Sorry to disappoint you, but no kwsn tonight. He had a previous engagement, but provided a nice post last night.

We finally got our older son involved in some park district activities. It’s a little bit of a pain because Joliet has crap for kids’ sports activities. And even though we’re in the school district for a neighboring smaller town, that doesn’t get us into its park district. So we have to pay about 40% more to get him into the classes.

Anyway, they have a terrible schedule especially when both parents work. But we did manage to get him into a soccer class. The first class was last Thursday evening. It’s a hoot seeing small kids learn soccer for the first time. They don’t get the concept of short, controlled kicks and you end up with a dozen kids chasing their soccer balls wildly around the gym. The other tough concept is ‘no hands’. My son routinely would dive to the ground and catch the ball with both hands, actually he’d probably make a great goalie. I suppose I didn’t help his soccer skills much by throwing the football around with him Sunday. But the kid is developing good hands, now he just needs to get over his fear of getting hit in the face with the ball.

I really don’t care if he gets into organized sports, that’s kind of up to him. But I do want him to have an appreciation for playing sports and have fun running around. I never played organized sports either but we always would have a group of kids that would hit the nearest baseball diamond or empty field whenever we had the chance. That was a nice thing about growing up in a small town many years ago. These days, and where we live now, I don’t think I could trust my sons as much as my parents trusted me as a kid.

Tonight’s big kids playing sports

NHL
Pens @ Bruins on VS – Really the only nationally telecast game (well versus anyway) tonight, should be a good one.
Wild @ Maple Leafs
Flames @ Canadiens
Oilers @ Senators
Canucks @ Blues
Predators @ Sharks

NBA
Magic @ Bobcats
Wizards @ Heat
Nuggets @ Bulls
Trailblazers @ Grizzlies
Rockets @ Mavericks
Thunder @ Kings

NCAA Football
Ohio @ Buffalo
late addition: does this make up for the maxim shot?

Studs

1. Manu Ginobili – 8/15 FG, 6/8 3PT, 14/16 FT, 4 REB, 8 AST, 4 BLK, 36 PTS
2. Chris Paul – 10/14 GF, 2/3 3PT, 2/2 FT, 5 REB, 10 AST, 2 STL, 24 PTS
3. Steve Nash – 6/9 FG, 1/3 3PT, 8/8 FT, 2 REB, 20 AST, 21 PTS
4. Jason Richardson – 11/16 FG, 6/8 3PT, 1/1 FT, 8 REB, 2 AST, 29 PTS
5. Chris Bosh – 8/16 FG, 1/1 3PT, 15/17 FT, 10 REB, 32 PTS
6. Kelenna Azubuike – 13/19 FG, 3/8 3PT, 2/3 FT, 4 REB, 31 PTS
7. Carlos Boozer – 10/14 FG, 14 REB, 23 PTS

Duds

1. Marcus Thornton – 2/9 FG, 0/6 3PT, 1/2 FT, 0 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 3 PF, 5 PTS, 18 MIN
2. Darren Collison – 1/7 FG, 0/1 3PT, 0/0 FT, 2 REB, 2 AST, 0 STL, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 2 PTS, 17 MIN

Guyinthecorner is an author here at spartyandfriends.com. He writes the NBA section, X-Games section, and contributes to College Basketball and MLB. He doesn’t watch hockey except when the circumstances are dire. He’s not sure how to rate Michael Phelps on the scale of athletes not only because he doesn’t directly compete against people, but because he is a fish. He doesn’t understand the hate for the 2002 National Champion Maryland Terrapins and wishes everybody would just shut up by now. He is known for having statistical formulas and might be Bill James or Joe Lunardi depending on who you ask. His identity is as hidden as many times over as the number of internet memes he employs in his comments. Some have called him “The Riddler.” He can be reached at gitc@spartyandfriends.com. “GITC” is an acronym for guyinthecorner in case you aren’t that perceptive.

