General Chat / BOWL GAMES!

Are they? The ACC has Boston College and Virginia Tech as contenders, and Virginia as a good school. The Big East has WVU, Cincinatti, South Florida, Rutgers, Connecticut, and Louisville (which really, REALLY underperformed this year due to no defense, but still) that can at the very least compete with the top four of any other conference. Some better than others, but still, that's six quality teams. So I think it's definitely debatable.

Don't forget about Clemson, too (even though I am a gamecock...)

But lets take a closer look,

The top five in the ACC and Big East are:
Virginia Tech (#3)
Boston College (#14)
Clemson (#15)
Virginia (#20)
Wake Forest

West Virginia (#9)
South Florida (#21)
Cincinatti (#22)
Connecticut (#25)
Rutgers

Now, I could just say 'well ACC has higher ranked teams' but thats not quite it. West Virginia (in my opinion) would obviously be competing for a national championship right now if it wasn't for an injury to Pat White. I also believe that Virginia Tech could hang with most top teams, so we'll just leave at about even (or even enough, WVU would probably win over Virginia Tech due to Pat White).

Big East DID finish 4-3 over the ACC, but of the four wins that the Big East had, two came against NC State and one against Duke, two of the worst teams in conference. WVU defeated Maryland, who is an average, so thats not too bad. The ACC's three wins came over Rutgers, Pitt, and Louisville, and two of those teams you already stated as being some of the better Big East teams, (well I guess not so much Louisville).

Now, of the #2-#5 teams, it is a mixed bag. UConn defeated only one ranked team all year (USF), and had a one point loss to UVA, but the only time they played a team of unarguable quality (WVU), they were completely dominated. UVA is tough to argue for because they lost to Wyoming, barely beat Middle Tennesee, and lost to NC State. They did play a decent game against Virginia Tech, so I guess that could work for them.

Cincinatti I was very skeptical of for just about the whole season (until they beat USC, UConn, and played a good game against WVU), but scratch that loss to Pitt and they've played a solid year. Clemson has also played a solid year, with a lousy game against Georgia Tech and two arguably better teams beating them, besides that they have won well in most of their games.

After looking at it some more and such, I guess they really are about even. I would have to give the edge to the ACC because I do believe that Boston College and Clemson would edge out South Florida and Cincinatti, but everything else seems to be around the same level.

Don't forget OSU..we only had three starting seniors this year...we were rebuilding for next year

I have to disagree with you Pyro on your reasoning that the Big 10 is not as good as the Pac 10 or the Big 12. In conference records don't mean much when you have more patsy teams in your conference and I think the Big 12 has the most of those. Pac 10 and Big 10 are close, I'm looking to see how the bowls play out. And your comment about you would rather play Illinois or Michigan than Kansas or Arizona St...that was just downright funny.

A strong conference doesn't just have strong teams, it doesn't have a lot of weak teams. We are talking about playing these teams year in year out, not just one game one time. Big 10 really only has one sucky team anymore - Minnesota. Can you say that about the Big 12?

Looking at teams outside the top 4, the Big XII is far better than the Big 10. Penn State? Inconsistent as hell, the QB is a joke, the coach is about to drop dead, and they are mediocre at just about every position. Iowa.... they lost to Iowa State, next. Indiana, too funny. Michigan State can give games away with the best of them. They have one defensive player who is a sack machine and an ok but wildly inconsistent offense. Purude beats the cupcakes but loses to anyone with a pulse. Northwestern and Minnesota are both bottom feeders.

Within in the Big XII, Colorado, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State are all decently dangerous teams. They are not going to light the world on fire, but all can be tough given the right circumstances. Colorado has a good defense and one of the best linebackers in the country. Texas Tech's offense sputters in about one game a season, but when on it is pure dynamite. Oklahoma State is also scary when they get in the zone. All of these teams are capable of laying major eggs, however, when playing at their full potential they are far better than any of the Big 10's lower offerings.

The Big XII probably has worse bottom feeders than the Big 10 as far as Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas A&M, and Baylor go. But the overall decent teams run deeper than the Big 10. Plus, I would argue that playing in a top heavy league is far tougher to have a better record than playing in a more evenly talented league. You can beat all the cupcakes you want, and up to a point they shouldn't be a challenge. Teams beating bad teams means nothing. What matters is what you do in your big games, how you play against the real contenders. And the more of those you have, and the better those teams are, the better your team proves to be.

Alright Grand Valley State vs. NWMSU!

Go Bearcats!


are there ANY division 2 fans here (hey, it's college football)

No but I did watch the Divison I-AA Delaware/Southern Illinois game. That was a good one. Delaware faces Appalachian State for the championship.

Michigan copied Delaware's helmets...

Like Cork, I'm working on a end of year conference thing, after the bowls, but so far, stats are backing up with what I said earlier Pyro...but I still fear the Big 10 will suck once again in the bowls and we will be bottom conference feeders again What looks good on paper doesn't always translate to the field.

Cincinatti

Cincinnati
...
please people, it really isn't that hard.
cin
cin
nati


oh, and stronger verbage against the Big 10 and for the Big XII doesn't make you right pyro...just makes your viewpoint biased is all.

Cincinnati
...
please people, it really isn't that hard.
cin
cin
nati
oh, and stronger verbage against the Big 10 and for the Big XII doesn't make you right pyro...just makes your viewpoint biased is all.

