: I meant to put this in originally, but got Editeded and forgot. Recruiting is the only decent reason. Not that it will help if they keep playing like the last few weeks...

[hoyarooter]

Nov 24, 2008 13:07:02 GMT -5 Boz said:

Personally, I think we should be criticizing Pete Carroll for continuing to schedule such a patsy as his last game of the season just so he can impress the BCS voters.

;D

(when you have nothing to cheer for....be snarky)

USC's last game is against UCLA, but unfortunately, the point still holds.

[theexorcist]

Nov 25, 2008 9:40:28 GMT -5 buffalohoya said:

Nov 24, 2008 18:58:34 GMT -5 FormerHoya said:

Are you looking for a good reason? There isn't one.

Money. They can do these games as one-offs without having to offer home and home, and that way not have to pay bad teams to come to them for one game series.

Along the way to this was lip service about Rockne's barnstorming tradition and letting fans all over the country get to see the Irish live, but it's all b.s. ND will start playing 6 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral site game.

It would be one thing to go play texas in dallas, Florida in Orlando, and Georgia in the Georgia dome, but the way they're doing it is garbage. It hurts the fans and the program.

Kevin white was an assbag (who wanted to put a Jumbotron in ND stadium), and I can only hope that he'll do similarly awful things to Duke hoops now.

Edit: I meant to put this in originally, but got Editeded and forgot. Recruiting is the only decent reason. Not that it will help if they keep playing like the last few weeks...

Thanks Former.

As you mentioned, it would make sense to me if they were playing Texas or Texas Tech or even Oklahoma in Dallas. Or one of those teams in San Antonio. But Washington State? Arizona State?? Weird.

I know recruiting and money are the REAL reasons, I'm just curious as to the official line from Notre Dame. Is it the "everyone should get a chance to see us, we are honoring Knute's tradition" crap? If so, wow... and weak.

Yes, it's recruiting, but you can make a good case.

Texas is a big football market, full of people who like college football. Rather than watch SMU or TCU or essentially blowing their entire weekend to go to Austin or Waco or Norman, people in a major city can watch a team from the PAC-10 play someone that everyone hates. It's increased brand recognition, which helps recruiting, excites ND alumni in the area (especially since they won't be fighting Big 12 fans for tickets to watch the Irish play their opponent), and makes it another de facto home game.

Yes, Notre Dame is evil, but this seems well within their rights.

[HeartAttackHoya]

for the best, most un-biased interpretation of how the BCS mess should pan out, check out:

www.45-35.com

[HoyaFanNY]

FormerHoya,

you are obviously a ND apologist, and a bitter one at that. weis scheduled these games, not kevin white. kevin white had no power at ND after the administration went against his wishes and fired willingham in '04. white was AD in title only...he had no actual say in anything football related once fatty got there...becuase that is the way weis wanted it. get a grip golden homer.

[hifigator]

Update for anyone interested:

Backup Quarterback for Florida, Cameron Newton, is suspended indefinitely from the team. He is not practicing and is barred from the facilities. I just heard an interview with Cody Davis of GatorCountry.com and he said that although everyone he has talked to is totally shocked at the situation, he still doesn't think that there is any other story other than a terrible decision made by Newton. When asked if there was another player on the team aside from Tim Tebow that he would be more shocked to be involved in this incident, he said no. But he went on to say that "it doesn't look very good for him right now ... (and that he'd) be surprised if Newton is even on campus next semester and even more surprised to ever see him in his Gator uniform again."

Playing FSU this week, I'm kind of scared a bit. With dirty cheaters like Mickey Andrews leading the way, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see them be overly aggressive and take a couple of late hits on Tebow trying to get him out of the game. There is a pretty big dropoff at this point between Tebow and backup John Brantley and there is literally no one behind him. The emergency QB is Chas Henry, our punter. In all honesty, I think that we might see a bit more of the wildcat formation with Harvin taking some direct snaps.

[FormerHoya]

Nov 25, 2008 14:34:10 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

FormerHoya,

you are obviously a ND apologist, and a bitter one at that. weis scheduled these games, not kevin white. kevin white had no power at ND after the administration went against his wishes and fired willingham in '04. white was AD in title only...he had no actual say in anything football related once fatty got there...becuase that is the way weis wanted it. get a grip golden homer.

Fanny,
Show me where I acted as a ND apologist. Keep in mind as you search that the definition of an apologist is: one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something. I haven't defended the program at all. I have taken it to task. I merely pointed out that you were wrong about the scheduling.

Show me where I acted bitter. You won't find it (unless you consider being disappointed in the direction of a team that I root for being "bitter").

Now, show me any sort of evidence of Weis doing the scheduling. I too have heard rumors that the reason that White left for Duke was that he felt stripped of his powers (and in the Willingham situation, thankfully, he was), but it is the job of the AD at ND to schedule games. Unless you have specific information that this is not the case, I must proceed under that assumption that this is what happened. Furthermore, White specifically held press conferences about his intent to create a 7-4-1 schedule, and an easier schedule. I don't have the time nor inclination to go beyond a very quick search, but I found an article from before Willingham that illustrates these very points.

www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/independent1a/2004-08-19-irish-schedule_x.htm

I have made no secret of rooting for the Irish in football, an allegiance that started when I would go to games with my uncle as a kid, and continued when I attended the law school there. To that extent, as with any fan, I'm a homer, but when I talk about them here (and I almost never am the one to bring it up), I try very hard to keep it factual.

You, on the other hand, are the type of person who thinks fat jokes are funny, and add nothing to the conversation. Stop emoting, start thinking, and don't post about what you don't know.