This One is for The Beast
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by user I am a cpcp
There's a reason why you don't pick a school like Louisville as the number one team and/or national championship at the beginning of the season.
Sometimes there's just too much to overcome in a season for a non-experienced school to prevail.
You know... like Rutgers...
The sharkDraft Pick
1154 days ago
Score 4
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Right now, I stand seriously corrected about Rutgers, but not about the Big East. This is exactly what happened in 2004, except that the teams are ranked higher. Rutgers has emerged as the team to beat all of a sudden, but they're not going to make it high enough to the championship game, even if they beat West Virginia. And after these teams have played each other, nobody looks as good as we thought. West Virginia showed themselves to have a horrible defense and an offense prone to turnovers. Louisville showed serious defensive deficiencies in both games, and showed serious vulnerability on offense last night. I don't think many people realized until last night how bad their offensive line is.
I will say that I was sold on Rutgers' defense last night, though. I still think that Big East offenses continue to look better than they are because of Big East defenses, but I think Rugers' defense is for real. I'm looking forward to seeing them in a BCS game.
according to http://www.b...2901aaa.html, the BCS committee decides
But none of this matters when East Kentucky... I mean West Virginia beats Rutgers, right?
Good for the Big East, though... it's a fun, (re-)up and coming conference that is better than the (not so) Big Twelve (a.k.a "Texas and a bunch of rubbish")
As long as Nebraska and Oklahoma are in the "Big" 12, that conference will ALWAYS be overrated. (Aswaff, it's NOT Texas' fault the conference sucks)
I'm not trying to defend the conerence for Texas's sake, and I'm not saying they're not overrated. I'm just saying that the conference is young and that they'll rebound. Colorado just hired a great coach that should be able to return that program to respectability. Nebraska is still overrated, but looking better than they did three years ago. Missouri has the talent, but their coaching blows. I think they're in for a major personnel change at the end of the season. I'm not defending the Big 12 right now, I'm just saying they're on their way back.
ASwaff, i dont even come on this site often but i still have been here enough to get tired of your same old boring rants. the big east is good. sargain has them rated as the 2nd best conference bhind the pac 10. they have the best OOC record of any conference. they will have 3 teams in the top 10 on sunday. pitt, south florida, cincy, rutgers, louisville, and west virginia are going bowling. just because you dont like the style of play doesnt mean they are not good. what makes you think the big 12 is so great. behind texas is nothing. do you really think missouri is good? texas A&M? please. stop pretending like it is 20 years ago and that the name of these schools matters.
I absolutely possitevely agree. I would give you ten plusses, but I can't. The Big East is one of the top three conferences, Pac 10 and SEC. Why nobody sees it, I don't know. Everybody loved West Virginia until they lost to Louisville. Soon everybody jumped off the WV bandwagon and jumped on Louisville. Now they will jump off the Cardinals' bandwagon and onto Rutgers' wagon. The fact of the matter is that all three of these teams are very good. They are all Top 12 teams. When SEC teams lose conference games, people exclaimabout how good the depth is. Well the Big East has depth too. Cincy, USF, and Pitt too. This is an up and coming conference.
Sorry Whalen, didn't know I was here to keep you entertained and you pander to your precious Scarlet Knights. I call it like I see it. I think college football as a whole is down this year. There are a lot of thrilling stories, Rutgers included. I'm pulling for the Knights, because I like a Cinderella story as much as anyone. I'm just saying that after the games I've watched with these teams (and I openly admit I haven't watched nearly as many as I'm sure you have), there are some things I'm really not really impressed by. The biggest this is defense. I think these teams are talented, but I don't think they play defense at a national championship level. Maybe after a few more years of good publicity and good recruiting. But for now, I see serious deficiencies with these Big East teams.
