Football Thread!

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Well, the Big 10 is in some hot water now. They may not have one team going to the playoffs.
Caldera said:
Wisconsin has proven to be considered among the top teams. I haven’t followed them closely, and for some reason thought they had an early loss on their schedule, but was mistaken. They are undefeated (with a somewhat easy schedule), and a very good young running back. I don’t know if they are a legitimate top 5 team, but they continue to improve. I thought going to Indiana could expose them to a potential upset, but they dealt with early issues in the game, then ended up with a comfortable win.
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They’ve been underperforming. They were favored to beat Illinois by 28 and won by 14. They only beat Northwestern by 11. Don’t be surprised if Iowa wins against them at Camp Randall.

Every year the Badgers are overrated. They have an intentionally easy schedule and then don’t make a decent hit in the postseason. Their division organization doesn’t help either. The Big Ten 10 East the best in D-! these days, and there are four teams there that could probably beat Wisconsin in Wisconsin any given week.

The fact is they should beat Indiana 45-17.
Caldera said:
Alabama is a great football team, but still human.
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This program isn’t about getting 45+ points. They have sound defensive philosophy.
Caldera said:
Georgia wins again…

Clemson hangs on in a tough game at NCST. Looks like Miami and Clemson could be headed for the ACC championship game.

Other teams on the rise: Washington, Auburn
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Clemson is a bubble team. I don’t think they could beat Alabama. They would have lost last year had Bo Scarbourough not been hurt. It was easily the worst title game injury since Ted Ginn Jr. was injured for Ohio State back in 2007.

Georgia is a top 2 team.
Caldera said:
Notre Dame continues to impress. I don’t like how many points they gave up aganist WF, but this is the most legitimate ND team i’ve watched in years.
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They’re not quite ready to play Alabama yet.
Caldera said:
Ohio State: Did anyone… in the entire country… see that coming? Iowa can be a tough place to play.
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Frankly, it’s Urban Meyer’s job to see this. Ohio State had fair warning last week. They were down the entire game at home except for the very end. Ever since Glen Mason left Minnesota, Iowa has been the ultimate trap team next to Boise State. The writing was on the wall for a loss—not a 5-score loss, but a loss nonetheless.

Ohio State can’t play in the Big Ten and expect to win just by showing up.

Other than that, I can’t be too hard on them. They are only the team not south of the Mason Dixon line who have a title since the 1 vs 2 and the playoff started. And they actually have scheduled some tough non-conference games to make themselves a contender in recent years.
 
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If Georgia and Alabama finish the season undefeated, and still ranked #1 & 2, will the SEC championship game knock one of them out of the playoffs? 🙂
WASH @ STAN 10:30pm ET Tonight
Big Saturday games:

MSU @ OSU 12pm -If MSU wins, they will likely win the East

UGA @ AUB 3:30pm -Possible upset?

IOWA @ WIS 3:30pm -Dangerous game for Wisconsin

TCU @ OKLA 8pm -Winner controls the Big 12

ND @ MIAMI 8pm -Must see!

Any thoughts?
 
Things are still a mess. Alabama has a tune-up against Mercer, but then it’s the Iron Bowl. They have a predictably tough road game last week, but Hurts and Saban have the mentality to get it done this year.
 
College football can be so unpredictable. How do teams with so much to play for late in the season end up getting blown out in big games. Notre Dame, MSU, Georgia… OSU the week before… Right now it really is a mess. Even Alabama was hanging on for dear life against Miss St. I don’t know who the best team is at this point. Maybe it will be a late bloomer, or the year long underestimated Hurricanes, or maybe it really is Alabama again. But I wouldn’t be so sure. Remember, as good as Bama has been under Saban, he is 1-2 in the new playoff national championships.

The big game this Saturday looks to be Michigan at Wisconsin. Another test for the Badgers that could become their first blemish. Michigan is on the rise with their new QB and improving power ground game. If they can get by Wisconsin, it will set up for a great game to watch when they host Ohio St in the final week.

The B10 East is still not decided yet…
 
It’s official (so far)

Big Ten Championship: Ohio State vs. Wisconsin

ACC Championship: Clemson vs. Miami

SEC Championship: Georgia vs. ?

PAC-12 Championship: USC vs. ?

Big 12 Championship: 1 Seed vs. 2 Seed
 
Caldera said:
Even Alabama was hanging on for dear life against Miss St. I don’t know who the best team is at this point.
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This was expected. A lot of people had MS State winning that game.

What isn’t expected is for Wisconsin to have close games against teams like Northwestern. That’s where the problem comes in. Or even when Ohio State gets pummelled at Kennick Stadium.
Caldera said:
The B10 East is still not decided yet…
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Ohio State wins it. Kinda bad news for Wisconsin, but it means they’ll have to earn their way through it—provided they don’t get upset by Minnesota.

