TennBear

Vandy is a very tough place to play. They have been very tough there over the years. For those that don't know what it's like, it has a raised floor and the teams are not on the sidelines. They are under the baskets. Tennessee is a good team, but they do not really have a center. Teams that have big men can give them fits. If Lawson comes back full speed, North Carolina is the best team in the country. Without Lawson, NC is just a good team with a tough as nails big man down low. I don't think that any team this year is without any problems and I think that that should make for an interesting tournament.

I was going with Tennessee going to the SEC Championship and losing. That means falling to Cotton or Chick Flick Bowl. I was also going with the way that things were going with the Pac 10 and Big 12 to get two teams each in the BCS. That may have changed with Oregon going down. That may get Georgia into a BCS. That would also raise everyone up in order. You also have the "who is going to bring more" factor. Kentucky Fans that have seldom been in the position to go to a major bowl or the Auburn/Alabama winner that is down on how the season turned out when expecting more. The East has been thougher overall this year top to bottom and Georgia and Florida are given for good bowls. Kentucky is hot for the season and Tennessee won the East. That pushes the non-LSU teams down somewhat. As far as bowls go, I do not consider the Liberty Bowl to be lower than the Chick Flick Bowl. It really has much more history and pits the SEC team against a league Champion. The Chick Flick Bowl puts an SEC team against either the 2nd or 3rd place team in the ACC. The expanded ACC really hasn't looked much better than the C-USA. That is sad to say, but true. The Music City is a drop down, as would be the Independence.

Now it's time to think Projections for Bowls: If Michigan beats Ohio State, then the Big T1E1N will get 2 teams into BCS Bowls. If Ohio State wins, Michigan will fall to the Outback Bowl and Illinois will go to the Capital One Bowl. Both the Big 12 and the Pac 10 have a good chance of getting 2 teams in the BCS Bowls. The thing about the Big 12 is that it only has 4 teams this year. Currently they have only have 6 teams that have qualified for bowls. Depending on how it falls out that may be it. The Pac 10 has 5 teams that have qualified and that may be it too. The Big T1E1N has qualified 10 teams, the ACC 7, Big East 5, C-USA 4, MAC 2, MWC 4, SEC 10, Sun Belt 1, and WAC 3. The SEC doesn't look like they can get two teams in the BCS and so it looks like: LSU BCS Title or Sugar Georgia Capital One Florida Outback Tennessee Cotton Kentucky Chik fil a Auburn Music City Alabama Liberty Mississippi State Independence With Arkansas and South Carolina looking for bowls. Pac 10 or Big 12 tie-ins may take them. Vandy could still qualify, as well. Big T1E1N Ohio State Rose Illinois Capital One Penn State Outback Alamo Michigan Champs Wisconsin Insight Purdue Motor City Michigan State With Northwestern, Iowa, and Indiana looking for bowls.

Torgo, You did tell me. I really thought that it would like the other SEC games of the day. The VOLS just did not look good at all. No run game, the wide outs looked slow and didn't catch balls that they should have. Tebow was impressive tossing about 4 passes that never should have got off and completing them. Some of those completions were impressive in themselves.

Well, Troy beat Oklahoma State tonight and it wasn't that close. That doesn't make Georgia's win over Oklahoma State look that good. So the Sun Belt has won their first non-conference game of the year. OSU may have a long year. Baylor may even beat them.

Torgo: Florida may beat Tennessee this year, but I doubt that either team will win by at least 20. Over the last 6 years, 2001 UT by 2 2002 UF by 17 2003 UT by 14 2004 UT by 2 2005 UF by 9 2006 UF by 1 I am looking at a high scoring game with the winning score being by no more than a field goal.

