Posts by jadeskipper74

gentlebear47 said:Talking about Iceland back in '95.👍

Heh, alright, yeah, that actually makes a lot more sense than what we were talking about before.🙂

Noah Ross7 said:I still have that final burned into my brain; I had just stepped up to the edge of the crowd right when it happened. ☕

Wait, was there even a clear line of sight back in 2010? 😁

Seriously, screw the SEC

I couldn't catch a wink of sleep last night, so I finally rolled out of bed, flipped on the College football game, and the very first snap I laid eyes on was this. Honestly, we’ll still be talking about this play ten years from now.

Normally, I’m the type of guy who feels bad when someone completely screws over their teammates and everyone starts pointing fingers at them, but I just can't stand those ego-driven, self-congratulatory types. So, when they inevitably trip over their own feet and fail, I have to admit, I get a little bit of enjoyment out of it.

Jacob Taylor57 said:I didn't catch any of the games yesterday, but looking at the carnage, it seems like the top tier got absolutely slaughtered, and now Auburn is sitting pretty at #2.

Honestly, this whole ranking system has been driving me up the wall for years now.

It’s always the same old song and dance with these polls. If an SEC powerhouse drops a game to some random underdog, suddenly everyone is shouting about how "the SEC is just so incredibly deep that even the bottom-feeders can take down the giants." But then you look at the PAC-12, and if a favorite loses to an underdog there, the narrative instantly flips to "the PAC-12 is so pathetic that even their best teams can't handle the basement dwellers." It's total nonsense.

And because they just keep beating each other up in a closed loop, we end up with 184 SEC teams cluttering up the rankings because they rarely play anyone outside their own backyard...

Jacob Taylor57 said:Is anyone actually tuning in to watch Texas A&M or Alabama? I mean, I can't catch them myself right now, but man, I feel like I'm missing out on the chaos.

Nah.

I've got Tennessee Oregon running on one screen, while the other side of my setup is just cycling through Baltimore - Toronto and the America's Cup.

And here we go again, just another season where it feels completely impossible to actually root for anyone.

It’s either Notre Dame, who seem to get lucky with some questionable officiating calls every other week, or you’ve got that massive media machine driving the SEC, which will probably just shove two more teams into the championship game if Notre Dame manages to pull off a win against USC—assuming they can even do that without Matt Barkley on the field, which honestly sounds like a stretch.

It’s all just a mess.

If we were sitting around picking today's bowl matchups, I honestly think we'd end up looking at something like this:

BCS National Championship: Kansas State University vs University of Oregon
Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs University of Georgia
Rose Bowl: Stanford University vs Nebraska
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs Clemson or maybe University of Texas
Orange Bowl: Florida State University vs Rutgers University

quietfox38 said:What kind of metrics are we even using here to decide if they actually earned a spot in the championship over the University of Oregon or Kansas State University?😉

Personally, I think it would be absolutely fantastic if the title game featured two schools that, if my memory serves me right, have never actually hoisted the trophy before.

At the end of the day, I don't see three undefeated D-I programs surviving the season, so someone's streak has to snap. I’d honestly love to see the University of Oregon take it all, mostly because I just live for those high-octane hurry-up offenses—there's something about watching that style of play that just hits different, and frankly, I've always had a soft spot for Oregon as part of the USA. Plus, Ducks are pretty cool creatures, aren't they?😁

quietfox38 said:Here’s some more fuel for the fire regarding how they rank teams in College football.

Undefeated Notre Dame stuck at No. 3 and in need of help thanks to archaic preseason polls, BCS

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--...polls-bcs.html

Great read. Honestly, if I had my way, rooting for Notre Dame would be outlawed by an international treaty, but even then, it feels like they’re still going to miss out on the championship game they actually deserve this year.

But look, it doesn't really matter who we're talking about or which specific fanbases are crying about it; the whole system is just fundamentally broken, and this article lays out some pretty solid arguments as to why that is.

Scott Collins30 said:Alabama 👋>

Don't count them out just yet.

The University of Oregon has a gauntlet ahead, playing at home against Stanford University, traveling to face Oregon State University, and most likely heading to Los Angeles for a home matchup against UCLA. Those aren't just games; those are three heavy hitters on the schedule.

Looking at Kansas State University, they have a relatively easy trip away to play Baylor University next week, but then comes the home game against the University of Texas, which is anything but a cakewalk. Since the Big 12 Conference only has ten teams and doesn't run a conference championship game, if they can manage to take down Texas, they’re almost certainly punching their ticket to a BCS bowl.

