Because it was off before: College Football 09!

[Stiker]

I love how even the people with supposed "fixes" are completely biased towards the old school and full of shit.



Unless you're Notre Dame, in which case if you finish above .500 about half the time, you're a top 10 program.


Cuz Navy is tough.

The criteria also included:

but fan following and overall prestige count, too.

You aren't going to find many bigger followings and more loyal ones than ND. Also note, that counts the fans that hate Notre Dame with a passion, there is no middle ground.

Say lolNavy all you want, but that game isn't going away due to our contract with them. Despite the fact we do play them though, we have yet to EVER schedule a 1-AA school like most of college football. I can easily argue playing a team like Navy is analogous to playing most of the Big XII North or bottom feeders of the South like Baylor.

We also play USC, Michigan, and Michigan State annually. Fans still push hard for the University to schedule stronger opponents on our schedule as well.

Right now, we are slightly handcuffed by our previous athletic director's retarded idea for scheduling with a 7-5-1 (home-away-neutral) system, plus some retarded loyalty to the Big East. It is hard to convince top-tier teams to a home-neutral contract (which right now is were most of our wiggle room lies) and we have too many clogged spots with Big East schools.

Our current AD is trying to change that. Talks about a Miami home-home have popped up, trying to get a home-home with TCU feel through just recently, and fans still continuously call for bigger names to be on the schedule.

[Akiyama]

I loved this idea. Was too fun. Loved the line about Oklahoma State as well, Haha.

[Plow]

I can easily argue playing a team like Navy is analogous to playing most of the Big XII North

And I'm the crazy one. Because Nebraska's never done anything. Colorado has no history. K-State wasn't a consistent top 10 team for a while under Snyder recently. And of course KU and Mizzou have been weaksauce recently.


But, hey, you can have Iowa State.


protip: 4/6 are in the top 40 so far, and K-State fits all the qualifications, it just gets absolutely no respect and has fallen off the map lately. It's an absolute joke for Mizzou to be in over us.

[Ryany]

LOL Purdue has made me numb to this fact. I am kind of scared to see post Tiller Purdue play. I mean you saw the Rodriguez loltransition in Ann Arbor and how that went over. Same with lolCallahan in Nebraska.

Post Tubberville will be interesting as well IMO.

I would have been more scared to see more years of MAC-quality recruiting with a coach that started coasting to retirement in 2005. Don't get me wrong, I'll always respect what Tiller did to resurrect the program from 97-04 or so, but he was dragging the program down IMO the last few years.

I'm actually excited about the potential with Danny Hope as coach. It seems like almost every NFLer that had him as an assistant loved him and he does seem to be motivated to putting a lot of effort into recruiting. I'm expecting a losing season this year mainly because the Tiller left the cupboard almost completely bare, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if they were good again 2-3 years down the road.

[Byrd]

Conference breakdown of the Top 40:

SEC -- 9
Big 12 -- 8
ACC -- 6
Big 10 -- 6
Pac-10 -- 6
Mountain West -- 2
Big East -- 1
Independents -- 1
WAC -- 1

[Plow]

I would have been more scared to see more years of MAC-quality recruiting with a coach that started coasting to retirement in 2005. Don't get me wrong, I'll always respect what Tiller did to resurrect the program from 97-04 or so, but he was dragging the program down IMO the last few years.

I'm actually excited about the potential with Danny Hope as coach. It seems like almost every NFLer that had him as an assistant loved him and he does seem to be motivated to putting a lot of effort into recruiting. I'm expecting a losing season this year mainly because the Tiller left the cupboard almost completely bare, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if they were good again 2-3 years down the road.

That's what they said about Bill Snyder after he went 6/7 years with 11 wins (and 10 of 11 with 9+) then had a couple bad seasons.

New football coach is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna git.

[Stiker]

And I'm the crazy one. Because Nebraska's never done anything. Colorado has no history. K-State wasn't a consistent top 10 team for a while under Snyder recently. And of course KU and Mizzou have been weaksauce recently.


But, hey, you can have Iowa State.


protip: 4/6 are in the top 40 so far, and K-State fits all the qualifications, it just gets absolutely no respect and has fallen off the map lately. It's an absolute joke for Mizzou to be in over us.

Nebraska and Colorado have done what again recently?

My whole point is everyone seems to love bashing ND for playing Navy when there are far, FAR weaker schools that every other major school in the nation plays.

Let me put it another way, your beloved K-State played North Texas, Montana State, and Louisiana-Lafayette last season. OK State, another team you touted last season, played Houston, Missouri State, Troy and Baylor.

