Final Top Ten FB is a joke

[boisesuns]

Ay, Chihuahua, the Notre Dame bashing is such a surprise, I just don't know what to do. We lost to the final #3, #4, and #8, two of them on the road.

The shame is overwhelming.

Bash away, brothers. Bash away. Your jealousy is and has always been amusing. See you next year for more of the same. Because we will be ranked, we will be on TV every week, we will make scads of money and you will still wallow in frustration at all the above.

Some things will never change, although I must admit, it makes me giggle at being hated for a #17 ranking. Usually, the perceived injustices are more substantial.

There more than 17 teams that are better than ND. The fact that the media is on your side is why the high ranking.

 

[ajcardfan]

This is the worst part of college football --- so much is determined by the media in PRESEASON. The majority of schools HAVE NO SHOT AT ALL at the championship, or even top 5, before a SINGLE SNAP! Just because they aren't from the right conference or are too lightly regarded.

It's unamerican!!

 

[Skkorpion]

There more than 17 teams that are better than ND. The fact that the media is on your side is why the high ranking.

I see. Thank you for enlightening me. It's the media's fault. Maybe we pay them off?

 

[Nasser22]

I see. Thank you for enlightening me. It's the media's fault. Maybe we pay them off?

Probably.

 

[justAndy]

ND is still trading off their old days - what, 10 bowl losses in a a row
Definately overrated - no hate from me though.
Yes Virginia, it's all about entrenched $, TV and hype.
The top level of college football is way corrupt - it seems the lower levels have no problem with a playoff system...

 

[boisesuns]

I see. Thank you for enlightening me. It's the media's fault. Maybe we pay them off?

I'm just wondering what you honest assesment of the team is? They've had trouble in their big games, so that's why a lot of people are wondering how they are still ranked fairly high.

They have a great tradition, and a huge following and a whole network behind them. It's great for them, and even gives them an advantage in some ways. That kind of following helps them get good national notice. You are going to have your "Haters" but if ND has a great season, they will be considered for big bowls.

The polls are about hype and perception most of the time. Having a large number of people voting for you every week doesn't hurt.

I'm not here to rip on ND, I just think their team was good this year, but not great.

Remember, i'm coming from a team that just barley gained respect and national notice this year. Beleive me, it would be nice to have the coverage and press ND gets, but I think the coverage they get alone gets them votes alomst as much as their play on the feild.

Slightly related, Is samardzija going to play Baseball or Football after school? He was playing for the Boise minor leauge team this summer and pitched a few games. Also, do you think Quinn with be a good NFL QB?

 

[LVCARDFREAK]

Big East with 3 top 15 teams. Say what you want, all they do is win games. Good year for the conference and with Schiano staying Rutgers should be good again next year. Losing Petrino isnt a big deal, UL is loaded with talent with or without Brohm, and WVU should be ranked top5 with the return of Slaton and White and most of their offense.

 

[boisesuns]

Big East with 3 top 15 teams. Say what you want, all they do is win games. Good year for the conference and with Schiano staying Rutgers should be good again next year. Losing Petrino isnt a big deal, UL is loaded with talent with or without Brohm, and WVU should be ranked top5 with the return of Slaton and White and most of their offense.

The big east did well this year. Great Seasons for those three.

 

[Mulli]

Too bad South Florida got no love in the final top 25.

 

[Southpaw]

Too bad South Florida got no love in the final top 25.

Good point. I didn't notice. Shame on me.

 

[Skkorpion]

I'm just wondering what you honest assesment of the team is? They've had trouble in their big games, so that's why a lot of people are wondering how they are still ranked fairly high.

They have a great tradition, and a huge following and a whole network behind them. It's great for them, and even gives them an advantage in some ways. That kind of following helps them get good national notice. You are going to have your "Haters" but if ND has a great season, they will be considered for big bowls.

The polls are about hype and perception most of the time. Having a large number of people voting for you every week doesn't hurt.

I'm not here to rip on ND, I just think their team was good this year, but not great.

Remember, i'm coming from a team that just barley gained respect and national notice this year. Beleive me, it would be nice to have the coverage and press ND gets, but I think the coverage they get alone gets them votes alomst as much as their play on the feild.

Slightly related, Is samardzija going to play Baseball or Football after school? He was playing for the Boise minor leauge team this summer and pitched a few games. Also, do you think Quinn with be a good NFL QB?

