[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

PS. I missed that spot where player was bitten by the dog. I think animals have no place at the gathering like this, specialty trained animals that is. Too many distructions.

Gene,

It's Alabama, what do you expect. I agree with you that it's ridiculous to have bite dogs at a college football game. The very idea of using bite dogs for crowd control anywhere in the U.S. is obscene. They look like a bunch of Nazis!

[Ninong]

All USC has to do now to get to the Rose Bowl is beat UCLA next week. And USC has been looking very strong again.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

All USC has to do now to get to the Rose Bowl is beat UCLA next week. And USC has been looking very strong again.

USLA had defeted Oregon, a pitty since Oregon was reduced to whatever backup quarterback they could find. I don;t think it would've been a shutout if Dixon could play. Anyways, I agree that USC is looking formidable again.

Nick Saban looked mighty pissed today in a loss, didn;t he?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Nick Saban looked mighty pissed today in a loss, didn;t he?

He always looks like that when he loses a game. Besides, this was his fourth loss in a row. Alabama finished with a 6-6 record for the season. Not all that impressive for the highest paid coach in college football ($32 million for 8 years). He's not quite the second coming of Bear Bryant. Not yet anyway.

[Ninong]

Hawaii is ranked No. 10 in both the Coaches poll and the Harris poll. So that's two-thirds of the BCS ranking right there. I think they need to finish in the top 12 to lock up a BCS bowl invitation.

P.S. -- LSU is ranked No. 5 in both the AP poll and the Harris poll but they're No. 7 in the Coaches poll.

[Ninong]

AP Poll
1. Missouri, 1604
2. West Virginia, 1574
3. Ohio State, 1469
4. Georgia, 1354
5. LSU, 1269
6. Virginia Tech, 1266
7. Kansas, 1217
8. USC, 1212
9. Oklahoma, 1191
10. Florida, 1029
11. Hawaii, 991
12. Boston College, 909

Harris Poll
1. Missouri, 2779
2. West Virginia, 2753
3. Ohio State, 2638
4. Georgia, 2368
5. LSU, 2215
6. Kansas, 2170
7. Virginia Tech, 2164
8. Oklahoma, 2132
9. USC, 2059
10. Hawaii, 1829
11. Florida, 1757
12. Boston College, 1587

Coaches Poll
1. West Virginia, 1467
2. Missouri, 1454
3. Ohio State, 1383
4. Georgia, 1232
5. Virginia Tech, 1161
5. Kansas, 1161
7. LSU, 1134
8. Oklahoma, 1126
9. USC, 1073
10. Hawaii, 958
11. Florida, 898
12. Boston College, 861

Note that the Coaches Poll places West Virginia ahead of Missouri.

[Ninong]

BCS Standings
1. Missouri, .978
2. West Virginia, .971
3. Ohio State, .919
4. Georgia, .827
5. Kansas, .792
6. Virginia Tech, .781
7. LSU, .774
8. USC, .693
9. Oklahoma, .683
10. Florida, .618
11. Boston College, .617
12. Hawaii, .583

[zhenya]

It's interesting to see LSU fall to No.7, below VT. I wonder why is that?
I agree with the coaches poll on the top spot, though.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

It's interesting to see LSU fall to No.7, below VT. I wonder why is that?

I guess you could argue all day long about where to place Georgia, LSU, Virginia Tech and Kansas.

Georgia is placed above LSU even though Georgia didn't win the SEC East and won't even play in the SEC conference championship game. If LSU beats Tennessee to win the SEC conference championship one could argue that they deserve to be placed above Georgia.

LSU was placed fifth in both the AP and Harris polls, ahead of both Virginia Tech and Kansas. The Coaches placed both Virginia Tech and Kansas above LSU. I suspect the people who placed LSU No. 5 remembered that LSU destroyed Virginia Tech 48-7. LSU has two losses, both in triple overtime, but they did luck out against Florida, Auburn and Alabama. They could just as easily have lost those games. In truth, LSU looked much stronger in the first half of the season than they did in the second half. On the other hand, I believe you're supposed to consider the entire season and each game played without regard to when they were played. In practice, it just doesn't work out that way. People are more influenced by the most recent games.

West Virginia is a virtual lock to play in the BCS championship game. It would take an Appalachian State-style upset for Pittsburgh to beat them next week. Oklahoma could easily beat Missouri. That game could go either way. If Oklahoma blows away Missouri, they could make the argument that they deserve the No. 2 ranking instead of Ohio State. That would be a tough call.

If all hell breaks loose and both Missouri and West Virginia lose, then everybody will claim they deserve to be either No. 1 or No. 2. There will be a whole bunch of two-loss teams. What if LSU blows away Tennessee with a score like they blew away Virginia Tech? Then they would claim that they're just as good, if not better, than the other two-loss teams. And both of their losses were in triple OT. They were never blown away like Virginia Tech was blown away by LSU and Georgia was blown away by Tennessee. If LSU beats Tennessee, then why should they be placed beneath Georgia? Especially since LSU will then be the SEC conference champion and Georgia wasn't even good enough to get into the SEC conference championship game.

If both Missouri and West Virginia win, then they will remain No. 1 and No. 2. And if USC beats UCLA, they would play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Assuming LSU beats Tennessee, they would host the Sugar Bowl, possibly against Hawaii if Hawaii beats Washington. If Hawaii beats Washington, they will almost certainly be ranked in the top 12 in the BCS and that guarantees them a spot in one of the four BCS bowls.

