i think florida would beat Oklahoma. They can score with them, and their defense is immensely better than any oklahoma has faced in the Big 12

11/30/2008 1:46:15 AM

Pete Carroll gives up 2 timeouts so his team can wear their home red jerseys against the Bruins this weekend

12/2/2008 4:03:57 PM

It's just one timeout. I think it's pretty cool, and UCLA is going along with it (planning to call a timeout right after the penalty is enforced so it is even).

Quote :

"The Pac-10's interpretation of the team wearing the wrong colored jersey is that they are penalized a timeout at the start of the game. UCLA is taking USC's side in the dispute. The Bruins plan to call their own timeout immediately after USC is assessed that penalty at the start of the game to even it out. Both Carroll and UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel had talked about restoring tradition back at the Pac-10 media day in July. "

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3738795

12/3/2008 12:36:09 AM

something tells me it's less about tradition (that last happened 26 years ago) and more about USC going to UCLA's stadium in home jerseys to show that even thou they are "on the road" they still own college football in LA and even UCLA is a home game for them

12/3/2008 2:49:33 AM

I think it has something to do with the SEC being overrated

12/3/2008 2:52:05 AM

glad to see you finally caught up to...oh, the rest of the world

(damn, i thought i was the only night owl around these parts)

[Edited on December 3, 2008 at 2:54 AM. Reason : .]

12/3/2008 2:53:38 AM

Pete Carroll has said he's doing it as an homage to when USC and UCLA both played and shared their home field at the Coliseum. I believe the two schools would both wear home jerseys when they'd play back in the day.

12/3/2008 7:50:49 AM

yeah, and now that more people are writing about it in the national media, it appears that he's tried to get this going for the last 7 years or so (and not my OMG conspiracy theory)

12/3/2008 1:29:42 PM

bttt for Louisville vs. Rutgers. we want Rutgers who's 6-5 to beat UL who's 5-6. wasn't there a thread dedicated to all of the games involving 5-6 teams?

12/4/2008 7:34:01 PM

yessuh and I'm gonna bump it in 3

2

1

[Edited on December 4, 2008 at 7:37 PM. Reason : or you can steal my thunder ]

12/4/2008 7:37:31 PM

sorry. next time be faster.

12/4/2008 8:11:11 PM

wow, what a game...

12/4/2008 8:56:46 PM

the MAC championship can't even fill the whole sideline of seats in Ford Field

12/5/2008 9:25:12 PM

that was a nasty hit... and then the subsequent 99 yard fumble return

buffalo tryin to pull the upset, 21-17

12/5/2008 10:16:03 PM

Pretty epic failure by Ball State so far. Not sure what their center was thinking there.

12/5/2008 10:29:39 PM

Wow everything is going wrong for Ball State. They pretty much gave this game away, should they not be able to come back.

[Edited on December 5, 2008 at 10:30 PM. Reason : ]

12/5/2008 10:29:51 PM

so would they still go to the motor city bowl if they lose tonight

12/5/2008 10:36:53 PM

they would have the best conference record regardless of a win or loss, but they wouldnt be conference champs.

A one loss Ball State team is not a sexy an an undefeated Ball State team. Any possibility of upgrading to a better bowl will go out the window.

[Edited on December 5, 2008 at 10:47 PM. Reason : ]

12/5/2008 10:45:04 PM

LOL... Ball State? more like Fumbled Ball State

amiright???

12/5/2008 10:51:29 PM

Nate Davis is a moron, you have to either fall down or cover up the ball. Don't hold it with one arm in that situation.

12/5/2008 10:52:34 PM

Quote :

" BALL STATE PWNT STAY HOME"

12/5/2008 11:02:25 PM

They should've taken the chance to go play boise when they could

12/5/2008 11:03:31 PM

Quote :

"STAY HOME"

12/5/2008 11:13:38 PM

haha, they are showing old Super Bowls on NFL network... 1979 right now, looks SOOOO slow

12/5/2008 11:17:00 PM

that is definitely relevant to this thread

about as relevant as Tennessee football

[Edited on December 5, 2008 at 11:21 PM. Reason : ~]

12/5/2008 11:20:48 PM

wasnt worth starting a new thread, and people that were watching the ball state game are likely to turn it to this if they are interested in it...