Okay. Honestly, Notre Dame will never again be a football power and next year will be bad for the Irish and good for the haters.

There are only 7 senior players on scholarship and 14 juniors. Weis' first recruiting class will be sophomores and all 28 are still eligible. They lack speed and are short on defensive linemen. His second class, signing date is Feb. 1, numbers only 17. In the last week, 8 players reniged on Notre Dame and commited elsewhere.

Weis, like every recent Irish coach, is having trouble recruiting defensive linemen, defensive backs, and black players in general. Weis also made a mistake keeping Willingham's defensive coordinator - Rick Mintor.

Samardzija throws a 98 mph fastball but is a bit slow for an NFL WR.

I think Quinn will be a superior NFL QB. He had less talent to work with than any other top prospect.

Notre Dame football will rarely rank top ten anymore, more often between 14 to 25.

It's simple really. Too few good football players are good enough students to succeed at Notre Dame and many of those who are good enough choose to go elsewhere. I think the program is in permanent decline.

 

[Russ Smith]

I see. Thank you for enlightening me. It's the media's fault. Maybe we pay them off?

No NBC does.

 

[Southpaw]

Didn't Charlie recruit the hot azz QB who showed up in a Limo when he committed in the fall?

 

[Russ Smith]

Skorp maybe you know does Notre Dame still allow "special admits" for athletes?

Pretty much everyone did, a few years ago under heavy alum pressure Stanford significantly cut the numbers they allowed and how far below the "norm" they were willing to accept. This is the primary reason why Stanford football and basketball have fallen off(also losing Montgomery in hoops). They still had good students but they had a lot of kids on the basketball and football team that would NOT have gotten in if not for sports, that % is much lower now.

The NCAA is adopting that new rule in 2008 that if you fail to make progress towards academics standards 4 consecutive years, you start losing scholarships and or postseason eligibility. It's on a sport specific basis so for example a football or basketball team can't be "saved" by other sports. I think it could turn out to be pretty wide reaching although 4 years in a row you almost have to try to fail to do it 4 years in a row(as a team not any one player).

 

[Renz]

This is the worst part of college football --- so much is determined by the media in PRESEASON. The majority of schools HAVE NO SHOT AT ALL at the championship, or even top 5, before a SINGLE SNAP! Just because they aren't from the right conference or are too lightly regarded.

It's unamerican!!

There is no preseason BCS poll. That poll doesn't start 'til later in the season (can't remember when).

 

[devilfan02]

There is no preseason BCS poll. That poll doesn't start 'til later in the season (can't remember when).

But the BCS poll factors in the AP and Coaches Poll which start in the preseason. Preseason rankings are an issue

 

[Skkorpion]

Didn't Charlie recruit the hot azz QB who showed up in a Limo when he committed in the fall?

Don't know who you are talking about. Weis has some very good QB prospects and good oline prospects. The cupboard is not bare everywhere but there are huge holes in the roster: RB, DT, CB, and DE. Too much to overcome against the better teams, IMO.

 

[Skkorpion]

Skorp maybe you know does Notre Dame still allow "special admits" for athletes?

Pretty much everyone did, a few years ago under heavy alum pressure Stanford significantly cut the numbers they allowed and how far below the "norm" they were willing to accept. This is the primary reason why Stanford football and basketball have fallen off(also losing Montgomery in hoops). They still had good students but they had a lot of kids on the basketball and football team that would NOT have gotten in if not for sports, that % is much lower now.

No special admits any more - or so they claim. I don't trust the administration. They whine about having higher standards than everybody else then fire the coaches who can't win under these self-imposed restrictions.

 

[Russ Smith]

Don't know who you are talking about. Weis has some very good QB prospects and good oline prospects. The cupboard is not bare everywhere but there are huge holes in the roster: RB, DT, CB, and DE. Too much to overcome against the better teams, IMO.

I think he means Jimmy Clausen from Southern California.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Preseason rankings are an issue

Not only 'an issue', but the second largest disgrace in College Football! Obviously, the largest is that there is no playoff system.

