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Hehe..talk about the ACC being a mess...

Virginia can actually still win it and are tied for the lead.

Please pick against OSU again (supersition)
J/K

MSU didn't line up well against OSU. Specifically, OSUs weakness is depth at CB against 3 and 4 WR formations, their strength is LB. Against MSU they could cut loose with the corner blitz and let the LBs fly all over the field - looked like the OSU D of old. Taking my homer hat off, I don't expect the same look against PSU or the Illini.

Cheer up Bruce, 28-11 overall is still pretty good. I thought some of your picks this week were kind of gutsy. At least nobody can accuse of going the safe route just to pad your stats. Just keep callsing em like you sees em. We`ll keep reading em.

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 06:15 PM ET  10.19 by Prove It

Please pick against OSU again (supersition)J/KMSU didn't line up well against OSU. Specifically, OSUs weakness is depth at CB against 3 and 4 WR formations, their strength is LB. Against MSU they could cut loose with the corner blitz and let the LBs fly all over the field - looked like the OSU D of old. Taking my homer hat off, I don't expect the same look against PSU or the Illini.

You are right on the money with the matchups. I watched the OSU LBs feast. They knew they were going to get a dose of Ringer all day and they really jammed the running lanes.

However that certainly won't work against a team with a good passing game. PSU runs a lot of middle crossing patterns and the LBs will have to stay home and watch those middle zones. That in turn will help open the running lanes. It is going to be a tough assignment for the OSU D. Not to mention, this is not Michigan State's porous defense they will be facing. I think this PSU defense is a for-real D that harkens back to the old days when PSU was known as "Linebacker U"

QUOTE(#4):

Originally posted 06:23 PM ET  10.19 by BruceS1G

...However that certainly won't work against a team with a good passing game...

If I were to take off my homer hat, I would say we're doomed against PSU and the Illini...

Almost forgot my vote for next week's picks:
1. tOSU-PSU
2. Texas-OSU
3. Central Michigan-Western Michigan



J/K on the 3rd...

Going out on a limb here, but, the Texas ranking is just stuck in my craw....

We always hear the hoopla about OFFENSES and POINTS SCORED. Given that wins ARE wins...I thought I'd check to see just what the top three have been up against and who they will be up against for the remainder of the season of the current NCAA Defenses rankings:

(Note the lower the ranking number, the better the defense to be played against.)

Texas beat: #'s 89, 115, 61, 117, 66, and 101. AVG = 91.5
Texas will play: #'s 47, 58, 73, 65, and 102. AVG = 69
Texas is currently ranked with the 39th best defense in the NCAA.
Big 12 AVG Defense Ranking = 71.5

Bama beat: #'s 36, 23, 75, 61, 12, 18, 52. AVG = 39.6
Bama will play: #'s 11, 47, 24, 22, and 14. AVG = 23.6
Bama is currently ranked with the 16th best defense in the NCAA.
SEC AVG Defense Ranking = 24.6

Penn beat: #'s 27, 107, 70, 60, 97, 44, and 71. AVG = 68
Penn will play: #'s 10, 25, 86, and 63. AVG = 46
Penn is currently ranked with the 8th best defense in the NCAA.
Big 10 AVG Defense Ranking = 54.3

The point of all these numbers?

When Big 12 plays in conference, sure seems like lots of scores are a bit high on both sides of the final outcome. The Horns (and McCoy) are looking real good because they're playing against poor defensive teams (less OK). Considering the scores on the other side of the boards, with the "quality" of the teams they've played, they don't seem to have much of a defense of their own though they are ranked 39th in the NCAA. TX ought to, and better, win its last five regular season games. There's literally NOTHING standing in the Horns' way!?!

Plenty of folks hit on the Bama O being hot and cold, but, the defensive odds have been stacked against the Tide from the beginning. Looking at the numbers above, it's 2 to 1 that the Nittany Lions will cruise into the Championship against the Horns. If it comes to that, Penn's Defense (8th) will shut down McCoy's offense (10th) and win the NC. If Bama should make the NC game, the Bama defense (16th) might cause the Horns O a little more trouble than they are used to, but, I think the offense will have to work a bit (Clemson's Defense is ranked 36th and we know what happened to them ;-)). But, we must remember that those offensive ranking are also based upon success over good or bad defenses.

