What needs to happen now

[The Maestro]

I just took at look at what is left for everyone and it seems this national title hunt has narrowed significantly. Unfortunately, we got little to no help for those ranked ahead of us, but for those behind us, minus West Virginia, many teams like USC, Virginia Tech, South Florida, etc. got eliminated completely.

This has turned into about a ten team race if you are being nice and including Hawaii since they feel so left out there in the middle of the ocean.

Obviously, the players are Ohio State, Boston College, LSU, Oregon, Arizona State, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Hawaii and us. I eliminate Hawaii immediately and we control our own destiny over Kansas and Missouri. That means there are 6 teams that we have to find a way to get in front of at least five of them.

Of those six, three already have one loss. LSU, Oregon and West Virginia. One more for them and they are done. The problem is all three of those teams appear to really only have 1 to 2 legitimate games where they could lose again.

--LSU – need them to lose once
--at Alabama – Nov. 4th - best chance for loss
--vs. Louisiana Tech – Nov. 11th
--at Ole Miss – Nov. 18th
--vs. Arkansas – Nov. 24th
--SEC Championship – Dec. 1st - maybe...sure wish Florida wasn't out of this race now

--Oregon – need them to lose once
--vs. Arizona State – Nov. 4th - ASU on the road not all that frightening
--at Arizona – Nov. 15th - Mike!! A little help, yo!
--at UCLA – Nov. 24th - maybe like USC last year?
--vs. Oregon State – Dec. 1st

--West Virginia – need them to lose once
--vs. Louisville – Nov. 8th
--at Cincinnati – Nov. 17th - best chance for loss
--vs. Connecticut – Nov. 24th
--vs. Pitt – Dec. 1st

The other three teams are unbeaten...Ohio State, Boston College, Arizona State. One would hope due to the resurgence of the Big 12 and with a possible win over an unbeaten Kansas or one loss Missouri team in the Big 12 title game, one loss from one of these teams would make them drop below us...but who knows? There schedules are:

-- Ohio State – need them to lose at least once, maybe twice
--vs. Wisconsin – Nov. 4th
--vs. Illinois – Nov. 11th
--at Michigan – Nov. 18th - best chance for loss

-- Boston College – need them lost at least once, maybe twice
--vs. Florida State – Nov. 4th
--at Maryland – Nov. 11th
--at Clemson – Nov. 18th - best chance
--vs. Miami – Nov. 24th
--ACC Championship – Dec. 1st - also a good chance

--Arizona State – need them to lose at least once, maybe twice
--at Oregon – Nov. 4th - great chance at a loss
--at UCLA – Nov. 11th - also here...
--vs. USC – Nov. 22nd - and here...
--vs. Arizona – Dec. 1st

Honestly, I think ASU is out of the running in a few weeks. I live here in Phoenix and two observations. They love to get big deficits and rally. That show won't work eventually. And they are WAY TOO COCKY right now! Not the fans...I mean the team and the coach. Rudy Carpenter ripped off his helmet Cale Gundy style a few times last night...they are due for an appointment with humility. B.C. still has plenty of opportunities to lose as well. I just wonder if Ohio State is unbeaten and falls to Michigan in the regular season finale how they could possibly stay ranked ahead of us, especially if we go out and beat Tech that same day, then OSU and then the Big 12 North winner...all AFTER Ohio State's loss that makes them Big 10 runner ups.

If you tell me that OU is in the national title game and I had to guess who we were playing...I would guess Oregon. Easiest schedule in. And that would be fine with me...as long as Gordo stays in Eugene.

We need a lot of help and will get some for certain in Eugene Saturday...someone has to go down. We really need Bama to win vs. LSU as well. If we don't start getting help this Saturday, make plans to come see me in Phoenix for the Fiesta. Only five weeks left of this glorious time of life!

[Big Red Ron]

I don't think any of the undefeated need to lose twice. One will suffice in all cases. Especially id KU goes undefeated and we beat them in San Antone.

[TripleOption14]

Honestly, I feel time is just about out for any NC talks. If no one loses next weekend I think we as fans need to go ahead and stop dreaming of any NC shot and just focus on the conf. title. Which would still be a SWEET thing. Im cool with winning the conf. again, being a one lose team, and making reservations for the desert game. :D

[rubyspirit]

Even if we beat KU in the CCG, I'm not sure we'll make NC. LSU and BC really don't have any tough opponents left.

I would love to have Oregon as the opponent.

