College Football!

[potthole]

Yeah, the BCS got lucky this year, with there only being a max of two teams without any losses this year.  For the first time since 1998 maybe the BCS will work properly.  Speaking of Penn State... this upcoming weekend is the 2nd time this football season I will be a Michigan State fan.  If they beat Penn State, Michigan has a chance to win the Big 10 confrence title.

[potthole]

Crap, Ohio State won... cheaters.

Oh well, at least I can take solace in the fact Penn State beat Michigan State, meaning at the very least, OSU isn't Big 10 champs.

[Pornstar Runner]

Crap, Ohio State won... cheaters.

Oh well, at least I can take solace in the fact Penn State beat Michigan State, meaning at the very least, OSU isn't Big 10 champs.

Yeah that kinda cheesed me off too. One thing that did not make me mad was that Miami upset. I didn't see that one comin'. As for VT I woulda loved to have seen them blow it. I really don't care for Beamerball. Oh and what about Vandy adding insult to injury for Tenn.

Hahaha, overall, this was a pretty good weekend!

[potthole]

Pretty good, I guess.  A win by Michigan would have made it perfect.  Or at least a USC loss.  *Sigh*

[No-Neck]

Well, rivalry weekend is past, and a couple of other major rivalries were decided this weeked.  The Chort's A&M gave Texas a pretty nice scare. Any thoughts that haven't been said yet?

In other news, my Trojans are still undefeated, and it now seems all but certain that they will face Texas in the Rose Bowl. (Except for you haters who are still clinging to the hope that UCLA can pull an upset. )

[potthole]

UCLA shall win... is that game next Saturday?  And don't worry, I still remember our little "avitar wager."

[No-Neck]

Ah yes, Saturday. The day when USC shall kick the Bruins' butts and the heirarchy will be restored in Los Angeles.

Any thoughts on the latest BCS mini-controversy? Two-loss Notre Dame will most likely get the spot in a BCS bowl over one-loss Oregon. Am I the only one who thinks this a little unfair? How can a one-loss team like Oregon, whose only loss was to the #1 team in the country, get passed over for a second rate team from Indiana whose only weapon is a little companion called Tradition? True, they are Notre Dame, but I'd favor Oregon in a matchup any day. Besides, I think the teams' records would be enough to decide it. They both lost to USC, but Notre Dame's second loss was to Michigan State, who may I remind you is now not even bowl eligible. I get the feeling that the only reason Notre Dame is ranked so high is their "almost-win" against USC. I have news for you: a loss is a loss. Oregon played USC pretty dang well, to. In fact, they had a 13-0 lead at one point and were ahead at halftime. But in both cases, the Trojans came back and won. I don't think any team in the country besides Notre Dame could go from unranked at the beginning of the season to #10 after just two games, and rise even higher in the rankings after a loss.

[potthole]

Why does Notre Dame get the BCS bid?  Because their schedule was much more difficult than Oregon's.  Notre Dame should only have one loss this year, to Michigan State.  USC got lucky against them, with an illegal Reggie Bush push of Matt Leinart into the end zone for their winning touchdown.

Yes, the media does seem to have a thing for Notre Dame, but I don't think this is a case where any sort of media bias has come into play.  All in all, Notre Dame earned the BCS bid more, by playing a much more difficult schedule, the whole way through.  Oregon may have only lost one game, but they didn't have as big of a struggle throughout the season to get to where they are now.

[No-Neck]

Why does Notre Dame get the BCS bid? Because their schedule was much more difficult than Oregon's.

That would be a good point, and I hear that reasoning all over the place, but I just don't buy it. Let me take the liberty of digging up a few statistics...

Teams that Oregon has beaten: Houston, Montana, Fresno State, Stanford, Arizona State, Washington, Arizona, California, Washington State, Oregon State.
Total record of teams beaten: 54-56
Number of bowl eligible teams beaten: 5

Not terribly impressive, but take a look at Notre Dame's schedule...

Teams that Notre Dame has beaten: Pittsburgh, Michigan, Washington, Purdue, Brigham Young, Tennessee, Navy, Syracuse, Stanford
Total record of teams beaten: 47-62
Number of bowl eligible teams beaten: 3

(I got all of those stats from ESPN.com, if anyone was thinking of calling my bluff.)

Like I said, I think the only things Notre Dame has working for them are their tradition and their "almost win" against USC, which like it or not shows up as a loss on their record. I don't get why so many people think Notre Dame's schedule is so much tougher when simple arithmetic proves it wrong.