It is time for another tournament of 64 here at Sparty & Friends.  Hell, we don’t need the NCAA Big Dance to be an excuse to have some fun with this.  Once again we are breaking it up into 4 regions, what the are? We don’t know yet.  But instead of hamstringing the competition, we will be opening it up so that football can face baseball in the 1st round, or in the NT game.

So what help do we need from you?  Well, we need you to help us decide the field.  You can email me at sparty@spartyandfriends.com with suggestions, or include them in the comments.  If you have video linking to them, even better.  You will have the next couple days to help us put together the Field of 64.

Big 12 Champ

Big East Champ

Big 10 Champ

Pac 10 Champ

SEC Champ

As for my picks in the Final Four?

Purdue, Kansas, Texas, Michigan State

Champ

Kansas

POY

Cole Aldrich

Detroit and Carolina jumped out to quick early leads but forgot there are four quarters of football. This is still better than Chicago, who never really showed up. They are who we thought they were.

We’ll get back to the Packers after the jump, as well as some other disappointing teams.

Our 40+ entrants hit on 54% this week, but with the 45% on the Bengals, let’s call it 62%. Not spectacular but better than last week.

Teams people swear by at

#1: Green Bay (98%, 10.1 pts): 7-9 here we come.

Really there’s no need to name anyone else, but I guess I will:

#2: San Francisco (75%, 6.8): We should have known better, Vince Young just wins football games. Chris Johnson doesn’t hurt either.
#3: Philadelphia (70%, 4.2): If they don’t find a short yardage game, the season is going to end like many before it.

Where my rankings spit in the face of traditional power rankings

#5: Green Bay (4-4): I sense a theme here today. Honestly, they better drop. I think there is only one game they should be favored in the rest of the season (@ Detroit). I thought we had a shot at 9-7 before this loss, now I have zero confidence they can beat Dallas at Lambeau this week.
#6: New York Giants (5-4): Started as a promising season, the bye week comes at a good time for them to try righting the ship.
#20: Denver (6-2): Come on, it’s Kyle Orton. Nobody trusts this guy. And watching Monday night’s game, the coaching staff doesn’t seem to either. Pittsburgh attacked constantly on offense, Denver looked tentative the entire game. A couple shaky passes did Denver in because they had no running game and a vanilla passing attack.
#21: Cincinnati (6-2): Still being unjustly punished for losing to Houston and beating destroying a woeful Chicago team, as in it wasn’t really that impressive.

I’m not sure I’ll get to it this season, but at some point I need to incorporate strength of schedule into these rankings. Something should be done to reduce these oversights.

Demotion time?

The Browns and Rams didn’t play this week, were they already dumped and I missed the memo? Five 1-7 teams, there’s your parity.

Complete Week 9 Power Rankings

The offensive line is one of the very best in the game, if not the best.  Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw are on pace to have 1000 yards each this season.  The wide receivers have put up pretty damn good numbers this season, and Kevin Boss is one of the better receiving tight ends when he is allowed to play pass-catcher. Eli Manning is a top 10 qb, good enough for me, injured foot or not.  Not running the ball enough.  They need to be a ball control orientated team, like they were the previous two years.   11 rushes is not enough for Brandon Jacobs, especially when he is getting 6.7 yards a clip.

The defensive line is stacked, the LBs are okay, and the secondary is piss poor with no Kenny Phillips and Aaron Ross.  However, the statistics are proving that they are much worse than the names on the team.  I point the finger at the d-coordinator who doesn’t have a clue how and when to dial up a blitz.    You suck Sheridan.

YO! College basketball has started.  Who is voicing what games this week? Awful Announcing has you covered.  Gus Johnson is calling a game, sweet.

LeBron James is joining the Family Guy.

Gator fans are ready to help Memphis with their new coaching search.  How the hell does the coach at Memphis have a $1.2 million buy-out?

