College Football

[eCat]

can you still buy heroin across the street?

[Jungle Rat]

Hell no. But if you go on Sundays around 11 a guy named Andre will sing to you about Jesus for a quarter. Well worth it if you have the patience.

[Jungle Rat]

But, if you go two blocks north south east or west the smack is plentiful.

[hedge]

"why the hell don't you call this the 'NFL' thread....or whatever..."

Too much effort...

"can you still buy heroin across the street?"

:-0

"Hell no. But if you go on Sundays around 11 a guy named Andre will sing to you about Jesus for a quarter."



"But, if you go two blocks north south east or west the smack is plentiful."

[hedge]

What, automated emoticons?? Boo...

[Hizzy III]

They still have to get by McStabby. I'm hoping they aren't motivated since they are already in the playoffs

Too bad you caught the Texans a week early. Unfortunately, B'more's got a lot play for so I don't think you'll get a tank from them.

[Hizzy III]

Also, I'm convinced Texas would be at least 10-2 if they had even a Top 50 offense. Watching that shit is like watching Mook try to score some trim at Hooters.

[TheBigMook]

Hey, the waitresses always flirt with me at Hooters!

[aTm]

I will find it interesting if the Big 12 slaughters its way through its bowl slate, particularly Okie State and Kansas State

[Jungle Rat]

The Bengals should have beat the Texans the first time and they are probably the team they most want to face in the 1st round. If they get there. Marvin is 6-2 against the Ravens at home and if not for that Jermaine Gresham bs TD call earlier in the season that game would have went to OT:

Remember?

[youtube]GtF_rIK8IHk[/youtube]

It's gonna be fun however. I hope the Jets win in the 1:00 game so these fuckers don't back in.

Here's something for Fifer

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1662 ... -the-owner

[crashcourse]

2-0 big 12 atm

baylor should make it 3-0

I could see 6-2 with us the only one getting shellacked

or 4-2 if you don't count the lame ducks

[aTm]

Ive paid a bit of attention to Sagarin and I think most people would say that his ratings for the Big 12 this year schools are a little ridiculous and have overrated the conference if you see them at first glance

Ratings rankings:
3-Oklahoma State
4-Oklahoma
11-Texas A&M
12-Baylor
14-Kansas State
16-Missouri
17-Texas
33-Iowa State
52-Texas Tech
90-Kansas

Also the Sagarin strength of schedule for Big 12 teams are 1-10 as the ten hardest schedules of any team in the country.

Now obviously this can get a bit skewed because 9 out of 12 of each teams games are these same teams beating up on each other and I wondered if they would come back to earth after bowl games with other OOC teams, thus increasing the interconference competition sample size.

So far however, Missouri and Texas both actually outperformed expectations in the first two games. Interested to see the rest of the results.

Independence Bowl
Line: Missouri by 5.5
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Missouri by 11.48
Pure Points: Missouri by 11.68
Actual Result
Missouri by 17

Holiday Bowl
Line: Texas by 3
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Texas by 7.12
Pure Points: Texas by 5.19
Actual Result
Texas by 11

Alamo Bowl
Line: Baylor by 9.5
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Baylor by 12.25
Pure Points: Baylor by 11.07
Actual Result
12/29 8:00 PM

Pinstripe Bowl
Line: Rutgers by 1
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Iowa State by 2.41
Pure Points: Rutgers by 1.37
Actual Result
12/30 2:20 PM

Insight.com Bowl
Line: Oklahoma by 13.5
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Oklahoma by 17.94
Pure Points: Oklahoma by 18.67
Actual Result
12/30 9:00 PM

Texas Bowl
Line: Texas A&M by 10
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Texas A&M by 16.24
Pure Points: Texas A&M by 15.24
Actual Result
12/31 11:00 AM

Fiesta Bowl
Line: Oklahoma State by 3.5
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Oklahoma State by 5.94
Pure Points: Oklahoma State by 3.6
Actual Result
01/02 7:30 PM

Cotton Bowl
Line: Arkansas by 7.5
Expectations based on Sagarin Ratings
Rating: Arkansas by 2.46
Pure Points: Arkansas by 2.6
Actual Result
01/06 7:00 PM

As you can see, in every case the Sagarin ratings predict that the Big 12 team will do better than the standard betting line. So far we've only had two games, and the Big 12 teams performed even better than the Sagarin expectations. Now this is unlikeley to continue, one or more teams (ahem, who could that be) will probably spit the bit, but I thought it would be interesting to watch.

[AlabamAlum]

Interesting to what end? To "prove" that the BigXII is better than people think?

[aTm]

I find it interesting on its own. There is no "end." What I'll find interesting is if Sagarin, which overrates the conference, ends up underrating the bowl performance.

The second part of your query certainly can't be "proven" at all but I don't think theres any doubt that the Big 12 is better than "people" generally think, because I'm pretty sure the Big 12 wouldn't be 2nd or possibly even 3rd if you asked a lot of people to rate the best conferences.

[aTm]

Right now, the Big 12 is rated as the most difficult conference in the history of the Sagarin rating system whether rated on rating or distance above 2nd place. 84.28 is the central mean rating of the conference, the next highest ever was the 1999 Big Ten at 82.79 (Poll rankings #4 Wisconsin, #5 Michigan, #7 Michigan State, #11 Penn State, #17 Minnesota, #24 Illinois, #25 Purdue, 5-2 in bowls including Rose, Orange, and Citrus winners)

[AlabamAlum]

Don't most people usually laugh at the Sagarin ratings?

[Bluecat]

Sounds to me like Aggie thinks Okie State should be in the title game, not Bammer.

[aTm]

I do, but not quite for this argument. I think it's possible or even likely that Alabama and LSU are the best 2 teams. I don't agree that a rematch should occur in a situation where another deserving team is available. I also believe that a large portion of the reason oSu is not in the title game comes from the lesser tier status of oSu and to a certain extent also of Iowa state.

[aTm]

Sagarin has Alabama #2 despite oSu's stronger SOS, FWIW

[Hizzy III]

The Bengals should have beat the Texans the first time and they are probably the team they most want to face in the 1st round. If they get there. Marvin is 6-2 against the Ravens at home and if not for that Jermaine Gresham bs TD call earlier in the season that game would have went to OT:

Remember?

[youtube]GtF_rIK8IHk[/youtube]

It's gonna be fun however. I hope the Jets win in the 1:00 game so these fuckers don't back in.

Here's something for Fifer

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1662 ... -the-owner

There is no "should have" when it comes to the Texans. This team is annoying as hell. They outgained Cincy 402-285 but because they are who they are, they left at least ten points on the field and gave away at least six because of stupidity. Same deal as against ATL, Carolina and Indy. But I'm not upset, since this is par for the course. At least they won the game that matters the most, in spite of themselves. All I wanted this year was a post-season qualify and they finally managed it. (Hoo-fucking-ray!)
Again, I'd like to see what this team could've done without all the major injuries. A healthy AJ and Houston's probably no worse than 12-2. A healthy Matt Schaub and Mario Williams and maybe they're able to convert one of those potential fourth quarter scoring opportunities against B'more into points. Who knows? The main thing is them learning how to win games on a consistent basis. They're much closer than they've been, but the mail-in efforts versus Carolina and Indy suggest that they still have more learning to do.

All that said, I'm rooting for Cincy to get that final wildcard. I like Marvin and I like what the Bengals have waiting for the futgure. If thety don't go stupid (again), they could be a perennial playoff team over the next four or five years.

Of course, I've also felt that way about the Texans over the last few season, who continue--even with their first ever playoff berth--to be the NFL's most frustrating team.