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I think most of us would agree that a playoff system for college football would be best. But that's very unlikely.

So the BCS is supposed to provide an accurate measure of the nation's top teams. However, how can you include a poll that doesn't rank Notre Dame in the top 25? Not that I care so much about the fate of Notre Dame...I'm sure there are other glaring errors that affect other teams. I just happened to be reading this article, and the paragraph that I highlighted below surprised me.

Quote:

BCS computers byte the Irish Tuesday, October 18, 2005

By RALPH D. RUSSO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Southern California and Texas are at the top of the first Bowl Championship Series standings. But Notre Dame has a long way to go to become eligible for one of college football's four big-money bowl games.

The first-place Trojans are No. 1 in both the USA Today coaches' poll and the Harris Interactive poll, and they graded out best in the six computer rankings. USC had a BCS grade of .9923 and a solid cushion over the second-place Longhorns (.9591) in the standings released Monday.

But second is as good as first in the BCS because the top two teams in the standings after the regular season play for a national title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

"I care because we are a great team," Longhorns quarterback Vince Young said. "We deserve it because of how hard we're playing. But the BCS is wild. If you just take care of your business, everything else will fall into place."

Texas has a big lead over third-place Virginia Tech (.9067). Georgia (.8933) is fourth and Alabama (.8220) fifth.

Lagging behind is Notre Dame (.3985). The Fighting Irish are 16th because of a poor showing in the computer rankings.

To become eligible for selection to either the Sugar, Orange or Fiesta bowls, Notre Dame (4-2) needs to finish the season with nine wins and be in the top 12 of the final BCS standings.

"You start worrying about the BCS and what bowl you're playing in, then BYU comes in and ends up beating you, which they are capable of doing, which we'll talk about [today], then you've made a bad miscalculation," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said shortly before the BCS standings were released Monday.

You won't find the rookie Fighting Irish coach railing against the BCS or for a playoff in college football.

"I could care less," he said. "Really, I could care less. I mean, whatever it is. Just tell me where we're going and I'll be there."

The BCS formula is the same as last season, with each poll counting for one-third of a team's grade and the computer ratings making up the remaining third. The highest grade possible is 1.000.

After a thrilling 34-31 loss to USC on Saturday, Notre Dame was 11th in the Harris poll and 12th in the coaches' poll. But the Irish are no better than 22nd in the BCS's six computer rankings, and they are not even among the best 25 teams in the country in computer rankings put out by Richard Billingsley and Kenneth Massey.

With seven weeks left in this season, there are seven unbeaten teams in Division I-A - USC, Texas, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Alabama, Texas Tech and UCLA.

I wonder if they would be ranked a bit higher if the USC QB hadn't been helped across the goal line on the last play of the game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldRightHander

I wonder if they would be ranked a bit higher if the USC QB hadn't been helped across the goal line on the last play of the game.

Or if the ball had been properly spotted after the fumble.

But even so, they have to be better then #25.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJReds

Or if the ball had been properly spotted after the fumble.

But even so, they have to be better then #25.

They certainly are better than quite a few of the higher ranked teams. The Buckeyes could certainly use that offense this year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldRightHander

I wonder if they would be ranked a bit higher if the USC QB hadn't been helped across the goal line on the last play of the game.

This was the weekend for fishy or crazy endings. scUM getting Penn St on the last play of the game, the ending in this game (the ball should have been on about the three), and the screw job that the Saints (dang anti-Christian garbage ;) ) got in their game. Plus, in flipping channels, the Monday Night game went from St. Looey hanging on to a 20-17 late in the 3rd to come back and find the score at 45-20.

Gotta be the full moon. :mooner:

Quote:

Originally Posted by traderumor

Plus, in flipping channels, the Monday Night game went from St. Looey hanging on to a 20-17 late in the 3rd to come back and find the score at 45-20.

Yes...that crazy ending that had the Rams tacking on a meaningless TD w/4 minutes left cost me a win in Fantasy Football. Actually, it was the 2-pt conversion. If they kicked the extra point or failed to get the 2 pointer, I win.:bang:

According to Jeff Sagarin, as of right now Notre Dame has played the toughest schedule in the nation.

And for that - and a 4-2 record, the computers don't have them ranked among the top 22.

Complete BS

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJReds

Or if the ball had been properly spotted after the fumble.

But even so, they have to be better then #25.

They would still have 7 seconds on the clock. Do you know for sure they still wouldn't of gotten in from the 2 yard line? Nobody knows either way.

Pat Forde on the irish and the SEC

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colum...pat&id=2194153

There are some out there that think that not only is Notre Dame overrated, that USC is as well. The term "paper tiger" comes to mind for both. Notre Dame lost to Michigan State. Who has a very poor defense. Pitt was terrible, Michigan is not very good, and neither is Purdue. The Domers are whining about this, I didn't see OSU whining after they lost to Texas and were dropped from 4 to 9 in the polls. Notre Dame will lose again before their bowl game.

