FBC Week 12 thread: Before there was God, there was Chris Leak

This is not the case in the SEC and the easy scheduling has helped assure the SEC will probably have nine, maybe even 10 bowl-eligible teams this season. The Pac-10 will be lucky to get four bowl-eligible teams because it refuses to play weak teams for the most part. Top to bottom this year I think the Pac-10 is superior to any conference. Georgia lost at Colorado, which would probably be the 11th best team in the Pac 12, just ahead of Washington State.

Nine Pac-10 teams are ranked in the top 11 in strength of schedule. Not one SEC team is ranked in top 10 in strength of schedule.

I actually think Auburn loses its two remaining games.

Why in the world should a Kentucky team that will likely go 2-6 in the SEC go to a bowl? It has the easiest schedule in the SEC but its 6 wins are all that matter.

Not saying the SEC does not have good teams and has proven its worth in the NCG, but the idea that a Mississippi or even Florida this season would come into the Pac-10 and win the title is garbage.

 

None here either. I dont' think AU will lose this season, and I think they will beat UO. But from top to bottom -- The PAC-10 is very good this season. No other conference I can see has a better resume.

One thing about the SEC generating bowl games...don't you even dream about thinking it isn't what the bowls want. Why do you think the SEC has 9 bowl tie-ins? They bring fans and money.

 

Oh please, make it stop.

Arizona: Toledo, the Citadel, Iowa.
Arizona State: Portland State, Northern Arizona, Wisconsin.
Cal: UC-Davis, Colorado, Nevada.
Oregon: New Mexico, Tennessee, Portland State.
Oregon State: TCU, Louisville, Boise State.
Stanford: Sacramento State, Wake Forest, Notre Dame.
UCLA: Kansas State, Houston, Texas.
USC: Hawaii, Virginia, Minnesota, Notre Dame.
Washington: BYU, Syracuse, Nebraska.
Washington State: Oklahoma State, Montana State, SMU.

So, props where they're due, that's at least one BCS-conference opponent per team. Which, you know, all but two teams in the SEC did too. (Thanks, Magnolia State!)

But I see an awful lot of FCS teams (and congrats to Arizona State for having two), and I see a fair few dregs, too.

But if we're talking truly impressive? Oregon State, UCLA, Washington (although Syracuse has been terrible for years and BYU's not so good this year) and maybe USC (which always plays a decent schedule -- not that any jury in America would convict Minnesota and Virginia of being decent).

And I'm giving credit for Notre Dame, even though we're always being told that annual rivalry games don't count when it comes to the SEC. (And even though Notre Dame sucks.)

 

If it's Wednesday it must be MAC football on ESPN.

On ESPN U Miami is about to beat Akron in front of well over 100 people in LeBronville.

On ESPN2, Toledo up 26-7 on Bowling Green in the second.

 

And remember, the Pac-10 had schools had one less non-conference game than most of the others because of the true round-robin schedule (for the last time).

 

The nine-game schedule is a factor, no doubt. But my point is let's not pretend that the Pac-10 does considerably more top-notch out-of-conference scheduling when, for the most part, it just doesn't. I don't think it's a huge stretch to imagine that if the Pac-10 played eight conference games, the majority of teams would spend their extra nonconference game on a rent-a-win.

And the true round robin means that everybody gets to beat up on Washington State, too.

 

All conferences have doormats. It's the nature of conferences. But better a round-robin with 10 schools than the 12 school two-division, conference title game setup.
Read a story in the Globe this morning. All about possible bowl games for BC. That's 5-5 BC if you're scoring at home. The EIGHTH place team in the ACC has a bowl slot (Military Bowl). I don't mind the December bowls, but man, they are more reality television programs than they are sports competitions -- a device to fill TV time.

 

There's a reason they call it the Bowl Championship Series.

The SEC no doubt knows how to work the system and has done well getting nine teams tied into bowls. I'm not blaming the SEC, I'm blaming the system that allows 35 bowls.

No team that is 6-6 deserves a bowl bid. I think you should have to win at least 60 percent of your games and finish at least .500 in your conference/division to get a bowl bid.

Would be refreshing if Kentucky said, "You know what we were 2-6 in our division and 6-6 overall, I really don't think we deserve to go to a bowl. No thanks." I see about zero chance of that happening though because they want that coveted BBVA Compass Bowl bid.
Some schools (most notably Notre Dame) have refused bowl bids recently but it is rare indeed.

People moan all the time about how getting participation ribbons for playing youth sports sends the wrong message to kids and sets the bar too low. Well, this magnifies the problem on a national scale. Does going 6-6 and saying you are a bowl team differ much from youths getting a ribbon, trophy, medal just for being on the team? Bowls are contemplating allowing some 5-7 teams in if there are not enough bowl-eligible teams. Just let all 120 teams go to bowls already.

The Pac-10 does try to tie in a lot of BCS home-and-home series and overall it does have tougher schedules than the other BCS conferences. Pete Carroll had no problem doing a home-and-home with a Minnesota for example. I think USC also is doing this with Syracuse and Boston College.

You think Jeremy Foley and Urban Meyer are ever going to do that. Florida has not been outside of the state for a nonconference game since there were like 46 states in the union I think (wink wink)

A school like Wyoming knows it doesn't have the cache to do a home-and-home with the traditional powers, so it does a 2-for-1 with schools such as Texas and Nebraska two away games and one home. The Cowboys will have a home-and-home with Oregon in 2014-15, I believe.

 

Just one thing..I'm hoping for Tennessee to get the BBVA bid!

 

None of the bowl games matter. Why can't we have 35 games that don't matter instead of 15 that don't matter I love watching football for weeks on end in December and January. Who can forget the 1980 classic Garden State Bowl between a 6-5 Houston and 7-4 Naval Academy?