On paper at least, it looks like we’ve got some great match-ups on tap for the first day of 2015. The bowl schedule and my picks are below with ir-rationales following the image:
First things first — this year, the mighty SEC lost a step. Exhibit A: both Mississippis got torched yesterday. That said, I believe the SEC is still the strongest conference in the nation. My picks represent some SEC homerism, but my uninformed analysis plays a role too.
For example, I don’t think Wisconsin comes back from the ass-kicking delivered by Ohio State. Some teams might be motivated by such a debacle. I think Wisconsin was broken by it, and therefore the Tigers of Auburn will prevail.
I’m going with Mizzou over Minnesota mainly because Mizzou got better as the season went on whereas Minnesota started out strong but faltered. Still, I think it’ll be a good game.
Alabama – Ohio State worries me a bit because the pregame hype reminds me of the Florida – Ohio State matchup back in aught-seven when everyone was saying the Gators didn’t even belong in the championship game, and then they went on to dismantle the Buckeyes. Only this time Ohio State is the underdog. But I don’t think the mostly stalwart Ohio State D has seen anything like ‘Bama’s Sims-Cooper combo this year, so the Tide will roll.
Exactly 15 years ago today, my hungover little brother and I attended the Citrus Bowl hoping to watch our Gators beat Michigan State. But Michigan State embarrassed the Gators that year. The Spartans may do the same to Baylor, but I have a feeling the Bears, still smarting from being left out of the playoffs, will take it out on Michigan State.
And finally, Oregon vs Florida State. I hate the goddamn ‘Noles, and several times this year, egged on by texts from fellow ‘Nole-haters, I’ve been suckered by would-be schaudenfreude into watching them come from behind to win against mediocre ACC opponents. I hope the Ducks expose FSU today. I’m even wearing a green shirt in solidarity with Oregon. I don’t just want an Oregon win; I want a humiliating beat-down of the ‘Noles. But I suspect it’ll be an exciting game that Oregon wins in a squeaker.
What say you, football fans?
ruemara
I, uh, don’t know a dang thing about this. I’m just here to drop some other fun for people to play with. I present, The Tom Friedman Sentence Generator
Schlemazel
Hard to go wrong betting against the Big
1014BTW – the reason MN didn’t get better as the season went on was that they ran out of chapters of Little Sisters Of the Poor & had to play real D-I schools. Though they did give OSU more trouble than WI did.
debbie
Ohio State should be worrying you. On their third QB and still in contention.
max
I was sitting here thinkin’, ‘Man, I do not understand the college playoff system.’ That list you posted should have Ohio State as #4 and Baylor as #5. OK, confusion ended.
Hrmm. I guess I’ll root for Ohio State and Oregon. And Minnesota, Wisconsin and ugh, Michigan State. (To hell with the Baptist Vatican.)
OK, back to not paying attention now.
max
[‘Ooo, the Winter Classic is on at 1. So, that’s cool.’]
Schlemazel
BTW – Betty, is it a horrendously ugly green shirt? If not I’m not sure it shows solidarity with Oregon.
dmbeaster
The mighty SEC was off last year too in Bowl games. Remaining games will be interesting, and I think they’ll do OK today. But the pretense that they are the super conference already exposed. First among equals makes more sense and makes SEC fans less annoying
Gator90
Please Oregon please. I’ll wear ugly green shirts and eat Nike shoes for breakfast every morning…
Betty Cracker
@Schlemazel: It’s truly hideous, so it should work.
formernap
Yeah, what the hell happened to the mighty Mississips? That was kind of fun to watch.
tybee
just say ‘Nole
Just One More Canuck
@Betty Cracker: picture please
JPL
@Gator90: No you wont. The football gods are laughing at you.
The Dangerman
Whomever wins the Semifinal, I at least hope they are competitive…
…but I think Alabama clubs Ohio State and Oregon might abuse FSU.
Alabama v. TCU would have been interesting but it is what it is.
J.
Go Ducks!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Good first drive by Bucky. They certainly don’t look like a team that got demoralized by OSU.
Betty Cracker
Aaaand the Badgers draw first blood. Ray Jay Stadium looks pretty damn empty. It’s such a gorgeous day, too — mid-60s with the sun starting to burn through the fog. Maybe hungover fans will straggle in…
balconesfault
TCU just manhandled #9 Mississippi yesterday … if Baylor similarly dispenses with #8 Michigan State today, we could well see the consolation prize for the Big 12 (for being the Conference left out of the playoffs) will be having the #2 and #3 team in the final post-season poll.
