Conference Power Rankings: Week 4

2008-09-24T19:05:18-04:00

2008-09-22T11:21:06-04:00

111

2008-09-22T10:11:06-04:00

2008-09-24T19:05:18-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

111 for toe slide 360 - Compliments regarding my wisdom are always appreciated. I just wish someone I knew felt the same way, particularly my children. Las Vegas is a special place and bills itself as the most pleasant place in the U.S. that has four seasons of climate. We had two or three days which approached 90, but this was a mild summer. We are 90% Hispanic here and the culture is hard to describe. If I have problms with the roof leaking or a plumbing job there always seems to be a neighbor willing to do the job. It must be like the old days in this country when neighbors looked out for each other. Neighbors are predicting a heavier than usual winter so hopefully you'll find your skiing place in great shape. We don't see but three or four snowfalls a winter here and the snow is soon gone. But Taos, Eagle's Nest and Angel Fire are only an hour away. And you no longer have to worry about the Navajos raising hell with us simple sheepherders. 2903736

2008-09-24T09:48:28-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/198/456/thumb/Tims_Car.jpg 174 OK

toe slide 360

Tulsa 198756

110 CharMit - your wisdom reigns on ... all should bow before you. Hey I ran your advice past an old hippie pal, who also happens to be a big time Wisconsin fan and a committed Hater of the OU and he responded: "Great chile rellenos and stuffed sopaipillas. There is another joint directly across the street that is equally good. Las Vegas is a neat place. The first time I had ever heard of chile verde was in 1967 in a restaurant in Las Vegas that no longer exists. It was called the Home Cafe. I was hitch hiking from Houston to Manitou Springs and my ride stopped in Las Vegas and bought me dinner. We were smoking hash and listening to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Doors." Now for some smack of my own to all you MWC whiners ... you're in above your heads and your day of reckoning is at hand. While nobody should be taking you lightly, you should be as nervous as a fat girl in a bikini store. Say bye-bye to your precious #4 conference ranking (I still don't get that, ie; why you have it or why you care) and save this thought, because if OU falls to TCU again, I shall jut my jaw and bare my chest to the rabid crowd in preparation for the onslaught of arrows. 2838562

2008-09-23T23:31:56-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

109 for GlennAllen - those who forget the past are doomed to make the same old mistakes again. 2835559

2008-09-23T23:31:27-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/558/952/thumb/Pie2.jpg 15 MO

competitionisgood

Saint Louis 559432

108 I follow what you're saying. I wish there was a mechanism to recognize what a team like ECU has done this year; that loss to NC State basically removed them from BCS bowl consideration. And I'd give an awful lot of props to a team that could actually play 10 games against top ten teams in one season! Personally, I wish the computers were a bigger part of the BCS; otherwise, why not just acknowledge polls are how things are decided? What I really wish is that there was more nonconference play against equal opponents so that a loss wasn't the end of the season and we could have comparisons through the year, or the reverse, no nonconference play, which would provide more similarity in scheduling from year to year in conferences like the SEC, ACC, and Big 12. What we've got right now sort of values the conferences, but also devalues them, as teams that finish third or even fourth in their conference can still be picked for a BCS bowl because they're ranked higher. And while I'm at it, I'd make schools that want to retain their nonprofit status share television and ticket revenue with all the other FBS schools, but that discussion is digressing pretty far from comparing the 2008 football conferences... 2835609

2008-09-23T22:48:58-04:00

204

GlennAllen

Richmond 185259

107 Some people need to stop living in the past. Last year is gone. This is a new season. Try to keep up. 2835358

2008-09-23T22:09:43-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

106 competitionisgood - You know you are right about good football being played all over the place. Last year was interesting because top teams kept losing just when you thought there was some stability, but this year is different in that I think that there will be many more major surprises. I don't like looking at how many games a team has won. I am reminded that a computer analyst once admitted that a team that was 0-10 but had lost to all of the top ten teams would be #11 in his ranking. Texas Tech has a bad history of playing powderpuffs to start a season (they were ranked in the top ten of scheduling powderpuffs in the BCS era by ESPN) so that they almost guarantee they start conference play at 4-0. For years they would win enough conference games to play in a bowl but then they would lose the bowl game. I am bothered by anyone's won-loss record that is padded by playing cupcakes. So I look at the two big wins by ECU. I look at the schedules of BYU and Utah. I think a one or two loss ECU is more deserving of a BCS bowl than an undefeated BYU or Utah. I think we should look at who a team beats, not whether some team won more games. It is the mark of a phony team when they start talking about some lesser school they beat that happened to have a big day against a big school. I am reminded of when Boise St boasted about a victory over an Oreg St team that was struggling when they played but later got it together enough to beat USC. That does not prove that Oreg St was a good team or that Boise St could beat USC. I agree with you about the SEC. The SEC is ranked high because of last season, and the 'belief' by experts that they are good again. But I am of the old school and if you want to claim to be champion you should beat the champion. That doesn't mean that I think LSU is the best team right now because I don't. I think it is USC because all SEC teams have showed a few flaws. But before USC claims to be better than LSU I would like to see them prove it, either by beating LSU, or having LSU eliminated from consideration. I never fail to learn things from posts like yours. Unlike you I am disabled and have lots of time to study who did what to whom. But there are so many fine details, and other things that are overlooked. I can assure you that if I lived in Las Vegas, NV instead of Las Vegas, NM I would not put any of my money on what I think will happen. 2835201

