Official American Football Thread

I think this is going to be one of those games between 2 high powered offenses in which one of them doesn't show up, ... or at least until the 4th quarter when it's too late. I don't know why I get that feeling, I just do.... maybe bacause of other bowl games this year.

I think Oklahoma will be the offense that shows and beats Florida 43 - 31.
 
D&N said:
I don't think Joe Flacco deserved any MVP consideration, he is carried by a great defense. Chad Pennington, however, definitely deserved MORE MVP consideration.
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Pennington got a lot of MVP consideration, actually, and all the talking heads on TV had him on their shortlists of MVP candidates.  Manning's year was more impressive, and Pennington's performance in the playoffs was almost as abysmal as Favre's play in the last month of the regular season.  And, Favre has been EXTREMELY selfish in recent years, as evidenced by the comments coming out of Jets locker room last week, namely, that he didn't fraternize with the other players and holed up in his own private office at the team's facility, dressed and showered apart from the rest of the team, etc.  
D&N said:
Oklahoma or Florida?
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Utah!!!!  Seriously, they went undefeated, beat four nationally-ranked teams this year, and just traveled to the Sugar Bowl in the Deep South and spanked Alabama, a team that was ranked #1 for several weeks and the same team that Florida beat (less convincingly) just to qualify for the BCS bowl.  Plus, they beat the team that beat USC, namely, Oregon State.  What more did the Utes have to do?  I really do hope that the AP voters split the national championship.  The BCS is a fraud. 
 
Pennington got a lot of MVP consideration, actually, and all the talking heads on TV had him on their shortlists of MVP candidates.  Manning's year was more impressive, and Pennington's performance in the playoffs was almost as abysmal as Favre's play in the last month of the regular season.  And, Favre has been EXTREMELY selfish in recent years, as evidenced by the comments coming out of Jets locker room last week, namely, that he didn't fraternize with the other players and holed up in his own private office at the team's facility, dressed and showered apart from the rest of the team, etc. 
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I can't speak for Brett but I imagine that he feels that he cannot relate to the youth of today that are his teammates. I'm in my mid-thirties and most of the people I work around are in their late teens/early twenties (and have nowhere near the egos of NFL players, Marines or not).... I talk to them but we don't relate on much. As I said before, it is impossible for someone to accomplish what he has and not have at least SOME cockiness about him.

Utah!!!!  Seriously, they went undefeated, beat four nationally-ranked teams this year, and just traveled to the Sugar Bowl in the Deep South and spanked Alabama, a team that was ranked #1 for several weeks and the same team that Florida beat (less convincingly) just to qualify for the BCS bowl.  Plus, they beat the team that beat USC, namely, Oregon State.  What more did the Utes have to do?  I really do hope that the AP voters split the national championship.  The BCS is a fraud. 
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That aside, (we have this every year and until NCAA football gets it's head out of it's ass and creates some kind of playoff, it will continue) who do you like tonight?
 
Most of the best and greatest athletes are selfish. Even the Great One, Wayne Gretzky admitted that in his hey day he was very selfish. It is not a bad trait to have. The NCAA has alot of issues when it comes to college football. They can't even agree on the rankings because of strength of scheduele issues.
 
Yep, the strength of schedule is what kills those 'non-BCS' schools.  Like when Fresno State went undefeated the other year, had a great game and finished something like 5th after all the bowl games.  I agree with strenght of schedule for some schools, cause Ball State, with one loss, just wasn't a great team.  But Utah has proven that it can win against ranked, strong teams.  USC got the bone as well, cause other than that one 'blip', there aren't many schools that can hang with the way they play.  I dont think that Florida or Oklahoma would be able to beat them.
 
It was a pretty good game to watch.  But, it made me think more about this 'strenght of schedule' that keeps cropping up in the BCS.  I know that Utah is now the #2 team, but is it really?  I know it had some good games, but does anyone really think it could keep up with some of the top 'powerhouse' teams.  Originally, I thought it could.  However, I am beginning to wonder at how good some of these 'top' teams really are.  I know the Big Ten is kinda weak, but the best team in the Big Ten isn't as good as half of the top 25.  Honestly, I think that would be the biggest problem with a playoff, cause any Big Ten team, or half of the other conferences, would be destroyed in the first half of a playoff game, while some teams that are better, say a SEC team or even an ACC team, wouldn't get in....

just a random football thought....
 
