College Football Week 14 (Conference Championship Week) discussion

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

You have to love a system where the postseason is determined by potential TV ratings and attendance. If only the NFL could find a way to get the reps from Tostitos involved in the selection of their playoff teams.

"We know you suck, Washington. But Redskins fans are going to fill up Fed Ex Field! Sorry, Bengals- you lost your playoff spot. No one wants to see you."

SI

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Doh... beat me to it.

You hearing any more on the Gator matchup? I saw someone say that VPI and Tennessee have already agreed to the Chicken Bowl, but who knows if that is true or not?

Someone on our Rivals board has an Auburn daughter and said he just got a recorded call from Gene Chizik saying Auburn to the Chicken bowl. VT is saying they get an official invite tomorrow morning.

Probably not going to find out until tomorrow.

[Recoil]

Any more rumors about FSU to the Gator? IMO, that's CU's bowl. Fuck Bowden and entitlement.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Recoil

Any more rumors about FSU to the Gator? IMO, that's CU's bowl. Fuck Bowden and entitlement.

FSU unless the ACC figures out a way to block it between now and tomorrow morning (assuming VT gets the Peach invite).

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Are we judging everything by one game? Who else deserves this spot more? It's not that there aren't legit claims out there but it's not like there's a great argument out there for any other one team.

SI

I don't have a horse in this race but a winning margin of 7.9 is the most damnable evidence for UT along with a poor out of conference schedule .Florida alos had a weak one of those as well. I would prefer TCU after Cincy squeaked by today but they also would be a better choice. But, we all know the NC game Bama opponent will be picked based on whom will draw the best TV ratings and travels the best.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Someone on our Rivals board has an Auburn daughter and said he just got a recorded call from Gene Chizik saying Auburn to the Chicken bowl. VT is saying they get an official invite tomorrow morning.

Probably not going to find out until tomorrow.

Which would in turn suggest that Tennessee might up in the bowl they wanted badly all along, which was the Outback (since the strong rumor earlier in the week was that they were going to take Auburn).

[ISiddiqui]

What an amazing college football day! IMO, I'd take Cincy as the #2 team the country, but I'm conference biased (though Texas doesn't look like anything special and I think TCU or Cincy is just as good if not better).

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

"We know you suck, Washington. But Redskins fans are going to fill up Fed Ex Field! Sorry, Bengals- you lost your playoff spot. No one wants to see you."

SI

FU

51 straight sellouts says otherwise =)

[dawgfan]

Great way to end the season today by Washington with the best game they've played all year. It was cold, but a lot of fun. I'm straining to think of the last time we blew out a good team like that.

That said, I don't think Cal was playing with a lot of motivation today - they just didn't look like they really cared. I'll take it though - it was nice to see how good this team is capable of playing, and it made the sting of losing to Notre Dame, UCLA and Arizona State all the worse.

Great to hear the crowd repeatedly chanting "One more year!" for Locker. I'm preparing myself for the possibility he leaves, but there are reasonable arguments for why he might stay.

[dawgfan]

Dola - with all the talk about Suh, I'm going to have to make an effort to watch Nebraska's bowl game and see how he compares to the best college DT I've ever seen - Steve Emtman.

[Young Drachma]

Here's the highlight from the Fresno State game:

[RainMaker]

The projections from ESPN:

Texas/Alabama - BCS
Ohio State/Oregon - Rose
Florida/Cincinnati - Sugar
TCU/Boise - Fiesta
Iowa/Georgia Tech - Orange

None of the games really stand out much. The Championship is going to be a shitkicking and the others don't offer up much intrigue. I guess the most interesting is the Sugar Bowl to see how Cincinnati stacks up against a powerhouse while seeing one of the greatest college players ever play his final game. I don't think Boise can hang with TCU at all. I think Oregon handles Ohio State and the Orange Bowl looks brutal.

The matchups seemed better in previous years as I think I watched most of the games. This year I only see myself watching the Sugar and Fiesta Bowl, along with the first half or so of the Championship till Alabama puts it out of reach.

[clemsonfan]

That was heartbreaking last night. Congratulations to GT and good luck to them at the Orange Bowl. They were the better team last night.

[gstelmack]

On the discussion of who deserves to be in the NC game, keep in mind that Florida, Alabama, and Texas ALL had key official help to win games they were headed towards losing. TCU, Cincy, and Boise State weren't plastered all over the national news nearly as much, so I don't know if they also got help from their conference officials.