Then you've got Notre Dame, who has a bit of a breather next week against Wake Forest University, but after that, they're headed straight to Los Angeles to deal with USC. Now, USC might not be the juggernaut they used to be this year, but let's be honest, they still have enough teeth to bite you if you aren't careful.

If any two of these three teams stumble just once before the season wraps up, then Alabama—or maybe University of Georgia if they end up winning the SEC Conference title—will be the ones standing there fighting for the national championship.

dustypanther6 said:I mean, what’s even the point there? Why are they using polls to pick the teams that actually get to play in the championship game?

Man, it’s just nonsensical.

On one hand, you can't exactly run a massive 64-team bracket like they do in college basketball, but on the other hand, it feels totally wrong when those undefeated teams aren't even given the shot at the title.
Ever since 2015, they've been running this four-team setup, though honestly, I think it would be way better if they expanded it to eight.

Nathan Reyes56 said:I casually follow College football, mostly just when I have nothing better to do on a Saturday, and honestly, the whole day on ESPN is just non-stop American football.

So, look, I’d be really grateful if someone could walk me through how this whole bowl game thing actually works, because it’s a bit of a mess to me—it feels like every single team is playing in some bowl game since there are so many of them, and which one actually decides who the ultimate champion is? Is it the Rose Bowl or what?

Please, I am begging the resident "soul-cleansers" here to guide me so I don't have to go running off to Google myself.

Just Google it.😁

There are tons of bowls out there, but only five really matter. You've got the BCS National Championship game, plus the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, and Rose Bowls.

It used to be that one of those four major ones would determine the champion based on a rotation system, but now that championship game is its own standalone event, though they still rotate which stadium hosts it among those four big venues. So, basically, every year at one of those stadiums, you'll see two different bowls—the regular one and the big championship game.

The final matchup features the top two teams, determined by this weird cocktail of current and former coaches' polls, player votes, media rankings, and computer algorithms.

That’s the big dance right there.

All the other bowls operate under specific contracts that dictate who gets an invite. Usually, they have deals with certain conferences, allowing them to pick the team that won that conference with at least six wins. For example, looking at the heavy hitters:

The ACC Champion heads to the Orange Bowl.
The Big Ten Champion goes to the Rose Bowl.
The Big 12 Champion plays in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Pac-12 Champion plays in the Rose Bowl.
The SEC Champion goes to the Sugar Bowl.

In practice, at least one of these teams ends up in the BCS National Championship game, leaving the remaining bowls free to pick their opponents from the leftover pool. Since the Rose Bowl covers two conferences, they don't really "pick," but for the other three, the order of who gets first dibs on an opponent rotates every year (this year, it's 1. Fiesta, 2. Sugar, 3. Orange).

Once you factor in the Big East Conference winner, you've already filled six of the ten major slots.

Figuring out who fills the rest is where it gets a little messy. First off, if a program is under sanctions—like Penn State, Ohio State, and North Carolina are this year—those clubs aren't eligible to play, even if they technically qualified on the field.

Then you have Notre Dame; they aren't in a conference, but they get a seat at the table in one of the bowls if they finish in the Top 8 BCS teams at the end of the season.

Winners from the smaller conferences can jump in if they land within the top 12 in the rankings, or if they are in the top 16 and ranked higher than the champions of the major conferences.

If all ten spots aren't filled after all that math, the bowls can pretty much handpick whoever they feel like.

And besides those BCS bowls, there are a massive amount of other games out there that just grab the lower-ranked teams using a similar logic.

Let me try to break this down for you.

If the season were to wrap up today, here is how the landscape would look:

(To keep it simple, let's assume there are no conference championship games and everyone leading their conference right now is the official winner.)

The Universities that have automatically qualified:
1. Alabama (#1 BCS)
2. Kansas State (#2 BCS)
3. Oregon (Pac-12 Champion)
4. Nebraska (Big Ten Champion)
5. Florida State (ACC Champion)
6. Louisville (Big East Champion)
7. Notre Dame (Top 8 BCS)
The most likely remaining picks:
8. Georgia
9. Oklahoma
10. Oregon State
Now, here is the actual matchup lineup:

1. BCS National Championship game (which would be held in Miami, at the Orange Bowl site)
Alabama - Kansas State
The top two in the BCS rankings

Since the 2. Sugar Bowl lost its SEC champion, they’ve got every right to be the first ones looking for a replacement, especially since they just lost the highest-ranked squad on the board. They can't just go picking any random host—you know, the winners of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12—but let's just say they end up grabbing a media powerhouse like Notre Dame.

