@nebish:  San Jose State 30 Nevada 20.  YES dude, WHAT a second half!!  Halftime score was Nevada 20 SJSU 7.  So..........we shut them down in the second half.  Yeah, the fumble at our goal line was HUGE.  It was called a fumble on the field so I think there must not have been sufficient replay evidence to overturn it.  It was probably the longest replay review I have ever seen, must have been 10 minutes.  Either way, our defense came up HUGE in the second half.  Here's an amazing stat for you:  San Jose State had FOUR yards rushing in the first half, 196 in the second half.  Tyler Nevens had 184 of those yards and reeled off several BIG plays.  HUGE game-turning play:  Shamar Garrett returns a kickoff 98 yards for a score to open the second half to make it 20-14.  SJSU took the momentum from there and never lost it.  Great ballgame, especially for San Jose State fans!  

This sets up San Jose State vs. Boise State for the Mountain West Conference Championship on 12/19.

SJSU vs. Alabama for the BCS Championship!!  HAHA that is impossible.  But I can Dream On...........

Took Minnesota +10 1/2, Bama minus 30 and Buffalo -33, three super easy wins. Probably stop there. Might take Hawai'i late night. Kezearian (?) on Daily Wager was super high on that match up. Not that he's a particular genius.

All season long I thought Florida was a shoe-in ...

Posted by: @rusty

All season long I thought Florida was a shoe-in ...

Well that takes Florida out of The National Championship equation. Still doesn't stop the A&M vs. Ohio St. discussion. Two loss Iowa State ranked over Cincinnati? That's a head scratcher for me. I wondered if Northwestern would show up yesterday. They had no reason to.

This has been such a strange season. Hard for me to enjoy it.

Lee, this year's National Champion trophy should be a large gold-plated asterisk.

I love seeing teams like Florida lose.  Highly ranked teams that don't take their opponent seriously and then LSU, literally playing some walkons on defense, LSU, walkons, after the awful season they have had and they find a way to win a game like that.  It just makes college football special and different. 

Also love stories like New Mexico.  The first team that was forced to relocate due to restrictions in their how state.  With a first year head coach, having been dealt some difficult losses...down to their 3rd and 4th string true freshman walkon QBs the last two weeks, they upset Wyoming and upset Fresno, both as double digit dogs.  It is just great that kind of stuff.

The season that Coastal is having, tough spot for them yesterday off the huge BYU game with Sun Belt title game on deck.  They faced the most adversity they had all year yesterday, down late, they came back to win and stay unbeaten!

What has happened at Rutgers this year.  What UNC just did to Miami. 

I take away so much pleasure from the sport beyond whoever and whatever the rankings say people should care about.

Wish UCLA hadn't blown that game...covering for 59:44 of the game, what an improbable loss.  Had some money on that one, hurts you though strat worst than it hurts me.

Posted by: @rusty

All season long I thought Florida was a shoe-in ...

This

Sorry you lost your scratch Nebish.  I really didn't give the game much thought all week (same with my sc friend too) and then Saturday morning I was "We're playing the trojans.  Beat the &^*@#s!!!" and started getting jacked up.  I also felt confident we'd win.  We go up 28-10 to start the third quarter and figured we're on a roll.  Then some turnovers, stupid penalties, and clock mismanagement (in other words, UCLA being UCLA when it plays sc) and sc comes from behind to win.  This one really stung.  Now we get to play Stanford this Saturday... oh goody...

Stupid Gators is all I can say.  While I think Dan Mullen is a good coach, he's a bit weird in his demeanor.

To college football pandemic style!  May it be the one and only time!

Ohio State a three touchdown favorite over Northwestern. Before I delve into it further, that seems a bit rich. I think the early line I saw had Clemson 10 1/2 over Notre Dame. Second time around, definitely a get even spot for Clemson but that one seems a bit high too.

Rutgers/Nebraska in a Big 10 match up game. How intriguing! Just don't see the Huskers favored over any team let alone by four on the road. Noah Vedral has every reason to play really well against U of N after having transferred to the Scarlet Knights. Frost is really catching it for his poor situational play calling, and he should be. Either he gets more inventive or he should relinquish those duties. There are no adjustments at halftime, we almost always fail to score in the second half.

I avoided Hawai'i late Saturday night.

Unfortunately, can't say the same about UCLA.  

Noah got hurt and couldn't finish.  Sitkowski led RU to the win.  I watched the end of that game and it had the makings, appearance and emotion of a season finale.  Good point on Vedral if he plays.  Otherwise I could see Rutgers a little flat.  Don't like laying number with this Husker team vs anybody, but I think they win the game.

So every Big Ten team is playing this weekend?

Posted by: @lee

So every Big Ten team is playing this weekend?

Yes, good, bad or indifferent they play.

Posted by: @lee

So every Big Ten team is playing this weekend?