Gator90
@JPL: I was wondering what that noise was that I keep hearing…
cmorenc
The football I’m watching today is Chelsea vs Tottenham – it’s 1-0 Chelsea @21:00 of the first half. The rest of you suit yourselves with “Murkin football played by uipaid pro college athletes.
Schlemazel
@Betty Cracker:
Good luck then!
BTW – I am fond of JMN’s moniker for the Ducks “Nike Fashion Nightmare University”
Josie
The only thing I care about is that someone humiliates Florida State. I really don’t care who does it. I am tired of their attitude that they are wonderful because they can beat poorly ranked teams. Even my pitiful Longhorns could have probably done well in that division.
Mike E
No cable, so I may have to improvise today to catch these so-called playoffs. Oh, and the Winter Classic is getting set to drop the puck!
Schlemazel
@balconesfault:
Admittedly coming from a place of not paying attention to football seriously but how can they have a national playoff with only 4 teams? Does this not have every pitfall of randomly declaring a champion? Even 8 out of the whole pool seems too few, should have at least 16 I would think. They could play through January & have the actual championship game in place of the NFL some-stars game. Big money maker for the oh so needy NCAA
jharp
Wisconsin beating Auburn would be great for the Big Ten. Go Badgers.
And go Buckeyes!
Hoping it is Big Ten day.
Betty Cracker
Christ, they just showed Will Muschamp in the press box! I knew Auburn hired him for DC, but I didn’t know he was already on the job. No wonder the Badgers are racking up the first downs…
Betty Cracker
@Schlemazel: Eight would be plenty, but I agree that four is too few.
jharp
@The Dangerman:
The Big 12 sucks.
? Martin
Well, it’s (relatively speaking) cold here in SoCal, so expect Florida State collapse in a heap of mid-50 degree hypothermia.
Cacti
I think Oregon beats FSU because FSU’s defense is significantly worse this year than last.
Dropped from #2 total defense in FBS to #50, and Oregon is a point-scoring machine.
FSU also hasn’t looked nearly as hungry this season. Post title malaise.
Citizen_X
Fuck the fucking Criminoles.
Mr Stagger Lee
Tragically for the cable-less, Wiziwig.tv has stoped streaming because of a new law in Spain that would force to stop streaming of events if say, the NFL filed a complaint in Spain, I guess Google News, in Spain is down also, because of the law also. Good bye Wiziwig we hardly knew ye!
Amir Khalid
@cmorenc:
That was some turnaround: it’s now Spurs 3-1 Chelsea at halftime.
JPL
@Josie: Maybe but Duke gave Ariz. St a tough time and Clemson and GA Tech both looked strong. Oklahoma fans might not agree with you.
Dolly Llama
@Schlemazel: In order for the playoffs to work, and still be fair to the kids (or at least no more unfair than it is now) the playoffs would need to work like this:
1. The “Power Five” conferences need to be consolidated into a “Power Four,” with each conference having a championship game.
2. The conference championship games serve as the first round of an eight-team playoff. The conference champs comprise the final four.
3. The committee is only in play deciding the seeding of the final four.
Sixteen games is too many. Not fair to the kids. This isn’t basketball.
Any playoff system that envisions bye weeks is absurd. If there were, say, a six-team playoff this year, you’d have Baylor and TCU duking it out for the right to play in a final game against a tanned, rested and ready Alabama team. Where’s the fairness in that.
This way, only the four finalists have to play an extra game, and I think that’s important. We don’t need to lengthen the season. Again, this ain’t basketball.
KG
@Betty Cracker: I don’t think eight will work well. You need six bowl games to do eight teams (four in the first round, two in the second, championship game). It would mean leaving four teams out of the big money games compared to the current system, I just don’t see it going over well with a lot of teams/conferences, especially with Boise St and Georgia Tech winning yesterday.
ETA: to be honest, I always preferred the pre-BCS system, because depending on how things worked out in bowl match ups, as many as six teams had at least an outside shot at the title
Yatsuno
QUACK!!!
That is all.
KG
@Dolly Llama: and when Notre Dame, BYU, and Boise State are in the top five but not in the power conferences?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Mitch Leidner completed a pass!
MomSense
@ruemara:
Brilliant!
Mike E
Ugh…the hockey game is damn near unwatchable due to sun/shadows and a seasick skycam on wires. I suppose having it indoors is the better option.
