Boogua

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 09:43 PM) Going to be a lot of that in a "slow paced" bigten... IU not even hitting jumpshots and killing it. Scary. I talked a little bit about my views on the game earlier in the thread. UNC plays uptempo (Roy Williams' style) and they just aren't that good this year. They're never good defensively either. IU was bound to crush them because UNC plays right into their hands. UNC is a team that got killed by Butler. They shouldn't be ranked IMO. IUs defense didn't really impress me much in the first half and that was a weakness last year too. They can sure it up, but I'm still curious to see how they do when they play a team that slows things down and makes IU defend. They're defending much better right now in the second half, but UNC just looks lost.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 02:13 PM) I'm no expert, so don't quote me on this, but I remeber hearing that the Eagles system is partly to blame. With Oakland, they just stuck him on the #1 receiver and let him do his thing. But in Philly, it's more of a zone-type defense, so he was asked to play different coverage schemes. That takes away from what he is best at, which is why people questioned Philly's move to give him so much money. I actually think in Oakland he was usually on one side. He didn't follow around the best receiver. That was a big difference between him and Revis. You're correct about man vs zone though. Philly plays him in zone. Or did last year at least. Oakland played a lot of man to man and even played a decent amount of cover 0 with man underneath. Namdi is clearly a great man defender and I'm not sure why they didn't change to man principles.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 09:25 PM) Indiana-North Carolina Position-by-Position Breakdown As much as I dislike IU, I think they should win this game pretty handily. I'd be surprised if it was within single digits. UNC plays extremely uptempo and plays pretty poor defense. I just can't see them hanging with the Hoosiers. And I just looked up the line. IU -9. Sounds about right and I still think they cover.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 02:31 PM) The defense being great is a big part of why ND likely covers (this is assuming that the line really is at or above 10). ND plays a lot more low-scoring games compared to most teams. The bettors seem to have not adjusted to that by making ND either too big of a dog or too big of a favorite in nearly all of their games. Also, even if ND's offense isn't good enough to score a bunch of points against Alabama, they are good enough to string a few first downs together and run some clock. I don't see them just going 3-and-out every single time they have the ball. Finally, the SEC has won the last 6 championship games, which has very little to do with this year's game but will influence the line. Always look for "sucker" factors that push the line one way or the other. I'm trying to think of logical scores where Bama doesn't win by 10+ and it's difficult. 13-6? I really don't know. Bama hasn't scored under 20 points in any games this year. ND is the best defense they will face, but Alabama is one of the best offenses ND will face (Bama won't get beat up physically like OU). Alabama's run O vs NDs run D should be amazing to watch. Strength vs strength. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm having a lot of difficulty picturing ND score 10+ points.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 02:11 PM) The backup was inexperienced for sure, but he's awfully talented. Probably would have started for 90% of FBS teams. Maybe not the 16th best team, but certainly no pushover given the circumstances and pressure ND was facing. Not exactly like beating Auburn to reach the SEC title game. Nevertheless, if you move USC down on that list to make up for Barkley missing the game, then the scheduls are very, very close in terms of overall strength. ND just got lucky because they had really no tough games in back-to-back weeks. Nothing comparable to TAMU & LSU obviously. I'm not trying to discount what ND did. They were impressive. My initial post was only disagreeing a bit with what RockRaines said about Bama's schedule being easier. After doing research I'm even more comfortable with my stance. I don't really care about SOS, though. I just like talking about the potential ND-Bama matchup to get different perspectives on how the game might play out and important matchups in the game for betting purposes. You're not helping me out at all on this. I know you firmly believe ND covers whatever the line may be and you probably think they might even win. That's fine, but can you at least tell me why (other than NDs defense is so great!)

