NCAA Football 2008 Discussion - It All Starts Here.

[Neroon]

I'm marginally surprised we haven't heard from any Texas Longhorns fans so far. That was one heckuva beat-down they laid on a good Missouri team. Okay, so I've been a little suspect of the Missouri defense this far, but wow.... even considering the second half, the Texas D did a good job on them. Chase Daniel looked nothing like the top rank Heisman QB he had so far. He was running for his life so often. Then you had their Texas offense pretty much linging up and saying "here we come. Whadda ya gonna do to stop us?"

The Longhorns flexed some serious muscle and kept focus on the game instead of the fame. After beating Oklahoma, they were even more intense I think. It remains to be seen how they do against the fast-rising "I'm a MAN!!" Oklahoma St. Cowboys then the offensively great but still rather untested Texas Tech team. No contest that the Longhorns belonged at #1 in the initial BCS poll... though accoding to ESPN the past three teams to be #1 at this point ended up losing the national title game.

 

[JM1776]

No contest that the Longhorns belonged at #1 in the initial BCS poll....

I tend to agree. If it had come out just before, or even just after, the OU game, I would still have given the edge to 'Bama.

Right now, though, the Big 12 and SEC champions, if undefeated, are shoe-ins for the BCS Championship game, even if the Nittany Lions beat Ohio State 80-0.

I'm gonna put you on the spot, Neroon. Say Penn State wins in unremarkable fashion at OSU, but runs the table. Meanwhile, Alabama goes undefeated and Texas loses a squeaker to Oklahoma State, then rallies to go 12-1 with wins over Texas Tech, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri a second time in the Big 12 title game.

So ... who gets your nod to face the Crimson Tide for all the marbles? A one-loss Texas or an undefeated but largely untested Penn State?

Insofar as I'm concerned, if it shakes out as I describe, it's close, but I give the nod to Texas.

 

[Neroon]

It's not quite so easy a decision as you might think.

With each week, Bama's win over Clemson becomes less and less impressive. The Georgia win is still great, though they aren't quite as impressive as I thought earlier. Still a darned nice win for Bama. Yet for every Georgia win, they have an ugly Kentucky win. It's hard to tell just which Bama team is going to show up. They have maybe the best OL and DL combination... but they're getting dinged up. However a complete run for them means winning the SEC championship, probably against Florida. And that would be a second impressive win.

PSU, over the same time that win over Oregon St. looks better and better, but it's about the only decent win because the Wisconsin they pummeled looks less and less impressive. And despite the score that game against Michigan was not the blowout it looked like. Still, PSU is running against history for them when it comes to road wins in the Big Ten. Ohio State is now rounding into the team we thought they would be earlier.

Texas... is looking incredible, hardly being challeneged by anybody. McCoy is completing over 80% of his passes. But they have some tough games left. If they win them all but one (personally I think the Okla St game is their toughest), I'd take them over an unbeaten Bama or PSU for certain.... provided Texas' lone loss is a close one at worst (6 pts or less),

Honestly, I'd almost have to flip a coin to pick between PSU and Bama... and I'd still have to consider USC in all of that. However, if pressed I'd have to take Bama over PSU by virtue of the wins over Georgia and probably Florida. Even if it's over Georgia that's a second win in the same season over a tough team. Now if Bama loses one game, no matte rto whom, I take PSU over them.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

I'm marginally surprised we haven't heard from any Texas Longhorns fans so far.

Me but I'm discouraged from posting here.

That was one heckuva beat-down they laid on a good Missouri team. Okay, so I've been a little suspect of the Missouri defense this far, but wow.... even considering the second half, the Texas D did a good job on them.

And in the second half, a lot of the 4th quarter were the second string guys. I think Texas pulled off a perfectly executed game plan. Jump out ahead and put pressure on them. Will Muschamp is one of the best defensive coaches in the nation right now and Applewhite is looking pretty good. Apparently he got a hold of McCoy this offseason and told him what to do and who better than Applewhite to tell McCoy how to play? Apple was a great QB for Texas.

Chase Daniel looked nothing like the top rank Heisman QB he had so far. He was running for his life so often.

