Arena 2023-24 NCAA Football Discussion

I don't think Rutgers will win against West Virginia. They're going to come up short.

 

I think Herbie was right in his preview of the game. There shouldn't be a rematch, this was the title game. Similar to Yanks-Sox a couple of years back, or the old Niners-Cowboys NFC title games.

That was an amazing game. I'm still simply ... wow from it, and the whole experience of being in Columbus for the game.

 

Iowa State... Iowa State!! A team that had no wins in the Big 12 beats Mizzou! And they just gave Pinkel a contract extension...

 

Let's hope the upset trend continues for next Friday's games as well.

 

I would have loved to watch the OSU-UM game, but I was out for most of the day and didn't get to. Sounds like it was everything people were looking for, and now I get to laugh at my roommate who, when I told him OSU would win a close one, said UM would blow OSU out.

Rutgers is all but done now, it'll take a bunch of miracles for them to pull this one out. And even if they did somehow, there is no way they get by WV.

LSU's not looking good so far tonight either.

And SoCal's still losing, hope the Bears can pull that one out.

 

I am happy for Iowa State, and I'm glad that they managed to win a Conference game this year. However, I'm not happy at the Missouri Tigers. That game was theirs to lose, and that's what they did.

And is it just me, or has Missouri never really been beaten by another team this season? They seemed to have done the most damage to themselves this year with several costly turnovers and outright mistakes in games with Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

 

I'm shocked Ole Miss managed to stay anywhere even close to LSU - LSU's a much superior team.

And Cincy's played well this year against several good teams, which is why I don't think Cincy winning tonight was all that shocking - but I didn't expect them to blow Rutgers out.

 

Go Buckeyes!

What an amazing game between OSU and UM today. That truely was the national championship right there, and it was definitely the best game I've seen all season. Great effort by both teams.

I've gotta disagree. They may have made a few gloating comments, but for a big game, I thought the team handled things modestly overall. What I didn't like were the comments from UM's Mike Hart -"There was nothing special about their defense, etc, etc."

That's just me though.

 

To be fair, they also won the Big Ten Championship and beat their rival. So there was more than 1 thing to be excited about. I thought Troy Smith sounded pretty humble when they interviewed him on SportsCenter. He also made it clear what he thought of the team (Michigan) when he implied he didn't want to have to play them again, ie. they are an excellent team and the game could've easily gone the other way.

 

"There was nothing special about their defense, etc, etc."

31 points allowed says he's right.

 

That's cool. And I agree 100%: Jim Tressel is one of the humblest people I've ever seen. Kudos to him.

Well, it was more the way he said it than anything. Even if he was right, I just thought he was being a poor sport about things.

 

I watched USC play tonight. Notre Dame may or may not be able to compete with Michigan if they played again at this point in the season, but USC sure wouldn't be able to.


After tonights showing against Cal, Notre Dame is going to slaughter them. There were probably a dozen passes by Longshore and his receiving corps that weren't completed which had the potential to be moderate to big plays. Brady Quinn and his receivers are gonna light 'em up.


Was it just me or did Booty look extremely unimpressive, just the way he threw the ball. We'll see what happens with the BCS tomorrow. Things are certainly going to get tight at the top, but there are two big stories there:


1) Can Michigan hold onto the second slot for another week? It puts them in a much stronger position if they can stave off USC until ND knocks them off. If ND is impressive against a USC team that's already ranked ahead of Michigan, we could be heading for an ND/OSU title game.


2) Will Notre Dame jump Florida? I know they both won impressively and against less than stellar opponents, but Florida is going to take a hit with the SOS being a Division 2-A team. Those two were pretty tight numerically in the BCS so we'll see what happens. Could become very, very difficult for Florida to stay in the race if ND jumps them next week, let alone this week.


Lastly in regards to "The Game". I was impressed with both squads offensively. Smith and Henne both did what they needed to do to keep the game close. What I was thoroughly unimpressed with however, was the defense of both teams. Big running plays right up the middle for both teams and very, very soft zone coverage by both for the majority of the game.

I've got to say that a Notre Dame or Florida would be very competetive against OSU in the title game because they both have weapons on the outside that can take advantage of their speed. Florida would be in a little trouble if their running game didn't show up, but the quarterback situation would certainly be an upgrade because although Henne played well he isn't as good a quarterback as Brady Quinn or Chris Leak both of whom would have taken greater advantage of the relatively weak OSU secondary.


I came into this game unsure of what to expect. I come out of it realizing that with the offensive powerhouses that are fighting for that second BCS spot that the title game will probably be a shootout. The countdown in on till next Saturday when a real rivalry will be played

 

True. But let's look deeper. Three turnovers in the game by OSU, and only 3 points allowed off them. Oh yeah, those were the ONLY POINTS allowed off turnovers ALL SEASON.

