College Football Official Week 12 Thread
 

#5 Louisville v. Houston - Thurs. 8 PM
Arkansas St. v. Troy - Thurs. 9:30 PM (Battle for Sun Belt title)
UNLV v. Boise St. - Fri. 9 PM

Saturday
#11 Oklahoma St. v. TCU - Noon
#2 Ohio St. v. Michigan St. - Noon
UTSA v. #25 Texas A&M - Noon
Maryland v. #18 Nebraska - Noon
#7 Wisconsin v. Purdue - Noon
#23 Florida v. #16 LSU - 1 PM
Oregon v. #12 Utah - 2 PM
#17 Florida St. v. Syracuse - 3:30
Buffalo v. #21 W. Michigan - 3:30
#22 Washington St. v. #10 Colorado - 3:30
San Diego St. v. Wyoming - 3:30
Virginia Tech v. Notre Dame - 3:30
Missouri v. #19 Tennessee - 3:30
The Citadel v. North Carolina - 3:30
Indiana v. #3 Michigan - 3:30
#24 Stanford v. California - 5:30
#4 Clemson v. Wake Forest - 7 PM
Chattanooga v. #1 Alabama - 7 PM
Alabama A&M v. #15 Auburn - 7 PM
Arizona St. v. #6 Washington - 7:30
#8 Penn St. v. Rutgers - 8 PM
#9 Oklahoma v. #14 W. Virginia - 8 PM
#13 USC v. UCLA - 10:30

Mega hyped for Troy Vs ASU

Iowa plays the Cheatin' Illini. Hope there isnt a let down after the big upset.

Can't wait to watch USC-UCLA even if I will be up past 2 AM to watch it. *grumble at commissioner*

That teal field at Coastal Carolina looks great.

Feel the Teal! :)

I read that Iowa State's last NFL first round pick was in 1973.

The next longest drought without a first round pick is Indiana in '94.

Awesome. I love Iowa State negative trivia.

Maybe Houston should only play Power 5 teams.

Somebody tell me again how Louisville should be in the playoff.

Assuming they lose this game, they shouldn't be. Based on what happened before? Yes, they should be. College football is crazy sometimes. They seem to have had enough the last couple weeks to bottle and sell it though.

Not sure how the heck I was the only one that had figured out how overrated their (soon-to-be-former) Heisman candidate was. {shrug}

They're Houston, v2.0

If they win this, Houston has more wins over top 25 teams.

I know right! The lost at Clemson for god sakes, the same Clemson team who lost to Pittsburgh, and they lost to a lousy North Carolina team. Eff em all. And while we're at it, how the hell does a shitty Michigan team that lost to a lousy Iowa team who couldn't even beat North Dakota deserve to be in a playoff? Maybe if they beat Ohio State but still, Ohio State lost to a shitty Penn State team who couldn't even beat that shitty Pittsburgh team who lost to a crappy Big 12 team like Oklahoma State. College Football would be so much fun if there weren't so many shitty god damn teams out there.

Ok, but show me someone who, before the games were played, said Penn State was as good as Ohio State, Iowa was as good as Michigan, Pitt was as good as Clemson, etc. and I'll show you a liar.

Louisville's loss coming in was demonstrably better(almost winning at Clemson) than Clemson's, or Ohio State's, or Michigan's, or Washington's, etc. They also had some poor performances, but the idea that there wasn't a good argument for them is just illogical.

Edit: Very well played Suicane :).

Iowa should have a better record. But then again, Iowa has Kirk Ferentz as their coach.

Oh well. Beating Michigan was awesome.

It's pretty much Bama and truck load of dwarves again this year frankly.
It gets tiresome at times but it is what it is.

One of the reasons I argued against the whole playoff foolishness in the first place, it's rare there's more than 1-2 teams worthy of discussion at that lofty level. There certainly aren't four this year that appear to have any reason to be allowed to see a championship game without buying a ticket.

Eh, it still gives us a couple more games and a coronation. And talk about who gets in which wouldn't be there if the NC was a foregone conclusion.

