[Ninong]

I forgot to say that I was really talking about who would be No. 2 if both Missouri and West Virginia lose. Obviously Ohio State would be No. 1 but I don't think Georgia should be No. 2, especially since they're not playing this week because they weren't even good enough to make it into the SEC conference championship game.

Goofy Brent Musberger just said something about Ohio State and Georgia making it into the BCS championship game. Ohio State I can understand but I can't understand Georgia. That would be a travesty!

[Ninong]

Pittsburgh just beat West Virginia, so I guess Ohio State will be in the BCS championship game against somebody.

If they put a 10-2 Georgia in the BCS championship game, that would be a joke. They lost to Tennessee by 21 points. LSU is 11-2 and both of their losses were in triple OT. If Georgia had been good enough to win their division, they might be 10-3 now instead of 10-2.

[Ninong]

I think you can stick a fork in Missouri and Chase Daniel's Heisman chances. Oklahoma leads 35-17 with ten minutes left.

Tim Tebow's Heisman chances are looking better and better provided they don't give it to Darren McFadden.

We still have the Hawaii-Washington game to watch. What if Hawaii really puts the hurt on Washington and ends up as the only undefeated team? Where does Hawaii end up?

P.S. -- It may be a longshot but I think there's a good chance LSU could end up ranked No. 2. It's also possible they could move Oklahoma all the way up from No. 9 to No. 2.

[Ninong]

I just got finished watching a fantastic game!

Washington went up 21-0 over Hawaii in the first 10 minutes of the game thanks to three fumbles from Hawaii.

Colt Brennan brought Hawaii all the way back and they won it, 35-28. It was a very exciting game. Hawaii scored a TD with 43 seconds left in the game. Washington got all the way back to the Hawaii 4-yard line on two long passes. Then, with 12 seconds left in the game, Hawaii intercepted a Washington pass in the end zone.

Hawaii: C. Brennan
42/50 433 yds 5 TD

I think that will put Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and it should earn Colt Brennan a trip to New York. He won't win the Heisman but he might come in third.

[charlie]

Darn, I always miss the good games. We have to get our son to airport in 1 hour, so I kind of went to sleep a little early last nite!!!!!

Is there no decency in college football this year? Why can't the number 1 and 2 teams hold their positions. It has been crazy, hasn't it?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by charlie

Darn, I always miss the good games. We have to get our son to airport in 1 hour, so I kind of went to sleep a little early last nite!!!!!

The game started at 10:30 p.m. my time (CST) and wasn't over until 2:20 a.m. my time. Thank goodness it didn't go into triple OT.

Washington got off to a very quick start thanks to Hawaii's three early fumbles. The score was already 21-0 with only ten minutes gone in the first quarter.

Colt Brennan's passing is unbelievable. It helps that he has three good receivers but the guy is unreal. At one stretch in the game he completed 20 straight. He went 42 of 50 for 443 yards and 5 TDs. Hawaii was having difficulty with Washington's running game but, on the other hand, Washington was completely unable to stop Brennan's air attack.

It would have been a shame if Washington had managed to come back in the last 43 seconds. If that had happened, then a lot of people would have blamed June Jones because he could have easily run out the clock before putting that last TD on the board to break the 28-28 tie and send Hawaii ahead 35-28. Hawaii had a first down on the Washington four-yard line with only 40-something seconds left in the game. The reason he didn't run the clock down and then take a chip-shot field goal was because his kicker had already missed two field goals thanks to an injured kicking foot, and it had been raining heavily during the game and the surface was very wet. The kicker's plant foot had slipped on a previous field goal attempt.

Anyway, Hawaii decided to go for the TD without trying to take the clock down. They made the TD on the very next play, leaving 43 seconds on the clock. Washington had a decent return and then they connected on a fairly long pass to bring them to mid-field. They followed that one with a really long bomb that took them all the way to the Hawaii four- or five-yard line. They ran a couple of plays from there that didn't go anywhere and then they threw an interception that ended the game.

