October 5, 2005
CW: 'WRIT IN CRIMSON FLAME' EDITION
Week 6Date: 10/6/2005
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| "WRIT IN CRIMSON FLAME" EDITION | ||
| Alabama |  |
Huge win against Florida, a week off to figure out how to replace Tyrone Prothro, and then Ole Miss. The bandwagon now reads: NO VACANCY. |
| OU Bombing |  |
CW is not only anti-suicide-bombings by extremists, but also against the poor job the media has done in getting the word out about how fishy the situation is. |
| Cocktails | |
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party stays in Jacksonville... is there a better venue for this game? CW doesn't think so. |
| Texas A&M Coach Franchione | |
Where Fran goes, success usually follows... but it's starting to look like Franchione just goes where success is impending. The Aggies are on the ropes, and a 3 point win over Baylor doesn't help things. |
| Clemson | |
It seems that CW has yet to state the obvious: Clemson, and Bowden, are in big, big trouble. |
| South Car. Coach Spurrier | |
Love him or hate him, it's undeniable that his straight-talking about his own team has been lacking in College Football while he was busy screwing up the Redskins. |
| Cal |  |
They sure have been playing well, but against whom? They get their first real test this week against UCLA... another team who hasn't played much of anyone. Maybe we can make some more sense out of the PAC-10 after this one. |
| Know-it-all Pundits | |
Though harmful in this case, going for the jugular with the first stringers was the right move for 'Bama Head Coach Mike Shula. Killer instinct has some down-sides, but the benefits are far greater in the long run. |
Fanblogs' Conventional Wisdom column is the opinion of the author and not necessarily those of Newsweek or MSNBC. The content of this page has not been reviewed or approved by Newsweek or MSNBC and the author is solely responsible for its content.
Comments:
posted on October 6, 2005 3:11 PM — 156.56.70.12 — link — abuse?Pete Holiday said:
Toughest conference in the nation? You do know that Clemson plays in the ACC, right?
This is the first year that one could even try to make the case that the ACC is anything more than a basketball conference, and Bowden has not done well this year. A loss to Texas A&M who barely eeked out a 3 point win over Baylor, and Maryland who has a loss to WVU and nearly lost to Navy.
Moreover, he didn't do that well last year, either -- one win worth speaking of (Miami) and a bunch of losses that make you scratch your head.
And then, of course, we have the fact that he blamed the fake-kick call on the kicker... how classy. There are coaches having a rough time right now who have excuses... Bowden has none.
pimpdaddy said:
posted on October 6, 2005 3:16 PM — 66.26.85.103 — link — abuse?
Petey I'm sure your one who likes to live in the past but we are talking about the 2005 season and yes it may be hard for you to swallow this but the ACC is the BEST CONFERENCE IN THE NATION
BASKETBALL and FOOTBALL AW YEAH
posted on October 6, 2005 3:37 PM — 156.56.70.12 — link — abuse?
The ACC doesn't have anything even resembling a claim to be the top conference in college football this year. Remove Viriginia Tech and the conference is totally mediocre so far. Could it get better? Maybe... but as it stands, there aren't many bright lights shining out in the Atlantic Coast.
pimpdaddy said:
posted on October 6, 2005 3:47 PM — 66.26.85.103 — link — abuse?
Two top 5 teams in the country. Three top ten teams in the country. Out of conference wins Texas A&M and Auburn. Dude you need to open your eyes.
Look I'm not going to argue that the best conference in college football is the ACC, with someone that can't accept the obvious. You, however sound knowledgable enough to, but for whatever reason: favorite team or conference other than the ACC, you just can't accept that the ACC has the best football and basketball conference in the nation. AWWWW YEAAAH
posted on October 6, 2005 3:53 PM — 156.56.70.12 — link — abuse?
Florida State is above average, no doubt. But they only play two real football games this year -- Miami and Florida... the rest of their schedule is a cake walk.Miami? You mean the miami team that took three overtimes to beat Clemson. Surely you're not serious.
BC has yet to beat anyone serious.
Georgia Tech is really the only team you mentioned that's beaten anyone noteworthy... but they gave up more points to Va Tech than Ohio and Duke... and their win was in the first week of the season... so are they for real? Maybe. We might find out against Miami... or Georgia.
So, yeah, you're right... the ACC is better than the Big East... and Big XII... and the Sun Belt. But best in the country, they're not. (And it doesn't matter how many times you misuse the word 'your' or say 'awww yeah' -- the facts are the facts)
PS: I wouldn't brag too much about the Texas A&M win... Baylor almost beat them. You do know who Baylor is, right?Orson Swindle said:
posted on October 6, 2005 3:54 PM — 12.13.183.235 — link — abuse?
Pimpdaddy might be a textbook Talifan.
Regan said:
posted on October 6, 2005 5:16 PM — 64.12.116.139 — link — abuse?
Pete, you don't like the ACC, do ya? :-)
Don't look down on Miami for taking 3x Overtimes to beat Clemson. Maturing QB, awesome defense, the 'Canes will be scary late-year.
Not giving Clemson any credit for beating Texas A&M? Texas A&M only beating Baylor by 3 points should not be the highlight of this team's talent. They seem to have more of a pulse than anyone else in the Big 12 other than Texas (Texas Tech's schedule is a joke).
Clemson has the components to be one of the most feared teams in the nation, if they'd only just "click". A simple statement, the mechanics of which I will leave to more well-versed folks. Proof of this may be found in the late-season runs of the last 2 seasons that took down Miami, FSU, and Tennessee.