Several of the teams that had to cancel their last game are questionable.

I was just doing some reading on the Ole Oaken Bucket game, a game between Purdue and Indiana I have been hoping gets played as I eye Purdue as a decent ML shot.  Indiana paused their activities last Tuesday and remain paused as of Sunday.  Purdue coach Jeff Brohm would not confirm if his team is still on pause but did say their only team activity was socially distant conditioning.  Bohm says he was not allowed to discuss any specifics but says that if they do play this week they will have considerable personnel shifting while not confirming who and want positions will be effected.

Michigan is also very questionable and could have a very thin roster.

If anyone has been following along all season, then it has become very apparent that shorthanded teams can and do still win games, sometimes without many key players.  It has been something that oddsmakers and the betting public continually have misjudged, basically it doesn't matter.  Most recently, Minnesota was playing without some 40 players and they just beat Nebraska.  We know that an entire football roster is 100+ players with 85 on scholarship.  So missing 40 players is somewhat misleading, not all 40 actively contribute or play in the games.

But there can be important players miss, sometimes it matters sometimes it doesn't.  UTEP was just without their QB yet they only lost by 2 despite being 10 point underdogs.  LSU's roster is incredibly thin for a variety of reasons and they just beat Florida.  Last week Rice beat then-unbeaten Marshall when the Owls were without their staring QB (who had good numbers on the year) as well as their top WR and RB.  Plenty of examples.

The problem for the Big Ten and the PAC 12, is that they are specific thresholds and mandates that dictate when and if a team can play short handed.  In other leagues a team can opt to play below a certain scholarship or position group number, the Big Ten they can not which leads to a larger number of games canceled compared to some other leagues.

So we'll have to see who all actually plays this week.  The scheduling times are very odd, clearly dictated by TV.  Here is the entire list:

Michigan - Iowa, Indiana - Purdue and the Frisco Bowl (whatever that is) all cancelled for this weekend. Why do they even bother trying? 🙄 

Posted by: @lee

Michigan - Iowa, Indiana - Purdue and the Frisco Bowl (whatever that is) all cancelled for this weekend. Why do they even bother trying? 🙄 

You know my stand on the season.

Bowl games?  I don't see the point.  Bowl games are typically more than just the game for the players.  It's a vacation, even if it is to Detroit...or Boise...they make the best of it with activities in the area, friendly competitions with players from the other teams, visits to local hospitals and they get some small monetary value gifts from the bowl.  Count all that out this year.  There is no fun to be had outside of playing the game.  No near week-long vacations to the bowl host city.  No interaction with the community, no bands traveling, no family traveling.  Really, there is no point for any bowl games.  The regular season atleast you had  your league opponents, a regular schedule, games at home and familiar travel stadiums -one day, one overnight business trips.  You can compete vs your peers, compete for league division and titles, beat your rivals, fulfill your need, want and desire to compete with teammates for the game.

A bowl game...there is a gap between the last game and the bowl game.  All that sacrifice for 1, 2 maybe 3 weeks of not seeing family, not seeing friends, getting tested 3 times a week, or 7 days a week, or 10 days a week (Stanford athletics tested 10 days a week).  All for a bowl game that could potentially end up being canceled days before it is supposed to be played?  You see as many as 10 teams have opted out of the bowl games and there will be more for the bowl games that do end up being played.

The Frisco Bowl was canceled due to some covid issues at SMU.  They moved UTSA to the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.  UTSA is quite excited about it.  They have a first year headcoach that has tasted some success this year on a team that was so hungry for it.  They want to play another game.  It's up to them, if they want to keep going through everything it takes, that is fine.  The teams that are opting out of bowls, I totally get it.

Looking forward to today's lazy ass lay on the coach watching football day. Three games on at 11:00 AM. Living in Chicago, I will focus on NW and hope Ohio St doesn't kill them.The Oklahoma / Iowa St game could be interesting but not sure why Iowa St is there. Big one at 3:00. I am actually rooting for ND against Clemson. ND huge underdog. Alabama will probably smoke Florida tonight. And a bunch of other games peppered in there for whatever reason. Oh and two NFL games for good measure. 

Good day for a bunch of beer and chicken wings.  

@lee  You're gonna lay on the coach?

On Clemson, Iowa State and over Bama's team total today. Hopefully some quality games in store.

Is anybody else suffering at the hands of TEGNA owned affiliates and their cable TV providers?

Jacksonville, FL ABC and NBC stations are owned by TEGNA.  TEGNA and ATT (U-Verse) started their own private ... urination competition a couple of months ago - with TEGNA having ATT remove their networks from its lineups.  It's all about money!

So, today I have no telecast of Clemson and Notre Dame.  

I understand that this little match of (dim) wits is actually all over the nation.  Anybody else suffering?

