College Football- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 2014

[sperry]

Old thread was over 40.

Melvin Gordon, who had his single game rushing record hold for exactly 1 week, may get a chance at an even better prize. He's now only 520 yards away from the single season rushing record, with three games to play. Interestingly enough, he may have his shot at the record against OU in the Russell Athletics bowl, as that appears to be where OU is headed for sure, and to face a big 10 team now that Notre Dame has imploded.

[Tyrion the Perfect]

Living here in Oregon I hear a ton of Mariota hype, but I personally would have to vote for Gordon as this year's Heisman trophy winner(if voted on today).

I think this will be an incredibly close vote.

[Tyrion the Perfect]

Really? I think Mariota is going to run away with it. He's got everything the voters look for. Great career, great numbers and record this year on a likely playoff team, projected high draft pick, etc...

Oh, don't get me wrong....Mariota is a complete stud, absolutely everything you say.

But Gordon is going after a record owned by Barry Sanders. And he is averaging 8.3 yards a carry. This is one of the best seasons by a college running back , EVER.

Right now, ESPN's experts have Mariota with a slight edge(for what that's worth). And given 11 of the last 13 Heisman winners have been QBs, I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of a change up. :cool4:

[sperry]

Please let this happen::

Missouri loses to Arkansas

Georgia loses to Georgia Tech

Mississipi State loses to Ole MIss

Georgia beats Alabama in CCG.

[Kalbear]

Also, if GT beats Georgia and FSU they have a fairly reasonable outside shot at the playoffs. They basically need a bit of chaos in the Big 12 or the Big 10 to happen, but they'd have a great resume at that point.

[sperry]

I'm also very confident that Florida is going to win this week. As pathetic as this is, I think they're the best team FSU has played all year. I think the players are going to look to make a statement for Muschamp.

[Kalbear]

I don't think that Florida will win. I think they'll make it a bit closer, but they're not as good as Louisville or Miami or Clemson.

[S John]

I don't think Florida will win either. I think FSU is going to make the playoff. Wouldn't mind being proven wrong, but I have a hard time seeing it.

ETA:

Pac 12 people... is there any chance of Oregon State beating Oregon? Oregon has pretty much been penciled in everyone's final four for quite some time now. Everyone would shit their pants if they went down. Note that, while I am no Oregon fan, I actually kind of want Oregon to stay alive because I think they are an excellent playoff match up and I want to see them in there. But I think there must be at least a 10% chance for the Beavs in Corvallis.

[sperry]

I've been waiting for Bama-Oregon championship game for a long time. Felt like they've had the two best teams almost every year and have never met up.

[BLU-RAY]

Oregon could actually score 100 and then bench its players for the fourth quarter. State is terribad at defense.

[sperry]

Oregon could actually score 100 and then bench its players for the fourth quarter. State is terribad at defense.

Rivalry games are always crazy. State almost won last year.

[Switchback the Second]

I'm also very confident that Florida is going to win this week. As pathetic as this is, I think they're the best team FSU has played all year. I think the players are going to look to make a statement for Muschamp.

This guy gets it.

[Kalbear]

The biggest problem with osu beating Oregon is that osu has one of the worst running defenses in the country, and by far the worst in the PAC 12. That, and all of their RBs are injured.

A better bet is Oregon losing in the p12cg.

[Kalbear]

Rivalry games are always crazy. State almost won last year.

that was mostly because Mariota was hurt and trying to play through it. And our d coordinator deciding that stopping the run was optional.

[Switchback the Second]

I was thinking about this today as the wave of horseshit coaching candidates continue to be paraded around the intertubes. Muschamp is a couple of breaks away from going into the FSU game sittin' pretty.

Here we sit at 6-4. Mediocre at best.

Operation What Coulda Been....

First game of the year was scheduled against Idaho, a fairly miserable squad. It got cancelled totally by weather (an omen of things to come). We torched Eastern Michigan the next week so I have to assume we would have played well and won. Let's call it a win.... (fantasy)

1-0

Second and third week victories. (reality)

3-0

Bama game is what it is, we weren't winning that one this year. (reality)

3-1

Tennessee win. We just can't lose to these guys, even when it seems like we're trying to. (reality)

4-1

LSU. Fucking LSU game... Dude catches a routine pass right in his chest while all alone in the endzone, we win. (fantasy)

5-1

Mizzou. I still wonder how this game would have turned out had we won that LSU game. Team was completely devastated by that loss and I don't know what in the hell that was we trotted out on offense. Defense gave up less than 120 total yards and we got boatraced. This one is still surreal. I'd like to think we may have won if we weren't so shell-shocked from the previous week, but the score is too lopsided to reverse this one. Call it a loss still. (reality)

5-2

Georgia and Vandy, convincing wins (reality)

7-2

South Carolina. Let's just say we don't get a fucking punt blocked up 3 with under a minute to go.... (fantasy)

8-2

Eastern Kentucky.