And we get shit for playing Navy every season? Please...

[Akiyama]

Auburn got in the Top 20? Awesome. I figured last season would drop the Tigers down to at least 25ish if we're going by "What have you done for us lately?" sort of thing. Guessing they kept in mind the large amounts of 9 win seasons and the 13-0 in 2004.

Bama at 8 seems pretty good. Seems like Saban's saved their asses.

[Stiker]

Also, just FYI for those that may not know because I referred our "contract with Navy" in regards to our annual game with them. If it weren't for Navy, ND wouldn't even exist today. Back in World War II, ND was in danger of going completely under; however, the Navy worked out a deal with them. In order to keep ND afloat, the Navy would use ND's campus as an extra barracks and training grounds since they needed more room. That money kept ND alive.

In return and thanks to Navy, we promised them that we would play a football game with them annually until Navy basically feels like they don't want to. So yes, we have a lifetime home-home (although Navy allows it to be home-neutral) with them.

In short, that game isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

/derail off

[FNH]

Bama at 8 seems pretty good. Seems like Saban's saved their asses.

feels good too. that slump post stallings with all the retarded coaches and NCAA sanctions that hurt recruiting sucked.

[Plow]

Nebraska and Colorado have done what again recently?

Nebraska was in the NC game in 00 and 02. Nevermind CRUSHING Peyton's Vols in the NC in 98, CRUSHING Florida in the NC in 96, and oh yeah winning it in 95 just for good measure.

Other than that, hey not much. Just 8+ wins 4 out of the 6 seasons since.

Colorado hasn't won a title since 90, and has fallen to shit under Hawkins. Prior to that they had 4 big 12 north titles and one overall bit 12 title in the previous 5 years.

I'm sure Navy could've done that too, though.

My whole point is everyone seems to love bashing ND for playing Navy when there are far, FAR weaker schools that every other major school in the nation plays.

We mention Navy because it's the one that's in every year. Florida played the Citadel last year, ffs.

The point is they play a bullshit schedule. Sure, they have a couple tough teams-- they don't have Nebraska in a mediocre year and games in Manhattan and College Station in between the tough games, they have Navy, Air Force, and Marines at the end of the year.

Let me put it another way, your beloved K-State played North Texas, Montana State, and Louisiana-Lafayette last season. OK State, another team you touted last season, played Houston, Missouri State, Troy and Baylor.

And we get shit for playing Navy every season? Please...

You want to understand why Notre Dame gets shit?

Try looking at the 9 straight bowl losses, 5 of which were BCS games, 4 of which they had no business in.

[Diamicles]

completely subjective draft...some picks are for programs that have done well in modern times (ie last 10-15 years) and some are for programs that have had a robust history of doing well, but haven't done crap lately.

of course I'm a bit of a mizzou homer, but TxTech in before us is blatantly stupid...yes, mizzou had a rough period (20 years or so, oh well) but have done well recently, and have a rich tradition of football from the 70's and prior (although no national championships, but lots of teams on that list don't have any either)

I would argue that KState should belong before mizzou, but they were terrible before Snyder coached there.

It's all subjective, you take the good with the bad, even USC had a bad spell in the late 80's/early 90's.

[Plow]

Texas Tech got in on sheer "we don't know shit about the big 12, these guys are good right?" power.

Also they win bowl games...

Against Navy.

[Diamicles]

Texas Tech got in on sheer "we don't know shit about the big 12, these guys are good right?" power.

Also they win bowl games...

Against Navy.

same logic they used for OkState also, I think. At least they had Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders (25 years ago)

[Stiker]

The point is they play a bullshit schedule. Sure, they have a couple tough teams-- they don't have Nebraska in a mediocre year and games in Manhattan and College Station in between the tough games, they have Navy, Air Force, and Marines at the end of the year.

You need to get your facts straight. Every other year we play USC at the end of the season. They come to our house in October before it gets balls cold in South Bend, and we go to their house at the end of the season the next year.

Also, we always take a West Coast trip during the years we play USC at home. This year, Standford is slated other PAC-10 teams have been there in the past.

Our final month:

Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford

And that lends itself to the problems I talked about before. Annual game with Navy and the WTF loyalty to the Big East our previous AD set up.

Everyone else's schedule may be back loaded, but ours more often than not is front loaded. Take 2006 (last BCS year):

September 2 at Georgia Tech W 14-10
September 9 Penn State W 41-17
September 16 Michigan L 47-21
September 23 at Michigan State W 40-37

So while everyone else was playing Creampuff U, we got to deal with that gauntlet, and that season ended with USC just in case you were wondering.