LT was busted for leaving the scene of an accident, yet no DUI.  Hmmmm, mugshot says differently.  Forget the red eyes for one second, if someone smiles for a mugshot, any mugshot, they are intoxicated.

See, only at a soccer game. The fans are just strange.  Just look at knightro.

Spencer just continues to go too far with his lists.  Knocking peaches and tomatoes is just wrong.

Ladies and Gents, a great column about the dumbest column of the year.

In case you weren’t aware, the Yanks had the highest payroll this season.  Though Trey disagrees with me, there is no way there will ever be a salary cap in baseball unless there is huuuuuuuge TV deal for revenue sharing, like the NFL.  You have to have a floor for players to agree, and the owners want to make money if they are still forced to pay high contracts.

Speaking of the Yankees salary – what’s another $100 million contract?  Do it Cashman! Do it!

How obscure is Cleveland?  Well, when you play your first few  years in the league, and even earn a pro bowl selection, hot chicks who get beat up still don’t know who you are.

The only sane thing that Stephon Marbury has said in the last few months is that the NBA is fixed.

Iverson with the Lakers? I don’t think Iverson works anywhere, but if he goes to the Lakers from Memphis in another lopsided deal, we need to wipe that city off the map.

The Red Sox said no!  Varitek said yes. At least he realizes he ain’t getting paid anywhere.

Just some good father-son bonding.

Minka Kelly didn’t make the list?  I know she isn’t a Yankee fan, but come on.

And it is all Ford’s money.  Seriously, you want to be a good American?  Buy Ford.  I stand and applaud.  Now if they could only turn the Lions around.

But is it near an Ale House?  What does BGD think?

Have you ever seen professional bullriding…on weed?  All kinds of crazy stuff man.

Upset of the year on the way. Mullen is just building them up before he chops them down.

Thanks to sae for letting me swap nights with him since I’ll be unavailable tomorrow. So, Weis lost for the second time to Navy which means he surely will be out at the end of the season. The question now becomes who should they go after to replace him?

1. Brian Kelly- Kelly has taken an also-ran Big Least team and turned them into a juggernaut. They’re likely to make their second straight BCS bowl this year and even have an outside chance at the national title game. Very outside chance, but still. Cincinnati’s offense is dynamic, even with a backup qb. Imagine what he can do at Notre Dame.

2. Turner Gill- I’m not sure why he doesn’t have a better job than Buffalo yet. Buffalo was god-awful before he arrived and he managed to win the MAC last year, just an incredible job. He’d take the job in a heartbeat.

3. Herban Meyer- If ever there was a year to steal the big whiny baby this would be it. He loses Tebow and they are bound to take a step back next year. I just don’t see Herban leaving though as Florida is simply a better job. At Florida, USC or Texas you don’t have to recruit, you just take your pick from all the talent that wants to play for you. (In USC’s case you put them on the payroll.)

4. Chris Petersen- He’s an innovative mind and extremely talented coach and recruiter. Any major program that needs a coach would love to have him. He seems happy though in Idaho for some reason or he would have taken the MSU job last year. I don’t think he’d take the ND job.

5. Mike Stoops- He’s slowly been building Arizona up. They were bad when he took over and last year they made a bowl game and this year they control their own destiny for a Rose Bowl berth. He would help solve a lot of Notre Dame’s defensive troubles.

6. Ken Niamatalolo- If you can’t beat em, hire their coach away. The academies have a terrible talent disadvantage and yet Navy is somehow good. Notre Dame’s glory years were under Holtz and the option offense. Bring it back I say. Trey would agree with me on this.

Surely ND can hire away one of these 6 guys and get themselves back on track. I don’t buy the academic excuses, players will want to play for Notre Dame if they have a good coach who can actually win games with the talent they attract.

