NIU in the Orange Bowl

[Screw_Michigan]

Otherwise, neither belongs on the big stage.

Nobody said you have to like it. You just have to suck on it, bitch. Agoraphobic hausfraus claiming to be the arbiters of who's "more deserving" to play in the BCS games will never not be funny.

[Python]

The bottom line is that Oregon is very difficult to beat. On those extremely rare occasions when someone manages to hold down the Ducks' offense, Oregon's defense tends to pull the same trick. It's not as if Stanford or Auburn beat them 50-14. No, their offenses were kept in check too. When they do lose, it's not by much.

LSU 40 Oregon 27 with a trash touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game.

[Terry in Crapchester]

And had Ohio St not been on probation and the B1G not been a tepid bowl of oatmeal this season we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

Uhhh, yes we would.

Northern Illinois only had to finish ahead of one AQ conference champion. They finished ahead of two: Louisville (#22) and Wisconsin (unranked). And lest we forget, Georgia Tech came within a touchdown of making it three.

Back to the thread's topic:

How can anyone justify Northern Illinois jumping 6 spots in the BCS poll by beating Kent State?

7, actually. And I will admit that I found that a little strange myself. In all honesty, before the final BCS rankings came out, I expected Boise State to wind up as the BCS buster (Boise State was ranked #20 and Northern Illinois was ranked #23 last week). Had that happened, of course, there still would have been plenty of bitching, particularly given that Boise State had two losses this year.

[Goober McTuber]

6 spots, Sam was right. They were 21st last week, 15th this week.

[Terry in Crapchester]

6 spots, Sam was right. They were 21st last week, 15th this week.

My bad, I was going from memory the previous week. I must've misread this week, as I thought they were 16th. Louisville was 21st, btw, not 22nd as I said in my earlier post.

I'm still a little surprised that they leapfrogged Boise State, at least by the amount that they did. Granted, they were less than .0100 points behind Boise last week, but they did wind up about .0700 points ahead this week.

[Goober McTuber]

How can anyone justify Northern Illinois jumping 6 spots in the BCS poll by beating Kent State?

Kent State was 17th when they faced NIU. :wink:

[Goober McTuber]

How can anyone justify Northern Illinois jumping 6 spots in the BCS poll by beating Kent State?

Kent State was 17th when they faced NIU. :wink:

Well there you go. Shit, NIU should be in the top ten.

I don’t know about that, but the Kent State-NIU game was very close, back and forth, decided in 2 overtimes. They should probably both be in BCS bowls.

[M2]

Nobody said you have to like it. You just have to suck on it, bitch. .

Brilliant.

[Van]

The bottom line is that Oregon is very difficult to beat. On those extremely rare occasions when someone manages to hold down the Ducks' offense, Oregon's defense tends to pull the same trick. It's not as if Stanford or Auburn beat them 50-14. No, their offenses were kept in check too. When they do lose, it's not by much.

LSU 40 Oregon 27 with a trash touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game.

So, one loss in three seasons that didn't come down to the last play and/or was mainly the result of turnovers by a true freshman playing his first game?

Yeah, I don't stand corrected.

Screwball, tell us again about that undefeated Kent St team.

[M2]

And I will admit that I found that a little strange myself. In all honesty, before the final BCS rankings came out, I expected Boise State to wind up as the BCS buster

Once again, I'm well ahead of the curve with my brilliance... but you know who I am.



From over a month ago...

I'll also make my call of the day...

... San Diego State will knock off Boise State tonight up in Boise and eliminate them from BCS contention.

[Van]

And had Ohio St not been on probation and the B1G not been a tepid bowl of oatmeal this season we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

Uhhh, yes we would.

Northern Illinois only had to finish ahead of one AQ conference champion.

In order to be eligible for a BCS bowl, or in order to be automatically selected for one?

If it's the former, no, they wouldn't have gotten the nod over a good one-loss B1G runner-up. Had Wisky or Sparty been really good this year (along with Ohio St being eligible to play in a BCS bowl), NIU doesn't receive the Orange Bowl bid.

[Python]

So, one loss in three seasons that didn't come down to the last play and/or was mainly the result of turnovers by a true freshman playing his first game?

Interpretation: Oh, that was different.

[Killian]

In order to be eligible for a BCS bowl, or in order to be automatically selected for one?

Selected. Top 16 plus finishing higher than an AQ champion gets you a BCS bid. Yay, BCS!

[Van]

You detect someone calling a spade a spade. I hate Oregon. I hate what they represent. Still, it cannot be denied that despite their odd style of play they've proven to be damn difficult to beat. When they do get beat, it's almost never by very much.

The obvious point is that even with their defense, it doesn't really matter. They'll still win the game, almost every time. People dismiss them based on their defensive statistics while overlooking the fact that both teams get the ball.

"They've proven that good defenses will shut them down."

