College football week 13 thread

Absolutely nothing.

Roby has said since spring practice that this would be his last season. He's a 4th year player, was included in the "Seniors" pic on Media Day. This just allows him to be honored, along with the rest of his teammates, who'll playing in their final home game Saturday.

 

No, and it's really not a big problem.

We don't have cable TV (or dish, the Hopper, etc...). If games aren't on the major networks, I don't see them unless I go somewhere else to watch 'em.

Maybe someday, when they offer "a la carte" cable so you only pay for what you want, I'd consider it. Maybe.

Besides, out here in the Pacific NW, we'll be getting the Oregon-Arizona game at 12:30 on ABC instead of the Big 10, anyway.

 

Yeah, it won't mean anything in regard to the BCS, but A&M-LSU should be one of the more entertaining games of the year. Two schools don't really like each other, two good QBs and they're playing it in Death Valley. Plus, there's always the potential for a Les Miles Moment. TV Gold.

Of course, I won't see any of it, because ... I'll be watching the worst team in America chase its tail once again. <loud sigh>

 

Since the BCS' creation, the highest BCS-ranked teams to miss out on the system's bowls are:
1998: Kansas State (3)
1999: Kansas State (6)
2000: Virginia Tech (5)
2004: Cal (5)
2005: Oregon (5)
2006: Wisconsin (6)
2007: Missouri (6)
2008: Texas Tech (7)
2011: Boise State (7)

Meanwhile, the lowest BCS-ranked teams to sneak in:
1998: Florida (10)*
2000: Notre Dame (11)#
2006: Notre Dame (11)#
2007: Illinois (13)*, Hawaii (10)*
2008: Ohio State (10)*
2009: Iowa (10)*
2011: Michigan (13)*, Virginia Tech (11)*

Maybe TigerVol or somebody else can help me out: How did Kansas get the Orange Bowl nod over Missouri in 2007??

* By "sneak in," I mean receive an at-large berth.
# Then there were these undeserving turds, who simply had to finish in the Top 12 get in automatically. Aggregate score of the Irish's four BCS games: Notre Dame 67, Other Team 158

 

RubberSoul, while Mizzou was ranked #1 and preparing for the Big 12 championship -- in which a victory obviously would have meant a spot in the BCS championship -- Kansas very much snuck in, by cooking up a side deal with the Orange that reportedly included a very large and out-of-the-ordinary ticket purchase guarantee. So when Mizzou lost and dropped to 11-2, despite a win over Kansas, the 11-1 Jayhawks got in. Essentially they benefited more from not winning the division than Mizzou did from winning it.

So, basically, fuck Kansas and anyone else who wanted to keep the Big 12 together.

 

WOW. I never knew that. Nobody said bowl games were a squeaky clean business, but still.

Teams who've missed out on getting to the big table (Mizzou, Michigan State) in recent years are in good position to reach the BCS this year.

 

Nick Saban being Nick Saban.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/83357/no-nick-saban-didnt-see-this-weeks-cover-of-sports-illustrated

"Did you celebrate your birthday last year? Do you read magazines? Do you know what’s going on in the world? Well good luck with all that. Hope you enjoy yourself while Nick Saban is over here winning championships and showing you what greatness looks like."

 

There have been several instances over the years where a team has benefitted from finishing second in its division and thus avoiding having to play in a conference championship game and suffer an extra loss. One of the flaws of the super-conference set up.

Nebraska in 2001 and Alabama in 2011 both backed into the national championship game without winning their own divisions.

 

Has this ever been made public? Was there ever any proof to this? If there was, I'd be interested in seeing it. Sounds an awful lot like Mizzou fanboi paranoia/sour grapes.

 

It was out there enough that Kansas' AD felt compelled to deny it. The same Kansas AD who was later caught up in the ticket shenanigans with the Pump Brothers.

http://cjonline.com/stories/120507/haw_222903821.shtml

 

TigerVol, the floor is yours.

 

The "side deal" amounted to the AD calling up the Orange Bowl folks and saying Kansas fans were excited, always travel well and would likely buy a lot of tickets. Mizzou had a reputation for not traveling well for bowl games and it was reported that Alden never made any kind of call to plead Missouri's case.

That was the year a two-loss team was crowned national champion. But an 11-1 team from the Big 12 whose only loss was by one score to another top-10 team and proceeded to beat the No. 3 team in the Orange Bowl, clearly that team getting an at-large selection was travesty of epic proportions.