On tap in sports tonight:

MNF: Pittsburgh at Denver

NBA: Phoenix at Philadelphia
Utah at New York
Toronto at San Antonio
Minnesota at Golden St.
Charlotte at LA Clippers

NHL: Los Angeles at Chicago

College Basketball!!!!!: Florida International vs North Carolina.
Murray St. vs California
Alcorn St. vs Ohio St.
Albany vs Syracuse

Weekly Studs

1. Dirk Nowitzki (11/3 vs. Jazz) – 12/22 FG, 1/3 3PT, 15/16 FT, 11 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 5 BLK, 40 PTS
2. Chris Paul (11/6 vs. Raptors) – 8/13 FG, 1/3 3PT, 4/4 FT, 7 REB, 18 AST, 2 STL, 21 PTS
3. Chris Paul (11/2 at Knicks) – 12/18 FG, 4/5 3PT, 4/5 FT, 5 REB, 13 AST, 32 PTS
4. Chris Paul (11/4 vs. Mavericks) – 14/23 FG, 3/4 3PT, 8/8 FT, 5 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 39 PTS
5. Kevin Martin (11/2 vs. Grizzlies) – 14/27 FG, 7/10 3PT, 5 REB, 4 AST, 4 STL, 48 PTS

Weekly Duds

1. Anthony Parker (11/4 vs. Wizards) – 2/12 FG, 1/6 3PT, 0/0 FT, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0 BLK, 3 PF, 5 PTS, 28 MIN
2. Wilson Chandler (11/7 at Bucks) – 1/10 FG, 0/1 3PT, 1/2 FT, 4 REB, 1 ATS, 1 STL, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 3 PF, 3 PTS, 36 MIN
3. Derek Fisher (11/4 at Rockets) – 0/5 FG, 0/1 3PT, 0/0 FT, 0 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0 BLK, 2 PF, 0 PTS, 34 MIN
4. Anthony Carter (11/6 at Heat) – 0/5 FG, 0/2 3PT, 0/0 FT, 1 REB, 0 AST, 2 STL, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 1 PF, 0 PTS, 19 MIN
5. Kevin Garnett (11/3 at 76ers) – 1/7 FG, 1/4 FT, 6 REB, 2 ATS, 0 STL, 0 BLK, 5 TO, 2 PF, 3 PTS, 23 MIN

And, as I said, the Seasonly S&D…

Seasonly Studs

1. Dirk Nowitzki (11/3 vs. Jazz) – 12/22 FG, 1/3 3PT, 15/16 FT, 11 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL, 5 BLK, 40 PTS

Don’t forget to go after the jump for the nightly lists and top plays…

Studs

1. Kevin Durant – 11/17 FG, 2/6 3PT, 4/4 FT, 4 REB, 5 AST, 3 TSL, 28 PTS

Duds

1. J.J. Redick – 2/11 FG, 0/6 3PT, 3 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 0 BLK, 3 TO, 3 PF, 5 PTS, 37 MIN

Guyinthecorner is an author here at spartyandfriends.com. He writes the NBA section, X-Games section, and contributes to College Basketball and MLB. He doesn’t watch hockey except when the circumstances are dire. He’s not sure how to rate Michael Phelps on the scale of athletes not only because he doesn’t directly compete against people, but because he is a fish. He doesn’t understand the hate for the 2002 National Champion Maryland Terrapins and wishes everybody would just shut up by now. He is known for having statistical formulas and might be Bill James or Joe Lunardi depending on who you ask. His identity is as hidden as many times over as the number of internet memes he employs in his comments. Some have called him “The Riddler.” He can be reached at gitc@spartyandfriends.com. “GITC” is an acronym for guyinthecorner in case you aren’t that perceptive.

Greetings to all of Mr. Sparty’s friends! Mrs. Sparty here. Today is a very special day for Mr. Sparty and me. Today is our seven-year wedding anniversary, which, of course, ignites all those fuzzy feelings of the love that I have for my hubby! I wanted to give him a special gift to show him how truly blessed I am to be married to him, so I thought it would be nice to share a few things in the very area of space that he continues to share his very passionate views of whatever he is witnessing in the world of sports at the current time.

