Michigan, Iowa St, Washington, and Washington St

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Of the BCS conference teams, these four remain as the only teams mathematically ineligible of making a bowl game. Which of these are the most/least surprising to you? The most surprising I would have to say is Michigan, without a doubt. Depending on who you asked, you'd get varied win/loss predictions. I heard anywhere from 11 wins (Michigan radio slappys, at that) to 4 or 5 wins. I can't recall a single person who predicted they'd be this bad. I myself predicted they'd be 7-5 (as I did for MSU as well, for what it's worth).

The least surprising I'd have to say is Iowa St due to their record of being pretty consistently abysmal. I suppose WSU and Washington had no real expectations either, but I have a lesser grasp on the Pac 10 than I do other conferences. Was WSU projected to be this bad?

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

Was WSU projected to be this bad?

I don't see how you could ever predict that an FBS team could be that bad. I'm pretty sure we could assemble a roster from T1B that would be competitive against Wazzou.

[Q, West Coast Style]

. Was WSU projected to be this bad?

No. something is up. Players quitting. Some serious issues. Throw in the fact that the new former FCS D coordinator seems clueless on how to prepare for a FBS offense. The offense struggles this are not as troubling concerning the lack of talent Doba left and all the injuries.

Doba was a horrible recruiter, but even with his players he was able to win 3 PAC-10 games lat year.

From a W/L perspective this season hasn't been that much of a surprise, but losing by 50-60+ every week, that is just bizzare.

[Adelpiero]

rack Wazzu for hiring that clueless tard for President of their University. Elson Floyd

i have heard its been a nightmare from the beginning and he's being a super pain in the ass, some of his hires threatening board members at meetings.


buwahahahaha told you back then wazzu peeps, this guy is bad news.

from a mizzou fan in wazzuville

Dr. Floyd paid a search firm $148,000 to help find his new Provost at WSU. Floyd hired Steve Hoch from the U. of Kentucky and moved him to the wheatfields of Pullman to be his chief operating officer. Seven weeks after the new Provost's arrival he resigned. The resignation followed a profanity laced shouting match in Floyd's conference room and ended in a shoving match between the new Provost and one of Floyd's other vice presidents in Floyd's conference room hallway. The Washington State Attorney General is investigating; the AG report is published in the Seattle Times.

The new Provost says Floyd promised him one set of duties when he was hired and then changed the duties after the Provost arrived. Floyd agreed to pay the resigned provost $245,000 per year to be a history professor at WSU. Floyd now says that was a mistake that he won't repeat. The Provost returned to Kentucky and is having his checks sent there while he determines his future.

Floyd says he never checked the new Provost's references and simply relied on the search firm. (Note: Floyd is being victimized by the search firm he paid $148,000).

Elson Floyd: Embarrassing American universities one at a time.

[Q, West Coast Style]

buwahahahaha told you back then wazzu peeps, this guy is bad news.

Yeah, I remember you saying that.

[Danimal]

Considering ISU was pretty competitive towards the end of last season I thought they'd be a little better than this. I figured them for a 5-7 team.

Fortunately for Mich this trainwreck season isn't affecting their recruiting any more than ND's did last season. With their major losses I knew they'd have growing pains but by no means saw a team that will be hard-pressed to win a third of their games.

Wash has a nightmare sched, the kind that will tear a team like Willingham's apart. I feel for Locker.

Wazzu is as bad a BCS-team as I can remember.

[minorthreat]

The Cyclones will be fine.

[M Club]

ditto michigan. the season hasn't really been as bad as i would have imagined had i been looking at two wins going in. i'm operating under the assumption that dickrod's going to turn this around, and though it sucks it's going to be a bit longer than i'd like at least we get to witness the thing getting built from scratch.

[minorthreat]

Minorthreat, do you think Chizik can build a competitive program at ISU? I mean, is he the guy to do it? What's the opinion of him up that way?

I do think Chizik can have the Cyclones competitive in the North. Are they going to compete for a National Championship? Probably not. I think he knows he won't have the same caliber of athletes he is used to. He seems to be recruiting the type of kid that will fit his system. We have also been playing a lot of Fr. and So. this year. We have been averaging 47,000 a game which isn't bad when you are playing terrible. We have the fan support, the AD, and the President who is committed to building a successful football program.

I think most fans understood that this wasn't going to be an overnight fix. Sure you get a few complainers but we stuck with Dan McCarney for 10 years and he left with a losing record. Not many schools do that. I honestly hear Hawkeye fans talking shit about Chizik more than Cyclone fans. The funny thing is that Chizik has won more games in his two years at ISU than Ferentz did in his at Iowa.

So, even though it sucks right now, fans don't want to miss being there when it shows some upside.

[The Seer]

Wazzu is as bad a BCS-team as I can remember.

