2009 NCAA Football Thread

[Jigga]

This is the first time I've seen TCU's Pro Combat unis on HD. Absolutely beautiful. Hopefully they make these their full time unis.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I say they could use a good, bonfire-style burning

Much lower scoring than I thought it'd be.

Agreed on both counts. Those unis look like ass. And not like nice ass either.

[FiddySicks]

Well Boise State just topped TCU in one of the best defensive games I've seen in a long time. TCU definitely shot themselves in the foot at times, but Boise State won the game because they simply played like they've been there before and TCU didn't. Boise State keeps proving people wrong year after year and just keeps on rolling to incredible seasons. They're a big rival of my Nevada Wolfpack, but I always pull for them in games like this because they bring in tons of exposure to the WAC and they're simply just a fun team to watch. I'm wondering if this team is ever going to get their due respect.

[crashcarson15]

Well Boise State just topped TCU in one of the best defensive games I've seen in a long time. TCU definitely shot themselves in the foot at times, but Boise State won the game because they simply played like they've been there before and TCU didn't. Boise State keeps proving people wrong year after year and just keeps on rolling to incredible seasons. They're a big rival of my Nevada Wolfpack, but I always pull for them in games like this because they bring in tons of exposure to the WAC and they're simply just a fun team to watch. I'm wondering if this team is ever going to get their due respect.

Not until we get a playoff... or at least that plus-1 idea.

For the people that say Boise needs to schedule better opponents, who the hell would want to play Boise? They'll always be a tough game and you'll have to play a return game. You'd make more money and not lose to Chattanooga.

[Sport]

I'm really beginning to like Boise State. What do they have to do before they get a crack at the big one?

[TFoA]

Great game, despite the fact that I was pulling for TCU (mainly because of the uniforms), it's great to see Boise State get their 2nd BCS bowl win, & their 2nd undefeated season in 3 years. They may not win a national championship (though they definitely had some great wins against the eventual Pac-10 champion & the then-No. 3 team in the country, the winner of Texas & Alabama will have a better case to the point where a split is out of the question. A TCU win would've at least opened up a conversation for a split, but DEFINITELY not now. [Not really in favor of a playoff since I've yet to hear an idea that was good enough to fix the way FBS crowns their champ but still be traditional, but this would be a PERFECT year for a Plus-1 game.]), but they've definitely won respect & should be considered a national power, at least as long as Petersen is their coach.

Not really looking forward to the Orange Bowl, so the countdown to the big one is officially on for me. Can't wait to see the Tide & Horns lock up!

[jkrdevil]

Well Boise State just topped TCU in one of the best defensive games I've seen in a long time. TCU definitely shot themselves in the foot at times, but Boise State won the game because they simply played like they've been there before and TCU didn't. Boise State keeps proving people wrong year after year and just keeps on rolling to incredible seasons. They're a big rival of my Nevada Wolfpack, but I always pull for them in games like this because they bring in tons of exposure to the WAC and they're simply just a fun team to watch. I'm wondering if this team is ever going to get their due respect.

Not until we get a playoff... or at least that plus-1 idea.

For the people that say Boise needs to schedule better opponents, who the hell would want to play Boise? They'll always be a tough game and you'll have to play a return game. You'd make more money and not lose to Chattanooga.

The schedule argument against Boise this year is bull since they played and destroyed the Pac-10 Champion.

[dfwabel]

The game was very close, but I did not think it was that great. A defensive struggle in which the coaches failed to make adjustments to clearly have a second half edge.

FOX really let me lost interest with all the crowd shots and the lack of homework that Sam Rosen apparently did. It felt like the game was on a treadmill, moving but not going anywhere.

[HedleyLamarr]

For the people that say Boise needs to schedule better opponents, who the hell would want to play Boise? They'll always be a tough game and you'll have to play a return game. You'd make more money and not lose to Chattanooga.

Georgia played Boise State a few years ago, and Boise went home with a check and a 48-13 beating.

I think that scared off BSU from playing SEC competition anytime soon...

[infrared41]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

[Still MIGHTY]

Even though I was pulling for TCU and even bought a TCU Fiesta Bowl shirt, that was a great Fiesta Bowl to attend.

A hard-fought, tough, fierce, defensive battle between two great teams. Congrats to Boise.

I swear that place had to be 65% Boise State fans. Did Boise shut down for the weekend and early week? Is there enough people left in town to run it? And Damn, their fans are freaking crazy. You would have thought Boise was winning a Galactic Super Bowl championship. That was one of the more amazing things to watch in this game.

