College Football 2012 - Better Late than Never

[Charley]

So I can't believe we don't have a thread for college football up. I blame myself mostly.

I know we got a few international folks watchin some football stuff at Crimson Nerd, and there's been passing interest in the foibles and quirks of our strange game. Plus we also have plenty of regular lifers who follow the sport.

So, how's things so far? Week six is down in the books. How's your team doing? Brag or lament here.

AP Poll:

Rank Team (#1 votes) Rec Points Rank LW
1 Alabama (60) 5-0 1500 1
2 Oregon 6-0 1435 2
3 South Carolina 6-0 1359 6
4 Florida 5-0 1265 10
5 West Virginia 5-0 1260 8
6 Kansas State 5-0 1217 7
7 Notre Dame 5-0 1176 9
8 Ohio State 6-0 1053 12
9 LSU 5-1 938 4
10 Oregon State 4-0 873 14
11 USC 4-1 812 13
12 Florida State 5-1 800 3
13 Oklahoma 3-1 756 17
14 Georgia 5-1 733 5
15 Texas 4-1 711 11
16 Clemson 5-1 657 15
17 Stanford 4-1 587 18
18 Louisville 5-0 494 19
19 Mississippi State 5-0 450 20
20 Rutgers 5-0 331 22
21 Cincinnati 4-0 205 NR
22 Texas A&M 4-1 153 NR
23 Louisiana Tech 5-0 129 NR
24 Boise State 4-1 114 NR
25 Michigan 3-2 82 NR

So Bama had a bye week this week, and that's probably good timing for us. We've had a lot of injuries that could potentially ruin us later in the season and we need to focus on getting healthy. Jalston Fowler is out for the season. Dee Hart is out for the season. Eddie Lacy isn't 100%. We famously have an amazing arsenal of running backs, but because of these injuries we're looking thin in the backfield.

Strange days in the SEC and I am not confident we'll make it out of conference play undefeated. And even if we do, South Carolina is looking like a resurgent beast.

Also Notre Dame is real good and that makes me angry. This should not be allowed to continue.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Wearing my Tide shirt today

Wore it to work recently actually and ascertained that literally no one has any idea that college football even exists (at least no one that I interact with on a daily basis... or if they did know, they must be fans of some shite team and therefore are ashamed to acknowledge my allegiance to the Tide)

[Aidan Fox]

I am stoked by how well Penn State has performed in the last two weeks. With all the things stacked against them, it would be very easy for them to become bitter and sullen, or, with a taste of success, to adopt a petulant "us-against-the-world" attitude. But what they've done is come out and play Penn State football, which continues to be an exemplar for all the NCAA of the proper order of priorities in college sports.

Without reservation, I am proud to be a Penn State fan.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Yeah I've really been hoping they do well because they need to pick up the pieces and soldier on.

[CMJ]

My alma mater is 2-4. Hoping for a .500 season.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

My alma mater is 2-4. Hoping for a .500 season.

Doing better at it so far than Auburn, hehehe

[Dragon]

Both my parents are West Virginia alums, so I've been cheering Geno Smith and the Mountaineers on their maiden campaign in the Big Twelve (-2). But tomorrow will be interesting, as WVU is playing at Texas Tech, where I got my master's degree. I think I'm going to be inclined to cheer for the team who has more chance to go farther this season... which is almost assuredly WVU. Otherwise I'll be rooting for a strong showing from both teams.

I'm already immensely happy that WVU beat Texas on the road, even if it was by a razor's edge.

[CMJ]

My alma mater is 2-4. Hoping for a .500 season.

Doing better at it so far than Auburn, hehehe

I mean yeah...but I'd take having a crappy season if we won a National Title. Hell, we haven't had a winning season since 2004. Been awhile wandering the wilderness in Mean Green Nation.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Clemson is having a good season at 5-1. They could still win the ACC if Florida State can slip up one more time. I think Alabama will go unbeaten until at least the SEC title game. There is nobody in the west who can beat them. I also think the east will beat each other up and none of them will go unbeaten.

[Dragon]

So, what I said before? Screw that. LET'S GO RAIDERS!!!

[Jedi Master Carr]

Great goal line stand by Notre Dame. I do think it is cool to see Notre Dame a national power once again.