(I'll apologize in advance if I've scribbled down the wrong numbers while looking up the stats, but, I think the argument is still sound based upon the disparity of the averages.)

Any thoughts on this Bruce?

Wow. the LSU defense finally showed up and played like they are capable of playing. The second half was the defense we recognize down here in LA. We finally got to see a blitz or two, I thought they had forgotten how to pressure a QB. I think they have been playing waaaaay to much zone and they finally played a little man to man. If you've watched them at all this year they've been really conservative with the young defensive back field and any team with a mediocre passing game can hit the 6-10 yd pass over the middle all night. See FL, see 1st half of USC game. Well they finally let them loose in the second half. Safety Blitzes, man coverage, etc. This what they have done the last few years under Pelini and they had gotten away from that type of ball. Get pressure on the QB and he will not have time to make accurate passes and it also takes him out of his rythm. Couple this with a few safety blitzes and it a recipe for offensive disaster. I hope they keep this system up for next weeks game, otherwise Stafford will pick them apart 10 yards at a time. Another surprise is that Keiland Williams got some carries. Williams was expected to be the premier back for LSU this year but did not impress in the spring. He had only 17 carries this season before last night because he had a bad case of Popeye's biscuit residue on his fingers. Well he's obviously gotten rid of the butter fingers and is set on gaining a few yards. Lee is still a work in progress but the Tiger faithful must remember that he is a freshman. Byrd made a great catch, 50/50 aka Brandon LaFell make a couple as well but he also missed a few. Richard Dickson should be utilized more as a pass catching TE in my opinion. He always produces in the clutch. As I predicted before the season. 10-2 or 9-3. The crucial games that I see are obviously UGA and BAMA but rest assured the Tigers won't take the boys from Oxford lightly either. Bama had the UGA first half that they looked really dominate in. Other than that I say they are 1a in the west. I even give them the edge over LSU right now. What I think the Tide should be concerned with is the Tide playing down to inferior competition. Or did they just play up against UGA? What I do know is that Bama is on a roll, no pun intended. Saban has a nack for bringing teams to the national level. Just don't be surprise when he gets bored in a couple of years and heads back to the challenge of an NFL team. Please don't think it won't/can't happen, believe me, I know.

CenLA, See my post above about defense. The teams Bama had "issues" with weren't really that bad on defense. Tulane is currently ranked 23nd, Kentucky 18th, and Ole Miss is 22nd. Not saying our Offense doesn't have some issues, but, the defenses we played were all rated fairly high compared to the other two Top 3 teams... So, not sure if we played down all that much or if we played up to Clemson and Georgia? Thoughts?

Quick note on the Saban issue. I think it's not so much what fans think about the coach, its whether or not the players buy into the program. Players buy in, team gets good, fans get happy, fans like coach...... I think the 5 years of sanctions had more impact on the Tide than the coaches. Saban has a good rep, (outside of Baton Rouge ;-)), and he came along at the right time to grab a good class of recruits which improved the team rep and the confidence in the upperclassmen. Face it, it honestly only takes one missed play to lose a ball game... Ask Urban Meyers about running Tebow instead of going for the FG. HA

You forgot to mention the fans in Miami, Ha! Do you recall the personal jet that arrived to pick him up in FL as he slinked away from failure? I guess 7-0 erases the past. I think the game on the 8th will be extremely close but my gosh that will be the loudest stadium in the history of college football. It will surpass the Earthquake game I'm sure. As a coach I think is is good, as a recruiter I think he is excellent! Kentucky and Ole Miss did well and if/woulda/coulda/shoulda/. Ole Miss would have been able to continue that drive, who knows. On to other things, Ya know I watched Sleezy Pete Carroll run up the score on that WSU team and I thought what an arse. I then saw Les kneel the ball when LSU could have banged it in on S. Carolina and that showed me something. I don't know, things like that impress me. By the way, South Carolina did not score before the half. That was a BS call. The back was down six inches from the line and then raised the ball toward the line once he was down. Anyone? please tell me that you saw that as well.