[TUSooner]

OhSU has only 3 games left, basically against air, cuz the Big Eleven is as weak as ever. They don't even have to win a conference championship game. They are currently the least "deserving" - and least proven - Number 1 that I can recall from many years of following CFB. As long as OhSU can be #1 by hammering Ohio's junior colleges and winning the lame-o Big 11, something is wrong in the world


I've given up on any kind of meaningful bcsmnc game. It looks like it will be the the current knee-jerk annointees, whom everyone will later concede were not the best 2 teams in the nation.

My season is now 1-dimensional. As long as the Sooners win, I'll be thrilled, no matter where they end up playing. But hey, that's not bad!

I'll look forward to the rest of the bowls and hope that the Big XII makes a good showing against other conferences and that maybe the Big Eleven will be exposed and that the country will see that the SEC is still overrated. (I mean, just because it's tough to win the SEC doesn't mean the conference is superior. It only means that the teams are at pretty even.) Only interconference play can give a real idea of what conferences are weak and which are strong.

Bottom line: I have given up on trying to figure out the CFB season! :rolleyes: :D

[Big Red Ron]

Even if we beat KU in the CCG, I'm not sure we'll make NC. LSU and BC really don't have any tough opponents left.

I would love to have Oregon as the opponent.LSU has to play a tough conf. championship game and Alabama @ Bama. Both tougher than you think.

[The Maestro]

Well, like I said, we get help one way or the other in Eugene this week. Best case would be an ASU win, but I doubt it. I honestly think Oregon will kill ASU. So that drops the Devils. If Saban can pull off the win over LSU...and you know the fans will be stir crazy there...it really helps. If not, we need Georgia to find their way to the SEC title game cause Tennessee has NO CHANCE against LSU in the SEC title game. I cannot believe the crazy SEC East and that Tennessee controls their own destiny.

I still think B.C. will lose. Va Tech was the first decent team they have played all year and that was with the backup quarterback, not the unbeaten freshman that was injured. 58 minutes of looking like a high school team. I really think one of the Bowden's gets him or Miami takes the role of spoiler serious. Plus B.C. has that conference championship game.

Needless to say, I think this crazy season will be defined by Michigan. Losing the opener to Appy State, and then beating the unbeaten number one team in the country in the finale. It almost seems appropriate to happen that way based on how this year has been.

[rhombic21]

We definitely need some help next week, and get at least a few of these teams to go down.

FWIW, we want ASU to beat Oregon next week. ASU has the tougher schedule remaining, since they haven't played USC yet, and IMO, is more poised to be upset down the road.

I would be really surprised to see BC get out of the ACC untouched. They looked horrible against ND two Saturdays ago, and were on the ropes against an over-rated VT team that gave the game away at the end.

I don't see Ohio State losing at this point. The Big 10 is horrible, and the only team left that has a decent shot is Michigan -- who I'm still not buying as a good team.

I'm a little concerned now about WVU getting back into things and jumping us. They're winning impressively while we seem to be toying around with teams.

It's not impossible for us to get up there, but realistically, I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Can't even bitch about the easy schedules that some of the teams have, since ours is horrible too. Sucks that we had to lose to a mediocre Colorado team.

[Big Red Ron]

This season is the "Perfect Storm" for a college football playoff.

[Blues1]

This season is the "Perfect Storm" for a college football playoff.

Amen...!!!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

This season is the "Perfect Storm" for a college football playoff.Maybe a NC game between BC and Hawaii, or something equally absurd is what it will take for "the powers that be" to revisit a playoffs discussion?!?

[Blues1]

I'm Starting to get "The Feeling" - The National Championship Game will be BOGUS - and the whole College Football Nation will know it.....Hope I'm wrong...??
But maybe thats what needs to happen...?
JUST WIN - SOONERS....:)

[okiewaker]

Unfortunately too many things have to happen for OU to get to the Sugar, but what will be interesting to watch is if LSU, BC, and OSU all win out. I think LSU would leap an undefeated BC team.

[TUSooner]

I'm Starting to get "The Feeling" - The National Championship Game will be BOGUS - and the whole College Football Nation will know it.....Hope I'm wrong...??
But maybe thats what needs to happen...?
JUST WIN - SOONERS....:)

That's where I am today, too.

As for a playoff - Im starting to think that the best we can hope for is a 4-team playoff within the next 5 or 10 years. Maybe a "final 8."
When you look at the free-for-all that comes with about 117 teams and all those conferebncesmand all those rivalries, I just don't see the total reorganization that would be necessary for a true _on the field_ champoion. And eventhen there would be cntroversy about strangth of opppoosition. PLus, traditinal rivalries might be destroyed, and it might not be worth it all, anyway!