Predicitons on Games coming up this week: Southern California over Nebraska big. Nebraska did not look good at Wake. NU may be looking for a coach that plays NU type football. Florida vs Tennessee: The team that has the most yardage on the ground wins. Kentucky over Louisville: UL and UK both have no defense. It could go either way, but UK is due. Michigan over Notre Dame: Maybe ND should bring back their former high school coach. They are that bad. Ohio State vs Washington: Both these teams have been surprising. OSU has the defense to stay in the game, but do they have any offense? UW wins in a shocker. Boston College vs Georgia Tech: BC proves that GT was not that good ND was that bad. Boise State vs Wyoming: BSU wins the border war again. Alabama vs Arkansas: Team that has the most yarage on the ground wins. I think that I said that before. Alabama wins and Nutt's job gets hotter. West Virginia vs Maryland: Maryland scores, but only because the WVU defense is that bad. The only problem is that UM can't score enough. WVU Big. Michigan State vs Pittsburgh: MSU wins a game of the also rans of the big 10/11 and big east. UCLA vs Utah: UCLA again shows that they are a little overrated, but Utah still can't quite get enough points to win. Florida State vs Colorado: Bowden seems to have lost his form and soon will be losing more recruits as CU wins going away. Oregon vs Fresno State: The hard luck guys from FSU turn around their fortunes and win vs the ducks. Southern Miss vs East Carolina: USM makes ECU take one on the chin. ECU is the best state university team in NC, but Wake is the best team in the state. USM is looking for another C-USA East Title. Virginia vs North Carolina: Can we call this the sad bowl. These teams are sad. UVA only because someone has to win.

A look at how the different leagues have done so far this season out of conference: Big East----------14-2 .875 SEC--------------14-3 .824 Big Ten----------18-4 .818 Pac-10-----------13-3 .813 Big 12------------18-6 .750 ACC--------------9-7 .563 Mountain West---7-8 .467 Western Athletic-6-10 .375 Conference USA-6-13 .316 MAC---------------5-13 .278 Sun Belt-----------0-13 .000

I wonder how far Virginia Tech will fall. Even after the beatdown that would have been even worse if VT hadn't put the Frosh quarterback in, I think that VT is the team to beat in the ACC. It should be between them and BC. I was impressed with WF. That makes the USC game going into Nebraska at little less impressive. Nebraska was very lucky to have got out of North Carolina with a win. TCU has no offense for the entire game. Zilch! After 31/2 quarters of having their defense on the field, there was nothing left. I'll give it to La. Tech, they were ahead most of the game and went for the kill in the first overtime going for the two point conversion. As far as the ND-UM game, someone has to win. They have both looked terrible. ND only anything was some of their defense in the first half at PSU. I think that UM will win since they at least have shown some offense. Hey, this may be the only win for either team. The Auburn-USF was painful. The only person on either team that looked like they wanted to win was Grothe. Cox had 2 interceptions and the AU runners had 3 turnovers and the USF kicker couldn't hit the side of a barn. Both teams need to put this in their thoughts as a wake-up call that you can't sleepwalk through a game. WVU did the same thing to Marshall that Texas did to TCu and that is pull away big in the end after the players on the other team that doesn't have as much depth run completely out of steam. All of this shows that there is more parity than ever in college football. The limits on the number of signees has brought a number of teams up to the same level as some of the elites and some of those elites down to avarage teams. Two maybe three teams have more talent than anyone else and have been able to stockpile. I think that we know who they are. It may not be long before other coaches are able to pull away amny of their recruits and then everything will be wide open every year without anyone having a clue as to who will win it all. That should be fun to watch.

I would think that MTSU showed that UL is overrated last night. They lost to Florida Atlantic and couldn't even move the ball. Against UL, they looked like a scoring machine. Louisville had better work on DEFENSE big time. Cincy showed that their new coach is going to have them moving up in the conference. OSU did not show well for the lower end teams in the PAC-10. Again it's early and they could improve, but they did not look like a team that had anything. UGA vs USC should be a good game. South Carolina always plays Georgia tough and I think that Spurrier has them thinnking that they can win the SEC. It should be close.

