I notice you aren't telling the haters to dial it down a notch, just me.

I hope I'm not one of these "haters" you speak of. I have no problem with ND and I was just sharing my thoughts on the game. I provided some evidence (showing how one dimensional a team like Stanford was and showing the success the Pitt run game had against ND), but you provided no argument and called me "yellow" because I wouldn't give you double digit points.

 

ND is facing the best defense, the most balanced offense, the best offensive line, and the best coaching staff they've seen all year. The SEC has coveredthe past 6 years in the NC game (Alabama doing it twice- beating an LSU team in a similar situation 21-0). I'll take my chances.

I notice you aren't telling the haters to dial it down a notch, just me.

 

Because you are the only one who needs to dial it down a notch

5dimes.com is opeining at 9½, or 2.95 to 1 on the moneyline.

Lots of line movement. It was 8 on Bookmaker yesterday and it's 9.5 this morning.

Vanderbilt's final coaches' poll ballot:

 

1 Alabama

2 Georgia

3 Florida

4 Notre Dame

5 LSU

6 Oregon

7 Texas A&M

8 South Carolina

 

I don't necessarily disagree in terms of team quality, but that is absurd. ND has zero losses, they deserve to have the #1 ranking.

Because they shouldn't be there...NIU in, as Herbstreit called it, is a joke.

 

Also, BCS bowls don't mean anything? Pretty sure there's a lot of people that normally watch those games.

 

 

No, the draw is watching a good football game. Otherwise just match up every bowl game with mid-majors against BCS teams, and you can try for an upset every game.

 

If the games mean so much, why don't the teams advance with a chance to win a title? They are just more games to line the pockets of the people who run the bowls. Anyway, blame the Big Ten & Big East for being so s***ty, that's the reason why NIU was able to qualify.

If the games mean so much, why don't the teams advance with a chance to win a title? They are just more games to line the pockets of the people who run the bowls. Anyway, blame the Big Ten & Big East for being so s***ty, that's the reason why NIU was able to qualify.

 

The games mean so much because of money. The MAC gets $15M or something like that for getting into a BCS bowl and the Big12 loses out on that $15M by Oklahoma not getting in.

The games mean so much because of money. The MAC gets $15M or something like that for getting into a BCS bowl and the Big12 loses out on that $15M by Oklahoma not getting in.

 

If the money is that important, then the Big 12 shouldn't have agreed to the rules that let NIU qualify for the BCS.

I'm sure they will get crushed, but I am rooting for NIU just out of spite.

I'm sure they will get crushed, but I am rooting for NIU just out of spite.

 

Ditto. And I covered a few kids on the team when they were in high school.

I don't necessarily disagree in terms of team quality, but that is absurd. ND has zero losses, they deserve to have the #1 ranking.

 

yeah but so what. I'm impressed by a number of ND wins, but as has been discussed many times, it's really f***ing hard to get through a really good conference with just 1-2 losses. In the Big 10 (most years), Pac 12, Big 12, SEC, you not only face a lot of good teams in a row, but a number of teams with very different looks. Anyone of them might be a really great matchup to exploit you.

 

It's just a lot easier to go tough matchup - cupcake - cupcake - tough matchup - cupcake - cupcake etc etc then to go through 4 top 25 teams in 5 weeks. That's where that bias is going to come from.

If the money is that important, then the Big 12 shouldn't have agreed to the rules that let NIU qualify for the BCS.

 

I don't think the big conferences ever envisioned the specific set of circumstances that happened this year:

 

1) ND got guaranteed a BCS bid by being ranked #1

2) Florida got guaranteed a BCS bid by being ranked #3 (though a second SEC team would have been picked anyway)

3) The national depth beyond the Top 6-12 teams is so weak that a 12-1 MAC team with a mediocre schedule was able to finish in the Top 16 and get a guaranteed bid.

 

All of this meant that NIU got in and that in total, 9 of the 10 BCS slots were guaranteed and there was only one at-large selection left. Of course, the Fiesta Bowl can't pick Oklahoma to play KSU again, and Oregon had a much better case anyway, so Oklahoma got left out.