You want to understand why Notre Dame gets shit?

Try looking at the 9 straight bowl losses, 5 of which were BCS games, 4 of which they had no business in.

That's a completely valid point; however, saying lolserviceacademies doesn't validate that.

I won't sit here and pretend ND doesn't get some good-ol-boy-nostalgia boost in the standings when we do well, but we are far from the worst culprit in NCAA. You can easily come up with a list of team that didn't belong in several different bowls.

[Stiker]

Texas Tech got in on sheer "we don't know shit about the big 12, these guys are good right?" power.

Also they win bowl games...

Against Navy.

Texas Tech I think also got in based on their style of play and the fact their head coach is slightly crazy. It does make for entertaining games. Even if they are down by a couple touchdowns you never feel like Tech is out of it.

Last half of that draft was crazy subjective to say the least.

[Plow]

You need to get your facts straight. Every other year we play USC at the end of the season. They come to our house in October before it gets balls cold in South Bend, and we go to their house at the end of the season the next year.

Also, we always take a West Coast trip during the years we play USC at home. This year, Standford is slated other PAC-10 teams have been there in the past.

Our final month:

Nov. 7 NAVY
Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT
Nov. 28 at Stanford

Texas's final month:
UCF lawl ok
Baylor, much better than you give them credit for. Would be a regular mid to top tier team in the big east.
KU
@A&M

See the discrepancy here?

Oklahoma's:
@Nebraska
A&M
@Tech
Oklahoma State

Should I go on?

And that lends itself to the problems I talked about before. Annual game with Navy and the WTF loyalty to the Big East our previous AD set up.

Everyone else's schedule may be back loaded, but ours more often than not is front loaded. Take 2006 (last BCS year):

September 2 at Georgia Tech W 14-10
September 9 Penn State W 41-17
September 16 Michigan L 47-21
September 23 at Michigan State W 40-37

So while everyone else was playing Creampuff U, we got to deal with that gauntlet, and that season ended with USC just in case you were wondering.

Oklahoma's first 4 games this year:
BYU
Idaho State lol
Tulsa (9-4, 8-5, 10-4, 11-3 the last 4 years)
@Miami

Yeap, strolling through Creampuff U.

That's a completely valid point; however, saying lolserviceacademies doesn't validate that.

I won't sit here and pretend ND doesn't get some good-ol-boy-nostalgia boost in the standings when we do well,

That would be fine, except that "good-ol-boy-nostalgia" GETS YOU INTO BCS GAMES.

but we are far from the worst culprit in NCAA.

Really? REALLY? Who's worse? Nobody's even remotely close, lol.

I'm pretty sure even Ohio State has won as many BCS games as Notre Dame has been in, and ND hasn't won one yet.

[Plow]

Texas Tech I think also got in based on their style of play and the fact their head coach is slightly crazy. It does make for entertaining games. Even if they are down by a couple touchdowns you never feel like Tech is out of it.

Last half of that draft was crazy subjective to say the least.

Tech deserves to be on the list... about where Mizzou slid in. Mizzou should've been 30ish, KU 35ish, Tech 38ish, and I'd give a tentative 40th spot to K-State based simply on Snyder coming back with a few years' rest. That, and it's wrong to bring in Nebraska, Miami, Colorado, etc. etc. and ignore the ridiculousness that was K-State from 93ish to 04.

[Stiker]

Tech deserves to be on the list... about where Mizzou slid in. Mizzou should've been 30ish, KU 35ish, Tech 38ish, and I'd give a tentative 40th spot to K-State based simply on Snyder coming back with a few years' rest. That, and it's wrong to bring in Nebraska, Miami, Colorado, etc. etc. and ignore the ridiculousness that was K-State from 93ish to 04.

Mizzou is Forde's alma mater, so take that for what it is worth (nothing).

Texas's final month:
UCF lawl ok
Baylor, much better than you give them credit for. Would be a regular mid to top tier team in the big east.
KU
@A&M

See the discrepancy here?

Oklahoma's:
@Nebraska
A&M
@Tech
Oklahoma State

Should I go on?

I already addressed that, ND's schedules have been front-loaded for a while now.

Oklahoma's first 4 games this year:
BYU
Idaho State lol
Tulsa (9-4, 8-5, 10-4, 11-3 the last 4 years)
@Miami

Yeap, strolling through Creampuff U.