No such drama tonight. Coastal scored early and often and won 42-7. A very satisfying end to the rivalry :)

good thing transitive relation doesnt work in sports, especially in college football.
osu loss to penn st. at the time, wasnt so great, but in the end, might not be thta much of a blemish. psu has the potential (assuming they win out and lou loses) to be a top 5 team if not 4th if osu beats michigan.

to help answer jons' question though, i am of the opinion that many fans of college football in general clamour for that new fresh team to make it. louisville fit that bill. they have a fun qb to watch and they arent alabama, oregon, osu, big 12 team etc.

all this lou soon to be loss does is help wash and a possible 2 loss psu/wiscy BIG champ get in the playoffs. Bama and Clemson should have their ticket booked. its a 5 team race now for the last 2 spots (osu, mich, psu, wisc and wash) now i think.

No shot for WVU if they win out? (Or Oklahoma, for that matter.)

Alabama should be awarded a trophy and this bowl season should be using the old bowl system. Everyone else is trash.

Alabama hasn't even played a top ten team yet. They'll have to beat two of them to win the title. Why don't we actually have them play the games before handing out trophies, eh?

i dont think so. i think most would agree that the Big 12 is lackluster at best and possibly the weakest power 5 conference this year, right? sooners had a bad loss to houston and were smoked by a YOUNG osu team at home as well. wvu hasnt even played a ranked team and will for the first time this week against oklahoma. even if they win out and win the Big 12, it isnt a good resume.

that is just my opinion.

incorrect. i know what you mean but at the time tenn and tex am were both ranked in the top 10 when the game was played.

What they were ranked then is irrelevant. The SEC East is the worst P5 division, and the SEC West is full of OK teams.

that is also incorrect. it isnt irrelevant. teams ebb and flow. they were ranked in the topo 10 at the time the game was played. they could fall off the face of the earth afterward but you cant take away from the game at the time.

i do agree with you that the SEC East is bad and the West is just ok. SEC as a whole is highly overrated and quite frankly, they usually are.

So we should all treat that Notre Dame-Texas game as the important top-25 game it was at the time? Or should we rightly disregard it as two overrated teams that played a fun but meaningless game?

At what point does Lamar Jackson take some blame for these sacks by just holding the ball too long and not throwing some of it away?

dude, i get your point. i said as much. but you were incorrect in stating they havent played a top 10 team. they did, they played 2 at the time past midway point of the season not at a preseason ranking when no games had even been played.

your nd/texas point is valid. but it was preseason. tenn and tex am were games 7 and 8 for Bama in October. Tad bit of a difference and you know it. maybe next time clearly state you meant that they havent played a 'currently ranked top 10 team' even though and ill say it again...i. knew. what. you. meant. :)

and the announcers just gave houston credit for beating 2 top 5 teams in oklahoma and lou even though oklahoma isnt in the top 5 but were at the time.

pfft...its all what argument a person wants to take to help their cause/team :) and btw, im not trying to help bama's cause as im not a fan.

And, people seem to forget, I'm not particularly one either.

I've got connections to Tennessee and I'm reduced to hoping they don't win their division in order to avoid taking another ass whipping from Bama. That is NOT a pleasant situation to be in ... but it's the one that realistically exists.

Don't gotta like reality to accept reality.

Bama is good. Very good. But they aren't other stratosphere good.

In Glenndale last year Bama was a 16 point favorite against Clemson. Yet it took them an onside kick and a run of turnovers to win.

The SEC absolutely wins the dog show. They get more folks and more pomp and circumstance than anyone. They also are very smart and strategic. Again we see the week before Rivalry week the parade of sacrifices drug before the slaughter house.

So the Floridas and SCs of the world get to spend 2 weeks gameplanning for their out of conference rival, they spend 2 weeks late in the season getting healthy, and resting starters, or padding stats for awards finalists. Then if they win those rivalry games they stand on the mountan beat their chest and scream "SEE NO ONE CAN MATCH THE MIGHT ESSS EEEEE SEEEE"...but if feels hollow knowing they were so scared they manipulated their position to do so.

Now dont twist what Im saying. If I was a betting man and I had to lay money on a National Champ right now, its probably Bama. No doubt. But lets not act like Louisville, Ohio State, Clemson and a few others wouldnt have a chance against the mighty AL-A-BAMA....

For Christ sake (here I go with the transitive property BS) LSU gave them all they could handle...while Wisconsin made LSU look silly. ANd this wasnt a grand scheme trickery from LSU, LSU lined up and punched Bama in the mouth all night and dared them to spread it around...and they couldn't.

I've heard for a week now how Clemson doesnt deserve to be in the conversation after their horrible loss last week. Funny no one said that when Bama lost to Ole Miss last year.

