College football

[billy.pilgrim]

TN is playing Florida today in Florida; I've been drinking early today.

34-3. @(9)Florida vs Tennessee was offline for us. How embarrassing, that's usually reserved for FBS vs FCS, and not even all of those.

Go:

(11)Michigan +3.5 @(13)Wisconsin. Tough choice, but it’ll be better for MD when MD crushes it if Michigan has the better record.
That was a rotten choice, and only 6 of us made it. The MD win won't count for as much.
(23)California +2 @Mississippi. Of course. Sweet, a 3 point gift.
Pac 12 rules, SEC drools . . . by 1 foot, probably.

Bama beat the 39 point spread vs Southern Miss by 3 with a TD with 1:37 left, bastards. Got it correct - 16 others!
http://www.blueridgedebate.com/forum/vi ... ck#p101074

Email from one of the pool admins:

Really, Yahoo!? You’re making us bet on a 55-point spread for Alabama and NM State? Sheesh. I gotta factor just how pathetic the Aggies are against how big of a dick Nick Saben is? Great.

No one ever went broke overestimating how big of a dick Nick Saban is, but Go Aggies!

I start 4-2, tied for 9th. 2 players are 6-0.

App State Sack-6 by one defender, beating UNC 13-7 in the 1st quarter!
Edit: Same 275 pound lineman has a Tip-INT, 20 yard return to the red zone. Then App State TD 2 or 3 plays later, 20-7!

the Schwartz is the fastest man in college football

Great run for the 1st score, billy.pilgrim!

And Boobee didn't drop the ball, not even once.

Thanks Boobee's Mom

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/aubur ... tate-game/

[Vrede too]

Go:

(15)UCF -11 -12 @Pittsburgh. The streak continues . This might have been a semi-quality, nonconference Power 5 opponent some years.
The streak ends, by 1 point, with 0:56 left. Now 27-1 non bowls, 28-2 counting bowls. Good day for billy.pilgrim.
(8)Auburn +4 +3.5 @(17)Texas A&M. Auburn higher ranked but NOT favored this time. A TAMU loss really hurts Clemson since it was likely the best team it will play until the ACC Championship or even a Bowl. Don’t let me down, billy.pilgrim.
Thanks! Great day for billy.pilgrim. Pooor Clemson.
SMU +9.5 @(25)TCU. Knock it out of the top 25.
Methodists > Baptists, as it should be.
(22)Washington -6.5 -6 @BYU. Duh.
Stoners huge > Mormons, as it should be.

Miami (OH) +39 @(6)Ohio St was not a good idea. 5-76 .

I'm 7-4, not awful, tied for 8th. The leaders are 9-2, I can still tie for 1st if I go 7-0. Might be able to tie for 2nd if I go 6-1, but maybe not.

Before today App St was 7-32-1 vs the ACC, only beating Wake Forest the 7 times! Now add beating hapless UNC in Chapel Hill by a FG. Ranking later in the season?

[billy.pilgrim]

Almost halftime, Old Dominican up 17 to 7 over #21 Virginia

[Vrede too]

Almost halftime, Old Dominican up 17 to 7 over #21 Virginia

Of course it is.

Colorado +7.5 @(24)Arizona St.

Hmmm, Vegas widened the spread to 8.5, AZ may be swinging blue even in the POTUS race and, surprising to me, Tempe is a Dem city. Okay:
@(24)Arizona St -7.5 Colorado.

I also changed another game due to a 1.5 point spread change in Vegas. Now I've got:
Old Dominion +29.5 @(21)Virginia.
Both are public schools and Norfolk, Virginia and Charlottesville are both Dem cities.

We'll see if Vegas inspired tweaks pay off.

Edit: Crap, I did not save these changes, again . We'll see if Vegas inspired tweaks WOULD HAVE PAID off. Only 5 of us picked ASU and 6 OD. So, I can't be terribly hurt by not making the changes, but could have gained a lot if the changes were the right way to go.

[O Really]

Before today App St was 7-32-1 vs the ACC, only beating Wake Forest the 7 times! Now add beating hapless UNC in Chapel Hill by a FG. Ranking later in the season?[/color]

Any team needing a doormat can usually find a nice Carolina Blue one. I think they may have been the first ACC team to lose to ECU.

[Vrede too]

UVA did score 28 straight to win, but nowhere near beating the spread.

Go:

(16)Oregon -10.5 @Stanford. Climb back into it, though beating hapless Stanford won’t help that much.
Done.
Charlotte +41 @(1)Clemson. Kill them, 49ers!
Clemson beat the 41 point spread vs Charlotte by 1 with a TD with 6:12 left, bastards. No one ever went broke overestimating how big of a dick Dabo Sweeney is. Got it correct - 17 others, my worst oddball flub on the day.
@(12)Texas -5.5 Oklahoma St. Austin > Stillwater.
Beat the spread by 0.5, whew.
(7)Notre Dame +14 @(3)Georgia. Biggest game of the day. Victor has a good shot at the playoffs, vanquished not.
Could have won, beat the spread.

