LSU-haha

[John Doe]

No, I don't have any stories to report about bad news with politicians, underage sex or USA bashing ,but LSU is playing for the national championship--for the second time in 4 years

[catmandoo62]

and then they lose their defensive coordinator to nebraska.

[POS]

I'm going.

[John Doe]

Originally Posted by POS

I'm going.

I'll see you there!

[BENZ-LGB]

Originally Posted by John Doe

No, I don't have any stories to report about bad news with politicians, underage sex or USA bashing ,but LSU is playing for the national championship--for the second time in 4 years

Good luck to LSU, beat Ohio. Then we will do the same at the beginning of next season.

Just remember this, had it not been for that little problem with Stanford, my Trojans would be trouncing on your bayou dwellers!

But oh well....

[suginami]

I don't get it that USC is still 6th in the polls with two losses.

They lost to one unranked team (Stanford), yet so did LSU (Arkansas).

And USC's losses were with an injured quarterback, and a backup. USC also was decimated with injuries on the offensive line early in the season. They played a different line every week for the first half of the season, including starting a true freshman (the center) for the first few games, which was a first in USC's history.

It is only in the last several games that they have had their starting offensive line in their original positions.

It is my take that USC is probably playing better than any team in the country at this time.

I think LSU is going to stomp all over Ohio State, who had a patsy schedule and is playing in a very weak Big 10 Conference this year.

I'd love to see LSU play USC, and I think USC would take 'em.

[Honus]

All you guys with your national championship aspirations are fine and dandy, but my team's got the best defensive player in the country: http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1133501&SPSID=88799&SPID=10606&DB_OEM_ID=17800

(That's about as close as we get to being able to brag about football. I really don't know whether he's the best in the country, but he's darn good. And he's a good kid besides. Certainly does his father proud.)

[John Doe]

Originally Posted by dculkin

(That's about as close as we get to being able to brag about football. I really don't know whether he's the best in the country, but he's darn good. And he's a good kid besides. Certainly does his father proud.)

Who were the Wahoos playing when you did your fourth year fifth?

[Honus]

Originally Posted by John Doe

Who were the Wahoos playing when you did your fourth year fifth?

For some reason I have no recollection of that.

We hosted Texas for the first game my first year at UVa. They had a senior running back who turned out to be a pretty fair NFL player - Earl Campbell. It seemed as if he was bigger than our biggest guy and faster than our fastest guy. It was a sight to see.

[dynalow]

Originally Posted by dculkin

All you guys with your national championship aspirations are fine and dandy, but my team's got the best defensive player in the country: http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=1133501&SPSID=88799&SPID=10606&DB_OEM_ID=17800

(That's about as close as we get to being able to brag about football. I really don't know whether he's the best in the country, but he's darn good. And he's a good kid besides. Certainly does his father proud.)

After Howie Long graduated from Villanova, they dropped football. (They were living in lala land thinking they could compete as a Division 1 school.!) The saying was that Howie Long would be the last pro football player from Villanova.

Well, they revived the program years later as a 1-AA school. We've sent a few more to the pros since then, most notably Brian Brennan of the Falcons and Brian Westbrook who in his 4 years broke a zillion NCAA offensive records.

If Chris Long is half the player (or man) as his father, he'll go far.


Back to the BCS, if you're a Trojan fan and want to play LSU, then schedule them in Sept. Drop the Idahos and Applachian States from your schdeules. Forget these tune-up games.

I know the schedule is contracted up to 10 years out. But if your school wants to be the top dog, schedule the big dogs. Div 1-A schools shouldn't schedule Akron or Toldeo or Temple, then gripe about being short changed.

Too many conference teams, too few games to play. Make the two or three non-conference games you play mean something. Make strength of schedule mean something too.

My $.02

[suginami]

Originally Posted by dynalow

Back to the BCS, if you're a Trojan fan and want to play LSU, then schedule them in Sept. Drop the Idahos and Applachian States from your schdeules. Forget these tune-up games.

I know the schedule is contracted up to 10 years out. But if your school wants to be the top dog, schedule the big dogs. Div 1-A schools shouldn't schedule Akron or Toldeo or Temple, then gripe about being short changed.

USC didn't play Appalachian State. Michigan did and lost. Using that argument against USC isn't a good one. Pete Carroll is famous for going out and scheduling the toughest teams possible.

LSU also plays some lousy, weak schools in their schedule, i.e. Middle Tennessee, Tulane, Luisiana Tech.

[BENZ-LGB]

Originally Posted by dynalow

Back to the BCS, if you're a Trojan fan and want to play LSU, then schedule them in Sept. Drop the Idahos and Applachian States from your schdeules. Forget these tune-up games.

I know the schedule is contracted up to 10 years out. But if your school wants to be the top dog, schedule the big dogs. Div 1-A schools shouldn't schedule Akron or Toldeo or Temple, then gripe about being short changed.

