Posted on 01/03/2006 8:36:04 PM PST by BurbankKarl
Edited on 01/04/2006 2:22:49 PM PST by Lead Moderator. [history]
On January 4, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. (PST) the Rose Bowl Game will host the BCS National Championship, between USC and Texas once again showcasing the best of collegiate football in "The Granddaddy of Them All."® The Rose Bowl will be broadcast exclusively on ABC and on ESPN radio.
Totally agree. A player in the NFL that is good at two different positions isn't as valuable as a guy that is really good at just one.
I am not saying they were ranked number solely due to being in the PAC-10. I will assert that they have been UNDEFEATED because they are in the PAC-10. Three years ago, they lost to an UNRANKED team, while LSU lost to a top ten team. Also, three years ago, it was ONLY due to a missed chip shot field goal (can't remember who), that they survived without a loss.
USC has put up impressive offensive numbers against PAC-10 teams with VERY weak defenses. Arizona State, for example, is ranked 113th in the nation in defense. Some have suggested that the conference is ranked low in defense because there are several teams with high powered offenses. I disagree. UCLA had a terrible defense, but a very good offense. Oregon had a good offense and a so-so defense, and at 10-1 lost to a 7-4 team. The fact that the BCS did not include a 10-1 Oregon team in the bowl series in indicative of the fact that they recognize the weakness of the conference.
As for USC's non-conference play, they LOST (as far as I am concerned) to Notre Dame..only a very lucky fumble out of bounds, and a good spot for an offical saved they butts.
They did beat a terrible Arkansas team ( later in the year, Arkansas was improved after the coach gutted the team and replaced the starters with underclassment).
In a nutshell, USC has an easier road to number 1 because they play in the PAC-10.
Does this mean that I do not think them the best or at least second best...No. They had a great team this year..BETTER than the last two.
And the Big XII, for anyone interested:
Kansas (6-5) beat unranked Houston (6-5) 42-13
Nebraska (7-4) beat #20 Michigan (7-4) 32-28
Oklahoma (7-4) beat #6 Oregon (10-1) 17-14
Missouri (6-5) beat unranked South Carolina (7-4) 38-31
Texas (12-0) beat #1 USC (12-0) 41-38
#23 Clemson (7-4) beat Colorado (7-5) 19-10
#14 TCU (10-1) beat Iowa State (7-4) 27-24
#13 Alabama (9-2) beat Texas Tech (9-2) 13-10
5-3 overall, 7-1 against the spread.
I was only refering to TOP TWENTY TEAMS.
I do! I was in Austin several years back when we beat Nebraska for the first time in the Big 12 championship. The campus just went crazy - people honking horns shouting. I remember reading that there was a mini-riot on Guadalupe (The Drag) and the police had to be called in.
Yeah, but it turns out that Vince was right...
USC got a lucky call on their next series, bad calls usually cancel each other out in the end.
I was only refering to the TOP TWENTY teams...the Top Twenty teams were 1-3.
How did LSU's defense do vs. ASU this year?
If San Francisco can draft Reggie Bush, and sign QB Collins from the Raiders, and keep RB Frank Gore, you might hear play-by-play such as this:
Kerry fakes to Gore, pitches to Bush....Touchdown!
"You're really graspingn now. The LSU-Oklahoma game wasn't close either. LSU dominated the game from start to finish." 21 to 14 isn't close?????? Yes, college teams may change but Oklahoma was sufficiently stable enough to go to the national championship game 2 years in a row (something LSU couldn't do.) Both USC and LSU faced the team lead by a Heisman quarterback. USC pounded them. LSU didn't. USC can't help what conference they are in, so the only way to evaluate them is to make such comparisons. Incidentally, you talk about the injury risk from a so-called tougher conference, but shouldn't playing in a weaker conference also make the dominant team in that conference ill-prepared and unchallenged? Yet USC rises to the challenge and wins those nonconference games.
"Really, care to cite examples?"
I was just kidding. I saw you were from Arkansas so I figured you might be a Hawg fan.
RUSH: The sports media is no different than the regular media.
Ha ha!!!
I would like to submit that for non-championship games, bowl games are pretty meaningless. Most teams haven't played in a month and many are only halfhearted into it since they wanted a better bowl.
You also have the fact that many of the players are out partying and soaking up the town rather than focusing solely on the game like they would in the regular season or in a championship calibre bowl game.
I expect Nebraska and Oklahoma to be back in the Top 10 along with Texas before too long.
They explained that the monitor up in the review booth was rebooting or something during the downed forward-lateral play.
To be honest we HAWGS no doubt have some fans that we are not proud of, but LSU has lots of these less than desireable fans. Maybe if Arkansas gets back on a winning record we will act the same as LSU. But somehow I doubt it.
LOL! Of course Kerry would pitch to Bush, before he wouldn't pitch to Bush.
Right. But in an age where the salary cap really limits a team's ability to have any real depth at all, I think there is a lot of potential at the bottom of the roster for a multi-dimensional player. If you've got $500,000 left on your payroll and need to fill backup roles at two positions that require similar skills, why not sign a guy for $400,000 who can do both pretty well? Maybe you get a guy who is a C+ tight end and a C- linebacker, but if you got two different players you'd probably only be able to afford two D-level players anyway.
"As for USC's non-conference play, they LOST (as far as I am concerned) to Notre Dame..only a very lucky fumble out of bounds, and a good spot for an offical saved they butts." Oh come on! Following that logic, Texas LOST to USC. USC got lucky against Notre Dame. Texas got a lucky call against SC. The difference is, the Texas call should have been reviewed -- there was no bad call in the ND game. (Actually there was a bad call against SC earlier that led to an ND score, but there was no bad call with the lucky fumble. The "push", I'll grant you, was open to a call.)
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