InGameNow

BCS Rankings: Oklahoma Moves Ahead of Texas

November 30th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NCAA FB, Picks & Odds

Style points mattered.

And it could well be that the meaningless touchdown run with 20 seconds left to go moved Oklahoma into the BCS’s second spot… ahead of the Texas Longhorns… and into the Big 12 Championship.

By the way, I totally agree with these rankings. Oklahoma has been the most impressive football team - and their win over Texas Tech (the hottest team at the time) was the most convincing win I’ve seen in 2008. Texas, meanwhile, lost to that same team on a final drive - and that, in my opinion, is worthy of being ranked below Oklahoma.

BCS Standings
1. Alabama 12-0
2. Oklahoma 11-1
3. Texas 11-1
4. Florida 11-1
5. USC 10-1
6. Utah 12-0
7. Texas Tech 11-1
8. Penn State 11-1
9. Boise State 12-0
10. Ohio State 10-2
11. TCU 10-2
12. Ball State 12-0
13. Cincinnati 10-2
14. Oklahoma State 9-3
15. Georgia Tech 8-3
16. Georgia 9-3
17. Boston College 9-3
18. BYU 10-2
19. Oregon 9-3
20. Missouri 9-3
21. Michigan State 9-3
22. Northwestern 9-3
23. Pitt 8-3
24. Florida State 8-4
25. Virginia Tech 8-4

BCS Bowls Report Week 3

November 4th, 2008 | By David Chu Posted in NCAA FB

A lot changed after this week in the BCS.  As always, we will assume the conference leaders at the time will be the conference champions.  Also, even though, Texas Tech and Alabama would have to play a conference championship game, we will assume that they are their respective conference champions due to their standings in the BCS.

Conference Leaders to Date:

Big XII:         Texas Tech

SEC:             Alabama

Big Ten:       Penn State

ACC:            Maryland or Georgia Tech

Pac-10:       USC

Big East:      West Virginia

Therefore, with that said here is what the BCS Bowls probably would look like as of this week:

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#1 Alabama vs. #2 Texas Tech

Florida (At-Large) vs. Utah (Automatic At-Large)

Alabama is the #1 team, thus the Sugar Bowl will get the first replacement pick.  They will look to stay in the SEC and thus that will be Florida.  Since no BCS conference can have more than two teams per conference (and the non-BCS conference can’t get  more than one automatic bid collectively), thus that reduces the options for the Sugar Bowl.  Since they will pick after the Fiesta Bowl for at-large bids, they will have the option for the Big East Champion or Utah, thus they will probably choose Utah.

Texas (Automatic At-Large) vs. Ohio St. (At-Large)

Since Texas Tech is #2 and in the national title game, the Fiesta Bowl gets second replacement pick.  They will stay with their  host conference (Big XII) and choose automatic at-large team Texas.  Texas gets an automatic bid because they are #4 in the BCS and not a conference champion.   Ohio St. wil get the next selection, because they are BCS eligible and the best team available of the BCS teams.

ACC Champion vs. West Virginia (Big East Champion)

The Orange Bowl is tied to the ACC Champion and will select them.  They will get the final selection and will be forece to take BCS automatic bid that goes to the Big East Champion, which is West Virginia.

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USC (Pac-10 Champion) vs. Penn State (Big Ten Champion)

The Rose Bowl is tied to both the Big Ten and Pac-10, and currently since both those conferences aren’t going to the national championship game, the Rose Bowl gets no at large pick.

Back next week for a look at where teams may go BCS Bowling.

Upsets Ruining College Football

September 29th, 2008 | By Ryan Hogan Posted in NCAA FB

Upsets in college football are very exciting. Unfortunately, in the long run, they are detrimental to the sport. They are akin to winning a large sum of money and using the windfall to buy a plasma television instead of saving it for the future. Number one ranked USC losing to Oregon State or number four ranked Florida losing to Ole Miss may have been enjoyable to watch but the experience will quickly be forgotten. However, USC or Florida finishing the season undefeated and achieving historical significance will be an experience to last a lifetime.

In 2007, seven teams ranked number one or number two lost. This trend is already continuing in 2008, where this past week alone seven teams ranked in the top 25 lost. The days of once-in-a-lifetime teams like Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma, Bear Bryant’s Alabama or Tom Osborne’s Nebraska are over. That’s a shame because instead of watching history, you’re watching mediocrity. Every college football season should have a dominate team that can stand up to the test of time. Not a slew of teams limping through conference play losing to inferior and irrelevant opponents.

Now, you should never complain about a problem unless you have a solution. The solution to fix this problem is: 1) regulate scholarships for non-BCS schools; 2) limit the amount of televised games for non-BCS conferences; and 3), this is the most important, prohibit the use of the spread formation which is ruining college football. The spread formation is the great equalizer but college football doesn’t need equalization. It’s needs domination.

