College Football 2016

[Guardsman Bass]

That Utah-BYU game was really strange and bad. I was expecting Utah to dominate it again (they've won the last five times), but after an initial Pick-Six on the first play of the game things went. Nine turnovers in that game, six of which were from Utah (they had something like 21 total turnovers last season), and two of which were from one guy early in the game. Two BYU players ejected from the game on questionable targeting penalties. And finally a last three minutes BYU drive across the field for a touchdown, bringing the game to 20-19 with something like 20 seconds left . . . and the Y's coach calls for a two-point conversion instead of the easy extra point that would have taken it into OT, which fails and they lose instead. WTF.

It's even uglier than I described, just a bad game by both teams. I hope Utah plays better in their up-coming games.

[Tsyroc]

I'm kind of expecting Arizona to have a suck ass season. So far they lost a close one to BYU and won against Grambling State after Grambling lost their star QB to injury. Before that the Wildcats were getting their asses kicked. They just aren't inspiring confidence, and I have yet to see Rich Rod manage to recruit enough depth so even when manages to get things going his way his teams are only a few injuries away from nearly falling apart. Hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

On the Iowa front. Surprisingly a Kirk Ferentz Iowa team kicked the crap out of Iowa State. Usually his teams lose to Iowa State or squeak out a win no matter how bad the Cyclones might be. This may speak well for Iowa this season but more likely it means Iowa State is going to have a long, bad season. They lost to FCS Northern Iowa last week. Granted UNI is a pretty good FCS team and generally only lacking in depth when compared to the two bigger Iowa schools, but still that loss contributes to the evidence that ISU might be regretting their coaching change.

Anyway, Iowa's offense has looked pretty good. I'm still not sure about the defense. That probably won't show if it is actually any good until the Big Ten season starts. They play FCS North Dakota State next week. So one of the top tier FCS teams from one of the top tier FCS conferences. It might be a trap!

Anyone see the ridiculousness of the ASU / Texas Tech game? The Sun Devils won 68 to 55 with no overtimes.

[Tsyroc]

Well Iowa lost to North Dakota State, probably the best FCS team in the nation but still an FCS team. While the score was close it wasn't a fluke, even with the win coming from a last second field goal. The Bison, IMO, played better all around. Iowa was missing two of its starting offensive linemen, so that probably made a difference on their running game (which sucked on Saturday) but that doesn't excuse their defense. Granted, a good FCS team isn't really all that much different than a team from a bigger school except for having less team depth due to fewer scholarships. Iowa got lucky beating UNI a few years ago (blocking back to back last second field goal attempts) and UNI beat Iowa State this year.

Arizona had little trouble against Hawaii this week. What was more interesting is the alternate uniforms Arizona wore. They were designed to honor the USS Arizona BB-39 that was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were actually pretty cool and not gaudy in any way.

[Alferd Packer]

And I'll get to watch--in person--that extremely angry Iowa team butt-stomp Rutgers on Saturday.

[Guardsman Bass]

I'd be stoked to watch the Utah-USC game this friday . . . except that I'm not certain I actually have the sports channel it's on anymore. A bunch of sports channels (including the Pac-12 network and others) got bunched up into an extra sports cable package, and fuck if I'm going to pay for the whole thing just so I can watch a football game once a week.

[Guardsman Bass]

The Utes won their game this weekend, although it was a wretched one. So many of their backs are out on injury . . . I'm thinking it'll get harder and harder to hold on to their position in the rankings, and they're going to go down hard against the #5 Huskies.

[Guardsman Bass]

That went much better than I thought it would! They lost, but they made it competitive and close - they ended up losing because of a kick-return TD by Washington and failures on that last offensive drive. It was damn close, which is way more than I thought considering the Huskies #5 position. Maybe the Utes won't suffer too much in the rankings from it.

[Tsyroc]

That went much better than I thought it would! They lost, but they made it competitive and close - they ended up losing because of a kick-return TD by Washington and failures on that last offensive drive. It was damn close, which is way more than I thought considering the Huskies #5 position. Maybe the Utes won't suffer too much in the rankings from it.

Maybe they'll get another shot at them in the conference title game?

I'm hoping that it's Utah or Colorado that represents the South. It sure isn't going to be Arizona, and it'll take several train wrecks to make it ASU. I just don't want it to be USC unless they promise to get crushed by whomever the champion of the North ends up being.