Instead the narrative was "Turnovers happen sometimes. Bama turned it over 5 times and lost to Ole Miss." Well what about Clemson turning it over 5 times and BEATING Louisville. What would that score have looked like if they hadn't had 3 turnovers in the red zone.

We don't need to expand the NCAA playoffs beyond 4 teams. Period.

Its ridiculous.

Sure there were past years when a good undefeated team sat out on the Championship game because they were ranked 3rd but that's all over.

Oh, youre ranked 8th and have two losses and want a shot at the NCAA champ? Uh no.

Always breaking records, we are...

Well maybe...remember there was a whole lot of chatter that Ohio State didnt belong at #4 a couple years ago...until they emphatically won it all.

We only have 2 years of history to draw from, but the #1 seed is yet to win it all and the #4 seed has. Telling me, maybe we dont know who the best team is as readily as we think we do.

Or two turnovers in the end zone to Pitt.

Or a turnover returned for a touchdown against NC State.

On second thought, Clemson needs to stop this turnover shit.

Agree 100%. You know this.

All I am saying is how different the narrative is.

I have not at any point jumped on here and beat my chest and proclaimed Clemson as anything, I think by and large Ive been very easy to get along with the last two seasons compared to some others here historically...

But the narrative of over rated is getting a bit tiring.

Yes, the SEC is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Oh wait, the B1G has 4 of the top 8 teams. Ah, to be the best conference.

Honestly, I don't see anyone in the ACC this year staying within three touchdowns of Bama, Clemson included.

Ohio State probably has the best shot of anyone I've seen, at least the proverbial puncher's chance.


Probably about like what Houston just laid on the severely overrated Cardinals. There's a certain irony in one team that was sorely overrated early being the one to expose them.

From my layman's perspective, Ohio State, Clemson and LSU have the most physical ability (mostly in the trenches) to match up with Alabama (and LSU clearly has other issues).

If Clemson wins out, I think they'll end up in the #3 slot, which is probably right. But if the bracket played out as it is set up this week, I'm not sure if there isn't better value in Ohio State to win the whole thing, as I think they're a bigger favorite over Michigan than Alabama is over Clemson.

I'll take Clemson +21 right now and I'll lay $100 to win $10.
You in?

I don't bet anything involving participants that aren't as old as my t-shirt collection.

All I know is this.

Clemson v Bama in the first round in Atlanta would be one of the hardest tickets to get Ive ever seen.

It would be nice if the committee sent a message by dropping every SEC team playing a creampuff this week. Drop LSU and Florida as well, since they had initially scheduled the same way.

Of course you thought Clemson was overrated last year until they played Alabama to within a touchdown in the championship game last year. At times you have tunnel vision. Other times you are spot on.

As for what really happens when a not as talented team(as Alabama) has a letdown performance vs a peak performance of a very good team you can see upsets. When Bama has a letdown performance they still seem to be better than very good teams peak performances.

After the Championship game from last year you gave Clemson a huge compliment, they arent that much different this year. Louisville, prior to the Houston game, had one blemish on their resume. A close loss at Clemson(a great team and a very tough place to play).

I wouldnt rule out Ohio State, Clemson or Michigan all being able to upset Bama under the right circumstances. Do we ignore Michigan as a very good team because of the Iowa game despite destroying the rest of their schedule?

No. We should just ignore Michigan period :)

In all seriousness though, no, we shouldn't ignore them. I've been guilty of writing them off but they actually control their destiny in the BIG more than any other team (in the east anyway).

That's the point we disagree on, it's the reason I'm being relatively tough on them.

For whatever reason(s) this edition appears to be a significant downgrade from last year's team. They are, too often, a team that doesn't appear able/willing to play four quarters (a situation I'm far too familiar with having watched a lot of both UT and Ole Miss this year). Close called repeatedly before they finally didn't manage to get away with it.

IF they decided to play four quarters, they can compete with virtually anybody. Thing is, if you're not seeing that consistently by this point in the season, I don't believe you should expect it nor rely on it.





Here's another difference in what we're seeing / how we're interpreting what we see. The loss at Clemson isn't the reason I heavily discounted L'ville. There can be blemishes without taking a loss. Their struggles against Duke and UVA, along with their unusually weak schedule, all of that indicated to me that they were both overrated (even by me, I had them at #7, rewarding largely for their record rather than going with what I thought they eyeballed as) & quite possibly ripe to be picked.

OSU is going to shit this game away.