Betty Cracker
@KG: You’re right. I was considered the number of legit contenders, not bowl scenarios.
Bill Murray
@Amir Khalid: and Kane with another. 4-1 Spurs. Finally looks like Pochettino’s system is paying off.
EdinNJ
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Firstrowsports and Drakulastream are still around, along with about 20 other sites.
Go B1G!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@KG: I liked the pre-BCS system because it was unique. No one else decided its championship that way. With the playoff, FBS football is just the same as every other sport. That’s boring.
Aside from that, I think the whole “settle it on the field” argument is a crock. No championship system determines an objectively best champion except under the circular reasoning that the system sets up the rules for determining who is best. All playoff systems suffer from too small a sample size to be considered definitive. Personally, my favorite is the approach of European soccer: winning the regular season is the big enchilada with a tournament (like the FA Cup) thrown in as a bonus.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Bill Murray: I have mixed feelings about that. I don’t like Chelsea so I don’t want them to win, though I don’t like Man City much more. Still, being the only team to beat Chelsea was pretty much the only thing my Magpies had going for them this year.
satby
Ahhh, OT.
Just got that sad news that a friend of the family lost her battle with breast cancer last night. Early forties, leaves behind a 7 year old daughter.
She had recently returned to work, so I thought she was doing better. Sadness…
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Mike E: I hate the trend of outdoor hockey games with a passion. I went to the one last year but only because, when I said earlier in the week that I didn’t plan to, Rachel Ramsey shot me a look that could best be described as incredulous and horrified. The kids liked it but aside from freezing my ass off in 3 degree weather you could barely see the game because it was in a football stadium. I like to be able to watch the action.
cmorenc
@Amir Khalid:
This is turning into quite a high-scoring game for this variety of football – it’s now 4-2 Tottenham (Chelsea just scored) at 61:00, and the game is quite a lively one with good attacking football at both ends.
Goblue72
@satby: sorry to hear. Cancer just sucks.
KG
@Betty Cracker: they could, I suppose, absorb four mid level bowls earlier in December and use that for the first round. You could even create four new bowls for those displaced teams. But then you’ll get more whining about too many bowls and watered down and blah blah blah
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I liked it too, plus, I love the idea of a split title… We couldn’t figure out who was the best, so everyone gets a title!
shelley
Uuuuuuh, more football….Still waiting for pet pics.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@KG: I spent a lot of time listening to Penn State fans saying that they got screwed out of the 1994 title. They derived far more satisfaction over the years complaining about it than they ever would have if they’d won it.
Amir Khalid
Spurs 5-2. Chelsea are not coming back to win from three goals down in 12 minutes, unless Spurs abandon the match.
KG
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: there was a column on ESPN at the start of the season, I think, that talked about how college football is really about “the argument” or “the debate” than anything else. There’s some truth to that
satby
@Goblue72: Yeah, thanks. It’s better she’s not suffering anymore, but so devastating for the family, close friends of ours. Cancer sucks indeed.
Betty Cracker
@satby: God, that’s awful. Horrible for the seven-year-old, and awful for the mom who must have worried terribly about leaving her behind. I’m sorry.
max
@KG: I don’t think eight will work well. You need six bowl games to do eight teams (four in the first round, two in the second, championship game). It would mean leaving four teams out of the big money games compared to the current system, I just don’t see it going over well with a lot of teams/conferences, especially with Boise St and Georgia Tech winning yesterday.
They need to do some rewiring on the conferences to get an initial set of playoffs before you get to bowl season. In practice, bowl season is a consolation prize for most teams anyways. If you set up the initial playoffs to finish during late November/ early December, you could have an effective 32 team playoff, which would would sort this out real fast. (And I note that high school teams have lots of ordinary, regular playoff games. I am pretty certain high schoolers need extra games even less.)
If you don’t want to drag out the football season, then, really, you should just skip the bowls altogether. But people want their bowl games and their want their champions and there’s a regular method for settling that sort of thing.
(If we wanted to be fair to the college (football and basketball) athletes, we would fucking pay them. And maybe provide financial insurance against career ending injuries.)
@Mike E: Ugh…the hockey game is damn near unwatchable due to sun/shadows and a seasick skycam on wires.
I wasn’t having a problem. I was amused by having Billy Idol play the opener with a drastically truncated version of White Wedding.
max
[‘But then, I was disposing of my Xmas tree.’]
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
The Big 10 is in all of these games but also behind in all of them. I’ve been fairly pleased with how the Gophers are playing.