You can't claim BYU being good in hind-sight. You seriously cannot tell me Oklahoma scheduled BYU knowing they'd have a good year considering their recent history. Miami is mediocre and Tulsa as well considering who they usually play.

Granted that isn't complete Creampuff U for OU, but I'm thinking something like:

08/30 6:00p PPV W 52-10 Florida Atlantic
09/06 9:15p ESPN2 W 42-13 at Texas El Paso
09/20 6:00p FoxSN W 52-10 Rice
09/27 2:30p ABC W 52-10 Arkansas (moved from 09/13 due to Hurricane Ike)

That would be Texas' schedule. Arkansas is the only one I could give as a decent game at the time the schedule it, otherwise, lol.

Just be honest Plow, (and I'm not picking on Big XII exclusively here, I'm only giving those as examples because I feel like you follow them far closer) more often than not, the majority of the nations top programs will ease into the season until their conference play starts late in the season.

That would be fine, except that "good-ol-boy-nostalgia" GETS YOU INTO BCS GAMES.

Really? REALLY? Who's worse? Nobody's even remotely close, lol.

I'm pretty sure even Ohio State has won as many BCS games as Notre Dame has been in, and ND hasn't won one yet.

I say worse as in terms of the level of BCS games some teams get in, mainly the national title game. There have been far too many title games that have been one sided, that is what I'm going after: see Auburn getting screwed out of a title shot when they went undefeated.

ND has been in a total of 3 BCS games. It isn't like we are screwing folks left and right out of bowl bids.

[Plow]

Mizzou is Forde's alma mater, so take that for what it is worth (nothing).



I already addressed that, ND's schedules have been front-loaded for a while now.




You can't claim BYU being good in hind-sight. You seriously cannot tell me Oklahoma scheduled BYU knowing they'd have a good year considering their recent history. Miami is mediocre and Tulsa as well considering who they usually play.

What I listed is this year's schedule. BYU/Tulsa/@Miami are on top of closing the year with @Neb, A&M, @Tech, and OkSU. Oh and there's a nice stretch of Baylor, Texas, KU, and K-State in between.

Granted that isn't complete Creampuff U for OU, but I'm thinking something like:

08/30 6:00p PPV W 52-10 Florida Atlantic
09/06 9:15p ESPN2 W 42-13 at Texas El Paso
09/20 6:00p FoxSN W 52-10 Rice
09/27 2:30p ABC W 52-10 Arkansas (moved from 09/13 due to Hurricane Ike)

That would be Texas' schedule. Arkansas is the only one I could give as a decent game at the time the schedule it, otherwise, lol.

Texas gets crap about their schedule all the time. Note the part where they beat the team that got voted in front of them into the big12 and nc games...

You don't get away with that shit anymore, you get punished... unless you're ND. That's why Texas went out and got a deal with Ohio State for a while, K-State had one with USC, etc.

The thing is that Notre Dame plays the couple big games a year... and then the rest of the year they're playing a mid-major quality schedule, and getting more credit than teams playing SEC/Big12/Pac10 teams 8+ times a year.

Just be honest Plow, (and I'm not picking on Big XII exclusively here, I'm only giving those as examples because I feel like you follow them far closer) more often than not, the majority of the nations top programs will ease into the season until their conference play starts late in the season.

To some extent, yes, but if you're not Notre Dame, you get slammed when it comes down to the wire and you have that kind of shit on your resume. Look at Kansas State in the 98 season. Nebraska had won 3 of the last 4 national championships, and came into town undefeated with both in the top 10. K-State won, undefeated rest of regular season, went into the 2nd half of the big 12 championship leading, if they won they're in the national championship.

We lost in double or triple overtime and went from the NC to the Alamo bow.

I say worse as in terms of the level of BCS games some teams get in, mainly the national title game. There have been far too many title games that have been one sided, that is what I'm going after: see Auburn getting screwed out of a title shot when they went undefeated.

How was that "worse" on behalf of either of the 2 undefeated teams with harder schedules that got in ahead of them?

That's not a 2 loss ND team getting in while ranked 12 as a 1 loss (@ undefeated Michigan) Wisconsin team gets sent to the Citrus Bowl.

ND has been in a total of 3 BCS games. It isn't like we are screwing folks left and right out of bowl bids.

It quite literally is, lol. It doesn't have to be a BCS game for Notre Dame to be screwing other schools out of millions, not to mention deserved honors, by getting put in a bowl way over their heads just because they're ND.