College Football 2013-14

On topic: The making of the Urban Meyer legend continues apace. 'nuff said.

What a great story!
Again Off topic:
My own is far humbler. in my disastrous 1 year at "Startup State U" my one personal triumph was my final C+ grade in 'finite math' aka, I guess, 'Calculus'. Thing is, on the grading sheet from exams and coursework, I was a solid F. But the instructor, one of the few African Americans on campus, btw, for some reason called me in for a 1 on 1.
He quizzed me not only on the course but my background and found I was always near the top on math-related but not concentrated courses I had been through. Then started asking me conceptual questions relating to the discipline. He told me I could do the work if it was essential and told me I actually learned sh*t from my HS algebra courses because I knew how to find answers by research and elimination. Just that I perceived visually, not logically.

He told me I should concentrate on a 'Practical Engineering' field. Later, that experience was in the back of my mind when I started my civilian career. I always wished I had kept track of that asst prof. His was the one positive experience I had in college. He was right. If you told me at that time that ten years later I would be not just some by the book tech but actually designing electronic circuits and waveguide systems, I'd have hooted.
But the bottom line is that whatever your venue, Ivy League or Junior College, you can learn something positive if you just give it a chance.

 

The 'invite him to New York' campaign continues for my sister's neighbor's cousin's nephew Jordan Lynch. In below freezing temps, snow, and wind last night making it near impossible to pass all Lynch did was run for 321 yards and 3 tds. Northern Illinois stayed undefeated.

After last week's dire performance against Swansea, sat down and expected Oregon to throttle my boys in Tucson. Instead the Cats dominated the Ducks 42-16 as KaDeem Carey, in what will probably be his final home game, went for 206 yards and 4 trips to the house :bow-yellow:

Rivalries heating up with no more important game than the one in Alabama;

#1 Alabama at #4 Auburn; WIll Alabama end the dream season for Auburn? The best way to move on Bama passing, not a strong suit of Auburn. However, the Tigers are resilient and will look to avenge last year's 49-0 embarrassment. I'll still pick the Tide, but not without some nervous moments.

#2 Florida State at Florida; How the tables have turned, a few years ago FSU was down and the Gators were riding high. Now Florida is 4-7, fresh off a loss to Georgia Southern will be looking not to get humiliated, don't bet on anything but the Noles stomping in The Swamp.

#6 Clemson at #10 South Carolina. Great rivalry with 2 charismatic coaches. WIll pick the home team, even though they are capable of a clunker.

#21 Texas A&M at #5 Missouri. Can the Tigers handle the rarified air? For the Aggies, they have to be hoping the brutal weather they encountered at Baton Rouge doesn't follow them. Expect a bounce back game from Manziel, but Mizzou's D will provide more stops than A&M.

#22 UCLA at #23 USC. The hire Coach O permanently is picking up steam out here and beating the Bruins is going to make things tougher on USC AD Pat Haden to hire someone else.

**Upset Alert**

For dtown; Southern Miss at UAB. Hard to believe such a proud program as USM is winless on the year. UAB has won only 2 games, so hopefully the Golden Eagles can end on a good note.

Arizona at #12 Arizona State. The Scum Devils are tough at home, but it's downright UNAMERICAN to pick the Scum. A vote for Arizona is a vote for apple pie, Uncle Sam, and all things good!!! :flags-usa:

 

Thanks for the shout out SoCal!

Bama in a very tight game, would not be surprised one bit if Auburn pulls this off.

Florida State will roll

I'm going home team as well with South Carolina

Missouri

USC

I'll take the Cats as well.

Thanksgiving day match up Ole Miss/Mississippi State. State is the home team and I don't think Ole Miss has gone back to back in over a decade. However, I think they are just flat out better in every aspect than State. So, I'll take the Rebs in the Egg Bowl.

 

Congrats on the upset over Oregon, Joe.

