2011 College Football

[Avante]

Both Boise State and Stanford are quality programs. No need to get too caught up with.."who have they beat". It's real obvious either team can hang on any given day with anyone.

[jazzcyclist]

The initial BCS rankings were just released:

1 LSU
2 Alabama
3 Oklahoma
4 Oklahoma State
5 Boise State
6 Wisconsin
7 Clemson
8 Stanford
9 Arkansas
10 Oregon

LSU's tough non-conference schedule is paying dividends and they still haven't played Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas yet.

[odelltrclan]

Who has Boise St beaten?

The 2011 SEC East champions. Who has Stanford beaten?

So wins over

Georgia
Toledo
Tulsa
Nevada
Fresno St.
Colorado St.

are supposed to impress us?

I'd rather have

San Jose St
Duke
Arizona
UCLA
Colorado
Washington St.

on my resume.

I'm not saying Boise St is NOT good (I think they are!), but let's get real on the strength of schedule.

Come on Marlow, that is an extremely unimpressive resume Stanford has put up. You are collectively looking at the bottom of the barrel in the Pac 12 and adding to little sisters of the poor to go with it.

Boise State's dominating win over Georgia on the road by itself is superior to anything Stanford has done thus far this year. I believe BSU could actually beat anyone in the country right now. They have a very very good defense and an excellent offense. Too bad we likely won't see them get the chance. This is probably the best team they have ever fielded.

[Marlow]

Come on Marlow, that is an extremely unimpressive resume Stanford has put up. You are collectively looking at the bottom of the barrel in the Pac 12 and adding to little sisters of the poor to go with it.

Yeah, as opposed to the little sisters of the poor that Boise plays on a weekly basis. This too shall pass, as the season progresses . . .

[jazzcyclist]

Yeah, as opposed to the little sisters of the poor that Boise plays on a weekly basis. This too shall pass, as the season progresses . . .

So tell us what Stanford has done that's more impressive than Boise State's win over Georgia.

[Marlow]

So tell us what Stanford has done that's more impressive than Boise State's win over Georgia.

Be undefeated in the Pac-12.

[jazzcyclist]

So tell us what Stanford has done that's more impressive than Boise State's win over Georgia.

Be undefeated in the Pac-12.

What the hell are you talking about? They still have four games and a championship game left to play. Make some sense man.

[Marlow]

So tell us what Stanford has done that's more impressive than Boise State's win over Georgia.

Be undefeated in the Pac-12.

What the hell are you talking about? They still have four games and a championship game left to play. Make some sense man.

You misread. Stanford is indeed undefeated in the Pac-12.

[Avante]

So tell us what Stanford has done that's more impressive than Boise State's win over Georgia.

Be undefeated in the Pac-12.

What the hell are you talking about? They still have four games and a championship game left to play. Make some sense man.

You misread. Stanford is indeed undefeated in the Pac-12.

Stanford has played the 53rd ranked schedule so far, Boise State the 66th ranked. So neither team has much to crow about. If Stanford beats Oregon ...then...they will have something to brag about. Boise State has to beat Georgia, TCU and San Diego State......but will still pale in comparision to what those SEC/Big12 teams are doing. So ...who have they beat....does neither Stanford/Boise St a lot of good in 2011.

Marlow, don't get silly with ....I like Stanford.....ok? I like USC but understand they aren't all that in 2011.

[Marlow]

Marlow, don't get silly

That's like telling you not to 'get silly' with old time sprinters or blues singers - hmmmmmmmmmmm?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

[26mi235]

Stanford has played the 53rd ranked schedule so far, Boise State the 66th ranked.

While there are different measures, I think that for the top teams it is more useful to look at the top 6 teams they play, not an average of all the teams. Of course, mid-season that means 2-4 teams, depending on the schedule (or for Wisconsin, 1; they will get a better test with MSU and OSU on the road, especially with more starters and more confidence at OSU) followed by Illinois. My guess is that Stanford plays Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl -- if both are undefeated that still would be a pretty big game.

What would it take for Alabama to play LSU in the BCS bowl? A narrow loss to Alabama combined with their tough schedule and losses by OSU/Oklahoma might be enough to get them picked ahead of Stanford/Wisconsin.

[Marlow]

What would it take for Alabama to play LSU in the BCS bowl? A narrow loss to Alabama combined with their tough schedule and losses by OSU/Oklahoma might be enough to get them picked ahead of Stanford/Wisconsin.

Has a major conference undefeated team ever been passed over by a 1-loss team for the BCS Bowl? I can't see that happening this year.

