Ohio State v. USC Preview

I don’t know how they got here, but there are a lot of Buckeyes here at Us Versus Them.  I was skeptical at first, but the cats who roll with us are definitely Us so we let em slide.  One problem though, they are completely delusional about the Ohio State vs. USC game this weekend.

Sure, they dominate the Big Tenleven right now.  Sure, they’ve been to the national championship game for the last two years and won the big game in 2003.  The problem?  They also got drug the fuck up out of those games for the last few years.  Ohio State is really the best argument out there for a playoff system in College Football.  Sure, they win the Big 10 every year lately, but they also stop playing football long about Halloween and wait for every other team to beat itself up for a month before the season is over and somehow rise to the top without playing a single game.

In this corner we have the USC Trojans.

Every year is not their year.  They’ve been struggling since the end of the Leinart, Reggie Bush era they’ve gotten shocked more than they should have but they looked great in that first game.  Every once in a while, they end up looking like a pro team out there more than a college team.  This seems like one of those times.

These teams lock it up on Saturday night out in California in the first huge football game of the year.  Oh, did I mention that Ohio State is going at it without their star player Beanie Wells and they almost lost one to Ohio last week.  I mean literally had to Man Up like they were UvT fans playing on Monday instead of Saturday afternoon.

So here it is.  Ohio State vs. USC is must see tv this weekend.  I think Ohio State needs a miracle to pull it off.

Is there anything I missed?

Right.  Go Trojans.

-Brock

—————UPDATE—————–

Will and Triple B are usually up in this joint errrrrryday and twice on Mondays, meanwhile we haven’t heard hide nor hair from these dudes.  OSU fan…Man Up!

I Can’t Wait for New Year’s Day

You already know my opinion on the BCS.  I think the entire thing is completely bogus, and they just made up the matchups that they wanted to see.  They need a playoff system, and the “football” version of March Madness would be great.  All of that being said, I forgot about the worst part of the bowl system.

Three Words: PetroSun Independence Bowl.

Come on man, they didn’t even try on the logo.  That just looks like some BS.  Look, I don’t have any problem with the PetroSun bowl specifically, but there are just too many bowl out there.  With Alabama and Colorado, this game is semi-legit.  But Cinci v. Southern Miss. in the “Papa Johns.com Bowl?  The Sheraton Bowl?  The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl?

That is really now necessary.  Donovan, you played ball, did you watch the “San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl”?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

I know there is a lot of money to be made on these bowl games, but hasn’t it gone too far?  I know the “unpaid” students get to load up on free sweatsuits, Nintendo Wii’s, iPods, Stereo systems, and all of that other free swag, and the schools get to drop a few million in their pockets, but how do these cats even get hype for the game.  The players haven’t played in a month and a half, the game is literally for nothing.  Wait, maybe you get a Jostens Championship ring…but are you really going to rock your Gaylord Hotels ring?  I think not.

New Year’s day can’t come fast enough.  That way I can at least watch popular teams that probably don’t deserve to be playing a high profile game.  Right now, I can’t take it.  Hell, Lake and I are throwing the Us Versus Them Bowl in 2008.  It might be more like the lingerie bowl than an actual football game though.

-Brock

UvT Sports: College Football Final and the BCS

Every college football season is another opportunity to make the BCS system look ridiculous. When you have more than two undefeated teams it makes them look bad. When you have a few teams on the outside of the national championship looking in, it makes them look bad. This season everybody lost, so the teams at the top have changed more than Beyonce during one of her concerts.

Which brings us to today.

You knew something wasn’t right when the “number one team” in the country is a three point underdog going in to the Big 12 Championship game. But even I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Let’s be realistic. We all know that Mizzou v. West Virginia would have been the lowest rated championship game ever. It would have been fun to watch all the commentators try hype up such an awful game for an entire month. Don’t get me wrong, I like a sports Cinderella story as much as the next guy, but we’ve had some really BS teams in the top spots this year. Boston College? The USF Bulls? Missou, Kansas, and West Virginia?

I didn’t watch the games, but I think the BCS planted Tim Donaghy at the games to make sure things “turned out right”.

So here we go, we find out the Bowl matchups tonight and the AP rankings already have Ohio State and LSU in the top two spots. Yeah, people are voting for the game they want to see. Let’s see, I guess the “computer” was wrong when it had the Georgia Bulldogs at #4 and LSU at #7 when the Dawgs weren’t even in the SEC championship game. Sorry Georgia, it’s not looking good. Ohio State got to sit on the sidelines for the last two weeks of the season and watch teams lose around them. That doesn’t quite seem fair, does it? So let me get this right, in the SEC not playing is a bad thing, so LSU jumps (5 spots? when else has that happened?) but in the Big Ten it is a good thing. Great, Ohio State last played on November 21. The national championship game is January 7th. Ohio State has almost two months off before the game. What else? Ohhhhhh, the game is being played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nice.