Also thanks for the free chips Tostitos. Salty as hell.

Couple other notes:

Boise's fans may be crazy, but their cheerleaders and band, meh. Very unentertaining. Kinda stale really.

TCU on the other hand. Wow. Very good and lively band, but most importantly the chicks... DAMN. I know TCU is something like 65% female, but I'm more curious as to what the "hot chick-to-not hot chick" ratio is. It has to be quite large. I saw maybe one truly unattractive girl in TCU gear today. I still have time to make the transfer deadline for TCU. I think I may throw my hat in . Plus theyre the Horny... uh, I mean Horned Frogs. That's good for somethin

The rest of my photos are HERE if anyone is interested. Some shots of the band and pregame stuff. Shots of myself. I was too busy gawking at the TCU girls to get any good pics, so sorry fellas .

[crashcarson15]

Well Boise State just topped TCU in one of the best defensive games I've seen in a long time. TCU definitely shot themselves in the foot at times, but Boise State won the game because they simply played like they've been there before and TCU didn't. Boise State keeps proving people wrong year after year and just keeps on rolling to incredible seasons. They're a big rival of my Nevada Wolfpack, but I always pull for them in games like this because they bring in tons of exposure to the WAC and they're simply just a fun team to watch. I'm wondering if this team is ever going to get their due respect.

Not until we get a playoff... or at least that plus-1 idea.

For the people that say Boise needs to schedule better opponents, who the hell would want to play Boise? They'll always be a tough game and you'll have to play a return game. You'd make more money and not lose to Chattanooga.

The schedule argument against Boise this year is bull since they played and destroyed the Pac-10 Champion.

If they played such a great schedule then why weren't they ranked higher? Why did TCU jump them if their schedule wasn't good enough.

For the people that say Boise needs to schedule better opponents, who the hell would want to play Boise? They'll always be a tough game and you'll have to play a return game. You'd make more money and not lose to Chattanooga.

Georgia played Boise State a few years ago, and Boise went home with a check and a 48-13 beating.

I think that scared off BSU from playing SEC competition anytime soon...

Yeah, you're probably right.

[Sport]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

and we'll never know how they would've fared against the bigger teams because they played each other. That's why I didn't like the matchup because we've learned nothing.

[Jigga]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

:censored: running for cover, but I'm so with you on this. I kept waiting to see something, ANYTHING to show me these were elite teams. I don't want to hear any Boise State split National Champion talk. In fact, if y'all don't see me around for a little while, it's because I'll be hauled off for smacking the :censored: out of people talking Boise State split National Champion nonsense.

[slightly shotgunned]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

:censored: running for cover, but I'm so with you on this. I kept waiting to see something, ANYTHING to show me these were elite teams. I don't want to hear any Boise State split National Champion talk. In fact, if y'all don't see me around for a little while, it's because I'll be hauled off for smacking the :censored: out of people talking Boise State split National Champion nonsense.

Maybe if Oregon's only loss had been to Boise, but as of right now, there's not much of an argument to be made for a split title. Not this year. I hate to agree with the buck, but I agree with the buck.

...

I think I died a little on the inside

[dfwabel]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

:censored: running for cover, but I'm so with you on this. I kept waiting to see something, ANYTHING to show me these were elite teams. I don't want to hear any Boise State split National Champion talk. In fact, if y'all don't see me around for a little while, it's because I'll be hauled off for smacking the :censored: out of people talking Boise State split National Champion nonsense.

Split title? That would only be from the AP, as the coaches are locked into voting for Thursday's winner as #1. Heck, i do not even think that at 14-0, Boise St. should be ranked #2. IMO, Thursday's loser is #2 by losing in "The Finals"; all other games were consolations

[Jigga]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

:censored: running for cover, but I'm so with you on this. I kept waiting to see something, ANYTHING to show me these were elite teams. I don't want to hear any Boise State split National Champion talk. In fact, if y'all don't see me around for a little while, it's because I'll be hauled off for smacking the :censored: out of people talking Boise State split National Champion nonsense.

Split title? That would only be from the AP, as the coaches are locked into voting for Thursday's winner as #1. Heck, i do not even think that at 14-0, Boise St. should be ranked #2. IMO, Thursday's loser is #2 by losing in "The Finals"; all other games were consolations

Totally agree. But I've heard all kinds of split National Champion talk already. I just wasn't close enough to smack the :censored: out of any of them.

