College Football 2011-12

I'll take Bama at home in the "Game of the Decade". Same reasons, but ironically, I have that same feeling that LSU could take this one with a key turnover or special teams play.

USCe has been odd. They blew a game early, lost their qb, lost their all world hb, and yet here they sit with just one loss. Arky is enigmatic as well, but they've been solid at home. I'll take the pigs.

Oregon v UW doesn't get much mention b/c it's been rather one sided over the past decade. The Ducks have been very relevant while the Pups might as well have been in WITSEC. Ducks easy, UW can't defend. At all.

A&M @ Oklahoma will be a massacre. Stoops' teams always avenge losses...always. And usually big, especially in Norman. The A&M situation is an absolute mess right now and confidence is low in the locker room. Throw in a very poor defense and it's going to be bad.

As for the upset, I'll go with East Carolina over #25 So Miss. I know we have a So Miss fan on here, but this is not an attempt to wind him up. I just think it's more likely than the other upset options out there.

 

OUCH!!!

Luckily, the eagles were able to score 4 non-offensive TD's and win this one. I thought the Alabama/LSU lived up to all the hype with the defenses. I really want Stanford to beat Oregon this week so we can hopefully have LSU/Stanford for the title game.

Heather, I'm with you 100%. I've always respected that program and their accomplishments and loved watching their defenses. Totally shocked on this announcement. I really hope Paterno did the right things on this. I'll try to reserve judgement until we know more.

 

A quick thought on the LSU-Bama game. Both D's are great, but the QBs (all 3) involved in that game were absolutely horrendous (part of it was the D's, but part was because they stink)

Penn State. This story is shocking and hard to grasp. I also have a soft spot for PSU and went to a game there in the 90's. Just thinking about the lack of action and without the slightest concern for the only person that desperately needed help (the child) is infuriating. Sorry Joe Pa, but your statement does not hold water, while you "reported" the incident to your AD (let's not kid ourselves, Paterno has a helluva a lot more power than his "boss"), but where was the follow up??? The University President's initial statement was stupid and embarrassing. Nothing less than a complete house cleaning is in order. Paterno was given the right to leave on his own terms, that's no longer the case. I know we are supposed to wait for legal system to play out, but after reading what the attorney general has against this predator and the victims who have had their lives shattered it's time for decisive action instead of blind eyes.

 

I agree on the offenses in LSU-Bama. The defenses obviously played a role, but not that big of one. LSU played man coverage on Bama's wideouts so they could fill the box and stop the run. As a result, Bama shouldn't have had so much trouble passing the ball. In games against other opposition, LSU's offense has varied and Bama's has been consistently poor. I'm hoping for LSU against anyone but Bama or Boise at this point. And I'd take Boise over a rematch.

On the Penn St thing, they're saying JoePa did meet the legal requirements. However, he has a job where he goes into the living rooms of young men and asks their parents to put their faith in him to coach and mentor their sons. While the law may not have required more, his job and morals should have. I don't believe his career will (or should) survive this, and that's a shame.

 

Dont know how people are surprised about the Penn State scandal, but then again I have NEVER had a soft spot for them. Paterno is like 84 years old and has appeared out to lunch for several years now. There is no way he has been providing the requisite attention for a program that big. Hopefully, this will get him to retire, as he should've done several years ago.

To me the biggest reason Paterno's response was completely inadequate is that he knew Sandusky left Penn to run his foundation to "help" at-risk kids. This was something that absolutely needed to be reported directly to the authorities. However, there are enough similarities between big-time college football and slave labor that I'm not surprized when the people involved have misplaced priorities.

 

Mo, I'm guessing that you meant that we shouldn't be surprised that there is a scandal in college football. If so, I would agree, but they always involve scumbag agents, ego driven boosters, or desperate coach staffs. Occasionally a different scandal ala Ohio State players trading tickets & jerseys for free tattos occurs, but this?? I'm totally shocked that there is a child sex abuse scandal at Penn State (or anywhere for that matter, this is unprecedented). For someone of Joe Pa's stature, who has raised tens of millions (and donated millions of his own cash) for every academic department of the University, this scandal is mind-blowing. I'm disgusted and surprised that he didn't drive straight to this vile person's home and confront him immediately. I know that his age will now be used to protect him, but this incident happened 9 years ago (and there are rumblings that it goes back earlier). 84 or not, he should feel total shame for his inaction.