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 02:00 PM) 3 of USC's losses were to Top 10 teams and another was to a Top 15 team and none were by more than 11 points, so yeah, that's how the computers rank you in the Top 20 despite 5 losses. That's fantastic, but Barkley didn't play against ND and if you think that counts for nothing, well then I don't know. I just don't think USC is the 16th best team country without Barkley. If you do that's fine.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 01:47 PM) Sagarin Ratings of opponents: ND / Alabama 8 / 7 9 / 11 16 / 20 20 / 33 37 / 36 39 / 43 52 / 54 62 / 65 66 / 87 73 / 84 113 / 127 121 / 204 ND had the tougher schedule by a fair margin, and also won every game. Weren't you the one who mentioned a letdown spot earlier to excuse NDs near loss to Pitt? Now imagine that letdown spot was played against Texas A&M. Take off the blinders, sir. Oh dear, after doing 3 minutes of research I noticed that USC is the 16 that is on that list. The 7-5 USC trojans who were playing without Matt Barkley. Seems legit.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 01:19 PM) Bama played an easier road compared to ND if you really look at it. 2 ranked teams, beat one. I think it would be very difficult to say anyone has blinders on at this point since it's very hard to say one thing or another about the quality of the teams that MAY play in the title game. Maybe after the SEC championship game we will know more because that will be the toughest test for both Bama and Georgia all year. It really depends on how you look at it. First of all, I count 3 ranked teams for both of them (Michigan, Oklahoma, and Stanford for ND and Michigan, TAMU, and LSU for Bama). Second of all, Pitt (who was the let down game and a game that ND should have lost) came after Oklahoma. LSU was followed by TAMU for Bama. To me that's tougher. Just my opinion though.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 11:08 AM) Stanford's offensive line is awfully good. You can keep the blinders on as much as you want, nobody should be a 10 point favorite over a team with ND's defense. Blinders on? You do realize that every single one of Bama's offensive lineman has a chance to play in the NFL, right (the lone question mark is Steen)? Jones, Fluker, and Warmack all will likely go in the top 50 of the draft this year. Cyrus Kouandjio, who is so talented that he made Bama move Jones (last year's Outland Award winner at LT) to center, will also be playing on Sundays in two years. Yes, but I'm the one with the blinders on. You also haven't really talked about how ND can effectively move the ball and score against Bama's defense. You basically ignored my points, claimed that Stanford has a good O-Line, and said that I was wearing blinders. Cool.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 05:28 PM) Alabama scores plenty, but ND is giving up an average of 11 points per game so a line of 10 points is ridiculous. Oklahoma, USC, and Michigan are all pretty potent offenses that couldn't manage more than 13 points against ND. USC was starting a freshman at QB, Oklahoma plays in the Big 12 (which refuses to play defense except for K State who they scored 19 against), and Michigan was really inconsistent (9 points against Nebraska?). ND no doubt has a really, really good defense, but a big factor to their D is their line usually winning the LOS battle. That's not going to be so easy against Bama. At all. Bama will easily be the best O-Line they face all year (IMO). I think that's going to be the deciding factor. That on top of NDs inability to move the ball on Bama should lead to a double digit win I think. Kelly could come out with some sort of wrinkle on offense, but I just can't picture them having any success on offense.

Game was never in doubt

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 12:27 PM) Yes, I meant + and have fixed that. Go ahead and name your amount. You have a bet. I'll get back to you after the game is set and the line posts.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 25, 2012 -> 12:09 PM) There won't be an official line for a week or so, but I've seen projections that ND would be anywhere from -10 to -11½ against Alabama with a money line of about 2½ to 1. I'm guessing you mean + the points. Either way I'm taking Bama.

I know it's only been a few games and Kevin Martin can't keep up what he's doing, but it's interesting to look at the trade a few weeks into it. Harden started off like a mad man, but his season FG% now sits at 42.8 and he's averaging 4 TOs a game. His TS% last year was 66 and this year it's 56. He shot 39% from 3 last year and this year is shooting 28.6% Kevin Martin is averaging almost 18 points on a 70.2% TS%. He's also shooting a ridiculous 53.6% from 3 thus far. Those Martin numbers are clearly unsustainable, but maybe playing alongside Durant and Westbrook is a bigger advantage than initially thought.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 20, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) Thanks... I am very partial to Lovie...but I would be very intrigued by the possibility of Chip Kelly as head coach... Seriously? His offense has trouble against college teams that have talent on defense. I just can't see him being a successful NFL coach. What do you find intriguing about him?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 5, 2012 -> 10:47 AM) I had a 6 team parlay for fun...hit the first 5 in the morning...had the Raiders in the afternoon -2....then they allowed Doug Martin to run through them like it was a high school game...$1500 down the drain...boo hoo. Why not hedge at that point?