I'd sure like to see someone find one statistically worse....

Even though Portland St. is not a Div. I school, how bad can they be losing to Wazzu 48-9?

[Terry in Crapchester]

Wazzu is as bad a BCS-team as I can remember.

Short-term (i.e., this year only) perhaps.

Longer term, I'd go with the current Syracuse team as the worst BCS team in memory. If memory serves, they've won a total of seven games over the past four years.

Fwiw, there are a number of BCS programs that could possibly be eliminated from bowl contention this week. Those include North Carolina State, Syracuse, Indiana, Purdue, Baylor, Arizona State and Tennessee (Mississippi State also has six losses but is idle this week). Of that group, it would be a bit of a shocker if either Arizona State or Tennessee were eliminated this week, based on their competition (Washington and Wyoming, respectively) if nothing else.

[SoCalTrjn]

washington state and washington have just had too many injuries, you make any team play their 3rd or 4th string QB week in and week out and theyre going to get hammerfucked

[King Crimson]

Minorthreat, do you think Chizik can build a competitive program at ISU? I mean, is he the guy to do it? What's the opinion of him up that way?

I do think Chizik can have the Cyclones competitive in the North. Are they going to compete for a National Championship? Probably not. I think he knows he won't have the same caliber of athletes he is used to. He seems to be recruiting the type of kid that will fit his system. We have also been playing a lot of Fr. and So. this year. We have been averaging 47,000 a game which isn't bad when you are playing terrible. We have the fan support, the AD, and the President who is committed to building a successful football program.

I think most fans understood that this wasn't going to be an overnight fix. Sure you get a few complainers but we stuck with Dan McCarney for 10 years and he left with a losing record. Not many schools do that. I honestly hear Hawkeye fans talking shit about Chizik more than Cyclone fans. The funny thing is that Chizik has won more games in his two years at ISU than Ferentz did in his at Iowa.

So, even though it sucks right now, fans don't want to miss being there when it shows some upside.

ah, c'mon. Dan McCarney took you guys to some bowl games. he's no Jim Walden, but hey! Chizik has ISU playing hard but i'm not sure what you mean by "overnight fix"...or "fix" in general?

[minorthreat]

Minorthreat, do you think Chizik can build a competitive program at ISU? I mean, is he the guy to do it? What's the opinion of him up that way?

I do think Chizik can have the Cyclones competitive in the North. Are they going to compete for a National Championship? Probably not. I think he knows he won't have the same caliber of athletes he is used to. He seems to be recruiting the type of kid that will fit his system. We have also been playing a lot of Fr. and So. this year. We have been averaging 47,000 a game which isn't bad when you are playing terrible. We have the fan support, the AD, and the President who is committed to building a successful football program.

I think most fans understood that this wasn't going to be an overnight fix. Sure you get a few complainers but we stuck with Dan McCarney for 10 years and he left with a losing record. Not many schools do that. I honestly hear Hawkeye fans talking shit about Chizik more than Cyclone fans. The funny thing is that Chizik has won more games in his two years at ISU than Ferentz did in his at Iowa.

So, even though it sucks right now, fans don't want to miss being there when it shows some upside.

ah, c'mon. Dan McCarney took you guys to some bowl games. he's no Jim Walden, but hey! Chizik has ISU playing hard but i'm not sure what you mean by "overnight fix"...or "fix" in general?

I was not putting down McCarney's accomplishments. He took ISU further than any other coach. My point is that ISU fans are pretty loyal for the most part. Chizik will be given plenty of time.

There is also a huge difference between the weight programs and type of athlete that Chizik has brought in compared to McCarney's. There was a story floating around about it at one point.

I was a big McCarney supporter but everyone knew that something had to be done his last year. His team was starting to quit on him. It was painful to watch.

[TheJON]

I had only seen the score of the Clones game and knew very little about the game, but I just saw the highlights. God damn, that is fucking brutal. Normally, I'd pile on but I actually kinda feel bad for the Clones. That's just a horrible way to lose a football game, especially when you're in the midst of a 7 game losing streak. But what the fuck were they thinking running option out of the gun on the final play? That's terrible. I'd fire the OC on the spot for that one. Line up with Arnaud under center, have him QB sneak it and make CU stop it. That's just horrible.

I know how it feels to be a Clone fan because I'm a Royals fan. We're both pretty much the same. We always get sold on hope, yet we always manage to suck. That is until next year when the Royals win the World Series!!

[minorthreat]

Biggest difference between McCarney and Chizik? McCarney was trying to build a program.....Chizik is just trying to build his resume.

Mace

Yeah, that's why Chizik has gone the juco route so heavily. That's why so many young guys play. He's trying to win right now and bail out.

Your statement is 100% wrong.

