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October 26, 2005

CW: 'BURNT ORANGE' EDITION

Week 9
Date: 10/27/2005
It's obvious that Northwestern is headed up and Texas Tech headed down, but what about the rest of college football's trends?


CONVENTIONALwisdom
"BURNT ORANGE" EDITION
Texas QB Vince Young up CW likes players who come back for their senior year. Especially when they're as good as Young is.
Texas Tech down Either the Red Raiders were overrated or Texas is a lot better than anyone thinks they are. We're going with the former.
AFA Coach DeBerry ??? CW is not really sure how appropriate or inappropriate the Coach's comments on race were...
Georgia, Alabama ??? They're still winning, but the injuries will eventually take their toll.
Baylor up At least a little part of every college football fan really wanted Baylor to beat Oklahoma on Saturday, and they almost did.
Storming the Field down As though we needed any more evidence that it's a really bad idea to storm the field...
Northwestern up Not sure where these guys came from, but they're probably the most exciting thing in the Big Ten right now.
'Bama/FSU up Every indication is that the 'Noles and the Tide will both be at least decent teams in two years when they face off, this should be one for the ages.
Auburn Coach Tuberville ??? He made some valid points, but they all had the smell of sour grapes all over them.


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.

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Comments:

  1. bama51 said:

    posted on October 27, 2005 8:16 AM — 157.185.6.74 — link — abuse?



    Agree with the comment that Tuberville's comments smelled of sour grapes, but that smell is starting to spread around the country. There may possibly be two more coaches smelling sour grapes by season's end. Tuberville was completely right in saying that the season is over for Bama, Georgia, and Va. Tech unless someone knocks off Texas or USC, and that has been true for about six weeks now. Its a popularity contest.

  2. Fanblogs Author Pete Holiday said:

    posted on October 27, 2005 11:02 AM — 12.223.242.140 — link — abuse?



    Sure, that may be true, and I'm as big a fan of a playoff system as you'll find, but do you really think that 'Bama, Georgia, or VA Tech could consistently hang with Texas or USC?

    I agree that it's a shame they don't get a chance to try, but I'm not convinced that there's some horrible injustice going on here.

  3. VTBobb said:

    posted on October 27, 2005 1:02 PM — 208.229.147.26 — link — abuse?



    I have no doubt VA Tech can hang with both Texas and USC. They hung with both USC and Auburn last year, and they have a better team than last year. I'm not saying they would win, but I know they would be great games...

    As they say, defense wins championships, and Tech has one of the best in the nation, ranked 1st or 2nd in passing defense, scoring defense and total defense (man that Miami game is going to be a defensive battle, glad it's at home). Plus, they have dynamic and talented offense.

    Assuming all 3 win out (USC, Texas & VT), an argument could be made that based on strength of schedule, VT should be ranked #1 at the end of the season.

    As for as being a “horrible injustice”, I wouldn't go that far. But it is unfair Without a playoff, and even with a playoff (the # 5 team in a 4 team playoff, the #9 team in an 8 team playoff), there is no way to assure that a deserving team gets their chance.

  4. Fanblogs Author Pete Holiday said:

    posted on October 27, 2005 1:52 PM — 156.56.70.164 — link — abuse?



    Sagarin disagrees.

    Strength of Schedule Rank:

    USC: 24th
    Texas: 30th
    VT: 55th.

    The NCAA's ranking (much less detailed, and takes into account games not yet played) agrees, but not by any large degree:

    VT: 24th
    USC: 25th
    Texas: 33rd

    Most telling in the Sagarin ranking is the fact that VT has only played (to date) one top-30 team while Texas has played 4 and USC 3. VT has no top ten opponents, while Texas has 1 and USC 2.

    You mention that VT is better this year as though Texas and USC aren't. All three teams are better this year.

    I don't think an 8 team playoff would be the most fair, but it would be better than the BCS. I think you could pretty confidently say that 99% of the time, Nobody outside of the top 16 is going to be able to string together 4 straight wins against top-16 teams... so the odds of excluding a championship team in a 16 team bracket is slim.

    Trust me, I'd love to see a playoff... but, just like last year, I'm not convinced that we have three championship-caliber teams this year. VT is making a much stronger case this year than Auburn did last year, however.

  5. VTBobb said:

    posted on October 28, 2005 12:41 PM — 208.229.147.26 — link — abuse?



    Obviously, if we are talking about winning out and rankings at the end of the season, we need to take into account all the games through the end of the season. Of course, it's a little like a pre-season poll, not knowing exaclty what your strength of schedule is until the seaon is over and all results are in.

    I'm not convinced USC is better this year than they were last year. Although they have their star playmakers back, they seem to be letting the mid level teams hang around a bit more than last year. Of course, I haven't watched all of their games, and am only basing that off of the perception I've gotten from watching highlites. Just curious, how much of their lines did they loose?

    As for a playoff, I think the Bowl system has to remain in some form. It's too important to the mid level teams and their fans. In fact, I think Beamer was masterful at using the bowl system to build VA Tech's program.