By the way, stop assuming I think the Big 12 is good just because I'm a Texas fan. THE BIG 12 SUCKS RIGHT NOW. I've been saying it for a very long time. Just because I'm knocking the Big East doesn't mean I'm defending the Big 12. Stop trying to put words in my mouth and read what I actually say. I'm not saying the Big 12 is better than the Big East. I'm just saying that I don't think those teams are national championship caliber yet. YET. They probably will be soon, but they have to learn to play defense first.
After watching the game last night, I knew the next there would be an I told you so, Beastie article at the chair. Sure enough here it is. I am not sad, depressed, upset at all. Repeat: I was cheering for Rutgers. Louisville's loss opens the door for a BCS breakdown and gives USC a shot at the National Championship Game.
Hey, good job going bold early and sticking to it, regardless (Go Suns!) Kudos to you, Beast!
We need MORE BOLD prediction making around here... it's better to take a well deserved "told you so" than to be too much a whimp to make a real prediction at all.
That being said, I know/care very little about college football and I didn't make any predictions, but even I told you so Beast! ;)if RU runs the table - which is still a long shot, and they dont make the NC game it will be a disgrace. wvu and ville played softer schedules but if they won out they would have been in the NC. why, because 5 months ago before a single game was even played a bunch of nerdy sports writer and coaches that let their jr assistants vote in the poll did not anticipate RU being good? what joke.
Why would it be a disgrace? You could have a USC team that would have defeated Oregon, Cal, Arkansas, Nebraska, UCLA and Notre Dame. And they would have defeated four of those teams in a row. I think a one-loss team with that kind of schedule is more deserving than Rutgers. You're looking at a Cal team that would have defeated USC AT USC, whose only loss was to an awfully good Tennessee team IN Tennessee. You're looking at the possibility of an SEC team (whether Florida, Arkansas or Auburn) that would have had to go through a gruelling schedule, PLUS a tough conference championship game. I think any of those would be more deserving than Rutgers. I think it will be great if they run the table, but you can't play a schedule like that and then complain about not getting any respect.
And where do you get that WVU and Louisville played softer schedules? Rutgers is ranked 65th in strength of schedule, and WVU and UL are 55th and 25th, respectively. Cal has played the 3rd toughest schedule, and USC has played the 4th toughest schedule. They're the only teams ranked in the top 20 that have played top-10 schedules, and the only teams in the top 35 that have played top-5 schedules.
Anonymous Fanatic #1
1154 days ago
Score -1
the problem shaft with your analysis of sos is that you are using preseason data to rank the teams. Rutgers lost 55 - 0 last year vs. louisville, that did not happen this year. as far as you being impressed with Rutgers defense, who cares. you admit yourself you never watch big east football. to summarize for you: if most analysts NOW agree that the big east is one of the top 2 or 3 conferences in the nation and Rutgers goes undefeated in that conference.....hmmmm, sounds like they played and WON with a VERY TOUGH SCHEDULE. What says you?
No I'm not. I'm using the Jeff Sagarin power rankings which are updated weekly. Rutgers is NOW 65th in strength of schedule, where they were 97 two weeks ago. Strength of schedule is based on the record of a team's opponents, along with the record of their opponents' opponents. Calculation of strength of conference is slightly different. A team can play in a strong conference without playing a tough schedule. And I never said I hadn't watched any Big East football, I said I hadn't watched as much as the RUTGERS fan probably had. That game last night was the second Rutgers game I've watched this year, and the fourth Lousiville game I watched. That doesn't make me an expert on Big East football by any stretch, but I'm not ignorant on the subject, either.
Rutgers is currently the best team in the Big East. They still have games to play, including one at West Virginia. Like BigPPup said, we can talk about who's number one in conference after that game. I think that if you have three 10-1 teams from the second-best conference in the country, it can say any number of things about the conference, depending on how you want to look at it. It's still very subjective.
Back in August someone wrote on here touting how good Rutgers would be this season. I laughed at that person and told them they were flat out wrong. Well... I dont say this often but I was wrong. Rutgers is a legit team and they are very talented.
