79 Bull

79Bull - Conferences and coaches like to limit their conference play so they can have a nice OCC schedule.  In some cases its because you need to pad some wins, in some cases it's because you are a national program and you want to keep your name across the country, in some cases its because a school wants to have a strong SOS.

I remember the ACC basketball coaches throwing a fit over expansion because they didn't want to reduce their OCC games.

Thanks for the explanation, maybe I don't understand this stuff, but...

Looking at the BE schedules this year it looks like 95% of the OOC teams are east of the Mississippi, so I am not sure how much national recognition some teams are getting unless it is a big name opponent on national TV, but playing the top 2/3 of the BE accomplishes that.

Very few of the OOC games appear to help SOS, most of these teams would hurt your SOS.  I guess the main reason for this resistance is to pad the schedule with wins.

I just don't understand how you can't accomplish the same thing with 9 games instead of 11.

I guess in the end I really don't care, but I thought it would be good for every team to see how you stack up against each BE team every year.

Duh - I guess I should have checked the remaining schedules.

No. Some conferences play 18 and some even play 20. You're only limited to the number of TOTAL games, which is 27 not including pre- and post-season tournaments.

Then, I don't really understand this decision not to play 18 so everyone gets everyone each year.  Like Velcro said, 9 games is plenty to keep up a couple OOC rivals and get a few wins before conference play.

Here's another weird scenariio.

It is mathematically possible that the Big XII champion is not bowl eligible.  Iowa State, Nebraska and Colorado all have a remote shot at winning the championship game with a final record of 6-6.

I agree the 3 should be closest in travel time.

That would be UL, WVU and UC.  UC is a bit closer than GT and I'd rather see the students hassle Huggy every year anyways.

Stupid question - does the NCAA limit teams to 16 conference games?  

If not, why don't we play 18 and make everybody happy?  That still leaves 9 or 10 OOC games, right?

Gary, good points, but 2 issues.

1.  Wouldn't we have seen the tinkering already by the coaches looking ahead?  They have placed Utah 1 slot behind the AP poll since the BCS has come out.  I think we would already see a wider discrepancy.

2.  I imagine you would have the oppositte effect and it would be a wash.  The non-BCS (or MWC) coaches would vote Utah higher (like #1) to assure they get into the top 6 and get their share of the money.

Also comes down to voters like James that would never vote a non-BCS team in the top 10.  I bet there are more than a few of them out there.

He sure looks athletic.

We may see him in pewter and red ........

The Bucs just signed a different kicker - didn't catch the name on the radio.

6-6 makes them bowl eligible, and Music City or Motor City will take a 6-6 Big Ten team over a mid-major team any day.  I think Northwestern gets there, but Michigan State won't.

I think the rule for teams playing 12 games in an 11 game season reverted back to having to win 7 to be bowl eligible.  Check out this article about Hawaii:

http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/29/sports/story4.html

early commits mean nothing  wait till feb...

"Commit" is the wrong word for what these kids are doing (and undoing).

I think schools should only play 1 or 2 non-Saturday games for TV exposure.  UL is out of control.  5 of their 11 games are not on Saturday and they are in the middle of 4 in a row on weekdays.  Teams should play at least 9 of 11 games on Saturday.  Call it old fashioned, but that is the tradition of college football.

The Bottom 10 heads to Muncie, Ind., for this week's epic Pillow Fight between Central Florida and Ball State.

UCF holds the number 1 spot.  Some pretty funny stuff here.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bottom10041110

BULLS

27-17

380

Peyton

Harmon has it USF 21, ECU 12.

CFN has 5 bowl slots not being filled by the contracted conference.  That sure does open it up for mid majors to go somewhere.

Also, all the bowl projections still have UF going somewhere (outback, tangerine, etc.).  If they lose to SC and FSU, they are 5-6 and going nowhere.

They didn't have any picks until the third round last year. Kawika was gone by the time the Bucs got to pick someone.

Good point.

He had 3 tackles today.

Interesting line as Sagarin has it USF -9.5 and that is usually where vegas starts.

St. Petersburg Times 11/7/04

LOCAL PRODUCT: Former USF standout linebacker Kawika Mitchell returns to Raymond James Stadium as the starting middle linebacker. Gruden said Mitchell is a good fit with the Chiefs' defensive style.

"He's a young player who fits their system," Gruden said. "They've had a couple of injuries at linebacker. ... He's stepped up and showcased why he's in the NFL and why he was a fairly high pick. He's a good kid. We liked him, too."

Mitchell, who is from Winter Springs, was a second-round pick (47th overall) last year but played sparingly. This season he has 14 tackles, with two passes defensed.

Gruden says "We liked him, too."  I wish they would have picked him.  It would be great to watch Kawika at RayJay week in, week out.

Some UCF fans on the rivals board are already calling the missed XP in OT a conspiracy by the MAC officials. Others are more realistic.

In another thread I said that the refs called the exact same thing on 2 Ohio field goals.  They were both just above the right upright and they called both no good.  Ohio would have won in regulation - I don't see the lone gunman theory here.

I was at the UCF game and the refs called the exact same thing on 2 Ohio field goals where the ball was just over the right upright and they called both of them no good - Ohio would have won in regulation.

Last minute decision this afternoon to take my son to the UCF-Ohio game.  We had always wanted to see the citrus bowl and I wanted to see what a UCF game was like.

No flame to our UCF buds, but Yikes - the citrus bowl is pretty much a dump.  I was shocked that they play a major new years day bowl in that hole.  No chairbacks anywhere, real tight room between seats, awful concessions and rust/paint peeling everywhere.  After a while I realized that maybe we are just REALLY spoiled with RayJay.

On the positive side, I must give the UCF students major props - they were out in force and everyone of them really into the game with organized cheers, knowing when to be loud and when to be quiet, etc.  The other really nice thing was a major stats board that scrolled the entire game with up to the second stats on every aspect of the game - rushing by player, receiving by player, passing, TOP, etc.

And finally, Congrats to Bobcat99 - Ohio won 17-16 in the first overtime because UCF missed an extra point.

BTW, I would guess there was maybe 17-18,000 there and it was their homecoming.

Thanks, RJW - got it, but how do I pick Thursday?  I just have tabs across the top to choose from that are grouped by sports.  I don't see a date option.

Sunshine now has some deal or affiliation with Fox.  I have Fox Atlantic, Central and Pacific channels and the Atlantic channel often shows games and replays that have the Sunshine logo.