[Avante]

Marlow, don't get silly

That's like telling you not to 'get silly' with old time sprinters or blues singers - hmmmmmmmmmmm?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I had a feeling you wouldn't get it, you didn't

Marlow what is Stanfords big win so far in 2011? How many top 25 teams have they played so far in 2011?

I think they are a solid team and on any given day can play with anyone. No they do not deal with an SEC/Big12 schedule like they are a Pac12 schedule. That should be obvious.

[Avante]

Stanford has played the 53rd ranked schedule so far, Boise State the 66th ranked.

While there are different measures, I think that for the top teams it is more useful to look at the top 6 teams they play, not an average of all the teams. Of course, mid-season that means 2-4 teams, depending on the schedule (or for Wisconsin, 1; they will get a better test with MSU and OSU on the road, especially with more starters and more confidence at OSU) followed by Illinois. My guess is that Stanford plays Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl -- if both are undefeated that still would be a pretty big game.

What would it take for Alabama to play LSU in the BCS bowl? A narrow loss to Alabama combined with their tough schedule and losses by OSU/Oklahoma might be enough to get them picked ahead of Stanford/Wisconsin.

Both LSU and Alabama would need to win all their games (obvious one loss by one of them) with Oklahoma, Wisconsin losing a couple games. If Oklahoma wins out they will play the undefeated SEC team.

[Marlow]

I had a feeling you wouldn't get it, you didn't

You're clairvoyant - awesome!! You don't post any more info on old sprinters or them blues cats, and I won't post any more on Stanford football - K?

[Avante]

I had a feeling you wouldn't get it, you didn't

You're clairvoyant - awesome!! You don't post any more info on old sprinters or them blues cats, and I won't post any more on Stanford football - K?

It's not about talking Stanford football. You wanna talk Stanford football, hell dude I could take you back to Ernie Nevers and work our way up thru the years and John Brodie, Jim Plunkett to Randy Vataha, Gene Washington, Tony Hill, James Lofton, John Elway etc etc etc and etc. Wanna go back to 2002 when they won just two games? Tell me Marlow who did they beat that year? How about 2006 when they won only one game? Who'd they beat? They have won 22 Bowl Games and two National Championships. Trust me, I can talk Stanford football. Not about that, it's about getting things right. As of right now Stanford is hanging on to what was done last year (yes it does matter, it's all about starters returning. Andrew Luck!!!!!!!) and the fact they haven't lost a game. It has nothing to do with the fact they have beaten nobody so far in 2011.

To be honest, football is my first love, then them old sprinters, blues cats

Since 1990 Stanford has won 117 games

[Marlow]

Trust me, I can talk Stanford football. Not about that, it's about getting things right.

I had a feeling you wouldn't get it, you didn't

[Avante]

Trust me, I can talk Stanford football. Not about that, it's about getting things right.

I had a feeling you wouldn't get it, you didn't

Sheesh

Once again....

Tell me Marlow what is that big Stanford win? How many ranked teams have they played,

[guru]

SPARTY!

TECHY!


A very upsetting day...

[Marlow]

Tell me Marlow what is that big Stanford win? How many ranked teams have they played,

Stanford squeaked by #22 Washington 65-24. Crunch those little numbers, honey-bunch!

[Avante]

Tell me Marlow what is that big Stanford win? How many ranked teams have they played,

Stanford squeaked by #22 Washington 65-24. Crunch those little numbers, honey-bunch!

You are getting excited over a home win vs a team ranked 22? I noticed you didn't have much to say..."before"...the game. Funny how that works.

Yes Stanford is one of the top teams, but no they haven't beat anyone.....yet. Who had Washington beat?

[Marlow]

Yes Stanford is one of the top teams

That's all we're sayin' here, bro. All BoiSt had on their record was Georgia, which is a 20-25 team. With this win, CLEARLY Stanford will jump them, yes? As for Okla and Wisc, they did what most really good teams often do: have an off-day and let a slightly lesser team beat them. Did not happen to Stanford (just the opposite).

The best part of the SU win is that they did it w/o Luck!! 450 RUSHING yards?! For one of the most dangerous passing attacks in the nation?! Have you SEEN their 3-tight end set?!

SU-SC this week will be a better game than the Bama-LSU snooze-fest!

SC is finally getting their act together and these two teams HATE each other as much as any SEC showdown (I mean, how can any game between a buncha red-necks be anything more than a honky-tonk parking lot drunken brawl? Really!!

[jazzcyclist]

(I mean, how can any game between a buncha red-necks be anything more than a honky-tonk parking lot drunken brawl? Really!!