9-2

I mean, fuck. Just a couple a breaks the other way in a couple games and Muschamp still has a job, we're playing for 10 wins this week and life is good. The College Football Gods just hate 'Champ. He must've held them to season-low points and yards this year.

[Kalbear]

If you're curious, here's the analysis of why Oregon will beat OSU handily.

Apparently Woods is probable, so it'll likely be somewhat competitive - but only somewhat.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Quick question to see what you guys think. If, Miss St and Alabama both win out, do you guys still see Miss St as the 4 seed? Or, do you see that being giving over to TCU/Baylor or an Ohio St BIG10 champ?

Myself, I can't see where they could justify putting TCU/Baylor there when Miss St is already ahead of them and if they don't lose, I just don't see them dropping them. Now, Ohio St is the team I could see squeaking ahead of them, if they have dominant performance against UM and the BIG10 championship game.

My favorite scenario would be pure chaos. I'd love to see Miss St lose to Ole Miss, BAMA beat by Georgia/Mizzou (Mizzou preferably) and FSU blow one (I think its gonna happen, that defense isn't what it was last year). Oregon I'm rooting for, I'd love to see em win a NC. Especially because they have been so close and so good for so long, I feel they deserve one. But, from there TCU/Baylor would be in, probably Ohio St and SEC champ (UGA/Mizzou). I'd love to see it shaken up this late in the season and see who lands where. Just wanted to hear y'alls opinion on who ya think is left standing.

[Kalbear]

The biggest problem is that Ole Miss now just became a meh win for them. That was probably their best hope - that Ole Miss sticks around and stays at a 1 or 2-loss level. Now that they're 19th, it's very easy to justify MSST winning but not being special in doing so. Especially when Baylor gets KState (higher ranked) and OSU gets Wisconsin (higher ranked).

Oregon at this point has about a 75% chance to make the playoffs regardless of their opponent. FSU...does not. GT is going to be a fairly tough matchup for them. Alabama's road is even harder - while Auburn doesn't look like the worldbeater they did a month ago it's likely Alabama will have to beat them and Georgia. That's tough.

I don't think TCU can make it unless Baylor and OSU both lose. And I don't think Baylor makes it unless OSU looks really bad.

[sperry]

There is no way that Mississippi State is one of the 4 best teams in the country. They don't belong in this playoff. Hopefully Ole Miss pulls it out, but they are imploding and not having Treadwell is a HUGE deal for them.

I think Ohio State loses the conference championship game, Oregon wins out, Baylor beats K-State, and TCU loses to Texas. Which puts Baylor vs. Mississippi State for the final spot. Neither team played anyone non-con, but I don't think you can put a team that didn't win it's division in over an outright conference champion. If the names were reversed, and Miss State won the conference championship and Bama was the 1 loss runner up, I think you'd see Bama get the nod, but Mississippi State isn't Bama. And honestly, like I said, when you just look at what the team is, they don't stack up with the rest of the contenders. They remind me of Kansas State a couple years ago.

So, final four is:

FSU

Bama

Oregon

Baylor

[Ferrum Aeternum]

There is no way that Mississippi State is one of the 4 best teams in the country. They don't belong in this playoff. Hopefully Ole Miss pulls it out, but they are imploding and not having Treadwell is a HUGE deal for them.

You ain't lying. In addition to being a game changing (and gameplan-altering) receiver, Treadwell helped open up our meager run game as probably the best blocking WR in the nation. We will have to bust big plays on offense in order to beat State. They have the #1 stop rate in the nation inside the red zone because the shortened field negates their massive weakness at safety. Our defense also needs to play lights-out and force Prescott into mistakes the way Bama did.

I don't know if there's "no way" Miss St is a top 4 team in theory, but I agree they shouldn't be in a 4-team playoff ahead of a 1 loss conference champ unless they win the SEC. They had plenty of chances to beat Bama and fucked it up.