Arena 2023-24 NCAA Football Discussion

I know, I'm quoting myself. But this may have been lost as part of a lengthy post.

lovelucas, good post. All of that works as an argument for a playoff.

Should UM and OSU play again? Probably. Do I want to see UM play OSU again? No, I don't. I just watched that game yesterday (well, actually I didn't since it was on opposite the most bitter rivalry of them all ). And considering we are currently using a subjective system to arbitrarily determine which two teams are the best, I can't really say that it would be wrong to either put UM in the game or to leave them out. I don't like the idea of the rematch because it essentially says to me that the game yesterday didn't mean anything. They'll just play again, only this time it really counts...and this time we mean it...

 

I saw that the other night too Heels. I found it very clever.

 

I love that commercial.


And as I've said before, I think the Championship game should be between the two best teams in football, regardless of whether or not they've already played. I think, given everything that we've seen so far, that OSU and UM are clearly the two best teams in the country (IMO, and many others as well), which is why I think there should be a rematch for the Championship.


Although if Michigan was to win that matchup, I wouldn't be surprised if theres at least a few voters in the AP poll who don't vote for them.

 

I realise this was a copied post, obviously from a Michigan alum, what with all the spelling errors. But I had to bold that last line of what I quoted so I could say...

WHAT?!?! Ummmmm, no. No, it doesn't. Started out good with the "we beat them" argument, but then it rambled into mindless drivel with comments like "[IT] is better to lose to an unranked Oregon State, than to lose to a #1 ranked OSU". Using the initial logic, it would eliminate USC from the bowl picture altogether for being the one that lost to an unranked team. Obviously, someone in the room he was posting in (ie Library) distracted him from his train of thought. I'm assuming.

Actually, I hope. Otherwise, this one needs a straight-jacket.

 

I think people here are being a bit hard on the Trojans. They got off to a shaky start, but in the second half played solid USC football and kicked Cal's butt, and Cal was ranked 17 in the country--hardly nobodies. The Notre Dame game will be key. If the Irish beat SC then we will have an OSU/Michigan rematch, however, if the Trojans win (and they haven't lost at home for over four years), they should play for the championship. Don't forget Michigan had at least one scare in a game they should have won easily. They already lost to OSU, so USC should have the opportunity to face the Buckeyes if they beat Notre Dame and UCLA. If they don't run the table, they have no business facing OSU obviously.

 

not a bright comment about the spelling - U of M is very difficult to get into without stellar grades/SAT etc.

 

I wouldn't expect you to understand a logical argument laced with touch of sarcasm, Kavic.
YOU don't want a rematch because you are afraid that you'd lose the second game on a neutral playing field. Be honest.

 

Meh. MY sarcastic ribbing was completely misinterpreted, anyway.

As for the other, HELL YES, you are RIGHT, sir! I recall all too well the Florida/Florida State rematch.

Honestly, prior to the game, I didn't want to, not for fear of a rematch, but because I felt it would take away something from the whole reason it was played when it was played, and the way it was played, to begin with. I still do, in fact. BUT, if USC does not win out and make the leap over Michigan (which even I would now argue might not be right, at this point), then it should definitely be OSU/UM in a rematch in the Fiesta.

Of course, if you were to ask me, Phelpsy, the national title game has already been played. No other team even compares this year to OSU or UM. We played it, now let the pretenders to the title argue over who should be victimized by one of us next. I'd actually like to see OSU/ND in Fiesta, and UM/USC in Rose. And have us both beat them by some insane 147-0 score. THAT would be fitting. Of course, Florida would then argue (should they win out) that they also should have been victimized by one of us. But the title game was this past Saturday. Make no bones about it.

 

On that my friend, we agree.

Congrats on the victory in any case. That was a hard fought battle. Your QB is quite skilled, I'd like to add.

 

"Hard fought" is putting it mildly! You all scared the bejeezus out of me, Phelps. I began to worry there for a few, considering Datish was doing everything he could to help Michigan out by throwing those bad snaps Troys way.