Other disgraces:
- Broadcasting rights determined among conferences, and not the NCAA as a whole (I know, this is for all NCAA sports... its just wrong). This is where/how ESPN pimps a few guys/conferences giving unfair advantage in voting, exposure, and $$.
- Thursday night college games... this gives unfair media advantage to those teams playing that day. Big East was a benefactor of this in 2006
- Notre Dame and the media love
- Having to sit out a year to be eligible to play for a team after a transfer (applies to other sports). Why is this necessary? If I wanted to switch Universities and change my course of study, do I have to not attend class for a year? Kids get 4 years to play... done.
- Heisman campaigns in the media... this is just an embarassment.
- BCS Championship Bowl game held more than a week into the New Year... why can't it be played immediately? Enough of the attention domination.
- Names on back of jerseys... either have them or don't. All teams must follow the same rule.
- Conference Championships... every conference has to either have one, or eliminate it from schedule
- Too much layoff between final season game and Bowl Game. I call BS about the "kids must study and take finals". Start the season later ... Urban Meyer won't lose ANY bowl games when given 5 weeks to prepare a talented squad.
- Bands cannot play the University Fight song more than twice a game - at kickoff and to start the second half. They can however play as many songs as they want to supplement the free time.

I could go on, but I'd better not. BTW, some of those suggestions were in jest.

 

[justAndy]

will someone please explain if there is any other reason than greed that top level college football can't have a playoff like the lower divisions?

 

[Southpaw]

Don't know who you are talking about. Weis has some very good QB prospects and good oline prospects. The cupboard is not bare everywhere but there are huge holes in the roster: RB, DT, CB, and DE. Too much to overcome against the better teams, IMO.

Jimmy Clausen.

A lot of the heat for Clausen's elaborate press conference has fallen on the Notre Dame program.

And there has been somewhat of a domino effect as Weis' program falls under ever closer scrutiny. One prominent newspaper columnist, for example, opined recently that the professional sports endeavors of current ND stars Jeff Samardzija and Tom Zbikowski violate the spirit of amateurism that Notre Dame should be upholding.

Others have taken on the young prodigy himself. When he arrives in South Bend, Clausen will have a few bridges to mend, including with incoming ND freshman defensive tackle Paddy Mullen, who isn't impressed at this point.

"He's cocky," Mullen said. "He's a typical quarterback. We'll see what happens when he's at Notre Dame and getting knocked around a little bit. We'll see when he has a defensive tackle tackling the crap out of him."I committed to Notre Dame. I told as many people as I could, people who called. But I don't have a PR firm putting my name out there. ... This guy better be unbelievable."

Sack takes a less-traveled third road on the issues. He blames neither Notre Dame nor Clausen for the spectacle, but instead feels the NCAA has set up a climate in which promotion trumps all else; a climate in which programs and players need to master promotion as a survival skill, then adjust their ideals accordingly.

"This kid rides up in a stretch limo and he has a press conference and he uses the media to the max and somehow there's something wrong with that?" Sack says. "Well maybe there is, but his is just a small, small part and he's just playing out what he's learned from the culture of college sports as it's emerging under a system that I would call academic capitalism.

 

[Dback Jon]

- Having to sit out a year to be eligible to play for a team after a transfer (applies to other sports). Why is this necessary? If I wanted to switch Universities and change my course of study, do I have to not attend class for a year? Kids get 4 years to play... done.
-

I agree with this rule - it helps prevent coaches/alumni/boosters from continually recruiting kids WHILE in college. Transferring for sports reasons detracts from the college experience, which is why you go to college, theoretically. And the athletes still attend class, so your analogy is false. They don't lose a year of eligibility - they have 5 years to play 4 regardless.

 

[TucsonDevil]

I agree with this rule - it helps prevent coaches/alumni/boosters from continually recruiting kids WHILE in college. Transferring for sports reasons detracts from the college experience, which is why you go to college, theoretically. And the athletes still attend class, so your analogy is false. They don't lose a year of eligibility - they have 5 years to play 4 regardless.

See, I am coming from the perspective that a player should be able to jump schools if he wants to - with no penalty. Let's not pretend that more than 20% of the players in Major programs are students first, then athletes. If the overwhelming incentive to go to a program and/or school is due to the football coach, offensive/defensive scheme, promised playing time, etc.. - that player should be allowed to leave if it doesn't live up to its billing. I think it is only fair.

That is just how I see it. It may not be a good idea, but this might be one of those issues that I was referring to when I said some of my observations were made in jest.