Unfortunately the Ags fell flat @ LSU, but with our defense, I can't say I'm surprised. Manziel is still struggling through the arm injury he picked up against Auburn and I wonder how much the cold and wet weather affected it. Only reason I bring that up is that he was wildly inaccurate, passed up a number of throws and looked uncomfortable running the ball and eluding pressure, all uncharacteristically. Full credit to LSU for executing their game plan to a tee and earning the win though.

Texas A&M @ Mizzou - I expect Manziel to continue to struggle. Mizzou's defensive front four are very good and will probably be the difference. The Tigers won't struggle putting points on the board against the Ags poor defense and their d-line should get the A&M offense off the field enough to prevent us outscoring them. Tigers win the game and the SEC East.

Bama @ Auburn - Auburn is too one-dimensional on offense and Bama is very good against that one dimension. The rivalry aspect makes me want to give Auburn a chance, but I think Bama wins comfortably, by 2 td's minimum.

Florida State @ Florida - The Gators may well have the best defense that Free Shoes U will see this year. Their offense though is putrid and they make far too many mistakes. While I'm still skeptical of these ACC teams, I think the Noles win this one easy.

Clemson @ South Carolina - Clemson has rolled though the ACC while USCe has ground out results in the SEC. The Gamecocks haven't always been pretty, but they've gotten wins. At home, I think that pays off for them and they beat Clemp.

Arizona @ Arizona St - Both teams defensive strengths are the oppostions offensive strengths. Arizona St is more balanced on both sides of the ball. Guess I'm un-American, I think the Sun Devils roll the Cats.

Upset pick:

UCLA @ USC - The Trojans are on a 5 game winning streak while the Bruins have dropped 3 of their last 6. Almost everything points to an SC win, including the line (-3.5). If this is a defensive game, I think USC wins, but I think it'll be more of a shootout and that favors the Bruins. I'll go with UCLA.

Ironic that during rivalry week we're not talking about the Civil War, Ohio St/Michigan or the matchup between 2 ranked teams ND/Stan. I can't help but think someone big goes down this week. While I'm not calling for the upset, I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan squeaks by Ohio St. Why? There's a benefit to home field in a rivalry game, just ask Mississippi St. Also, Michigan has been good against the run and if they can force the Bucks to pass to beat them, that could play into their hands. The Wolverines are 13th in the nation in interceptions.

 

Matt, I thought about that huge OSU-Michigan oversight a few hours later on the freeway :doh:

Can Michigan stay away from costly turnovers? Not only do they have to avoid them, but they will need to force some themselves. The big key for Michigan to pull it off is to jump out early to gain belief. Can't pick against the Buckeyes, but good call on Michigan giving them all they want.

Stanford has been waiting a year since that controversial ending in South Bend, and it's payback time.

dtown, you had the call on no back to backs in awhile in the Egg Bowl, MSU kept the trend going.

 

I'm going on a limb as a guy who doesn't give a crap about the hype out of Cols.. or the ranking system as a measure.
This is the quintessential Urban Meyers statement game. Either the bloom comes off with a loss or squeaker, or he wins big and inspires fear everywhere.

I agree. And I really like the ND head coach.
Let's put it this way.. Would Stanford have beaten Brian Kelly's UC Bearcats in Cincy? Essentially the same talent pools. .

 

The Iron Bowl...wow.

 

Lol... Even if the Conf championships go the way they should, I pity the BCS wonks on picking the National Championship two. People's heads gonna explode.
:angry-banghead:

BCS National Championship 2013 Projections: How Auburn's Upset Win Impacts Game

You can't quantify a team's season performance based on a high profile rivalry game. That game was Michigan's whole season. suppose Auburn had lost five SEC games. Would that fact result in 'bama's being ranked lower in coaches' poll?
BTW, anyone who thinks it gonna be 'koom-by-ah' in a playoff format is nuts.

 

Right now, I don't care about anything other than the Golden Eagles finally shaking that Monkey. Eagles Win, Jol Gone, now need the broncos to make for the perfect weekend.

