College Football 2007

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-09-09 12:38am

Dark Flame wrote:Thanks DF. That's what I meant.

I can't wait to see the toilet bowl game next week of Notre Dame and Michigan. The only bad thing about that suckfest is that one of them has to win. I wish that they could both just get a mutual loss. It should be very entertaining to watch the two winless teams continue to suck, and see who sucks more.

Maybe Michigan should lose, so that that idiot for a coach would finally go.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-09-09 12:45am

Uh... They lost. And bad. What the fuck happened to Michigan?

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-09-09 12:55am

BEfore I get too in depths, jeebus LSU looks really good eh? Can't wait to see them play USC in the Championship game. That could be the best college football game ever right up there with USC/Texas, and Miami/Ohio State.

Dark Flame wrote: I can't wait to see the toilet bowl game next week of Notre Dame and Michigan. The only bad thing about that suckfest is that one of them has to win. I wish that they could both just get a mutual loss. It should be very entertaining to watch the two winless teams continue to suck, and see who sucks more.

I think picking a team to cheer for in this game boils down to a few factors.

Preconditions for the most watched game between sucky teams ever:

1) This game must either be a terrible blowout, or multiple overtimes.
2) True fans of the losing team must openly bow down and submit to the #119th place ranking in Division I-A
3) Since the game is at Michigan, Michigan's fans had better suck it up and show up and not allow the fucking Irish to take more than their share of seats at the Big House

Those things beings said, here's a quick preview:

Offense: Michigan will have to rely on second stringers as their two top performing seniors on Offense suffer injuries. Meanwhile Jimmy Clausen looked okay for the Irish but only so long as he was throwing screen passes, as soon as Penn State caught on to Weis' new game plan they were shut down pretty quick. EDGE MICHIGAN, because they at least have scored offensive touchdowns this season.

Defense: Normally it is easier to list what few flaws each side possesses to see how the other team can exploit those flaws. This is not the case. Notre Dame, being a religious-minded institution will likely resort to a rigorous series of prayers when Michigan has the ball, while the Wolverines will play their fight song twelve thousand times during each Irish possession to influence the Irish snap count and hope for penalties. DRAW because neither system will work.

Coaching: EDGE NOTRE DAME, with little breakdown necessary. Weis was able to use his overrated genius to fool Penn State for one half of this week's game while Lloyd Carr has been terrible all season. This is sort of like a Tortoise winning a fifty yard dash against a goldfish. The only reason it wins is because the opponent is utterly incapable of anything.

"We can't afford to lose otherwise we will be the laughingstock of football" factor: Michigan has already lost two games in which it was favored, one was a blowout at home and the other was the worst upset in the history of college football of all time. Notre Dame was not expected to win at Penn State anytime soon and Georgia Tech is a good football team. EDGE NOTRE DAME because Michigan is the current laughingstock of football and can't fall any farther, whereas if the Wolverines beat the Irish, the Irish will be vaulted into that spot behind Michigan.

It appears Notre Dame will take this one, normallyy in such a hotly contested contest I would side with the home team but Ann Arbor is probably the most hostile city towards the Wolverines at this point.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2007-09-09 01:27am

I prefer Michigan for next week's Toilet Bowl. After watching the Notre Dame / Penn State game, the Irish aren't well conditioned at all. The linemen (both offense and defense) were tired and sloppy by the beginning of the fourth quarter. Except for one pick being run back for a touchdown early, there was no spark to Notre Dame at all.

On offense, Notre Dame started first-and-goal at the 7 after a 47-yard punt return, and walked away with a field goal after getting two yards on three plays - and there you have every point the offense scored tonight. Notre Dame had a total of 144 yards offense, all passing - they were held to 0 rushing yards for the game (although to be fair, that's because the NCAA takes sacks away from rushing yards). At a guess, somewhere around 120 yards of that came off screen passes.

On defense, they were somewhere between lackluster and Keystone Cops. To be fair, only 24 points were scored against the defense, but they gave up a touchdown on a 63-yard drive where every play was a run.

Clausen looked pretty good for a freshman QB, but the o-line sucks. The running backs might be OK, but you can't tell because the o-line sucks, and the receivers can't run any deep routes because the o-line sucks.