I guess the North could still be Washington or WSU, with maybe Stanford having an extreme outside shot.

[Guardsman Bass]

That went much better than I thought it would! They lost, but they made it competitive and close - they ended up losing because of a kick-return TD by Washington and failures on that last offensive drive. It was damn close, which is way more than I thought considering the Huskies #5 position. Maybe the Utes won't suffer too much in the rankings from it.

Maybe they'll get another shot at them in the conference title game?

I'm hoping that it's Utah or Colorado that represents the South. It sure isn't going to be Arizona, and it'll take several train wrecks to make it ASU. I just don't want it to be USC unless they promise to get crushed by whomever the champion of the North ends up being.

I guess the North could still be Washington or WSU, with maybe Stanford having an extreme outside shot.

I hope so, and I hope we're in a position to actually contest it. God help Utah if Williams gets injured after all the work they're making him do. The injuries have just been brutal.

I was right about the rankings. Utah actually went up one spot in the rankings despite losing.

[Tsyroc]

Well, first game I've watched all season and Iowa managed to upset Michigan 14-13.

The defense actually looked pretty good and from time to time the offense looked decent, mostly in the running game. I think they really miss their leading wide receiver way to much. The other guys and the QB just don't seem to be jelling very well.

Anyway, nothing quite makes a season that kind of got away from your team than knocking off some undefeated team and potentially ruining their playoff/championship hopes. It's also nice that Harbaugh is back at Michigan. It was okay beating Michigan under Hoke, but it just wasn't the same under Rodriguez, other than making his arrogant ass eat it. It's more satisfying when it's been against Schembechler or one of his guys, it just feels more like you actually beat Michigan. You probably won't win often but when you do it is special.

The game itself was kind of fucked up, with lots of weird and bizarre penalties. Starting off with three video reviews early in the first quarter.

Iowa scored a safety, a touchdown and two field goals to get to 14 points. Weird.

[Guardsman Bass]

Oh, that Oregon-Utah game ended up being heart-breaking. I accidentally missed the first half of it because of misreading the schedule, but I was there to see the closeness of it in the second half, and the ending.

[Tsyroc]

Oh, that Oregon-Utah game ended up being heart-breaking. I accidentally missed the first half of it because of misreading the schedule, but I was there to see the closeness of it in the second half, and the ending.

It was disappointing that Utah lost that one. I was hoping that the Utah-Colorado game would be the straight up decider for the winner of the South. I think Utah still has a shot at winning the division but USC might mess that up.

I'm also really disappointed that Michigan and Ohio State survived their close calls this week. I would have really liked if they both had lost to mediocre/bad teams and completely taken themselves out of contention for the playoffs. Even though I am a bit of a BigTen fan I still don't like the idea of two teams from the same conference getting into a 4 team playoff. Win your conference and then go, period.

I'm kind of hoping everything turns out to be a mess. Either Penn State wins the East or Wisconsin wins the rematch versus Michigan/Ohio State.

The Pac 12 could still end up interesting when it comes to who wins the divisions and who could possibly go to the playoffs.

As always, rooting for the underdogs to screw up the playoffs by knocking the top teams off in the last week of the season or in conference championship games.

[Block]

Oh, that Oregon-Utah game ended up being heart-breaking. I accidentally missed the first half of it because of misreading the schedule, but I was there to see the closeness of it in the second half, and the ending.

It was disappointing that Utah lost that one. I was hoping that the Utah-Colorado game would be the straight up decider for the winner of the South. I think Utah still has a shot at winning the division but USC might mess that up.

I'm also really disappointed that Michigan and Ohio State survived their close calls this week. I would have really liked if they both had lost to mediocre/bad teams and completely taken themselves out of contention for the playoffs. Even though I am a bit of a BigTen fan I still don't like the idea of two teams from the same conference getting into a 4 team playoff. Win your conference and then go, period.

I'm kind of hoping everything turns out to be a mess. Either Penn State wins the East or Wisconsin wins the rematch versus Michigan/Ohio State.

The Pac 12 could still end up interesting when it comes to who wins the divisions and who could possibly go to the playoffs.

As always, rooting for the underdogs to screw up the playoffs by knocking the top teams off in the last week of the season or in conference championship games.

Utah is definitely out for the South. It's either USC or Colorado. If Utah beats Colorado, it's USC, if they lose it's Colorado.