Wedge

Back to the topic, I see two guys that we can draft in the first round that would have a positive impact on the Bears: Pope the TE from UGA and Bing the DB from USC. Would anyone be mad with either pick?

Pope's a freak and I'd love to have that guy. Otherwise, I'd like for them to pick up a defensive back with the top pick and take the pick of Lewis or Fasano in the 2nd round.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 10:55 AM) Back in the fall when this first came up, Buehrle said his sore arm was mainly due to actually having too much rest during the playoffs, not too much work. In his words, if I remember correctly, the extra time off let things heal up a bit too much. Kinda like when you take 2 weeks off and then go back to the gym for the first time. Hermanson made a similar comment regarding his herniated discs. He said that he had adjusted to the pain they caused and that if he woke up one day and the pain was magically gone that he probably wouldn't pitch as well since he wouldn't be used to that sort of pain-free sensation. If I'm worried about anybody on the pitching staff, it's Hermanson and his back. His return could be key to our success. Otherwise, we might need to convert a starter into a reliever.

Kerry Wood is a #1 starter... in simulated games.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 10, 2006 -> 03:42 PM) I think if his skin tone were a little lighter and he was less outspoken, people wouldn't be so afraid to call him out for being the mediocre coach he is. I've panned Ty Willingham, so at least for me, race isn't the protective agent you make it out to be.

Who the f*** cares. It was a great game and I'm glad I watched it... but I'm sick of ESPN trying to tell me that everything contemporary is the BEST EVER! like the USC dynasty or Kobe. College football has been going on for a long, long time and I think the eras are so different that it's pointless to debate the whole "BEST EVER!" thing.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 8, 2006 -> 10:33 PM) Yeah, Mustain looked atrocious in the game, but it had to be a case of nerves because almost all of his throws were high. Jevan Sneed by far looked the best, with Tim Tebow and Zach Frazer a distant 2nd to me. I was pretty dissapointed in this years game, the offenses were completely out of sinc outside of Wells rushing. The WR's in particular didn't do much for me. Percy Harvin has amazing athleticism, but not much going on in his head, which is very sad. But overall, I thought this was the weakest WR, TE, and QB group in a few years. The LB's, DE's, and OL were impressive. Just to re-state my amazement again, USC has 14 commits... 9!!! are ranked in the top 100, and their average star ranking is 4.36, and they are still in the top 5 of 11 more 5 star players. Poor, poor USC, if they only get 4 star players the rest of the way, their star rankings will drop. I think the thing to be aware of is that this type of AA game also favors defensive players as the offensive guys typically are not on the same page after limited practices together. That said, USC's class will be great as always, but I believe ND had just as many players play in that game (although I heard a rumor that Carroll tells his silent commits to wait until the game to announce so other coaches waste their recruiting time on them).

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 04:13 PM) Rex, it wasn't specifically about those comments, I was just stating in general that Lemming is a big ND fan. But more to the point, Lemming has stated several times that Mustain is ND's to lose, it almost seems that he believes ND is too good to offer the national player of the year because of previous commitments. Whenever a player of Mustain's caliber wants to come, there's going to be room, no matter who's feelings get hurt. I also think its a very bad idea to not get atleast a QB in each class to build depth. I don't think Mustain is that much better than what ND has committed. Certainly in the AA game, I thought Frazer played better and showed a better arm, although that is one game. At most, it's the difference between getting an 'A' QB and an 'A+' QB and even though labels are somewhat debatable. Who knows, Jones might even end up being the best QB out of the three. Not that I don't want Mustain and it definitely seems like he would go to ND if he could, but I just don't see things working out that way at the moment. If Mustain played DT on the other hand...