If Penn State wins next week, and Florida State loses, Joe Pa will be tied with Bowden for winningest active coach.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2007-09-09 02:10am

Darth Fanboy wrote:I don't buy into the "conference loyalty" argument. What is far more important is that if Michigan tanks then a victory over the Wolverines doesn't mean as much later in the year. Especially if there is a crunch of one loss teams trying to fill in a spot in the National Championship. Big Ten fans who dislike Michigan but didn't want them to lose don't feel that way out of conference brotherhood, they do it because if you are planning on making a aserious run at a national title then you want every team on your schedule to go unbeaten until you play them.

Luckily this year Iowa doesn't play either Michigan or Ohio State so I can hope for both of them to suck royal ass and it will only marginally impact Iowa's strength of schedule.

A nice way for the season to go would be for Michigan to stink up it's conference season but then just wail on Ohio State in their last game of the season.

Still, I can't help but pull for Michigan against Notre Dame. Ever since ND got that contract for all of their games to be on NBC, and they got all snotty about joining the Big Ten, I can't help but enjoy seeing the Golden Domers get their asses kicked.

Oregon looked good against Michigan (it helped that they wore all white and not some of their usual ugly ass stuff)

. They've got a pretty serious offence and an opportunistic defense. Michgan seemed to run okay against them but that seems to be about the only thing the Michigan offense can do consistantly well.

So far this season I don't hold much hope of the Big Ten being all that good outside the conference. Teams like Oklahoma and LSU look pretty damn good so I'll be watching them in the polls.

There have been quite a few upsets this year already so I don't know if it's because some of the major conferences got full of themselves or what. It certainly makes college football more interesting.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-09-09 03:05am

Top 25 Upsets that happened:
Washington over No 22 Boise State
South Carolina over No 11 Georgia
South Florida over No 17 Auburn

****Look at the ones that almost happened****

No. 8 Louisville didn't pull away from Middle Tennesee until very late in their game

Marshall led at the half against No 3 West Virginia

Akron led No 12 Ohio State 2-0 after one quarter and held the Buckeyes to only 3 points in the first half before OSU pulled away in the second half, not scoring as many points as one would expect a powerhouse to score against an average MAC team.

Wake Forest failing late against No 16 Nebraska

No 10 California had a rough time and had to win late against Colorado State

No 23 Texas A&M needed three overtimes and some really clutch plays to overcome Fresno State

Troy was tied early in the first quarter against No 4 Florida, and even though they were down big after one half, they scored seventeen unanswered in the third quarter to get it close. This one was a bit of a stretch but it was upsetting to Gator fans as they head into SEC play next week.

No 13 UCLA won by 10 but scored a touchdown late to get that margin up to double digits.

No 20 Hawaii squeaked out a win at Louisiana Tech and trailed after the first half.

TCU led No 7 Texas 10-0 after one half, and the game was tied at 10 heading into the 4th quarter.

No 5 Wisconsin needed a 4th quarter touchdown and 2 point conversion in order beat UNLV, who led 13-12 at the time.

No 24 Tennesee trailed after one quarter, and only led by one point after two quarters against Southern Miss.

There are 12 games right there where an upset was possible but failed. Half of those potential upsets had what I would consider a good shot at succeeding. The Top 25 could have really been thrown out of whack easily today, which would have been fun.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-09-09 03:56am

"Hey Jimmy (Clausen)! You looked good tonight!"
"Yeah, I'd look good in Red and Gold on a bench on the west coast..."
"What was that Jimmy?"
"Nuthin' Coach Weiss."

Oh, it is going to be a LOOOOOONG 4 years for lil Jimmy Clausen, and it is going to be all HIS fault.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-09-09 04:02am

Darth Fanboy wrote:Top 25 Upsets that happened:
Washington over No 22 Boise State
South Carolina over No 11 Georgia
South Florida over No 17 Auburn

****Look at the ones that almost happened****

No. 8 Louisville didn't pull away from Middle Tennesee until very late in their game

Marshall led at the half against No 3 West Virginia

Akron led No 12 Ohio State 2-0 after one quarter and held the Buckeyes to only 3 points in the first half before OSU pulled away in the second half, not scoring as many points as one would expect a powerhouse to score against an average MAC team.