Amir Khalid
So Manchester City and Chelsea are now level at the top of the English premier League, on both goal difference and matches played. Liverpool remain at eighth; I wish they’d done better today than draw at home to Leicester.
Violet
@Mr Stagger Lee: Really? We use Wiziwig to watch rugby matches when we can’t get them here. That sucks.
Jade
Georgia Tech demolished Mississippi State, the former No1 ranked team but is not getting the credit that TCU is getting for beating a lesser team. TCU should double the pay of the PR team.
To take an unpopular position FSU and Famous Jameis will demolish Oregon. He is a proven winner. I am a little shocked by the hatred, although I shouldn’t be, I have lived in America for a long time. Jameis will rise above the hate to get a chance to play against his home town team BAMA. Stay strong Jameis, the only way to rise above the hate is to succeed.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
The Badgers aren’t behind any more.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Jade:
Well, that and not raping people.
Mr Stagger Lee
@EdinNJ: You are my Football Watching, Jesus Christ!!! :-) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
Amir Khalid
@satby:
Oh dear, that is sad news. My cousin died of complications from breast cancer at fifty, and that was also way too young. My thoughts go out to your friend’s daughter. What’s the family situation like; is she okay where she is, or is there someone she can go to live with?
Betty Cracker
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Win or lose, I sure read the Badgers wrong. Plenty of fight left in those fellas!
@Jade: Seems I’ve read about soccer hooligans actually murdering opposing players / fans / officials, so hating on sports opponents is hardly an American thing.
Jade
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: The only crimes worse than rape are murder and lying about rape.
This girl has given four different stories and tried to get her friends to lie for her. Luckily they did not.
4 different scenarios for how she got drinks while underage. Even after her friend said that he bought the drink (her story number 3) she lied to the FSU panel and said Jameis bought her the drink.
On her 4th try she was forced into the cab by black kids. Nobody including the cab driver backs her up and her earlier versions say she got in voluntarily.
Even the independent supreme court justice did not rule in her favor. This is America, innocent until proven guilty. How would you like it if everyone called you a rapist even if there was no evidence of rape?
Mr Stagger Lee
@Violet: Go to the site, they explain it all.
NobodySpecial
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Well, say what you want about the tenets of Jameis Winston, but at least it’s an ethos.
Roger Moore
@KG:
The watering down bowls ship sailed long enough ago that it’s made it 10 times round The Horn already. A system that involves the best teams in FBS playing more games in December seems like it would increase the strength of the bowl system, not diminish it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Jade: You mean aside from the bruises she had when she was interviewed by the police later that night? The cab driver is worthless since the police waited a year before they even started looking for him. And, of course, there’s the fact that Winston’s teammate obstructed justice by destroying evidence, namely the video that he took of the encounter after the police alerted the athletic department to the charges rather than doing their job.
The absolute best that can be said of Winston is that he took a drunk woman home and fucked her, which is itself rape, and then participated in a coverup. And his teammate’s story, that he was asked to leave and then took video through the cracked door, is also an admission of a felony. By their own admissions they are criminals. Which isn’t all that surprising given that Winston is also known to be guilty of shoplifting and firing a BB gun at people’s apartments.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Maxx!
raven
Back from a great party that I’ve had to leave early because of Dawg Bowl games at 1 on NYD! People loved my smoked cobia. Now I can settle in and watch Auburn choke.
Betty Cracker
@Jade:
When Winston read that line from his prepared statement after the hearing, I thought, “Oh really? What about child molestation?”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Bucky and Goldy both back in the lead.
Edit: Sparty, on the other hand, is getting taken apart. Maybe the Big 12 was pretty good.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Ugh.
Schlemazel
@satby: What an awful way to start their year. Hope the kid will be OK.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
And more ugh.
Schlemazel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Spent many days in arenas that were not much warmer, though minus the wind. But even in the worst arena you can see the game up close & enjoy it. Just not an enjoyable experience.
Schlemazel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
But you know Monday morning there will be a big bunch of people explaining why dear old U should have been in the top 4 instead of that awful [whatever teams lose today]. So the whining will continue
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Schlemazel: And TCU and Baylor even have good claims to be in over Ohio State.
burnspbesq
@Jade:
Your confidence in the ability and willingness of the Leon County authorities to actually do their jobs when a star FSU athlete is suspected of a serious felony is … risible.
