TCU / Utah Line

[Big Hoss]

That is a great idea. I, for one, like all the bowl games. Yeah, I know most of them are meaningless, but not necessarily for the school's in them. But one thing about March Madness is that literally every single team's last game of the season is a loss, with the exception for the champion. Wasn't it great for SMU to go out a winner last year after the Hawaii Bowl?

I had mentioned to someone that they should play all the bowl games as they did before. Once they are all played, then pick your #1 & #2 to play in the championship game a week later. But what is outlined above would work for me, too.

And as far as one team having more time than the other, so what. In other sports that happens, too, like when the winner of a divisional series in baseball (Yankees this year) had a couple extra days rest vs. the opponent they faced (the Rangers). Didn't matter though.

But in football, you have to change your schemes for who you face, so it really wouldn't give a planning advantage to one team or another because they both would find out who they would play in the championship game after the last game played. They would have a slight advantage for resting their players, which helps in case of injuries. But how do you otherwise avoid it?

[HB Pony Dad]

Yet plenty of objective people (like me) also believe that the best team in the country this year may be Boise, TCU or Utah.

Objective!

Huh?

[ReedFrawg]

I would do it a little different. Take the top 8 in the BCS regardless of conference affiliation. Any of the top 8 can win it all. Keep the other bowl games going as is.

Top 4 teams host the first round in mid December. The 4 winners play Jan 1 - 2 in 2 rotating semifinal BCS "bowl locations". The National Championship game is played at a 3rd rotating BCS bowl location on Jan 8. (2 teams play 1 extra game and 2 teams play 2 extra games.)

So this year the top 4 host and win (as an example)...then you have...
Oregon vs Boise Rose Bowl semifinal (Jan 1)
TCU vs Auburn Sugar Bowl semifinal (Jan 2)

Rose bowl winner vs Sugar Bowl winner Fiesta Bowl National Championship (Jan

The next year Fiesta rotates out and Orange/Cotton hosts a semi while Sugar becomes National Title game, etc....

[Stallion]

But Boise can't beat a No. 1 team like Oregon!!!!!!! (of course they have beaten them back to back for the last 2 years both home and away AND they return all their players from those teams). I can't wait-truly-until the shoe is on the other foot and all the SMU crybabbies are complaining because they won't let us play the big bad BCS teams. TCU and Boise have both proven they deserve their place in the BCS discussion PERIOD.

[The PonyGrad]

I really get tired of the BCS conf. bigots saying "we play tough teams week in and week out" and imply that regardless of their records they deserve the champ game.

I am no fan of TCU but just checking the last four games:

TCU beat the following four teams worse than (by margin of victory) the other teams I will list:
UNLV: Wisconsin, Utah, Nevada, West Va.
AFA: Navy, Oklahoma, BYU, Utah
BYU: AFA, Nevada (and BYU beat Washington)
Wyoming: Texas, AFA, Utah, BYU (and same margin as Boise)

Failing head to head how else can you compare?

TCU is top notch (hate to say it.)

[Big Hoss]

But Boise can't beat a No. 1 team like Oregon!!!!!!! (of course they have beaten them back to back for the last 2 years both home and away AND they return all their players from those teams).

Dammit, I thought we had agreed not to use logic and sound reasoning in discussions on this board any more? Threads are much more interesting when we pull crazy statements out of thin air and make up statistics on the fly!

[ReedFrawg]

But Boise can't beat a No. 1 team like Oregon!!!!!!! (of course they have beaten them back to back for the last 2 years both home and away AND they return all their players from those teams).

Dammit, I thought we had agreed not to use logic and sound reasoning in discussions on this board any more? Threads are much more interesting when we pull crazy statements out of thin air and make up statistics on the fly!

Agreed! Pulling stats out of my arse is something I pride myself on....

[Big Hoss]

Agreed! Pulling stats out of my arse is something I pride myself on....

I work in Finance, and we say that there are 2 kinds of estimates: meteorological and biological. One comes out of thin air, and the other out of your arse.

[Tailgate#33]

TCU has never won a game @ Utah but I would bet good money that TCU wins by 10-20 points. Utah is way overated! I don't think they are a top 25 team.



Utah so far...
Thu, Sep 2 (15) Pittsburgh W 27-24 --
Sat, Sep 11 UNLV W 38-10 --
Sat, Sep 18 at New Mexico W 56-14 --
Sat, Sep 25 San Jose State W 56-3 --
Sat, Oct 9 at Iowa State W 68-27 --
Sat, Oct 16 at Wyoming W 30-6 --
Sat, Oct 23 Colorado State W 59-6 --
Sat, Oct 30 at Air Force W 28-23

WHo have they played that is worth a poo? Almost lost to Air force & Pitt. Other then that all they teams they have played are a joke and have like 1 or 2 wins. Utah is so overated it makes me want to throw up.....excuse me...

[froglicious]

From Pete Fiutak of college football news. This sums up my opinion

As of this moment, I vow not to keep saying that Boise State, TCU, and Utah could beat anyone on a neutral field. You know who can beat anyone on a neutral field? Everyone in the BCS Top 25.

