2011 College Football Season

[Meacon Keaton]

Nevermind. I'm not even in the group, despite going to join and typing in the password. Now it says I can't join the group because of differing conferences.

[HailtotheYo]

Well Fuck ESPN on that then ..... Lemme tinker when I get home

[HailtotheYo]

Fixed ... All Conferences available.

[DMN in the House]

I'll look into joining when I go into work on Thursday.

[gunnar hendershow]

I can't find the Challenge group.

[HailtotheYo]

EWB group name, and the password is: Death Penalty

ESPN reset it when I fixed the conferences. ReallY ? Instead of just editing the freaking existing group it reset the thing. Jeebus.

[HailtotheYo]

The Independents

A funny thing happened last year. ND/Navy/Army all went bowling and all finished with winning records. Army even knocked off upsart SMU in the Armed Forces Bowl, Notre Dame beat the "we always suck in cold weather" U in the Sun Bowl (yeah I know how that sounds, but check the weather), and Navy ran into Hoke and his SDSU bunch. Now BYU joins the fray instead of staying with the MWC and pushing the BCS (fuck you Cougars, fuck you).

So who's going to finish with what record ? - Notre Dame is an insteresting case. I love Chip and the job he does. He's got a boatload to work with as 17 starters come back however his QB situation is anything but steady. Yeah there's two guys that can get the job done just fine, but having two different guys with over 150 attempts isn't good because either someone got hurt, or neither guy is that much better than the other one. In this case Crist went down and Rees stepped up well enough. The biggest concern is that it took Mr Chip a good while to determine that Crist is indeed the starter over Rees. I don't like that issue. Floyd ... has all the talent in the world, BUT. I dunno about their RBs either. Wood is very capable but he's not the dynamic back that elite programs have and he's not going to carry a game on his back. All of this said though, in recent history this is when ND has popped its head back above water and reminded everyone that the Gold Domers do matter. Chip will make sure that happens. They've got 3 tough road games (the Big House/Pitt/Stanford) and the rest of the schedule doesn't exactly provide cupcakes (AF/Navy/USC/MichST/even USF in week 1). This is my biggest issue with ND. They've got a loaded schedule. The smell test only gives me 5 "for sure" wins. After that they appear to be toss ups or losses. I dunno what to make of this team. Chip is still a year or two away from flushing the athlete/talent base completely and having his starters and depth set up to suit his style. 8-5 was the finish last year. I don't see regression but I certainly don't see the "return of ND" that almost everyone else sees. Out of this set of teams (Mich/MichST/USC/Stanford/Pitt/AF) they'll lose half. I'm honestly looking at 9-4 or 8-5 depending on the bowl game. They will though look much more like ND than what we've been seeing in recent history. IF <--- the QB situation fleshes itself out I can see them hit 10 wins.

BYU joins the ranks of the free this year and have all the offense in the world to make a statement right out of the gate. 10 guys back and one of the best (and looks to be real deal) young QBs in college football. Hell, if Jay Heaps were under cent for ND I'd probably be full on the Irish Wagon. They should be much better than last year but have tough road games @ Texas, OrgSt, TCU, Hawaii ... and don't laugh to hard but Ole Miss week 1 won't be automatic. I see 5 'auto' wins looking over the schedule. I can see them beating UCF, Oregon State, and Hawaii ... I'll even give them Ole Miss because I think week 1 will effect the Rebs more than BYU. 9-4 is what I'll go with, but 10 wins isn't out of the question.

Good 'ol Army enjoyed going bowling last year. They've got the team to do it again this year as they have all the right guys coming back on offense and enough of their defense joining them. Unfortunately they trade up on their schedule. Northern Illinois/SDSU/Northwestern replace Eastern Michigan/North Texas/Duke. They do drop Notre Dame, but add a tough road game at Miami (OH). I would love to, but can't see them going bowling again. 5 wins is likely but Army will play good football and be beyond respectable.

BEAT Navy ... sorry the Army came out there. Great 9 win season last year. 10 returning starters doesn't look bad if you look over the last few years (no more than 12) but the disparity between O/D hasn't been this bad in a while. Only 3 back on D will hurt. They also loss Ricky Dobbs, who was phenomenal. They play @ South Carolina and Notre Dame, and have toss ups with SMU/ECU/Southern Miss. I don't see Navy repeating last year but I do see them pushing another bowl season. 6-7 wins this year seems right as they'll likely pull an upset but crap the bed as well against a SJSU/WKU/or Troy.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yes, that sound you hear is in fact HTTK jumping up and down in celebration.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6912807/texas-aggies-tell-big-12-seek-new-conference

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm so giddy about this Saturday, I'm finding it hard to concentrate on anything.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's a shame I have work this Saturday, start of football season is the biggest deal for me.

[Meacon Keaton]

What the hell are you doing, damshow?!

[gunnar hendershow]

What the hell are you doing, damshow?!

Apparently EWB is cutting off the last half of my posts. Fixed the problem now though.

[HailtotheYo]

Yes, that sound you hear is in fact HTTK jumping up and down in celebration.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6912807/texas-aggies-tell-big-12-seek-new-conference

Indeed. Spoke with my dad (Aggie grad) and the sentiment in College Station is that they should have gone ahead and jumped ship last year when all the bullshit broke to the surface.

[HailtotheYo]

A&M sets July 2012 deadline as long as they find another conference.

They're submitting an application to another conference which is unnamed .

*cough*

[naiwf]

A&M sets July 2012 deadline as long as they find another conference.

They're submitting an application to another conference which is unnamed .

*cough*

If only there was some way we could SEC into the future and guess which conference they'll end up in?

[Meacon Keaton]

Ole' Miss Georgia (the one with the Auburn hair) from Alabama said they've Vanderbilt a good reputation down in the South. I'm sure we'll hear an official announcement sooner than Gator.

LSU.

[sahyder1]

Is there a link to the ESPN pick'em group?

I set one up on Yahoo too.

9614

pw-ewb

Excited to be heading out in a bit to the season opener.

[HailtotheYo]

try this

Also, some "over dinner discussion" from a good friend of mine at A&M who has some pretty good sources in Norman .... there's some discussion going around, that has legs, about OK/OKST being proactive and not waiting around to stay on the sinking ship with Texas. Pac-12 might be getting a call in the relatively near future.

[GhostMachine]

I have a proposal for the NCAA:

Miami and Ohio State play each other in a bowl game at a neutral site halfway between each school at the end of the year. The team that loses gets the death penalty, the NCAA gets all the money, and the winner gets a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni.

[naiwf]

I have a proposal for the NCAA:

Miami and Ohio State play each other in a bowl game at a neutral site halfway between each school at the end of the year. The team that loses gets the death penalty, the NCAA gets all the money, and the winner gets a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni.

The Rice-A-Roni Death Penalty Bowl does have a nice ring to it