That being said they should be in the top 5 in the country, but Im not throwing them into the title hunt just yet. Let them go through WVU (I dont care if they are a 1lost team) and then we can chat about that.
I gotta say, I find it endearing to watch Rutgers become familiar with celebrations over sports victories. During the game last night, the fans stormed the field while there was still time on the clock. And when the players went to dump Gatorade on Schiano, they accidently clobbered their coach on the back of the head with the bucket. It's priceless! Very cute. They've got a good team; they'll get better at the celebrating thing.
I've been doing a little math on the Big East's OOC schedule, if anyone is interested. They are number one in the country in OOC because their record is 26-8 in OOC games against I-AA opponents (six games were played against I-AA opponents).
The overall record of those opponents is 147-177, an average record of about 4-5. The record of the teams they've defeated is 93-155, average record of 4-6. Anyone impressed? Didn't think so.
And just so you don't think that average is brought down by some of the bottom dwellers of the conference playing overly-easy schedules, the top three teams (Rutgers, Louisville and WVU) have a perfect record against teams with a 58-64 record (4-5, on average).
Some people are proclaiming that Pitt is a pretty good team. Their opponents have a record of 14-25, and have wins against opponents with a 10-19 record. One person talked about SFU going bowling, as if that's an accomplishment when your non-conference opponents are 8-28 (with wins over teams that are 3-23). And Cincy? While I can respect the fact that they played Ohio State and Virginia Tech, their non-conference wins came over 1-9 Miami (Ohio) and 5-5 Akron.
Rutgers is going to lose at West Virginia in a couple of weeks. I think these three teams are all pretty even and home-field advantage would decide who wins each game (as it has). But if Louisville had Michael Bush in the backfield, there wouldn't even be a discussion. If he hadn't gotten hurt they would have beaten Rutgers and probably gone on the the national championship.
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1153 days ago
Score 0
I highly doubt that, Rutgers has a great run defense. The whole BCS system is screwed up anyway. We all know that, it serves for some great debates but does not provide the best championship game. We need to finally move to a playoff system. Go back to 11 game schedule and have a playoffs....end the pointless debates.
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1153 days ago
Score -2
Ashafts- Don't worry about Rutger fans knowing how to celebrate. You make me laugh, remember most of those fans are also NY Yankee fans who have a LONG tradition of celebrating. In addition, many of those fans are also NJ Devil fans who are also used to celebrating. So save your bloviating for someone in Texas who gives a crap. Sorry we don't riot, burn cars, break windows, and cause general chaos because one of our many NY/NJ teams wins a big game and/or championship.
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1153 days ago
Score 0
I was talking about other cities in America, where I have seen rioting. I wasn't speaking of any particular state/city. Rutgers beats WV which is a tall order, Rutgers deserves a shot at the title. Their defense can play with anybody and don't forget Louisville had a great offense coming into this game.
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1153 days ago
Score -1
Good, then you can finally stop talking trash about the Big East and Rutgers not proving itself. Why don't you as a Texas alumni push to have Texas come into Rutgers to play some football? I mean that haven't proved themselves, should be an easy win. I mean you can schedule it, right after Sam Houston. Haha. And btw, people tweak screen names here all the time. And you have a habit of calling people "stupid", "absurd", "idiot" to make your points. Bottom line is that if Rutgers wins out, there will be a lot of people (outside of NY/NJ) that will be pushing for them to have the NC game. If they lose to WV, sure then they don't deserve it, but neither does Texas with a soft schedule excluding OSU, which BLEW them out. Why would anyone want to see a repeat of that?
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1153 days ago
Score -1
And one final point, if WV is able to blow out Rutgers in three weeks, then WV deserves the title shot. They would have had one loss away to a number 5 team. And less the turnovers they could have easily won that game on the road. I'm not impressed by Texas this season, not at all. Not just cause of their soft schedule, but the way they played these games. I mean teams they should be blowing out, they're barely beating. I still go back to that game with Texas Tech. Not good at all. Not a year for Texas, sorry.