The world is full of cliche`s that interesting people like Mr. Sparty and myself just don’t want to live out. They say….(whoever this “they” are) that there is a” 7-year itch” in every marriage. On the contrary, Mr. Sparty and Mrs. Sparty have never had better days than the present time we are in! It’s been quite a journey thus far as every marriage entails. I must admit that it’s taken a lot of “I’m sorry’s” and “I was wrong’s” and “Please forgive me’s” to get to where we are today and sure that there will be more to come. Whatever this “7-year itch” is, it must be something of a symptom of greater evil that only true “love” can overcome…I’m so blessed to have a hubby like Mr. Sparty that has shown his love for me in so many ways.

This weekend was the icing on the cake when he took me to Broadway to see one of my all time favorite musicals….West Side Story. Mr. Sparty is not a Broadway kind of guy by all means! In fact, he can’t sit through anything longer than a half hour without checking scores of a game or whatever it is that he’s doing on that phone of his. Even though Mrs. Sparty doesn’t like cliche`s, she has on several occasions identified herself as a “widow” every fall when the world of sports is full of all kinds of activity. This year seems to be different….not because Mr. Sparty is any less obsessed with his teams, but because I’ve learned that I’m no different than him and that it’s up to me to embrace who he is wholeheartedly, or continue to complain in my own selfish misery whenever he’s watching 5 different games at once while typing on the computer! Afterall, I have my own set of things of this world that interest me, and that I have gone to extremes to “feed my appetite” as well! It hasn’t been until now that I can plainly see that Mr. Sparty and Mrs. Sparty aren’t opposites after all….the more I seek to find our similarities, the more they do exist. We are the perfect match!

Him taking me to see the show this past weekend opened my eyes to see that this man is everything and more of what a wonderful husband is, and makes perfect sense to me now that all I ever want to be is spending time with him and our beautiful lil’ Sparty! Yes, I could find things to complain about, like women just love to do with their husbands, but how can I when my sports-obsessed blogger-of-a-hub sat through singing and dancing and, not to mention, the theatrical gang fighting in pants that look like jeans but are really “stretchy pants”. Come to mention it…most, if not all athletes are wearing “stretchy pants” too …..except for golfers of course….they take sports fashion to a whole other level!

We hitting double digits y’all! That means the frauds in the reality show contest that is the BCS Championship are weeded out week by week in a battle for said BCS Championship…They should just dim the lights, flip to 4-5 different camera angles, and play “serious” music before allowing teams to go down.

Posted at 6:00pm on Friday November 6, 2009…

2) The Oregon Letdown Commences! – I’m not predicting a loss by the Quack, but if history mixed with science tell me anything, Oregon is due for one WTF game a year, and I guarentee (sic) Boise WASN’T that game. I’m a freaking Oracle…it’s coming.

So, how shocked was I when I walked into The Swamp Restaraunt and Bar at 5pm on Saturday and saw that score? Thus, the tragic history that is the Quack.

I didn’t get to answer your question…

knightwhosaysni:
November 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Still disbelieving in Oregon huh?

Yes.

It’s official…GatorTrey needs a new hobby that doesn’t include bookmarking comments at Sparty & Friends.  Regardless, I think we’ve finally found a suitable replacement for Nostradamus.  I have a few questions about 2012, when you’ve got a minute, Trey…

That being said, fear not Eugene, OR…You still control your destiny to Pasadena. Just win out (although Arizona looks like a toughie).

The remaining schedule looks winnable…for the Ducks: Arizona State, at Arizona, and Oregon State.  But, of course, so did Stanford. 

Which averts another national crisis…No, Oregon should not be ranked above the team who is undefeated and beat them head-to-head…You can breathe easy and eat your potatoes in peace now, Boise.