Unless Frazer or Jones decommit, ND will not get Mustain. Both committed QBs are very, very good though and there's rumours that Clausen (likely the top rated QB in the 2007 class) is a "silent commit"/"strong lean" for ND. Also, there are currently 3 players that are currently planning on EE. Two are Aldridge and Stewart who could have huge impacts as early as next fall. After the Fiesta Bowl, I'm also thankful that they pulled in some top defensive backs, including the #1 corner back in Walls. MacNeil is supposed to be fabulous as well.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 02:15 PM) Carolina is far from a cupcake for anyone now. UNC played the toughest schedule in the nation last year and went 5-6, but could have won any of the 6 losses except Louisville. UNC was leading Miami at the half 16-7, and should have been up 23-7 at the half if Pollack didn't drop a wide open touchdown pass. UNC was down 6-3 at the half against VT, and should have been up 10-6 at the very least when Jesse Holley dropped yet another wide open TD pass before the half. UNC defeated Utah, NC State, Virginia, and Boston College who were all bowl teams. The administration has finally gotten serious about football, and hired Marvin Sanders two years ago after Marvin coached his Huskers secondary to lead the nation in interceptions. Kansas State and Texas A&M tried their best to hire him away as their DC's about a month ago, but he was loyal. Then yesterday UNC fans got even better news when we learned that we hired away OC/QB coach for Fresno State Frank Cignetti, who was one of the hottest OC commodities in the college ranks. UNC won't be a pushover for anyone, anymore. But I still don't expect UNC to win at ND, just put up a good fight. So to edit my earlier analysis: UNC and ISU move from the patsy range to the 2nd category.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 01:25 PM) Until Iowa can beat ISU consistently that's not a given win for them. It's been one of Ferentz's few problems. You're probably right in that regards, so we can maybe move them up a category, but even then I don't think it effects the outcome of the analysis too much.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 09:37 AM) The defense of the schedule by you ND homers is mind boggling. Just look at it from a neutral perspective please?? Notre Dame plays a good schedule, but it simply doesn't have the depth and difficulty of the schedule a team like Georgia or even Iowa has to deal with. I'm disappointed in you. You just blindly say it's nowhere near Iowa's or Georgia's. You're lazy, so I'll do the work on this one, I guess. I did a pretty good analysis of ND's schedule against Michigan's. ND: @ Georgia Tech PENN STATE MICHIGAN Michigan St. PURDUE STANFORD UCLA @ Navy (Baltimore) NORTH CAROLINA @ Air Force ARMY @ Southern Cal Iowa: TBD at Syracuse Iowa State at Illinois Ohio State Purdue (HC) at Indiana at Michigan TBD Northwestern (FW) Wisconsin (FA/S) at Minnesota Georgia: Western Kentucky @ South Carolina UAB Colorado Mississippi State Tennessee Vanderbilt @ Mississippi vs. Florida @Jacksonville, FL @ Auburn @ Kentucky Georgia Tech OK, ND vs Iowa: Patsies Air Force, Army, Navy, NC vs. Syracuse, Iowa State, Illinois, Indiana Navy and Iowa State both had pretty good seasons in 2005 and are traditional rivals for both teams. For the most part, none of the other teams showed a pulse in 2006. WASH Middle of the Pack MSU, Purdue, Stanford vs. Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue Pretty even match here, although NU will probably have a down season in 2006 compared to 2005 and Stanford should improve a bit. MSU will be their typical schizophrenic selves. WASH Pretty Good Teams Michigan, UCLA, GTech vs. Michigan, Wisconsin Both play Michigan, although Iowa goes to the Big House to play. Still, ND faces more teams in this category than Iowa does, so edge ND. Top Tier Teams USC, PSU vs. OSU At USC at the end of the year is a nightmare, even if they aren't NC caliber. The OSU game is at home for Iowa, so this is definitely an edge to ND. Thus, I think ND's schedule is harder than Iowa's in 2006. Let's do ND vs. Georgia: Patsies Air Force, Army, Navy, NC vs. Western Kentucky, UAB, Mississippi St., Kentucky Both teams play some bottom feeders, although in this group Navy is the only 2005 Bowl team, but ND has beat them for a long time standing. We'll call it a WASH. Middle of the Pack MSU, Purdue, Stanford vs. Mississippi, Colorado, Vandy, Tennessee Vandy and Mississippi are tough to categorize precisely, but I put them in this category. Tennessee is a real wild card for 2006, roughly the same as MSU for ND. We'll call it a WASH. Pretty Good Teams Michigan, UCLA, GTech vs. GTech, South Carolina, Florida GT is a home game for the Bulldogs, but a road game for the Irish. Florida looked awful at times and great at times in 2006. I'll call this a WASH as well. Top Tier Teams USC, PSU vs. Auburn Auburn is tough, but the numbers here favor the Irish. Happy? I think both are pretty legit cases for why ND's schedule compares favorably to a lot of conference schedules.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 12:42 AM) S 02 @ Georgia Tech S 09 PENN STATE S 16 MICHIGAN S 23 @ Michigan St. S 30 PURDUE O 07 STANFORD O 21 UCLA O 28 @ Navy (Baltimore) N 04 NORTH CAROLINA N 11 @ Air Force N 18 ARMY N 25 @ Southern Cal Well North Carolina isn't any good, that's a sure win at home....ND has beaten Navy 100 times in a row, home vs. Army is an auto win, at Air Force should definitely be a win, Stanford at home should be no problem, Purdue isn't exactly a powerhouse..... That schedule isn't exactly anywhere near the level an SEC team has to face, or even a Big 10 team for that matter. Let's compare ND and UM's 2006 schedules, shall we? ND: @ Georgia Tech PENN STATE MICHIGAN @ Michigan St. PURDUE STANFORD UCLA @ Navy (Baltimore) NORTH CAROLINA @ Air Force ARMY @ Southern Cal Michigan: BALL STATE CENTRAL MICHIGAN @ Notre Dame WISCONSIN @ Minnesota MICHIGAN STATE @ Penn State IOWA NORTHWESTERN @ Indiana @ Ohio State Common opponents: Michigan State Penn State Michigan might have a very slight edge here, but that's debatable. If PSU is a tough team, then it is a slight edge for ND to play PSU at ND. If PSU is crappy like the last few years again, I think it's a wash. I'm also obviously throwing out ND vs. Michigan. I'll break down the list further: ND Non-BCS opponents @ Navy ARMY @ Air Force UM Non-BCS opponents BALL STATE CENTRAL MICHIGAN @ Indiana (explanation, I know they're Big 10) all right, so I took out the Non-BCS opponents and both play some patsies. I think @ Navy and @ Indiana is roughly equal, despite Indiana being a BCS team. ND BCS opponents @ Georgia Tech PURDUE STANFORD UCLA NORTH CAROLINA @ Southern Cal UM BCS opponents WISCONSIN @ Minnesota IOWA NORTHWESTERN @ Ohio State The big season ending road games are both toughies against big rivals. These will be both teams' most difficult opponents. USC has been a dynasty lately, so if it's not a push, it has to be an edge to ND. I realize USC loses some people, but by the end of the season, Carroll will have his ducks in a row and ready to go. The next best team for ND is either @ GTech or UCLA, where UM next best are WISC or IOWA. Both are home games for UM and I think GTech and UCLA are both better teams than WISC and IOWA. I think that's a pretty clear edge to ND. Purdue and @ Minnesota are a pretty equal, so either a push or a slight edge to UM. I think Stanford and Northwestern are pretty similar teams, although NU graduates its QB and Stanford will have a pretty good one coming back, push or slight edge to ND. ND plays a 12th game in UNC. A patsy, but another chance for someone to get hurt. In conclusion, I think that ND's 2006 schedule is very favorable to a typical Big 10 schedule on paper. I think that ND has some more challenges in that they play teams from a variety of conferences, thus they have to handle many different styles of play.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 12:36 AM) That schedule at face value looks tough, but not too tough IMO. At Georgia Tech is a toss up....they could be really good if they'd stop playing that BUM Reggie Ball at QB, but either way that game is still dangerous. Finishing up at USC is obviously a terror, but w/o Leinart and Bush and others, who knows with them. At Michigan State is another one that is a question mark, and Penn State is at home, but could be very tough, especially if Morelli or whoever else takes over for Robinson at QB is any good. If that schedule isn't "too tough" I would really like to see your idea of too tough.