I'm 10-7, tied for 9th out of 19, out of the money with the leaders at 13-4 and 2 last games in progress.

[Vrede too]

Oregon has not allowed a TD in 3 games.

GA won in front of a stadium record 93.2K+ attendees.

Colorado, my original pick, beat the spread, won and knocked Arizona St out of the rankings. So, forgetting to save my Vegas inspired changes made very little difference. I was going 1-1 either way and beat 5 players with Colorado, lost to 6 with Virginia, and was out of the money, regardless.

Wow, UCLA came back from being down to WA St 17-49 with 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter to winning 67-63 on a TD with 1:07 left in the game. 78 total points were scored in the second half, 43 of them in the 4th quarter.

UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson 25/38, 65.8%, 508 Yds, 5 TD, 1 Int, 216.2 QBRat!
WA ST QB Anthony Gordon 41/61!, 67.2%, 569 Yds! 9 TD! 2 Int, 187.7 QBRat!

UCLA 1/1 FG
WA ST 0 FG tries!
None of the 17! XPA attempts missed.

UCLA also had a 100 Yd KR

I had picked now 3-1 @(19) Washington St -18.5, but only because it was the ranked team. 17 of us got it wrong! Good for now 1-3 UCLA.

I finish 11-7, could be worse, tied for 9th, just 3 points from the 14-4 winner. The worst of us went 8-10, not awful. I'm still in a tie for 6th best season record, just 4 away from the leader.

[billy.pilgrim]

In other news the UCFers are saying that they held a monster of a lead for more minutes than Pitt in the 2nd half and only lost at the very end because of the score. Championship rings will be cast, trophies awarded and a grand micky mouse parade will showcase the #1 team in Orlando.

Update

According to spokesperson, D. Duck, Championship "trophy rights" confirmed by the Allstate Playoff Predictor. The Gold-plated Knights are a shoe in with their 0.1% chance the playoffs.

[Vrede too]

YOU seem to be whining more than true QB Dillon Gabriel, coach Josh Heupel, receiver Gabe Davis, Orlando sports writers or UCF fans.

UCF falls at Pitt, Knights’ regular-season win streak ends

... It was the Knights’ first regular-season loss since November 2016 — a stretch spanning 1,037 days — and first regular-season defeat of coach Josh Heupel’s tenure.

“There are some men that hurt,” Heupel said following the loss. “This one is one that they wanted but we didn’t find a way to be plus-one on the scoreboard.

“At the end of the day, we weren’t dialed in to execute early.”

... True freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who started his third consecutive game of the season, shook off two first-half interceptions to throw two touchdowns.

“I didn’t execute on my part. I feel I didn’t play my best and it showed. All we can do is move forward and learn from it,” said Gabriel, who finished the game 25-of-42 for 338 yards with two touchdowns.

He was sacked a game-high six times, however.

“From my standpoint, I didn’t play up to par and in order to beat these guys I had to have a good game,” Gabriel said....

After cutting the lead to 21-10 at the half, the Knights unleashed a monster third quarter. They scored 21 consecutive points to grab a 31-21 lead with 6:19 left in the period. The run included two touchdown passes from Gabriel to receiver Gabe Davis and extended UCF’s streak of scoring 30 or more points during 30 consecutive games.

“We beat ourselves out there today, but how are we going to answer is all I’m worried about,” said Davis, who finished with a career-high 151 yards on 10 catches....

“Let this one hurt. At the end of the day, you can either descend from this and fall apart or you can come together and grow as a football team," he said. “This doesn’t define our 2019 journey, this defines this week. These guys will come back because they’re a prideful football team.”

Lookee there, not a hint of blaming anyone but themselves or claiming that they should be rated better than they played yesterday. Has all of your criticism of UCF been based on things you imagine?

Anyhow, it's Boise State going to the playoffs this year.

[billy.pilgrim]

YOU seem to be whining more than true QB Dillon Gabriel, coach Josh Heupel, receiver Gabe Davis, Orlando sports writers or UCF fans.

UCF falls at Pitt, Knights’ regular-season win streak ends

... It was the Knights’ first regular-season loss since November 2016 — a stretch spanning 1,037 days — and first regular-season defeat of coach Josh Heupel’s tenure.

“There are some men that hurt,” Heupel said following the loss. “This one is one that they wanted but we didn’t find a way to be plus-one on the scoreboard.

“At the end of the day, we weren’t dialed in to execute early.”

... True freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who started his third consecutive game of the season, shook off two first-half interceptions to throw two touchdowns.