USC has been playing with fire, all year. The PAC 10 is very very poor. That doesn't mean that USC won't win it all again, but I would love to see them play a team with a real D. To me they are a team that can be beaten. Great Defense will stop a Great offense. Notre Dame can score the ball, USC has a subpar secondary, and a young front seven. Teams can score on them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Good point. But I've watched enough college football this year to be sure that Notre Dame deserves to be ranked higher than 25 (or whatever the computer has them at...30? 40?) Especially if the Computer has USC at #1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Notre Dame a "paper tiger" - that is too funny.

Lets see

Pitt at Pittsburgh
Michigan at Michigan
Michigan State at ND
Purdue at Purdue
Washington at Washington
USC at ND

Hmmmmm, 5 of the 6 had been rated Top 25 so far this year. One is the number 1 team who has won 28 straight games. Michigan was as high as number 3, so they are talented, whether they are playing like crap or not (and a Michigan team that just beat an undefeated Penn State team, so we know they can play with anyone).

There are no Louisiana Tech's, no Florida A & M's, no Alabama A&T's. There are four road games against major conference teams. There are 3 games against Big Ten teams, a Big East team and two Pac 10's.

To call Notre Dame a paper tiger is laughable. Ask any team in the country if before the season they would have taken ND's schedule and they all, every one of them, would have said categoricallly no. 4 of your first 5 on the road (including Michigan and Purdue) and your 6th against a team that hasn't lost for two years.

And ND will lose again? Look at their schedule - the only potential landmine they have is Tennessee, and thats at ND. to say with such brazen gusto that ND "will lose again" - come on.

Next, ND isn't complaining. They didn't complain when they lost to Michigan State and were dropped and they aren't complaining now because they got dropped - just like Ohio State. What they are complaining about is not being ranked higher than 22 in any computer poll, and the fact that they are 16th in the BCS. Whereas Ohio State, with 2 losses as well, is in there with what 8computers out of ten say is an easier schedule (although just barely cause I saw ND with the number 1 schedule thus far and Ohio State with the number 3). Which means that for Ohio State not to be ranked among the top 15 in the BCS would be a joke, just like for ND to not be ranked among the top 15 in the BCS is a joke. We're not looking for number 1. Not even number 8. Just top 15.

Finally, as for the assertion that the Pac Ten is very, very poor - well UCLA is undefeated, USC is USC, Oregon is in the BCS top 12 and Cal is strong as well. Not to mention Arizona State took a good LSU team to the final minutes and is better than people think. The pac Ten may not be the best conference, but to call them very, very poor is incorrect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Puffy

Notre Dame a "paper tiger" - that is too funny.

Lets see

Pitt at Pittsburgh
Michigan at Michigan
Michigan State at ND
Purdue at Purdue
Washington at Washington
USC at ND

Sorry, but that's a crap schedule. Not Notre Dame's fault, when they put it together years ago I bet it looked pretty darn good. Sometimes things don't work out and your opponents let you down, but that's life. Pitt is freaking horrible. Michigan is a schitzo team struggling to stay on the right side of .500. Purdue is last in the Big 10. Washington is last in the Pac 10. The only two worthwhile teams on the list ND lost to. I do think ND is a good team (I actually thought beforehand they would upset USC), but looking at their strength of schedule I can see why the computers don't really like them. It's not going to get any better either. BYU is blah, Navy is insignificant, Syracuse is downright awful and Stanford lost to a D-II school for crying out loud. Only Tennessee makes for a decent opponent, and if ND loses that game the reality is that while they'll have beaten a bunch of "name" schools, they'll have a pretty hollow 8-3 record.

Puffy, please watch some of the PAC 10 games. Their is absolutely NO DEFENSE in that conference.

I do not fault Notre Dame's schedule. Year in and year out it is fantastic. The problem is this year. Those teams are not good. Michigan State has absolutely no defense. My family has some serious Notre Dame fans in it. They don't get it either. Because their opponents are down, Notre Dame is enjoying a "good" season. Put the 2005 Irish against the 2003 Irish Schedule, and see how they would look then. I don't believe they would be .500. Charlie Wiess has a good recruiting class coming in, and they will improve, but I think some Domers have the Irish colored glasses on, in regards to this years team.

IIRC, the Pac-10 has the best or second best BCS bowl record since the system was created. It cracks me up everytime I hear someone say the PAC-10 is weak. How come they beat OOC opponents so often then?

And you say the Pac-10 defenses are bad, well, the same could be said for SEC offenses.