Of course my viewpoint and verbiage is going to be biased, I have an opinion I want to express convincingly... therefore you model the way you write accordingly. However, it really doesn't make it any less true. In my personal opinion, I would not worry too much about playing anyone from the Big 10 except for Ohio State. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois are all capable of putting together decent performances, but they all have major weaknesses that a good team will tear apart. The rest of the teams in the conference just have holes everywhere and haven't put up any sort of a fight against ranked teams this year. The only team not in the top 4 of the Big 10 to beat a ranked opponent was Penn State, who beat a terrible Wisconsin team. None of the other games were even competitive.

I don't recall any competitive Big 12 games, in fact, I mostly recall big blowouts.

But I guess we all have our selective memories too

Yeah, I seem to remember alot of 50+ to 20 or less scores in the Big 12 this year, or something like that. Seemed like an unusual amount of offense, specifically passing offense, in the big 12 this year, and alot of high scores and blowouts too.

[they] are all decently dangerous teams. They are not going to light the world on fire, but all can be tough given the right circumstances. (...) but when on it is pure dynamite. (...) is also scary when they get in the zone.

yes, given the right circumstances, and when playing their best and in the zone, I believe the Big 12 teams can win! Amazing stuff there!
Oh, and I was not mistaken with my word choice. I will stick with verbage rather than verbiage,

yes, given the right circumstances, and when playing their best and in the zone, I believe the Big 12 teams can win! Amazing stuff there!
Oh, and I was not mistaken with my word choice. I will stick with verbage rather than verbiage,

I used spell check and that is what it gave me, although apparently not what I was looking for. I wasn't trying to correct word choice, the internet is far too informal for that. And I suppose you may have a point about the way I write, I never mean to. It is just kind of natural. I have always been very good at persuasive papers, probably because my wording tends to be on the strong side, but normally those aren't over something as subjective as college football.

As far as the whole Big 10 versus Big XII argument goes, when I say the Big XII had more close games I guess most of them were upsets. OU lost to Colorado and Texas Tech, both unranked. Texas lost to Kansas State and A&M, plus had a few close calls notably against Oklahoma State. Kansas had a few tight games. All of these were closer than any of the Big 10 top teams really played against teams outside of the top 4. You can interrupt that as the top teams in the Big 10 are better because they didn't struggle against the rest of the conference, or you can interrupt that as the overall level of competition is better in the Big XII than the Big 10.

I know that is borrowing a page from why the SEC is the end all be all, the whole beat each other up argument. But I don't think that is the case at all with the Big XII. I am just saying that the other teams in the league outside the top 4 are more capable of putting together an impressive game than their Big 10 equivalents, with the exception of the very worst teams. I think the Big 10 doesn't get as bad at the very bottom as the Big XII does.

yeah, well, technically verbiage is the correct spelling. Wasn't sure if anyone would pick up on my use or not, but verbage means, according to dictionary.com:
"A deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of verbiage that assimilates it to the word 'garbage'"

so it's a nice word to use in this case, haha

I've always been pretty good at the persuasive also. Nice tool to have.
But anyway, we'll see how the bowls play out. I hope all the games are amazing since I haven't been able to watch one single game all year...and this is one of the craziest years in college football history!

I was kind of hoping Les Miles would accept at Michigan though...that way he could come in already with a loss to Tressel, you know, get him used to that feeling!

Hi

I'm tired of jawing about this...I want to watch some games...I actually had to go Christmas shopping Saturday



And now I'm ready for the first game:

December 20 - The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego

Utah vs. Navy

Who do you guys think?

Utah Utes of course!
Navy just gives up too much offense. And Utah can put up some numbers...and has a fairly strong defense.
Navy gave up 62, 44, 52, and 43...to North Texas, Notre Dame, Delaware, and Duke respectively. The most Utah gave up all year was 35 to Louisville....and they won that game anyway.

I think Navy can definitely hang with Utah, but I think because Johnson is leaving that turmoil costs them the game. Teams tend to struggle when going through coaching transitions in bowl games. Does anyone know if he is staying for the bowl game, or is he already out?

Should be a decent game. I would like to see Navy prevail, but I think Utah will take it in the end.

Some matchups I'm looking forward to (all before Jan. 1):

Holiday Bowl
Arizona State vs. Texas
While I don't know THAT much about both teams, judging by their respective performances throughout the year, it should be a good game.

Liberty Bowl
UCF vs. Mississippi State
Mississippi State finally looked good this year, and I think they match up well with UCF, should be a high scoring game.

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
Clemson vs. Auburn
Whats not to love about this one?

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
Clemson vs. Auburn
Whats not to love about this one?

The potential 9-7 final score?

Thought I'd bring up the conference war again only because there was a very well-written article in today's Dispatch, specifically about the dominance of the SEC over the Big 10.

ARTICLE

While I probably do have to concede at this point in time (before bowls) that the Big 10 sucks on paper, I firmly believe the Big 10 is going to surprise the critics at bowl time. But anyhoo...I thought this article summed up my feelings.

The bowl season's about to kick off with Utah and Navy. Might actually be a somewhat interesting game.

Jeez it was more interesting than I thought! I had Utah though...I can't remember who I picked for last night's game. I wish I kept a copy of my picks...

Did you read about our officials in the Illinois game...wow. In other news, WVA coach went to Michigan. Great news for us since he always blows the big games

Edited by Buckeye Becky, 22 December 2007 - 08:31 AM.

Well, Texas made the Big XII look pretty decent tonight. Quite the showing from them. I hate the team with a passion, but I am glad to see the conference get out to a good start. Hopefully we get a few more to go our way.