All this proves is that there needs to be a playoff system. I know the BCS likes the cash, intrigue developed in the current system, and they continue to say it is a fair system. In reality, how great would it be to see the top 8 teams in a playoff? Look at these teams, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Mizzou, and Kansas. Maybe the undefeated Hawaii gets a shot to test themselves against respected programs since it appears that everyone thinks their record is complete BS. Florida is right there on the edge. Give the teams that worked hard a shot at it. Seriously, there is nothing Hawaii could have done better, they don’t deserve a sniff at it? Next year they will be rewarded with a ranking in the high teens while perennial favorites like Michigan, Florida, USC, Texas, and Cal get right back to where they are every year. Plus, think of the drama of March Madness, teams earn it with every game. The underdog schools build a following by showing their heart on the field. The national favorites get a few weeks where everyone gets to see how good they are on a national stage so by time they hoist the trophy everyone knows what they can do.

This season has been a debacle for the BCS, it is time for a change. No one wants this.

-Brock

—————UPDATE———————

Well, the results are in. This is a joke. Look, if you are just going to make the games you want to see at the end of the year, throw out the whole system. Don’t get me wrong, LSU v. Ohio State is exactly the game I want to see, and the only thing that makes sense at this point. So get this. Georgia goes in to the weekend at number 4 in the BCS. Then #1 and #2 lose. That makes them number two going into the championship game, right? That is how it happened the other thirteen weeks of the season, right? That is how Boston College, South Florida, Kansas and all of those jokers got to be #2, right?

Not this week, this week when two of the three teams in front of you lose, you come back out of the week at number FIVE. That’s right, they didn’t play and lost a spot. Ohio State didn’t play and got right up to #1. That means VA Tech jumped up three slots for beating number 11 Boston College. LSU jumps five slots to number two, and Oklahoma also jumps up five to number 3…but they beat the number one team in the country so they deserved it, right?  Meanwhile #9 Kansas gets in while #6 Mizzou drops out completely, that sucks.

Yeah, look at it, read it again. None of it makes sense. But no one will remember it by time Kirk Herbstreit and Corso talk about it for a month. We got the game everyone wants, that’s the whole point, right?

Right?

-Brock

Ok, so Nick Saban misspoke, enough already

I don’t think Nick Saban should have said that he’s “not going to be the coach of Alabama” and then go and take the job at Alabama.

He shouldn’t be such an arrogant f*ck and blame his players for losing to Louisiana Monroe.

And finally, clearly he shouldn’t have equated 9/11 to the state of his rock bottom college football team.

All that is fine. But let me tell you something. He shouldn’t have said it, but it’s not the end of the world either. It’s not THAT bad. He tried to make a point and he missed the mark. He put his foot in his mouth and then ran behind a spokesperson from Alabama (they got those down there? Git ‘er dun!!!!).  But I’m tired of people acting like just because this dude is the coach of a damn football team that he’s suddenly disrespected all the victims of 9/11 or all the men and women in service in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. You know who disrespects all those people, your president Dubyah. His blundering, falling asleep at the wheel, puppet administration is a complete and utter disgrace, but you don’t hear people call him out. No, they’d rather complain about NICK SABAN the football coach at Alabama!!!

Whatever…. And ‘Bama, you guys bought this guy, took him under shady circumstances, and either knew or should have known that he’s a know-it-all, self-important ass of the highest order. That says more about you than it does Nick. Ok? Enjoy that 6-6 record.

Geaux Tigers.

-Lake

College Football Preview: Michigan v. Ohio State

Wow, I told you two weeks ago that Oregon had a tough one on Thursday night.  It just keeps getting tougher too.  Not only did Oregon have their national title hopes shattered by unranked Arizona, but they also lost their Heisman candidate Dennis Dixon for the rest of the season.  Really tough loss.   Which brings me to the question:

Do the Oregon Cheerleaders have 200 outfit choices too?

Surprisingly decent looking chicks for the Pacific Northwest.

Looking at the matchups today, obviously Michigan v. Ohio State is the big game of the day.  In what could should be Lloyd Carr’s last game and will be Henne, Hart and Big Jake Long’s last game, Michigan should have a punchers chance if Henne and Hart actually start.  In fact, after bouncing on the sidelines like a kid missing his Ritalin last weekend, there is no way Hart doesn’t start today.  I’ve seen him check himself into games before, and today is his day.  With that said, Michigan has to be clicking on all cylinders to beat the Ohio State juggernaut.

The BIGGEST game of the week though is Duke at Notre Dame.