In all seriousness, I don't think it matters who is in the Nat'l Championship game. I think Fla State beats anyone they play at this point. I said yesterday I would love to see Bama play Fla State, but thought FSU has the overall talent to beat them. I feel that way with Ohio St, Mizzou, Auburn as well. As long as the media overload on Winston stays manageable, I think FSU will win it all. FSU still has to get by that Duke team though. And don't think Cutcliff won't be throwing everything he has in his offensive mind at them.

 

That Iron Bowl finish was amazing. And congrats to So Miss for ending their losing streak. Good call, Joe.

I'll wait for the Conference Championship games before we get into the merits of who should play for the title. I have a feeling Sparty will sort out the Ohio State aspect for us. I don't think Duke has a snowball's chance in Haiti of doing the same to FSU.

 

Umm... don't be so sure. .. I dont have any qualms at all with them being #1, but the worst thing FSU could do is look past Duke. Big 10 game is same. MSU is a real threat without the psych.

Meantime, Auburn's HC lobbies against OSU being #2 ... WTF! If that Iron Bowl game is played @ Ala, There still might have been a run-back, but the Tide still wins by about 9 points. Sorry, SEC... bragging about Conf superiority sometimes gets your foot shot off. If I'm a ranking voter and I think a 1-loss SEC team qualifies, I go for the Tide. ESPECIALLY looking at the run-back.

No matter the stats I think a lot of the rank voters have in mind the Buckeyes' last season when the only goal was to be unbeaten on the schedule. That meant something.

 

Saturday sports started w/Fulham making Wet Spam look like a top 4 outfit, and ended w/my Cats getting humiliated by the Scum (mercifully, it was shown on the Pac 12 network, so nobody saw it). However, in between it was simply amazing. Watched the first half of the Michigan-Ohio State game and it was what rivalry football is all about. Had tons of errands to do and came home just in time to see Alabama score on a 99 yard td and thinking that was the play to send the Tide on their way...Didn't think it was possible Auburn could top the miracle against Georgia in the next 50 years, but it only took 2 weeks. :shock:

Florida State just has to get by Duke in the ACC title game, should not be much of a problem even though David Cutcliffe should win the National Coach of the Year (Duke 10-2...in football??? :shock: )

Ohio State squeaked by Michigan by the skin of their teeth. Totally agree with the Wolverines going for the 2 pointer and the win, but not sure why they chose a play where 2 WRs were basically next to each other. All that stands between them and the National title game (and no I don't think they are one of the best 2 teams, but that's besides the point) is a Michigan State team who has an offense that HD would approve of In other words Sparty's offense is offensive to watch. MSU's D is legit however, so the Buckeyes will have to stay in the moment.

Congrats dtown, Have to feel good for the kids (especially the seniors).

For USC haters, UCLA's beatdown of the Trojans is actually a bad thing. The feel good story of Coach O getting the gig full time has gone up in smoke (a good thing for SC fans). He did a great job, but all the momentum he was building is gone. He was a disaster at Ole Miss and going 0-2 against Notre Dame and UCLA means he has no chance of getting the head gig.

 

Now that the Winston situation is cleared up, Florida State's journey to Pasadena is one obstacle away.

Games of the Week:

ACC title game #1 Florida ( :doh: I originally forgot the) State v #20 Duke; Give it up for Duke to have a 10 win season. However, just can't see them hanging with the Noles very long.

Big 10 title game #2 Ohio State v #10 Michigan State; Sparty could really throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings if they can knock off the Buckeyes. Ohio State can be shredded threw the air, unfortunately for MSU they aren't even an average passing team. OSU's offense will make enough plays against Sparty's stout defense to get 'er done.

SEC title game #3 Auburn v #5 Missouri; Missouri won 2 conference games last year, which is 2 more than Auburn did :shock: Before the season this had to be close to the most unlikely matchup, but here it is. How much is left in the well for Auburn? I'll guarantee the Tigers winning :mrgreen:, but will only marginally pick the ones from Missouri.

#17 Oklahoma at #6 Oklahoma State; The Cowboys have to be kicking themselves about that loss at West Virginia, otherwise a different OSU would be a win away from the BCS title game. How many times has Oklahoma been the underdog in the Bedlam rivalry? The Sooners will play inspired, but I'll take the home team.