The fundamental problem I have is that TCU, Cincy, and Boise State don't have any chance at getting into the NC picture, given how big a weight the AP poll has and how much it's based on where everyone thinks you are to start the season, and that's a tragedy.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

On the discussion of who deserves to be in the NC game, keep in mind that Florida, Alabama, and Texas ALL had key official help to win games they were headed towards losing. TCU, Cincy, and Boise State weren't plastered all over the national news nearly as much, so I don't know if they also got help from their conference officials.

The fundamental problem I have is that TCU, Cincy, and Boise State don't have any chance at getting into the NC picture, given how big a weight the AP poll has and how much it's based on where everyone thinks you are to start the season, and that's a tragedy.

My guess is you mean the coach's poll, since the AP poll is no longer used in the BCS formula?

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

My guess is you mean the coach's poll, since the AP poll is no longer used in the BCS formula?

Yeah. Too early in the morning, so I make stupid mistakes like that.

[Matthean]

Also note the computers ignore the margin of victory so Texas just winning by one doesn't matter. What matters is they won.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by RendeR

FU

51 straight sellouts says otherwise =)

Sorry, I had to pick a random team and they were the ones atop a division who didn't have a lot of prolonged success. It was between them and the Cardinals. Nothing personal

SI

[miked]

Man, I hope RU gets the nod over PIT in the Meineke Bowl. I can drive to Charlotte and would rather see RU play a decent ACC team than go to the St. Crappiburg Bowl to play UCF or the International Bowl against Temple or some shit.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Lathum

My buddy seems to think it will be RU vs. Miami.

I just heard that Schiano cancelled a noon interview becuase the bowl game situation has not been resolved. Supposedly the tubes of the internet are reporting that the Providence mob is trying to push the Meineke to take Pitt due to their ranking while Meineke wants Rutgers because they travel better.

Supposedly it's down to either Meineke or St. Pete's.

[miked]

Miami will be in the Champs Sports Bowl. I think they pick before the Meineke and UNC will sell big tickets.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RendeR

FU

51 straight sellouts says otherwise =)

HAve you ever been to Cincinnati? There is nothing else to do there.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Jon

I just heard that Schiano cancelled a noon interview becuase the bowl game situation has not been resolved. Supposedly the tubes of the internet are reporting that the Providence mob is trying to push the Meineke to take Pitt due to their ranking while Meineke wants Rutgers because they travel better.

Supposedly it's down to either Meineke or St. Pete's.

update.

My buddy just texted me and this is accurate, they still don't know where they are going.

[Lathum]

dola-

Bengals had to give away 1000 tickets so they wouldn't be blacked out opening week.

Bengals blackout for Denver is lifted

[sterlingice]

Hey, we need to get this thread back on track, talking about how crappy the BCS is and not about how bad the Bengals are

SI

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Lathum

HAve you ever been to Cincinnati? There is nothing else to do there.

You must not have looked very hard when you lived here.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

You must not have looked very hard when you lived here.

As far as major cities go Cincinnati sucks. No culture, no nightlife, no vibrancy about it whatsoever. It is just a lame, lame excuse for a city.

When Cadillac Ranch is the hopping nightspot that is a bad sign and what kind of city has all the fast food joints close down at five?

People work in Cincinnati, that's it. Then they drive home to Mason, etc...

I have lived in or visited the majority of major US cities and Cincinnati is one of the worst in terms of stuff to do. Its just plain boring.

[JPhillips]

I'm going going to defend a lot about Cincy, but it does have one of the better Modern Art museums in the country and a respectable professional theatre company.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

On the discussion of who deserves to be in the NC game, keep in mind that Florida, Alabama, and Texas ALL had key official help to win games they were headed towards losing. TCU, Cincy, and Boise State weren't plastered all over the national news nearly as much, so I don't know if they also got help from their conference officials.

The fundamental problem I have is that TCU, Cincy, and Boise State don't have any chance at getting into the NC picture, given how big a weight the AP poll has and how much it's based on where everyone thinks you are to start the season, and that's a tragedy.

Cincy was the beneficiary of a pretty shady fumble overturn that not only gave them the ball back, but also awarded them a touchdown (even though the review was to see if the fumble was before the runner was down, not whether or not the ball crossed the goal line) against WVU in a game that they ended up winning by 3-points.

[Eaglesfan27]

Charlie Weiss has accused Pete Carroll of "living with a grad student" in an interview that has been picked up by the national media. If it is true, I'm very disappointed in PC. If it is false, Charlie Weiss is a big piece of shit who deserves to be sued. Pete has already issued a strong denial.