I had little-to-no problem with the Ducks being ranked over the Broncos last week…based on knowing the history of, and having somewhat of an understanding of, poll dynamics.  There’s always the saying when analyzing college football rankings that it’s better to lose early in the season than late.  Oregon’s loss to Boise St. was the perfect example of this.  Boise plays an extremely weak overall schedule, mostly because of its conference.  Oregon plays a BCS conference schedule (i.e. stronger), and lost its only game of the season on the road to a good team.  That team just happened to be Boise.  So, head-to-head, there’s no question that Boise was the better team, and they get the Brownie points for that.  But, after considering the elapsed time (about 8 weeks) between the head-to-head matchup and Oregon’s domination over Southern Cal, Oregon became a consistently better team and had the benefit of teams above them losing and dropping in the polls while they kept winning and steadily climbed the rankings ladder.  In the meantime, the voters stalled Boise between #4 and #5…why?  Because of the weak teams they were playing.  They didn’t deserve to be ranked higher than the teams above them, who were also undefeated and had traveled tougher roads.  So, when the Ducks inched closer to the Broncos in the polls, and then trounced a top 5 team…voila, the head-to-head Brownie points didn’t matter as much.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to type up the explanation for Oregon being ranked higher than Boise State.  Broncos > Ducks…fin.

“One thing they know about me is that I never change.” - I figured that out when you lost to Navy…twice.

You knew it was coming…Iowa’s string of close wins finally got them. While Iowa played far from their best game of the season, Northwestern seemed to take advantage of everything that Iowa gave them.

Iowa’s loss of Stanzi was unfortunate..like the legs of that waitress who brought me Miller Lite instead of Bud.  Injuries are a part of football. You cannot name one team that hasn’t had to deal with it at one point. Ask Oklahoma. You think they have four losses with Sam Bradford? Probably not. It sucks, and I HATE seeing Iowa’s season take a step back because of it.  But, you have to move on, and a Rose Bowl berth is RIGHT there with a win next Saturday.

But like trannie, it can go both ways…Ask Cincinnati if losing their starting quarterback killed their season?

Of course, it again comes down to those Buckeyes…With their dominating win at Penn State, Ohio State is in prime position to win the Big Televen…again. There is no denying they have the conference by the nutsack.

This coming weekend is for all the Big Ten marbles…even if they are really slow marbles that throw like a girl.  Both Iowa and Ohio State are 5-1 in the conference with this coming weekend’s head-to-head matchup-which I have officially christened “The ‘Eyes Bowl”-and one final game the next weekend for each (Michigan for the Buckeyes and Minny for the Hawkeyes).  The next two teams in the conference standings are Penn State and Wisconsin, both at 4-2.  Also, both the Nittany Lions and Badgers two losses are to Iowa and Ohio State.  So, this weekend’s ‘Eyes Bowl is for outright Big Televen domination and Rose Bowl invitation.  Welcome to the longest week and biggest game of your life, James Vandenberg.

“One thing they know about me is that I never change.” -  Starting the Hamburgler at Cornerback proves that.

The trick is to bite down very hard on this piece of wood…If you would have bet me a large some of money that Oklahoma would be looking at the real possibility of a 6-6 regular season back in August, I would have bet my usual ”vital body part” vs. your cash.

You can only really blame this one on Bob Stoops so much…when the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback comes back for one more season, it’s supposed to be on par with, or even better than the previous season, right?  RIGHT!?  At least, that’s what Pete Carroll and Urban Meyer told Bob.

It only took them THREE years…On that same note, I laughed at the mere thought of Bill Synder riding in on  a white horse to fix the program that he spent decades building and watched crumble in three short years. With two games left, there is a shot that the Wildcats could win the Big 12 North…

“One thing they know about me is that I never change.” -  Krakatoa doesn’t sound so bad now does it?

