[jcmanson]

Any Given Saturday.

Who cares if Alabama could beat Boise St 9 times out of 10. All that matters is one game. They should at least be afforded that opportunity.

[uncafan]

You probably despise Wetzel's writing b/c he intelligently opposes the system you obviously support.

Who? And why do I "obviously" support the BCS system just because I think a team with a SOS in the 80's doesn't deserve a national title shot every other year?

You do know that Stanford would have gone undefeated with Boise State's season schedule. (having destroyed Oregon) We know Stanford is DEFINITELY not one of the top 2 teams in the a nation (although they had a GREAT year and are easily top 20).

I do feel for Boise State and their fans, but it's not like they haven't been doing this for a LONG time now. They either go to take desperate measures, or get used to getting a HUGE payday every other year in getting a BCS bowl game, but not getting a BCS championship game. (I really think they are comfortable with that, even though they say something else)

Your Stanford point here is excellent... What if a team everyone loves to hate - Ohio State - had played Boise St. schedule this year? Well, they beat Oregon in much more impressive fashion than BSU did. They clearly run the table very easily in that conference. And the moment of truth comes at the end of the year and we are left with undefeated: Ohio State, TCU, 'Bama, Texas. Guess what guys, despite Ohio State's storied tradition and history its still 'Bama and Texas because as much as the voters have a big say...All Those computers care about is strength of schedule etc. That's what Wetzel and all these others fail to realize. The REASON Ohio State gets the benefit of the doubt over a Boise St is because of this: games at Penn St, against USC, Iowa, Mich St. etc. Who did Boise State beat this year? TCU? Oregon? If Boise goes out and beats Va Tech (assuming Va Tech is even relevant) and beats Oregon St. and wins their conference next year....They have a shot. They'll still have a SoS that is probably in the 40-60 range -- which is pretty awful. But they'll have a better shot.

Like I said before -- they want a game? Pick up the phone to an BCS Conference school and say hey 'we'll play you anywhere' you telling me USC/OSU/UF/Oklahoma/Miami are scared? Then tell me this -- why do all those teams play each other? Why did we have UT/OSU, OSU/USC, Miami/FSU, Miami/OSU next year, OSU/Oklahoma in 3 years? Don't tell me 'it looks bad' to lose to Boise St. because at places like Miami, OU, UF, USC it doesn't matter WHO you lose to. Trust me. When OSU lost to USC this year they were ready to fire Tressel just as much as when they lost to purdue.

[uncafan]

Any Given Saturday.

Who cares if Alabama could beat Boise St 9 times out of 10. All that matters is one game. They should at least be afforded that opportunity.

Fair enough -- but by that theory why play the regular season? Why not have a 128 team playoff seeded by how they finished the year before?

Look i'd love to see a form of a playoff...But how can you say its 'fair' to let Boise State in -- yet then keep the next guy out. Next thing you know App St fans are going to be telling us they have a 9/10 shot of winning so all that matters is one game.

Their coach (Boise) also made that point on Jim Rome's show. He told Rome he'd love to see a 'tweak' to possibly a plus-one or a plus-two system. But he said (paraphrase) 'your always going to have someone that feels left out' and he said 'i think the system is great the way it is, it needs some tweaks, but I think it does a great job.' I'll try to track down a transcript or audio file to post.

[jcmanson]

Any Given Saturday.

Who cares if Alabama could beat Boise St 9 times out of 10. All that matters is one game. They should at least be afforded that opportunity.

Fair enough -- but by that theory why play the regular season? Why not have a 128 team playoff seeded by how they finished the year before?

Look i'd love to see a form of a playoff...But how can you say its 'fair' to let Boise State in -- yet then keep the next guy out. Next thing you know App St fans are going to be telling us they have a 9/10 shot of winning so all that matters is one game.

Their coach (Boise) also made that point on Jim Rome's show. He told Rome he'd love to see a 'tweak' to possibly a plus-one or a plus-two system. But he said (paraphrase) 'your always going to have someone that feels left out' and he said 'i think the system is great the way it is, it needs some tweaks, but I think it does a great job.' I'll try to track down a transcript or audio file to post.

I've always thought they could do a 8 team playoff. Still keep all the other bowls and the quarterfinal matchups would be played in the traditional BCS bowl games. Then the following week have the semi's, and the week after the national title game.

[uncafan]

Any Given Saturday.

Who cares if Alabama could beat Boise St 9 times out of 10. All that matters is one game. They should at least be afforded that opportunity.

Fair enough -- but by that theory why play the regular season? Why not have a 128 team playoff seeded by how they finished the year before?

Look i'd love to see a form of a playoff...But how can you say its 'fair' to let Boise State in -- yet then keep the next guy out. Next thing you know App St fans are going to be telling us they have a 9/10 shot of winning so all that matters is one game.

Their coach (Boise) also made that point on Jim Rome's show. He told Rome he'd love to see a 'tweak' to possibly a plus-one or a plus-two system. But he said (paraphrase) 'your always going to have someone that feels left out' and he said 'i think the system is great the way it is, it needs some tweaks, but I think it does a great job.' I'll try to track down a transcript or audio file to post.

I've always thought they could do a 8 team playoff. Still keep all the other bowls and the quarterfinal matchups would be played in the traditional BCS bowl games. Then the following week have the semi's, and the week after the national title game.

I think its a great idea theoretically...And i think i've said this before... But a plus-one is all I can really see happening. The other point that Peterson made when Rome asked him about a playoff was class/schedule length. He pointed out that this year BSU played 14 games (like Ohio State in 2002) -- so now your talking about 16 games. He said that Boise couldn't do that unless they shortened the regular season (for academic reasons). Which is going to be a tough sell because most schools don't want to lose home dates. Home dates=cash. A plus one only adds an extra game for the top 2 teams so its more palatable to Presidents/Admins that want to keep the regular season as is.

I dunno...I certainly think 8 is feasible. Lets say we got an 8 team playoff though -- do you think the conference championships would go away? It becomes an extra game...really it doesn't matter because its almost unheard of for 2 undefeated teams in a single conference and even if you finish 2nd in the SEC, or your a 2nd undefeated Big 12 team...your probably still in. Thoughts?

[bigsmooth]

Saban is a jerk. Period

saban does not owe anybody a thing. give me a break. so what do you want him to do go give colt a hug?? cmon , you play to win. plain and simple. i do not think any coach in the country would have taken a knee.

[Sly Fox]

My absence from this thread was not intentional as some of you may assume. I had a massive 2-day project combined with my role as spokesperson for a group of neighborhoods in a contentious battle with our school district (that actually allowed me to miss the first half disaster).

Suffice it to say there was no joy in Slyville. You don't get these opportunities very often even at a school like Texas. And to not be able to give a performance up to capabilities was excruciatingly frustrating. Defensively I was disappointing to see that we had such trouble stopping the run in the first half before the adjustments were made.

Saban is not a good dude according to nearly every person who has ever had any contact with him ... especially those who have worked with him. So his actions were befitting.

I loved hearing Colt show his character in the postgame interview. Both he and Jordan are class guys first and great players second.

It was brutal watching Gale's boy in over his head and taking a beating. But he certainly grew up in that game as a true freshman and the success he enjoyed through the 3rd and most of the 4th quarter before he caved will give him some confidence moving into this fall.