Rednecks? In South Louisiana? I take exception to that. Rednecks are Anglo and Protestant, we're French and Catholic. Hell, our last governor did half of her inauguration speech in French. How many rednecks you know would go for a politician addressing them in French? In an ideal world, we would cede everything north of Interstate 10 to Texas and Mississippi, and return Mississippi would give us everything south of I-10 and Texas would give us all of eastern Texas south of I-10.

Geaux Tigers

[Marlow]

(I mean, how can any game between a buncha red-necks be anything more than a honky-tonk parking lot drunken brawl? Really!!

Rednecks? In South Louisiana? I take exception to that.

Them Cajuns out in the bayous? They's rednecks!

[Bruce Kritzler]

Those aren't rednecks, they're "coon-asses"

[Avante]

Yes Stanford is one of the top teams

That's all we're sayin' here, bro. All BoiSt had on their record was Georgia, which is a 20-25 team. With this win, CLEARLY Stanford will jump them, yes? As for Okla and Wisc, they did what most really good teams often do: have an off-day and let a slightly lesser team beat them. Did not happen to Stanford (just the opposite).

The best part of the SU win is that they did it w/o Luck!! 450 RUSHING yards?! For one of the most dangerous passing attacks in the nation?! Have you SEEN their 3-tight end set?!

SU-SC this week will be a better game than the Bama-LSU snooze-fest!

SC is finally getting their act together and these two teams HATE each other as much as any SEC showdown (I mean, how can any game between a buncha red-necks be anything more than a honky-tonk parking lot drunken brawl? Really!!

There is no football like SEC football. It's a totally different deal. Key word....passion. The south is all about...passion. Then there's that....overall team speed.....which is unique to the SEC. There the big guys can run.

LSU vs Alabama is on a whole different level than Stanford vs USC, back there those people take it far more serious than we do out here in laid back California, with all our entertainment options.

Birmingham, New Orleans, Tuskaloosa could never be confused with Frisco, LA, San Diego. A totally different world. Southern Cali is in another galaxy when compared to the south. Give them old bama blues a listen, it doesn't get anymore primitive than Boweavil Jackson, Bullet Williams, Jaybird Coleman. Then there's Kid Ory, Jellyroll Morton, King Oliver and that New Orleans jazz. What do we have out here in Cali.......The Grateful Dead? (who did cover a lot of them old primitive blues)

Give ....The Courstship of Marcus Dupree..by Willie Morris a read. Dupree was from Philidelphia Mississippi. The book captures the south and that passion about football.

The parents of a Stanford footballer are getting ready to go to the game. She's in front of the mirror putting on her face, he's out in his home gym putting on his chest with some bench work, off in the distance we hear some Kenny G.

The parents of an Alabama footballer are getting ready to go the game. She is out feeding the hogs, he is down by the creek mending some fences. Once back in the house it's biscuits and gravy time, off in the distance we hear....Kawliga was a wooden indian standing by the door....yep, old Hank.

A must read....James T.Whitehead's...JOINER


Whitehead began teaching at the University of Arkansas in 1965 and taught and wrote there for thirty-five years. Together with Miller Williams and William Harrison, he founded the nationally- recognized Creative Writing program at the University of Arksansas in Fayetteville. Whitehead published four books of poetry and one novel called JOINER about a Southerner named Sonny Joiner, a former football player who is intellectual and passionate about theology, history, politics, literature and sports. Joiner made the New York Times’ Noteworthy Books of the Year list for 1971. Whitehead gave the Presidential Poem for President Jimmy Carter on his return to Plains, Ga., in 1981, and later edited his book of poems.

[Marlow]

There is no football like SEC football. It's a totally different deal. Key word....passion. The south is all about...passion.

Oh pleeeez. You drank ALL the kool-aid!
The 'passion' that the game is played with is identical in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, Nebraska, etc., . . . shall I continue?

[502CD]

Rednecks? In South Louisiana? I take exception to that. Rednecks are Anglo and Protestant, we're French and Catholic. Hell, our last governor did half of her inauguration speech in French. How many rednecks you know would go for a politician addressing them in French? In an ideal world, we would cede everything north of Interstate 10 to Texas and Mississippi, and return Mississippi would give us everything south of I-10 and Texas would give us all of eastern Texas south of I-10.

Geaux Tigers

I was down in Louisiana a few years ago for work and had no idea until I got there that there was a north south divide. I was in the north part and it was interesting hearing some of the stories.

[Avante]

There is no football like SEC football. It's a totally different deal. Key word....passion. The south is all about...passion.

Oh pleeeez. You drank ALL the kool-aid!
The 'passion' that the game is played with is identical in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, Nebraska, etc., . . . shall I continue?

