Category Archives: Blog & Guest Posts

Comparing the winning percentages of conferences in the BCS

In light of the discussion here about the relative strength of different college football conferences, I decided to review the performance of each conference in BCS games since the BCS’s inception in 1998. For comparing conference strength, this is a reasonable metric because it’s a focused sample where the best teams from different conferences play each other in meaningful games…. Read more »

Smelling Roses in the state of Oregon

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Oregon just finished a dramatic double OT victory over Arizona in Tucson which means that the December 3rd Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State will decide the conference champion and Rose Bowl opponent for Ohio State.

A watershed moment

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It’s official: the Angry Right of 2009 is verifiably more insane than the Angry Left of 2001-2005. How do I know? Because of this poll: The poll asked this question: “Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?” The overall top-line is legitimately won 62%,… Read more »

It’s twenty-ten, not two-thousand ten

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On Monday, NPR aired a story on the question of what’s the proper way to pronounce the year 2010. Is it “two-thousand ten,” or “twenty ten”? To me, the answer is obviously the latter. The only reason we’ve been saying “two-thousand one,” “two-thousand two,” etc., is because it feels awkward to say “twenty-oh-one,” “twenty-oh-two,” and so forth. (For some reason,… Read more »

Would the Gator Bowl take 7-5 ND over 11-1 Cincinnati?

Should they? Of course not. Will they? Quite possibly, writes Stewart Mandel: Is the loser of the Pitt-Cincy game really going to end up in the Meineke Car Care Bowl? Really?? — John, Chicago If Notre Dame finishes 7-5 [or 8-4], most likely. The Gator Bowl has first choice of Big East teams after the BCS, but it’s also allowed… Read more »

Frustration, exhilaration as Gonzaga loses thriller to #2 MSU

I just got through watching the Gonzaga-Michigan State game — it ended more than two hours ago, but because it conflicted with the girls’ bedtimes, I had to TiVo it and watch it on a delay (sequestering myself from the Internet so I wouldn’t accidentally learn the result) — and, like Zach at The Slipper Still Fits, I’m not quite… Read more »

Brilliant idea of the day

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Courtesy of Scout.com’s Matt Zemek: The commissioners of the Mountain West, Western Athletic, and Pac-10 Conferences (especially new Pac-10 boss Larry Scott) need to create their own answer to the SEC and Big 12 title games on the first weekend of December: Have the champions of the three leagues and one at-large second-place team compete in two made-for-TV games. Call… Read more »

Star freshman lifts UK at buzzer in debut

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On the eve of ESPN’s ridiculous/awesome 24-hour marathon of wall-to-wall college hoops, a bit of November Madness courtesy of, well, Wall: That’d be Kentucky’s John Wall, kicking off his college career in style. Here’s the same play, without the awful play-by-play announcing, as seen from the crowd: P.S. “Charlie Coles finds your question absurd.” Heh.

USC could still go to the Rose Bowl

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Unfortunately, the scenario involves Wazzu winning, so it ain’t gonna happen. But Ken Stern can dream: [T]here would have to be a 6 way tie for the conference lead (with 6-3 records) among Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and USC. Under that scenario the first tie-breaker is the record against those teams and USC, Oregon State and Arizona would… Read more »