Yes! They’re human, but if they were robuts!…Yes, the SEC refs got another one wrong. Only this time it was a replay that they SHOULD have gotten right, but I don’t see an LSU team that couldn’t move the ball minus Jordan Jefferson and Charles Scott getting into the endzone…and Les Miles knew this.

“And, when the doctor said I didn’t have worms any more, that was the happiest day of my life”…You have to wonder if the whole “SEC Refs” thing is starting to take their toll on the SEC refs. I mean they’re now under the microscope of every college football fan, each waiting for the next Ralph Wiggum moment to grace their TV set.

I’ll set the direct scene: defacto playoff game…LSeaUx has one loss-to the top ranked Gators, no less-and is playing Bammer, who is undefeated.  Both teams reside in the SEC West.  If the Tigeauxrs win, both teams have one conference loss, but LSeaUx owns the tie-breaker over Bammer.  That puts LSeaUx in the driver’s seat for a rematch against the top-ranked Gators in Atlanta for the SEC Championship.  There’s no reason to think that a 1-loss LSeaUx team wouldn’t be playing for the BCS national championship if they were to win the SEC Championship over an undefeated Florida team.  Now, behind the scenes is a recent history of these three teams being on the good side of the receiving end of some questionable officiating.  And, consider the unprecedented suspension of the crew that officiated both the UGA-LSeaUx game and the Florida-Arkiesaw game…the spotlight is firmly on the referees and off of the action on the field as soon as one questionable penalty flag is tossed or one whistle blow is iffy.  Negative attention perpetuates negative activity.  I firmly believe this is the situation with the SEC referees this season.  Usually, they are considered some of the best officiating crews, but the negative attention and pressure put an added weight on big calls that have greater implication than should really be there.  It seemed obvious from the replays that LSeaUx cleanly intercepted Bammer.  I have no idea why the refs couldn’t see that…but I’m gonna keep my mouth shut and my fingers still so I’m not $30k lighter in the wallet (/snickers at Herban Meyer). 

“One thing they know about me is that I never change.” - Two words…Lap Band.

Oh ya, the Irish…Jimmy Clausen is very good. Golden Tate is very good. Michael Floyd is very good. The rest of the Irish are terrible. There is no run game. The defense looks like it’s eight on eleven. Is it time for Charlie to step back and re-evaluate the way he runs things in South Bend? You bet your ass (or your “vital body part”?). Charlie Weis has zero signature wins with the Irish. He’ll probably win 8 games this year and still take a step back.  They’re well beyond “Tyrone’s kids” and well into “Charlie’s kids”, and next fall many of those studs are probably going to be playing on Sundays.

Yeah, yeah, Chuck Weis is a big dude and can likely put some food away…but has any coach ever eaten more crow about one comment than Weis has over his “strategic advantage” blurb?  I’d venture to guess not.  I’m not ruling the possibility out, but seeing how high profile the Notre Dame program is, it would be tough to find a relative situation with such an arrogant comment and no results backing it up.  By the way, speaking of 2012, did you know Notre Dame and Navy will be playing in Dublin?  No, not Dublin, Ohio…Dublin, Ireland.  They last did it in 1996.

It’s Third Best! Think about it! There are TWO other teams in this state that WISH they could be us…Rich Rodriguez is now squarely under fire at Michigan and not making a bowl could severly jeopardize the flock of doves he brought with him to Ann Arbor. I remember going through this at Florida, it doesn’t matter if you need time to build a program, you’re not going to get it. Win now, or move on. While I think Rich will get one more year, that gig he had in West Virginia sure is looking cushy at this point…especially with Michigan Alum Jim Harbaugh sittin’ right there.

I’m not taking it to the bank just yet, but pretty close…My sources tell me Tommy Tuberville is your next coach in Louisville.

Urban Meyer to Notre Dame…you can take that to the bank.

On Friday I almost took it…Well not really, but when Spencer posted a line for the Houston/Tusla game at+1.5 I thought it was nuts, until that 51 yard field goal gave Houston the one point lead..Further proof that those guys in Vegas aren’t stupid.