Couldn't be more wrong if you worked at it. Marlow where have you been??? Everyone knows about southern passion. It's historical, yet there you are unaware of this, how can that be? Do you know the difference between....rural and urban? Are you trying to tell me Birmingham Alabama is just like Sacramento California? Dude, there is a world of difference between the south than the north, east and west. If you don't know that.....why?

You really do need to check out some old country music, I don't think you are getting it.

paste...


The reason is simple: The SEC has to be better than the Pac-10. It's nonnegotiable.

The quality of life in the South is dependent upon good college football. Local economies, race relations and collective psychological health all would suffer without it. Sweet tea would not be as sweet. Fried chicken would not be as crispy. Country songs would be even sadder.

If SEC football were mediocre, the South might as well be back in Reconstruction.

On the West Coast, good college football is no more important to the commonweal than comfortable sandals and affordable microbrewed beer. It's a nice perk, but it falls far below vital.

At least 10 SEC schools are crazily committed to football success. In the Pac-10, USC might be it. A few others care, but they stop well short of obsession.

That's why the SEC averaged 75,706 fans per home game last year and the Pac-10 averaged 56,314. That's why Alabama shoved 92,000 people into its stadium for the spring football game. That's why SEC media days last three days and the Pac-10's session lasts five hours.

The difference in passion can be summed up in two walks I took from press box to field level at the end of two games, one year and 3,000 miles apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlow, this is the one you just nod in agreement with. Not even debatable.

[Marlow]

Everyone knows about southern passion. It's historical, yet there you are unaware of this, how can that be?

Obviously you have never lived for any extended period in the North or you'd see how absurd it is to think that any one region has the corner on the market. This thing you call 'southern passion' (I LIVE in the South, you must know) is absolutely no different from the passion I experienced up North, growing up, and in California and in Pennsylvania, and in Maryland . . . all places I have lived for several years.

[Avante]

Everyone knows about southern passion. It's historical, yet there you are unaware of this, how can that be?

Obviously you have never lived for any extended period in the North or you'd see how absurd it is to think that any one region has the corner on the market. This thing you call 'southern passion' (I LIVE in the South, you must know) is absolutely no different from the passion I experienced up North, growing up, and in California and in Pennsylvania, and in Maryland . . . all places I have lived for several years.

What's truly absurd is anyone living in the USA and thinking there is no difference between southern values/passion and the rest of the country. Tell me Marlow, why did Jesse Owens have to run for Ohio State, he was from Alabama. You really don't get this do you?


Ok Marlow back to football, the SEC fans are far more serious about their teams than we are out here in California, do you disagree with that statement?

paste...


But that's beside the point, too, in the larger debate, as Alabama coach Nick Saban tried to explain Friday when he was asked to compare the Big Ten and the SEC.

"The quality of both leagues should not be in question," Saban said, rattling off some of this season's accomplishments for both leagues.

"But if there's any difference at all, it's probably the passion of the fans," he continued. "Not that the Big Ten fans don't have tremendous passion. They just have choices. They've had choices through the years.

"I think the biggest difference that I see, from a guy that's been both places, is for a long time there weren't any pro sports in the South, so everybody kind of grew up identifying with their college team. And I think that some of that passion still sort of exists."

Sort of? Well, that's just Saban being a polite southern gentleman, I suppose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trust me Marlow, hanging out in Greenwood Mississippi at some old off the path juke joint can't be reproduced in California. There is a difference....honest!

Read ...JOINER...and ..The Courtship of Marcus Dupree...those stories could only happen in the south.

[Marlow]

Trust me Marlow,

In some things, yes; in this, not so much.

[Avante]

Trust me Marlow,

In some things, yes; in this, not so much.

I live in central Cali. If a dude is half naked running down a street screaming, GOD IS COMING! GOD IS COMING!....he will stop traffic, everyone will be freaking. If that were to happen on a street in San Francisco/LA......yawn. Yes, there is a world of difference just here in California between parts of the state. SoCal is nothing like NorCal.

A strip joint in Farmersville??????

Believe what ya want. I go with what Nick Saban said. Not that he needed to tell me that, it is obvious.

[Marlow]

I go with what Nick Saban said.

I'll go with Bud Wilkinson, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Joe Pa, Ara Parseghian (and every other ND coach!).

[Avante]

I go with what Nick Saban said.

I'll go with Bud Wilkinson, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Joe Pa, Ara Parseghian (and every other ND coach!).

I took the time to find what Saban said about this. Now show me what those coachs said about SEC football. Prove your point!