Here is an ESPN story on the accusation which has the quotes in question:Report: Charlie Weis snipes at Pete Carroll, who denies it - ESPN

Here is Pete's denial to the LA Times: USC football: Pete Carroll denies allegation in Internet post [Updated] | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

[Eaglesfan27]

Weiss is already backpedaling with a BS excuse that he was talking hypothetically about how internet rumors can hurt a coach:

USC football: Charlie Weis says comments about Pete Carroll were taken out of context | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Charlie Weiss has accused Pete Carroll of "living with a grad student" in an interview that has been picked up by the national media. If it is true, I'm very disappointed in PC. If it is false, Charlie Weiss is a big piece of shit who deserves to be sued. Pete has already issued a strong denial.

Here is an ESPN story on the accusation which has the quotes in question:Report: Charlie Weis snipes at Pete Carroll, who denies it - ESPN

Here is Pete's denial to the LA Times: USC football: Pete Carroll denies allegation in Internet post [Updated] | The Fabulous Forum | Los Angeles Times

I saw that. Pretty shitty of CW, whether true or false, in my opinion. I'm no fan of Pete Carroll (although I don't hate him like a lot of folks do), but there is no need for Weis to throw him under the bus on his way out.

If he is comfortable enough to talk about someone else to the media like that, I'd love to see the kind of things he said to recruits while he was on the road.

[Noop]

- Bobby Bowden retires; Florida State can become a modern team.
- Florida State has a flood of commitments.
- Florida lost; still haven't had an undefeated season.
- Clemson lost; in time fellas, in time.
- Tebow cried; what a bitch.
- Cincy won; I wish there was a playoff.
- USC lost; was the stadium really half empty?
- Texas won....barely; lucky, lucky, lucky, I believe the championship game will be an old fashioned defensive battle.

Overall: Best weekend of college football in a long time.

[Young Drachma]

AP Poll released

2009 NCAA College Football Polls and Rankings for Week 15 - ESPN

1 Alabama (58) 13-0 1498 2
2 Texas (2) 13-0 1425 3
3 TCU 12-0 1376 4
4 Cincinnati 12-0 1302 5
5 Florida 12-1 1253 1
6 Boise State 13-0 1237 6
7 Oregon 10-2 1128 7
8 Ohio State 10-2 1080 8
9 Georgia Tech 11-2 952 12
10 Iowa 10-2 925 9
11 Penn State 10-2 883 10
12 Virginia Tech 9-3 866 11
13 LSU 9-3 686 15
14 Miami (FL) 9-3 660 17
15 Brigham Young 10-2 658 16
16 Oregon State 8-4 524 13
17 Pittsburgh 9-3 514 14
18 West Virginia 9-3 447 24
19 Stanford 8-4 390 23
20 Nebraska 9-4 371 21
21 Oklahoma State 9-3 349 22
22 Arizona 8-4 323 NR
23 Utah 9-3 151 NR
24 Wisconsin 9-3 133 NR
25 Central Michigan 11-2 64 NR

Hehe...look at the others receiving votes. Someone was being funny (not that I mind the Griz..just saying)

* Dropped from rankings: Houston 18, California 19, USC 20, Clemson 25

* Others receiving votes: East Carolina 53, Houston 50, Texas Tech 44, Northwestern 35, Clemson 31, California 14, Mississippi 14, USC 8, Oklahoma 7, North Carolina 7, Tennessee 6, Missouri 4, Montana 1, Georgia 1

[Young Drachma]

I know the AP poll means nothing for the BCS. But I use it in my computer ranking, so I wait for it and forgot it has no significance at all. But if anyone was going to be "edgy" is would've been the trashpress and well...there ya go.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

* Others receiving votes: California 14, Mississippi 14, USC 8, Oklahoma 7, Georgia 1

All top 15 teams, weren't they?

[Swaggs]

I'm looking forward to the coaches' poll results being published later today -- I think/hope they still do that.

[Swaggs]

It appears that the Meineke Car Care Bowl may take Pitt and UNC, which would be a pretty good match up. Pitt officials have reportedly told bowl officials that they don't think they can sell the 12,500 tickets that they are required to take (if they can't sell them, the school has to eat the cost), but UNC wants Pitt and has agreed to "help" sell their tickets.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

It appears that the Meineke Car Care Bowl may take Pitt and UNC, which would be a pretty good match up. Pitt officials have reportedly told bowl officials that they don't think they can sell the 12,500 tickets that they are required to take (if they can't sell them, the school has to eat the cost), but UNC wants Pitt and has agreed to "help" sell their tickets.

