# The omnibus 2008 college football thread

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [September 6, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369 "2008-09-06T18:27:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 13

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**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/241 "2008-11-16T03:47:11Z")

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Oregon State’s march to the Rose Bowl continued unabated today, as they beat Cal. USC has an easier schedule remaining though. The Trojans have no business being in the title game talk. Penn St. and USC, both one loss teams, have a common opponent and the Nittany Lions whooped them and the Men of Troy got beat by them. Also, USC won’t even win their conference if OSU keeps to their late season winning ways. Go Beavs!

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/242 "2008-11-16T03:55:57Z")

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Troy over LSU early in the 4th quarter. So the Superest Ever Conference is mortal after all.

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/243 "2008-11-16T04:02:38Z")

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Way to go, Houston! Up 63-30 in the 4th quarter, the starting QB is still in there and rushes for a TD.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/244 "2008-11-16T06:22:09Z")

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> [@Ataraxy](#):
>
> O The Trojans have no business being in the title game talk. Penn St. and USC, both one loss teams, have a common opponent and the Nittany Lions whooped them and the Men of Troy got beat by them. Also, USC won’t even win their conference if OSU keeps to their late season winning ways. Go Beavs!

During the SC - Stanford game, they put up a graphic showing what SC needed to do to get to the BCSCG. Steps 1 and 2 involved Alabama, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Texas all losing (which makes sense). Step 3 was that Oregon State needed to lose (implying that USC would then be Pac-10 champs). I don’t see what Oregon St has to do with it – is there a requirement that a BCS champ has to win their conference?

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**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/245 "2008-11-16T06:36:20Z")

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I say this as a true bama fan, but Florida is going to absolutely annihilate Bama in the SEC Championship. Tim Tebow is fucking scary.

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/246 "2008-11-16T06:56:47Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Troy over LSU early in the 4th quarter. So the Superest Ever Conference is mortal after all.

> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Way to go, Houston! Up 63-30 in the 4th quarter, the starting QB is still in there and rushes for a TD.

Yeah! Helping the strength of schedule for my Pokes, who admittedly looked anemic tonight.

I think OU loses the last two on their schedule.

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**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/247 "2008-11-16T14:03:53Z")

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> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#):
>
> Yeah! Helping the strength of schedule for my Pokes, who admittedly looked anemic tonight.
> 
> I think OU loses the last two on their schedule.

I don’t think Troy’s 40-31 loss is going to help your Pokes very much. I honestly believe that OU will beat Tech at home and then lose in Stillwater. We all know how badly the Cowboys want to beat the Sooners. The timing of their off week should help them too.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/248 "2008-11-16T16:15:30Z")

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> [@Influential\_Panda](#):
>
> I say this as a true bama fan, but Florida is going to absolutely annihilate Bama in the SEC Championship. Tim Tebow is fucking scary.

The Gators are certainly putting points on the board. As a true USC hater, I’d love to see their offense go up against USC’s defense. But it would certainly be entertaining to see Florida - Texas Tech in the CG. They may put up 100 pts.

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**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/249 "2008-11-16T17:07:02Z")

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> [@Influential\_Panda](#):
>
> I say this as a true bama fan, but Florida is going to absolutely annihilate Bama in the SEC Championship. Tim Tebow is fucking scary.

I say this as a true 'Bama fan: 'Bama has had probably the luckiest schedule ever. (Clemson highly ranked preseason, UGA preseason #1. LSU having an off-year, etc.) They are _maybe_ the 5th best team in the country.

That said… This is why you have a conference championship game. (Are you ~10-team conferences listening?) If it weren’t for the SEC CCG, the pollsters would be trying to figure out a way to get Florida ahead of Alabama by the end of the season.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/250 "2008-11-16T17:27:26Z")

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> [@Rucksinator](#):
>
> That said… This is why you have a conference championship game. (Are you ~10-team conferences listening?) If it weren’t for the SEC CCG, the pollsters would be trying to figure out a way to get Florida ahead of Alabama by the end of the season.

I think you just made an argument for a playoff, not for conference championship games; or, alternatively, eliminating split conferences altogether. If the SEC kicked out Arkansas and South Carolina, 'Bama and Florida would face each other in the regular season, and pollsters wouldn’t be needed at all. I don’t see a problem with that.

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**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/251 "2008-11-16T19:31:08Z")

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> [@Influential\_Panda](#):
>
> I say this as a true bama fan, but Florida is going to absolutely annihilate Bama in the SEC Championship. Tim Tebow is fucking scary.

No way that will happen. People like to proclaim UF invincible, but they usually come back to earth. Never bet against the “team of destiny” factor that Bama has going for it this season.

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**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/252 "2008-11-16T19:41:49Z")

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I’d like to speak to the Peen State vs. OSU chances of a Rose Bowl. It’s by no means a lock that the Beavs will win out, but if they do and we end up with the Rose Bowl, I’ll be there for sure.

I think a PSU v OSU game would be competitive. One of the things about that game is that it was early in the season. If you look at the Beavers over the last 5 years, they are a team that consistently gets stronger as the year goes on. That was a total ass kicking early in the season, but I think the boys from Cornvalley could make it much more competitive the next time around.

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**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/253 "2008-11-16T20:12:13Z")

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> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> … I don’t see a problem with that.

Then you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in the PAC-10, where a barely-ranked team is on it’s way to the Rose Bowl.

> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> I think you just made an argument for a playoff, not for conference championship games…

A regular-type playoff isn’t going to happen, because the bowl games aren’t going to go away. If you want a “playoff”, you have to figure out how to work within the system. To my mind, that works like this:

Every conference has ~12 teams and a CCG. That’s essentially round 1.  
You have the regular bowl matchups. That’s essentially round 2, but everybody with a winning record gets to play alongside the real contenders.  
Round 3 is between the post-bowl season #1 and 2, and would take place on a Saturday around Jan 14 (about 10 days after the last bowl game.)

So, typically getting to the NCG would involve 1.) doing well enough in the regular season to get to win your division and convince the pollsters that you’re a top ~6 team, 2.) winning your CCG, then 3.) beating another CC winner in a major bowl, then 4.) beating yet another in the NCG.

It’s just about controversy free, and leaves the current bowl system intact.

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/254 "2008-11-16T22:56:22Z")

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> [@Rucksinator](#):
>
> Then you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in the PAC-10, where a barely-ranked team is on it’s way to the Rose Bowl.

Trust me, I’m paying attention to the Pac-10. 🙂 But if you start from the premise that Pac 10 champ = Rose Bowl, there’s no room for argument. Oregon State (if they win out) will be the undisputed Pac-10 champ – one conference loss (early in the season) and they beat the presumed best team in the conference. They will have earned a Rose Bowl, and rankings have nothing to do with it.

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/255 "2008-11-17T01:02:11Z")

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> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> I think you just made an argument for a playoff, not for conference championship games; or, alternatively, eliminating split conferences altogether. If the SEC kicked out Arkansas and South Carolina, 'Bama and Florida would face each other in the regular season, and pollsters wouldn’t be needed at all. I don’t see a problem with that.

No they wouldn’t. Even back in the day, ten team conferences didn’t require a complete round robin schedule. Still wouldn’t, either, for the most part.

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**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/256 "2008-11-17T01:14:18Z")

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> [@Rucksinator](#):
>
> Then you’re not paying attention to what’s going on in the PAC-10, where a barely-ranked team is on it’s way to the Rose Bowl.

I know they’re barely ranked, but come one.  
They lost to two top ten ranked teams (one by a blowout, one that was close to the end) and a bad Pac-10 team.

If you look at the record, they’re a team who will schedule the tough teams. Unlike so many top 10 teams who schedule (in the words of TMQ unfortunately) cupcakes.

They have earned the position they are in right now. If they win out, they are the number 1 pac 10 team (not saying a lot right now), but it’s theirs to win or lose.

I’m a Beaver fan, so I know my view may be slightly skewed, but I feel like I’m looking at this pretty evenly.

And yo know what, we play every team in the conference. I know the Pac-10 is weak this year, but many years they’re not. So it balances.

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**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/257 "2008-11-17T03:12:26Z")

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I mean no offense to the Beavers, but they’re not the best team in the PAC10. If they win out, then they will deserve to be called PAC-10 champs, because they won under the rules that currently are in place.

I just think that a CCG would do a better job of determining which team in the best representative from that conference. (Of course, if USC were in the same division as OSU, then it wouldn’t be USC playing in the CCG anyway.)

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**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/258 "2008-11-17T03:19:10Z")

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> [@jjohns828](#):
>
> I don’t know about Stafford but last year the week before the UF-LSU game some LSU fans acquired Tebow’s cell phone number and he got a significant numbers of calls and text messages from LSU fans, some threatening physical violence. That’s the reason he used that taunt after a touchdown pass in last years game.

I know we’ve moved on from this, but this article says the following:

> **[Rivals: The Best of Recruiting and High School Sports](https://www.on3.com/rivals/)**
>
> Rivals is the best resource for recruiting and high school sports. Find all of your favorite team's information or browse our advanced player database.

> [@](#):
>
> TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP)—Once again, John Parker Wilson was kicking himself for a poor decision in a big game.
> 
> A costly interception? An untimely fumble? Nope, that was the old Wilson.
> 
> This time the quarterback for No. 1 Alabama was mad that he celebrated a touchdown by putting his hand to his ear as if he were talking on the phone, a gesture directed at LSU fans who had gotten his cell phone number before the game.

> [@](#):
>
> Besides the award recognition, perhaps the biggest sign that Wilson has arrived: The cell phone calls from LSU fans leading up to that game.
> 
> He said he didn’t listen to any of the messages that filled up his voice mail.
> 
> “I turned my phone off midway through Thursday and didn’t turn it on until after the game,” he said.

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**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/259 "2008-11-17T03:35:56Z")

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There’s a bit of a perfect storm brewing for the BCS this year. If Oregon State wins out, and the Big 12 south team loses in the big 12 championship game, the voters are going to have a very tough choice. They either will have to vote in a team that didn’t win their conference (USC or a Big 12 south team), vote in Mizzou, or reach for a Penn State team that isn’t really deserving.

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**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-2008-college-football-thread/462369/260 "2008-11-17T04:20:42Z")

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> [@Rucksinator](#):
>
> I mean no offense to the Beavers, but they’re not the best team in the PAC10. If they win out, then they will deserve to be called PAC-10 champs, because they won under the rules that currently are in place.
> 
> I just think that a CCG would do a better job of determining which team in the best representative from that conference. (Of course, if USC were in the same division as OSU, then it wouldn’t be USC playing in the CCG anyway.)

As someone said earlier in the thread, if they played 100 times, USC would probably win 90 times. Unless it was played in Corvallis, in which case the Beavers (who won the last two meetings there) might be at 50-50.

The Beavers have the second best record in the Pac-10 over the last 3 years in the Pac-10. They’ve won their bowl games. They’ve beat Oregon (chief rivals).

If they win out (and I still say it’s a big if), they deserve and will have earned the Rose Bowl.

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