2008-09-23T21:44:54-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/558/952/thumb/Pie2.jpg 15 MO

competitionisgood

Saint Louis 559432

105 CharMit, it's hard to keep up with these things when you work during the day :) But I wanted to address a comment you left. I'm not accusing other conferences of being bad. I'm saying what's so awesome about this year is that there is good football all over the place (but if we're going to be ranking, I would say the Pac-10 is relatively the weakest). My frustration with Trocchi is we've had four weeks now of acting like the SEC is head and shoulders above everybody else in a year when parity, not dominance, should be the narrative. That should be an SEC blog, not an analysis trying to actually compare the conferences this year (which of course is sort of ridiculous anyway since the conferences are meant to determine an internal champion, not play lots of non-conference games). From Trocchi's perspective, the SEC has conveniently scheduled a season where it would be virtually impossible for them not to be #1 in his book. It makes the standard that someone from any other conference has to have a magical (ie, perfect) season to compete against a good team with an average year from the SEC. That attitude is how you end up with 11 win SEC teams being ranked above 12 win Big 12 teams at the end of last season and 9 win Florida finishing above the 9 win Michigan team that beat them, a Florida team that joined 9 win Auburn in being ranked above 10 win Arizona State and Cincinnati and several other 9 win teams, many of whom won their bowl games. So then when it was decided this week to bump the ACC up to #2 because of it's 'depth', I had to comment on just how funny this reasoning is. Kansas, after all, beat the ACC champion in the Orange Bowl last year (a Virginia Tech team, by the way, that the computers loved a lot more than the pollsters in 2007). 2834958

2008-09-23T20:43:25-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

104 for stevie - When I said scramble I simply meant that Ohio St would not leave any doubt as to who was tops in the Big 10. I appreciate your comment as I too am hesitant to speak too boldly about my own team. I attended Wisc in the late 70s and will be pulling for them, but Ohio St has splashed water on my hopes too many times for me to boast of a victory this time. I go with GA also, but I am not as enamored with GA as so many are. A big victory over Hawaii meant nothing. I attended GA in the early 70s so I will be rooting for them. Athens is a tough place to play for anyone but South Carolina. I think Ohio St should dump one or two of their inter-Ohio charity games, and like USC, take on some teams with more talent. I am not suggesting that they try to schedule OK or LSU, but a schedule of teams like Oreg St, Kentucky and maybe Maryland or N. Car. would better prepare them for the big games. OSU starters spend too much time on the bench lest they run up the score to suit me. 2834641

2008-09-23T18:54:20-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

102 for Stevie - I probably approach rankings differently than most people. I believe if Mizzou wants to claim to be #2 in the Big 12 they should beat Texas convincingly, or do something spectacular in other games like beating OK, or by Texas laying enough eggs to lose their position. You may look at Mizzou and say they are great based upon their talent, but I think they need to show it on the field. Illinois was beaten by Mizzou, but it was trampled in an embarrassing way by USC. Illinois barely beat OSU which also was badly trampled. So after what Illinois did to Mizzou, I see Mizzou having a porous defense that SEC powers & USC will trample. And Illinois has no defense like Mizzou would see with the SEC or USC. Just ask OSU. You say Illinois/USC was close but all I read from the experts is that hopefully the Rose Bowl will show more wisdom in the future. Illinois stayed close for a half just as those two small fry did with Ohio St recently but no way do I think they are in the OSU category. We did see Florida get beaten by Michigan and OK by WV. I think it is a real test for players to get up for a game against an opponent in turmoil when they are heavily favored. Are you willing to state that Boise St is as talented as OK or was that another example of a top team letting up in the face of a weak school? Keep in mind for teams like Mich (embarrassed by Ap St), Boise St (a small fry hoping for national recognition) or WV (embarrassed badly by Pitt) that those games are a chance to save the season and gain recognition, but beating them does nothing for the victors. They were heavily favored anyway. Ark was good two years ago, but like Tenn last year, surprised the heck out of everyone by making the SEC championship game. But no one (except Razorbacks) actually thought that Ark was #2 in the SEC. They were at best 5th or 6th. Illinois went to the Rose last year. Would you classify them as #2 in the Big 10? I hope not as Penn St & Wisc were clearly superior IMO. Perhaps the Big 10 has improved. I hope the Wisc/Fresno St score was not an indicator of Wisc though. But my guess is that your beloved Bucks will regroup and send the rest scrambling for the #2 slot. That's where I'd put my money. How about you? 2834014

