Official College Football Thread - Week 11
 

Starting this to post a couple helmet pics, and my own opinion of how you do it right and wrong. I'll let you decide which is which.

Notre Dame wearing this against Maryland:





Rutgers wearing this against Army:

That Notre Dame helmet is awful.

I'm guessing the stars & stripes one is just because they're playing Army, or is there more to it than that? Washington did a similar helmet for the weekend earlier this year that coincided with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Veterans Day is Friday. Maybe Rutgers is doing it for that and since they are playing Army.

Ah, good point. Would make even more sense if the game were on Friday, but close enough (similar to the UW helmet and the 9/11 tribute).

Not even so much "ugly" as, I dunno, weak? A shamrock on your helmet isn't exactly an intimidating look.

I liked their attempt to make their gold helmets more closely resemble the Golden Dome, but the green shamrock on the helmet? Bad call.

Biggest game is clearly Stanford vs. Oregon. They are playing at the farm this year which should favor Stanford, but Oregon is a damn good team.

Back in the 60s they used to have that shamrock on their helmets. I think that Lou Holtz even brought them back for a game.

Flying to Atlanta for VPI vs. Ga Tech on Thursday. Should be a fun one. Taking my son, and weather dependent, it will be his first GT game.

Skimming the schedule and picking out games of interest.

Oregon @ Stanford. Nuff said.

Auburn @ Georgia. Last real hurdle for the East title for Georgia.

Michigan @ Illinois. Last easy game for Michigan, but it's on the road. This is a must win for them, or they are looking at going 1-4 after the MSU loss.

TCU @ BSU. Only real challenge left for BSU.

NU @ PSU. Let's just say Penn State suffered a loss in the bye week and now go through three straight games that will be brutal for them to deal with even under normal conditions.

WVU @ Cincinnati. Cincinnati has 4 games to go with a 2 game lead on the rest of the Big East.

MSU @ Iowa. Iowa is frisky at home and MSU's record on the road is non-existent. First team in the Legends division to act like it wants to win it will do so. Maybe.

Texas @ MU. Last visit by the Longhorns.

Wait until the game is played.

Iowa holds the division in their hands. Win the next 3 and we play int he 1st ever B1G title game. Lose on of the 3 and its not a chance.
MSU is nails against the run, but cant play on the road.
You never what Iowa team will show up. Or if a good Iowa team will play 4 quarters.

Go Hawks!

The Notre Dame helmets are fine. It's not like they had an iconic helmet that bore decades of tradition.

?

Is this a joke?

FSU/Miami Saturday afternoon. I hope we kill them, although they've been playing good of late. But so have we.

Pretty sad that these two teams have fallen enough that they can't make anyone's list of semi-interesting games...

I am looking forward to watching Stanford vs. Oregon. I want Stanford to win because I don't want to see Alabama and LSU in the title game. I don't think they'll be able to beat Oregon though.

Wake Forest travels to Death Valley for the ritual beating. Although, blind loyalty leads me to hope - IF we were to win ... Oh, happy day!!!!!

The biggest problem I have with a rematch is, what have you settled if the team that lost the first game wins the second one? LSU beat Alabama at home. If Alabama beats LSU in New Orleans, what point have we settled? That typically, the team that loses the first game has the upper hand in a rematch. I think that's about it.

I'm not in favor of a rematch, unless there's no argument for any other team. If you have a bunch of 2-loss BCS conference teams and a 1-loss Boise State, for example, and LSU was undefeated and Alabama had 1 loss, then OK. But if there's another viable team, I say let them have a shot.

For me, if LSU and Boise St. are the only undefeated teams left, then they need to play.

I get all of the stuff about Boise St. and their schedule, etc. I want to see them play in a game like this just to see how well they really do stack up. If LSU blows them out 56-10, then okay don't do it again. But is BSU wins or LSU wins in 2OT, then it gives it merit.

I'm afraid we're going to see a rematch.Stanford loses to Oregon and OSU loses to Oklahoma and we get a rematch.

My only hope at that point is that LSU loses to Arkansas and/or the SEC title game.

There are still plenty of chances for all the top teams to stumble.

I believe there'd also be the possibility of a rematch if those things happened & Alabama stumbled against Auburn.

Don't completely overlook the possibility of getting Oregon-LSU in that scenario.

We made Michigan look good passing the ball and USC look good throwing it - maybe we can even make Maryland look competent on offense.