Wake Forest failing late against No 16 Nebraska

No 10 California had a rough time and had to win late against Colorado State

No 23 Texas A&M needed three overtimes and some really clutch plays to overcome Fresno State

Troy was tied early in the first quarter against No 4 Florida, and even though they were down big after one half, they scored seventeen unanswered in the third quarter to get it close. This one was a bit of a stretch but it was upsetting to Gator fans as they head into SEC play next week.

No 13 UCLA won by 10 but scored a touchdown late to get that margin up to double digits.

No 20 Hawaii squeaked out a win at Louisiana Tech and trailed after the first half.

TCU led No 7 Texas 10-0 after one half, and the game was tied at 10 heading into the 4th quarter.

No 5 Wisconsin needed a 4th quarter touchdown and 2 point conversion in order beat UNLV, who led 13-12 at the time.

No 24 Tennesee trailed after one quarter, and only led by one point after two quarters against Southern Miss.

There are 12 games right there where an upset was possible but failed. Half of those potential upsets had what I would consider a good shot at succeeding. The Top 25 could have really been thrown out of whack easily today, which would have been fun.

I think that this just shows that the smaller schools are catching up to the big boys in terms of recruiting and creating talent.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2007-09-09 09:59am

Holy shit LSU, I was pretty confident they'd win against VaTech, but not like that. Damn. My only concern is that the've got at least nine games left and all this talk of the national championship can only cause problems.

And what a disappointment for the alma mater, taking ranked Hawaii to OT, and haveing the testicles to got for the two point conversion, only to come up short. Unfortunately 'moral victories' are still counted in the loss column.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-09-11 05:08am

-Games of Interest Predictions (because too many Top 25 teams are scheduling Patsies):

Tennessee @ Florida, I have to side with the champs, and not with the team who sucked against Cal.
Arkansas @ Alabama, This is my upset special for the week, only because the game is at Bama.
Fresno State @ Oregon, The Daawgs gave Texas A&M one hell of a finish but could not seal the deal, meanwhile the Ducks look damn good.
Louisville @ Kentucky, the rivalry is evident on both sides but the talent isn't.
Boston College @ Georgia Tech, BC looked good last week but Georgia Tech is a class above NC State
USC @ NEbraska, Despite what the red-clad fans in Lincoln will tell you, this will be a curbstomping.

-Teams Michigan is cheering for loudly this week:

Citadel, Furman, Western Carolina, South Carolina State. Those teams play Wisconsin, Clemson, Georgia, and South Carolina respectively and an upset by one of those I-AA schools against a ranked team would give the Wolverines some company in Upsetville.

-FUN FACTS:

Northern Illinois, Iowa State, Rice, and of course Michigan are I-A schools that have all lost to I-AA teams this season.

Games against I-AA opponents are scheduled throughout the year. This is a little disappointing to see blatant money games being played so late in the season, especially when programs like Arkansas and Auburn are doing this.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2007-09-11 06:24pm

Funny you don't mention WVU vs Maryland. Its at Maryland and WVU has looked vulnerable, despite what appeared to be ablowout last year in Morgantown the game was played tight fro all but the first 7-8minutes. Take that away and its a nailbitter. At home the Terps won't surrender that and they have two backs plus an O-line that can control the time of possesion if they don't get behind which limits WVU's explosiveness. I know the line still has to be going to WVU on experience and speed but I think its gonna be a much tighter game than most folks expect.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-09-12 03:19pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:snip

You make a good case, but from what I know of Rich Rodriguez, there is no way he is going to let that happen and the preparation will be much better after the poor first half performance against Marshall. I expect WVU to come out of the gate and quite literally smash Maryland to the side by the end of the first half.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-09-14 12:19pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:Funny you don't mention WVU vs Maryland. Its at Maryland and WVU has looked vulnerable, despite what appeared to be ablowout last year in Morgantown the game was played tight fro all but the first 7-8minutes. Take that away and its a nailbitter. At home the Terps won't surrender that and they have two backs plus an O-line that can control the time of possesion if they don't get behind which limits WVU's explosiveness. I know the line still has to be going to WVU on experience and speed but I think its gonna be a much tighter game than most folks expect.

