SEC may have half its teams in the Top 25, but the Big East has three teams in the Top 10. ACC is nowhere in sight. A 1-loss Florida should have won all its games if it wanted to play in the NC. Winning by 1 at home against an unranked team should not be rewarded.
-“Rich the alum”
Well, technically, the ACC isn’t “nowhere in sight.” Half of the ACC is ranked in the top 25 (Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Maryland, Clemson). I know the highest ranked of the ACC half dozen is No. 14, but it shows that the conference has depth, especially considering Miami and Florida State are nowhere to be found. The Big East’s three ranked teams are legitimate power houses, no denying that, but you can’t make a solid case for anyone else (Pitt is such a hot/cold team, I’ll give them half credit).
As to the second part of the comment…first, margin of victory doesn’t matter in the eyes of the BCS. So, Florida’s one-point win against an unranked South Carolina SHOULD be no different than a 30-point win. South Carolina is no slouch either. The Gamecocks’ five losses have come against then-ranked opponents (and four of the times were in position to tie or win late in the game). I’ve said this before, but I don’t like playing the so-and-so beat so-and-so by so much, so that means such-and-such. Nobody has had a cakewalk this year, Rutgers beat South Florida by a score of 22-20. South Florida is an unranked team with no quality wins either, and I know the game was on the road, but I watched it and wouldn’t call Tampa a hostile environment.
However, I don’t hold this against Rutgers. The most important stat is winning. And, if Rutgers finishes with more wins (and less losses) than Florida, Southern California and Notre Dame, then the Scarlet Knights deserve to play in the national championship game. Done deal.
Two things: One, I’m a little disappointed you didn’t already own “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” And, two, I know it’s football season, but what do you think about the Bobby Knight incident on Monday?
Jeff F.
Alright, I should have owned it. It’s one of the greatest movies of all time. But, I own it now, and I watched it again this morning. If you haven’t seen it, shame on you, go buy it now (IMDB.com has it ranked No. 5 on it’s Top 250 list). I also purchased “City of God” yesterday. I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear good things and I think it’ll be a good addition to my young, but growing movie library. If you ever want to talk movies, or recommend one, drop me a line.
Now, about basketball. 1. I love college basketball. 2. This blog will slowly make the switch to college basketball, but more so after the football national championship game. 3. I have news to report. Higher ups say I must share access to my blog with some staff writers who cover Hofstra and Stony Brook here on the Island. I’m not exactly thrilled, but at least the guys are great writers, and Hofstra has a great college basketball program, so it’ll be interesting stuff. Stay tuned.
As for Bobby Knight. I don’t think what he did was wrong. I go back to when Frank Beamer slapped Ernest Wilford on his helmet during the West Virginia game in 2003. The time for coddling is over when you get to college. Now, there’s a very fine line, but an incident like the one on Monday night is in the heat of competition, and it wasn’t out of aggression. If everyone is backing up Knight, including the athletic director and player, then what’s the problem. The last report I read he was telling his player to “keep his head up out there.” No harm done.
How about them Emory and Henry Wasps? I know you were following.
-Jake the Snake
Great point. I haven’t addressed this yet, and I should. My college buddy Rob, who was my guest on my Louisville-West Virginia game diary (and will be a guest in the future), is part of the new coaching staff down at Emory and Henry, a Division III school. After going 1-9 last year and not having a winning season since 2000, the Wasps turned it around to go 6-4 this year (and were pretty darn close to a 9-1 season). Hell of a job, boys.
Great call on the field winning you should thank the kid from Louisville being offsides.
- Roger Dorn
It was a great call. Thanks. And thank you to the kid who jumped offsides. I did not want to be responsible for the jinx.
Who’s going to win on Saturday? You know what I’m talking about.
- MLM
I do know. I’m in a little bit of a pickle here. I’ve had Ohio State as my national championship winner all year long, but I really think Michigan can win this game with defense. That said, I’ll take Michigan to cover the 6.5 its getting and give me two more days to pick the winner. I’ll have a pick by Thursday.
Alright, real work calls. Everyone called in sick here today. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. I’ll be back tomorrow with a piece about Saturday’s big game.