I really don’t expect Michigan or Minnesota to win next week, though. Ohio State had their tune-up against Illinois and almost covered the 41-point spread.

Wisconsin is peaking at the right time.
 
Caldera said:
I don’t know who the best team is at this point.
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The best team is Alabama. They are the most balanced and most disciplined, best coached team. They’re not unbeatable, but they are the best team, which means that whoever they play has to exceed their talent or force turnovers to equalize the chances.

We’ll have to see who is ready to play against Auburn, but it’s going to be another tough game for the Tide.
 
The way Auburn has been playing the past few weeks I think many felt there was a decent chance for victory against Alabama. But #2 Miami getting it handed to them by a mediocre Pitt team was yet another surprise to this up and down strange season…

So, yeah, … that’s just great. The top 2 ranked undefeated teams in the country lose on the very last week of the regular season.

Ohio State, though, showed a bit of character today after getting down early at Michigan, but they will no doubt have their hands full in the Big Ten championship game. Wisconsin has been, if nothing else, consistent this season, and capped it off today with a very strong (31-0) victory at Minnesota. So, … in my opinion, the chances of them winning the Big Ten now are pretty good. I think they should be favored in the game (not that it really matters). But I also kind of hope they do win it now so we can send an undefeated (and deserving) team to the playoffs (win or lose).

In other games:

#3 Clemson wins big 34-10 over S.Carolina

#4 Oklahoma wins big 59-31 over W. Virginia (Will their Def be good enough?)

#7 Georgia wins big 38-7 over G.T. (strong win)

#8 Notre Dame was playing like champions just a few weeks ago. What happened? (lost 38-20 at Stanford)

#10 Penn State wins Yuuge 66-3 over Maryland

#12 TCU - Will they have a chance against Okla in the championship?

and #15 UCF still undefeated!

Who are your top 5-6 teams now heading into the conference championships?

Which 4 teams do you think will make the playoffs?

Oh, and btw, who are your top NFL teams now at this point?

🙂
 
Caldera said:
The way Auburn has been playing the past few weeks I think many felt there was a decent chance for victory against Alabama
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Not a huge surprise, but just a blurb on Y! that Alabama hasn’t been great this year??!?! What?

Their loss by 12 is going to hurt badly…had it been close like the OSU/Penn State game and should Auburn win the SEC, they would have a better chance.
Caldera said:
But #2 Miami getting it handed to them by a mediocre Pitt team was yet another surprise to this up and down strange season…
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Someone already said it…Miami has been playing with fire all year.

The Big Ten situation depends on OSU QB situation. At full strength, OSU is a better team. And the only WI is now in the conversation is everyone else has lost at least once.

Given what happened the last time these 2 teams met, I wouldn’t underestimate OSU. But WI is playing too well and will be ready for their QB situation.
Caldera said:
Who are your top 5-6 teams now heading into the conference championships?
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Auburn, Georgia, TCU, Oklahoma, Clemson, Alabama
 
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Caldera said:
Which 4 teams do you think will make the playoffs?
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Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Caldera said:
Oh, and btw, who are your top NFL teams now at this point?
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Based on the standings and what I’ve seen in the past, it’s going to be hard for the Patriots to repeat.From what I can tell, the Pats aren’t winning the way they want to (324 PASS yds on defense PER GAME for the first 6 games----are you KIDDING??) but they are at least winning. If they DO win as they want, the trophy is theirs. Fact is Brady can put up 30+ on any defense in the NFL when he needs to.

But I’ve heard the rest of the league is down so it’s not a normal year. Might have something to do with off the field stuff…

Otherwise, the Eagles are back. This has been a complete team but suffered from Wentz getting hurt in 2015 and the rise of young Dallas last year. They are the best team in the NFL.

The Steelers finally seem to have some fire in their belly. They’ll need it to get past NWE. Those look like the top 3 teams easily.

I would throw in the Vikings, because they’ve beaten 2 division leaders, but this team has blown so many fast starts in the last 20 years and the NFC North has been handed to GNB on a silver platter for 4 of the last 5 years. So that is far from over. Lots of talk about them playing at home in the Superbowl. Problem is as their offense gets better the defense slides. At least they don’t have to play perfect to win.
 
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DeniseNY said:
I have a bunch of friends who are Browns fans, and I’ve never seen them this frustrated.
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Sorry, I haven’t been very forum-y since the reboot.

I have not checked it against today’s results, but as of a couple of days ago The Browns Were Still In It!

fivethirtyeight.com

Good News, Browns: Your Chances Of Making The Playoffs Are 1 In 19 Quintillion

The 19,649,922,085,696,900,000-1 dream is alive in Cleveland.
fivethirtyeight.com fivethirtyeight.com

🤣

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Oh, I could definitely go for that!! Loser has to drive home on the turnpike!
 
Hey! 😀

But you know what? I lived in Philly for a long time, so if anyone has to beat the Steelers, I could live with the Eagles. But I won’t be happy!
 
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