Then you've got the Fiesta Bowl, which now has to find a substitute for their missing host, Kansas State, the Big 12 winner. Let's pretend they decide to take on Georgia.

4. Rose Bowl is pretty straightforward; it’s the Pac-12 champion taking on the Big Ten champ.
Oregon - Nebraska

5. Fiesta Bowl gets first dibs, and for their opponent against Georgia (stepping in for Kansas State), they grab Oklahoma.
Georgia - Oklahoma

6. Next up is the Sugar Bowl. They’ve already got Notre Dame (filling in for Alabama), so they pick up Louisville.
Notre Dame - Louisville

7. And finally, we’re left with the Orange Bowl, which has Florida State (the ACC Champ) and "selects" the remaining Oregon State.
Florida State - Oregon State

So, I guess someone finally figured out how this all works. 😉

quietfox38 said:I honestly can't wrap my head around how Pittsburgh managed to pass up what Notre Dame basically handed them on a silver platter today. These guys just don't have a clue.🤦

Between that missed PAT, throwing an interception right in the end zone, and then that absolutely brutal fumble on the goal line...

not to mention that blatant penalty that should have gone against ND, giving Pitt another shot at a field goal in overtime, but the refs were apparently blind to the whole thing.

Jacob Taylor57 said:Sure, maybe, but they’ve still got two brutal road trips on their schedule plus that high-stakes Pac-12 championship game hanging over them. Honestly, I’m riding with Kansas State until the wheels fall off.

I’m fully expecting another round of the contenders getting absolutely gutted next weekend. LSU might actually have a shot at clawing their way back into the conversation, though my gut tells me they’re just going to lose convincingly.

I am seriously going to lose my mind if LSU pulls this off, because if every single one of these undefeated teams drops a game, we’re just going to end up stuck with another BCS Championship matchup between Alabama and LSU.

Jacob Taylor57 said:I didn't catch the game, but I see there were 9 turnovers total. 🤣 You see this all the time in the SEC where certain teams are just massively overrated; take Mississippi State, for example—they were sitting at #11 without even playing a ranked opponent, and then yesterday Alabama (who definitely aren't overrated) just absolutely crushed them by 31 points.

I managed to tune in for the second half of the Notre Dame and Oklahoma game, and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by how the Irish offense was moving the ball. That win over USC from four weeks ago probably puts them right in the conversation for a championship berth.

It’s getting to that frustrating point where I’m forced to choose between rooting for Notre Dame or some SEC powerhouse, even though deep down I’d much rather see an SEC team play for the title. When is 2014 finally going to get here so we can actually get to those semifinals? 🙄

I don't know, if Oregon pulls off an undefeated run through the Pac-12, they might be hard for Notre Dame to overtake.

David King6 said:Next week we’ve got Oregon at USC and Alabama at LSU, and after those matchups, the picture should be a lot clearer. It would be pretty wild to see Alabama drop one.

It’s a bummer for the Oregon AD since both USC and Oregon State dropped their games this weekend, which is really going to tank their strength of schedule rating. I have my doubts about Alabama losing, but regardless, it’s going to be a hell of a game. Too bad I'm stuck in the States and won't be able to watch 😁

What kind of absolute mess is this matchup between Georgia and Florida? We’ve got the number 2 team playing the number 10 team, and honestly, it makes me wonder how people can act like the SEC is anything other than massively overrated...

So, this Saturday marks the 115th Big Game. It’s honestly hard to wrap my head around the fact that it’s already been thirty years since The Play happened.

Daniel Cooper40 said: jadeskipper74, that’s a 10-point penalty for going off-topic

TD + FG 😁

electricwalker27 said:I haven't seen a thread quite like this popping up anywhere else.

So, I’ve come across orienteering as a running thing, but then I started seeing stuff about mountain biking versions and something called "precision orienteering." What on earth is precision orienteering supposed to be? Also, is there actually an orienteering discipline where you aren't sprinting through the woods, but just walking instead?

I stumbled upon this site earlier:

Seriously though, what's the deal with this precision orienteering thing?

Precision orienteering—which is just Orienteering if you want to look it up online—is exactly what you're looking for. You aren't running at all; they don't even score you based on your time, it's strictly about whether or not you successfully locate the control points.