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 12:00 AM) ^ Heres my whole idea The one problem with ND is they really dont have a conference which limits which teams they can play, they will throw any team at them who just happens to need a game that week. If ND was in the big ten or any other conference I could give them consideration for a top 5 bid, to me I think you need to win your division and beat good teams, ND is only able to do on eof those, but I agree with you they are definitely overrated, but look for them to make it back to one of the top bowl games next yr. ND will play anyone and they usually have a very tough schedule. It so happened that this year it turned out soft, but I think that in general you will find that their schedule would be on the tougher to one faced by most BCS conference teams. For example, here is their 2006 schedule: S 02 @ Georgia Tech S 09 PENN STATE S 16 MICHIGAN S 23 @ Michigan St. S 30 PURDUE O 07 STANFORD O 21 UCLA O 28 @ Navy (Baltimore) N 04 NORTH CAROLINA N 11 @ Air Force N 18 ARMY N 25 @ Southern Cal This year, "they didn't beat anyone" and this offseason I'm going to hear that "the schedule is too tough to return to a BCS game." If they make it back, then it'll be "they didn't beat anyone" again. I'm not sure why winning a "division" adds value to your team. Does FSU suddenly deserve Top 5 consideration for winning the ACC? I guess I don't understand what overrated means, either. They played pretty well during the season and had a high ranking, which was legit. At present, they're an incomplete team, especially defensively, but they're still pretty good. They lost respectably to a very good team in a game where they didn't get any breaks and where the defense couldn't get off the field on 3rd down and gave out big plays like they were Christmas cards. Disappointing bowl game performance, but this is going to be a good team next year.

