Jake_Ryan

The arguements that Michigan had their chance already, and did not win their conference are so weak and misguided. The system in place at the begining of this year is for the BCS to put THE 2 BEST TEAMS in the title game. Period. You can choose between UF and Michigan based on SOS, strength of conference, and stuff like that, but if you are chosing based on not wanting to see a rematch, that is ridiculous.

I'm not saying non-BCS teams should be excluded. There are 2 at large slots in my system. IF a non-BCS team goes undefeated and is more deserving than a 1 or 2 loss BCS team, they should play for the national championship. But let's not kid ourselves, generally speaking, the BCS and non-BCS conferences are not equal on the football field. They have the appropriate opportunity to make the playoffs in my system, and an opportunity to be National Champion.

I don't know how to do that fancy quote stuff, but Ohio, heres my response to you: Of course there will be exceptions like the one you cited.  A four team playoff will still have Michigan in it.  The main point is that the playoff can't be too big to ruin the meaning of regular season games. The committee works just fine in basketball.  There are a couple of decisions each year that can go either way, but at least people are making the decisions and not a computer.  I believe they would let Boise State in if BCS rank, poll rank, SOS, etc stacked up favorably, and they were deserving. In 1985 BYU barely beat a mediocre 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl that year and won Championship by default.  And let me remind you how Georgia waxed Boise State a couple of years ago - exposing them for what they are - a good team in a non-BCS conference that would get smoked by the big boys if they had to play them every week. And don't exclude the conference schedule when you evaluate Boise St and UF.  UF's OOC schedule is a joke, but the rest of their schedule was ridiculous.  Boise State's whole schedule was easy.  They lose at least 4 games in the SEC.  And I'm being kind.  See previous work against Georgia. Michigan lost to the #1 team in the country on the road by 3 points in the best game of the year.  They deserve a chance to compete for the title on the field a heck of a lot more than BYU. ÂÂ

One of the things that makes college football so great is that every game counts, and a playoff system must not destroy that, or it will ruin the game. Therfore, the playoff system cannot have 16 teams - that is too many and makes too many games meaningless. I have long favored an 8 team playoff system with 6 BCS conference champs and 2 at large teams selected by a committee much like in basketball. The non-BCS conferences would not be excluded, but their top teams (like Boise St) would be evaluated for merit by the committee against your 1 or 2 loss BCS teams like LSU. It would not be left up to computers by using a committee, and they would seed teh teams. Use the current bowl games to host 4 first round games on New Years Day. Then play it out the following 2 weeks. By limiting the automatic berths to conference champions it places a premium on conference play and even enhances the importance of some late season match ups. Here's how it would look this year (with my assumptions of who wins this weekend's games): 1 Ohio St vs. 8 Wake Forest 4 Arkansas vs 5 Louisville 2 USC vs 7 Boise St 3 Michigan vs 6 Nebraska With that said, the major flaw I see is that the championship game leaks to mid-January. So I can support a plus 1 type 4 team playoff using the bowls like someone proposed earlier.

You know, if there was a way for him to score touchdowns without him ever actually having to TOUCH the football, I'm ALLLLL for it. LOL. Maybe they should just throw him fades in the end zone, then I don't have to watch him carrying the ball like a loaf of bread. Seriously, how hard is it to secure the ball? It is a matter of time before he fumbles and it costs us.

Like most on this Board, I am really pleased with everything seemingly coming together now with 3 starters back, Clebert back, Alvarado looked good on FG. Ponton makes such a difference. But, Amarri scares the heck out of me when he has the ball, and there is no way he should be returning punts. He does not secure the ball. It was a matter of time before he fumbled, although this was more of a muff. I was glad to see Chambers back there for the last one.

I would have liked to see Petrov or Alvarado punt that last one for us when the game was out of reach. It would have been a good time to get them some experience when nothing was on the line.

The guy Bleakley blocked was definitely not engaged, so he must have been flagged for blocking below the waist. I think the ref just called it out wrong.