Pac 12 title game: #7 Stanford at #11 Arizona State. It doesn't happen often, but when two good college teams play twice in one year, the squad that loses the initial game has a huge advantage. Sadly the Scum lost at Stanford, and will avenge that loss at home...where is the throw-up icon?

 

I'm surprised to see someone finally pried Petersen out of Boise. He's been targeted and turned down a lot of big schools over the years. If you're a Washington fan, you probably can't help but think you may have just upgraded, without even intending to.

Winston's path to Pasadena and a run away Heisman win are both one obstacle away. Nice typo on the ACC title game, Joe. I'm sure you'd be popular in the Sunshine State. :lol:

FSU v Duke. Great season for Duke. But they're not exceptional on either side of the ball. They've managed to grind out results to get to 10-2. FSU is much better on offense and defense and this won't even be close. Vegas agrees with FSU as a 29.5 pt favorite.

Ohio St v Michigan St. Neither team is particularly good at throwing the ball, however OSU has been exceptional on the ground. Sparty is #1 in the nation at stopping the run. Despite a sputtering offense, MSU has been able to put up points in their "bigger" games. On paper, the Buckeyes should win. But there's just something about them I don't like. They've played too many average teams too close and left too small a margin for error. Their defense has gone missing in "bigger" games. I think this will come down to turnovers and MSU will win a very close one.

Oklahoma @ Okie St. The Cowboys have been very impressive defensively in recent weeks. They have a good offense, they're at home, this should be easy. But their history in this game, even in the Boone Pickens era where they've been good, isn't impressive. Still, the Landthieves are too one dimensional. Okie St rolls.

Auburn v Mizzou. Coming into the SEC, Mizzou was a popular pick to contend for the division. However, injuries derailed their season and they only managed 2 league wins. So I'm not so surprised to see them here, especially after UGa suffered all of those injuries. We could talk about Missouri's front four and how good they are against the run, but then so was Bama. The difference though, is that the Zoo is better at getting to the qb and I think that's where the difference will be. It's hard to pick against destiny's darlings at this point, but I think War Damn Eagle is out of miracles. Should still be a good game, but I think Missouri wins it.

Stanford @ Arizona St. Agree with Joe on this one for the reasons he mentioned. I'll add that the Sun Devils have momentum as well. Stanford is good and got a timely win over Oregon, but they've been exposed by a couple of average teams. I'll continue being un-American and go with ASU.

2 more games of interest.

Texas @ Baylor. This is the game I root for a natural disaster. :lol: Baylor, at home, should win. I only mention it b/c both teams are ranked & the winner wins the B12 if the Sooners trip up Okie St. Texas has more talent than Baylor and gets the cream of the crop on the defensive line. They don't usually make the best use of them, but they're still talented. The key to beating Baylor is stopping their run game. If the Horns can come out like they did against OU, they can win this. If Baylor looks across the field and let's themselves get intimidated, as they've done in the past, the Horns can win. The disgusting, vile, little Bears will win and likely win comfortably. But I won't be surprised if it goes the other way. Too cold for a tornado this w/e, are their any fault lines in Waco?

Upset Special:
Bowling Green v Northern Illinois. The Huskies have all the hype, they have the underdog Heisman candidate and they busted the BCS last year. But guess who is rated #7 in yardage defense and #5 in scoring defense. Bowling Green. They're also the more balanced team offensively. Not better, but not far off either. Close enough that, with their defense, I'll take them for the upset.

 

What Don is to Footy analysis; FUSA's Gridiron analyst is Aggie Matt. Matt does as good as any pro analyst in my eyes. Props to Joe, btw, he's much better at it than me, but he got the ASU/Stanford matchup wrong, too.

And so does any 3rd grader who can read football lore....

Despite some quibbles on your analysis .. overall spot on.

Lol.. not so much. But does an 'act of god' count if the players don't know it?