Schedules do matter, and in fact, they’re everything, but deep down, you know that. What does it say that 21 of the top 25 ranked teams are from BCS conferences, yet three of the top five aren’t? It’s not that hard, people. Boise State, TCU, and Utah don’t play week in and week out schedules that the BCSers do, and while that’s been repeated ad nauseum, it doesn’t seem to sink in that the reasons those three teams are ranked so high are because they’re good and because they only have to get up for a few games.

Normally level heads (cough … Herbstreit and Palmer … wheeeeez) have gone Boise State batty, brushing aside the 400-pound schedule in the room. Of course the Broncos could beat Auburn or Oregon or Alabama or Ohio State on a neutral field. So could South Carolina. So could Wisconsin. So could Virginia Tech. So could Stanford. THAT’S THE POINT. The BCS teams have to do this, and on the road in some cases.

Does Boise State go unbeaten if it has to play at Michigan State, at Iowa, at Michigan and Ohio State, like Wisconsin does? If you don’t think the Broncos would win all four of those games, not to mention a home date against Arizona State, then you have your answer.

Does Utah beat Texas, and Oklahoma State, and Missouri in a three-game stretch, like Nebraska had to deal with, and then does it beat Oklahoma (most likely) in a Big 12 Championship? It might win three of those four games, but if you don’t think it could win all four, along with the rest of the Big 12 slate, then you have your answer.

Does TCU, Boise State, or Utah go without a blemish facing at Arkansas, Florida, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at LSU, Mississippi State, and Auburn, with six teams getting two weeks off to rest of and prepare for each showdown? If you don’t think so, then you have your answer with where you’re planning on putting Alabama if it wins out.

Get us an invite to one of those Conferences and we will see. Otherwise STFU to the people writing this crap. We have blown everyone out on our schd except OSU and we dominated that game. They appear to be good.
I love it that these people write these articles like it is our choice to not be in a BCS Conference. Morons.

The MWC was the 4th rated Conference in the Sagarin or ESPN Conference Power rankings a few weeks ago. Haven't checked lately. PAC 10, S E C and Big 12 (lol) were ahead.

[redpony]

One of the bowl predictions has TCU playing Michigan St.. Hmmm- we'll see how easily you kick the Spartans butts. And they may not even be the best team in the Big 10.

GO PONIES!!!

[PonyKai]

I love the farcity of the anti TCU argument, or well the anti non-AQ argument. They can't handle Nebraska's schedule, but they don't have the same tools and assets as Nebraska. We also won't let them have the same tools as Nebraska, yet we still expect them to do exactly the same thing, which they can't accomplish because we won't let them. Seriously, what could Patterson and TCU do if they were given Alabama's conference affiliation, their revenue sharing, their schedule, and their TV deal. I'm willing to bet they'd be doing JUST FINE given all those tools at their disposal. What they, and other Non-AQ's are doing is just wiping the floor and are literally perfect given about 1/10 the assets that BCS teams have.

[froglicious]

It's a catch 22...be in a non-AQ conference where you likely stand a better chance of going undefeated, or be in a BCS conference where you stand a better chancing of losing at least 1 game because you play relatively tougher schools each week?

How many BCS bowls do you think Tx Tech would have been in over the last 10 years had they been in the Mountain West instead of the Big 12 where they had at least 1 loss every year because they faced the likes of Texas and OU every season? At least 2 or 3, I think.

If Boise St had been in a BCS conference the last few years, they may not have had an opportunity to get to any of the BCS games because they might not have won out and put themselves in that position. Sure, I believe they have the ability to beat any school in the nation, but the question is would they?

So what would be better for a school like TCU then? Being in a position like they are today, where if they win out, they'll likely be in a BCS bowl OR be like Tech has been the last few years and miss out on BCS bowls because Texas or OU is always at least 1 win better? I guess that depends on how much money TCU would get by being in a BCS conference every year vs. one-time BCS bowl payouts.

Do you think the Techs and Baylors could recruit as well in the MWC? They would be epic fail without Bevo's teet to suckle. Times are changing. GP has it figured out with regard to recruiting. UT, aggie, BU and TT cling to the Rivals rankings and yet, look at them. We are faster, more athletic and better coached that all four.

[Alaric]

But Boise can't beat a No. 1 team like Oregon!!!!!!! (of course they have beaten them back to back for the last 2 years both home and away AND they return all their players from those teams). I can't wait-truly-until the shoe is on the other foot and all the SMU crybabbies are complaining because they won't let us play the big bad BCS teams. TCU and Boise have both proven they deserve their place in the BCS discussion PERIOD.

Well said. There's no fair and logical reason why a playoff doesn't exist between the top 8 or so teams at the end of the year besides the exclusion of teams from the big show...

[redpony]

The MWC was the 4th rated Conference in the Sagarin or ESPN Conference Power rankings a few weeks ago. Haven't checked lately. PAC 10, S E C and Big 12 (lol) were ahead.

So you are claiming that the MWC is a stronger conference than the Big 10. I would gladly match up Ohio St., Mich. St., Wisc., and Iowa against the top 4 MWC- TCU, Utah, SDSU, and Air Force.

Yes, TCU is a good team but their strength of schedule is not equal to some of the major teams. Being an SMU alum I am obviously not a BCS fan and would love to see a national playoff.
Both of our schools are at a disadvantage being small private schools with limited budgets and resources. However, it is what it is and we have to live with it until things change.

GO PONIES!!!