The fix was in. It’s possible that Winston was not in fact guilty, but we’ll never know, because everybody with any responsibility to see that justice was done was in the tank for him. There is no factual or legal basis to believe him innocent. There is no factual or legal basis to believe him guilty. The only belief that is supported by the facts is the belief that the investigation was deliberately botched. Jameis Winston got reverse-Nifonged.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Where the hell has this version of Mitch Leidner been all year?
Schlemazel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
As I understand it the Big-somenumber are considered a weak conference so OSU will be dissed unless they win (which in theory they should not). OTOH I believe that MN plays in that weak sister conference & finished behind a bunch while Missouri plays in the God-conference SEC & won their half of that bunch. Yet #25 weak-sister is holding its own pretty well against #16 king of conferences.
Or were last time I looked.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Baylor’s up by 20 points despite having -6 yards rushing for the game.
Betty Cracker
@raven: So what was your cobia technique? I haven’t had much luck with seafood on the Brinkmann. I can do juicy brisket, ribs, etc., but I always dry the fish out so much I have to make it into a spread (which isn’t a bad consolation prize!).
Jade
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: If high school and college students were all convicted of felonies for videotaping sex acts (celebrities and regular people too) we would wipe out a large swatch of a generation. Dumb, illegal and common.
She had fresh semen from her boyfriend in her pants too. Who caused the bruises? You can get bruised in consentual sex obviously. The rape exam was inconclusive even after two sexual encounters in one day. So again no evidence.
Yeah, it is sad that a kid who makes millions for his school, NCAA, sponsors, and everyone else does not have money to buy everything he wants to eat. It is a shame that NCAA athletes are treated like slaves and not like other students.
People with academic scholarships can work where they want to, receive money and gifts from anyone they want to, etc. So athletes should have the same rights as other scholarship students.
Shoplifting: “There are approximately 27 million shoplifters (or 1 in 11 people) in our nation today. More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting in the last five years.” 27 million other people for you to hate.
You have a right to think that he is a rapist. However, he has been through 3 processes and been found to not be a rapist. Crime shows always say that the guilty person is always the one who changes their story. She has changed her story 4 times.
Haters are going to hate and find reasons to support that hate. Good luck cheering for Oregon. i will be cheering for the Noles. May the best team win.
Violet
@Mr Stagger Lee: Yeah, I did, thanks. I’d heard about Google News shutting down but didn’t realize wiziwig was based in Spain. I’ll have a look at some of the other ones mentioned. All of the live streaming sites are so full of ads it’s horrible. Even just opening a couple of them opened up about four pop up ads. Ugh. Tiresome.
Betty Cracker
Frost is a goddamned idiot who will probably cost Auburn the game.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Stupid play by stupid Auburn!
I had big chunks so I brined them for 4 hours and then smoked em on the Brinkmann watersmoker.
Violet
@NobodySpecial: I don’t follow college football, but wow. What in the world? Why did he jump up on a table and yell that? What was that about?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Schlemazel: The Gophs played both OSU and TCU; I thought the latter was the more impressive team. And TCU’s only loss was to Baylor rather than a miserable Virginia Tech team, like OSU did. The evidence to this point of the day is that the SEC was a bit overrated and the top of the Big 12 was distinctly underrated.
Schlemazel
@burnspbesq:
No matter how you feel about this guys guilt or innocence this is the ultimate failure of our nation’s obsession with sports. If he was innocent a decent investigation would have shown that, if he was guilty then that should have been found. He will live under this cloud the rest of his life.
But that is obviously not going to hurt his money making prowess post college. Christ you can kill a guy & destroy evidence and still get a pass & become Stuperbowl MVP and HoF candidate so whats a little light rape? Women really need to steer clear of student athletes as it is obvious society has no interest in protecting them.
gratuitous
I think the Mississippi schools found out something this year, the first time in recent memory they’ve enjoyed success: You get everyone’s best and you’re not sneaking up on anyone. Welcome to the upper echelons, fellows. How you handle it determines how long you stay.
Violet
@Schlemazel: Depends on the school and the game the athlete plays. A smaller school and a minor sport–the school isn’t going to go all out to protect the athlete. A big time program with a major sport (football, basketball)–it will be all about protecting the player.
raven
And, as I said, Auburn chokes!
Betty Cracker
Doink! And that’s that. Good game, Badgers!
Omnes Omnibus
This appears to be less than correct.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Fuck em Bucky!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
The Gophers have run out of gas.
