smokinandjokin

Why? Going undefeated earns you what? That's an idotic statement, and a good way to ensure that we never see incredible games like 2005's Ohio State vs. Texas ever again. But I suppose you'd rather see non-conference matchups like Michigan beating Eastern Illinois 56-0, just so they can try to maintain their all-important undefeated record. You didn't enjoy the USC-Texas game last year? That was a result of the BCS. Blow up the BCS and you have two undefeated teams who don't play at the end of the year, and everyone misses out on one of the greatest games ever, and then sportswriters vote on the champion. Everyone dogs the BCS without ever mentioning the good things it's done. It involves computers so it sucks. Well guess what- at least the computers attempt to account for every variable. There are plenty of coaches and AP beat writers who rank college teams but don't watch two games on Saturday. I would love an NCAA playoff. Everyone would. It's so clear that it's the best option that it stings. But how do you do it? Four teams? Eight teams? How do you decide those eight? Maybe every Division 1A conference champion gets a bid? So you leave out an 11-1 SEC runner-up in favor of San Jose State? What do you do with the current bowl system, whose benefactors are very influential? If we're "blowing it up," you better throw some alternatives out there. The BCS is the best we've got RIGHT NOW. Hopefully improvements are made in the future, like this past offseason when they made an improvement by adding a game. That gives more teams from the lighter conferences a shot at a big money bowl game. More often than not, the two best teams end up playing each other for the title. Every regular season game is a playoff game. It forces schools to schedule aggressively. It maintains the tradition of the classic college bowl games. If you think Rutgers and Boise State deserve to be there for the simple fact that they went undefeated, that's rediculous. At least 15-20 other schools in the country would have gone undefeated playing those schedules. The BCS is not perfect. But to simply say "Blow it up" and offer zero solutions (besides three teams playing in a title game, like you have above) makes your argument moot.

My vote is for the longest thread title ever: "Jessica Alba sighting at the Ralph- HOT- she was with smokinandjokin again. She couldn't keep her hands off the guy! They made out for the whole 1st quarter and then left." My other vote was for: "Sabres win again, continue Stanley Cup defense, now 17-0-0. Can they be stopped?" Oh man, I can't wait.

Trust me, I know the difference. Rutgers would beat UB 42-0 this Saturday. That's why in my post I said "I know- different teams, different times." I wasn't trying to compare the two. Right or wrong, Rutgers WAS a UB-type team just four years ago, and that reality isn't just overlooked because they beat Louisville. Schianno has done an incredible job fostering a winning environment. But like you said, that takes time. Taking Rutgers from "UB" to "Ohio State" takes a LOT longer than three years. The players who considered attending Rutgers are not narrowing it down between LSU, Ohio State, USC, and the Scarlet Knights. Maybe now they will, but they certainly haven't been. UConn also made a similar transformation to their program, where they went from a bottom-feeder to a respectable squad. The Big East facilitates that possibility because it is, in general, a very weak football conference. They won a bunch of conference games and had an NFL-caliber QB. Never, ever, would they have been mistaken with a top-tier team.

I do remember Snugs had quite the bushy mullet. I was a little young to fully comprehend what was going on, but I think my aunt was in a bit of a hockey-whore phase. It was my mom's younger sister and she was apparently quite the fox in her early 20's. From the stories my old man tells me, more than one Sabre was sent to the "box" for "high sticking." Snuggerud was the only one I met, though.

That's sweet. I've actually met him a few times when I was young. He dated my aunt for a while when he was in Buffalo.

Yes! My buddy bought an Erik Cole Canes jersey for $90 to wear to the playoffs in Buffalo last year, and he wore a neck brace with it. Fairly classless (and hilarious) but hey, it was the playoffs. No holds barred.

Perhaps, in the name of safety, the young lass was simply attempting to remove 3+ ounces of fluid from the gentleman.

Snuggerud? I saw a dude at the Leafs game I went to who had the white throwback with the ol' #23 Ray Sheppard. Blast from the past.

Miller or Vanek I can't imagine going anywhere for a while, but he doesn't have Vanek in the blue. This dude is on crack if he thinks he can get $139 for the goat head while he's selling the vintage for $129.

