NCAA Week 13

[Solecismic]

It would be hilarious if an 8-4 Florida State goes to the BCS, while 10-2 Virginia Tech and 9-2 Miami go to other bowls. Of course, Florida State looked so bad today I doubt they're much of a match for Virginia Tech.

Things could get quite complicated if UCLA beats USC next week. USC still gets the automatic BCS bid, but UCLA would have made quite a case for an At-Large. Different problem but same result if Colorado somehow beats Texas.

Otherwise, I'd give the two At-Large bids to Ohio State and Miami, rewarding the two conferences that had the best seasons overall. Oregon and Notre Dame are close behind.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Otherwise, I'd give the two At-Large bids to Ohio State and Miami, rewarding the two conferences that had the best seasons overall. Oregon and Notre Dame are close behind.

I agree with you in taking Ohio State but I think Auburn has been playing some really good ball lately and would be a team no one would want to be matched up with right now. I'd take Ohio State and Auburn.

[sooner333]

The SEC is weak this year, no way I give the extra bid to Auburn. I say Oregon or even Notre Dame over Miami. The ACC is good, but not great this year...you don't lose to Georgia Tech in the end of the season to lose your division and expect to get an at-large.

[Karlifornia]

Just got home. Damn. Stanford played their hearts out with a bowl bid on the line. Notre Dame is just too good this year. After Stanford scored, my dad told me "That kicker for ND may have just made a $14 million shank"

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

At least you have a shot at the league championship and the BCS bid so quit yer bitchin

Uh, we have a shot at completely embarrassing ourselves on national TV for the second time in 2 weeks, not to mention lose 4 straight games. I think I'd rather see the team call in sick than play that game.

[Ragone]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm sitting here at the airport in Frankfurt waiting for my flight back to DFW. I'm checking all of the scores. I'm worried about JeeberD. Has anyone heard from him since the SMU-UTEP game went final?

Apparently Jordan Palmer wanted to go to Smu.. 7 turnovers is unforgiveable.. bet Mike Price was looking up strip clubs in the yellow pages after this one

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Ragone

Apparently Jordan Palmer wanted to go to Smu.. 7 turnovers is unforgiveable.. bet Mike Price was looking up strip clubs in the yellow pages after this one

I've heard that there is a place or two like that in Dallas...

[Logan]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

I hate Notre Dame as much as the next guy, but Rutgers bowl bid may be on the line here. Please Irish, Please.

I know its after the fact and a moot point anyway, but from what the Insight guys were saying both during after the game, it seemed like Rutgers was their pick no matter what ND did. I guess they didn't have faith in Louisville bringing much to Phoenix?

[Noop]

Wow. Bobby Bowden needs to be fired. I have been saying that for a long time but damn man yesterday was very depressing. Bowden is a racist that is the only thing that makes sense about leaving Rix Jr. out there. Fuck Bobby Bowden and his entire offensive staff.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Logan

I know its after the fact and a moot point anyway, but from what the Insight guys were saying both during after the game, it seemed like Rutgers was their pick no matter what ND did. I guess they didn't have faith in Louisville bringing much to Phoenix?

Sounds like it, but it's hard to tell if those guys were just assuming a West Virginia Conference title and Notre Dame win. Because i figure this is how it plays out now:

BCS = West Virginia
BCS = Notre Dame
Gator Bowl = Louisville
Insight Bowl = Rutgers
Meinieke Bowl = South Florida


Now if Connecticut can beat Louisville next week it'll be very interesting. It means we have more teams than bowl bids, and it might possibly make the Gator Bowl think twice, althouh South Florida would really be their only other option.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Sounds like it, but it's hard to tell if those guys were just assuming a West Virginia Conference title and Notre Dame win. Because i figure this is how it plays out now:

BCS = West Virginia
BCS = Notre Dame
Gator Bowl = Louisville
Insight Bowl = Rutgers
Meinieke Bowl = South Florida


Now if Connecticut can beat Louisville next week it'll be very interesting. It means we have more teams than bowl bids, and it might possibly make the Gator Bowl think twice, althouh South Florida would really be their only other option.

Yeah, but if Ohio State goes to the BCS, than the Motor City Bowl becomes open and the Big East has first chance to fill that spot.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?s...v=ap&type=lgns

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer fired offensive assistants Jimmy Ray Stephens and Pat Washington on Sunday, following the Volunteers' first losing season since 1988.

