College Football

[Laozi]

I'm always doubtful when it comes to Texas because Mack Brown very often gets out coached. People always say he makes up for it by being a good recruiter, but Austin is the best recruiting tool in the region. Stoops obviously does a better job getting bluechippers to want to go to Jerkwater, Oklahoma.

[qt3.14159]

No, no, OU is in Norman. Oklahoma State is in Jerkwater...

 

And yeah, we do a fine job recruiting in Texas, we always have. Even during the *shudder* John Blake years.

[Laozi]

Jerkwater/Norman

 

same same

[Walsingham]

college football is certainly hypocritical. academic standards are meaningless for athletes. they should simply do away with all the moronic requirements and offer non-degreed positions on teams for those that want them. it is hardly fair that someone should be screwed over if his/her only talent in life is not of an academic nature. you end up with all these kids cheated into college sports programs under the pretense of being smart enough to get the degree, when everyone in the freaking world knows better. sigh.

 

taks

 

I don't understand why you have to cheat. It's a nonsense that you have some sort of 'points' system for athletic versus intelligence. We have primo athletes at UK universities and they manage to pass exams.

[I want teh kotor 3]

Engineers FTW.

[qt3.14159]

Well, this weekend was a lot more predictable than last weekend, for sure. Big 12 is still on top, with six teams in the top 25, but next weekend will change that.

 

It's a big week here in Oklahoma. We actually cancel school on Friday so that everyone can go on down to Dallas Thursday night and be thoroughly trashed by the time the game starts Saturday. Sometimes when we win will be cancelled on Monday too. But that hasn't happened for a while.

 

The game worries me a bit, to be honest... but it always does.

[taks]

I don't understand why you have to cheat. It's a nonsense that you have some sort of 'points' system for athletic versus intelligence. We have primo athletes at UK universities and they manage to pass exams.

because they don't have the brains to meet the minimum requirements for entrance. most of the division 1A schools are universities, which tends to imply stricter entrance requirements for many of their programs. for a university, or even the next level down (state university), it is reasonable to expect only the top 30-40% should be admitted (i'd argue even fewer, perhaps 20%). however, it is NOT reasonable to assume all of the athletic talent will fall into that region of intellectual accomplishment as well. in fact, it is by design that 60-70% will not. they end up getting screwed, even if they are better athletically. as a result, high schools make sure their top talent "passes" through and they coach the kids heavily prior to entrance exams (the guy that sat behind me during high school graduation, great guy, better high school numbers than herschel walker, but a total post, was signed up for a 2nd SAT exam before he even took the first).

 

IMO, there should be different sets of requirements for athletes, but there should also be different types of degrees awarded. some will get real degrees regardless, and hence will get accepted into the regular academic programs, and there should be consideration for "student-athletes" who manage to excel in both arenas.

 

oh, and yeah, this coming weekend should be interesting. i'm a bit peeved that mizzou did not get 2nd in the AP poll. 'bama barely beats KY at home and mizzou breaks a 30 year losing streak (15 in a row) on the road in grand fashion, yet 'bama is ranked higher? nonsense. no, there's no SEC favoritism here. at least the coaches poll (USA Today) figured it out, though i don't know now LSU is sticking in there during a bye week.

 

taks

Edited October 6, 2008 by taks

[qt3.14159]

IMO, there should be different sets of requirements for athletes, but there should also be different types of degrees awarded. some will get real degrees regardless, and hence will get accepted into the regular academic programs, and there should be consideration for "student-athletes" who manage to excel in both arenas.

 

Universities DO award different levels of degrees. There are tons of "Arts" degrees that have very low performance and hours requirements. If an athlete doesn't have the brains to get an engineering degree (or a BBA for that matter) he can major in one of the not so meaningful degrees. Furthermore, they tend to take extremely light course loads (especially during the season) and usually in blow off classes. It would be rare for an athlete to have enough hours to graduate at the end of his eligibility for intercollegiate sports. If they go on and finish, more power to them, if they don't, they didn't get a degree. How does that make them any different than all the other people who start college and never finish?

 

oh, and yeah, this coming weekend should be interesting. i'm a bit peeved that mizzou did not get 2nd in the AP poll. 'bama barely beats KY at home and mizzou breaks a 30 year losing streak (15 in a row) on the road in grand fashion, yet 'bama is ranked higher? nonsense. no, there's no SEC favoritism here. at least the coaches poll (USA Today) figured it out, though i don't know now LSU is sticking in there during a bye week.

 

taks

 

Yeah, I was really surprised that Mizzou didn't get more respect after Alabama's squeaking by an unranked team. AP definitely has a ton of SEC bias. I still remember 2000 when all the talk was about what they would do when Florida St beat OK in the national championship since FSU had lost to Miami (who was ranked 3) already that year. No one even contemplated the idea that we could win it... of course that just made it more fun when we shut them down so completely.

 

But I digress...

[qt3.14159]

All hail the Big Twelve!

 

Three teams in the top 5!!

 

We play Texas a week from Saturday, so that'll change one way or another... ugh... I'm NOT looking forward to that game... *nail biting*

 

but at least we don't have to play Missouri... at least not until the Big 12 championship! Which is in Kansas City this year..... THAT'll be fun...

 

I'll go ahead and ruin it for you, Okie is gonna get smoked.

 

 

Well, today is the day we find out. I absolutely hate coming into this game ranked higher than TX. It puts a giant target on our back and makes me nervous as all hell.