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Nov 3, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) This was never going to be close. You have a team that looks incredibly poorly coached that also has no talent. Thanks Ron Guenther for not firing Zook when you should have in 2009. I know it wasn't going to be close. I posted on the last page how tOSU looked like an easy play at -27.5. Beckman just looks like a terrible coach.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) No, UAB is the worst, and ILL plays OSU tough especially in Columbus. 7 of the last 11 there. I'm telling you it will be close. Yeah, real close so far.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 03:18 PM) Second oldest trophy in the conference. I am still putting cash on the Illini, there is no way OSU covers, zero. Teams that the Illini have lost by more than 27.5 points to this year: La Tech, Michigan, Arizona State, and Penn State. The Illini might cover because Vegas is ridiculous, but I can't find a reason why to bet on the Illini. This will probably be the worst team tOSU plays this year.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Nov 2, 2012 -> 02:38 PM) Rock, run for your life. http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2012/11/1579...ven+Warriors%29 The line of this game opened up at like tOSU -24.5 (when I checked Sunday night). It's at 27.5 now and the buckeyes still look like the easy play. I'm trying to think of a spread where I would take the Illini and I honestly can't think of one (in the realm of possibilities of course).

QUOTE (gatnom @ Oct 27, 2012 -> 06:00 PM) Well, at the very least s***ting on your first year head coach isn't going to help anything. I expected 6 wins myself. The DC has been horrible, and I hope they fire him after the season. However, you can't deny that we've had a lot of injuries, and a lot of Zook's best talent has already left the team (or never even arrived). How high above IU do you see UI? UI should be well above IU. Is this a joke? Indiana has been to 1 bowl game since 1993. The Illini have been to two BCS games in the past 12 years. Indiana hasn't won a bowl game since 1991. They've been to 9 bowl games and have won 3. Their winning percentage all-time is .425. They hadn't won a big ten game since, what, 2010? The Illini aren't great historically, but they're CLEARLY better than IU. The Illini beat IU by 3 TDs last year. Losing to them at home (it was the homecoming game too), after a bye, and to a second string qb is just sad. Beckman is clearly in over his head. It looks like the Illini got Dan Hawkins.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 21, 2012 -> 09:55 PM) Anybody still watching The Challenge? Is it just me or this the worst season ever? Maybe it's because I don't know half this people, or maybe these people just suck at life? Pretty weak season though, really hoping that Brooklyn or Vegas hang on and win it all. Yeah, I just caught up recently and it's very meh. By far the worst season IMO. Wes was one of the few interesting characters and he got knocked out too early. I don't understand how big easy keeps getting invited. He's useless.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Oct 11, 2012 -> 11:22 AM) The thing I hate most about Lebron and Wade is how much they flop. They're 2 of the best players in the NBA and they flop so damn much, they're shameless about it. I would root for the Bulls regardless but I'd be like "Go Bulls! Oh Lebron is a dick, I hate that guy. But go Bulls, yay!" How did you feel about AJ during his time with the twins and how do you feel about him now? Just curious.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 10, 2012 -> 06:25 AM) Supposedly a big portion of Sprints LTE network is going live this year in Chicago, so you won't have to suffer long. I actually work in a warehouse by Pershing and Western and get LTE in the warehouse for some reason. I take the pershing bus to morgan and walk to 35th where I have a condo and I usually get LTE during the walk also. I get it nowhere else. It's weird.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 5, 2012 -> 03:03 PM) Simply not true but I can understand you probably think these things happened. Obviously I know most about OSU and things academically have never been better and weren't affected at all by the football teams issues. I was being sarcastic. I should have done it in green. Sorry. :/