Yeah, I'm sure it does.

OK, here's my thinking.  All schools are ranked by how they perform during the year.  However, the school teams play most of their games within their conference.  So, if you have, say Penn State looking like a killer in the Big Ten, but then they go up against the best in the PAC-10 conference (USC), and they have nothing for them.  However, in a 'playoff', they (Penn St) would have been ranked 8th-- clearly not deserving of that ranking, and not deserving of being included in the playoff series-- but they looked good all year, cause they played well in the big ten.

Picture the Maple Leafs playing against an AHL conference.  They might win many games, look like a strong team, but if you justified allowing them into the (NHL) playoffs based on their performance against weaker teams, it'd be a dissappointing playoff series.
 
This is why there will always be second guessing when it comes to college football rankings and bowl matchups, in particular the BCS champion. Since the BCS inception, how many times has there been a winner that EVERYONE agrees with.?
 
Well!  Interesting so far.  Good for the Cards, what a huge win on the road-- and i got the game completely backwards!

It'll be interesting to see how this last game goes today (so far, I'm 1-2, pick-wise).  I picked Pitt, but I am hoping that SD wins....
 
I would like to see a Ravens/Eagles Superbowl. I live 45 miles from Philly and 56 miles from Baltimore, right smack dab in the middle!!
It would get pretty interesting here, but I would be impartial, seeing how the Patriots were left out this year. I thought the Eagles were going to loose big, especially when McNabb intentionally grounded the ball in the endzone.
 
I was a little unsure at the beginning of the game-- mostly cause the Giants just weren't 'taking' the game.  Philly seemed to be pretty confident, even when they weren't moving the ball.

I'd love to see the Cards in the Super Bowl, just so every one (sports announcer-wise) shuts up about bad they are.  I always liked Warner, glad he is having a good season!

I see that the Pat's O-coordinator is going to the Broncos.
 
Wasted155 said:
I know that Utah is now the #2 team, but is it really?  I know it had some good games, but does anyone really think it could keep up with some of the top 'powerhouse' teams. 
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Actually, Utah not only "kept up" with the top teams this year, it beat them.  Utah beat Alabama (ranked #6 in the final poll), Texas Christian (#7), Oregon State (#19 -- and the team that knocked off #3 USC), and BYU (#24).  By comparison, Florida beat Oklahoma (#5), Alabama (by fewer points than Utah beat them), Georgia (#10) and Florida State (#23), but LOST to Mississippi (#14). 

My picks for this weekend are the Steelers and the Cardinals.  I just don't trust Andy Reid (Philly's coach) in a big game on the road. 
 
Yeah, I can dig what you are saying about Utah.  They have a much better claim to that position (#1) than Boise STate did a few years back, due to the difficulty of their schedule.  Likely, this year is going to have to be a 'jumping board' year for them, to face a more difficult BCS schedule, to see if they can hang in there.

cornfedhick said:
My picks for this weekend are the Steelers and the Cardinals.  I just don't trust Andy Reid (Philly's coach) in a big game on the road. 
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You mean a third big on the road game?  I agree; his play calling through most of the first half was suspect-- not until they were in the '2 minute drill' did the play calling create the matchups that Philly needed.  If he goes the 'run on first down' again, AZ won't be slow to put up points.  Looks like a good game, but I think that Warner has some magic in the tank-- tho I don't see them beating the Ravens in the super bowl (yeah, I'm on the Baltimore wagon  :p)
 
Wasted155 said:
Yeah, I can dig what you are saying about Utah.  They have a much better claim to that position (#1) than Boise STate did a few years back, due to the difficulty of their schedule.  Likely, this year is going to have to be a 'jumping board' year for them, to face a more difficult BCS schedule, to see if they can hang in there.
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That's why the BCS is a bunch of bullshit. They need to set up a real playoff format.
 
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