Well... much as I believe Auburn is on a streak and only top 5, I think they're on a roll psychologically, and it turned out right in hindsight. Especially curious when you suggest Mizzou is in 'little sisters' division.

You're excused. Sometimes you can think too much. Should'a gone by 'the Vibes'. Like I did.. but wouldn't care to prove it by prediction. Cuz I dont care.

PRESCIENT! There were fault lines but the 'quake was in OK during that game. Who did win that Baylor /Texas game, btw? Too lazy to look it up and not in headlines. 'nuff said.

You either have a lot of insight or you needed to be in Vegas at the craps table. You got the Big !0 {sic} and MAC nailed!

Like I said, I'm impressed!!!
My casual thoughts on 'from this point on':
Common sense needs be applied to BCS.
'It's why they play the game.'
So now, Auburn, the beneficiary of a collective Alabama mind-fart on a single play of a game will play for the championship. Top 5 team, yes. Top 2 ... not hardly.

- I can't figure out how a 4 team playoff changes anything we see happening now. Just throws different teams into the mix.
OSU wouldnt be in top four. And Auburn would likely lose in first round at a neutral site.
Finally, Miami of Ohio used to be called the 'Cradle of Coaches'. Looks to me like Ohio State now needs to be acknowledged.

 

Thanks Fog, appreciate the compliment. Soccer and college football are my two favorite sports so I watch a fair amount of both. Other than that, I can't say I put too much time into the predictions. I pull up the off/def rankings and there are several stats I think are usually good predictors. Otherwise I'm looking for momentum and relying on the eye test.

I admit, the Pac12 is my achille's heel. I just don't watch enough of it and my results have shown that.

While I did see 1 game apiece from BG and NIU, that pick was purely based on stats. I wasn't planning on picking BG, but they ticked the boxes in a number of areas while NIU had more shortcomings than I was expecting. The statistical variance for Mich St and Ohio St were very similar to this matchup, fwiw.

Obviously, rivalries are a bit of a crapshoot, see OU/Okie St. Baylor did beat Texas.

You're spot on about Auburn. They continued to raise their game to new levels as their confidence grew and they are sky high in that regard right now. I wouldn't call the East the little sister division, but the west has been both stronger and deeper in the last couple of years.

Said it in the chat, but congrats to Mo's Owls on their first conference championship in football in 56 years.

 

Lynch got the invite to NYC for the Heisman ceremony. The complete list is Winston, Manziel, McCarron, Lynch, Tre Mason (Aub rb) and Andre Williams (BC rb).

Surprising they included so many after only inviting 3 last year and given how everyone is saying Winston is going to win this in a landslide.

 

I don't get the Heisman philosophy at all. Who's in charge anyway?

Tre Mason is only there because of his last game (the one freshest in the minds of the committee).
Supposedly Lynch's candidacy took a hit because he lost a game (what do wins and losses have to do with an individual award?).
Winston is the runaway favorite why? Because he's a freshman?
Manziel is punished because his numbers are down from last year (though this year's numbers are comparable to Winston's and were achieved with an arguably tougher schedule).

 

The disappointment for Louisville Cardinal fans after losing to Kentucky at Rupp in hoops was short lived. For the second consecutive season, the pointy football Cards manhandled one of the Big 3 Sunshine State programs, trouncing the U Hurricanes in Orlando. Can't for the life of me figured out what happened to Mr. Bridgewater during the regular season, but, Lordy, does he come up big in bowl games. It's beyond hope that he'll stick around for his senior season, which is too bad, because I think he and DeVante Parker (a local kid from Ballard H.S.) have developed something special. If he were to stay, it would make the ACC a major player in the national championship picture next season. Alas, Teddy's already graduated, so the chances of him staying are virtually nil. At least he's helped rebuild the program to give us something to do in the fall whilst waiting for basketball season to start.

 

Yep... gotta love Louisville.
too bad that Cincy fell on their faces this season after a good start. It helps when there's several giantkillers in a conference, UC drubbing Purdue just doesnt quite do it.