2008-09-23T19:39:15-04:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/183/732/thumb/juice.jpg 458 OH

imstevie

Cincinnati 184032

for Stevie - I probably approach rankings differently than most people. I believe if Mizzou wants to claim to be #2 in the Big 12 they should beat Texas convincingly, or do something spectacular in other games like beating OK, or by Texas laying enough eggs to lose their position. You may look at Mizzou and say they are great based upon their talent, but I think they need to show it on the field. Illinois was beaten by Mizzou, but it was trampled in an embarrassing way by USC. Illinois barely beat OSU which also was badly trampled. So after what Illinois did to Mizzou, I see Mizzou having a porous defense that SEC powers & USC will trample. And Illinois has no defense like Mizzou would see with the SEC or USC. Just ask OSU. You say Illinois/USC was close but all I read from the experts is that hopefully the Rose Bowl will show more wisdom in the future. Illinois stayed close for a half just as those two small fry did with Ohio St recently but no way do I think they are in the OSU category.We did see Florida get beaten by Michigan and OK by WV. I think it is a real test for players to get up for a game against an opponent in turmoil when they are heavily favored. Are you willing to state that Boise St is as talented as OK or was that another example of a top team letting up in the face of a weak school? Keep in mind for teams like Mich (embarrassed by Ap St), Boise St (a small fry hoping for national recognition) or WV (embarrassed badly by Pitt) that those games are a chance to save the season and gain recognition, but beating them does nothing for the victors. They were heavily favored anyway.Ark was good two years ago, but like Tenn last year, surprised the heck out of everyone by making the SEC championship game. But no one (except Razorbacks) actually thought that Ark was #2 in the SEC. They were at best 5th or 6th. Illinois went to the Rose last year. Would you classify them as #2 in the Big 10? I hope not as Penn St & Wisc were clearly superior IMO.Perhaps the Big 10 has improved. I hope the Wisc/Fresno St score was not an indicator of Wisc though. But my guess is that your beloved Bucks will regroup and send the rest scrambling for the #2 slot. That's where I'd put my money. How about you?

103 i wont go so far as to say the bucks will make EVERYONE scramble for the #2 spot, but i do think they will once again win the big 10.wisconsin is a solid team but lacks the fire power offensively to beat the bucks.But the bucks have struggled at camp randall is it will be no different this year considering we are rolling into their home turf with a true freshman qb.Penn state however will be more than a challenge for the bucks and i think it is exactly what we need to break the bcs bowl curse we've had the past 2 seasons.IMO, the problem with the bucks has been no true challenges in the big 10 the last 2 seasons(although we lost to illinois and it was a good game in 06 with um) and it resulted in our guys not being able to deal with adversity come bowl season.But that's not the case this season as we have already lost one game and have 2 more games that could either way in psu and wisconsin...And you're right about mizzou.Allthough they have talent they lack a steady defense needed to win grind it out games.i think texas and oklahoma will decide the big 12 champ...who do you have on the bama and uga game this weekend??i go with georgia based on upper class leadership. 2834195