According to http://www.mratings.com/cf/compare.htm comparing 23 rankings Georgia went to 11. Massey had them at 6. LSU is 1 with USC 2 and Florida at 4. Michigan fell to 25 and Tennessee to 28. Florida State fell to 35 after Daddy lost again to his Son. For the Notre Dame followers, they are at 50.

The first game is tonight. It's Football Time! I'm not expecting much from Mississippi State against LSU, but at least it's a game and unlike the Pros this one counts.

Here are the biggest games for the opening week: Tennessee at California, Both teams need this win if they are going to be seen as being contenders within their conferences. In addition, Tennessee plays Soutern Miss and at Florida in their followup games and needs a strong start to make it through the beginning of their schedule. Got to go with Tennessee. The Vols last visit to the West Coast was not so good. UT started out well, but as they were moving down the field in what looked to be the first of many scores their Senior quarterback was lost for the year. The primary backup had played baseball in the spring and hadn't fully got into sink with the offense in the pre-season. The other two quarterbacks were freshmen and hadn't really got all of the offense under their belts yet. The Vols floundered for 3 quarters before a strong late rally that nearly won the game. Mannings opening game of his freshman year at UCLA (Rose Bowl). Closer than last year, but a Vols Win. Florida State at Clemson, Bobby needs to show that the changes that he made to his coaching staff have put them back into the drivers seat again in the ACC and on the National Scene. His son needs this win to help insure that he has a job at the end of the season. Clemson fans are getting tired of not being a contender for the ACC. FSU helps Dad, but drives a nail into his son's coffin. Death Valley Light turns Deathly Quiet. Wake Forest at Boston College, WF needs to show that last year wasn't a fluke and BC needs to show that they are still contenders in the ACC with their new coach. BC shows well for their new first year coach and helps their chances for an ACC Championship by giving WF a major set back in their attempt to repeat as ACC Champs. Georgia Tech vs Notre Dame, GT played ND very close last year and thinks that they should be better this year. ND needs to make certain that they win all the games that they can. A 6-6 season is not out of the question this year. The ND Faithful have to hold out hope that they can beat Navy for yet another year, what was it 1962 when Navy won last. GT looks better than last year with a more balanced offense and ND shows a good deal of talent, but too much youth in a loss. Oklahoma State at Georgia, Georgia needs to rebound from last years down year. OSU needs to show that they can play with name teams, since they have the Big 12 South with all of it's big name teams coming up on the schedule. They have turned the trick before on several name teams and think that this would help confidence for the season. OSU learns that the Big 12 stadiums are quiet when compared to SEC stadiums. They loose their confidence as they gain mistakes caused by the noise. Their offense doesn't hold up and the defense wears out. The UGA offense starts to gel in the second half and carries the Bulldogs to a big victory.

I know that RichyB83 would be bummed by that, but I think that it would add a whole lot of interest to the season to knock the unanimous pre-season favorite out of the race at the beginning of the season or at least put them behind the eight ball. That would make a number of teams start thinking that it might be their year and give teams in the PAC 10 the thought that they could de-throne USC. I know that Cal tied for the PAC 10 last year, but ISC has been at the top over the last number of years. Troy winning any one of their games vs. the SEC would be another big one.

Games Start Thursday. As my other half says, I'm lost through the first week in January. Then through the beginning of April for Round Ball. I'm hoping that Mississippi State will make it a game for the first half against Auburn so that I can at least get the blood flowing. Here's hoping that the VOLS take it to the Golden Bears on Saturday.