Stephens, 51, was the offensive line coach and had been at Tennessee for three years. Washington, 42, was wide receivers coach and had been with the program for 10 years.

"I appreciate everything Jimmy Ray and Pat have done for Tennessee over the years," Fulmer said in a statement. "This was a difficult decision to make, but I feel it is in the best interest for the future of our football program."

[cthomer5000]

I assume that was a "you or them" situation.

[Celeval]

I've expected a "you and them", actually.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Noop

Wow. Bobby Bowden needs to be fired. I have been saying that for a long time but damn man yesterday was very depressing. Bowden is a racist that is the only thing that makes sense about leaving Rix Jr. out there. Fuck Bobby Bowden and his entire offensive staff.

Lee wasn't out there because he has practiced terribly and followed it up with bad performances when he was given a chance. Bowden probably won't retire, but I find it hard to believe, if for no other reason than just recruiting, that Jeff Bowden will return.

The problem for Bobby is that he's at a point where he really only needs (and wants) to be the general overlooking the assistants actually running the team, but he's lost too many Richt's and Amato's - and replaced them with crap - to allow him to do that and maintain a competitive team. What's happening to Bobby seems to be the opposite of what happened with Paterno - with Joe Pa, it seemed like he just wasn't able to recruit good enough players, but the team performed up to their talent. With FSU, we still have the talent, but the team is WAY underperforming. I think Joe Pa had the easier task to fix his problems. Bobby's in big trouble.

We'll see how serious he was aboout his "if we start losing 4, 5, 6 games a year, I'll retire" statements. I think he really wants to hang on long enough to outlast Paterno, and with Joe Pa winning big this year, that makes Bowden's decision that much more difficult. Without wholesale changes - and I'm including on the defensive side - FSU is going down. They might even need to bring in Bowden's replacement as offensive coordinator or something and let him have the team in a couple of years. that way they get someone competent to bring the offense back to life. What a mess.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Lee wasn't out there because he has practiced terribly and followed it up with bad performances when he was given a chance. Bowden probably won't retire, but I find it hard to believe, if for no other reason than just recruiting, that Jeff Bowden will return.

The problem for Bobby is that he's at a point where he really only needs (and wants) to be the general overlooking the assistants actually running the team, but he's lost too many Richt's and Amato's - and replaced them with crap - to allow him to do that and maintain a competitive team. What's happening to Bobby seems to be the opposite of what happened with Paterno - with Joe Pa, it seemed like he just wasn't able to recruit good enough players, but the team performed up to their talent. With FSU, we still have the talent, but the team is WAY underperforming. I think Joe Pa had the easier task to fix his problems. Bobby's in big trouble.

We'll see how serious he was aboout his "if we start losing 4, 5, 6 games a year, I'll retire" statements. I think he really wants to hang on long enough to outlast Paterno, and with Joe Pa winning big this year, that makes Bowden's decision that much more difficult. Without wholesale changes - and I'm including on the defensive side - FSU is going down. They might even need to bring in Bowden's replacement as offensive coordinator or something and let him have the team in a couple of years. that way they get someone competent to bring the offense back to life. What a mess.

I thought Kevin Steele was the replacement for Bobby? As far as shaking up the staff, I think Jeff Bowden is going to have to take one for the team and resign. I don't see Bobby firing him.

[Dr. Sak]

There seems to be a lot of similarities between what FSU is going through this year and what PSU went through the past few years. In both cases the coaches sons are taking the brunt of the heat. Jay Paterno is the QB coach and was the Recruiting Coordinator up until the early part of 2004. Jay took a lot of flack for not developing the QBs and for the downfall of Penn State's recruiting. There were a lot of alumni calling for Joe's head and even more calling for Jay's head at the end of last season. They thought that the only reason Joe was keeping his son around was because Joe wanted him to succeed him when he retires.

In my opinion I do not think that will happen. I think Tom Bradley will take over for Joe whenever he retires. I also believe that the hire of Galen Hall as Offensive Coordinator was a good one. Joe finally gave him full reign of the offense. It was a clusterfuck last year as Galen got to call the running plays and Jay got to call the passing plays. But who decided whether it was a pass or run? That lead to a ton of delay of game penalties and a lot of confusion on the sidelines.