Yeah, sure, and they've also proven that they'll likely still win the game anyway. Bare minimum, they'll be in it till the very end.

[Mace]

It's hard for me to believe that anyone honestly feels NIU is one of the best 16 teams in the country. They aren't. They have zero quality wins against an even mildly respectable opponent and their lone loss was to a shitty 4-8 Iowa team. I don't honestly care other than the fact that I look forward to watching the bowl games over the holidays and would like to see some matchups of quality teams, but the BCS bullshit ended that a few years ago.

'Bama-ND and Oregon-KSU are the only two games that I really care to see this year. The B1G is sending some really shit teams to bowl games this year and will be lucky to win a couple of games. The upside to that is that they're in bowl games that no one will be watching....other than the Rose Bowl where a 5 loss B1G team will be playing Stanford. Hopefully there'll be plenty of NCAA basketball to watch during the holiday season.

[Van]

Sam, every team loses at least once just about every year. It's rare indeed for a BCS conference team to go through thirteen or fourteen games without having a single bad day.

So...bfd.

[Van]

We aren't talking about rankings, we're talking about your ridiculous statement that there is a difference between Oregon and a good team.

[Van]

We aren't talking about rankings, we're talking about your ridiculous statement that there is a difference between Oregon and a good team.

I'm suggesting that a good team has a reasonably good defense as well as a reasonably good offense. You can't win anything (MNC) without a good defense.

Oregon was one play away from winning a MNC. So, either they have a reasonably good defense or a team can win a MNC without one.

Also, Oregon has proven to be Stanford's equal. You say that Stanford is in fact a good team, so by default so too is Oregon.

Oregon has a great offense. But you need a defense to win the big enchilada.

Auburn won one despite having the ninth-ranked defense in an offense-addled league.

Sam, you can't win this. You keep forgetting that your brand of twisted logic here works both ways.

[Van]

Once again, you only wish to apply whatever scenario you like to the team that suits you. I'm fairly sure that Oregon left a fuckton of points on the board as well, but you only mention Auburn doing so.

And yeah, on that night Auburn's defense showed up...just like Oregon's did.

[Dinsdale]

Sam, do you have a working brain?

"Auburn this, Auburn that..." (you seem addicted to using one game from 2 years ago as a basis for all things Oregon... because apparently you're an idiot)...

Uhm... Oregon's defense, which according to you really sucks, did a much better job against that Auburn team than Bama, a highly rated defense.

So I guess that means the 2012 Bama defense sucks really super extra badly, right?

Does your "logic" make you feel like a tool yet? (I'll help you out - the correct answer is "yes.")


You're a mess - please stop.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Was that game really a defensive clinic, or was it two sloppy-ass teams as a result of a six week layoff? That is the problem with these MNC games -- it's almost like they're playing the first game of the following season. The first half of that game was terrible. You could have synced it up to Yackety Sax.

[Van]

Pretty much. Was the sloppy play solely the result of the layoff? Perhaps, but whatever it was, it wasn't merely stellar defensive play.

It was the same thing the year or two before, when Oregon opened up at Boise St. Both teams just looked horrible that night.

[Mace]

The sloppy play thing was an issue for Iowa this year too......and it only lasted for 12 weeks.

[Felix]

Yeah yeah, they all said the same thing when NIU beat Fagabama in the early 00s and same thing for Boise/blOwklahoma. We'll see.

this isn't even up for debate.....NIU has no signature wins other than over an extremely overrated Kent State team that had no business being anywhere near the top 25.....I'm all for the little guy getting a shot, but this is fucking ridiculous....if NIU keeps it within 25 points it will be a huge moral victory for them.....the Seminoles aren't great, but I've seen Northern Illinois play and they will get shithammered by Florida State....

[Killian]

This is starting to tread into m2 territory of claiming ‘Bode because you gave up less yardage and first downs.

[Van]

The numbers clearly do not refute it at all. Auburn ran roughshod all over Bama when it mattered most, coming back from 87-0 to win in Tuscaloosa. Auburn scored more points against Bama than they did against Oregon. Cam Newton went hog wild against the Tide. He had a meh day against Oregon.

[Van]

How did Oregon manage to hold Auburn to fewer points than either LSU or Bama could manage against that offense? Wasn't the Ducks' defense supposed to be shitty?

[Van]

I'm always up this early. I'm old.

Besides, most days I have to be at work at 8:30 a.m.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

We dominated the competition. Except for all those times we didn't.

[Mikey]

Besides, most days I have to be at work at 8:30 a.m.

That must be a real challenge.

[Goober McTuber]

Besides, most days I have to be at work

Truly good to hear that.

[Van]

Besides, most days I have to be at work at 8:30 a.m.

That must be a real challenge.

You betcha!

[Van]

Besides, most days I have to be at work

Truly good to hear that.

Says you. I think it sucks.