I mean this is the Duke Football Team’s chance to win one for the ages.  To come from the consensus worst team in the nation, winning just 4 games since 2003, and nothing at all last season.  Prior to 2003 they put together a multiple season losing streak, and now we have the chance to take down one of the most storied programs in football history.

Also, it is creeping up again, parity is forcing all the teams that looked like they were going to get frozen out of the National Championship game back into the picture.  Remember when we were about to watch Boston College v. South Florida for the national championship?  Well, now we are about to get Kansas v. Oklahoma, because LSU has to make it through the rest of the SEC and Arkansas to make it to New Orleans.  If they do, they roll, but the door is still open.

-Brock

College Football Roundup: Holy S#it!

Oh man this is great. I woke up Saturday morning to post my weekly predictions for college football when I realized that it was the functional bye week. Hell, Gameday was at a freaking D III school for the pregame talking about museums. Then this happened:

This was supposed to be the off week. Illinois was one of the worst teams in the nation next to Duke last year and they just clipped number 1. Not only that, but Michigan lost to Wisconsin (It seemed like Lloyd Carr was saving the boys for Ohio State next week. He wants to make it to the Rose Bowl), and Notre Dame continues its exercise in futility by dropping one to Air Force making their game against Duke Football on national television next week HUGE. By the way, just for the record, we haven’t done the Brady Quinn watch this season because he uhhhhhh hasn’t taken a snap this season.

Here’s the deal, things had shaken out to the point where LSU and Ohio State were in the top 2, ready to head to the national championship. That is a respectable match-up. In fact, LSU v. Oregon still is. Here’s the thing? Remember about three weeks ago when South Florida was number two in the country, Boston College was #3, and currently unranked Cal had just dropped out of the top 2? Remember that? Well we are one SEC championship loss and one trip up through the PAC 10 away from Kansas v. West Virginia for the title. Sure, I appreciate how much parity there is in college football, but I’m not interested in waiting until January 8 for that game.

That game is going to look like this.

LSU was always the best team in the land and I hope they can hold it together. The next few weeks should be great.

-Brock

College Football Roundup

Let’s call this the “I told you so” edition. I predicted the winners and losers of the weekend on Saturday morning, and my top 5 match up with Kirk Herbstreit’s…he just called it after the game was over. Kansas makes it into the Top 5 this week in the BCS and coaches poll, but I still have Oklahoma and West Virginia rounding out the top 5 teams in the nation after OSU, LSU and Oregon.  Boston College just wasn’t going to hold up.

Like I said, FSU has powerful forces on their side.

I also have to give some love to the Michigan Wolverines. Where would they be if thy held it together for those first two games? Fine, lets assume that Oregon would have beat them anyway. The Ducks have everything that Michigan doesn’t want to see: Black Mobile quarterback, an option offense that gets to the edges of the defense, a tough running back up the middle, and those blinding green and yellow uniforms. Without that loss to Appalachian State, which is nothing but mental preparation and even then it came down to fingertips on a kicked ball, Michigan would be at least #4, probably #2 as LSU and Oregons losses (Kentucky and Cal) would have been worse than Michigan’s loss to Oregon.

Either way the Wolverines have a shot at winning the Big 10, and it doesn’t even matter what they do against Wisconson next week. All they need to do is beat Ohio State.

In the end, LSU has three games left and they need to make it past the SEC title game, definitely a tough road. Ohio State only needs to get past Michigan in the two weeks then they can take the damn near two month breather (ridiculous) before they play in the title game. I think the Wolverines pull it out in the Big House. Oregon v. USC in the BCS Championship.

Why the hell does the Big 10 get to play less games anyway? That’s just cheap.

-Brock

College Football Preview

Huge games going on today in college football.  Arizona State v. Oregon, LSU v. Saban and Alabama, Ohio State plays a Wisconsin team that will put more capable bodies on the the field than Akron and Kent State, and Boston College primed to get clipped by Florida State today.

Florida State should win just for having fans like these:

I’m surprised ESPN hasn’t tried to name it “Showdown Saturday”, or “Separation Saturday”, or “Insert promotional language here to drive viewership”.

So let’s see what’s gonna happen.  We know Arizona and Oregon is going to cause a loss in the top 5, and should propel whoever wins into the top three with LSU and Ohio state who should both hold on today.  Boston College, even if they win, will probably slide to 4.

Oregon and Dixon should win today.  Arizona State gives up big points and Oregon puts up big points.  I saw that when they blazed Michigan in the Big House.  Either way, this game is sure to be a high scoring affair.  Probably 40+ points for either team.

Dixon should be pulling out all the trickeration on this one.  Should be fun to watch.

Here’s the top 5 on Monday:

1: OSU

2: LSU

3:Oregon

4:Oklahoma

5:West Virginia

-Brock