College Football Again

[Kalbear]

I was thinking about that too - who would be the most impressive 1-loss team, assuming everyone lost once?

Alabama, if they lost 1 (they did) would likely be the best; while they'd have that loss to South Carolina, they'd have wins over LSU and Auburn and the SEC champ. Hard to beat that.

Ohio State - assuming they win out, their only loss would be on the road to a ranked team. That's not bad at all. I personally think Ohio State is stronger than Alabama or Auburn this year.

Oregon - I'm assuming their one loss would be to Arizona or OSU. Both would be defensible losses, and they'd have beaten Stanford, USC, and the other Arizona/OSU. Depends a lot on their style doing it, but I would think they'd be pretty strong.

Auburn with one loss - I'm assuming that one loss would be to Bama. They've got some good wins, but it doesn't look quite as strong to me, especially with squeaking by Kentucky.

Wisconsin - another good one-loss team, I think they're not quite as good as the rest above and they've not shown it to be consistent enough.

Nebraska, Mizzou, Oklahoma - I think these are all good but not stellar teams with no big marquee wins.

As for the title game, I would love Oregon to play any SEC team. I don't care which. I don't want Oregon playing against Boise or TCU simply because it won't mean as much to the rest of the world if Oregon beats them, and it'll look much worse if they lose. While I think Oregon could play against any of those teams now I would rather it be a meaningful, big game against a big, old, classic winner.

[Arakasi]

That's true, my ideal scenario for a "dream" season would be Alabama and Oregon winning out, James taking the Heisman and beating the Tide in a good title game.

As for best one loss team? Alabama and Auburn most likely. Stanford and Oregon probably not, they just haven't played strong enough schedules. OU is really the only other choice. They had the best series of OOC wins of anyone this year. Not a big fan of Ohio State or any team in the Big 10. Just a weak year for them this year. Remember as of 3 days ago people thought Michigan State was a title contender. I don't believe in Wisconsin and Iowa just is unlucky this year.

So yeah the two SEC teams (or three if LSU wins out) and OU.

[Kalbear]

Oh, I wasn't judging it based on entirely strength of schedule. I don't think OU has such a strong schedule any more that they could rate that highly, and given their margin of victory in that schedule I'm not sold either. I mean, their best win is against Florida State to this point. They barely beat Cincinnatti and Air Force. Compare to Stanford (who at least trounced Wake Forest and ND) or even Mizzou (who beat Illinois) or Ohio State (who beat a good Miami team at the time) and it's not close.

Stanford, if they win out, would have beaten USC, Arizona, Oregon State and lost to Oregon. That wouldn't put them above Oregon as a 1-loss team, of course. They're kinda hosed that way.

Arizona as a one-loss team would have a narrow loss to Oregon State, while beating Oregon, Stanford, and Iowa. That's actually a really strong pedigree and probably the best of all the Pac-10 right now.

Wisconsin's best win would be against Ohio State, but losing to MSU hurts a bit. They also have no one else that's good left to play.

Nebraska's best win would be against the Big-12 champ and against Mizzou, but losing to Texas hurts.

[Ken Stone]

Wisconsin's best win would be against Ohio State, but losing to MSU hurts a bit. They also have no one else that's good left to play.

Nebraska's best win would be against the Big-12 champ and against Mizzou, but losing to Texas hurts.

OK State was undefeated and NE beat them on the road. That is at least as impressive as the win against Mizzu.

[Kalbear]

I'm assuming that Oklahoma State doesn't win out and Mizzou does. If Okst won out they would have beaten OK as well, and that would be a pretty good win too.

[Kalbear]

I also would kinda love Alabama instead of Auburn because it would likely mean Cam Newton looked horrible - and might give LMJ the chance to earn a Heisman. He's on pace to get 2000 yards this year after missing one game for suspension, would be on the best team in the country, and is just insanely fun to watch. I hope he sticks around for another year so he could legitimately have a shot at another one; as it is, it's Cam Newton's to lose.

Looking back at some oddities, this article on the best case/worst case for Oregon came up. The dream scenario is for the Ducks to go 11-1 and the Rose Bowl, with LMJ as a Heisman winner. If you read that, it's eerie how close he came sometimes (like how well Barner did against New Mexico or drubbing Tennessee) and how completely off he's been other times (Oregon barely beating USC, Stanford). But still - this offseason if you told me that 11-1 was on the table and another rose bowl berth, I would have been ecstatic; I was expecting a rebuilding year with a new QB and wasting a lot of our returning starter depth.

Instead, 11-1 and a trip to the Rose Bowl would be looked at as if only we could have done just a little better. That is nuts to me. Don't get me wrong - I would be hugely happy going to the Rose a second straight year. That's not something I would have ever imagined, and being turned into the Big Team of the Pac-10 is crazy good for Oregon. I remember growing up and how thrilled the city was - and I was - that we were going to our first bowl game in 33 years! Or heck, the year before that how this year, we might actually have a winning season. So I'd be very happy with 11-1.

But oh man, do I hope we go 12-0. They are tough games. There are tests. But I think we can beat that best case scenario. I think we can obliterate Washington to the point where they consider folding their football program or ask for a redivision of the Pac-12 and become part of the South, somehow. I think we can beat the schizophrenic Cal team at their house, where we've had such trouble in the past. I think we can avenge that game against Arizona last year and show their fans that you only storm the field when the game is won. And then I think we can remove all doubts about spoilers and beat Oregon State in the most important Civil War in the 110 year history of both schools.

That would be keen.

[Kalbear]

Also, with Baylor rolling it makes TCU look that much better. If they win out they'll have wins against Baylor, Utah and Oregon State - and that's a lot better than what BSU's schedule looks like, at least to me. I think this year they're a stronger team overall; that defense is crazy good.

Plus, awesome uniforms.

[Kalbear]

Also, if Oregon State beats Stanford - and that's a big if, mind you - and they win the rest of their games, that would mean the Civil War would again be for the Pac-10 championship. If the beavs won they'd be 8-1 in conference play and own the tiebreakers, and everyone else would have two losses.

So it's still possible that it would be for the Rose bowl. What's more insane is that that would be the lesser bowl of the two. I kinda love the notion that the Oregon schools have this bizarre stranglehold on the conference.

[Arakasi]

Personally I am hoping for Stanford to win out. If they do then Arizona and Oregon State will be less motivated for their games, because winning won't give them the Pac 10 title. Plus it might give us two teams in the BCS. I like them as well so that doesn't hurt.

As for TCU yeah I like them a lot. I think they're the best of the 3 non AQ schools this year. Still think OU has the best case for a 1 loss team outside the SEC schools. If they win out they'd have wins over Air Force, Cinci, FSU, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Nebraska in the Big 12 title game. Easily better than any Big 10 team. (Ohio State's best win right now is umm Miami or Purdue, it is really that bad and they only have Iowa left. Similar cases exist for the other Big 10 teams too. MSU has like 1 win worth anything) And yes better than Stanford or Oregon.

[davos]

time for a new thread.