“I didn’t execute on my part. I feel I didn’t play my best and it showed. All we can do is move forward and learn from it,” said Gabriel, who finished the game 25-of-42 for 338 yards with two touchdowns.

He was sacked a game-high six times, however.

“From my standpoint, I didn’t play up to par and in order to beat these guys I had to have a good game,” Gabriel said....

After cutting the lead to 21-10 at the half, the Knights unleashed a monster third quarter. They scored 21 consecutive points to grab a 31-21 lead with 6:19 left in the period. The run included two touchdown passes from Gabriel to receiver Gabe Davis and extended UCF’s streak of scoring 30 or more points during 30 consecutive games.

“We beat ourselves out there today, but how are we going to answer is all I’m worried about,” said Davis, who finished with a career-high 151 yards on 10 catches....

“Let this one hurt. At the end of the day, you can either descend from this and fall apart or you can come together and grow as a football team," he said. “This doesn’t define our 2019 journey, this defines this week. These guys will come back because they’re a prideful football team.”

Lookee there, not a hint of blaming anyone but themselves or claiming that they should be rated better than they played yesterday. Has all of your criticism of UCF been based on things you imagine?

Anyhow, it's Boise State going to the playoffs this year.

Oh, you're saying that they admitted that they lost - unlike they did last year after getting beat by LSU, or are you saying that they admitted that they aren't #1 because they beat a hurt team that had been #1 a couple of months prior, because I'm sure they aren't admitting that they have the easiest schedule and still got beat.

Boise and ucf are minor teams and should be considered as such until they decide to play a schedule like fsu, Notre Dame or even army. These teams could (or could have) easily schedule 14 win seasons - they don't


UCF will be a contender because of their location and desire. At some point they may even elect to play a competitive schedule, as for now, they have made the decision to "play" the system rather than the game.

[Vrede too]

I'm saying that they are saying what they are saying, which has zero relation to what you say they are saying.

Go Broncos! Victors over Power 5 FSU in Tallahassee and decent Air Force.


Missouri scores one of the most bizarre touchdowns you'll ever see (with video)

SC QB Ryan Hilinski:
Rightwing Orange County, California
Lutheran high school
Met South Carolina academic "standards"
Figures.

[O Really]

UCF will be a contender because of their location and desire. At some point they may even elect to play a competitive schedule, as for now, they have made the decision to "play" the system rather than the game.

I understand your point from a purely sportsmanlike perspective. And even from the standpoint of a program developing strength by being able to recruit better guys though playing more big-time opponents. All true. And back in the day, when a conference championship and maybe a decent bowl trip was the best prize available, it would make sense to burn some non-conference games on teams out of your league (literally and figuratively). Take a chance, bring your best game, and maybe on a beautiful fall day remembered by alumni for decades, you can be Appalachian at Michigan. And in the long run, that's probably a sound approach.

But the way the football world runs now is all about the playoff ranking or at least proximity to it. And in that ranking, a win over a patsy still helps more than a loss to Bammer. If they don't want people to "play the system" maybe there should be a better system. Give more weight to opponent strength, based on strength rating for each team each week. If you beat a team that's a "5" at the time you beat them, you still get credit even if that team dives to a "2" by season end. Each week, teams could get a numerical score of accumulated record and ratings. I'm sure there are enough football data geeks and computers enough to do that.

Or maybe we could just enjoy those glorious fall afternoons with a tailgate, watching a game, and partying afterward, win or lose.

“Kenan feels like the football equivalent of Augusta National. It rests so majestically among the Carolina pines and in the breeze beckons us to be a part of it for several Saturdays each year.” -- Tony Barnhart, College football writer and broadcaster

[Vrede too]

I think strength of schedule already plays a huge role in the subjective playoff and bowl selections. After all, neither UCF nor BSU ever got a playoff spot. I don't agree with:

... If you beat a team that's a "5" at the time you beat them, you still get credit even if that team dives to a "2" by season end....

Barring catastrophic injuries, the dive suggests to me that they never really were a "5". Michigan was preseason #7 and still #11 on Saturday morning. However, it struggled vs Army and got destroyed by WI. It never was a #7 team.

Or maybe we could just enjoy those glorious fall afternoons with a tailgate, watching a game, and partying afterward, win or lose.

Spoken like a true UNC fan.

billy.pilgrim, it's one thing to dis a team's pretensions, it's another to keep doing so 3 times when they haven't uttered any. It makes you seem obsessive, and still bitter over the bowl loss.

[O Really]

I think strength of schedule already plays a huge role in the subjective playoff and bowl selections. After all, neither UCF nor BSU ever got a playoff spot.

OK, so I stand partially corrected. The selection committee claims strength of schedule is a significant factor. But I doubt that's all keeping UCF or BSU out of consideration. No directional school or school named for a town nobody's been to is going to get selected no matter who they play during the season. If you don't have the name, you ain't getting the fame.