I'll be checking the ESPN website gamecast (little box that shows arrows and dots of plays that happened several minutes ago) for the duration of this game.

Somebody on the football forum I hang out at in Fort Worth doesn't have ABC right now through Directv.

A few years ago we lost CBS or Fox , I can't remember which one.

Get an over the air antenna.  You can pull HD TV for free until your TV providers come to an agreement (if they will).

I'm not going to say anything else, waiting for Rob to do the honors!

@nebish:  Thank you for being so courteous Sir!  San Jose State 34 Boise State 20.

This team cannot be ignored ANY more.  They are 7-0 and have beaten Air Force, San Diego State, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise State.

Arizona Bowl, Tucson, New Years Eve:  San Jose State vs. Ball State.  Interesting, after the game one of the announcers, obviously really impressed with SJSU, said, "The BCS committee needs to look at changing things around a bit.  A team like this should be allowed to play on in the BCS playoffs."  Other announcer, "Agreed."  Nick Starkel:  453 yards passing, 3 TD's, O INT's.  Most passing yards in any Mountain West Championship game in history.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/19/champions-san-jose-state-beats-boise-state-wins-first-mountain-west-football-title/?fbclid=IwAR2UG1JI3d3p4wK1w50_N4f-EIvW8dQ8BcNgXozTPA8LSRafR957GPP3kW8

Posted by: @robslob

@nebish:  Thank you for being so courteous Sir!  San Jose State 34 Boise State 20.

 

This team cannot be ignored ANY more.  They are 7-0 and have beaten Air Force, San Diego State, Hawaii, Nevada and Boise State.

Arizona Bowl, Tucson, New Years Eve:  San Jose State vs. Ball State.  Interesting, after the game one of the announcers, obviously really impressed with SJSU, said, "The BCS committee needs to look at changing things around a bit.  A team like this should be allowed to play on in the BCS playoffs."  Other announcer, "Agreed."  Nick Starkel:  453 yards passing, 3 TD's, O INT's.  Most passing yards in any Mountain West Championship game in history.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/19/champions-san-jose-state-beats-boise-state-wins-first-mountain-west-football-title/?fbclid=IwAR2UG1JI3d3p4wK1w50_N4f-EIvW8dQ8BcNgXozTPA8LSRafR957GPP3kW8

 

It was great.

They dominated Boise way more than the score shows.  I think they kicked 4 FGs from the Red Zone.  So maybe have to work on that Red Zone offense.

What I loved about San Jose State this year is the fact that they won 3 times straight up as underdogs allowing me to capitalize on playing their money lines.  No reason whatsoever for them to be dogged today.  Boise was favored on name only, never did they remotely look like the better team.

I think the Group of 5 conferences need their own 4 team playoff.  But I hate the playoff and I'd rather not even discuss it at this point.  San Jose had an unbelievable season.  Playing Ball State however is a disappointment.  Ball State is a nice team.  San Jose will be a heavy favorite over them, probably double digits.

Now your problem will be keeping Brennan.

Man what a year.  Think about Humbolt practices.  Think about that week 1 Air Force win when we didn't know yet how good this team could be.  Think about beating San Diego State.  About essentially getting kicked out of your home county and having to flip a home game to a road game in Hawaii with virtually no practice leading up to the game.  And not coming back home afterwards, but living out of a suitcase in Las Vegas playing home games on a neutral field.  And now being the only unbeaten undefeated team in California and Mountain West Conference Champions.  Fantastic.

I saw those players in tears after beating Nevada last week.

Seeing UAB beat Marshall, even though I bet Marshall (ugh).  Seeing Ball State beat Buffalo.  San Jose tonight.  Shame we missed out on the Sun Belt title game.  Just so much went into this season for everyone.  To come through the otherside and emerge a champion among your peers is quite an accomplishment.  I don't care about Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson...Oklahoma...they were all supposed to win those leagues.  There is something special about the over achievers, the underdogs, the players that don't play for the NFL, the ones that aren't going to get talked about for national title opportunities, the ones that put it all on the line in these off the radar leagues where football is more pure unlike the Power 5 leagues.  These teams aren't made of money, after expenses, it might not even have been in their financial interest to play the season.  But the Mountain West still painted San Jose Spartan logo on Sam Boyd's field to represent a SJSU homefield in name only appearance.  What did the Big Ten do?  Played on a field with Indianapolis Colts helmet and lettering.  Yeah, good job B1G. 

"Now your problem will be keeping Brennan."

Oh Man are you ever correct.  Rumors already flying about him to Arizona.  Mike McIntyre built another great SJSU team from 2010 to 2013 with David Fales @ QB.  Then McIntyre quadrupled his salary by leaving for Colorado.  California State Universities just do not have the budget to compete salary-wise with the big boys.  