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 10:22 PM ET  10.19 by CenLA Tiger

...By the way, South Carolina did not score before the half. That was a BS call...

Wow... and I thought my comments got a bit wordy...

Dude, I love your comments, but blaming the refs is below you. It is literally part of the game. (Do you have any idea how much tOSU could rant about the calls in their last 3 losses?)

I agree on running up the score. Maybe someday the pollsters will agree NOT to elevate a team for running up some meaningless scores at the end of the 4th. Better yet, for just 1 week, drop a team and we will see just how fast the practice ends.

I give zero credence to quoting offensive and defensive stats between conferences for 2 simple reason:
1. The stats are compiled from round robin play and fluff (fluff = 90+% of the games against teams outside the major 6 conferences)
2. There is insufficient inter conference play to provide a sufficient sampling to apply stats across conferences.

We as homer fans are to blame for the lack of quality inter-conference games when we do not exalt a team in the polls for winning a quality inter-conference game. It shouldn't make up for a loss, but it should be enough to get the nod above other teams with the same record... maybe then they would start scheduling quality inter-conference match-ups.

Yeah, forgot about he $40 million escape that Nick pulled in Miami. But, ya gotta admit motivating a bunch of NFL prima donnas is a far cry from motivating college players.

You are right about the game on the 8th, I think I"m going to avoid that utter madness and watch from the comfort of my easy chair. I'm just hoping the game will "last" four quarters.
Thinkng ya'lls' game against the Dawgs ought to be a good show. The only time I don't root for another SEC team is when the Tide is playing 'em. I like it that SEC teams pull in all those bowl dollars for the conference to build with every year.

I'll give Les cudos. It's not easy to control a SEC team that's out for blood, and most them are most of the time. This brings to bear my arguement about Tx and their #1 ranking when they haven't played any decent defenses less Ohio State. Running up the score on the cripple, lame, and lazy for stats (and trophies) isn't what the game is about.

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 10:45 PM ET  10.19 by Prove It

I give zero credence to quoting offensive and defensive stats between conferences for 2 simple reason:1. The stats are compiled from round robin play and fluff (fluff = 90+% of the games against teams outside the major 6 conferences)2. There is insufficient inter conference play to provide a sufficient sampling to apply stats across conferences.

Exactly why I worked the math on the intraconference stats. For the most part, the AVG NCAA Defensive stats are based on the fluff from pre-conference play so we all get that "bye." I agree stats can be thrown out the window at each kick-off. My point is that most of us argue for our team and against others based on offensive stats without much regard to anything but poll placement. Just trying to keep it lively, but, I still think TX is pulling a Hawaii this year.

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 10:45 PM ET  10.19 by Prove It

Wow... and I thought my comments got a bit wordy...Dude, I love your comments, but blaming the refs is below you.

Yes, I can see your point of view but it would be different if it wasn't reviewed. These guys showed it in slow-mo, up one side and down the other. The commentators even mentioned it later in the broadcast. Look it's not whining because we won. It was just aggravating because it was right there! My personnal belief is that they don't like to overturn too many calls because they want to add validity to the on the field officials. OK, that's all I have on that issue, next.

Great blog as usualy Bruce. Now I am going to do some shameless self promoting for the group. Many of you guys are already in my Fans of the SEC group. If you you know of any decent SEC fans out there throw them an invite. Still need fans for Ole Miss, Miss. St. Arkansas, Tennessee, Vandy, South Carolina, and I think Kentucky. I might have Kentucky covered though I will have to see. Bruce your weekly picks and recap would be great for the group too.