(Yes, there's Duke last year, but we have established with A&M-Baylor that 3-point losses aren't really important in showing the winning team is better...)
But most importantly: Show me a conference that is better hands-down. The Big Ten took a beating recently and only OSU has a slim chance of making a splash now; the Pac-10 has Southern Cal, hype, and lots of untested teams. The SEC seems better right now than the ACC, despite Auburn's loss to GT, but to say the ACC is weak is really presumptive after only 5 games into the season...
Bart Hillis said:
posted on October 6, 2005 5:21 PM — 24.158.163.208 — link — abuse?
Hum, strongest football conference? How does anyone argue with the SEC? Half their teams in both Top 25 polls. Four of those in the top 11. Need more? The sad truth is that probably only one or two will stay there til the end of the season. This isn't because there are any better teams out there; it's cannibalism. It is a safe bet that if you took the best team in the SEC each year and put them in any other conference, odds are they would at least play for the national championship. Case in point, Alabama, they beat a top 5 team by 28 pts. last week. How many top 5 teams does USC play this year? Va. Tech? Texas played one, but Bama's not stopping. In two weeks they will play a Tennessee team that will likely be in the top 5 or 6 if they beat #4 Georgia this week. Looking further ahead, they also get to play a top 10 LSU and an Auburn squad that is ranked 21st now but will probably only climb between now and then. Tennessee is getting ready to play their third top 5 team in 4 weeks- not to worry, they've got a Wake Forest to take out frustrations on, right? No, their reward is a trip to Tuscaloosa to play what might be the most complete team in the country, currently #7 Alabama! No other "elite" teams play those type schedules, and the same cases could be stated for Georgia, LSU, and Florida. It's no wonder that its been 7 years since an SEC team won a national title, even when they have the best team in the country, right Auburn?
VOLPIMP said:
posted on October 6, 2005 5:38 PM — 208.0.27.10 — link — abuse?
This year doesn't seem to HAVE a dominant conference, the SEC does boast high ranked teams,but all of them have proven they aren't dominant. FSU and Miami are far below their usual greatness. The Big 12 boasts Texas, and that's pretty much it. Pac 10 has the Champs and undefeated and tested Cal, and that will possibly change this week. This looks to be a strange year for college football, with maybe even a 1 loss Champ, who knows?
posted on October 6, 2005 6:25 PM — 12.223.245.245 — link — abuse?
Lots of great points -- Regan may have the most convincing argument for the ACC so far, but a lot of it is about believing hype... which I'm bad at doing in general. Then again you could say the same about the PAC or the SEC -- though to a lesser extent, I think.
Yes, it's very early to say who the great teams are going to be, but we can always argue about who's good right now. In fact, if college football fans didn't argue about that, we'd have very little to say most of the time.
There was a fairly spirited debate from some PAC 10 fans who made some good points for the PAC-10 being the super-conference. I don't think anyone will argue that the Big XII is probably the worst conference as compared to performance in recent years, and I'm not trying to say that the ACC belongs with the likes of the MWC or the MAC, but to just step in and claim that it's the best conference in college football?
In a year where FSU and Miami are mere ghosts of their former selves and the conference schedules seem to have weakened it's not something you can just toss out there and expect everyone to pick up the pieces.
pimpdaddy said:
posted on October 7, 2005 9:28 AM — 66.26.85.103 — link — abuse?
FSU Miami mere ghosts??? Dude your outlandish claims are just silly. Your axe to grind with the ACC is truly evident. I guess all the AP voters college coaches and anyone else who votes in college football disagrees with you. Your credibility has pretty much gone out the window Petey, your bordering on irrelevancy.
DeNole said:
posted on October 10, 2005 12:42 PM — 144.228.163.214 — link — abuse?
ACC may not be the best but it has done pretty good so far this year. What about 5 top 25 teams, 2 top 10, etc. GTech whipping Auburn? etc.
You must be kidding to say that it is average and it is as good as the SEC and both are better then the Big 10 or Big 12.
bama51 said:
posted on October 12, 2005 5:03 PM — 157.185.6.74 — link — abuse?
FSU better than Tennessee? Am I to be impressed by that statement? Tennessee has no coaching staff or that would be a false statement. As far as the rest of the SEC, FSU and VT couldn't hold Mike Shula's jock strap. Roll Tide!
MisterMister said:
posted on November 16, 2005 12:25 PM — 69.150.65.103 — link — abuse?
Wonder what Bart is saying now? That Top 5 team...I guess it really wasn't a Top 5 team... that "likely..top 5 or 6" Orange team... well where are they?
Tie-Ins to Bowl Games... does not = Great Teams. 14 straight wins against ranked teams (15 after this weekend)....does = a great team. Giving up over 500yds against the #6 team in another conference.... **does not** = a great defense team (even though you'll be the conderence champ). A team that for the "season" has a QB with over 3,000 passing yds, 2 running backs with over 1,000 rushing yards, 1 reciever (2 after this weekend) with over 1,000 recieving yds....= a great team. Put your pride in your back pocket and admit it, if your team mascot isn't a white horse with Ben Hur riding it, your team is second rate. Go debate with a Leprechaun or maybe a Lion.... don't those both start with an "L".
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pimpdaddy said:
posted on October 6, 2005 2:48 PM — 66.26.85.103 — link — abuse?Agree with all except for Clemson. They play in the toughest conference in the nation give Bowden a break, he has had some major victories, to go with some real tough conference losses.