Arena The College Football Thread

Unfortunately I am not watching but my brother is texting me updates.

Come on Aggies!

(mobile sock of s65horsey)

And now, she's yelling my name in anger, for bringing about the "Inty Curse"

Ugh. Not happy with UNC and Georgia Tech at all.

I saw some of the Michigan-Northwestern game while I was in the gym; it was neck-in-neck then. I see they went into OT.

Wow, Texas A&M - Alabama going down to the wire

Aaaand football fans everywhere but the SEC are thanking Texas A&M for "selling-out" and joining the SEC

I think I need oxygen after that victory! I was optimistic that it could happen but to know that it did is amazing!

(mobile sock of s65horsey)

I just want everyone to know that the last three weekends of college athletics have reminded me of something... I hate sports.

Carry on.

Okay, I take it back. There was one positive event today in college football. Georgia did clinch the SEC East. At least one of my teams won. If only the SCAR game could be replayed...

Oregon got off to an uncharacteristic slow start tonight, but they've finally kicked it into high gear. If they win out, they're in the title game again!

I'm excited for Bama losing (especially after watching them pull out that annoyingly ridiculous win over LSU), but even more excited for the prospect of K-State going to the championship

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to an Oregon-KState matchup. Let's show them what they missed by canceling that game!

Curious to see how many coaches vote Bama ahead of ND this week.

I have no faith in either team to win out. I cannot believe that, in my adult life, I am going to have to see that horrible school in Indiana win a national title. I'm so fortunate that I don't remember their last title. Won't be able to get around this one.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, "that horrible school in Indiana" might get to the title game but they aren't good enough to beat whoever they would play.

Where's all the talk about ND's preferential treatment these days? Strongest schedule of the undefeateds by a significant margin and we're only ranked third?

A good article by Dan Wetzel on the absurdity of the BCS. It's pretty evenhanded, imo. Not so much arguiign ND should be ranked #1, but the fact that we're only third because we lost our bowl game last year is ludicrous. As I've been saying for weeks, I'm not convinced we'll beat USC, which makes the rankings at this stage moot. But if we do win out, I'd like a good explanation (ie better than "You didn't blow out Pitt) as to why we don't deserve a shot at the title. And I sure as hell don't want to hear any more about preferential treatment.

Yup. Voters like points. Nevermind that defensive rankings and efficiencies have been the best predictors of championship success in both college and NFL in most seasons.

Voters also like inertia. Not so much that ND lost a bowl game last year, but that K-State and Oregon started the year higher in the human polls, and will remain there until they lose.

I'm not ruling out USC beating both Notre Dame and Oregon (In the Pac-12 Title game). And not just because I want Ohio State to be the only unbeaten team. But because it could actually happen.

That's the point Wetzel makes, though -- KState started the year a few places higher in the polls because they won their bowl game last year and ND lost. FSU, the team ND lost to, was No 7 to start the year, in part because of that win. From the article:

Thrilled that Bama lost.

I had given up hope for Georgia Tech's season, especially after the Miami and BYU games, but we can still make it to the ACC championship game apparently

That makes sense, yankee. Same point from different roads to get there. Hence why using human polls is even worse than using the computers.

True, but if Oregon wins out, they'll have beaten some impressive teams. At least if we believe the rankings. Especially in this gauntlet coming up.

I would imagine that if ND and K-State would win out, the argument would be strength of schedule. Both beat Miami and Oklahoma (in Norman). I guess the argument would be if the Michigan schools, USC, Stanford, and BYU is a more impressive run than the Big XII schools.

The michigan schools have proven to be fraudulent, and ND barely survived bad to mediocre teams like Purdue, BYU and Pitt. And I'm not that impressed with K-State's run either, because the Big 12 isn't what it used to be. They beat teams that were ranked at the time, but aren't any longer. And this is why I've always said that there shouldn't be any rankings until about the fifth week of the season.

This may come down to that 'We're not going to drop team X from this spot because they were there first' situation. Kinda the way Auburn was kept out a few years ago, when USC blasted Oklahoma in the Championship game. I believe USC and Oklahoma were #1 and #2 at the beginning of the year and stayed there the whole time. Oklahoma was getting fat on terribly weak Big 12 schedule while Auburn was destroying a significantly tougher SEC schedule. But Oklahoma was ranked #2 first, so...