If we do get a rematch, we can only hope it's that good a game again.

 

Bad snaps? The fumble Smith had in the shotgun that Michigan recovered was clearly not the center's fault. It hit him in the hands around the face mask.


Maybe not a perfect snap, but it certainly wasn't the center's fault. Troy Smith is lucky the didn't lose that game too, because if they don't get that late hit on him to keep another one of their drive's alive he would have been the scapegoat for his turnovers.

 

I remember one really bad snap that barely got off the ground and kinda dribbled backwards... theres no excuse for that.

 

Yeah, I think I remember the one you're talking about. I'm not going to make excuses for the center, but the snap that resulted in a lost turnover wasn't his fault. Troy Smith should have caught the ball. It's a moot point but I live in Ohio and Buckeye fans would have instantly turned into Troy Smith haters had they lost the game.

 

NCAA and NFL alike, unacceptable officiating. Instant Replay is helping nothing.

I agree. And I used to like instant replay, until the use of it proved to be absolutely less than useless.

 

What game were you watching? The first snap nearly hit the top of his helmet, except Troy got his hand up just fast enough to keep it from flying over his head. Otherwise, Michigan might recover that one in the end zone. And the second was also a lost ball, which Datish never had good grip on and basically pushed back across the turf. Troy tried to get to it and never got close before he was on his butt watching a defender lie all over it. The interception was a bad decision by Troy, the other two turnovers were both initiated by Datish's bad snaps.

Oh, and I live in Columbus. No, we wouldn't have hated Troy. At least, not the 'Buckeyes fans' who weren't wearing Maize and Blue the day before The Game.

Edit: Had to come back and bold that one part to respond to it. It was not a "late hit", it was Helmet To Helmet contact. OSU has been called it for this year, also. Michigan damn well better have been, or it would have been necessary to kill the refs for their obvious Michigan slant (ie missed holding calls and blatant missed facemask penalties, bad pass interference call on Jenkins, etc.).

 

Replay should be abolished for a couple of reasons:

1.) it just creates its own share of controversial calls
1.a) bad calls are part of the game
2.) it ruins the flow, rythm and momentum of game, this is often more important to a game's outcome than the call in question

 

We still have bad calls with the instant replay rule.

Heels I seriously think the Big 12 has the worst officials. I believe they (partly) cost the Aggies the game against Nebraska on a call that should've been offensive pass interference, the guy in the endzone clearly pushed off of our guy. The ref saw nothing apparently and that was the game winning TD.

 

Now I feel sick... Like they said in the article, it's the "5th Down" and the kicked pass all over again.

 

I think that the thought of Michigan being the #2 team in the nation is a different problem than them playing in the national championship. Do they deserve to be the #2 team? yes. Do they deserve to play for the national championship? No, their shot for that was on Saturday, and they lost. It's not like the NFL. Everything is about winning games. OSU did that, and including the two 1 vs 2 games they played. It isn't really an issue of turnovers or points scored, but OSU was never really losing that game. It was alway UM getting out of a hole, and they could never pull ahead. And I truly believe that if they play again, OSU will win again. They have a great big game coach, and a quarterback that can handle pressure.


I think USC will definitely play in the national championship game if they win their last two. But who knows if that will happen. Notre Dame should not jump UM, even if they win impressively. And who even knows about Florida. This is one where someone is going to be left unhappy.

 

Or for giggles since the decision appears to be tough, we put Boise St. in there and either watch the biggest upset in history or we watch OSU beat the stuffing out of them in the largest win spread in history.

 

If Notre Dame can turn one of those 31 point losses around on USC, I think you'd start to see people realizing that this isn't the same team that turned the ball over five times against Michigan.


I'm not expecting a 31 point blowout, but the 2002 blowout was probably just as unexpected as this one would be this year only in reverse. Either way I think it'll be an entertaining day in college football.

 

he's a Buckeye....no wonder, then.