Apparently, Paul Johnson pissed Les Miles off by saying "They have trouble with teams from Georgia" and that was part of the reason for the fake punt and deep bombs. I'm not sure how legitimate that is.
I still can't believe that Vandy beat BC in a bowl game. Talk about the ultimate streak killer.
I don't think Vandy beating a depleted BC by 1 and LSU destroying GT makes the SEC officially better. Is the Big 10 officially better since Iowa destroyed South Carolina?
Have to disagree with the strategy Penn State used late in the game: Under 5 minutes and only 1 time-out down 2 touchdowns, you need to onside kick, especially with the new clock rules. Now, they did get the ball back with 3 minutes and no time-outs, only to throw a pick, but I think with the momentum they had at that point the onside kick was necessary. Anyone else think Brent finally realized that the 10 he was laying with Southern Cal was in danger around the 3 minute mark, and would the point spread shaving conspiracy theorists have had a field day with the USC long snapper if Penn State had achieved the back door cover on the last play of the game after the blown punt snap in the last minute?
I would give Utah the national title unless OU and UF really destroys the other. Like 55-19 in the 2005 Orange Bowl level of destruction. Utah beat a great TCU team, a good BYU team, won at Michigan (yeah, I know, but they didn't know Michigan would be so bad), beat Oregon State, and destroyed a former #1 team in SEC country. I don't know what more a mid major could EVER do without getting a shot at a national title.
I am starting to wonder if Utah/USC and Penn State/Alabama would be better games. I'm kind of tired of bowl tie-ins.
UCONN/BUFFALO TOMORROW! I'm actually excited about this game. I think it will be a good game and they ae both pretty underrated, although UB has gotten its attention now. I think UConn wins 30-23 or something.
(PS - I had Utah with 3 confidence points, but no way did I see them completely destroying Alabama like they did.)
I don't have a favourite college team...I just root for any mid-major that gets into a major bowl game and manages to embarrass the entire BCS system by knocking off one of the big dogs from the 'major' conferences. You could make the case that the MWC was better than Big Ten, Big East, Pac-10 and ACC this year, yet Utah got no consideration at all for the national title game.
If I had a vote for national champion, they'd get it.
Originally posted by wmatisticWhat a shock, Utah beat an Alabama team that clearly didn't want to be there. Only every sportswriter predicted it might happen.
Way to rain on the Utes parade, eh? I'd like to know who predicted this, because I certainly didn't see anyone giving them a chance.
The "they didn't want to be there excuse" doesn't really hold weight for me -- USC is in the Rose Bowl nearly every damn year, it seems, and they still come out and play with fire and dominate. This was Alabama's highest profile bowl in quite some time (the Cotton Bowl under Shula doesn't really count), so there should be SOME motivation there. Utah, on this night, was just plain better (as they proved in dropping 21 on the Tide in the first quarter), and they deserve to be recognized as such.
(And as an aside, if it's true that players can't get motivated to play in any bowl game that's not the BCS title game, then we REALLY need a playoff.)
I've read countless articles talking about Bama being young and disappointed about the Florida loss and not showing up not to mention Cowherd bringing it up every single day on his radio show.
Originally posted by wmatisticWhat a shock, Utah beat an Alabama team that clearly didn't want to be there. Only every sportswriter predicted it might happen.
Originally posted by wmatistic in this thread (The W)I like a lot of the lesser bowl matchups, but as for the BCS games, I see one potentially great BCS matchup in OU/Florida and four blowouts. USC over Penn State, Texas over Ohio State, Tech over Cincy, Bama whips Utah. Could be a very ugly set of games there.
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Originally posted by wmatisticI've read countless articles talking about Bama being young and disappointed about the Florida loss and not showing up not to mention Cowherd bringing it up every single day on his radio show.
Saban's teary-eyed press conference after the game where he threw his young team under the bus and talked about needing to get deeper at the skill positions might contradict that one. Of course, I bow to the "genius" that is Colin Cowshit.
“You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face.” Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic’s “Manhunter”)
Originally posted by wmatisticWhat a shock, Utah beat an Alabama team that clearly didn't want to be there. Only every sportswriter predicted it might happen.
Originally posted by wmatistic in this thread (The W)I like a lot of the lesser bowl matchups, but as for the BCS games, I see one potentially great BCS matchup in OU/Florida and four blowouts. USC over Penn State, Texas over Ohio State, Tech over Cincy, Bama whips Utah. Could be a very ugly set of games there.
eventhis is right. Alabama lost six games last year. They lost at home to UL-Monroe. They weren't ranked in the preseason. The goal of SEC teams, outside of the national title, is the Sugar Bowl. They weren't expected to be in either, yet they got to the Sugar Bowl. Alabama couldn't get up to play the fucking Sugar Bowl against a top 6 team? That's their own fault and it shows how masterful of a coach Saban truly is.
Originally posted by wmatisticWhat a shock, Utah beat an Alabama team that clearly didn't want to be there. Only every sportswriter predicted it might happen.
Yes, every sportswriter in America predicted Utah would go up 21-0, never trail, and get 8 sacks against a team that was #1 in the country a month ago. Clearly.
Originally posted by wmatisticI've read countless articles talking about Bama being young and disappointed about the Florida loss and not showing up not to mention Cowherd bringing it up every single day on his radio show.
Saban's teary-eyed press conference after the game where he threw his young team under the bus and talked about needing to get deeper at the skill positions might contradict that one. Of course, I bow to the "genius" that is Colin Cowshit.
Quoted for Truth. And seriously, wmatistic, you're going on the word of Cowherd? A guy who lounges at the top of the scrapheap that is sports-talk radio? If Cowherd's a credible sports journalist, than Emmitt Smith is the most articulate, thoughtful analyst in the history of ESPN.
Originally posted by wmatisticI've read countless articles talking about Bama being young and disappointed about the Florida loss and not showing up not to mention Cowherd bringing it up every single day on his radio show.
Saban's teary-eyed press conference after the game where he threw his young team under the bus and talked about needing to get deeper at the skill positions might contradict that one. Of course, I bow to the "genius" that is Colin Cowshit.
Quoted for Truth. And seriously, wmatistic, you're going on the word of Cowherd? A guy who lounges at the top of the scrapheap that is sports-talk radio? If Cowherd's a credible sports journalist, than Emmitt Smith is the most articulate, thoughtful analyst in the history of ESPN.
(edited by eventhis on 3.1.09 1327)
He was the only name that came to mind, but countless others wrote it and he had many, many guests on(coaches, writers, players) that agreed with him. He may be a huge jerk and heck I hate him half the time, but he's pretty knowledgeable on college football if you're being honest.
I figured Bama would win anyway because Saban usually has his teams ready to play. But seriously how could they NOT be disappointed? A month ago they were undefeated and had a shot a the national championship? They were bound to be disappointed getting dropped from that to a Utah team they clearly didn't respect.
That's not to diss Utah, who outcoached and outplayed Bama. It was the biggest game in school history and they played like it. Great win for them.
But no I don't think Utah could have gone undefeated in the Big 12 or SEC. They big wins came against Oregon State(who did beat USC but also lost to Stanford), TCU who got crushed by OU, and BYU who was whipped by TCU.
Alabama almost to a man has bigger, stronger, faster players. For them to get pushed around like they did to me says coaching and desire weren't there. Just my opinion.
Considering they have gone to an NCAA Title Game in basketball plus won 2 BCS Bowls in the past 12 years, Utah really would be a fine addition should the Pac-10 decide to expand to 12, and thus open the door up for them to hold a conference title game. I don't know if BYU would fit as the other team, but stealing Colorado from the Big XII would probably help round out the conference.