Don't forget that in a game that racked up 800+ yards of offense, OSU accounted for 500+ of it.

Mike Hart had 142 yards rushing. Nice effort. A little sub-par from the 200-yard-per-game rusher who was 'unstoppable', considering that Antonio Pittman had 139 yards. Alone. Not counting Troys couple runs (minus lost yardage, of course) and some kid name Chris Wells... I think he smoked Michigan for a 56 yard run and TD. I could be wrong.

So for him to say that about OSU's D when his got their collective asses handed to them is rather narrow minded, don'tcha think? Considering his D came into it touting their 'holding to 29-yards rushing per game' average on D.

Both Defenses played lights out. Both Offenses did, also. And it showed on the scoreboard. For Hart to make comments like that to try and lessen the fact that he lost is... well, to say what it is would get me edited at the least. He's just ticked that Troy basically locked the Heisman with that game.

 

Heels, you conveniently left off Arkansas off of the list of USC's quality wins . Not to defend Mays, because he is an idiot, but USC has had one of the toughest schedules in the league (tougher than Michigan's). USC has only played one team this year that is not bowl bound or bowl eligible. Every team they have played is either .500 or above, other than Stanford.

I think yesterday narrowed the field down considerably. I think USC is going to determine everything. If SC wins out, they will play OSU in the BCS Championship. If USC loses one of their remaining two games, Michigan is in the championship. There is no way ND, even if they beat USC, can leap frog Michigan. Michigan walloped them so bad at home, there is no way voters can move ND ahead of Michigan. ND's title chances are officially over.

The only team that could knock out Michigan if USC loses is Florida. If Florida wins the SEC Championship with only 1 loss and USC loses one their remaining games, Florida may have a chance to go to the BCS Championship game. Arkansas has a slim chance, but their huge loss to SC will hold them back a bit.

As to last night's USC game, I was very impressed with the Trojans defense. They held a potent Cal offense (averaging 33 points a game) to a single TD. In the second half, they were completely lights out, not even allowing Cal any type of sustained drives (including 3-4 three and outs). This Trojan defense is one of the best of Pete Carroll's. It is reminiscent of the defense that brought USC the championship in 2004. As to the offense, they struggled in the first half, but Booty and the offense found a good rhythmn in the second half. Gable is also starting to establish himself as a quality running back and is starting to get into the flow of the game.

USC and ND should be a great game next week. I think and I hope that my Trojans will pull of the win. But in all honesty, I am just really happy that this young team that has gone through its ups and downs this season playing in the huge shadow of the great Trojan teams of the past few years has won the PAC-10 for a fifth straight year and has earned at the very least a berth in the Rose Bowl. This young team showed a hell of a lot of heart and grit to get to 9-1 and to win the PAC-10. I am very excited about this team's future in the next year or two.

I don't think SC could hang with OSU (they could give Michigan a tough game and a run for their money if they meet up in the Rose Bowl) in the BCS Championship (although it would be run heck of a game between the '05 Trojans and this year's Buckeyes). This USC is a still a year away. They are playing 15 true freshman right now. This team is going to be absolutely scary next year.

 

Unless ND dazzles against USC, to the point that they convince voters in the polls that they have improved dramtically over the team that lost at home to Michigan, there will be a rematch.

Provided, of course, that the computers don't go haywire.

 

I ached for Lloyd at the post-game conference and this morning - Michigan Replay. He had to return from this heartbreaking loss on the team bus arrive back to Ann Arbor late last night and back to the University and Bo's empty office. If they would have won it wouldn't have hurt any less. and then he had to get up early this morning and do the TV show with Jim B. - who also is a Michigan man who loved Bo too. Returning from the Citrus Bowl kn 1999 Jim sat across the aisle from me on the plane. Very cool guy..nice too.

and this is how OSU celebrates their victory:
Cops arrest 38 people at OSU after car flipped, fires burn
11/19/06 12:15 ET
COLUMBUS -- Despite an abundance of police, the Ohio State celebration of its win over Michigan became rowdy early Sunday morning as fans flipped a car and sets dozens of fires.
City police arrested 38 people, four for arson, after cars, furniture and trash bins were set ablaze in student neighborhoods, according to a police spokesman.

It wasn't known whether the car that had been turned over bore a Michigan license plate.

The school and city had taken several steps to prevent such incidents after they occurred after Ohio State victories over Texas in September and Michigan in 2002.

The officials had limited parking in student neighborhoods, frequently emptied trash containers and barred couches from the front porches of homes.


and for what it's worth - this was on AOL this a.m.:

Which team should join Ohio State in the BCS title game?
Michigan 42%
USC 17%
Notre Dame 13%
Florida 13%
Rutgers 7%
Arkansas 6%
Total Votes: 66,003

 

ESPN's poll showed pretty similar results, too.

Although you can take Rutgers off that list now.