JTrain

I wonder how they communicate down there then.

When did he claim there was no reason? In his little story he mentions Bo just walks up to the ref, calls him that, and when asked why he replies it's because that's what he is. Are you even reading the thread? Yes, he never claimed it was for no reason. You added that. I'm guessing it involved a call Bo was unhappy about.

So you don't think people standing on the same sideline can hear each other yelling? I can hear the guy six sections over yelling "Go Big Red".

I'm curious: 1) What about tmrf15's behavior in his past 1100 posts would cause you to not take him at his word, and what would be his motivation for making these things up? 2) What about Bo's behavior over the past seven years would cause you to think any of these stories were unlikely?

When did he claim there was no reason?

a) Customer's fault b) Boss's fault Now if we can just get someone to blame Callahan we'll have all our bases covered.

Marshall says hi. Oh, what's that? They shouldn't get in because SOS has to be factored into the equation? I see. If Alabama or Ole Miss finish 11-1 with top five SOS rankings, they will and should be included over a 12-1 FSU or a 12-1 Michigan State with an SOS in the 30-50 range. The fact that the latter teams happened to be in mediocre conferences while the former are in a very good conference is not up to them. The "conference champion" tag does not arbitrarily give you a whatever-it-is-you-need-to-pass-the-better-teams-in-front-of-you boost.

That was a screen like Pierson-El to Tommy was a double reverse pass.

Aside from Sagarin, the numbers listed are ratings, not rankings. Without seeing the whole league, there's no way to see how we rank outside of the top 25 teams. Here are some of the major systems that publish SOS rankings (out of 128 FBS teams): Massey: 43rd CFRC: 50th Sagarin: 58th Coffey: 60th SporTheory: 67th RoundTable: 81st Average: 60th

I don't think the football team ever wore uniforms exactly like this. Most of the pictures of Flippin are with white shirts with large block Ns. The closest Flippin era combo to that photo was this fruity looking fellow on the far right. But even he doesn't have the red sleeves, and the "U of N" appears to have been written on with toothpaste. Years later in 1909 they came close:

Parity: The favorite buzzword of college football journalism since the late '90s. Of course it's true that scholarship limits brought certain powerhouses back down to earth, and increased TV exposure helped some of the little guys make headway. But parity is overrated. With parity, you would expect fewer teams to have sustained success near the top. You would expect many more teams making appearances in the polls, meaning fewer teams consistently holding ground there. OK, so let's look at the numbers. In the 1980s (10 seasons), 18 teams enjoyed the sustained success of at least five finishes in the AP Top 25. Seven teams had at least five finishes in the AP Top 10. Of those, two had the ultra-success of seven Top 10 finishes (Miami and Nebraska before TO figured it out ) In the 2000s (10 seasons), 25 teams enjoyed the sustained success of at least five finishes in the AP Top 25. Eight teams had at least five finishes in the AP Top 10. Of those, four had the ultra-success of seven Top 10 finishes.

That's a nice Rubik's cube you put together, my friend. You'd have to go back to late 2001 to see that type of craziness coming together.

The short answer is, of course it's mathematically possible, but it's highly unlikely. It's too bad we hadn't come out and punched MSU in the mouth. We would have been top ten and right in the thick of things. Anyway, if we can go 12-1 and play in a "BCS" bowl (Orange, Cotton, Peach, Fiesta) that would be huge.

In addition, Nebraska would certainly not beat out: One-loss ND One-loss Oregon (champ) One-loss FSU (champ) One-loss Baylor (champ) One-loss OU (champ) One-loss TCU (champ) One-loss Okie St (champ) Baylor, OU, TCU, and OK State all play each other. No possible way for all four end with one loss. Maybe one of these teams ends with 1 loss. I did not mean they would all have one loss. I meant, independently, Nebraska would not pass any of them as Big 12 champion with one-loss. Of course, there is a chance that Nebraska could be behind two of them (12-0 Baylor and 11-1 TCU). Or even three, if there is a three-way tie in the Big 12 and a Rock-Paper-Scissors instance (11-1 Baylor beat 11-1 TCU beat 11-1 Oklahoma beat 11-1 Baylor). I don't think anyone is going to make Nebraska jump two of those teams just because one of them is awarded the conference via tiebreaker rules.

More impressive based on the facts. The best systems we have in place to rate teams are unbiased systems that are able to do calculations based on tens of thousands of connections between all 128 FBS teams. These systems will all have, for example, an 11-1 Miss St. team far ahead of a 12-1 Nebraska team because Miss St will have played many teams that rank far higher than those Nebraska played. I don't understand what is difficult to comprehend about that. Your second line of "argument" is incoherent. Upsets are all factored into the system. There is no need to throw out the system because upsets happen. Also, conference championship games are arbitrary games created for money. Sometimes they are necessary and break ties (like last year's B1G game) but often they do not. They do not tell us anything more about teams than any other game of the season, but they are given arbitrary added value because they are at the end and labeled "championship" games. If, say, 5-3 Florida plays 8-0 Alabama in the CCG and Florida wins (after losing to Alabama in the regular season), do I think Florida is the most accomplished team in SEC play for that season? Not even close. They finish 6-3 while Alabama finishes 8-1. And the teams are 1-1 head to tead, Florida gets a trophy because of the label.

Well there are only four spots, so they will certainly leave out a conference champion. And there's no reason they wouldn't leave out two, if one non champion is clearly more impressive. A 12-1 team with one top 25 win (maybe barely two with the addition of something like #25 Iowa) is not going to beat out an 11-1 team with five top 25 wins, just because the former technically won a conference (ie. went 1-1 vs. Michigan St.). In addition, Nebraska would certainly not beat out: One-loss ND One-loss Oregon (champ) One-loss FSU (champ) One-loss Baylor (champ) One-loss OU (champ) One-loss TCU (champ) One-loss Okie St (champ) Every one of those teams are not only currently ranked higher, but also have more impressive remaining schedules than Nebraska. So even if the committee refused to put two teams from the same conference in the playoff, multiple of the above teams would need two losses. The chances of that happening? Perhaps around 1%.

If we win out and are ranked ahead of Notre Dame and the next highest SEC team not to make the playoff, we play in the Orange Bowl against the ACC champ or ACC #2 if FSU is in the playoff. The Orange Bowl is unfortunately New Year's Eve.

There is only one small chance of a two loss team in the playoff this season. That is if Ole Miss, Miss. St., Alabama or Auburn go to SEC title game at 10-2 and then win.

They do have a lot more in state guys than Nebraska. They also get a lot from neighbors Alabama and Louisiana. So that's a part of the story. But overall, MSU hasn't had very good classes the last five years. (Ole Miss has had better, but still not elite.) Great coaching has brought them from recruits in the mid-30s to a team ranked #1.

The problem is, the way the west is shaping up, another loss might make it very difficult to get to said CCG. So, yes, winning out should be the goal. You missed his point.

What Husker fans have been predicting/hoping for every mid-October since 2002. Unfortunately, nothing too crazy has gone down. Certain teams have the better head coaches who hire the better coordinators and better position coaches who recruit the better recruits and then coach the recruits to become the better players. Those teams get the conference titles, BCS bowl games, top ten finishes, etc. The rest of us just hope for something crazy.

I say give out 11-12 Blackshirts at the beginning of the season. If someone takes a starter spot, move the Blackshirt. Keeps the "earn it every week" mentality without turning it into a circus.