Not that tight a game... WVU 31 Terps 14.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2007-09-14 12:35pm

LadyTevar wrote:
CmdrWilkens wrote:Funny you don't mention WVU vs Maryland. Its at Maryland and WVU has looked vulnerable, despite what appeared to be ablowout last year in Morgantown the game was played tight fro all but the first 7-8minutes. Take that away and its a nailbitter. At home the Terps won't surrender that and they have two backs plus an O-line that can control the time of possesion if they don't get behind which limits WVU's explosiveness. I know the line still has to be going to WVU on experience and speed but I think its gonna be a much tighter game than most folks expect.
Not that tight a game... WVU 31 Terps 14.

Yeah they broke it open after the half. I was pretty happy with 14-7 at the midpoint especially as we had the TOP edge and shown the ability to move the ball and just occasionally shut down the WVU offense. Yet it seems halftime the WVU line just had a meeting and decided to open up som holes because damn that was a fine drive to open things. So well played.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2007-09-14 03:21pm

That loss can be put almost completely on Jordan Steffy. He didn't throw a single pass over 5 yards the entire game other than the downfield shot at the end of the first half. You can't keep possession if you can't throw the ball enough to keep the defense honest.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2007-09-15 12:07pm

He was checking down WAAAYYYY too early. Sure you need to move on if your primary route is covered because there is no point in trying to force the pass but if the route is a 15, 20-yd route then you need to give it more than 2 seconds to develop because its gonna take you that long to break through into the gap in a zone. Steffy never waited for the 15-20 yd shot to develop and always checked down...always. The 2nd-15 at the end of the half is the perfect example. He waited literaly a long count before switching from primary and secondary routes out to Ball in the flat. He has to wait sometimes still as mistakes go its not the worst and its probably the easiest to coach out of.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2007-09-15 05:14pm

Auburn is down this year, which bodes well for Alabama. Now to see if Bama can overcome the Hogs tonight.

Roll Tide!

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2007-09-15 05:23pm

So... is it worse to lose to a AA school, or to get BLOWN THE FUCK OUT by a team that lost to a AA school?

It's halftime, right now, in Michigan-Notre Dame.

Notre Dame's fumbled three times (losing two of them), thrown a pick, been sacked five times (with an intentional grounding penalty on top of those), and has negative rushing yards. They also have 4 punts, already, and Mike Hart is over 100 rushing yards for the day.

Edit: I still have more rushing yards than ND this season. Also, it's now 38-0. This is getting ugly. What was wrong with Willingham?

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-09-15 07:50pm

Michigan is still not a very good football team. Notre Dame is just epically terrible. I've never seen such porous lines.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2007-09-15 07:51pm

I think Mack Brown damn near had a heart attack here in Orlando. Texas is safely up by 11 with less than two minutes to go. Handoff to the halfback, trucking upfield...IT'S A FUMBLE! UCF recovers, blazes downfield, and scores a touchdown with 35 seconds left. 5 point lead. A two point conversion comes up. Israel is flushed from the pocket, makes a Jeff Garcia-ugly throw straight into his receiver's hands. 3 point game. The onside kick is recovered by Texas, but only went eight yards. The zebras don't notice it traveled less than ten, and don't call for a rekick. Texas squeaks away shaken, 35-32. Coach Brown says he doesn't want to do any more inaugural games at stadiums.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2007-09-15 08:56pm

So... Who exactly was that Catholic high school team who showed up in Ann Arbor today?

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2007-09-15 08:57pm

Howedar wrote:Michigan is still not a very good football team. Notre Dame is just epically terrible. I've never seen such porous lines.

What lines?

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2007-09-15 10:18pm

Marshall University's still dying.

Marshall was looking for a victory against New Hampshire for its mental well-being. In that case, it's time to call in a team of shrinks.

The Thundering Herd suffered the worst possible fate Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium, falling behind 24-0 by halftime and tumbling to the Wildcats 48-35. Bernard Morris returned late in that disastrous first half and threw for a career-high 417 yards, but he couldn't compensate for a porous defense.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-09-15 11:11pm

Patrick Degan wrote:
Howedar wrote:Michigan is still not a very good football team. Notre Dame is just epically terrible. I've never seen such porous lines.
What lines?

I just deleted an almost-posted post about how dumb you were. Then I realized you're being sarcastic.

Also, WOOOOOO Kentucky, WOOOOOOOOO ASU and WOOOOOOOOOOO USC!

Gaidin · Post by **Gaidin** » 2007-09-15 11:25pm

WOOOOO KENTUCKY!!!

Louisville and a Top 10 team in the same game. RAWK!:D