QUOTE(#6):

Originally posted 09:37 PM ET  10.19 by hikerbama

Going out on a limb here, but, the Texas ranking is just stuck in my craw....We always hear the hoopla about OFFENSES and POINTS SCORED. Given that wins ARE wins...I thought I'd check to see just what the top three have been up against and who they will be up against for the remainder of the season of the current NCAA Defenses rankings:(Note the lower the ranking number, the better the defense to be played against.)Texas beat: #'s 89, 115, 61, 117, 66, and 101. AVG = 91.5Texas will play: #'s 47, 58, 73, 65, and 102. AVG = 69Texas is currently ranked with the 39th best defense in the NCAA.Big 12 AVG Defense Ranking = 71.5Bama beat: #'s 36, 23, 75, 61, 12, 18, 52. AVG = 39.6Bama will play: #'s 11, 47, 24, 22, and 14. AVG = 23.6Bama is currently ranked with the 16th best defense in the NCAA.SEC AVG Defense Ranking = 24.6Penn beat: #'s 27, 107, 70, 60, 97, 44, and 71. AVG = 68Penn will play: #'s 10, 25, 86, and 63. AVG = 46Penn is currently ranked with the 8th best defense in the NCAA.Big 10 AVG Defense Ranking = 54.3The point of all these numbers?When Big 12 plays in conference, sure seems like lots of scores are a bit high on both sides of the final outcome. The Horns (and McCoy) are looking real good because they're playing against poor defensive teams (less OK). Considering the scores on the other side of the boards, with the "quality" of the teams they've played, they don't seem to have much of a defense of their own though they are ranked 39th in the NCAA. TX ought to, and better, win its last five regular season games. There's literally NOTHING standing in the Horns' way!?!Plenty of folks hit on the Bama O being hot and cold, but, the defensive odds have been stacked against the Tide from the beginning. Looking at the numbers above, it's 2 to 1 that the Nittany Lions will cruise into the Championship against the Horns. If it comes to that, Penn's Defense (8th) will shut down McCoy's offense (10th) and win the NC. If Bama should make the NC game, the Bama defense (16th) might cause the Horns O a little more trouble than they are used to, but, I think the offense will have to work a bit (Clemson's Defense is ranked 36th and we know what happened to them ;-)). But, we must remember that those offensive ranking are also based upon success over good or bad defenses.(I'll apologize in advance if I've scribbled down the wrong numbers while looking up the stats, but, I think the argument is still sound based upon the disparity of the averages.)Any thoughts on this Bruce?

Throw some stats in there about offenses also, because the sec lacks them, home of the 3-2 score in CFB...

Ok, random question, did anyone see the ref take out the South Carolina QB near the end of the half, check it out here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWt1tGTHdkc

I mean, I know you're protecting yourself, but that was pretty blatant, just my opinion.

QUOTE(#17):

Originally posted 12:47 AM ET  10.20 by ugsoccer08

Ok, random question, did anyone see the ref take out the South Carolina QB near the end of the half, check it out here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWt1tGTHdkc I mean, I know you're protecting yourself, but that was pretty blatant, just my opinion.

I nominated it for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance. Did you see how he held his ground, protected the inside gap, forced the QB into the outside pursuit? This man has some potential!

But seriously, he looked like a deer in the headlights. He should have been paying more attention to the play. I know that it sometimes hard for the refs to stay out of the play, and for the most part they do a good job. But this guy looked like he was daydreaming on that play.

QUOTE(#15):

Originally posted 12:16 AM ET  10.20 by wildbill21475

Great blog as usualy Bruce. Now I am going to do some shameless self promoting for the group. Many of you guys are already in my Fans of the SEC group. If you you know of any decent SEC fans out there throw them an invite. Still need fans for Ole Miss, Miss. St. Arkansas, Tennessee, Vandy, South Carolina, and I think Kentucky. I might have Kentucky covered though I will have to see. Bruce your weekly picks and recap would be great for the group too.

I am working on that Bill. I tried to post this weeks pick-em post but the problem is that it causes a double post on my page. I am wide open to suggestions or a work-around.

You know good and well that we should be sleeping right now. But this is the only quiet time I get. All 4 kids are in bed and no work tomorrow. Just got the word that I'm getting 2 FREE tickets to the UGA game. SWEEEEEEEET my usual source had family pressure and I lost my usual ticket. Man I hope we beat UGA but not as bad as Bama :)