^ who the fuck is this bitch?

[Edited on December 5, 2008 at 11:25 PM. Reason : d]

12/5/2008 11:22:41 PM

^^you need to relax guy

ball state for the failure

12/6/2008 12:06:13 AM

lots of words, but interesting, and of course, I agree

Quote :

"What If the Heisman Trophy Actually Went to College Football's Most Outstanding Player? Let's pretend, for a moment, that we live in an alternate reality. Up is down, black is white, Isiah Thomas could successfully run a child's lemonade stand without the lemons demanding a trade (or the sugar suing for sexual harassment), Notre Dame is a football school. And the Heisman Trophy goes to the best player in football. Radical, ain't it? Ostensibly, the trophy is awarded to the "most outstanding player in college football," in the words of the Heisman's official site. In reality, its selection has become one of sports' unwritten rules, annually ending up in the hands of the best quarterback or running back on a highly ranked team. So, somewhere in the rush to drool over counting stats, what should be college football's answer to the best actor Oscar, has become the equivalent of the biggest popcorn movie star. (The award itself is named after former Georgia Tech coach John Heisman, but we suggest a more apt name would be the Weis, awarded to the player who's on television and talked about the most without great attention to his actual level of ability). This season, the Heisman has become an even more dubious prize,seemingly awarded weekly to the Big 12 South quarterback who last won a game against a ranked Big 12 team. First it was Oklahoma's Sam Bradford. Then Colt McCoy, when Texas toppled Oklahoma. Then it changed hands to Graham Harrell when Texas Tech shocked the Longhorns, as though McCoy, who led his team on a fourth quarter drive that would have made John Elway proud, could be faulted for his collapsing secondary. Finally, it was Bradford again, after Oklahoma shellacked the Red Raiders, with a growing contingent for defending champion Tim Tebow, whose Gators have mowed down a series of possibly-not-so-great opponents. Why is this? That much we get. Quarterbacks and running backs are easily quantifiable positions with lots of big round numbers that don't require math or watching lots of games, which understandably is hard for the bulk of Heisman voters who are local writers inside the bubbles of their own teams and leagues. There are valid structural reasons as well. Running backs are in some way involved in most offensive plays and do the lion's share of scoring and SportsCenter-friendly things like hurtling linebackers. Quarterbacks are involved in every play of the game and have more control over their unit than any other position in sports. Further, the best athletes on any football team are generally quarterbacks and running backs. Only the best high school running backs and quarterbacks remain in those positions in college, while the rest are converted to wide receivers, defensive backs and other positions. So it's natural to expect more of these players to wind up on the right side of the talent bell curve. But as logical as that seems, it's hardly the case that every Hall of Fame defensive player, wide receiver and lineman is the equivalent of a skilled relief pitcher who couldn't hack it as a starter, compared to the aces at quarterback and running back. The Heisman's other unwritten criterion is that it goes almost exclusively to seniors. We get that, too. College football requires a physical maturation to excel. Unlike college basketball, there is no yearly emergence of a Kevin Durant or Michael Beasley. And even if a player has a Heisman caliber freshman season, like, say Adrian Peterson, because he's committed to be on campus for three years after his high school class graduates, the idea stands that his time will come for the trophy. As for defensive players, singling out who's Heisman-worthy would require watching a lot of football, which with literally dozens of games going on at the same time on any given Saturday is difficult, and during the formative years of the Heisman Trophy when these selection biases became unwritten in stone, impossible. Even now, if you wanted to watch Eric Berry perform for Tennessee, you run the risk of watching the Vols offense at work as well, which ranks somewhere along raking leaves in Yellowstone as a way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And if you don't watch the game, his impact is difficult to quantify. Looking solely at defensive boxscores is like trying to read a novel with every third letter missing. You might get the gist of it, but the full picture will be completely lost. So, Heisman voters, we get it. But that doesn't make it right. That the Heisman Trophy is the most overrated award in sports -- not even mentioning that it's produced more busts than Pacman Jones with a wad of bills in hand -- is a column for next week, but what would a Heisman ballot look like if it truly went to college football's most outstanding player? "

12/6/2008 1:49:50 AM

Quote :