"Man what a year.  Think about Humbolt practices.  Think about that week 1 Air Force win when we didn't know yet how good this team could be.  Think about beating San Diego State.  About essentially getting kicked out of your home county and having to flip a home game to a road game in Hawaii with virtually no practice leading up to the game.  And not coming back home afterwards, but living out of a suitcase in Las Vegas playing home games on a neutral field.  And now being the only unbeaten undefeated team in California and Mountain West Conference Champions.  Fantastic."

Thanks for acknowledging that.  It's extraordinary what they were able to accomplish under the circumstances.

Final note:  You think QB Nick Starkel isn't getting a serious look from some NFL teams right now?  He's a senior.  He showed serious NFL skills today..............some of the throws he made today were unbelievable.  As a female friend (huge football fan) said, "I hope the 49ers are looking."  Yep, me too.........

Posted by: @nebish

Posted by: @robslob

@nebish:   What did the Big Ten do?  Played on a field with Indianapolis Colts helmet and lettering.  Yeah, good job B1G. 

 Didn't think about that. How difficult is it to change it for a day? Regarding The Big Ten, I gotta give kudos to Northwestern. To think about the absolute debacle they were last year, this season was very successful. They hung close with OSU. Good for those kids.

 

Quite a day yesterday. What a great day to watch football. I thought Notre Dame would give Clemson a better game though. Having said that, who is the fourth team to get in, A&M or ND? I give it to ND. 

Arizona is so hard to win at.  Nobody wins there.  Dick Tomey maybe, but he never won big.  Mike Stoops had a decent thing going there and then they got tired with 6-6.  The ceiling for Arizona I feel is just so low.  I would hate to see Brennan leave for Arizona.  He is going to leave, but hopefully he really propels himself where he won't regretting.  Seems like a really great character individual.  Some people were talking about the rumors being a distraction this past week with him interviewing.  No way would I believe he was going to interview the week of the MWC Title game, not this season and not him.  Maybe his agent in talks, but Brennan would not short change his team and those players.  Plus that accomplishment is on his career resume too.  You do something that has never been done before that is a true feather in the cap.

We'll see where it ends up.  It's the food chain.  Smaller schools supply the bigger schools with up and coming coaches.

Starkel really did well for himself.  Glad it worked out.  I don't know, but for every transfer, double transfer that doesn't work out...it's rare it works out as well as it has for Starkel.

Will be interesting to see if this team has any opt outs prior to bowl.  I am almost surprised they are bowling.  Honestly, you can't get any better than what they just did and with California restrictions, are they going to be able to practice and prep for a bowl?  Ball State is a decent team, but I do worry a little bit about San Jose being a little flat for that game.  They are so much better it shouldn't matter, but in bowl games, it is such a unique season to itself you get a lot of weird results.  And this year with all the sacrifice that has been needed to get to the point of playing the games, a couple weeks out is a long time for 18-21 year olds to keep doing all the right things in order to play a game that isn't really that important. 

Posted by: @lee

Quite a day yesterday. What a great day to watch football. I thought Notre Dame would give Clemson a better game though. Having said that, who is the fourth team to get in, A&M or ND? I give it to ND. 

 

Didn't think about that. How difficult is it to change it for a day? Regarding The Big Ten, I gotta give kudos to Northwestern. To think about the absolute debacle they were last year, this season was very successful. They hung close with OSU. Good for those kids.

Yesterday was a lot of fun.  I did lose two ML dogs to walk off FGs (Minny and Tulsa), but was still a really fun and productive day.

I'm the wrong person to talk about for rankings and the playoff.  I hate it and gave up caring a few years ago.  Means nothing to me.

So the Colts have a home game today.  But so does the Falcons (SEC) and Dallas (Big Xll).  These crews at the stadiums can flip a stadium in less than 24 hours including field paint.  I don't know.  The Big Ten is wiffed and mismanged about everything they touched this year - no surprise they failed to give Northwestern and Ohio State a fitting field for their game.

Pat Fitzgerald is by far my favorite coach in the league.  New OC, transfer QB and some determination and great coaching and you can see their turnaround.  I wish NW would've won.  People making excuses for Ohio State "we had 22 players out" - yeah 3 mattered.  "We haven't played in weeks" - no you had last week off, a single week after MSU so like a normal bye week.  "one of our best receiver was out" - who cares, Alabama lost one of their best receivers (Waddle) and they never skipped a beat.  Why should The Ohio State university be any different? "well yeah we lost two great receivers last year" - um, so did Bama losing Juedy and Ruggs.  Ohio State fans think they are the best, but they simply do not compare well to the actual best in Alabama and Clemson.

Speaking of Clemson, what happened to DanB in the pickem?  One week he is bragging how good he is doing and then he just stops playing?

We are going to roll that through the bowl games if you guys are cool with that.

New Associated Press poll has San Jose State at #19, two spots ahead of USC.  Nice to see some recognition.

https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fbs/associated-press