"I swear the Big East is relevant! I swear they are! I don't understand how you guys even have an argument when the Big East has gone 4-0 against Conference USA, 6-0 against the MAC, and 6-0 against 1-AA teams. And Rutgers beat Illinois AND North Carolina!" 22-20 against South Florida, Ed. USF. But even that doesn't matter. It's impossible to compare across conferences, or say Rutgers beat X, and X beat Y, so Rutgers would destroy Y. It doesn't work. I watch games. I watch teams. Rutgers and the Big East are a glorified MAC or ConfUSA. Hell, the Big East IS ConfUSA. The players are not as good as the players on other major programs. I'm sure the best 3-4 players on any team could find their way into the lineup at even the best football factories. But overall, there is a huge talent gap from top to bottom. That's not a knock, and that's not saying that Rutgers couldn't beat Michigan once if they played ten times. They're just on different levels. Different time, different team, I know- but UB beat Rutgers 34-10 in 2002, and then Rutgers won 24-10 in 2003. Come on man. Now they're supposedly ready to play in a national championship game? Great story, but not likely.

I'm a USC alum and fan. I don't have anything against Rutgers or any other Big East school, and I don't begrudge any of Rutgers victories. I, like you, am a big NCAA FB fan and I watch a lot of games. Many teams that I have seen would beat Rutgers, and Louisville, pretty soundly. I still think WVU is the best team in the conference, but with their defense, even they would struggle against the top-10. Strictly my opinion. Simply going undefeated guarantees you nothing, when you are doing it against sub-par competition. Louisville was a mid-level program who has been building themselves up for YEARS. They have finished ranked in the top-10 a few times and even won a bowl game or two. This was their year where they earned the benefit of the doubt and had a chance at the title game. They blew it. Don't expect Rutgers to get vaulted to the top of the national picture in their first year of winning. They haven't proved anything, other than that they can win games in a light conference. Soak it up, because the program is most definitely on the rise. But that doesn't mean they can step on the field with UM, OSU, Texas, ND, or USC and compete. I don't think they can.

This is a tough one. I don't hate the BCS at all, and I think more often than not, it has done a fairly good (certainly not great) job of getting #1 to play #2 for the title. The glaring missteps were when Nebraska and Oklahoma both got trounced in the Big 12 title game and backed in as a #2, only to both get beaten again in the BCS final. And Auburn can certainly dispute the "control your own destiny" line, but USC and Oklahoma were also undefeated that year, and Auburn was ranked a distant 3rd. However, nobody thanks the BCS for putting a game on like the USC-Texas epic last year. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest college football games ever played, and it never would've happened without the BCS. USC would've played Penn State in the Rose, and Texas would've played elsewhere. Both would've won, and USC would've been the champ, while Texas would've been undefeated and #2. Obviously, as Auburn proved, the BCS can't avoid that situation, but it prevents it from happening regularly. In this year's case, not one of those teams can blame the BCS for being left out, because they have all lost this year. If Florida, or USC, or Notre Dame, or LSU finished undefeated, there would be no way to keep them out of the title game. But because they lost, they are at the mercy of the pollsters and the computers. A team may perceive themselves as getting screwed, but in the end, they know they have only themselves to blame. (Rutgers may go undefeated but that doesn't count. Go play Boise St.) Likewise, in a playoff, teams will get screwed. Clearly, it's better to argue over the 4th vs. the 5th best team, or the 8th vs. the 9th best (depending on how many are in your playoff) rather than deciding between #2 and #3, but you know very well that the same issues would arise.

Very nice, I agree with everything except the OLine- I think Fowler has played well beyond expectations this year, and has gotten better each week. I like your paragraph about the skill positions. McGahee is better than a lot of backs in the NFL, but I can think of quite a few who I'd rather have. And you are spot on with Losman...I don't think anyone can seriously lay the blame on him because he's playing behind that OLine, but with the tools that he has, it's not unrealistic to expect a little something-something every now and then. He hasn't shown it, and his mental state is starting to worry me. No matter what he or anybody else says, he HAS to be questioning himself after these last two games.

Yes! No doubt about it.

My biggest complaint was the -8 total yards of offense inside the red zone. And our 3-play, 0 yard drive after McGee's return set us up at the 12. Pretty sweet.

Even as a very young boy I always wondered why Rocky couldn't score himself a hotter piece of ass. Adrian was busted.

The line is horrible. Nobody would argue that point. Like you said, the entire offense is pathetic, and that starts with the limitations on the OLine. That said, the line is not going to all of the sudden get better this year. There comes a time when you have to go with the guys you've got. My issues: -Why no designed rollouts which create misdirection and move the pocket? -Why do they rarely seem to put JP in shotgun? -Why not a designed QB draw or bootleg for Losman? Nothing crazy, maybe one per game. Perhaps he picks up 14 yards on a scamper and it fires him up. -Why stick with the 15-yard routes when you can't protect? Call some quick slants and allow the passing game to find some rhythm. Does Roscoe play on offense anymore? -Did they call one screen against the Colts? If the line can't block they might as well let them come through and dump it off. Obviously I'm sure I'm oversymplifying things with those suggestions. But what's the point of taking a defeated attitude by just throwing up our hands and saying "Well, too bad the line sucks." Screw that. Find a way to make it work. Or at least lose trying. The pass protection has been awful, and on the four sacks yesterday, JP never had a prayer. However, it's obvious there are some serious trust issues with the offense, whether they don't trust JP to make the right decision, or they don't trust the line to protect. Whatever it is, it's pathetic to watch.