"Here's how our ballot would look: 1. Eric Berry, S Tennessee: The Vols' athletic outlier plays the game like it's on a sheet of ice and he's the only one that brought skates. The sophomore leads the nation with seven interceptions, has 12 for his career and his 472 interception return yards shattered the SEC record two picks ago, a record set 59 years earlier and is only 24 yards behind the CAREER NCAA mark, AS A SOPHOMORE. On the style point side, the sophomore lays down licks like he's playing with cement shoulder pads (see this cobweb-clearing pop on Knowshon Moreno). The Vols may have just finished a season it would prefer to consign to the depths of the Tennessee River, but Berry is the flower that's sprouted in a compost heap of a year. 2. Michael Crabtree, WR Texas Tech: Crabtree's six-catch, 62-yard effort against Oklahoma hurt his case, but Crabtree's stumble had more to do with his quarterback scrambling like he was late for a bus than it did with his own failings, outside of the odd drop. But what Crabtree is doing for a second season, even in a pass-early and pass-often Texas Tech offense, is unprecedented. His quarterback is in the Heisman mix, but both B.J. Symons and Kliff Kingsbury put up superior numbers for the Raiders in the pass. Crabtree, even with a marked drop in his production this year (a drop due in part to the Red Raiders' attention to the run game as well as increased coverage), still shattered the old single-season touchdown record at Texas Tech with 18 (the old mark was 13). He will almost certainly best the previous receptions mark of 98 if you count the pending bowl game (Crabtree has 93, despite leaving in the second quarter Saturday). Crabtree, of course, owns all the records now after last season's Biletnikoff effort. And the redshirt sophomore has the skills to back up the garish numbers, size, speed and hands that could rip a football from between any two defensive backs, and could probably even pry a dollar bill out of George Steinbrenner's hands. If ever there were a Heisman moment, it was his last-second grab and dash into the Texas end zone. 3. Brian Orakpo, DE Texas: The Longhorns' 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive end is what would happen if you put a cow catcher on the front of a stock car and lined it up in a college football game. And if performance in big games is what defines college football's most outstanding player, then he should cast as large a shadow over the rest of the field as he does opposing offensive lines. Orakpo had six tackles-for-loss, including three sacks against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Orakpo and the Texas front line are the biggest reason the Longhorns suspect secondary has held its own, as they've put enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks to disrupt the air attack without having to bring extra blitzers. 4. Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma: Bradford's stats are rightfully called video game numbers, assuming, of course, you're playing Tiger Woods Golf. Bradford has thrown for more than the length of the Augusta front nine this season with 46 touchdowns against six interceptions. Bradford has an NFL caliber cadre of wide receivers with heady yards-after-catch totals and an offensive line that could probably block a front line of Hummers, but the redshirt sophomore has a complete set of Sunday skills. Even though Oklahoma lost to Texas in the Red River Rivalry, it's hard to blame Bradford, who threw for 387 yards and five touchdowns, despite the absence of a ground game. If he needed any more of a case, his movie-comes-with-that flight through the Stillwater sky was a Heisman moment by Kodad. Or Continental. 5. Tim Tebow, QB Florida: Tebow's offensive numbers aren't the statistical eclipse of his 55-touchdown Heisman deserving 2007, but he's still the most unique player in college football and the engine that makes Urban Meyer's offense run. As far as "outstanding" is concerned, last year's winner's skill-set is unmatched. He's thrown for 25 touchdowns against two interceptions, and, if needed, he can run through a linebacker like he's dashing through a pre-game banner on the way out of the tunnel. 6. Shonn Greene, RB Iowa: Greene is the only player in the nation to rush for 100 yards in every game this season and currently leads the nation in total rushing yardage (though Connecticut's Donald Brown might overtake him). He won Big Ten player of the year award, blocked Penn State from the BCS title game and ground out 6.2 yards per carry, despite playing behind a muddled quarterback situation. Unfortunately, like Berry, Greene will get no consideration because being the most outstanding player to Heisman voters means that you're surrounded by other outstanding players. 7. Andre Smith, OT Alabama: An offensive lineman will win the Heisman the day LSU renames Tiger Stadium in honor of Nick Saban, but Smith is as good as they come in college. A city block of a lineman, Smith guarantees that if you're going to touch quarterback John Parker Wilson, it'll be in the post-game handshakes while you're figuring out exactly what went wrong. 8. Aaron Maybin, DE Penn State: Maybin's Lions finished well enough, but as a sophomore defender, he's as likely to get a Heisman vote as Joe Paterno is to wind up on the cover of Tiger Beat. But Maybin puts the teeth in the Nittany Lion defense. He's fourth in the nation in sacks and has 19 tackles-for-loss. 9. Rey Maualuga, LB USC: If there were style points available for defensive players in the Heisman, Maualuga would be the linebacker version of Reggie Bush. His grab-you-by-the-collar power and range make Southern Cal's pitbull of a linebacker not just the best at his position, but the most stylish. Never was it more evident than Saturday's game against Notre Dame. Using the Trjoan defense to stop the Irish' offense may be using the Hoover Dam to handle a leak in kitchen sink, but give Mauluga and USC all sorts of credit for the near shutout. 10. (tie) Jeremy Maclin, WR Missouri: If Maclin played in a different era and at a more traditional football power, he might be working on his second Heisman. In 1987, Notre Dame's Tim Brown won the stiff-arm statue with 39 catches, 846 receiving yards and three touchdowns, paired with three punt return touchdowns and solid work as a kick returner. Maclin has Brown's line with the BALCO treatment. The Tiger has 88 catches, 1,175 yards and 11 touchdowns, matched with 261 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He also averaged 25.2 yards per kickoff return, took one all the way to the end zone and is 40th in the nation in punt return average. Brown played in a different era and a radically different scheme, but were Maclin in a different jersey, his Heisman hopes may be radically different. (Kansas' talented sophomore receiver Dezmon Briscoe also deserves consideration in the great talent, wrong jersey category.) 10. Jerry Hughes, DE TCU: Hughes leads by example, and on the nation's stingiest defense at TCU, that means crashing through the line like he's trying to take a beachhead. Hughes' 14 sacks lead the nation; four of them came as the Horned Frogs blitzed then-undefeated BYU."