[infrared41]

I'm sure I'll take a beating for this but... While watching that game tonight, at no point did I see teams that I thought were good enough to win a title game against Alabama, Texas, Florida, etc. I'm not saying TCU and Boise aren't good teams but what I saw tonight were two teams that are not at the "elite" level of college football. They were certainly evenly matched against each other but they were not, in my eyes anyway, National Championship caliber teams.

Now I am going to run for cover.

and we'll never know how they would've fared against the bigger teams because they played each other. That's why I didn't like the matchup because we've learned nothing.

Based on what I saw last night, I don't think they would have fared very well.

[dfwabel]

Near the end of the regular season, there was a discussion of Michigan and their old boy network. Well, it seems to have continued as they announce their new A.D., another former player.

Michigan Names Domino's CEO as new AD

Does he sense that the new pizza will be a failure?

[infrared41]

The dead horse is back but just to say that someone in the media finally "gets it."

From Gregg Easterbrook's TMQB at ESPN.com

In other sports news, Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was fired after allegedly confining one of his players, Adam James, in small, dark spaces twice while the team practiced. Since this action might have been addressed by a public apology, TMQ suspects it was a last straw -- that Leach had done other odd things behind the scenes, and Texas Tech had had enough. Regardless, two other questions are raised.

The lesser question is, if these allegations are true, why did Adam James consent? James is 21 years old. He could simply have said to Leach, "You're nuts," and walked away. The answer here is likely that James feared Leach would toss him off the team unless he followed any instruction from his coach, however inappropriate. College coaches often hold too much sway over athletes -- especially scholarship athletes, who know that being tossed from a team has dire financial consequences. NCAA scholarships are renewed on a semester-by-semester basis, so if you're no longer part of the team, the money flow stops.

Then again, maybe James obeyed because football culture programmed him to? In football, the head coach is a little god whose every tirade and strange instruction receives quaking obedience from players terrified of losing their status with friends (high school sports) or their ability to pay for school (college sports) or simply the stature that comes with being a football player. You don't need to be a bully to be an effective football coach -- you can treat players in a respectful manner, while holding your own ego in check. But bullies are drawn to football coaching, and the fact that so many coaches get away with little-god behavior is an indictment both of the sport's culture and of the lack of supervision by the schools coaches work for. Supervisors must share some of the blame. Texas Tech now looks awful in the eyes of the nation. It's hard to believe that Tech administrators had no inkling something was amiss in the football office. Where was chancellor Kent Hance before this embarrassment happened?

The larger question is why football coaches think they should punish players. I don't mean telling players who weren't paying attention to do grass drills -- no one questions that sort of decision. Even a coach with a heart of gold makes his players run hills in August heat -- you can't prepare for football without exhausting exertion. I mean, why do football coaches want to punish players in the first place -- not prepare them, but punish them? Isn't this behavior a character defect on the part of the coach? Especially when the players are high school players -- that is to say, children.

Later in the same article...

Mike Leach contends that Adam James was "lazy" and used his father's influence -- Craig James, a former NFL star, is a college football announcer for ESPN -- to demand "preferential treatment." That Leach would sit for 30 minutes of questioning from the same network whose employee has vehemently denounced Leach speaks well of the former Texas Tech coach. For the sake of argument, suppose Leach's view of his player is correct. What was punishing him by confinement supposed to accomplish?

Many football coaches are obsessed with punishing any player who doesn't bow before them. This points to something about the sport that is rarely discussed, the dark side of the psychology of coaches. Some men go into football coaching, especially at the high school and youth levels, because they want to be little tyrants -- especially, tyrants screaming orders at adolescent boys. Adolescent boys can't fight back physically or verbally -- they obey adults even when the adults' orders are suspect, and experience fear and shame in the presence of angry adults. What kind of person, exactly, wants to lord it over young boys, screaming obscenities at them, ordering punishment, denigrating them -- the most hateful language I've ever heard has been from youth and high school football coaches screaming at players -- then demanding that they sprint until they vomit or collapse in pain?

I can vouch for the part in bold. When I was doing sideline camera work at High School football games I was astonished by the things these coaches said to their players. It was ridiculous and sad.

You can read the entire article here.

[NJTank]

You know why Fox Sucks at College Football?

Because they hardly cover it.

You can have a game a week on FSN, but it is not the same, because the people they are using for the BCS games are typically not doing College Football during the regular season and have no idea or feel for what has taken place during the season. The reason ESPN and CBS do a better job is week in week out they are there at the games covering the stories, and have announcers who may have called a few games involving the teams in thew Bowls. You can not just drop someone in and expect them to know the teams or what is going on and that is what Fox's problem is.