BUt for now, I'd like to to see a final 4, even though its selection would be as controversial as the current final 2
EDIT - I know that is badly typed and spelled, but too many errors to fix! :D

[WxGuy1]

I've given up on any kind of meaningful bcsmnc game. It looks like it will be the the current knee-jerk annointees, whom everyone will later concede were not the best 2 teams in the nation.


I'd be a little cautious about saying that as an OU fan... I would think that many others across the nation would say the same thing you said, but with the implication that OU has been given a knee-jerk appointment that was later proved to be foolish. I'm a loyal Sooner fan, but I need to see evidence that we deserve and can play in the "big game", something that, frankly, I haven't seen in a while. We got embarrassed and obliterated by USC in the NC a few years back, and we played quite poorly against LSU for the NM a year earlier. Throw in a loss to Boise State, and I haven't seen evidence that we can actually show up to play "the big one" .

Even though OSU is playing a light schedule, they still haven't lost. Sure, we have a tougher schedule, but we lost to an unranked team, and played an abysmal game against a 1-win team (that lost to Kent State, Toledo, and N. Iowa, before getting blown out by other B12 opponents). So, even though they've played relatively light games, that doesn't affect how they play against those weaker opponents. And it was a weaker opponent that beat us several weeks ago.

Personally, I think we'll see LSU and OhSU in the NC game. With the perhaps-not-too-good assumption that we win out, we'll at least be in a BCS game. I'd also like to get a hold of Oregon should they stay 1-loss. FWIW, I expect to see Oregon leap-frog us in the AP poll this week. I can't imagine BC will not lose at least once given how unimpressive they were several days ago... What's with the "Ryan had his Heisman moment" talk I hear on ESPN? Sure, he had two good drives, but he had many more terrible drives... Do we ignore the entire game except for the last few minutes? Oy.

As you note, finally, it's probably futile to anticipate the results of each week... Many of the Top 10 teams have lost to unranked opponents, so a weak rest-of-season schedule for some of the Top 10 teams doesn't necessarily mean that they won't lose! :-)

[TUSooner]

I'd be a little cautious about saying that as an OU fan... I would think that many others across the nation would say the same thing you said, but with the implication that OU has been given a knee-jerk appointment that was later proved to be foolish. I'm a loyal Sooner fan, but I need to see evidence that we deserve and can play in the "big game", something that, frankly, I haven't seen in a while. We got embarrassed and obliterated by USC in the NC a few years back, and we played quite poorly against LSU for the NM a year earlier. Throw in a loss to Boise State, and I haven't seen evidence that we can actually show up to play "the big one" .

That observation has nothing to do with my post. Just sayin. I never assumed OU would be or should be in the bcsmnc.


Even though OSU is playing a light schedule, they still haven't lost. Sure, we have a tougher schedule, but we lost to an unranked team, and played an abysmal game against a 1-win team (that lost to Kent State, Toledo, and N. Iowa, before getting blown out by other B12 opponents). So, even though they've played relatively light games, that doesn't affect how they play against those weaker opponents. And it was a weaker opponent that beat us several weeks ago.

Again, I'm not sure why you are injecting OU into this discussion. Not that you are completely wrong ... :)


Personally, I think we'll see LSU and OhSU in the NC game. With the perhaps-not-too-good assumption that we win out, we'll at least be in a BCS game. I'd also like to get a hold of Oregon should they stay 1-loss. FWIW, I expect to see Oregon leap-frog us in the AP poll this week. I can't imagine BC will not lose at least once given how unimpressive they were several days ago... What's with the "Ryan had his Heisman moment" talk I hear on ESPN? Sure, he had two good drives, but he had many more terrible drives... Do we ignore the entire game except for the last few minutes? Oy.

As you note, finally, it's probably futile to anticipate the results of each week... Many of the Top 10 teams have lost to unranked opponents, so a weak rest-of-season schedule for some of the Top 10 teams doesn't necessarily mean that they won't lose! :-)

I actually did hear some minor light on ESPN radio say that he could not overlook BC's first 54 minutes of craptacular play. I hope there are more like him. As for the Heisman - This year has me yawning. If Ryan can win it based on a 4 minutes against a lame prevent defense, the award ain't worth much.
MATT FORTE FOR HEISMAN!!! :D

[BillyBall]

Honestly, I feel time is just about out for any NC talks. If no one loses next weekend I think we as fans need to go ahead and stop dreaming of any NC shot and just focus on the conf. title.

Its going to be the first week of November dood... Thinking all is in the books after next week would be extremely naive, just think about the end of 2001. Anything can still happen, especially the way this year has been going man.