[CMJ]

Great goal line stand by Notre Dame. I do think it is cool to see Notre Dame a national power once again.

Agree, but they still have a brutal schedule remaining with USC and OU.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Great goal line stand by Notre Dame. I do think it is cool to see Notre Dame a national power once again.

Don't you ever say such awful things. Nobody should ever wish Notre Dame to be relevant again. Nobody.

Also Stanford got absolutely jobbed, that call was crap.

Let's see, what else? Texas Tech took a hammer to WVU's knees, and oh my God I was not expecting to see that!

Auburn loses again, this time in a painful way because they were close but not quite close enough. I think any talk of Gene Chizik getting fired this season is ridiculous, but I do think that he needs to at least consider rolling a couple of assistant coach heads if this keeps going.

Glad to see that Mississippi State is back...at least for a few more weeks

Did anybody catch Texas A&M vs La Tech? That game was bananas.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Great goal line stand by Notre Dame. I do think it is cool to see Notre Dame a national power once again.

Don't you ever say such awful things. Nobody should ever wish Notre Dame to be relevant again. Nobody.

Also Stanford got absolutely jobbed, that call was crap.

Let's see, what else? Texas Tech took a hammer to WVU's knees, and oh my God I was not expecting to see that!

Auburn loses again, this time in a painful way because they were close but not quite close enough. I think any talk of Gene Chizik getting fired this season is ridiculous, but I do think that he needs to at least consider rolling a couple of assistant coach heads if this keeps going.

Glad to see that Mississippi State is back...at least for a few more weeks

Did anybody catch Texas A&M vs La Tech? That game was bananas.

Notre Dame has had a proud tradition and I have always liked the school. It is cool to see them being good again. Not sure why the hate. I disagree about the it being a bad call, especially the replay. Their wasn't enough conclusive evidence to overturn that call.

[Sam]

I'm in Big Ten country. I'm pretty sure this season will be struck from the records and never be spoken of again.

(That said, the Badgers' shellacking of Purdue was pretty fun. Montee Ball showed that he can still be a beast.)

[Dragon]

Notre Dame has had a proud tradition and I have always liked the school. It is cool to see them being good again. Not sure why the hate. I disagree about the it being a bad call, especially the replay. Their wasn't enough conclusive evidence to overturn that call.

From what I saw, it was pretty clear that the runner was lying on top of bodies and managed to swing the ball over the goalline. Close does not mean inconclusive.

That said, it could also be a question of when you determine that his forward progress was stopped. The runner was clearly stopped and then pushed backwards short of the goalline, after which he rolled to the side, flopped onto the pile, and squirmed forward again. I've always thought that was a cheap way to get a first down/score a touchdown, and it's incredibly frustrating for a defense who legitimately did stop the play to fail only because the runner gets second, third, and fourth chances in that situation. If they did call his forward progress stopped when he was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage, then no part of the play after that is reviewable.

All in all, though, I felt it should have been called a touchdown, and that the call should have been reversed in replay. However, I don't think the ref's call was nearly as bad as the coach's. You got absolutely stuffed on third down, and you call exactly the same play on fourth? What did you expect to happen?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I did think his forward progress was stopped, not sure if they reviewed that. There was also some question of a whistle. I also thought his elbow was down first but it was very close and hard to tell with zooming in. And they watch those replays live, they don't do no slowmo like they do on TV.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Alabama crushes Tennessee 44-13 and all is right with the world.

Now the season gets interesting for us. Mississippi State next week, then LSU the week after, and Aggy the week after that. Three very difficult tests.

[Dragon]

It was a pretty good Saturday for me. Texas Tech ended up on top of a triple overtime battle that should have been settled after they took a ten-point lead over TCU with four minutes left in regulation. They alternated between looking like a well-oiled machine and looking like a Reliant Robin, but Doege's play action pass to seal it at the end of triple OT was a thing of beauty.

Penn State, meanwhile, absolutely owned. This is incredible - they're playing way above the level I expected this year. I still don't know if they can sustain this level of play, but if they can bring that kind of offensive and defensive dominance against Ohio State next week, they have a great shot at winning the stupidly named Leaders Division, which they actually are still eligible to do!

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I am really enjoying seeing Penn State spit in adversity's eye. If a team ever needed to bounce back from bad things, it's this one. Good on them.