Creed

Hey! One coach still voted SCar as the #25 team in the nation! HOW DARE YOU DISPARAGE THEM!!!! I think the SEC gets so much love b/c of their fan passion, the money they spend on facilities, the money they spend on coaching and b/c of their recruiting classes are full of fast kids who can out athlete others at the high school level . All summer I heard Tenn fans proclaiming this was their year and J Dobbs could be a Heisman candidate. Same with Auburn and their QB. Arkansas was dark horse SECW winner. The hype on SEC teams just builds on itself.

Best Teams so far 1. OSU 2. Alabama 3. TCU 4. Mississippi 5. Mich State 6. GT Still think SEC champ will have 2 losses and SEC SEC SEC might be shut out of playoffs but Miss, Ala, A&M just might be able to get out with one loss. All 3 of those teams are looking impressive early. If Mich State can go thru season with only a close loss to OSU they could still get the 4th spot but I don't think OSU can lose to Mich state and get in.

Yeah but on XM the SEC love keeps coming saying the best games this week are LSU-Auburn (ok that is a decent game, maybe) and wait for it.....UGa vs SCar. SCar is UR and lost their QB and just lost to Kentucky.

True but in some circumstances it would be good. If they started around 20-30 yard line and tried to complete a 20+ yard pass, A that would eat up a good chunk of time and B just interfere with the receiver so he doesn't catch it. Use up time and 15 yard penalty is better than 20-30+ yard reception. Plus doesn't the time start after the ball is set on a penalty or maybe it is at the snap?

I was 11-3 in week one, missing Penn State, Nebraska and NW games. This week: Oregon St @ Michigan W Illinois @ Illinois Bowling Green @ Maryland Buffalo @ Penn St Indiana St @ Purdue Miami (OH) @ Wisconsin Hawaii @ Ohio St Washington St @ Rutgers Minnesota @ Colorado St E Illinois @ Northwestern Oregon @ Michigan St Florida Intl @ Indiana Iowa @ Iowa St

If the defense commits a penalty, no time gets added back to the clock, right? With limited time remaining (say under 30-40 seconds), why wouldn't defenses commit penalties (ie tackle the receiver) if there is even a slight chance the a receiver could catch the ball? I realize the game can't end on a penalty but why not have the strategy to put heavy pressure on the QB and if he is not sacked just totally interfere with any receiver. They will get another down but maybe the next time the D gets to the QB and sacks him. You would have to be up more than a FG since the penalty yardage could put you in FG range but would this strategy eventually cause the offense to run out of time or have the defense make a good play? Just seems there are so many under a minute comebacks in CFB and defenses playing "prevent". I say turn that on its head and be hyper aggressive knowing the DBs & safeties can "take out" a receiver.

Totally agree but 80% of the talk on CFB shows (TV, radio, etc) is about what is the best conference. I am starting to believe you get a trophy or a cookie or something. I guess having many ranked teams from a conference could affect a 2-loss SEC champ getting in over a 1-loss P5 champ or possibly add a second SEC team to the playoffs. I know it will all be sorted out by early December and as I predicted on another thread, there will be no SEC teams in the final four. Too much parity and don't see any SEC team going 13-0 or 12-1 although Alabama looked very good.

Yeah a lot of Wake Forests' and Indiana's (oh wait). IIRC the Ohio State back out was due to the B10-PAC 12 scheduling pact pitting similarly ranked teams (OSU vs USC, Oregon, UCLA not Wash St, Cal, etc) but that scheduling pact fell apart. So is SCar going to ever play at UNC since UNC played at SCar? It seems it was a home n neutral for SCar and not the traditional home n home deal. If it were up to me, there should be a centralized scheduling system.

The SEC does have a nice OOC system going. Get a #3 Alabama vs #20 Wisconsin - team replacing a lot and will likely improve and do well in the B1G, likely to be ranked by year end. Play a quasi home game at neutral site. A pretty safe win for the SEC. SEC #2 team Auburn vs a mid level unranked ACC team at neutral site. Again a safe win. Unranked A&M a "neutral" site game vs a ranked team, ASU. Roll the dice, maybe ASU is over ranked, get them down the road in Houston and a win would catapult A&M and put another SEC team in the Top 25. SCar escapes a win over unranked UNC at a neutral site. Why wasn't this game at UNC since the two teams played at UScar 2 years ago? Reason - that reduces the likelihood of a p5 win. Suddenly the theme among CFB experts in 2015 is the SEC great record vs P5 teams. Contrast that vs the B10 who had 2-3 tough match ups (Wisc vs Bama, Minn vs TCU, Mich AT Utah) and now the story with the B1G is that there are only 2 ranked teams and OSU has an easy path. This pays off for the SEC as now they get 10 teams in the top 25 and now many of the teams can just swap positions in the top 25 and keep them in contention for the playoff. Look at the results of some true SEC road games the last 10 years. Tenn - losses at UCLA, Cal, Oregon, Oklahoma - no road OOC wins Auburn - loss at WVU, loss at Clemson, road win #5 auburn over #20 KState LSU - ranked #11 win at UR Washington, ranked #2 win at #18 WVU UGA - loss at Clemson, loss at 5-7 Colorado (lol), loss at Oklahoma State, ranked #3 win at UR ASU Bama - ranked #1 win at UR DUKE, #3 ranked win at #23 Penn State No wonder the SEC hardly plays any true road OOC games. OK - I didn't include 3 SEC teams who play an annual game vs an ACC opponent but still. Would be nice to see the SEC play more games across other conferences and not just cherry pick their best team vs a b-level team. PS - So miss state looks like crap over So miss and moves into the Top 25 and Northwestern beats a ranked Stanford team and does not??? UR A&M beats ASU and now all the way up to #15.

Technically I still could be right.