Yep. I think also Okrapo is simply dominating right now. The level of talent he is playing at is insane. They also knew they had to get pressure on Daniels. The best play IMO showing this is when Daniels threw the ball up from the end zone and instead of taking an intention grounding or even throwing it to the side lines, he just chunks it up in the air for an easy interception.

Then you had their Texas offense pretty much linging up and saying "here we come. Whadda ya gonna do to stop us?"

Yep. They don't have the greatest receivers but they have guys that find soft spots. Shipley is finally healthy and really taking his game to the next level. Great slot receiver.

The Longhorns flexed some serious muscle and kept focus on the game instead of the fame. After beating Oklahoma, they were even more intense I think. It remains to be seen how they do against the fast-rising "I'm a MAN!!" Oklahoma St. Cowboys then the offensively great but still rather untested Texas Tech team. No contest that the Longhorns belonged at #1 in the initial BCS poll... though accoding to ESPN the past three teams to be #1 at this point ended up losing the national title game.

Yep. Mack Brown is a bit of a soft coach but he knows how to motivate. They know they don't have a 'star' persay like Daniels, Crabtree on their team but they know that they have great players. It was amazing how fast they put the OU game behind them.

 

[Neroon]

I think it's safe to say that they have a "star" now in McCoy. I remember when OSU won down their a couple of years ago, at times Colt looked a little shell-shocked. But there were others when you could see flashes of greatness. The Longhorns OL must be pretty good, because McCoy has so much time to make those good decisions.

THe knock on Brown up until a couple of years ago seemed to be that he was a great recruiter but a questionable coach when it came to the Big Game. So far... no problems with that "Big Game" situation this year, but there's still a lot of ball left to play.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Yep. He won some big games now.

BTW almost all the entire line is coming back except for Docks.

 

[Neroon]

Oh THAT's frelling encouraging for the rest of us!

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

And the guy replacing Dock has had some snaps at first line this year. So he's ready. Also Texas might end up recruiting the 2nd and 3rd best player in the nation .

 

[Mallory]

Oregon is playing Arizona State this weekend. I have no idea who's going to win. The Ducks have looked good and they've looked bad. Arizona State is having a disappointing season, but they have a lot of talent and are capable of playing better than their record might lead one to believe.

 

[tomalak301]

Can't believe Cal lost to Arizona last week. So much for the Rose Bowl, even though I didn't think it was going to happen anyway. This week is the UCLA Bruins at Memorial. They could win that game, given Stanford almost beat them last week.

 

[ToddPence]

Hey, Cal lost to *Maryland*, an ACC(!) team. You guys should have known your Rose Bowl hopes were dead in the water right then.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Maryland almost lost to Delaware this year. Then again, that almost lost is probably the closest we'll get to a win this year

 

[JM1776]

And Maryland did lose to Middle Tennessee State.

Bad enough losing to a two-name team like, say, Wake Forest. When you start dropping decisions to Southwest Missouri State, North Dakota State or Middle Tennessee State, The Sisters of the Poor ain't far behind.

And before anyone starts in with a refutation ... yes, it's a joke.

 

[Neroon]

Maryland has been a hard team to figure out, making life in the College Pick'ems really, really interesting.

One week they lose to Middle Tennessee, and the next they clobber Cal.
One week they get destroyed by Virginia, and the next they turn around and do the same thing to Wake Forest.

 

[tomalak301]

Hey, Cal lost to *Maryland*, an ACC(!) team. You guys should have known your Rose Bowl hopes were dead in the water right then.

Yeah. That was a very bad loss, but it fits with the whole Pac-10 problem this year.

 

[Mallory]

Wow, Texas Tech is just pounding the crap out of Kansas. I didn't think it would be this lopsided.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I'm starting to beleive Minnesota is for real. Their season usually takes a nosedive as soon as I get my hopes up, but maybe this year will be different.

 

[CorporalClegg]

^
While non of their wins have been overly impressive, 7-1 is still something to get excited about. With three of the last four games at home, hopefully they can pull off two more wins. After last season, 9-3 would be amazing.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Texas looks okay, offensive line looks a little soft today. Saw one major pushback by OSU. Bad pass interference call by the refs. I didn't see it. He did have his hand up, maybe got his hand on the facemask or something? But it was a weak, weak pass interference.

 

[Starbreaker]

Glory Glory to Old Georgia!