I get pretty frustrated in situations like this. Why is that USC is the only team from the Pac-10 that can earn any respect? And even that didn't come easily; USC had to be left out of the national title game in 2003 for it to get anywhere on the national stage. Come on, people. The Pac-10 isn't some second-hand conference full of schools that nobody else wanted. Just wait and see: I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the Pac-10 goes 5-0 in bowl games this year.

[potthole]

Ok, you've got me there with those numbers there.  Here's one thing I will say in defense of Notre Dame's wins, though.  When they beat Pitt, they were ranked in the top 25.  When they beat Michigan, they were in the top 5.  When they beat Tennessee, they were in the top 15.  So, although the teams they beat may not have ended up with the best records, at the time of the victory, a large chunk of those teams were ranked very high nationally.

As for the whole Pac 10 being dissed... I've noticed that too.  I guess there's just more proof of an East Coast bias in college sports.

[No-Neck]

I will give you that one: Notre Dame looked like it had a pretty diificult schedule going into the season. In the end it turned out that only 4 of the teams in their schedule ended the season bowl-eligible, and they got beaten by a team that was red hot at the time, but nose-dived afterwards. But even with those considerations, Oregon still gets my vote. And for the record, the computers agree with me. In the six computers used in the BCS rankings, Oregon's average ranking is 6th; Notre Dame's average ranking is 10th.

I guess I should stop complaining, but it just comes naturally. The Pac-10 will speak for itself this year in the bowl games. Here's a look at the probable bowl matchups including Pac-10 teams:

Rose Bowl matchup: BCS #1 vs. BCS #2
Probable contestants: #1 USC (12-0) vs. #2 Texas (12-0)

Holiday Bowl matchup: Pac-10 #2 vs. Big 12 #3
Probable contestants: #7 Oregon (10-1) vs. Oklahoma (7-4)

Sun Bowl: Pac-10 #3 vs. Big Ten #5
Probable contestants: #? UCLA (9-2) vs. Northwestern (7-4)

Insight Bowl: Pac-10 #4 vs. Big East #4
Probable contestants: Arizona State (6-5) vs. Rutgers (7-4)

Las Vegas Bowl: Pac-10 #5 vs. MWC #3
Probable contestants: Cal (7-4) vs. BYU (6-5)

I guess we'll see how many of those matchup actually happen. And how many Pac-10 teams come away with victories.

[potthole]

Well... Neckless and I had a deal over the UCLA-USC game... so, since USC won, I shall stick to my word.  For the next week, this piece o' crap shall be my avitar.

[The Chort]

How 'bout that Fightin' Texas Aggie Stephen McGee!?!?!

While I was saddened by the fact that we lost to Texas (It was my hope that the Horns would be undefeated until our game, then we could shatter their National Championship dreams...), I am thrilled to see the future of A&M football play like a champion.

Stephen McGee was a red-shirt freshman, and he was thrust into the biggest and most important game of the season for A&M, a game with Bowl and Championship repercussions, as well as one of the most heated rivalries in any sport. He played a great game, and showed a lot more leadership than Vince Young, who was pouting on the bench instead of encouraging his team when he watched his Heisman hopes fade away due to his poor effort.

Basically, I'm saying that the Aggies are going to rock next year, when McGee gets to work with the starters all season, and knows more of what's going on. Oklahoma, Texas, and even the National powers are soon going to fear the Fightin' Texas Aggies. What, what!

[potthole]

Beth, your WVU team is tearing it up!  I'm having a lot of fun watching them!  I caught a couple of their other games this year, but I never realized that their offense was so high powered!  I expect a full report from you when you get back from the game! 

[bethskye]

Hello forumites and greetings from one very tired WVU fan,

On New Year's Day at 11 AM, my 5 siblings, two boyfriends, my mother, and I loaded into our 1998 Champagne-colored Suburban en route to Athens WVa (a 6 hour drive).  The plan was to head to Pipestem Resort State Park, a breathtakingly beautiful canyon-side 5-star lodge in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains.  If you've never been there you've really missed out.  We arrived at Pipestem at approximately 5 PM and spent our evening in the dining room, swimming and hottubbing (well....if that's indeed what you can call it), and sweating in our boots about the next day.