P.S. -- The hotels and restaurants in New Orleans are secretly thrilled that LSU is out of contention for the BCS championship game. They're probably secretly hoping LSU loses to Tennessee so that two out-of-state teams will play in the Sugar Bowl. The hotels usually double their room rates and require a three-night minimum for a bowl game but that doesn't work very well on LSU fans because Baton Rouge is only 75 miles from New Orleans and there are just as many LSU fans in New Orleans as there are in Baton Rouge.

[zhenya]

LSU was placed fifth in both the AP and Harris polls, ahead of both Virginia Tech and Kansas. The Coaches placed both Virginia Tech and Kansas above LSU. I suspect the people who placed LSU No. 5 remembered that LSU destroyed Virginia Tech 48-7.

That was exactly my point, George. One should consider as well that LSU was 6-1 against teams in top 20. Schedule is usually considered, IIRC, but how much this year is anybody's guess.

I think LSU still has an outside chance to be in that game, even if hotel owners conspiring or not in Baton Rouge.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Schedule is usually considered, IIRC, but how much this year is anybody's guess.

Gene, strength of schedule is one of the factors considered by the BCS computer. In fact, when you get down to the end of the season with two teams (let's say No. 2 and No. 3) very close in the BCS ranking, their positions can be affected by the performance of their previous opponents. In other words, it should be helping LSU that a team that they beat 48-7 is now beating up on everybody else. Or that Florida is looking as good as they are. It helped LSU that the team they lost to in triple OT, Kentucky, almost beat Tennessee; but it hurt LSU a lot that they lost to Arkansas, an unranked team, although one with a decent record and a member of the SEC.

I can't remember the exact details right now, but within the past few years there was a switch in positions in the final BCS rankings of two teams that didn't even play that weekend and it was all because of what happened with teams that those two teams had previously beaten. If you have already beaten a team, you don't want them to get blown away 48-7 by Notre Dame, you want them to beat Notre Dame 48-7.

I think LSU still has an outside chance to be in that game, even if hotel owners conspiring or not in Baton Rouge.

It's the hotel owners in New Orleans, not Baton Rouge, who are rooting for out-of-state teams. New Orleans is hosting the Sugar Bowl and the BCS championship bowl.

If LSU beats Tennessee in the SEC conference championship game, then LSU will be in the Sugar Bowl. If they lose to Tennessee, they'll end up in some no-name bowl.

The only way LSU could get back into the BCS championship bowl would be if both West Virginia and Missouri lose next week, AND LSU absolutely destroys Tennessee, AND Oklahoma beats Missouri but is not very impressive. If both West Virginia and Missouri lose, then Ohio State would almost certainly be No. 1 and Oklahoma would claim that they should be No. 2.

[Ninong]

Michigan wants to talk to Les Miles:

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Michigan athletics officials asked for and received permission from LSU to meet with Les Miles about the Wolverines' head football coaching vacancy.

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman granted the request on condition that Michigan representatives wait until after Saturday's Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta before starting negotiations, LSU spokesman Herb Vincent said.

Here.

[Ninong]

Les Miles is staying at LSU

"I am the head coach at LSU. I will be the head coach at LSU," Miles said Saturday. "I have no interest in talking to anybody else."

Wearing a purple tie, standing and gesturing, Miles angrily made his announcement two hours before the No. 5 Tigers played No. 14 Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Here.

[charlie]

Let's hope he isn't doing his best Nick Saban imitation.

[Poseidon]

Boy I missed a LOT last week....

I think OSU would get SMOKED in a National Title game, they did beat my Wolverines, but they didn't look that good to me.

Charlie, I was thinking the same thing about Les Miles, he HAD to say that didn't he, to get MORE MONEY!?

[charlie]

That leaves Michigan open for "Chuckie".

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Charlie, I was thinking the same thing about Les Miles, he HAD to say that didn't he, to get MORE MONEY!?

More money? From Michigan???

He already has a new deal with LSU that gives him more money. They re-did his contract this past week; it just has to be typed up.

[Poseidon]

Well see, it worked then... LOL!

Do you think LSU would have reworked his contract if the rumor mill about the Michigan job had not been churning?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Well see, it worked then... LOL!

Do you think LSU would have reworked his contract if the rumor mill about the Michigan job had not been churning?

LSU knew when they hired him that he was interested in the Michigan job. That's why they inserted the $1.25 million penalty payment that he would have to pay LSU to opt out of his contract if he quit to go to Michigan. It was specifically spelled out that he had to pay it if he went to Michigan. No other school was mentioned, just Michigan.

His present contract with LSU is very good, so any improvement is just icing on the cake. If he had won the national championship this year, he would have been making around $3.5 million next year. I have no idea what the revised contract looks like but I understand that LSU made him an offer after Michigan called and asked for permission to talk to him. LSU told Michigan it would be OK to talk to him AFTER the SEC championship game and then they immediately offered him a new deal BEFORE the SEC championship game.

[Ninong]

Looks like there's a very good chance the BCS rankings could be all topsy-turvy in another hour or so.

No. 2 West Virginia is trailing and might lose to Pittsburg and No. 1 Missouri could very well lose to Oklahoma.

Boy, would that really throw a monkey wrench into the works!

You would have a whole bunch of teams claiming they should be ranked in the top two.

Right now, the BCS rankings have Georgia and Virginia Tech ahead of LSU. Could Georgia actually get to play in the BCS championship game when they not only didn't win the SEC championship, they didn't even win their division. Should Virginia Tech be ranked above LSU when LSU beat them by 41 points?