[Edited on December 6, 2008 at 1:58 AM. Reason : f]

12/6/2008 1:50:11 AM

still mad that Peyton didn't win the heisman?

12/6/2008 2:01:37 AM

^^^ Great article. PRiv for Heisman. ^^ How is Russell not on that list?

[Edited on December 6, 2008 at 8:12 AM. Reason : .]

12/6/2008 8:11:44 AM

GO NAVY!

BEAT ARMY!

12/6/2008 8:26:00 AM

So, are there going to be 20k at the ACC CG?

I hate VT, but I'd much rather they represent the ACC than shitt ass fans from BC. I think Cincy will beat either team though...

[Edited on December 6, 2008 at 1:02 PM. Reason : x]

12/6/2008 1:01:38 PM

ACC Football... its FANtastic!

12/6/2008 1:15:21 PM

When does the game start?

Looks like the gates just opened 5 or 10 minutes ago.

12/6/2008 1:17:55 PM

there might not even be 20k there

12/6/2008 1:21:36 PM

im not feeling the army/navy jerseys...

i guess army is trying blend in with the field?

12/6/2008 1:26:45 PM

lol stopped the qb and then hit him out of bounds

nice work boston

12/6/2008 2:23:17 PM

App is getting rocked.

12/6/2008 2:30:27 PM

ecu/tulsa game is good...

12/6/2008 2:40:22 PM

oh my god this half-time competition in the acc championship game is the most embarrassingly awkward thing i have ever seen

12/6/2008 2:45:05 PM

it was just so quiet and odd

12/6/2008 2:45:22 PM

12/6/2008 2:46:30 PM

this is the second most embarrassingly awkward thing i have ever seen before

12/6/2008 2:49:57 PM

Paul Maguire is terrible

12/6/2008 3:14:12 PM

haha. beamer almost got tko'd by an elbow.

12/6/2008 3:14:48 PM

ive been watching ECU/Tulsa

its actually been a good game, lots of big plays

12/6/2008 3:22:28 PM

GO TULSA

ah fuck. that's some nc state shit

[Edited on December 6, 2008 at 3:33 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2008 3:27:54 PM

HELL FUCKIN YEA PIRATES

12/6/2008 3:32:59 PM

[Edited on December 6, 2008 at 3:33 PM. Reason : dam it]

12/6/2008 3:32:59 PM