You can feel free here, if you are so moved, to discuss the various happenings in football, both with the pointy kind played by the collegiate lads, or the round kind, such as the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, the Eredivisie, or the Faroe Islands domestic league. (The Faroese appear to have this weekend off.)
1 The dawn of a new era of UCLA football begins in 4 hours.
Yesterday, I saw Bruce Davis do the best Pete Carroll imitation (how he looked at the end of the 13-9 game), I have seen.
UCLA better win handily today because I have to spend the bulk of the afternoon and evening at the USC game and I would like to have that taken care of so I won't have hear about it.
I don't know what schedule you were looking at, Bob, but it looks to me like the entire Faroese league plays tomorrow. They have the following weekend off so that their best players can play in the big European Championship qualifier against Lithuania.
9 now it's 31-20. i've been telling people for the past several years that that michigan is consistently overrated, and every year they have proven me right.
After Michigan's and Ohio State's debacles in their respectful bowls game, despite losing one game between them going in, I felt that the Big Ten should be considered a Division I-AA conference from then on. I'm glad Applachian State proved me right.
The o-line is looking a lot better at run blocking. Bell has been breaking tackles and running with a little more patience then bursting when he gets a block. He had one run where he got knocked three times and was still going.
As an alum of a school that doesn't have a football program (but may have a futbol program), I usually pick a team to root for that will completely mess up the BCS. So, does that mean I root for Boise St this year, or Hawaii? Or is there someone else out there that will mess things up? The dream, of course, would be for two non-BCS teams to be playing for the national championship.
Two non-BCS schools playing in the championship game would be a longshot transcending Appalachian State beating Michigan. It would be more like Idaho beating USC.
Hawai'i is supposedly the best choice to make it into the BCS, but they have a pretty weak schedule.
I dunno Bob, I see TCU, Hawaii, and Boise St all in the preseason top 25, if two of those teams run the table and everyone else beats everyone else (Cal beats UCLA, UCLA beats USC, USC beats Cal, etc) why not have TCU vs Hawaii/Boise St?
If Ned is going to crush my dreams of LaRoche at third for the rest of the season, I'm going to hang on to this one as long as I can...
45 Don't forget that Boise State went unbeaten last year and still was about ten slots away from the title game. Unless a non-BCS conference school plays a non-conference schedual of something like USC, Texas, and Michigan they won't get consideration.
And so if I was the coach at Boise State, I'd be calling up Oaklahoma asking for a rematch. I'd call up USC to see if they'd play the other school from Idaho. I'd call up Florida asking the defending champs to play the team that went unbeaten etc. Although I wonder if any of the top powers would accept.
50 - after what happened in the Fiesta Bowl, every BCS team is praying that they don't have to face a non-BCS team in a bowl game, and most are probably wanting to avoid the higher caliber teams in the regular season
51 I think that the BCS should institute a policy that all teams who make it to a bowl game have to play the same opponent in the regular season the next year. That way the top schools that regularly make the top bowl games have to play a tough out of conference game each year. The more games that match up top ranked teams the better. Seriously, would you rather see USC open up against Idaho or Michigan?
54 - heh, well, having a degree in political science does allow me to dream of those scenarios. Though, lately, it's been hoping that no candidate gets enough delegates to win the nomination before the convention. Baby steps.
Thre has been much gnashing of teeth about Hawaii's weak schedule out here. The consensus is that Herman Frazier's performance as AD has been pretty poor. Two years ago Hawaii opened with Southern Cal, and last year with Alabama. This year it's Northern Colorado, a D-II team. There's another D-II team on the schedule as well.
In addition, Hawaii's allowed 13 games but Frazier couldn't find an opponent, so there are only 12 games this year.
We have what might be the best team the school's ever had and due to the schedule we might have no showcase for it. Anything less than undefeated probably means no shot at a BCS game, and Colt Brennan's dark horse shot at the Heisman ("System QB. What's he done against top-notch opponents?) will also go down the tubes.