Not a good weekend IMO although it was a tough line up for the B1G playing much higher ranked teams in a few games. Different story if Nebraska doesn't give away to game to BYU (where's the D in the final minute?) and Penn State doesn't lose to a AAC team. Wisconsin looked okay at times then dreadful especially tackling but Alabama looked very solid. OSU looked dominant even though they were sloppy at times. Hard to judge the others since they were playing cup cakes.

Thoughts on Minny & Michigan 1. Kudos for playing good opening games esp Mich on the road. Funny, SCar was home to UNC a couple years ago and the repeat game is at a neutral site. SEC doesn't really like home and home series I guess. 2. Michigan looked much better. Looks like they got some studs on D and are playing hard-nosed. QB was terrible and Mich could have won this game with an average QB. 3. Only caught parts of game but Minny D looked solid at times. I saw one drive where their O-line was manhandling TCU smaller D line and they marched it down the field with ease only to fumble near the goal line. It seems they could have run on them all night. Not sure if they abandoned that style or not. Minny's QB was throwing up some wounded ducks. Good for them for keeping it close with the #2 team in country.

1. OSU 13-0 (VT due to suspensions, MSU & PSU both at the shoe are only games that have me nervous, OSU has been known to lay an egg at home about once a year) 2. TCU 12-0 (two tough games on schedule - OU & Baylor, should handle everyone else easily) 3. Stanford 12-1 4. Michigan State - close loss to OSU and two loss SEC, ACC champs get them in SEC - too much parity will lead to 2 losses for Bama, Auburn, LSU + UGa will lose a game they shouldn't. Bama has two tough cross over games in UGa & rising Tenn. I only see LSU possibly getting out with 1 loss.

Very much agree, I thought it was bad PR how the Big scheduled opening week last few years. This is the time to get attention from the casual fans before NFL starts also other conferences since games are spread out this weekend. Last year you had the SEC leading off with in a packed house with SCar vs A&M while the Big showcased Minn vs a directional school in front of a half empty Minn stadium. Anyway much improved this year but the B1G got their work cut out for them. They need to win 2 or 3 of the games they are underdogs in. Michigan @ Utah (Thu) TCU @ Minnesota (Thu) Michigan St @ Western Michigan (Fri) Kent St @ Illinois (Fri) Stanford @ Northwestern (Sat) Illinois St @ Iowa (Sat) Richmond @ Maryland (Sat) Norfolk St @ Rutgers (Sat) Penn St @ Temple (Sat) BYU @ Nebraska (Sat) So Illinois @ Indiana (Sat) Wisconsin @ Alabama (Sat) Purdue @ Marshall (Sun) Ohio St @ Va Tech (Mon)

TCU will want to make a statement with this game being their big ooc game and they look to make the playoffs. TCU by 17+.

I don't think he was the ONLY coach to target Penn State players. But he was certainly the most vocal and visual about it. Ok - I remember there was some sort of gentleman's agreement among B1G coaches about going after Penn State players with Beckman the only one going against it. I guess that school just has no commitment to football. They would throw out a good team once every 4-6 years. I don't know the record off hand but it seems they would upset OSU, usually at the shoe, every few years. They made a Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl in the BCS era.

Could never put my finger on anything and certainly didn't follow Illinois football, but this guy always seemed sleez to me. Maybe it was he was the only B1G coach to target Penn State players during the scandle summer.

I just don't see a dominant SEC team this year like Alabalama has been in the past 5. There's a lot of parity which could likely lead to the SEC champ having 2 losses. Also considering the cross over games this year has UGa vs Bama and UGa vs Auburn plus Bama vs a rising Tenn team. These match ups could will throw an extra loss in there for the SEC top dogs that haven't been there in the past. Bama was fortunate to have some easy crossovers during their run (Tenn down years, Vandy, Missouri, UF down years). If Bama, UGa or Auburn have less than 2 losses each I will be surprised. This will open the door for other P5 champs IF they have 1 or no losses or maybe a non champ with 1 loss like Mich State

Ok things rarely play out from pre season predictions but things could fall in line that would put 2 Bi1G teams in. OSU wins out which is very likely IMO. Michigan State #5 in AP could have wins over Oregon and Nebraska then have a close loss to OSU. They wouldn't be in the CCG. Using the current AP rankings you are looking at: 1. OSU vs #4 Michigan State in Orange Bowl 2. TCU vs #3 Alabama in Cotton Bowl Baylor - assuming loss to TCU committee would diss them again this year. weak OOC schedule. Also, given the parity in the SEC the SEC champ may have 2 losses and the SEC gets no bid. Would also open the door for Mich State.

I listen to a lot of the pre season talk (radio, TV, forums) and it is amazing how SEC teams get so much love. You'd think Arkansas and Tenn are on the cusp of winning the SEC. Auburn who was 8-5 last year and lost to Wisc is a National title contender. People just love Auburn's new QB - which I think has no experience. UGa is always a top 10 pre season team no matter what.

Too bad Nebraska and Penn State couldn't play in 1994. Two awesome team that couldn't meet due to the stupid bowl alliance set up.

Guys just lost a cush job but I am sure got a nice buy out to leave.

funny stuff from Landtheives re the B12 Originally Posted by ajn2003 View Post I have decided this league is the college sports equivalent of Jefferson Airplane. It used to be cool and then it became Jefferson Starship. Now it's just starship. OU is the equivalent of one of the original members and is looking around the studio watching Baylor singing "Nothing's gonna stop us now" thinking to itself "WTF have we done?"

That's awesome. I always wondered how much money the avg NFL player has when they are out of the league and could that provide enough supplemental income (say $50K/year) until they retire? I vaguely remember a story on Ricky Henderson on how cheap he was and saved every penny. Something like he would pocket his per diem and eat cheap on the road.