I just heard that Meineke met at noon and there's still no consensus. A meeting has been scheduled for 4 PM to make the decision.

Supposedly Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti has basically told Meineke that the tickets are practically sold for Charlotte (I guess he's basing this on the RU online bowl application process where you basically say what bowl games you want tickets for before the school accepts a bid, I don't know). Charlotte is a nice quick plane trip from here (as is St. Pete's).

I wonder if this is holding up the rest of the Big East affiliated bowls (Papajohns.com, International, St. Pete), or if it's a case that the last bowl gets who's left. I would assume it holds it up because Papajohns would likely take Pitt in that scenario.

I also heard about the bowl allotment issue, but supposedly Pitt has also said that they would rather play a SEC team rather than an ACC one. That's what happens when your team doesn't travel well.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

It appears that the Meineke Car Care Bowl may take Pitt and UNC, which would be a pretty good match up. Pitt officials have reportedly told bowl officials that they don't think they can sell the 12,500 tickets that they are required to take (if they can't sell them, the school has to eat the cost), but UNC wants Pitt and has agreed to "help" sell their tickets.

Seems like it's going to go that way. While I would've liked the Meineke, playing UNC does nothing for me since we played them for the two years prior to this one and will have them again for two years coming up. At this point, I'd rather play SC in Birmingham but we might be sent to Toronto to play a fuckin MAC team.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by Logan

Seems like it's going to go that way. While I would've liked the Meineke, playing UNC does nothing for me since we played them for the two years prior to this one and will have them again for two years coming up. At this point, I'd rather play SC in Birmingham but we might be sent to Toronto to play a fuckin MAC team.

I would much rather Rutgers get the shot to demonstrate how well that they are capable of travelling. A good showing from them, and the Big East begins to look a little more attractive in future bowl negotations.

[Logan]

Yep, UConn to the Pizza Bowl.

[yacovfb]

Pitt's beat writer just said we're heading to Charlotte. It's actually the closest drive for me but the date sucks (Dec 26). Still going to go with a buddy of mine, so hopefully the bars in downtown Charlotte are open on Christmas.

Also looking like UConn to the PapaJohns.

[miked]

Hey, take us...we're an ok team and don't travel...yay!

I guess UNC is tired of playing us?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I would much rather Rutgers get the shot to demonstrate how well that they are capable of travelling. A good showing from them, and the Big East begins to look a little more attractive in future bowl negotations.

Exactly. Pushing Pitt on a bowl that doesn't want them isn't going to help the Big East get a better bowl lineup in the future.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I would much rather Rutgers get the shot to demonstrate how well that they are capable of travelling. A good showing from them, and the Big East begins to look a little more attractive in future bowl negotations.

Yeah, I heard we told the Meineke people that we would've brought a minimum of 20k to Charlotte. Probably could've been up to 25k if the game was a day later on the 27th instead of the day after Xmas. That's why the bowl people wanted us but the Big East stepped in and sought this deal that would get Pitt into the game.

I have a lot of work friends in Charlotte who tell me how the city is in financial ruin. Amazing to me that the bowl committee wants not only one fanbase to be local where they're keeping potential money away from local businesses, but they've set it up so that fanbase can subsidize the other team and keep even more dollars from coming to visit.

[Jon]

I just read that the Providence mob pushed Pitt into the Mieneke.

Now it's looking like USF-UCF rematch at the St. Pete's bowl and Rutgers-NIU in the INternational Bowl.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by miked

Hey, take us...we're an ok team and don't travel...yay!

I guess UNC is tired of playing us?

I can't blame them. Like I said, if we're not playing in a bowl game that "means something" (BCS or to a lesser extent Gator) I want to play in an interesting matchup and there's no juice in a Rutgers - UNC game for either set of fans. Miami-RU would've been fun.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Logan

I can't blame them. Like I said, if we're not playing in a bowl game that "means something" (BCS or to a lesser extent Gator) I want to play in an interesting matchup and there's no juice in a Rutgers - UNC game for either set of fans. Miami-RU would've been fun.

Rutgers does play UNC next year, though, which supposedly was a factor.

[Logan]

Yeah, I mentioned that a few posts above.

We'll probably bring 3000 fans to Toronto.