 

Of course, there is only one more year of this system and beginning in 2014, one BCS bowl slot is guaranteed to go to a team outside the Top 5 conferences (Big East is getting demoted) no matter what their ranking, so there will be no more "stealing" of bids from the big conferences by the small conferences.

yeah but so what. I'm impressed by a number of ND wins, but as has been discussed many times, it's really f***ing hard to get through a really good conference with just 1-2 losses. In the Big 10 (most years), Pac 12, Big 12, SEC, you not only face a lot of good teams in a row, but a number of teams with very different looks. Anyone of them might be a really great matchup to exploit you.

 

It's just a lot easier to go tough matchup - cupcake - cupcake - tough matchup - cupcake - cupcake etc etc then to go through 4 top 25 teams in 5 weeks. That's where that bias is going to come from.

 

Plus they essentially got a bye to the title game by not playing in a conference. If they had been in the ACC, they probably would have had to be FSU to get the right to play Alabama. Even if they had to play in the Big East title game against a Louisville or Rutgers it would have been something, instead of a free pass. Upsets, while unlikely, do happen in these games on a regular basis.

I don't think the big conferences ever envisioned the specific set of circumstances that happened this year:

 

1) ND got guaranteed a BCS bid by being ranked #1

2) Florida got guaranteed a BCS bid by being ranked #3 (though a second SEC team would have been picked anyway)

3) The national depth beyond the Top 6-12 teams is so weak that a 12-1 MAC team with a mediocre schedule was able to finish in the Top 16 and get a guaranteed bid.

 

All of this meant that NIU got in and that in total, 9 of the 10 BCS slots were guaranteed and there was only one at-large selection left. Of course, the Fiesta Bowl can't pick Oklahoma to play KSU again, and Oregon had a much better case anyway, so Oklahoma got left out.

 

Of course, there is only one more year of this system and beginning in 2014, one BCS bowl slot is guaranteed to go to a team outside the Top 5 conferences (Big East is getting demoted) no matter what their ranking, so there will be no more "stealing" of bids from the big conferences by the small conferences.

 

I realize that it's a crazy set of circumstances, but they happened. Now everyone wants to take them away after the fact. According to the rules of the BCS, NIU is completely deserving. If it was just about the best teams, then Texas A&M and Georgia should be in instead of Wisconsin & Louisville as well.

Plus they essentially got a bye to the title game by not playing in a conference. If they had been in the ACC, they probably would have had to be FSU to get the right to play Alabama. Even if they had to play in the Big East title game against a Louisville or Rutgers it would have been something, instead of a free pass. Upsets, while unlikely, do happen in these games on a regular basis.

 

Big 12 and Big East don't have conference title games either, and even with the conference title game, Alabama still avoided playing Florida and South Carolina.

 

What Notre Dame faced is essentially a major conference schedule:

 

A team that went 8-1 in the Pac-12 and won the conference championship game

A team that went 8-1 in the Big 12 and tied for the conference championship

A team that went 6-2 in the Big 10

A team that went 5-3 in the ACC

A team that went 5-4 in the Pac-12

A team that went 3-4 in the Big East

A team that went 3-5 in the Big 10

A team that went 3-5 in the ACC

 

And then what is more or less a typical non-conference schedule for a major team:

 

An independent that went 7-4

An independent that went 7-5

A 6-6 Big Ten team

A 2-10 ACC team

 

Alabama had to make 6 trips for their 13 games, none of which was farther than 600 miles.

Notre Dame had to make 6 trips for their 12 games, four of which were over 800 miles.

 

If you think that Alabama is better, then you think Alabama is better, but the argument that their schedule was tougher to navigate doesn't hold water.

Big 12 and Big East don't have conference title games either, and even with the conference title game, Alabama still avoided playing Florida and South Carolina.

 

What Notre Dame faced is essentially a major conference schedule:

 

A team that went 8-1 in the Pac-12 and won the conference championship game

A team that went 8-1 in the Big 12 and tied for the conference championship

A team that went 6-2 in the Big 10

A team that went 5-3 in the ACC

A team that went 5-4 in the Pac-12

A team that went 3-4 in the Big East

A team that went 3-5 in the Big 10

A team that went 3-5 in the ACC

 

And then what is more or less a typical non-conference schedule for a major team:

 

An independent that went 7-4

An independent that went 7-5

A 6-6 Big Ten team

A 2-10 ACC team

 

Alabama had to make 6 trips for their 13 games, none of which was farther than 600 miles.

