WOOOOO!! Luck of the Irish!!!!. Defense wins Championships. ND ALL THE WAY. Seriously though, great game, and not just because I had a lot of bets on it.
well considering he doesn't even wear a headset......does he really do anything except sit there and look good?
I root against Florida State since their tacky appropriation of the 9-11 Todd Bowman quote "Let's Roll" as a team slogan and t-shirt promotion. Nothing like exploiting a national tragedy for your football program. Inspired the Seminoles all the way to the Peach Bowl.
Elvis Costello - yeah, and they had the full support of the foundation in using it. Many other schools now use that quote as well, and many teams have shirts with "Let's Roll" printed on them in their school colors. If that's why you root against them, it's a pretty lame reason. As for the game - Notre Dame handed it to Florida State today, and that's about all I have to say about that. They outplayed us and probably outcoached us too. Changes are going to be made, and it likely starts at QB with Adrian McPherson.
So what. Why in the hell should you even make any allusion to 9-11 to promote your football program? Any school that does that is lame. Why not have "I Have Dream" or "The Only thing we have to fear is fear, itself" on a FSU t-shirt while their at it? Maybe they can bring Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel to give a rousing pep talk before their next Iowa State game. Any surviving Seminoles around to inspire the boys? That school is a joke. Here's a more appropriate historical allusion for Florida State football this year:
Tragedy in American History turns into folklore, Look at your local Pumpkin Stand this time of the year, what are the kids sliding down -- a sunken Titanic. You think people in 1913 would have gotten away with that?
Florida State still has a VERY good chance at going to a BCS bowl. Sad, but true. Right now they are 4-0 in conference and every other team besides NC St. has at least 2 losses. If they beat NC State and don't lose 2 of their other conference games, they'll end up in one of the big 4 games...
I'm sorry but how in the hell is Notre Dame's schedule the toughest in the country? A look at their opponents: Maryland is 6-2 but nowhere the team they were last season. Purdue is a mediocre team at best and is 4-5. Michigan (which is a highly overrated team) is 6-2 after getting waxed at home by Iowa. Stanford is a real powerhouse at 2-5. Michigan State has pretty much mailed it in at 3-5. Pittsburgh is a good team, but nothing scary at 6-2. Air Force showed how great they are by losing to a Wyoming team that had lost 16 straight conference games in the freaking MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE! but they are 6-2. And finally a down Florida State team at 5-3. This doesn't even consider future games with "powerhouses" like Rutgers and Navy. Notre Dame has not played an easy schedule, but it is hardly a schedule that should be thought of as the toughest in the country.
Would you like to compare that with Miami's schedule? You're really reaching, dude. And yes, the BCS sucks. There is a very real possibility that an undefeated power is going to be shut out of the BCS title game, and that is just wrong.
Read my post again at the end. I never said that Notre Dame had an easy schedule, but the toughest in the country?? That is what I take umbrage with. Besides, I never brought up Miami's schedule, but since you asked...Miami had a lot tougher schedule if you looked at the pre-season than Notre Dame with road games at Florida, at Tennessee, home against Virginia Tech, and home against Florida State. That is FOUR games against teams that were ranked in the pre-season Top 15, keeley. Notre Dame plays Michigan & FSU, maybe Michigan State is in the pre-season top 15 but I doubt it. Miami plays in a conference, too unlike the "we're too good to play in a conference" Irish. To play 3 non-conference opponents of the caliber of Tennessee, Florida, and Florida State is pretty damn impressive. It is not Miami's fault that those teams aren't doing well this season. Until Notre Dame plays a team or two in the pre-season top 5 (sorry FSU this year doesn't count) then beating up on Stanford, Navy, Purdue, etc. is hardly a schedule that looks imposing especially when you look at a team like USC who played Colorado, Kansas State, Auburn, and yes, ugh, Notre Dame. NOW that is a schedule. Why isn't USC's schedule ranked the toughest in the country?? Agreed and it will be even worse if it is a team that is the defending national champion. However, as I said earlier, the AP Poll has no tie ins to the BCS Championship game thus giving the possibility of a split national champion. As much as I would be pissed to see Miami get denied the chance to play in the BCS National Championship Game for the 2nd time in 3 years, if that would cause a playoff to be instituted (and of course, Miami gets a share of the National Championship), then I am all for it.
How funny would it be to see Georgia vs. Notre Dame for the National Title? With a one-loss OU playing Miami in another BCS bowl?