Hey, ND guy here. I don't think we were overrated, but I think OSU played a lot better than I expected them too. Anyways, congrats on a big win. After seeing that game, if I was an OSU fan I'd be very disappointed that my team wasn't playing USC for the title. Unfortunately, I believe a lot of the OSU players are going to the draft this year so I don't know if they'll be in a good position again next season.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 30, 2005 -> 02:39 PM) I don't feel like arguing over the whole bcs crap again cause I think all of us can agree that the bs is garbage but I was never arguing who was better between ND and Oregon though I don't think ND is very good. That being said I was arguing that when you look at their whole bodies of work in the season that Oregon deserved to be there more. It's all moot anyways since ND ended up with an auto bid. I don't feel like rehashing it, either, but I don't see a body of work that Oregon produced that indicated they "deserved" it any more than ND did. Sure, ND had another loss, but that's the only thing really that distinguishes Oregon over ND. ND has better players, better coaches, and a better schedule than Oregon and brings the mystique to the game. Not to open a can of worms, but maybe after seeing the Big 10 fall apart deliciously this bowl season, maybe you should be arguing that Oregon deserved the bid over OSU. Then again, seeing what they did in the Emerald Bowl, I don't think there's any case that they deserved a BCS bid...

What kind of piece will Scoop write about the White Sox after signing Garland to extension, but traded two guys of race: El Duque and Luis and potentially Contreras?

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 07:22 PM) Defensive prowess maybe? I think that's a stretch, too. Jauron's defense's in Jacksonville never really impressed. In Chicago, I think that 2001 defense was strong because it was really talented, but it didn't do much that impressed me schematically. It routinely got burned by the screen pass (think the Green Bay games) and neither Jauron nor Blache were able to adjust it seemed like (this was highlighted in the game against the Eagles). I know Smith is a phenomenal defensive coach, given his tenure as the DC in St. Louis. Rivera seems pretty good and I think this staff is way better equipped schematically to make in game adjustments. My only complaint is that when they're getting beat with the pass, they try to bring more pressure. I wish they'd do a better job of dropping guys into a more exotic coverage. A good example is the Green Bay game, end of the first half. Favre was beating us and we brought more guys and he just got the passes off faster. We sort of lucked out with the big pick to end the half there. But yeah, Smith and Rivera are waaaaay better than Jauron and Blache.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Dec 23, 2005 -> 12:21 PM) I think he possesses all of Dick Jauron's good qualities (respectable, defensive genious) What in Jauron's tenure anywhere suggested he was a defensive genius? Other than that, I agree. Lovie has the technical knowledge of being a great defensive coordinator and has the guts required to make the tough personnel decisions, just like Ozzie. Maybe he'll do it this year, maybe not, but this guy is unlike any coach we've seen in Chicago in a long, long time.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 06:06 PM) So does McCarthy. So does Contreras. So does Buehrle. Man, everyone pitches up to their potential in that lineup next year, and the only thing that beats us is a Royal Flush. Au contrarie, not to be a poker stickler, but a 5-of-a-kind beats a Royal Flush. Link Thus, if you are correct, nothing beats us

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 20, 2005 -> 01:34 PM) Decent talent like............ Charles Rogers, Mike Williams, Kevin Jones, Roy Williams, Dre Bly. I'd even say Harrington is pretty good. Those guys are pretty good. I think you'd be surprised at just how fast a good to great coach could turn that team around. There is definitely some talent on that roster that has underachieved.

Is Millen really that bad? He's brought in some decent talent to that team. I suspect it has more to do with coaching and that Mooch repeatedly threw Harrington under the bus rather than supporting him, which affected team morale. When we beat them in Game 2, they looked like a team that was totally splintering.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Dec 19, 2005 -> 04:29 PM) In The Detriot game Orton look like manning what is your point? Maybe he looked like Manning playing drunk, high, blindfolded, and with his right arm and leg behind his back. I'm not sure what game you were watching...

No way. KW's real target is Robbie Alomar.