Don't look now, but things just got more interesting... If CU beats OU next week, then a loss by either Miami or Florida might just put Texas in the Rose Bowl Texas is #6 right now and would jump Oregon with the Quality Win points Colorado is worth if they win out. If they jump both NU and OU (they should), that would put them at #3. A loss by Florida or Miami, and Texas takes a messed up route to the Rose Bowl! More likely, I'd expect Miami / Florida. I think if Florida wins out, they get in over OU, but apparently, there's still a lot of football to be played out.
I agree with you, shanna, that Florida may very well benefit from Nebraska losing more than anyone. Beating a one loss Tennessee team and then winning the SEC championship will probably be more impressive to the BCS computers than Oklahoma beating a weak OSU team and then a 2 loss Colorado team. That is why OU needed Nebraska to win so badly, IMO. Beating an undefeated Nebraska team would obviously look much better than beating a 2 loss Colorado team. Miami is favored to win tomorrow night by 26 points!! I think the bookies are underestimating the Huskies. For some reason, I am more worried with tomorrow night's game than the one against VA Tech. However, Texas still has a chance. Miami could very well lose one of their next 2 games and the way Colorado played today, I think they could beat not only Oklahoma but anybody. One thing for sure is that it has been exciting. Although I still feel that there needs to be a playoff, this has been a great season to be a college football fan.
<B>Miami is favored to win tomorrow night by 26 points!! I think the bookies are underestimating the Huskies. </B> Manny -- I would agree on this, except that I wouldn't bet against Miami by 26 either, so I guess I can't complain. <B>Miami could very well lose one of their next 2 games and the way Colorado played today, I think they could beat not only Oklahoma but anybody. </B> Yeah, if CU wins, then I'm hoping Florida loses another one and UT gets to play Miami. More likely, Miami would lose one of these two big games and UT could play Florida. Either way works for me (The MOST likely scenario, of course, is that UT doesn't make the Rose Bowl!) If UT does somehow make it, though, this is basically the textbook case of "backing in" with a weak schedule and not even winning the conference.
and then there were Cowboys. . . so now, assuming that UT can handle the improved Buffs, what else would need to happen for UT to get into the Rose Bowl? a miami loss? an oregon loss? is that it? would a Big 12 Championship win be enough to put UT over oregon even if oregon wins the oregon state game?
I think with a win over Colorado, we could pass Oregon regardless of what they do. We might even do so this week. All that we need (besides the win over CU) is a Miami or Florida loss, I think. If the Florida loss comes against Tennessee, Tennessee could get itself in the mix, but I don't think they could pass us.
shanna, I had heard that a win over CU will do nothing for us. You cna't gain points by beating the same team twice. I think that's bullcrap, as rc would say. We need Miami to lose, or the uf/tenn. winner to lose in the sec championship. oh, and beating cu would be nice.
Big games this weekend: Miami vs. VT Oregon vs. Oregon State Florida vs. Tennessee Texas vs. Colorado
<B>shanna, I had heard that a win over CU will do nothing for us. You cna't gain points by beating the same team twice. I think that's bullcrap, as rc would say.</B> Yeah, this is a messed up rule I don't understand. It will help us in the polls and the computers -- they don't differentiate between beating the same team twice or different teams. What it doesn't do is give us the Quality Win points twice, which is really stupid. Let's say Colorado is #8 in the BCS this week -- that gives us 0.7 QW points. Let's say that if we beat them, they fall to #12. We would only get 0.4 QW points, whereas I think we should get 0.8 (for beating them twice). We're basically hurting ourselves by beating Colorado in the QW area, but it's absolutely necessary or we'd fall in the polls / computers. I think the whole QW system was badly designed and will hopefully be reexamined at the end of the year!
I'm thinking the uf/tenn. winner will remain ahead of us regardless. UO, not only do they have a tough game, but this osu will not help them one bit, they'll hurt their SOS. This will all be settled in 2 weeks.
Texas does not deserve to play in the Rose bowl. They beat only 1 top 25 team. If they do go they will gt their arse handed to them. Looking at other top teams: Miami - 4 top 25 Florida - 7 top 25 They should just play the best SEC team vs the best Florida team. If the team is one in the same, bring in Nebraska. That's what they do 80% of the time anyway.