And yeah, to be fair, I know that when basketball ranking come along, UNC, Duke, etc. are going to get ranking priority over Southwest Central Idaho State. But the difference in basketball is that at the end of the year, there's a real tournament and 60 teams get to play. Before March Madness, there are conference tournaments where SCIS can win a spot to the big dance. You can be UNC and "ranked" #1 on February 28, and gone home by March 15. Or maybe you're Gonzaga, who most people probably couldn't' find on a map, losing by only 6 to the storied Carolina program.

No place for Cinderellas in the football playoffs.

[billy.pilgrim]

I'm saying that they are saying what they are saying, which has zero relation to what you say they are saying.

Go Broncos! Victors over Power 5 FSU in Tallahassee and decent Air Force.


Missouri scores one of the most bizarre touchdowns you'll ever see (with video)hardly seems fair that they always have to play in Columbia

SC QB Ryan Hilinski:
Rightwing Orange County, California
Lutheran high school
Met South Carolina academic "standards"
Figures.

and I'm saying that ucf is to college football, as fox is to news,
my comments are fully confirmed by my ability to read minds

[Vrede too]

I think there should be at least an 8-team college football playoff.

OK, so I stand partially corrected. The selection committee claims strength of schedule is a significant factor. But I doubt that's all keeping UCF or BSU out of consideration. No directional school or school named for a town nobody's been to is going to get selected no matter who they play during the season. If you don't have the name, you ain't getting the fame....

What's a "directional school"?
"nobody's been to" Auburn, Stanford or Clemson.

[Vrede too]

hardly seems fair that they always have to play in Columbia

That took me a couple of minutes to figure out.

... my comments are fully confirmed by my ability to read minds

Fair enough. Bad UCF!

[billy.pilgrim]

I think strength of schedule already plays a huge role in the subjective playoff and bowl selections. After all, neither UCF nor BSU ever got a playoff spot. I don't agree with:

... If you beat a team that's a "5" at the time you beat them, you still get credit even if that team dives to a "2" by season end....

Barring catastrophic injuries, the dive suggests to me that they never really were a "5". Michigan was preseason #7 and still #11 on Saturday morning. However, it struggled vs Army and got destroyed by WI. It never was a #7 team.

Or maybe we could just enjoy those glorious fall afternoons with a tailgate, watching a game, and partying afterward, win or lose.

Spoken like a true UNC fan.

billy.pilgrim, it's one thing to dis a team's pretensions, it's another to keep doing so 3 times when they haven't uttered any. It makes you seem obsessive, and still bitter over the bowl loss.

obsessive?
Is it obsessive to recognize what would have been done if they had won?

This is about sportsmanship. To me this team thumbed its nose at sportsmanship and college football when they demanded to be in the playoffs and then threw themselves a championship parade – didn’t they award rings too?

Could it be that when my team was undefeated after finishing the toughest schedule in the nation, all those same sports writers and talking heads who promoted Boise then and UCF now had so little to say.
So, possibly it is sour grapes, but more probably that I believe the game is about sportsmanship and that I fail to understand how this promotion of teams and people who fail at sportsmanship serves any positive purpose.

I have forgotten the specifics, but Saban’s use of grayshirting a player was over the line bad sportsmanship but it was legal. The rule was useful as written but exploiting it, as saban did, hurt players and other teams, I feel no differently about the ucf whining over the past several years or bosie’s crying from a few years back than I will if trump loses next year. I may write a satirical line or two – even if he does make a graceful concession speech

[Vrede too]

Okay, that's now convinced me that you're not obsessive.

[Vrede too]

AP Rankings

1 Clemson (4-0) For beating a #23 team and not having a better team scheduled?
2 Alabama (4-0)
3 Georgia (4-0)
4 LSU (4-0) Not my fav, but okay.
5 Ohio State (4-0) Not my fav, but better than some.
6 Oklahoma (3-0)
7 Auburn (4-0) Congrats. Upcoming: 9 Florida, 4 LSU, 3 Georgia, 2 Alabama. Ouch.
8 Wisconsin (3-0) Sweet, all the way.
9 Florida (4-0) I'm good with that.
10 Notre Dame (2-1) Not my fav, but better than some.
11 Texas (3-1) I'm good with that.
12 Penn State (3-0) Boo.
13 Oregon (3-1) Creeping up .
14 Iowa (3-0)
15 California (4-0)
16 Boise State (4-0)
17 Washington (3-1) Lots of the Pac 12 in the teens.
18 Virginia (4-0)
19 Utah (3-1)
20 Michigan (2-1)
21 USC (3-1)
22 UCF (3-1) A new streak and climb begins.
23 Texas A&M (2-2) One more loss or shaky win and Clemson's sole "quality opponent" is unranked.
24 Kansas State (3-0)
25 Michigan State (3-1) Boo.