2008-09-23T18:54:20-04:00

1730

CharMit

Las Vegas 24671

111

<div class="photo_container image_center"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/josh-nesbitt.jpg" alt="Josh-nesbitt" width="614" height="431" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes">Josh Nesbitt and Georgia Tech ran roughshod over K.J. Wright and Mississippi State in a solid win for the ACC. AP</div> <div class="photo_attributes"> </div> </div> The ACC was pretty much dead and buried after a horrendous Week 1, but I am here to proclaim that the conference is back on its feet. A spiffy 6-0 record in non-conference games last week brought its season record to 23-8, with just one "bad" loss, or a defeat to an unranked non-BCS team. The Big East and Big 12 have two, while the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-10 also have one.   The ACC is far from a supreme league, but what happens in Week 1 sometimes shapes views for the season because there is so much attention on opening weekend. And we will not forget, the ACC opened with a thud. But the league is 10-1 in the last two weeks with a 5-1 record against BCS+ opponents. With no team ranked higher than No. 16 in the AP poll, there isn't much excitement around the nation, but the ACC might be tougher than you think. Cal, Mississippi State and East Carolina all found that out recently.   And one more note before we dive in -- Mountain Westers, I hear thee. I have included your beloved and deserving conference in this week's Conference Power Rankings after <a href="/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/4362" target="_blank">last week's outcry in the comments</a>.    NOTE: The BCS+ notation reflects BCS conference teams, plus other teams ranked in the current AP Top 25.   1. SEC (25-4, 5-3 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 1 The Good: Vanderbilt became the sixth member of the league to reside in the Top 25 and the eighth to be ranked this season after winning at Ole Miss. Georgia represented itself well at Arizona State.   The Bad: Mississippi State, one week after losing 3-2 to Auburn, was blown away at Georgia Tech 38-7.   The Verdict: It's been said countless times, but the defensive speed in the SEC is flat out scary. Georgia, Auburn and Florida all made plays on defense Saturday that left me staring in disbelief.   2. ACC (23-8, 7-7 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 3 The Good: The best of a very good weekend was Georgia Tech's rout of Mississippi State. The Yellow Jackets shredded a good Bulldogs defense with their triple-option attack, running for 438 yards and four touchdowns. Miami's blowout of Texas A&M at Kyle Field was also impressive, with the Hurricanes building a 41-10 lead before a couple of late Aggies scores.   The Bad: There really was no bad, so I'll mention another 'good' that I didn't have room for above. NC State showed some poise, beating everyone's darling East Carolina with a clutch fourth quarter and overtime.   The Verdict: Ahead of the Big 12? For this week, yup. The Wake Forest-Florida State game was ugly, but for what this league lacks in star power, it is making up for in depth.   3. Big 12 (33-8, 6-6 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 2 The Good: The league has four teams in the top 10, which is four more than the ACC (I know I'm arguing against myself).   The Bad: The Big 12 went 1-3 in BCS matchups -- losing to Louisville (Kansas State), UConn (Baylor) and Miami (Texas A&M) -- plus Iowa State lost to UNLV. Bad week for a good league.   The Verdict: I'm all for the Big 12, but the scheduling is rather weak. No conference has a higher percentage of games against FCS opponents, and only the SEC has had a smaller percentage of non-BCS games (28 percent to 27 percent). The league appears top-heavy and is just 2-3 against the Big East.   4. Mountain West (18-6, 7-3 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: N/A The Good: Three ranked teams (No. 11 BYU, No. 17 Utah and No. 24 TCU) a fourth team that should be getting some votes (UNLV) and a sparkling BCS+ record. League commissioner Craig Thompson could not have hoped for a better résumé.   The Bad: San Diego State has losses to Cal-Poly and San Jose State.   The Verdict: What's not to like? There have been some close calls to FCS teams, but the MWC has won all but one, and the winner of this league is almost surely headed for a BCS bowl.   5. Pac-10 (12-12, 5-9 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 4 The Good: Stanford (vs. San Jose State) and Washington State (vs. Portland St.) avoided upsets at home.   The Bad: Oregon's loss to Boise State dropped the league's record vs. Mountain West and WAC opponents to 0-6.   The Verdict: The Pac-10 has the guts to have the hardest non-conference slate of any BCS league, bar none. That is not paying off, however, with a 5-9 BCS+ record and one team ranked in the Top 25.   6. Big Ten (31-8, 6-7 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 5 The Good: Penn State continues to steamroll toward conference play with another rout. Ohio State looks like it found its stud quarterback. Michigan State pushed around Notre Dame.   The Bad: Iowa's loss to Pittsburgh was one the league should have picked up. And what is Indiana doing losing to Ball State by 22?   The Verdict: There are only five more non-conference Big Ten games the rest of the way, and they don't exactly stir the soul. Three involve MAC opponenets, one is an FCS opponent and the fifth is Notre Dame, which plays host to Purdue on Saturday. In other words, we won't learn much more about the Big Ten non-conference-wise until bowl season.   7. Big East (16-11, 5-9 vs. BCS+) Last Rank: 6 The Good: Home wins over Kansas State (by Louisville), Baylor (UConn) and Iowa (Pittsburgh) highlighted the best week of the season for the Big East.   The Bad: West Virginia's <a href="/si_blogs/the_sweep/posts/5821" target="_blank">fall from grace</a> is a little too rapid for my taste. Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/09/21/bc.rutgers.teel.punch.ap/index.html" target="_blank">is punching teammates</a> after an 0-3 start.   The Verdict: South Florida, the league's only ranked team, needs a win at NC State on Saturday for the league to have its flag-bearer maintain some respect. 6681 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/425/01/thumb/trocchi_bill.jpg 0 GA

Bill Trocchi

Tucker 42721