I think Florida State will be okay. They are having one bad season. I think that Bobby and his staff will look back at the season and see what they did right and wrong during the course of the year and fix it.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by cartman

I'm sitting here at the airport in Frankfurt waiting for my flight back to DFW. I'm checking all of the scores. I'm worried about JeeberD. Has anyone heard from him since the SMU-UTEP game went final?

It wasn't a fun game to attend. Jordan Palmer turned the ball over left and right, partially because the offensive line couldn't block shit. Huzzah, we're gonna go to a third rate bowl game now...

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by bsak16

I think Florida State will be okay. They are having one bad season. I think that Bobby and his staff will look back at the season and see what they did right and wrong during the course of the year and fix it.

Are you nuts? One bad season? Chris Rix lost more as a starting QB than all of FSU's starting QBs for the 15 years before him. And now that we don't have Rix to blame Jeff Bowden's vanilla play calling on, we're having an even worse season.

The rumor around here is that Kevin Steele will be the replacement, but I just don't understand that. It could be worse - it could be Mickey Guthridge - but I'm not sure I understand why the LB's coach is automatically the perfect fit, years in advance, to take over.

My brother, who's a UF alum, said last night, and I agree with him, that Spurrier leaving when he did was a blessing in disguise. Now they don't have to worry about replacing a declining legend and all that comes with that problem.

I also don't see Bobby firing his son, especially given these comments:

"Are you more frustrated over losing to Florida or the fact that people don't recognize the execution problems that led to a loss like that?

Bowden: It irritates me that as soon as we lose a ballgame, 'Let's fire Jeff Bowden' That is really cowardly to me. We didn't play good in any area. We played better in some than others. But that has happened two dadgum times. I go back and look at the film to see where this bad play-calling is coming from. I see that as long as we block our man, our plays are really going good. When we don't, then you've got a bad play, but that has nothing to do with the way the play was called. Yeah, I'm irritated over that. I think people are getting personal. They better be glad that I'd like to keep this job."

Denial. I suppose Jimmy Johnson thought there was nothing wrong with the playcalling the year the Dolphins played the Patriots in the playoffs and the Pats LBs were calling out the plays as Marino audibled. That's about what the UF game looked like.

[sterlingice]

Yeah, the most "competent" bowl projections I see out there have Kansas playing UTEP in Fort Worth (I love seeing nonsense like KU going to a bowl that would choose 5th among Big XII teams despite it being pretty obvious that we'll be 8th out of 8 chosen and thus Fort Worth bowling).

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2240847
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer's acknowledgment that the 2005 season was "unacceptable" has been put in writing to the fans.

Fulmer wrote a 300-word letter that was e-mailed Tuesday to about 38,000 season ticket holders and other fans signed up to receive periodic newsletters from the athletic department through its Web site.

"This year was a disappointing season for everyone in the Tennessee family," wrote Fulmer, echoing what he's been saying on the radio and television and in speeches. "We started this season with great expectations and failed to live up to those expectations.

"I assure you that no one is happy about our season -- especially me, and I know that our fans deserve better than what we produced this year."

The letter was gleaned from 10 pages of notes from a speech Fulmer gave Monday to the Knoxville Quarterback Club. That speech also expressed his concern over finishing 5-6, the first losing record and lack of a bowl bid since 1988.

"Coach Fulmer was trying to find a way to communicate to fans," athletic department spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter said Tuesday.

Fulmer wrote that he is taking an audit of the program.

"We grossly underachieved offensively, and special teams were erratic at best," he said. "No stone will be left unturned and no question left unanswered as to what went wrong."

On Monday, Fulmer took one step in what he hopes will turn around the program by introducing David Cutcliffe as offensive coordinator to replace Randy Sanders. Cutcliffe was on Tennessee's staff with Fulmer for 17 years and was offensive coordinator from 1993-98 before leaving to be head coach at Mississippi. He was fired at the end of last season.

Fulmer also fired two assistants, receivers coach Pat Washington and offensive line coach Jimmy Ray Stephens. Sanders resigned on Oct. 31.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Yeah, the most "competent" bowl projections I see out there have Kansas playing UTEP in Fort Worth (I love seeing nonsense like KU going to a bowl that would choose 5th among Big XII teams despite it being pretty obvious that we'll be 8th out of 8 chosen and thus Fort Worth bowling).

SI

I've also seen some projections with Univ of Houston as the Hawaii Bowl picks UTEP.