[TheJON]

The first time Chizik wins 8 games, he is long gone. ISU can't afford to keep him. This is a resume builder for him.

I think it was a big mistake for him though and I bet he's regretting it. Chizik has maybe a 10% chance of ever winning 8 games in a season at ISU and if he doesn't, he'll never get another head coaching job. Only 1 year have the Clones won more than 7 games in a season in the past 30 years and I don't see how Chizik has proven he's capable of leading the Clones to their next one. Like Dan McCarney, this is most likely his last head coaching job because he'll be washed up goods by the time he's done in Ames.

Sorry, Minor, that's just a fact. The quicker Clone fans learn to deal with it, the less depressing it will be when they go 4-8 every year.

[minorthreat]

The first time Chizik wins 8 games, he is long gone. ISU can't afford to keep him. This is a resume builder for him.

I think it was a big mistake for him though and I bet he's regretting it. Chizik has maybe a 10% chance of ever winning 8 games in a season at ISU and if he doesn't, he'll never get another head coaching job. Only 1 year have the Clones won more than 7 games in a season in the past 30 years and I don't see how Chizik has proven he's capable of leading the Clones to their next one. Like Dan McCarney, this is most likely his last head coaching job because he'll be washed up goods by the time he's done in Ames.

Sorry, Minor, that's just a fact. The quicker Clone fans learn to deal with it, the less depressing it will be when they go 4-8 every year.

You honestly don't deserve a reply. You have shown yourself to be a fair weathered Iowa fan.

[minorthreat]

Just had a nasty flashback! Remember this game, mt?

http://espn.go.com/ncf/bowls01/independence.html


If I remember right, that last minute FG attempt was real damn close as to whether it was good or not.

Yes I do. I think it depended on which angle you looked at to see if it was good or not. I knew with Yelk kicking it that it was bad news. I have never been so happy to see a guy leave a program as I was when he finally left.

[stinger33]

Biggest difference between McCarney and Chizik? McCarney was trying to build a program.....Chizik is just trying to build his resume.

Mace

Yeah, that's why Chizik has gone the juco route so heavily. That's why so many young guys play. He's trying to win right now and bail out.

Your statement is 100% wrong.

He's not going to stick around that long. He was the hottest head coach prospect when he left Texas, and took a job where there are no expectations. He stands to lose nothing at Iowa State. If they lose, so what? That's what they have spent decades doing (McCarney/Seneca Wallace/Sage Rosenfels years excluded). It's not like he took an open job at say Alabama, where if he doesn't win withing about 5 games he's on the hot seat. If you fail with a program that has had little success since it's inception, then there's life after that, and you get another shot.

[TheJON]

Chizik doesn't have nothing to lose. He has his entire head coaching career to lose.

It doesn't matter what school you're at, if you have a mediocre record over a decent period of time (4+ years), your chance of ever landing a decent gig are shot.

Look at McCarney. He can't get another gig because of his record at ISU. We all know Mac was a quality coach, but his record is one of the most pathetic records ever for a BCS coach. We're talking a 40% overall record and a 1-39 (or something like that) record against ranked opponents. No one will hire him because and AD can't possibly sell to the boosters a guy with a record like that.

Now, if Chizik wins at ISU he stands to gain a lot because if you win at ISU you'll get a lot of national respect. But if he keeps going 3-9 every year.......he's finished as a head coach at a BCS school.

Chizik should have waited and I would guarantee with absolute certainty he's regretting his decision to come to ISU. It's a never-will-be program. I know that comes from an Iowa homer, but that doesn't make it false. I have been saying for 20 years......IOWA STATE WILL NEVER WIN. And I haven't been wrong yet.

[Dinsdale]

Will this be the day the the Hucking Fuskies man up and find some game to win their intense "cirlcled on the calander" game?

Not sure who I despise more -- Weasel, or the Fuskies.

GOOOO MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE! Send all the bastards to hell.

[AlaCyclone]

Of the BCS conference teams, these four remain as the only teams mathematically ineligible of making a bowl game. Which of these are the most/least surprising to you? The most surprising I would have to say is Michigan, without a doubt. Depending on who you asked, you'd get varied win/loss predictions. I heard anywhere from 11 wins (Michigan radio slappys, at that) to 4 or 5 wins. I can't recall a single person who predicted they'd be this bad. I myself predicted they'd be 7-5 (as I did for MSU as well, for what it's worth).

The least surprising I'd have to say is Iowa St due to their record of being pretty consistently abysmal. I suppose WSU and Washington had no real expectations either, but I have a lesser grasp on the Pac 10 than I do other conferences. Was WSU projected to be this bad?

While ISU is no football power, they have been to FIVE Bowl Games since 2000. I expected them to hover around .500 and grab a Bowl spot this year.

:)

Ala