Hawaii will probably play in the Sugar Bowl against LSU unless LSU somehow manages to get into the BCS championship game. A Sugar Bowl with LSU and Hawaii is probably the worst possible combination as far as the hotel owners and restaurant owners in New Orleans are concerned -- a local team against a small program from 5,000 miles away!

Is there no decency in college football this year? Why can't the number 1 and 2 teams hold their positions. It has been crazy, hasn't it?

There have been a lot of upsets of teams ranked in the top five. And a lot of teams lost while ranked No. 1 or No. 2. In fact, LSU was ranked No. 1 for BOTH of their triple OT losses.

If LSU somehow makes it into the BCS championship game, Matt Flynn and Glenn Dorsey will probably both be healthy and able to play. Flynn didn't play yesterday because of a bad shoulder. Ryan Perrilloux played the entire game. Which reminds me, all of those records that Colt Brennan set this year, he set while missing four games! He missed three games completely with a bad ankle and then, after being knocked out cold late in the Fresno State game, he took only two snaps in the Nevada game -- the first play of the game and the first play of the second half.

[Poseidon]

I wish I would have stayed up for the UH game! That sounds like a fun game to watch.

I hope that OSU plays better then they did against UM, or it will be another blow out like last year!

This is the WORST thing that could have happened to the BCS, now there will be a huge controversy as to who #2 should be. I like LSU, but USC also looked very good the last couple of weeks, they could make a case for a 2 loss team as well.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

This is the WORST thing that could have happened to the BCS, now there will be a huge controversy as to who #2 should be. I like LSU, but USC also looked very good the last couple of weeks, they could make a case for a 2 loss team as well.

If there were ever a playoff system, then the strongest teams at the end of the season could be expected to do well. However, we don't have a playoff system and the BCS system is supposed to take into consideration the way teams played the entire season, plus the strength of schedule.

When you look at strength of schedule, LSU beat the most ranked teams, including destroying the ACC champion by a score of 48-7. The only game Kansas played against a ranked team, they lost. And Kansas didn't get to play in their conference championship game because, like Georgia, they lost their division. It would be a travesty if a team that wasn't good enough to even get into their conference championship game should get into the BCS championship game. For one thing, if they had made it to their conference championship game, they might have lost! I think teams that didn't even play in their conference championship game should have an extra loss tacked onto their records. That's why I think LSU has to be placed above Georgia. And they should be placed above Virginia Tech because they beat Virginia Tech by SIX touchdowns! And Georgia may be hot now but they lost to Tennessee by 21 points!

As far as USC is concerned, I thought they looked unbeatable early in the season in the only game I watched and they look very good right now... but, they LOST to Stanford!

[Poseidon]

Agreed on USC, but like you say in a playoff system, they would be tough to be TODAY. Plus I have to be happy about the loss to Stanford, as a former U of M quarterback is the coach!

Georgia looked good to me, for the little that I saw, but not winning the conference is a serious knock against them.

LSU is a good team, and I bet they would kick OSU's butt in a game. However if they get into the National Championship game from #7, that discredits all the rankings leading up to the final week. I mean really what is the point of ranking anyone in the top 8 at all, if you can pick who you want in the BCS title game from any of the 8, given 1 & 2 lose in the final week....

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

Agreed on USC, but like you say in a playoff system, they would be tough to be TODAY. Plus I have to be happy about the loss to Stanford, as a former U of M quarterback is the coach!

And yesterday, Stanford won the Big Game against Cal. I kept flipping back and forth and got to see a lot of that game. I like both teams so it's hard to root for one over the other. I just watch the game and see what happens and hope that the Stanford band doesn't make the teevee highlights.

Georgia looked good to me, for the little that I saw, but not winning the conference is a serious knock against them.