KG
Bowl season hasn’t been especially kind to the SEC this year. Only one win against a ranked opponent, only two wins against teams with winning records (though Mizzou looks like they’ll add one more to those totals). Currently 4-4, and all four losses by ranked teams
raven
@KG: Go Dawgs!!!!
Betty Cracker
@Omnes Omnibus: I sure got that wrong!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I was just about to write that Michigan State was coming back when Connor Cook did something really, really dumb.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: And I was happy that you did.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
And State is making a comeback anyway, about to get the ball back with a minute plus left and down six points.
Edit: I mistook which side of the 50-yard line Baylor was on, so they tried a field goal and Sparty covered my ass by blocking it and returning it into Baylor territory.
Betty Cracker
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Damn, blocked kick! Did you see the hit on the would’be tackler? That’s one for the highlight reels.
raven
@Betty Cracker: It was the kicker I think, knocked his dick in the dirt like a Chinese Bandit!
satby
@Amir Khalid: Amir, my good friend, her grandmother, is with her now; her father will also be around (they were divorced but amicably). She will be well cared for, but losing a mom that young reverberates throughout life.
@Betty Cracker: Yes Betty, I know that’ was her first thought, because my cousin, who also died young of that disease said as much. I feel such sadness for her, her daughter was her world.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Fourth down.
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: FIRST DOWN!!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Now first down.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Man, that tight end was open in the end zone.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Is D’Antoni gutsy enough to call a draw here?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Sparty!
Remember when Baylor was up 20 points? It turns out that being able to run the ball for positive yardage (Baylor’s still at -7 yards for the day) is a useful component of holding a lead.
Betty Cracker
Hollee shit, what a game! My grandma could out throw the Sparty QB, but with endless mulligans, he finally connected!
raven
HOLY CHIT!!!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Of course, Baylor is capable of scoring twice in these next 17 seconds.
raven
We had a 3 point lead on Tech with 17 to go.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Then again, Sparty could get a safety, too.
raven
The difference? We squibbed it.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Ball game. The Big 10 has gone 2 for 3 today, though they did lose the one I cared about the most. I also had the least confidence in Minnesota, so it wasn’t a surprise.
Steeplejack (tablet)
Sparty wins! My RWNJ brother, an alumnus, will be ecstatic (and relieved).
Felixmoronia
Like everyone else, I hate Ohio State but I hope they crush bama.
Go B1G
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
And the Big 10 is 4-4 in bowls so far, with Iowa up tomorrow against Tennessee. I’m not sure whether the playoffs count as bowl games for these purposes
Felixmoronia
Hawkeyes are my guys. Go HAWKS!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I hate Ohio State, so Roll Tide.
Felixmoronia
If Betty is wearing bilious green she has the right color!
raven
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Of course they do.
Betty Cracker
@Felixmoronia: It’s more of a Kelly green. Man, those Oregon unis are butt-ugly!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I can’t believe I’m rooting for the Fashion Nightmares.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Betty Cracker: And yet they aren’t even close to being in the top three of ugliest Oregon unis this season.
Betty Cracker
WTF?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
It’s really rare for me to actually hope for an injury, but I’m comfortable doing so in the case of Jameis Winston. For these purposes, he’s an honorary North Dakota Fighting Whioux.
Comrade Luke
@Dolly Llama: Sounds great, until you factor in Notre Dame.
“Independent”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Comrade Luke: I’d be okay with a system that permanently eliminated Notre Dame from contention.
Infamous Heel-Filcher
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: CFB should move to a pure relegation system: divide the country into some number of regions, each with a ladder of 16-team leagues. Only teams in the top rung are eligible for the playoff. Seeding is based on in-league games only. ND wants to remain independent? No playoff for you, and I don’t see why anyone would schedule games against them.
At the end of each season, bottom two teams move down a rung, top two teams move up a rung.
Of course, this takes a chainsaw to the conferences, who are the real financial players in the college athletics world
Mohagan
Well Betty, you’ve gotten your wish! I would call FSU humiliated (52-20 as I write, with still another turnover). Go Ducks! And before I could submit this comment – it’s 68 – 20. Way to represent the West Coast
1weirdTrick
Love those Duck uniforms. No, REALLY! On top of Florida St fumbles. I was in college elsewhere in Oregon back when the Ducks and Beavers were always 9th and 10th in the PAC10… so watching the former cellar-dwellers of the left coast humiliate the lords of football… SWEET!
Irrationalnumb3r
@1weirdTrick: just more evidence that if you get an eccentric billionaire to back your program you can do alright.