Huh? He wasn't right about last Thursday:

Don't quote me, but I believe a non-BCS confernece team is only 'BCS-eligible' if they finish in the top-12, and 'BCS-automatic' if they finish in the top-8. If Notre Dame loses to USC and finishes ranked 11th in the BCS, and Boise State is undefeated and finishes 10th, I think we can imagine which team one of the major BCS bowls would woo. Money is money.

1. Ohio State- Look to be on all cylinders 2. Michigan- Manningham is back and didn't miss a beat. Need to force 2-3 turnovers to beat OSU. 3. USC- Offense is clicking and defense is back to opportunistic ways. Handled Oregon's explosive combo of Dixon at QB and Stewart at RB- held 'em to 10 pts. Dixon was scary because athletic QBs have torn USC up the past few years. 4. Notre Dame- Knock off Army next week to win the Commander in Chief trophy (j/k Bart) and then the big one in L.A. 5. Florida- I read a quote today that said their offense just can't seem to get out of their own way. Sounds about right. Two blocked FG's and a blocked XP gave them the white-knuckle 17-16 victory in the Swamp. 6. Arkansas- If they beat LSU and then Florida in the SEC title game, it's hard to keep them out of the BCS championship. Going undefeated in the SEC and losing only to USC in week 1 would be extremely impressive. 7. Wisconsin- Only loss came at Michigan. Stayed on track this week with a big road win at Iowa, playing without their starting QB Stocco. There hasn't been a team lately who can stop sophomore TE Travis Beckum. 8. Rutgers- Not undefeated for long, in my opinion. Watch out for the trap this week, after the emotional win vs. Louisville, they can't get caught looking ahead to WVU before they take care of tricky Cincinnatti. WVU rolls Rutgers regardless, IMO. 9. Boise State- Even though they'd probably get crushed by a few teams I'm leaving behind them, winning your first ten games gets you into my rankings. Hopefully they make a BCS game and play well. Typically, they are nothing special when they leave the blue turf. 10. LSU- Either the Tigers or Arkansas are the best team in the nation's most challenging conference. We'll find out on 11/24. Outside looking in (11-15): WVU, Texas, Louisville, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech

My brother-in-law is from NY, but now lives in Boston. He is a big NYG fan. The only game he scored tickets for this year was NYG-Chicago at the Meadowlands this weekend. He is going with his brother who is flying in from California. Of course, months after all of their flights were set up, which included flying out Sunday night, the NFL and NBC changed the game to the Sunday night game. He's still going, and everyone knew before the season that changes could be made to the schedule to set up a marquee matchup in primetime, but it still was a pain in the ass to make all of the travel adjustments, which now includes an extra night at the hotel, etc. I was thinking about how those changes would affect out-of-town travellers before the season when the idea was announced. It was funny that someone I know was affected by the very first switch...

My friend sent me an email, no link, that said this: Sabres team officials say Ryan Miller will not start Friday night in goal for the Sabres game against the Florida Panthers because of a minor injury. They say the 2nd year goalie injured his back while exercising. They would not go into the details of the injury, but did say that it was only minor. If a problem can't be solved by drinking, then it's a problem that I haven't had yet.

That's right, I forgot about him too. The Giants' pass rush was really catching fire for a while there. I believe in two successive weeks they sacked Vick 7 times and then Bledsoe/Romo 6 times. Too bad both DE's will be out, because we saw what happens to Grossman last week when you force him to throw off his back foot. Plaxico is injured also, but says he's going to play.

They would be right in the thick of it. Their SOS should jump with the quality of their last four opponents, and if they win out, things could fall in their favor. They are 7th in computer avg right now, and Florida is 5th. Florida's SOS won't move much at the end of the reg season, but a big SEC final against Auburn or Arkansas should help them. I can imagine the horror in Idaho if Boise State goes undefeated but is left out, and USC plays in the title game, because BSU demolished Oregon State 42-14. If USC runs the table, OSU would be their one loss.

State lotteries- Taxes on people who are bad at math