Umm, wasn't A&M ranked 24th when we played them? Anyway, it's not our fault we play in a tougher conference. Miami's big wins so far are over Syracuse and Washington. Colorado is much better than either of those teams, and Texas Tech, A&M, and others may be as good or better than Syracuse. Syracuse just plays in a much weaker conference than the Big 12, so their record and ranking are better. Miami's biggest win this season is over Washington. Texas' biggest win is over Colorado. Considering this Washington team just recently got annihilated by a weak Oregon St. team, I'd say Texas has proven more in terms of beating top teams than Miami has.
I assume you are comparing the Big East and Big 12. There is no way that the big 12 is better than the SEC, this year. 1/4 of the teams in the top 25 are SEC. Which top teamS have UT beaten? I don't consider A&M a top team. If you are counting rankings when played, the you gotta count the FSU victory by Miami. Miami has crushed its last two opponets. I do hope that Miami loses. FL-UTx game would be great....for Florida. I don't think UT has seen the talent that UF has. Time will tell.
I definitely think the Big 12 is better than the SEC. Looking at the entire top 25 isn't that realistic, because that is dependent on record, which is dependent on strength of conference. Look at the very good teams. The SEC has Florida, Tennessee, and that's about it. The Big 12 has Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Yes, I know teams like LSU, Auburn, Georgia, etc. are ranked, but they are very low and capitalize because there aren't four dominant teams in the SEC. I definitely think Texas Tech or Kansas St. could beat any of those teams, yet they aren't ranked. Why not? Well, they have more dominant teams to deal with, and thus hurting their record, and limiting their chance to be in the top 25. P.S. What teams better than Colorado have Florida or Miami beaten?
I would consider CU a top team. The fresno game was a fluke, imo. For all intensive purposes, CU should be 10-1. The big 12 has 3 teams in the top ten. I think they're more top heavy than the sec, but the sec has more depth. With regards to talent, Miami, UF, and UT are regarded as the 3 most talented teams in the country. You can field a good nfl team between the 3 rosters. Talent is not UT's problem, I can assure you of that.
Well I had a nice long post typed out but I had an illegal operation pop up... I'll just say that I think the Big 12 is very overrated. Who have they beaten outside of each other? At least a team like Miami beat Penn State, Washington, and Florida State outside of their conference. At least Florida has Florida State as a non-conference game... I know we can argue over how good Colorado is, but I'm still not buying them. We'll find out who has the best conference during the bowl season...
BGM: exactly. It's not Miami's fault that Penn State and Florida State are having down years this season and Washington is a solid 8-3 team. Only Troy State was a gimme..and 1 out of 4 non-conference cupcakes are a lot better than most teams schedule. I know that people think that the Big East sucks, and I am not arguing that the Big East is better than the Big 12 or SEC or the Pac-10, etc. However, the Big East did rather well in bowl games last year with only one team losing and compiling a 4-1 record. That doesn't sound like a weak conference to me. It's Temple and Rutgers that drag down the rest of the conference and makes people think that it is so bad. However, every conference has the doormats. In the Big 12 it's Baylor and Kansas, in the SEC, it's Vanderbilt and kentucky, in the ACC it's Duke, etc. So, don't be fooled by one or two bad teams in thinking that a conference is weak. BTW - Miami's non-conference schedule next year includes trips to Florida and Tennessee as well as a home game against Florida State. So, I don't want to hear this excuse next season about Miami playing a weak schedule.
Texas Tech and Kansas state better than LSU, Georgia, Auburn? Its really hard to compare when Tech's schedule includes games with New Mexico, UTEP, North Texas, SFA? I didn't even know NTx had a team. Didn't Tech lose to Kansas? Counting Baylor, half of thier scheduled teams flat out suck. K State lost to every ranked opponent they played. And they lost to Texas Tech. The only big 12 games they won were MO, Iowa State, and Kansas. There is definetly a reason these 2 aren't ranked. Georgia has 2 quality wins; playing on the road at Tennessee and at Georgia tech. Auburn beat Fl and Georgia. LSU lost to the top boys in the SEC. Play Auburn next week to see who plays in the championship game. At 7-3, plus some quality wins, I think these teams are better than KS and TT. Once again, I think there is some reasoning as to why these guys aren't ranked. Gotta have some quality wins.