Too many conference teams, too few games to play. Make the two or three non-conference games you play mean something. Make strength of schedule mean something too.

My $.02

Jim, have you been riding your bike without a helmet?

Surely you did not mean to imply that USC has a soft schedule, did you?

Look at this:

USC's schedule:

2. Sat., Sep 1 Idaho W 38-10
4 Sat., Sep 15 @Nebraska W 49-31
5 Sat., Sep 22 Washington State W 47-14
6 Sat., Sep 29 @Washington W 27-24
7 Sat., Oct 6 Stanford L 24-23
8 Sat., Oct 13 Arizona W 20-13
9 Sat., Oct 20 @Notre Dame W 38-0
10 Sat., Oct 27 @Oregon L 24-17
11 Sat., Nov 3 Oregon State W 24-3
12 Sat., Nov 10 @California W 24-17
14 Thur., Nov 22 @Arizona State W 44-24
15 Sat., Dec 1 UCLA W 24-7

Except for ND (which was ranked #6 last year but collapsed this year); Nebraska (a perennial top 10 team that also collapsed this year) and Stanford (which beat Cal, a formerly top ranked team) that is one tough schedule. At one point or the other most of the schools that USC played were top ranked. And when USC scheduled ND and Nebraska there was no way to know they were going to collapse the way they did this year.

Now, let's look at OSU's schedule:

2 Sat., Sep 1 Youngstown State W 38-6
3 Sat., Sep 8 Akron W 20-2
4 Sat., Sep 15 @Washington W 33-14
5 Sat., Sep 22 Northwestern W 58-7
6 Sat., Sep 29 @Minnesota W 30-7
7 Sat., Oct 6 @Purdue W 23-7
8 Sat., Oct 13 Kent State W 48-3
9 Sat., Oct 20 Michigan State W 24-17
10 Sat., Oct 27 @Penn State W 37-17
11 Sat., Nov 3 Wisconsin W 38-17
12 Sat., Nov 10 Illinois L 28-21
13 Sat., Nov 17 @Michigan


Youngstown State? Akron? Kent State? Purdue? Hey, they forgot to play Dayton H.S. and Cleveland Tech.

Finally for LSU:

2 Thur., Aug 30 @Mississippi State W 45-0
3 Sat., Sep 8 Virginia Tech W 48-7
4 Sat., Sep 15 Middle Tennessee W 44-0
5 Sat., Sep 22 South Carolina W 28-16
6 Sat., Sep 29 @Tulane W 34-9
7 Sat., Oct 6 Florida W 28-24
8 Sat., Oct 13 @Kentucky L 43-37 (OT)
9 Sat., Oct 20 Auburn W 30-24
11 Sat., Nov 3 @Alabama W 41-34
12 Sat., Nov 10 Louisiana Tech W 58-10
13 Sat., Nov 17 @Mississippi W 41-24
14 Fri., Nov 23 Arkansas L 50-48 (OT)
15 Sat., Dec 1 Tennessee

Miss. State? Middle Tenn? Tulane?

We can go on and on and on about what team has the toughest schedule. LSU has a decent team (Miles is lucky that his teams always play beyond his abilities as a coach) and OSU is not half bad either.

One thing you can't say, however, is that USC has a patsy schedule.

I can deal with the fact that USC is "hated" because it is the big dog in America's most exciting city and the big fish in America's biggest media outlet. I can deal with the fact that we are "hated" because we have the hottest looking cheerleaders. And I can even deal with the fact that we are "hated" because the heart of the entertainment industry is right smack at the corner of Fig and Jefferson (a film school so exclusive that not even Steven Spielberg could get accepted).

But I won't accept anyone stating that USC has a patsy schedule when the two teams playing for the BCS National Title played schools like Akron and Miss. Tech.

[POS]

Originally Posted by suginami

I don't get it that USC is still 6th in the polls with two losses.

Strength of schedule.

[BENZ-LGB]

Originally Posted by POS

Strength of schedule.

Wrong. Strength of schedule is no longer supposed to be part of the criteria.

We can start a whole debate here about the pro-East Coast bias inherit in the national polling.

It would have been interesting to see a USC vs. LSU or USC vs. OSU match-up to shut-up everyone (one way or the other). But that won't happen this year.

So it is pointless to ponder the whys and wherefores.

USC lost control of its destiny when it lost to Stanford. That's that.

Interestingly enough, Stanford beat Cal, a former top-ten team. So go figure.

It will be fun to play Illinois. After all, they beat OSU so that will be a fun match-up. The Big Ten has not done very well in the Rose Bowl--let's hope that trend continues.

[MTI]

Originally Posted by BENZ-LGB

Wrong. Strength of schedule is no longer supposed to be part of the criteria.

That doesn't seem to be accurate in light of Hawaii's undefeated season and their 10th place BCS ranking.