**Penn State has cancelled Paterno's normal Tues. press conference. I hope this is due to PSU brass preparing to fire him and not continued cowardice (I'm sure it's the latter sadly).

 

Before cancelling the presser, they released a statement to media asking all questions be limited to football and the Nebraska game. Yeah, right. Apparently they came to the same realization and just cancelled it.

 

Re: College Football 2011-12; Paterno Fired

In lieu of maybe the saddest (for the victims)/sickest story in my lifetime of being a sports fan, my usual comments on the biggest games of the week will not make an appearance.

The cover-up, enabling, and inexcusable behavior from multiple people at Penn State (the timeline of events and the grand jury indictment are of public record) that chose to let this predator continue his destruction of innocent lives is unfathomable. A minimum of 13 years with heads turning the other way is mind-numbing. Penn State was a pillar of the college football community for doing things the RIGHT way, for being a program that played great football, but also for the players being STUDENT-athletes. The statue of Paterno on campus has 3 words; Educator, Coach, Humanitarian... One word needs to be added; SHAME.

 

SoCal, I agree with you 100%. unfortunately, there are still 100+ student athletes that will run into that stadium saturday, some for the last time, that had absolutely nothing to do with the situation. I hope the fans still show up to support those young men and cheer them on.

 

I have no doubt the PSU students and fans will turn out in massive support. I just hope that support is more for the team and their school and not centered around Paterno. Unlikely, I know.

I wouldn't worry about adding words to the statue, they'll likely be faced with having to decide whether or not to take it down once this is all said and done.

 

Franco Harris is entitled to his opinion. The fact I think it's disgusting, ignorant and short-sighted is my problem, I guess. There's a special place in hell for everyone involved in this sickening situation. As a person I'm disgusted, as a father, I'm livid that Penn St. personnel looked the other way. And, my heart breaks for the victims - who had no chance given the protectionist culture.

And, great comments, SCJ, to add, that statue needs to come down.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of the overtime rules in college football. And there are still coaches with guts. Just this past week, Central Florida scored with no time on the clock. down by 1, they went for two and failed hallelujah!) and Southern Miss got the win. O'Leary I'm sure will be criticized going for two when one would have sent it to overtime.

 

TCU did the same against Boise St and got the win. I've got mixed feelings on the OT structure. I don't like seeing the scores and stats get run up, but it is more fair than a coin toss and a shortened sudden death OT period. I don't know that it's necessarily better. It's also a better representation of the game than say, penalty kicks in soccer. That said, I don't have a problem with ties either.

No need to be sorry about my team losing....I'm rather used to it at this point. And we don't just lose, we blow big leads in the process.

Wow! What a weekend for upsets. At this point, I think LSU could probably lose and still get into the NC. Boise has to be kicking themselves right now. I still think they'd have probably needed to see Bama lose to Auburn or LSU lose to get in, but this definitely would have been their best shot at the NC had they not been done in by those Horny Toads.

 

Wow is right Matt. #2,4, and 5 all lose. Arkansas know has an opportunity next week at LSU to jump into the mix.

Griffith III at Baylor w/an amazing cannon shot to take down Oklahoma (the crazy deflection earlier helped as well.)

Oregon for some reason took their foot off the pedal and appeared to play for OT, but the kick was a 'Duck hook'

Oklahoma State's kick to win went straight above the upright, but called no-good. Totally surreal after the day started w/the tragic plane crash that took the women's basketball coach.

One other note...Arizona 31 ASWho 27. Even when we are a laughingstock they can't beat us.

 

Great now we will probably get that boring Alabama and LSU game again in the title game. Both offenses are absolute shit against good defenses so we shouldn't expect much more than they showed the last game.

Michigan is on the way back. 9 wins with Ohio State coming to Ann Arbor. Pretty good year and hopefully we can sneak into a BCS bowl.