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OhioninSC, I agree with you that OSU should not have been blasted and that they are fine. They largely got blasted because they have been one of the top teams in the country for several years now ande had recently won the National Championship. When Florida got blasted by Nebraska, they had not yet made it over that hump of having a National Championship. Unfair maybe, but it is part of having a major legacy. I see a bigger hit on the legacy being that OSU has never beaten an SEC team in a bowl. That may bring up the talk of speed. That also is not fair. Playing teams in the SEC in home and home games, I am certain that OSU would do very well. They match up very well against most teams in the country and have one of the best coaches out there. OSU will continue to do very well and when they do lose, they will be hammered by fans and foes alike. That is just part of what they have to live with from being one of the premier programs in the country. The USC home and home should be good for football and good for the fans. I hope that it will cause some of the recruits that have only been looking at USC to look elsewhere as well. It is not good for the sport if USC continues to get as many of the prime recruits as they have. I am not saying that the other schools shouldn't be working harder to counter the recruiting prowess of USC, they should. The fact is that USC and UCLA both should have an advantage over most schools just from the size of the LA area to recruit from. USC has ruled there and also made significant inroads in areas like Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. These things go in cycles and I remember when USC had faded for a number of years.

Scaffdog, I didn't know and I appreciate you letting the people on the forum that didn't know.

The way that the first USA Today Coaches Poll falls out: SEC 6 teams .5% Big 10 4 teams .36% Big 12 4 teams .33% Big East 3 teams .315% Pac 10 3 teams .30% WAC 2 teams .22% ACC 2 teams .166% MWC 1 team .125% Look no ND, they came in #30

Torgo, They should. I was just having fun because they have not been good lately in Football and they are considered a Basketball School. Too Bad they won't be as good as Tennessee this year in Basketball. (Playing again. They should be very good this year in Basketball) Here is the first Coaches Poll of the Year 1. Southern California (45) 2. LSU (4) 3. Florida (9) 4. Texas 5. Michigan (2) 6. West Virginia 7. Wisconsin 8. Oklahoma 9. Virginia Tech 10. Ohio State 11. Louisville 12. California 13. Georgia 14. Auburn 15. Tennessee 16. Rutgers 17. UCLA 18. Penn State 19. Nebraska 20. Arkansas 21. Florida State 22. TCU 23. Boise State 24. Hawaii 25. Texas A&M

Earth to Cltheel, this is about FOOTBALL. Just having fun. Good for you to be behind your team. Hopefully your new coach can bring the team back to a major level of play.

Here is what Rivals has put in as it's guess for the Bowls. Some of them are just attempts to have rematches of important games in the past and not real guesses. Date Bowl Dec. 20 Poinsettia Bowl Utah-Navy Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl Troy-UTEP Dec. 22 PapaJohns.com Bowl Cincinnati-Central Florida Dec. 22 New Mexico Bowl New Mexico-Nevada Dec. 22 Las Vegas Bowl Arizona State-Texas Christian Dec. 23 Hawai

I think that at this time you could rearrange any of the top 8 or 9. Who is to say if Texas is better than Oklahoma until they play. The same could be said for Wisconsin and Michigan, Louisville and West Virginia, or Florida and LSU. I am of the thought that you can't take a lot of credence in any of the polls until October. The bad part is that if voters have been voting for a team even if they have not looked as good as they have been ranked continue to stay ranked above those that have worked their way up.

Rivals is down to just 2 left. 50. Central Michigan 49. Kansas State 48. Arizona 47. Cincinnati 46. Michigan State 45. BYU 44. Texas Tech 43. Iowa 42. Georgia Tech 41. Wake Forest 40. Purdue 39. Maryland 38. Kentucky 37. Alabama 36. Missouri 35. Oklahoma State 34. Oregon State 32. Oregon 33. TCU 31. Notre Dame 30. South Florida 29. South Carolina 28. Arizona State 27. Boise State 26. Clemson 25. UCLA 24. Arkansas 23. Florida State 22. Texas A&M 21. Hawaii 20. Miami 19. Rutgers 18. Nebraska 17. Tennessee 16. Boston College 15. Penn State 14. Georgia 13. California 12. Auburn 11. Virginia Tech 10. Ohio State 9. Oklahoma 8. Wisconsin 7. Louisville 6. Texas 5. Florida 4. Michigan 3. LSU guess that it will be 2. West Virginia 1. Southern Cal It was.

They should be out the third week of August.