UCLA 34 UT 12 Final

[soccermom]

UCLA-34 ut-12. 'Nuff said---except Way to go, Bruins!!!!!!!!!!

[Topper]

I will be interested to see where UT winds up in the polls. Undoubtedly they will remain above UCLA since the Bruins lost two, including that embarrassment to Stanford. This will be another inidicator of the ridiculousness of the BCS system and how certain teams (Texas maybe foremost) are regularly over rated. UT, Alabama, etc pad their schedule with non-competitive home games to boost their win records. A top 25 team playing at home against a travelling, unrated, UCLA squad, in a non-rivalry game, does not lose at home by 22 points. Bring on the playoff system

[Mexmustang]

I always thought that whatever they put in the water in Austin, only finally affected them when these overated, pampered athletes became pro's. They must have increased the dossage as they are now underperforming as undergraduates.

[Pony ^]

I will be interested to see where UT winds up in the polls. Undoubtedly they will remain above UCLA since the Bruins lost two, including that embarrassment to Stanford. This will be another inidicator of the ridiculousness of the BCS system and how certain teams (Texas maybe foremost) are regularly over rated. UT, Alabama, etc pad their schedule with non-competitive home games to boost their win records. A top 25 team playing at home against a travelling, unrated, UCLA squad, in a non-rivalry game, does not lose at home by 22 points. Bring on the playoff system

Regularly over rated? Sooo 2 bcs bowl wins and 2 NC appearances is over rated? 10 years in a row with at least 10 wins. Yes I agree they are over rated this year, but not in the past 5-6 years or so

[SC Pony]

Texas didn't play anyone ranked (at the time), needed divine/referee intervention to beat Nebraska and still wound up in the "national championship" game. I call that over rated.

[The PonyGrad]

And what was up with Williams showing the horns after a TD in the Cowboy game?

[Topper]

I will be interested to see where UT winds up in the polls. Undoubtedly they will remain above UCLA since the Bruins lost two, including that embarrassment to Stanford. This will be another inidicator of the ridiculousness of the BCS system and how certain teams (Texas maybe foremost) are regularly over rated. UT, Alabama, etc pad their schedule with non-competitive home games to boost their win records. A top 25 team playing at home against a travelling, unrated, UCLA squad, in a non-rivalry game, does not lose at home by 22 points. Bring on the playoff system

Regularly over rated? Sooo 2 bcs bowl wins and 2 NC appearances is over rated? 10 years in a row with at least 10 wins. Yes I agree they are over rated this year, but not in the past 5-6 years or so

My point is that these big schools, notably UT, Alabama, Penn State, pad their non-conference schedule with weak sisters who do not insist on a home and away series. Consequently, these teams pad their season win totals because they don't travel much (UT did go to Houston to play Rice) and get the advantage of home cooking more than smaller schools. I won't argue that UT has piled up a lot of wins, many against impressive opponents during the past few years, but like the others I mention they have built in advantages and don't play on a level playing field.

[Topper]

And I don't consider a BCS championship a true national championship. Texas was in the championship game instead of Boise or TCU last year because they always start out with an advantage by being over-rated early on compared to lesser publicized teams and by playing in a BCS conference which is little more than a monopoly created by the big schools to keep the smaller ones out of the championship game. Until there is a playoff system, all the BCS championships are just window dressing as far as I am concerned.

[Stallion]

Ohio St and Nebraska both have 8 home games this year-its just getting ridiculous

[Longtime]

My point is that these big schools, notably UT, Alabama, Penn State, pad their non-conference schedule with weak sisters who do not insist on a home and away series.

Alabama and Penn State played each other this year.

Point is well taken, but I argue it's a bigger flaw in the current system that a superior 1-loss team doesn't get a chance to play for the BCS title. And it's an even bigger flaw if the best two teams in the country are in the same conference. For all intents and purposes, the national title game last year was the SEC championship.

You say UT was overrated? Well, they eliminated themselves with that loss to UCLA. So the system worked. Overrated teams don't stay overrated forever.

But yeah, the teams from power conferences are only scheduling weak non-conf. opponents. There's no incentive for them to play big games unless the TV networks can talk them into it. You're seeing ABC/ESPN put more games together like the Ohio State-UT series of a couple years ago because there's just not much worth televising in September.

TV was also behind moving the UT-Tech game to earlier in the year. If the big-time programs won't budge on their non-conference schedule, they will at least consider spreading out their conference schedule. Makes for a less-brutal stretch run for UT, and ABC/ESPN gets a decent game for September primetime.

[Charleston Pony]

Can't criticize Bama for their schedule. They play a brutal conference schedule and then have to survive the SEC Championship game. The fact they scheduled a home/home series with Penn State on top of that excuses them for scheduling a few easily winnable home games as far as I'm concerned.

It's up to Boise' State and TCU to schedule up in the non-conference. What really hurts is that it means having to play tough teams on the road, because the big boys won't want to give them home/home series.

[Topper]

Alabama and Penn State played each other this year.

Yes, and they each play 7 home games, in the case of Penn State, against the likes of Youngstown State, Kent State, and Temple. A few years ago they cancelled the home and away Temple series and will only play them in Happy Valley as I recall

Point is well taken, but I argue it's a bigger flaw in the current system that a superior 1-loss team doesn't get a chance to play for the BCS title. And it's an even bigger flaw if the best two teams in the country are in the same conference. For all intents and purposes, the national title game last year was the SEC championship.

I agree completely. That is why we need a playoff system.

You say UT was overrated? Well, they eliminated themselves with that loss to UCLA. So the system worked. Overrated teams don't stay overrated forever.

Yes, my point exactly. Except for the fact that UCLA embarrassed UT at Memorial Stadium and UT is still ranked and UCLA isnt.