 Because  a win over Houston put you on the map…What the hell was George O’Leary thinking Saturday? Sit two of your better offensive players so they DON’T get hurt agianst 2nd ranked Texas so you can save them for the Houston game this week?

Dear UCF,

The reason USF is so well respected is because they’ve beaten schools like Texas before. By giving up before taking the field so you can make sure your chances of winning the Conference-USA are still there is so weak that you should pay for the tickets, flight, and hotel of every fan that flew to Austin to see their Knights step onto the field with a juggarnaut. Remember you had these guys shitting themselves on the sidelines two years ago.

Sincerely,

GatorTrey

If that is the attitude George O’Leary is taking I’d can him immediately and turn the program over to someone who has a set of nuggets.

S&F Ranking Analysis:
Well, well, well…plenty of big drops and gains as a result of this past weekend, especially in the top 10.  Obviously, the big losers were Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, and Notre Dame (out of the polls completely).  Refer to the below table (click twice on the graphic to enlarge to full size…two clicks, not a double-click):

Immediate Observations…Some interesting things happened between the last 4th quarter reaching 00:00 Saturday night and votes being cast and computer equations calculated…one team lost and INCREASED its ranking.  Seems bizarre, right?  Well, it is, but it isn’t.  LSeaUx was ranked #9 across the board after last week’s games.  Above the Tigeauxrs were Iowa and Oregon.  All three of these teams lost…Iowa to a previously 5-4 Northwestern and Oregon to a previously 5-3 Stanford.  Neither of these winners was in the same ballpark as LSeaUx’s opponent, #3 Bammer (8-0 entering the weekend).  LSU lost a close game, somewhat as a result of a questionable officiating call, while Oregon lost by double digits in a 93-total point shootout and Iowa lost by merely one score, but suffered a greater loss in QB Ricky Stanzi.  Looking at those results in a nutshell, it’s justifiable that Oregon and Iowa would drop more spots than LSeaUx since their losses were worse.  We also must look at the teams previously ranked below LSeaUx that could have jumped them with a win:

 - Penn State – lost to Ohio State…out of the discussion.
 - Georgia Tech – DID jump LSeaUx with its win over Wake Forest.
 - USC – another 2-loss team that is only two weeks removed from a blowout from the team that just got beat by Stanford (we’re talking about Oregon here).
 - Ohio State – another 2-loss team fighting its way back up the rankings just a handfull of weeks removed from losing to a previously 1-5 Purdue team.

So, you see, it’s not inconceivable that LSeaUx would lose and GAIN ground in the BCS.  Nobody not considered a Rambling Wreck was anywhere around to take advantage of the Tigeauxrs’ loss to Bammer. 

And that, my friends, is 289 words on why LSeaUx lost, and won, at the same time.

By the way, if you plan on getting your panties is a wad over TCU hurdling Cincinnati, do yourself a favor and don’t…they’re virtually tied.  Check out the BCS Average (the “score” associated with each team that results in the BCS standings).  You’ll see that TCU currently has a BCS Average = 0.862 while Cincy has a BCS Average = 0.858…a difference of merely 0.004 points in TCU’s favor.  Now, check out last week’s BCS Average…TCU BCS Average = 0.8007 and Cincy BCS Average = 0.8033…a difference of 0.0026 in Cincy’s favor.  TCU gained only 0.0066 points on Cincy and that was enough to jump the Horned Frogs from one spot below the Bearcats to one spot above.  Again, this dance is a virtual tie, and will likely bounce around more based on each teams’ performance along with minutia like the performance of every one of each teams’ opponents.  There’s still several weeks left in this back-and-forth…don’t get your panties in a wad.

Thanks for joining us again this week, and stick around for more TWTWCFB features throughout the week.

What he said…

Week 10 Contributors: GatorTrey, Mizerle06.