LSU is a good team, and I bet they would kick OSU's butt in a game. However if they get into the National Championship game from #7, that discredits all the rankings leading up to the final week. I mean really what is the point of ranking anyone in the top 8 at all, if you can pick who you want in the BCS title game from any of the 8, given 1 & 2 lose in the final week....

Oviously the BCS system has a lot of flaws and this is one of them. No matter where a team is ranked going into the final week, they shouldn't be allowed to enter the BCS championship game if they didn't win their conference. When Oklahoma got into the BCS championship game in spite of not winning their conference, they were demolished by Miami.

Speaking of the BCS ranking system, remember that Florida Atlantic was considered a powerhouse at one point, as was Cal. And what about Boston College? Weren't they No. 2 at one point, just like Cal? Kansas was overrated the whole season by the computer. I have no idea how that happened.

We aren't going to have a playoff system in college football, so we can forget about that idea. What they need to do after this season is over is come up with some new rules that will prevent teams that didn't even win their division, much less their conference, from being considered for the BCS championship game.

What makes the system so user-unfriendly right now is that it's supposed to take into consideration the entire season and not just the most recent two or three games. That may be possible for the computer but it's hard on the humans who vote in the Coaches poll and the Harris poll. They have a tendency to remember the most recent games and forget the early games.

I'm still waiting to see what happens but I would be really disappointed if either Georgia or Virginia Tech made it into the BCS championship game. I have a stronger feeling right now that LSU has a good shot.

P.S. -- Going into the final week, the Harris poll had Missouri and West Virginia in the top two spots, followed by Ohio State and Georgia, then LSU in the fifth spot. Both Missouri and West Virginia will drop down several notches. Ohio State and Georgia didn't play but Ohio State is 11-1 and they won their conference, so they're in. LSU will almost certainly pass Georgia in the Harris poll and be placed second.

The Coaches poll had LSU ranked seventh with Georgia, Virginia Tech and Kansas ahead of LSU. Georgia and Kansas didn't even win their divisions. Virginia Tech is the ACC champion but they lost to the SEC champion by 41 points. LSU just might be placed above all three of those teams in the Coaches poll, and even if they aren't, the Harris poll might balance out the Coaches poll, leaving everything up to the computer.

The computer had Virginia Tech at .8100 and LSU at .7900. Virginia Tech beat Boston College, a team with a higher computer ranking than Tennessee. The computer may rank Virginia Tech No. 2 and LSU No. 3.

I think the key will be the Coaches poll. I think the Harris poll will rank LSU No. 2 and I think the computer will rank LSU No. 3. It will all come down to whether the Coaches rank LSU above Virginia Tech. They might just do that because of the 48-7 win by LSU over Virginia Tech. Obviously I'm not a fan of either Kansas or Georgia making it into the BCS championship game when they were runnerups in their divisions.

USC has no shot because they were ninth in the Harris poll, ninth in the Coaches poll and the computer ranked them at .6400 compared to LSU's .7900.

I realize the AP poll doesn't count but they had LSU ranked No. 5 and they will probably jump LSU above Georgia since Georgia didn't even play and LSU won the SEC championship. This could give us LSU as No. 2 in the AP poll and possibly No. 3 in the BCS rankings, although I'm hoping they'll be No. 2 in the BCS rankings.

ESPN BCS analyst Brad Edwards: "I think it’s LSU and Ohio State, but I tell you this: the people who vote on this know a lot less about the résumés of these teams than I do, so it’s presumptuous of me to speculate on what they will do. They’re not very well informed."

This much is certain: LSU will play in New Orleans in January!

[Ninong]

Hawaii vs. Washington

HONOLULU (AP) - Colt Brennan threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Grice-Mullen with 44 seconds left and No. 11 Hawaii overcame a 21-point deficit to beat Washington 35-28 on Saturday night to finish the regular season 12-0 and virtually assure a BCS berth.

Brennan was near perfect with a Heisman Trophy night, throwing two fourth-quarter touchdown passes. He was 42-of-50, including 6-of-6 on the winning 76-yard drive.

