2016 NCAA football thread

[tetley]

This week? Neither had any competition though. They both did nicely last week . . .

At this very early date I'd single out . . :

Alabama -- though our offense is still pretty suspect at this point . . .
Ohio State -- no competition yet, so no reason to change preseason perceptions . . .
FSU -- Nice comeback win vs. Ole Miss, and it looks like they may have less competition in the ACC than I anticipated . . .
Texas? -- Looked better than their Big XII brethren so far, and no one from the Pac-12 has impressed . . .

I like Texas to take the Big 12 based on last week, but this week, I wouldn't say I was "impressed" with Texas, per se. OU, Ok State and TCU all got knocked off, Baylor hasn't faced any real competition (nor do they ever--they have an awful liking for playing Country Junior College). I pick Texas to win a weak Big 12 conference.

True, Houston and Texas A&M faced lower-division opponents, but they completely shut them out and dominated them; and did well last week. I think they're up-and-coming. Plus A&M has a bit of a history vs. Alabama.

 

[ummmm........]

Houston's problem is that they can't play their way in to the playoffs. They have to go undefeated and also hope that two P5 conference champs have played their way out . . .

 

[tetley]

If Houston is AP rank 6 now (Coaches' 7th), I think their odds are pretty good if they run the table. And with their schedule, the odds of them running the table are pretty good, too.

 

[ummmm........]

Being ranked #6 -- or anything else -- doesn't mean much right now bc the polls are much more fluid than they used to be. You don't have to lose to drop or get passed anymore. That said, I also like Houston's chances, but only bc I like the chances of two P5 champs playing their way out of the playoffs . . .

Meanwhile: Auburn -4 vs. A&M, OSU -2.5 at OU, Bama -9.5 at Ole Miss. None of those seem right to me . . .

 

[Light Cleric]

Well it's not always this bad. Usually more teams play a softer week one opponent and have their marquee ooc opponent in week two. There were still a handful of those this year, with Arky/TCU, TT/ASU, VT/Tenn and a few others, but it just didn't work out that those matchups were as attractive as one might have hoped when they were originally scheduled . . .

I agree it's usually not this bad, but it seems like with the rise of the huge opening week clashes the past few years (which are awesome), the following week is getting loaded up with more cupcake games. Maybe it's just my perception.

As for the major teams playing weaker opponents generally, I'm all for it, especially with the sadly inevitable expansion of the playoffs increasing the number of games played to a professional level . . .

On the one hand, I can't blame the schools for the scheduling those opponents to fill a schedule that shouldn't be as long as it is.

On the other, the schools are also the ones behind said lengthened schedule, so...

 

[ummmm........]

I'm basically advocating heresy here, but I'd say just don't watch the games you don't want to watch. You still get the same number of quality games that you would get in a schedule of a more reasonable length that featured only quality opponents . . .

 

[IglooDame]

The second nee third string guy is back off suspension now though, right . . ?

Correct, it was just for the one game (and I don't know for what, but hey, it's Navy).

 

[ummmm........]

Tough day for Jimbo . . .

Bad start for us, giving up a 3rd & 9 on that first drive . . .

 

[mrt144]

Noah Brown is amazing.

 

[ummmm........]

Ole Miss outscored us in the first, second and fourth quarters. Wild game . . .

I did like that we were a little more effective between the tackles than we were in the first two games, but Ole Miss may have had more to do with that than we did . . .

 

[Commodore]

ESPN just lost all legitimacy already this season. After the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced Oklahoma, they had the nerve to say that both Ohio State and Michigan are nothing to worry about and that Michigan State is the real deal in the Big Ten. Nevermind that MSU had to hang on to beat a very, very overrated Notre Dame team today whereas both OSU and Michigan crushed their opponents.

I mean, will ESPN ever say anything good about Ohio State? They could literally beat every team they play 100-0 and win 20 straight titles and ESPN would still say they suck.

EDIT: In other news, Army's looking like they actually came to play football this season. 3-0 for my Black Knights!

 

[IglooDame]

In other news, Army's looking like they actually came to play football this season. 3-0 for my Black Knights!

A competitive Army-Navy game this year will be both disconcerting (to Navy fans) and refreshing (to the rest of the planet).

 

[ummmm........]

Yeah, as a disinterested party I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see Army's record, though I haven't seen them play. Kind of like when you see Vandy gets a win or something . . .

Also, it turns out four-year colleges in Mississippi went 0-10 yesterday, unless Twitter is lying to me. I had no idea there were ten four-year colleges in Mississippi . . .

 

[Light Cleric]

I mean, will ESPN ever say anything good about Ohio State? They could literally beat every team they play 100-0 and win 20 straight titles and ESPN would still say they suck.

oh God please spare me

Remember when Ohio State was banned from the postseason but ESPN people spent weeks talking about how Ohio State should be able to get the national championship anyway? It was too ridiculous to be discussed but they did it anyway. Even when they had that horrible streak for 3 straight years of wetting the bed in bowl games, they still got the love piled on. All I ever saw growing up was worship of USC, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and THE Ohio State University.

There are three groups of fans who should never complain about media bias against them: SEC, Notre Dame, and Ohio State fans.

 

[ummmm........]

I love how fluid the polls are now . . .

 

[Commodore]

A competitive Army-Navy game this year will be both disconcerting (to Navy fans) and refreshing (to the rest of the planet).

Yep, I'm going to go ahead and say the Commander-in-Chief Trophy is as good as ours this year.

Yeah, as a disinterested party I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see Army's record, though I haven't seen them play. Kind of like when you see Vandy gets a win or something . . .

Army is definitely looking good. They aren't just winning these games, they are winning them convincingly. Granted, it's not like they are playing the best teams in the country, but they beat UTEP yesterday 66-14. When Army wins, it's usually never by margins like that. They also beat Temple and Rice by sizable margins as well. Army's looking like they are on the warpath this year.

 

[tetley]

It's looking like a Big 10 year. ACC has taken a fall, the Big 12 is in the abyss. PAC-12 looking stronger than usual. SEC is hitting par. Texas and Houston (whom I had picked) looking not so good, but Houston faces Louisville--whom I did not know was going to stomp Florida State. Now I have to revise my pick for the playoff from Houston to Houston/Louisville (probably Louisville). Texas A&M still going strong.

 

[ummmm........]

Louisville has looked like the best team in the ACC by far, but I don't think they will handle success well and I can't imagine Petrino will be able to help them much with that Gun to my head I'd pick Clemson to come out of the ACC at this very instant, but there are a handful of viable candidates now. I think it's going to be more of a cluster than it typically is for that conference . . .

I'm not sure why this past weekend would have changed your mind about Houston, particularly. Their fate still depends more on others than on themselves and I still think it's looking pretty good that two of the P5 will play themselves out of contention . . .

Also still not sure what you're seeing in A&M, but hey, they're certainly alive for now . . .

 

[Commodore]

Just saw Army getting some respect from USA Today. They put out a ranking of all 128 FBS teams and they have Army sitting as the 37th best team in the country right now ahead of both Navy and Air Force. They also put Ohio State at number 1, Alabama 2, Louisville 3, and Clemson 4.

 

[tetley]

Houston was lackluster against Cincinnati, slow start. Plus I didn't realize Louisville would be a player. If Houston can beat Louisville, then they can probably punch their ticket to the playoffs; unless Louisville just completely melts down at the end of the season. However I favor Louisville for that game.