Rules need to change to eliminate the rash of upsets that blight college football. What is best for college football is not the underdog, but a traditional powerhouse going undefeated, preferably with an average margin of victory around 20 points and a Heisman trophy candidate in the backfield. A team for the ages is always better than an upset right now.

NCAA Upset Saturday: Seven Top 25 Teams Lose; Duke Wins

September 28th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NCAA FB

Yesterday was a debacle for top 25 teams - and it’s even more surprising considering that *everyone* should have been:

1. revved up after USC’s loss; after all, #1 was wide open!
2. aware of the upset. You saw Oregon State dismantle them on national TV, right?!

Well seven top 25 teams lost and there were some dominating performances like Alabama and Oregon State. Today’s top 10 will look almost entirely different in positions and we will analyze when published. Here are yesterday’s upsets according to our venerable friends at TheBigLead:

1. USC. Lost to unranked Oregon State, 27-21
3. Georgia. Lost to No. 9 Alabama, 41-30.
4. Florida. Lost to unranked Ole Miss, 31-30.
9. Wisconsin. Lost to unranked Michigan, 27-25.
16. Wake Forest. Lost to unranked Navy, 24-17.
20. Clemson. Lost to unranked Maryland, 20-17.
23. East Carolina. Lost to unranked Houston, 41-24.

NCAA Football Picks - Week 2

September 5th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in InGameNow, NCAA FB, Picks & Odds

One week has passed, and the fans of InGameNow are clamouring for the lead in the InGameNow NCAA Football Picks Game. Now, we would like to say that all of our fans are skilled, but when you pick Oklahoma over Chattanooga, there is just no skill in that. So let’s look at our users’ picks this week and what they say about them:

milehighsalute - South Carolina at Vanderbilt - “I’ll take South Carolina in the Thursday game. There is no way that Nickson has another 166 yd game! Besides, Cutler’s not there anymore!”

GatorGod15 - Stanford at Arizona State - “I’m taking Arizona State for my pick 37-10.”

yakkerator - San Jose State at Nebraska - “I pick Nebraska to win over San Jose State! Even though, I really would hate to side with the Big Red, their new-found air attack will crush the Spartans thin defensive backfield!”

echinsuocha1 - Navy at Ball State - “HAHA!! Navy no brainer.”

joseph3602 - Miami(FL) at Florida - “Miami needs Cooper and James to show up and the D needs to get to Tebow early and often… I think Florida takes this one in a blowout 35-10.”

LakerRaider - West Virginia at East Carolina - “No chance ECU beats WV. In fact, I think ECU is a little worn out by the VTech game and will get blown by 21.

Tell us what you think of these picks by joining us at InGameNow. Heckle the pickers and give your analysis of the games as well.

And, if you have the personality to rub it someone’s face when you win, join the site and post your pick for Week 3, here’s how:

1. Log onto InGameNow, and set up a user name, if you don’t have one already.

2. Go to the page of the team you want to pick, and find the next week’s game. Post your pick on the game page. Remember only your first pick and the first pick on that game will be recorded in this game.

3. The winner at the end of the season will receive an InGameNow t-shirt and be measured by winning percentage (eligibility is based upon 60% of the user with the most picks).

4. Talk a little trash with your opponents or talk other sports with the fans of InGameNow.

Florida vs. Hawaii: Florida Gators Go Up 56-0 Behind Tim Tebow, Brandon James

August 30th, 2008 | By InGameNow Posted in NCAA FB

The stats are a little misleading because Tim Tebow only threw 14 passes (he completed 9 and threw for a touchdown) … but the Florida Gators put up 56 points on Hawaii and embarrassed them badly. But even the score itself was misleading because Florida demolished Hawaii through three quarters, jumping to a 56-0 lead before finishing up 56-10.

Even without injured speedster Percy Harvin (heel) and linebacker Brandon Spikes (toe), the Gators dominated every aspect of this one and handed Greg McMackin a lopsided loss in his debut as Hawaii’s head coach.

SECOND QUARTER HAW FLA
TD 11:39 Brandon James 1 Yd Run (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 7
TD 10:47 Major Wright 32 Yd Interception Return (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 14
TD 05:35 Brandon James 74 Yd Punt Return (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 21
TD 03:00 Chris Rainey 33 Yd Run (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 28

THIRD QUARTER HAW FLA
TD 12:16 Jeffrey Demps 62 Yd Run (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 35
09:42 Louis Murphy 48 Yd Pass From Tim Tebow (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 42
TD 02:52 Cameron Newton 1 Yd Run (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 49
TD 00:20 Ahmad Black 80 Yd Interception Return (Jonathan Phillips Kick) 0 56