UH also blew it by putting its games on PPV. They sued to be on FSN out on the Mainland (is that supposed to be capitalized) and it was easier to follow the team.
I really don't want to pay however much they charge to listen to Jim Leahey describe the action as the 'Bows take on a Division II school.
The PPV thing was in part a nod to the non-Oahu fans who couldn't afford to fly over every weekend, but you're right; it's made it harder for Mainlanders (yes, caps are usual, if not absolute) to follow the team. It's also had the predictable consequence of stadium attendance falling off. There are only 8,000 parking stalls for a 50,000 seat stadium, and there's a swap meet in the parking lot until mid-afternoon on game days, so even getting in early is problematic. Thus, many former attendees have concluded, "hey, I can have a party at the house, watch on the tube, get drunk and fall over without killing anyone (in a car, anyway), and not pay outrageous prices for food and beer. What's not to like?"
Oh, to add to the in-person attendance problem, I just got the following in the mail from Hawaiian Tel:
"Another great season of University of Hawaii athletics is underway and again Hawaiian Telcom sends a big mahalo to our High Speed Internet customers with a FREE season's pass to our online streaming site."
You think I'll sign up, even if I only watch parts of football and volleyball games? You betcha.
Even some volleyball matches are on PPV as of last year. That's a really rude shock; they've been on free tv since forever.
Olson was a lot better in second half and I liked the play calling much better too. I am a little bit disappointed with our defense, but hopefully they will improve since they have the talent to do so.
At least we improved in the second half and I definitely like the fact that we were able to overcome our slow first half.
Tomorrow on the Griddle Football open thread: Saskatchewan Rough Riders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 1 pm PT.
With three more rouges, Saskatchewan kicker Luca Congi can regain the league lead.
Yesterday, I saw Bruce Davis do the best Pete Carroll imitation (how he looked at the end of the 13-9 game), I have seen.
UCLA better win handily today because I have to spend the bulk of the afternoon and evening at the USC game and I would like to have that taken care of so I won't have hear about it.
The Rose Bowl would be like a Bessemer converter today.
But yes, I hope things cool down for next week.
I stupid confusing Faroese dates.
I'm glad I don't have the Big Ten Network.
That is all.
The Football Bowl Subdivision
No, no it is not.
I wish KD was in the same situation.
(I applied there back in 1967; fortunately the lure of resident tuition rates at Arizona prevailed over the high prices at a private school in Maine.)
I also don't like Bates or Colby!
Giving up nearly 600 usually won't cut it though.
Hawai'i is supposedly the best choice to make it into the BCS, but they have a pretty weak schedule.
If Ned is going to crush my dreams of LaRoche at third for the rest of the season, I'm going to hang on to this one as long as I can...
You must the same sort of person who hopes a third party candidate can get enough electoral votes to force the House to choose the president. ;-)
Since the "West Wing" got cancelled, we saw our last deadlocked convention.
In addition, Hawaii's allowed 13 games but Frazier couldn't find an opponent, so there are only 12 games this year.
We have what might be the best team the school's ever had and due to the schedule we might have no showcase for it. Anything less than undefeated probably means no shot at a BCS game, and Colt Brennan's dark horse shot at the Heisman ("System QB. What's he done against top-notch opponents?) will also go down the tubes.
I really don't want to pay however much they charge to listen to Jim Leahey describe the action as the 'Bows take on a Division II school.
"Another great season of University of Hawaii athletics is underway and again Hawaiian Telcom sends a big mahalo to our High Speed Internet customers with a FREE season's pass to our online streaming site."
You think I'll sign up, even if I only watch parts of football and volleyball games? You betcha.
Even some volleyball matches are on PPV as of last year. That's a really rude shock; they've been on free tv since forever.
At least we improved in the second half and I definitely like the fact that we were able to overcome our slow first half.
I don't care about the tree people. Seriously. Let it go.
With three more rouges, Saskatchewan kicker Luca Congi can regain the league lead.
My Canadian friends tell me that only Americans call them rouges. Or people who are really pedantic.
He had elbow surgery in the offseason too.
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