OSU blew out Texas, Louisville blew out WVU, but you think WVU deserves a title shot if they have a good game against Rutgers? You think they'd deserve that over a one-loss SEC team, a one-loss USC who has wins over Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon, Nebraska and Arkansas? Sorry, but you're just wrong. There's no two ways about it - you're letting your bias get the best of you here.
As for Texas, again, stop putting words in my mouth. I'm not advocating for Texas to be in the National Championship. I'd be excited to see it, but I know they haven't proven themselves this year. I know the only way they'd ever deserve it is if a lot of other teams totally collapse. I'm not advocating for their berth in the national championship, nor have I at any point this season. So shut up about Texas. You're the one talking about them, not me.
Anonymous Fanatic #3
1152 days ago
Score 0
Actually, Louisville did not blow out West Virginia. Look it up, they lost but, mostly becuase of turnovers.
Now with only Boise St., Rutgers, and WVA in their way of the ultimate National champiohsip game, Ohio St. and Michigan prepare for the National Championship game this comming weekend
Anonymous Fanatic #2
1152 days ago
Score 0
Ashaft- I am well aware that Rutgers played Howard. You are the one constantly saying that the Big East isn't good, that they have a weak schedule. I merely keep reminding you that your beloved Texas Longards have a weak schedule as well and an extremely weak conference this year. So keep bashing the Big East all you want but, I am fairly confident that WV, Louisville and Rutgers could play with Texas or any Big 12 team. And if you think as you stated many times that the Big 12 sucks this year, then why don't you complain that Texas is ranked so high? They haven't played anyone this year except OSU, which BLEW THEM OUT BIGTIME. Texas shouldn't even be in the top 10. Maybe number 20 this year would be more like it. So save your bullcrap about the Big East and don't trash WV, Louisville or Rutgers, cause any one of those teams could beat Texas. And for all your crap about other teams more deserviing, that's a laugh Like who Florida who barely scraped by SC today or Auburn who got beat? Give it up, please it's embarrassing. For someone who proclaims to be so smart on college ball, you don't seem like you know much. So, get all of your alumni together and next year or the next few years schedule some Big East road games with WV, Rutgers, Lousiville, Pitt. I highly doubt you will, you will play your conference game, one hard game and a whole lot of cupcakes like everyone else. Again, your biggest out of conference game was against OSU and the BLEW YOU OUT. Do I want to see that again in the NC game? NO WAY> Result would be no different, you can't play with the big boys this year. Every year is different and this year you are not great. You are a good team, but not great. Why don't you bash Texas for being ranked so high this year? undeserving no less. Do you really think that Texas is a top 5 team? Do you? They have more holes than swiss cheese. I would love Texas to come into NJ for a game. Make it a charity game, it would be awesome. You get a BCS game against OSU or Michigan and you get BLOWN OUT!!! BLOWN OUT!! You should not be ranked that high, say it. I would love Texas to play WV in a bowl game. I would laugh my ass off. Texas would go down hard. Not good this year. Just admit it and post comments on how weak the BIG 12 is and how Texas is not deserving a top 5 ranking. Cause they're not and you know it. It's a joke and they are living off of last year, not this year's performance.
Anonymous Fanatic #3
1150 days ago
Score 0
Anon #2- That was long, most of it true but a little too long. All three Big East teams in the top 10 can play with any team in any conference. Alas, all of this debate will be over when the Big East performs well in their respective bowl games. I think the game in WV will be a classic, I hope RU remains undefeated going into that game.
Anonymous Fanatic #1
1150 days ago
Score 0
Hey Awaff- Tell me again how to read the Jeff Sagarin ratings? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it looks like the Big East is ranked as the second best conference. Also, it appears that Louisville's schedule strength is at 24, and well above Texas 40, OSU 49. Once Rutgers plays WV won't their SOS increase significantly? I'm starting to think you don't know much about the Big East or college football.
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