Notre Dame had to make 6 trips for their 12 games, four of which were over 800 miles.

 

If you think that Alabama is better, then you think Alabama is better, but the argument that their schedule was tougher to navigate doesn't hold water.

 

You've gone over the deep end in paranoia to defend your boys. I never said anything quantitative about anyone's schedule.

 

You've gone over the deep end in paranoia to defend your boys. I never said anything quantitative about anyone's schedule.

 

OK, you just agreed with somebody else's comments about ND's schedule, and added a piece about not having to play a championship game.

You've gone over the deep end in paranoia to defend your boys. I never said anything quantitative about anyone's schedule.

He is right though...hard to ask ND to do anything else than what they've done. For the last several years, they've put together a schedule where, if they were to somehow run the table (I don't think anyone outside of South Bend and Lou Holtz thought they would), they would play in the BCS Championship game.

 

Well, here they are.

 

As for the conference championship point, I think that was ruined last year when Alabama reached the BCS Championship game and won without having to play in the conference title game...

 

Say what you want about ND in terms of just how good they are compared to Bama or Oregon or Georgia or Florida or whomever, but with the way the BCS is currently set up, they certainly deserve to be right where they are.

You want to line up schedules, here you go:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sec-ro...-205348035.html

 

To say they didn't play a "tough" schedule or whatever is silly.

Edited December 3, 201213 yr by IlliniKrush

Screw you haters, go Huskies.

Went out of town for the weekend and apparently missed that Dave Doeren was the guy Illinois was secretly trying to get to replace Beckman, but instead he's headed to NC State. Miss a little, miss a lot.

Screw you haters, go Huskies.

 

As of right now, I'm apparently going to the Orange Bowl.

Based on very early lines, but my top 5 dogs and favorites for the bowls:

 

1) Washington +7½

2) NIU +13½

3) Notre Dame +9½

4) Kansas State +8

5) Ball State +7

 

1) Arizona -7½

2) Vanderbilt -5

3) San Jose State -7½

4) Florida -14½

5) Mississippi -2

Based on very early lines, but my top 5 dogs and favorites for the bowls:

 

1) Washington +7½

2) NIU +13½

3) Notre Dame +9½

4) Kansas State +8

5) Ball State +7

 

1) Arizona -7½

2) Vanderbilt -5

3) San Jose State -7½

4) Florida -14½

5) Mississippi -2

 

Betting on college bowl games is tough. You have no idea how teams will react to the long layoff or how that affects game plans and what not. And then some kids enjoy the free gifts and bowl parties and don't care about the game.

Betting on college bowl games is tough. You have no idea how teams will react to the long layoff or how that affects game plans and what not. And then some kids enjoy the free gifts and bowl parties and don't care about the game.

 

Especially one's with little to gain in terms of current draft status

 

NIU's selection as a BCS bowl team proves what I've been saying since I had hair: The BCS system isn't a system at all, but a beater car that keeps getting new coats of paint. It looks OK but can't make it down the block without the engine block falling off.

 

I'm not outraged that Northern is a BCS bowl team. I'm actually happy for the Huskies. I mean, if a five-loss Wisconsin team can play in the Rose Bowl presented by Vizio and Louisville (of the dreadful Big East) can play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, what's so horrible about NIU in the Orange?

 

Oh, I know: FSU is going to crush the Huskies? Really? We know this for sure how?

 

By the way, Louisville is more of an odds 'dog to Florida in the Sugar than NIU is to FSU. And even if the Seminoles do win convincingly -- let's say, by 21 points -- that would be the same margin that Alabama beat LSU in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game last season. Or if the Huskies keep the margin of defeat to fewer than 37 points, they'll have fared better than ACC power team Clemson did in its 70-33 blowout loss to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl last season.

 

So quit worrying about how NIU will hold up against Florida State. Remember, FSU is the same team that lost to NC State earlier this season and imploded in the loss to Florida. So the Noles aren't invincible.

 

Read More: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/...ollege-football

 

Gene Wojciechowski for the win.