Don't stop Bien  please see my post.  some of us know what is going on. You were right on the mark.  A wonderful practice player, tremendous athlete....it's ludicrous the suggestions some are making. The guy is covering the number one receiver and is playing exclusively man-on-man.  I don't think some can fathom how hard that is. Sad, you lose and some ignorant fans feel like someone needs to get fingered for it. Bien, I enjoy your posts because they have substance.  I generally agree with you about Jenkins, but he did have at least one play where he made a half hearted arm tackle attempt that was embarrassing.  I don't think that is reason to call his entire performance into question however.  Moffet is a hell of a player too, but I think he had one of his worst games at Kansas.  Great kids, just didn't play their best.  But it is not the kids who should be fingered for the loss.  Maybe you can explain to me why we played soft on 3rd and long all game long and never adjusted to the short crossing patterns?  That was where the game was lost.  We did blitz once and Kansas ran a draw for a TD that got called back, but other than that, I was mystified why we didn't mix it up on 3rd down more. Why does blame always have to be registered to someone after a loss?  Why does Moffett, and Jenkins have to shoulder blame?  Yeah, I saw Jenkins miss a tackle with a soft cast on a broken hand.  Bad play by Jenkins.  I watched Derrick Brooks get trucked by Foster on Sunday- are they going to take away his Hall of Fame pass because of one bad play? Sure Jenkins makes a bad play, remember he's still a 21 year old junior.  But having one of the best pass defenses in the nation last year with him at corner, this year the staff's confidence in he and Trae grew even more where they've gone to almost exclusively man-on-man, and yet neither have given up any deep balls or been torched bad. I look at Kansas, we walk into that game without our pre-season #1 DT- Clebert, #1 DE Julmiste, Griffin, Ponton, Tavarious Robinson, Plancher, and Chambers...we were already a young team with these guys.  We take a young team on the road, on turf for the first time, and we lost a game in the final seconds against a solid Kansas program.  There was noticable improvement in the team and players.  I don't think anyone needs to shoulder blame, or a problem.  There are areas to improve, but there was no place that should be blamed or players or coaches.  Just a hard fought battle with a very young team, some good decisions, some bad.  If we had the aforementioned 7 for the game we probably win.  In a few months as the suspended starters and injured starters return, and our young team matures we win that type of game. I'll give a perfect example.  To start the game, our first play from scrimmage is a hitch and go.  Marcus Edwards has the DB's beat by 5 steps.  Matt throws a nice pass, Edwards dives for it, and we get like a 50 yard play.  A good play by both but that should have been a TD.  In a year, Matt takes his time and delivers on the mark, and Edwards doesn't get jittery and dives to secure the ball but catches in stride and we score a TD.  Those are the subtle things between youth and inexperience, and having it.  They made a fine play Saturday but in a year those two will score on that play...live and learn.  Maybe I shouldn't have said someone needs to be blamed for the loss. I guess I'm just looking for a logical explanation of why our Defensive coaches never adjusted to what Kansas was doing on 3rd down. I can't recall ever seeing that before from USF. Usually, I have nothing to question on the defensive side of the ball. I agree with everything else you've said, but even with all going against us, young players, injuries, etc., that game was winnable, and to me, the coaches may have let the players down by not making the adjustment. If our corners are so good, send some LB's on 3rd down and pressure the QB into making a quick decision. I just don't know why we rushed 4, and let him have all day to hit those crossing patterns. Were we that afraid of Kansas receivers breaking a big play?

Don't stop Bien  please see my post.  some of us know what is going on. You were right on the mark.  A wonderful practice player, tremendous athlete....it's ludicrous the suggestions some are making. The guy is covering the number one receiver and is playing exclusively man-on-man.  I don't think some can fathom how hard that is. Sad, you lose and some ignorant fans feel like someone needs to get fingered for it. Bien, I enjoy your posts because they have substance. I generally agree with you about Jenkins, but he did have at least one play where he made a half hearted arm tackle attempt that was embarrassing. I don't think that is reason to call his entire performance into question however. Moffet is a hell of a player too, but I think he had one of his worst games at Kansas. Great kids, just didn't play their best. But it is not the kids who should be fingered for the loss. Maybe you can explain to me why we played soft on 3rd and long all game long and never adjusted to the short crossing patterns? That was where the game was lost. We did blitz once and Kansas ran a draw for a TD that got called back, but other than that, I was mystified why we didn't mix it up on 3rd down more.

I freeze framed on my TiVo several times, and his knee was not down before fumbling. The ball was out and his knee continued down in the next frame. It was very close, but it is very unlikely that call would have been reversed.

Denson at RB is a good idea. He is not playing in the defensive backfield, so no loss there. I'm not sure all the blame lies with the RB's though. Williams, Smith, and Dorsey all looked good against McNeese, but against better teams FIU and UCF were invisible. The O-Line wasn't exactly opening huge holes in those games. On most running plays against UCF Capogna was pushed several yards back in the backfield. I'm scared to think what will happen against the better teams coming up on the schedule.

I watched the UCF game replay last night and noticed that Capogna was frequently pushed back several yards into USF's backfield. I don't care who is running the ball, that kind of penetration really hurts. I also noticed that Schmidt got lots of PT in the 2nd half and looked pretty decent to me. I'd like to see him take over at center to see if he can shore things up. He has the size.

The complaints here are minor. CSTV was a huge improvement over having to listen to Al Keck!

USF 30-7 381 Randolph

These are the 1st half playcalling stats. That's why there are only 40 plays.

Very conservative. Some will say predictable. Is that right - only 40 plays?

The run was probably more impressive on the radio ...... the McNeese D was pretty much already on the way to the buses. Maybe true, but the move he made on the last MSU defender to turn him completely around and then cut back to the sideline was awesome. Tired D or not, it was a nice run. Dorsey looks like he has the size and speed to be a real contributor this year.

USF 23-10 339 M. Edwards

Well, it's officially a rebuilding season. Ponton, Chambers, and Josh Julmiste are real disappointments with their off-the-field problems. Then throw in all the stuff about Leavitt having to get on upperclassmen for loafing during practice. So redshirting Watson and Robinson (not saying it's not the right thing to do) hurt with no depth on either line. It is a bad feeling to be going into a season with question marks all over the O and D lines. But, with all that said, I still think a bowl is achievable.

The way Petrino handled the rotation of LeFors and Brohm a couple of years ago at Louisville was perfect. LeFors would play the first few series to get some rhythm, and then Petrino would pick a spot to put Brohm in when they had good field position. Brohm would get a couple of series in the first half of every game. I'd like to see that with PJ and Grothe.

Very interesting. I think having Villanova move up might be the most realistic of all the possibilities. They are already in the conference, have a decent football program, and have UConn to look at as an example of making a successful move from 1AA to 1A.

Yes.

I've seen Dile listed mostly at right tackle, with Watson and Carnes at left. I don't understand the RS talk around Watson, though.

For the record, Penn State always wears blue jerseys at home.