It's not like Alabama-LSU was even a fun game to watch. It was painful to anyone who likes watching college football offenses operate. It was like having a root canal.

I would be stunned as anyone if Auburn pulled it off. I'm pretty sure 'Bama wants Auburn's head at this point.

I enjoyed it. I saw a clear difference between that game and the UGA/UF game a week before. That one was painful to watch, because those defenses aren't THAT good, and it was poor offense that ruined the game (I think the QBs were a combined 1-21 at one point in the 2nd half).

I don't mind a 52-45 game, but there's something to be said for two defenses shutting down offenses that average around 38-40 points a game.

That's really the wrong way to pick who gets in, on both counts. Oklahoma lost 55-19 in a championship game once, should they be banned from future BCS consideration? Either you should be there or shouldn't, it's not a program tryout.

It seemed like two teams doing the definition of playing "not to lose" rather than playing to win. I agree, 52-45 is not ideal either. But a nice 28-24 game never hurt anyone. Not watching Alabama's kicker chunk attempt after attempt wide and short.

Yes, I was being sarcastic. I understand Maryland or some other schools doing it. But you're Notre Dame, you have one of the best helmets in the business. So much history and tradition. Why fuck it up with some cheesey shit like this?

I think it was a clear example of two coaches who knew the defenses were better than the offenses, and gameplanning accordingly to not be the one who messed up. I agree that's not exactly exciting, but ineffective beats sloppy/pathetic any day.

Aside from Alabama's special teams, I thought both teams played at a high level. It's just that neither offense was good enough to rise to or above the level of the defenses.

Missed your question the first time around. The school feels very close to the Army program after the way they supported Eric LeGrand and the rest of the team following his paralysis in the game against them last season, and they thought this was another way to show their appreciation.

I sent something to the assistant AD that they should make replicas of this helmet available for sale with the proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Project. He said it would be something for them to consider.

Cool story. Hope they follow your suggestion, it's a creative way to raise more money for a good cause.

Go Georgetown ... not something I ever really thought I'd be saying but one of their freshmen DL, 6'2 300 lb Jordan Richardson is an graduate of my son's school & a kid I got to watch play most of his HS ball.

Bright young man, articulate, lost his dad when he was very young, just the kind of kid that you find yourself pulling for. After watching him seem to struggle occasionally with focus on the field (or perhaps just lacking a little bit of a mean streak) while in HS, it was exciting to read about him being a contributor to a very good Hoya defense almost immediately upon arrival. That suggests to me that some of the maturity I hoped he'd get is there and, like I said, he's just a kid that you want to see do good.

So ... Go Hoyas

I can't believe they outscored last week's game.

Isn't Toledo the same team that Ohio State struggled to score 25 against, and that Boise State only put about 40 on? What the hell - have they decided to drop one defensive player off the field each week as the season progresses? Because they played like they had maybe 6-7 guys out there.

I would have though Schiano was a shoe in to replace Paterno but now I would be shocked if he did.

Bloom is long off that rose. But they'll go outside the PSU structure anyway.

To be fair, Ohio State mostly played Joe "Crazy Arms" Bauserman against Toledo. I am impressed that we were able to hold them to 20-ish points, considering.

For Lathum:

Politi: Greg Schiano won't be the coach to replace Joe Paterno | NJ.com

Thanks for the link, good read. I haven't been able to keep up as much since my buddy left the program.

Texas and UCLA announce a game at Jerry's World in 2014.

Texas and UCLA to play in Cowboys Stadium - CBSSports.com

In "only Pumpy could possibly care about this" news, Seton Hill tries to avoid having a winless home record for the first time in its 7-year history. The Griffins are 1-9 this year, with a 1-3 road record and an 0-6 home record. They close out their season against conference foe Glenville State. Maybe Seton Hill will play an inspired game this week and manage to match last year's win total of 2.

Ugh.

Less than an hour away from a top 20 NCAA game and FOFC is chatting about Toledo, Schiano and Seton Hill.


After the first Hokies TD, Im posting semi nude pics of Kathy Griffin.

If they aren't fully nude pics then don't bother.

Schiano was a day and a half ago, douche :). How bout some betting advice buddy?

I really enjoy watching the Georgia Tech offense play.

I bet youre a big Army/Navy fan.


As for today, had VT obviously. Might have a scooby snack for Saturday.

Nice touch to the the PSU/NU game as both teams came on to the field and prayed.