He threw for 442 yards and five TDs with no interceptions.

Grice-Mullen caught a slant pass from Brennan for the score that put the sellout crowd in a frenzy, chanting "BCS! BCS!"

Washington (4-9) took over with 38 seconds and drove all the way to the Hawaii 4, but Jake Locker's pass was intercepted by Ryan Mouton in the end zone with 3 seconds left, sealing the win and the Warriors' perfect season.

Thousands of fans charged the field and flashes sparkled in Hawaii's biggest win in school history.
Hawaii entered the game 12th in the Bowl Championship Series standings. It will need to finish in the top 12 when the final standings are released Sunday to land in one of the choice bowl games.

The Warriors might play in the Sugar Bowl against LSU. It would be their first postseason appearance outside the Aloha State since the 1992 Holiday Bowl.

Hawaii has won a national-best 13 straight games, dating to its victory over Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl, and 22 of its last 23 games.

The Warriors tied it at 28 with 8:01 left, on Brennan's 40-yard rainbow to Rivers. It was their fourth TD hookup of the game.

Here.

[Ninong]

Georgia Coach Mark Richt: "It should come down to who the voters believe are the two best teams in the nation right now."

By that measurement, a team that was crushed in two or three early season defeats (e.g., Michigan) but then turned around and came on strong (e.g., Michigan before the Wisconsin game) should be in the BCS championship game even though they weren't good enough to make it into their conference championship game. That's ridiculous!

In fact, what Richt is saying is that a team with an 8-4 record should go to the BCS championship game ahead of a team with a 12-0 record if the 8-4 team looks better right now and even if the 8-4 team didn't win their division. I can see why he thinks that way since his team didn't win their division.

If Georgia's so good, how come they lost to South Carolina and Tennessee, including by 21 points to Tennessee? At least LSU didn't lose any games at all in regulation and they weren't blown away by 21 points like Georgia was or by 41 points like Virginia Tech was.

If you're not good enough to win your division, you have no business playing for the national championship. That's why Kansas and Georgia shouldn't even be in the running.

And if LSU and Virginia Tech are both conference champions, with identical records, then you have to consider their head-to-head game where LSU crushed Virginia Tech 48-7.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Ninong

This much is certain: LSU will play in New Orleans in January!

Looks like it will be on January 7th.

The AP poll and the Coaches poll are both out. The AP poll doesn't count in the BCS rankings but the Coaches poll does and it was the one I was worried about.

AP poll
1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Oklahoma
4. Georgia
5. Virginia Tech
6. USC
7. Missouri
8. Kansas
9. Florida
10. Hawaii
11. West Virginia
12. Arizona State

Coaches poll
1. Ohio State, 1469
2. LSU, 1418
3. Oklahoma, 1331
4. Georgia, 1277
5. Virginia Tech, 1242
6. USC, 1227
7. Missouri, 1104
8. Kansas, 1099
9. West Virginia, 1010
10. Hawaii, 994
11. Arizona State, 900
12. Florida, 890

Looking at the Coaches poll, it looks like LSU is in. I expect the Harris poll to have the same ranking for the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. The computers had LSU with a .7900 rating vs. Oklahoma with a .5500 rating going into yesterday's games, so I doubt that Oklahoma will pass LSU in the computer ranking. It helps a lot that the Coaches placed Oklahoma ahead of both Georgia and Virginia Tech because both of those teams were slightly ahead of LSU in the computer ranking.

The AP poll and the Coaches poll have identical rankings for the top eight teams. And both polls place Hawaii at No. 10. Hawaii needs to finish in the top 12 in the final BCS ranking to get an invite to a BCS bowl game.

We won't know the actual BCS bowl game matchups until they are announced officially at 7 p.m. (CST) on FOX but once the Harris poll comes out, I think that will tell us for sure if LSU is in for the championship game because if both the Coaches poll and the Harris poll have LSU No. 2, then I feel pretty confident they will make it.