For those of you living on Mars, the next day would be January 2, 2006, when my beloved Mountaineers were to face the Georgia Bulldogs...or is it dawgs...in the Sugar Bowl.  No one was giving us a chance.  We were from the Big Least.  We didn't have the offensive skill to face the vaunted SEC conference:  the best in the College Football world.  Our defense was going to be beaten senseless by DJ Shockley, the GA senior QB.  We were bringing a red-shirt freshman quarterback who started for the first time in the sixth game of the season.  The fact that a true freshman was our running back wasn't that much of a surprise...but it wasn't the vaunted Blue Chip, Jason Gwaltney, who backed down from a committment to USC to come to Hickland, USA...it was an unknown by the name of Steve Slaton whose star had risen amid Gwaltney's academic difficulties.  Why on Earth were the WVU Mountaineers even going to show up?  We were wondering the same things...and we found out.

The next day we left at 5:30 in the morning to drive the rest of the 10 hour trip and to pick up my father at the Atlanta international airport.  The Sugar Bowl, you see, was moved to Atlanta from the New Orlean's Superdome following the devestation of Katrina.  At 6:30 the plane finally landed (2 hours late), the airport almost diverted the plane because of tornado sightings 2 miles from the airport, but luck...and perhaps providence came through, and by 7 PM, we were on our way 15 miles to the Georgia Dome with the car filled beyond capacity.  By 8:05 we were in our seats at the WVU 10 yard line 8 rows from falling onto the field.  If you watched the game, you saw me and my family on tv at least 15 times (I watched the tape this morning).  We were right behind the baby in the large blue wig, and right in front of the "LOOK, I have all my teeth" sign.

The game was magic. To understand just HOW underrated we were, you need to have read the articles that said that #22 Florida State belonged in the Orange before #11 WVU belonged in the Sugar.  You need to have read the message board posts from Notre Dame fans telling us that no win of our's all year could compare to their Michigan State loss.  You need to have listened to Lee Corso for about 10 minutes...or you could have checked out (link) The College Football News and noticed that the only expert who picked WVU to win was Clucko the chicken...a rooster who "picks" the games by choosing between two labeled feed dishes.

Someone forgot to tell my team.

It was a miracle.  The SEC, the fastest conference in the country couldn't catch us.  The spread offense that we ran worked!  The announcers said that we couldn't pass...but with a 200 yard back, why bother?  And who cares...we only missed 3 passes anyway.  So maybe we CAN pass.  By the second play of the second quarter it was 28-0 WVU....and then we hung on for the ride of our lives.  Several heart attacks later it was 4 and 6 and WVU was punting.  Less than a minute was on the clock and my 11 year-old-brother is in tears.  The 'Dawgs had come back scoring their own 28 points...and WVU had only put up 3 in the intervening time...the 7-7 point split in the fourth quarter was hardly encouraging, and the momentum was a red as the sea of red fans who were supporting the hometown team by a margin of 75-25 or so in the dome.  Every WVU fan in the world knows how this game ends.  We don't win games...not the big one's anyway.  I was in Tempe Arizona in '89 to watch us lose the national champtionship game...I was in New Orleans in 1993 to watch us fall again...I've seen us fall in Carquest Bowls, Gator Bowls, and one very depressing Continental Tire Bowl.  In my lifetime, WVU has won 3 bowl games...and I was there for two of them.  (I was only a few months old during the other, I think my absence can be excused.)

But WVU didn't punt.  Our punter, Phil Brady decided that he'd much rather rush for 10 yards and have us win this one.  You have to have been there in the middle of the WVU section screaming yourself hoarse to understand, I think...but...well...suffice it to say that after the broadcasts cut away at around 12:45, when it became clear that they just weren't going to present the trophy to us, we were still screaming...and at 1:15....we STILL were.  Finally they grabbed the riot police and closed the dome to force us to leave, but we didn't care.  At 2:00 AM, we all crammed back into the Suburban and headed home, minus my father whose flight would leave in the morning.  After driving all night, we arrived back home at 6 PM yesterday, glowing with pride, and tired as...well...you get the idea.

The only sour note (other than a failed call by the referee when the UGA right tackle jumped off-sides with WVU deep in GA territory on a 3 and 5, which failed and forced WVU to kick a field goal) was that the greatest win of all time for a state that wins precious little positive attention from the nation was overshadowed by a mining disaster 25 miles southeast of Morgantown.

So congrats to the Mountaineers and the state of West "by God" Virginia.  Hopefully the rest of the country will see what the Blue and Gold saw all season now.

And with that...I'm off to bed.

If you would like to read a good article about the game from someone who doesn't bleed Blue and Old Gold, then check out this gem.  Since I bashed Collegefootballnews.com earlier, I felt that this was only fair.  It's a great read.