SI

[JeeberD]

UTEP doesn't want to go to Hawaii, Fort Worth would be a much better fit for us. We would bring a huge crowd there but Hawaii would be to expensive for the UTEP fan base. El Paso ain't exactly a wealthy town...

[Wolfpack]

With Hawaii with a losing record, I think "sparse crowd" will be a mild understatement at the Hawaii Bowl this year.

[General Mike]

If UConn can beat Louisville on saturday, they will go the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by General Mike

If UConn can beat Louisville on saturday, they will go the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

so where's South Florida headed?

[IMetTrentGreen]

1. that mark richt/fsu bullshit offense isn't so great when you aren't 6 deep in nfl wr's (they should split chris wienke's heisman 4 wyas and give it to his starting recievers that year). i'll never get why richt gets such a free pass as being an offensive genius, when its the uga defense that wins games for them

2. it's astounding to me that mack brown has proven to be a top 2 or 3 coach in the country for the long term health of a program. even at his worst he was winning 9, and now that he pulled his head out of his ass about assistants, texas is where it could have been 3-4 years ago. bob stoops is a terrible talent evaluator and gets his ass handed to him on the recruiting trail by a guy he abused for half a decade, and has maybe the worst oc in the country. carroll is up there, beamer goes in cycles, miami is fading and needs to get ken dorsey's ol back, nobody else even qualifies

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

UTEP doesn't want to go to Hawaii, Fort Worth would be a much better fit for us. We would bring a huge crowd there but Hawaii would be to expensive for the UTEP fan base. El Paso ain't exactly a wealthy town...

Well shit, it appears that UTEP is headed to the GMAC Bowl in freakin' Mobile, Alabama to play freakin' Toledo...

Bowl brings Price back to Alabama
Saturday, December 03, 2005
By RANDY KENNEDY
Sports Editor
In its seven-year history, the GMAC Bowl has previously extended an invitation to a future University of Alabama head coach. Now, a former Tide head coach is apparently headed to Mobile.

Texas-El Paso, led by former Alabama coach Mike Price, is expected to receive the bowl invitation today, according to sources close to the selection process.

The Dec. 21 game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium will mark Price's first official return to the Gulf Coast since an ill-fated night out in Pensacola cost him his job at Alabama before he ever coached a game.

At Alabama, Price replaced Dennis Franchione, whose last team at TCU earned a trip to the Mobile bowl. After accepting the Alabama job, Franchione did not coach TCU in the bowl game.

Price and the Miners (8-3) will face the Toledo Rockets (8-3), who accepted a GMAC Bowl bid last week.

Before Price arrived in El Paso, the Miners had never been ranked in The Associated Press poll. That changed last season, when UTEP entered the polls for the first time. It repeated the accomplishment this season, checking in at No. 24 after racing to an 8-1 start. UTEP has since lost to UAB and SMU to finish the regular season.

One of the primary reasons for UTEP's success is junior quarterback Jordan Palmer, the brother of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer. Jordan Palmer ranked ninth nationally with an average of 302 total yards per game, and holds UTEP career records for passing yards (7,326), touchdown passes (61), completions (555), attempts (965) and total yards (7,397).

The GMAC Bowl is expected to have one of the most compelling quarterback matchups of the bowl season. Toledo is led by record-setting quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who is the school career leader in passing yards and completions. He also has 80 career touchdown passes.

Palmer and Gradkowski will be trying to join an impressive list of quarterbacks who have led their teams to a GMAC Bowl win, including Marshall's Byron Leftwich, Miami of Ohio's Ben Roethlisberger, Bowling Green's Omar Jacobs and Southern Miss' Jeff Kelly.

Tickets are on sale for the game and can be purchased by calling the GMAC Bowl office at 251-635-0011 or by contacting Springdale Travel, located at 1087 Downtowner Blvd., at 251-476-5095.

Tickets cost $15 in the end zones and $45 along the sidelines.

The game will kick off at 7 p.m. Dec. 21 and be nationally televised on ESPN.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Well shit, it appears that UTEP is headed to the GMAC Bowl in freakin' Mobile, Alabama to play freakin' Toledo...

LOL

[Wolfpack]

Well, if you didn't freakin' lose to freakin' teams you shouldn't have, you wouldn't be going to freakin' Mobile, now would you?

[JeeberD]

Tell me about it...

*sigh*