Just because they don't play ranked teams every week doesn't mean they don't have the toughest schedule. They've beaten about 4 ranked teams, and every team they've beaten, with the exception of 1 or 2, have a legit chance to make a bowl game. But Manny you gave Miami props for playing four teams in the preseason Top 15 you might as well give Notre Dame those props to, they played Florida State who was in the Top 15 this week, Maryland, Michigan State was a preseason Top 15 team, Michigan was, USC may be in the Top 15 by the time they get to Notre Dame, and Air Force was a Top 20 team legitimately. You say it's not Miami's fault those teams aren't doing well, well you can say the same thing for Notre Dame. I mean you just gave Miami props for playing Tennessee, Florida, and Florida State then ripped Notre Dame for playing Florida State. beating Florida State, Michigan and Maryland is every bit as impressive as beating Florida State, Florida and Tennessee, especially since Florida is plummeting like Michigan is, Tennessee is on a Maryland type spiral now that they're playing tough teams, and of course Notre Dame and Miami both played Florida State. Wasn't Michigan in the preseason Top 5?
I think the problem people see with ND and the #1 schedule is that ND's played a lot of GOOD teams (more so than most teams), but no really great ones. Their best opponent now is ~#15 Michigan. No top-ten caliber teams, unlike Miami (playing VaTech) and the various B12 teams playing each other. Normally, the SEC teams have to play two top-10 powers (Fla & Ten) although that doesn't apply this year. That's why most people consider SEC and B12 teams to have the toughest schedule in most years. I mean, look at ISU's schedule. They've played now-top-10 Iowa, UT, and OU. They still have to play Top-20 Colorado and K-State. They also got Fla State earlier. THAT's a tough schedule. The way BCS computes schedule strength is funky, in my opinion. Playing a strong minor-conference team (Air Force, Marshall, Bowling Green) counts very similiarly to playing a strong major-conference team. I'm not saying this is ND's fault or that they schedule bad teams or whatnot. I'm just saying, looking objectively at how the various teams have played this year (which is the only thing considered by the BCS formula), I think there are a number of teams who's schedule I would fear more than ND's.
Here's some of the preseason ranked teams Notre Dame plays, and you have to count Florida State because they were a preseason Top 5 team, and if you give one team credit for playing FSU you have to give the other team credit: ESPN/Coaches poll: #4 Florida State #10 Michigan (Michigan was #8 coming into this weekend and were ranked #6 when Notre Dame beat them) #18 Michigan State #20 Maryland And other teams they played that were ranked #20 Air Force who who was ranked #15. And college football polls are tough, so if you're a mid-major school and you're ranked you obviously earned it. Not to mention Pittsburgh who is actually in Miami's conference, and Stanford who is in the Pac-10 and was predicted to have a good season. Don't pull out Miami's schedule because that isn't the point. The point is when you beat 4 Top 20 teams at the time you played them, and the 5th team you beat was a preseason Top 20, two teams that were virtually Top 5 teams in the preseason or at some point in the season, and every last one of those games were on road how can you knock that schedule?
RocksMillenium: So, you think that after one decent year by Maryland that they are on the same level as Tennessee, a team that won a NC in 1998?? That's interesting, to say the least. And no, Michigan State, I doubt, was in the pre-season top 15. Re-read my post and you will see several things: 1) I never said Miami had the toughest schedule. I said Miami had one of the toughest schedules, looking at the pre-season . Of course, this was when Florida and Tennessee were supposed to be top 10 teams (and they were ranked higher than Michigan and Maryland..lol) 2) I said Notre Dame has played a tough schedule but it is not the toughest in the nation. USC has played Auburn, Colorado, Kansas State, Washington State, Oregon, and Washington already with games left against UCLA and Notre Dame. As a matter of fact, I don't think any of the teams that USC has played so far have a losing record. Air Force?? Do you even know how bad Wyoming is? They had lost 16 Mountain West Conference games in a row. Their only win this season until yesterday was against The Citadel, a division I-AA team. Losing to a pitiful powerhouse like the Cowboys automatically disqualifies you from being a "good team" in my book. And it's funny how the MOV (margin of victory) is no longer factored into the computer rankings. Beating Air Force by 7 and Purdue by 7 and Michigan State by 4, etc. must look better to these damn computers than beating Florida by 25, BC by 32, and West Virginia by 17. Look, Notre Dame is good. I have said before that they are the best coached team in the country and Willingham will be the coach of the year. But beating a down FSU team, that has never been the same since Mark Richt and Chuck Amato left their coaching staff, is not comparable to playing and beating teams like Miami, OU, and Virginia Tech. Of the undefeated teams left, I only see Notre Dame beating Bowling Green, NC State, and Ohio State. I think Georgia beats the Irish. But it could all be a moot point because Virginia Tech will probably beat Miami and USC will probably beat Notre Dame.
Is this the same pre-season poll that had Nebraska ranked 8th, Manny? That is a preposterous argument you pose, Manny. "It is not Miami's fault that those teams aren't doing well this season." The Miami fan has gone from apologizing for Florida State to backing USC. rofl!
