Thoughts on College Football, 2005 (Page 2)

Oh man, Oso!  How can someone be soooo wrong?!

1) Notre Dame, the most storied program in the history of the game, can never be overrated.

2) The Big Ten is the best conference in the land because all the games were closer than any other conference.  It's not mediocrity that causes the parity...it's excellence, baby!

3) I'll agree that Tennessee was the most overrated and just a smidge more overrated than my beloved Hawkeyes. (See, I can admit it.)

4) & 5) Should be reversed.  Leinert sets Bush up.  When Reggie is playing for the J-E-T-S, JETS! JETS! JETS! next year, you will see that one man does not a team make.

6) If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.  Bottom line: UF didn't do as well as it should have and will be humilated on January 2, but I am a little biased.

7) Gotta go with the previously maligned Charlie Weis who turned around an historic program in a year and came within 7 sec. of beating the number one team in the land.  Notre Dame (Our Mother, PRAY FOR US!) is better than Texas.

Rose Bowl: Texas comes out swinging and puts USC on its heels from the start.  Carroll will make his halftime adjustments, but it will be too little, too late. TEXAS 35, USC 24

Orange Bowl: Jo Pa shows that he still has it.  He isn't gonna let Bobby get any closer in the all-time wins category.

Sugar Bowl: WVU doesn't really have a right to be here; they'll roll over for the Dogs.

Fiesta Bowl:  You've got this partly right; it will be a nail biter.  The Big Ten champs will be on the wrong end, though. 

Outback Bowl: Forida big?  How big?  I haven't seen a line on the game yet, but if you're giving points, I'm taking them!  Don't be fooled by the 7-4 record; Iowa's tougher than it looks.  The only two games that Iowa lost that weren't close were Ohio State and Iowa State, which still makes me shudder.  Bottom line: We run better than Florida, we pass better than Florida, and we score more than Florida.  Our questionable defense of the beginning of the season is replaced by a defense that held the leading rushers at Wisconsin and Minnesota to 18 and 10 yards respectively.  Both of these backs were over 1000 for the season in spite of these games. As I said in the opening: How big?  'Cuz if you're giving points in this game, I'm taking them!

I got severe tired head reading all the conference vs conference BS.  At this point, it doesn't matter.  The two best teams in the country are clearly USC and Texas.  I give the edge to Texas.  Yes, USC has a ton of weapons on offense(Leinart, Bush, White, Jarrett, etc).  But, they have not played a defense all year that is as physical or as fast as Texas.  Texas has 2 future NFL'ers on the d-line, at least one at linebacker, 2 maybe 3 in the defensive backfield.  USC's defense has played well in one game.  UCLA.  Texas has just as many offensive weapons as USC, they are just not yet all household names nationwide.  Their QB can beat you running, throwing or handing off.  They have 3 running backs that would start on 95 other D-I teams, a all american tight end, 2 very good receivers, and the best offensive line in college football.  And, if that wasn't enough, Texas plays great special teams.  The only way they lose is if Mack Brown figures out a way to screw it up(which is highly possible).

Trust me, as an Aggie, it pains me to say this.  But I am afraid it is true.

Did TB really count as an NFL team their first couple of years in the league?  Could the best team of 1976 have beaten them?  I still think it is questionable.  But I was 6 at the time and my football analysis was not nearly as acute as it is now.

This game is a match-up between two teams that have been able to play their style of football and not have to adapt much to what the opponents are doing.  e.g. I don't think Texas schemed much for Colorado, but you can darn well be sure that Coloardo schemed for Texas.

So, the big quesiton in this game is going to be this:  who can stick to their own game plan the longest?  How long before one team or the other has to adjust?  I think Texas will make USC react to them first.

I don't know who those top 25 offenses were, but I think you have to look at that.  How many of those 6 are PAC 10 teams?  The PAC 10 is typically not a big defensive conference.  Most PAC 10 teams are usually more offensive oriented.  If you play in a conference that emphasises offense more than defense, then that could inflate your offensive numbers.  That being said, Texas played in second worst major conference.  So that could say something about their numbers as well.  All I know is, they went into the Horse Shoe in prime time against a top 10 defense.  They put up 25 points and won.  That was their 2nd game of the season.  I don't think they flat out stop USC, I do think they can slow them down.  With their offensive firepower being so comparable, slowing the other team down a little bit may be enough to win.

Texas 42 USC 28

Mack Brown......living proof that if you keep doing something long enough, eventually you will succeed, if purely by accident...........no coach in college football has done less with more the past few years. Texas is always ranked #1 or #2 in recruiting and until last year had not won a "big game" in the Mack Brown era.

With both teams so evenly matched I think that the coaching will be the deciding factor:

USC by 7

BIG TEN (ELEVEN)=Football in slow motion.............

Why the heck do you think all the Big Ten stadiums with natural grass look like something that you would get a notice from your Home Owners Association if it were in your neighborhood? They fear SPEED (i.e. SEC, PAC-10)...............

Bit of trivia for you: Anyone know when the last time the University of Georgia lost to a Big Ten (ELEVEN) school? 1965 Michigan at the Big House (UGA returned and beat the Maize and Blue in their own back yard the next year, the two teams haven't played since). Why is this significant? The SEC and Big Ten meet in bowl games practically every year!!

Remember speed kills....................................

But in that case, the "bubble" and the teams that might be excluded are no better than, say, 60th in the country. You never see anyone snubbed by the committee making a claim to the national championship.

IMHO, I think a post-season tournament as small as 8 teams would be sufficient to determine a national championship. Again, you could conceivably have a team with as high a claim as, say, 5th getting snubbed, but no way is a #5 team going to legitimately stake a claim on the championship.

Someone above said that a team such as LSU might claim to be there, but IMHO and as an LSU fan, we failed in the "qualifiers," particularly in the SEC Championship where we got drubbed by a superior team. If they held a tournament of eight, only the most illogical Tiger fans would say they belonged. It's a playoff for the National Championship, not a Top 8 ranking.

All pipe dreams anyway, a real playoff will never happen.