P.S. -- The SEC has three teams in the top 12: LSU, Georgia and Florida. The Big 12 has three teams: Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. The Pac 10 has two teams: USC and Arizona State. The Big 10 has one team: Ohio State. The ACC has one team: Virginia Tech. The Big East has one team: West Virginia. The WAC has one team: Hawaii. If the Harris poll has the same 12 teams in the top 12 spots, we can probably figure out who goes where before the final BCS rankings come out.

It would be hilarious if they put Georgia and Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and Hawaii beat Georgia. I would love to see that happen.

[Ninong]

Who do you think will win the Heisman trophy?

My predictions
1. Tim Tebow will win the Heisman!
2. Darren McFadden
3. Colt Brennan or Chase Daniel (the Oklahoma game hurt Daniel, the Washington game helped Brennan).

[Ninong]

This is ridiculous: It's 86 degrees right now!!!

Current Conditions (as of 2:41 PM)Today's forecast°F | °C
Fair
86°F Feels like: 87°F


Barometer:30.1 in Dewpoint:63°Humidity:46%Visibility:10 miles
Wind:14 mph SSWSunrise:6:41 AMSunset:5:00 PMUV Index:2 Low
Observed at Hammond, Hammond Municipal Airport.
All times shown are local to Ponchatoula.

P.S. -- I wonder what it is in Michigan and Montana right now???

P.P.S. -- I just looked it up for kicks. Poseidon is currently experiencing 40 degrees F but feels like 36 F and Charlie is shivering in 36 F, feels like 26 F.

[charlie]

Originally Posted by Ninong

This is ridiculous: It's 86 degrees right now!!!

Current Conditions (as of 2:41 PM)Today's forecast°F | °C
Fair
86°F Feels like: 87°F


Barometer:30.1 in Dewpoint:63°Humidity:46%Visibility:10 miles
Wind:14 mph SSWSunrise:6:41 AMSunset:5:00 PMUV Index:2 Low
Observed at Hammond, Hammond Municipal Airport.
All times shown are local to Ponchatoula.

P.S. -- I wonder what it is in Michigan and Montana right now???

P.P.S. -- I just looked it up for kicks. Poseidon is currently experiencing 40 degrees F but feels like 36 F and Charlie is shivering in 36 F, feels like 26 F.

With 3" of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!

AJ headed off to Korea for 2 years this AM, it has been a tough day for the Charlie household

Are the bowl selections coming out today?

[charlie]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Who do you think will win the Heisman trophy?

My predictions
1. Tim Tebow will win the Heisman!
2. Darren McFadden
3. Colt Brennan or Chase Daniel (the Oklahoma game hurt Daniel, the Washington game helped Brennan).

I have to agree on all accounts. Maybe next year Florida will find a running back!!!!!

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by charlie

AJ headed off to Korea for 2 years this AM, it has been a tough day for the Charlie household

That's a lot better than Iraq or Afghanistan but I know what you mean.

Are the bowl selections coming out today?

Yes, they will be announced on a special FOX Sports program at 7 p.m. Central.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by charlie

I have to agree on all accounts. Maybe next year Florida will find a running back!!!!!

Tim Tebow and Colt Brennan are by far the most exciting quarterbacks in college football but for different reasons. Tebow is a much more physical player with a lot more muscle mass. It's his running that makes him so exciting. Brennan has incredible accuracy and an incredibly fast release but he's a little bit on the thin side when it comes to physique and I'm positive he can't bench press what Tebow can. In fact, the coaches have to limit Tebow to no more than 400-lbs because they don't want him to bulk up too much or possibly hurt himself.

[charlie]

That's a lot better than Iraq or Afghanistan but I know what you mean.

That is kinda what we thought too.

Yes, they will be announced on a special FOX Sports program at 7 p.m. Central.

Well, be there or be square, huh??