 

We can only hope that our entire team showed up to play and Stoops manages to out coach Mack Brown one more time...

 

BOOMER SOONER! TEXAS SUCKS!! TUCK FEXAS!!!

[qt3.14159]

Ugggghhhh.... that was depressing...

 

*sigh*

 

Well, I have to say, Texas really outplayed us in that fourth quarter. It might have been closer if we hadn't lost our key defender, but I'm not sure the ending would have been any different.

 

Well... we Sooners can always hope that this season works out the same as in 2005 and TX winds up with two losses and we get to go to the Big 12 championship anyhow.... but I'm not too hopeful.

 

It's up to you, Mizzou! We want the Big 12 to say in the running for #1, but ugh, I don't think I can stand it if it's Longhorns... *shudder*.

 

[Laozi]

It was a good game, thats 3 out of 4 for the Horns. OU's o-line got all the press before the game, but it was Texas's that really showed up today. OU had trouble creating much pressure without blitzing and their coverage was pretty soft in the middle even before Reynolds went down. The Sooners really did a good job exploiting UT's two freshman safeties but in the end the better team won, definitely their biggest since the Rose Bowl. I was a little iffy on UT this year, they didn't seem to have the stars they usually do, but this is a really complete team from top to bottom their only weaknesses being youth and the lack of a top flight TE.

[I want teh kotor 3]

Epic fail: Harvard won.

[taks]

It's up to you, Mizzou! We want the Big 12 to say in the running for #1, but ugh, I don't think I can stand it if it's Longhorns... *shudder*.

all they gotta do is beat TX on saturday, then they're right back in it looking at a championship against OK state. would have been a bit easier to stay on top had they actually beaten the team they were supposed to beat. i can understand #1 losing to #5... but OK state, after being ahead at half... and daniel throwing three freaking interceptions!!! arrrgh.

 

taks

[Stacie]

Okay here you go, pi girl.

 

The laws of Aussie rules football

 

Just read up to the length of the game, that's all you need to know.

 

Yeah... that's not gonna happen... lol.

 

 

I do understand the thing with College football. I watched the Vikings play someone or other about ten years ago. It was one of the most boring experiences of my life. Give me something with a bit less polish and a bit more soul.

 

We have a lot of polish in our program, but at the same time, there is so much soul. The games are so much fun, the band, the alumni, the students... we're all there because we love the school and it just happens to have an awesome program.

 

 

 

no, i don't think they do. the system is horribly broken, but in a 128-team field, and only 12 or so games each season, i don't think there's a good answer. one thing they do need to do is remove the rose bowl from the BCS system. it is contractually obligated to include big-10/PAC-10 teams, which is why a 3-loss team got in last year (illinois, and USC trounced them). the other bowls are all required to take a top-10 team.

 

i'm a mizzou fan, btw. i attended the university of missouri-rolla (now known as the missouri school of science and technology) for my undergrad work, which is 90 miles south of mizzou.

 

the top 3 teams right now are USC, OK and mizzou (in that order). neither FL or GA should be in there.

 

taks

 

I'll go with your rankings... And yeah, the polls are messed up in that the big names always get the benefit of the doubt, even when they shouldn't. But, at the same time, there's not many years where more than a couple of teams finish undefeated. As long as those undefeated teams are in the running for the national championship, I'm ok with the end result.

 

And yeah, I'm not sure how the Rose Bowl works, exactly... I know that when we played there (2003) there was a huge uproar about how wrong it was that it wasn't a pac 10 school or something... And honestly, we really prefer the Orange Bowl but since the advent of the BCS we've only been there twice (both times playing for the national championship), so we think the whiny butts can just get over it...

 

I can root for Mizzou! Go Big 12!! Except Texas... Texas sucks.

 

I don't follow the NFL at all, just because they can't seem to make me care, but I've always adored college football.

I'm the exact opposite. I'm from the Northeast (defined as being north of Blacksburg and east of State College), where we see college football for what it really is: the minor leagues. Just like minor league baseball, it's probably more fun (and cheaper) to go to a game in-person than it is in the NFL/MLB, but the ultimate interest is in which players will eventually be called up/drafted into the real thing. Also the whole "what the hell are major educational institutions doing giving scholarships to dunderheads who happen to play a game well and pouring millions of dollars into running a sports league that only turns a profit for a few dozen programs" question has always bugged me.

 

Plus, my wife would not be particularly happy with me if I spent Sunday and Saturday watching football.

 

I think you probably see it as the minor leagues because the local programs aren't really worth supporting... But, I can see your point, sort of. It's not in any way cheaper to go to one of our games, believe me. Our stadium seats over 82,000 people and is full every week... (in the good years anyhow, and most of them are good years...).

 

What makes college football so much more interesting to me is its constantly shifting nature. Every year the team is radically different than the year before. So the game becomes more about the programs and how well they recruit and then train their new players. It's much more a test of coaching abilities and the soul of the players.

 

I think I don't care as much about professional football because it is just that... a business. I have a hard time being that excited about someone else's business, even if it is regional. But my ties to my school are incredibly strong. My family has attended this university for generations. My parents grew up watching OU football, as did I. It's my school, it's my employer, it's my town, it's my team.

 

And next year, it will be a different group of kids, but it'll be just as much mine.

 

BOOMER SOONER! :D

 

 

 

 

go SC!!! all the way