M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Pasadena Blue]

Iowa's overall strength of schedule is apparently not bad compared to the other teams.

Iowa pounded Wisky and NW (yes, we did too, but for strength of schedule mavens, NW beat projected Pac12 CHAMP Stanford).

When you look at the other teams ... who did 'Bama beat? LSU which nearly fired their coach? How do you know THIS year's 'Bama is that good? I am not saying they aren't, but the reality is we all assume they are based on the talent they have recruited and Satan.

As for Clemson ... they looked like shit against South Carolina. Their great win is against the Domers, and the Domers were probably the better team on that night on the road.

Okie has probably been the most impressive, having beaten multiple ranked opponents --- but what a horrid defense. I'd rather doubt they would be scoring at that clip against any of the teams (including Iowa) that they would encounter in the playoffs.

The best team in the country (Ohio) won't make the playoffs, much to the relief of these other four teams.

[Dr. Strangelove]

They didn't pound Wisconsin. Stave fumbled on the 1-yard line midway through the 4th quarter else Wisconsin might've won

[Pasadena Blue]

OK, fine. A win nonetheless.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The message here is that Iowa is not even close to the best conference rep if they do win the CCG, and that is definitely not a sure thing, and I hope they lose. MSU's probably not either but they beat M and osu fair and square if not under dubious circumstances in both.

To Geezer's position: The BIG front office is not going to realign the Divisions. At best, and I think it is a long shot, they reorganize in some sort of tier system that allows teams that will never recruit as well and be as good as some, at least have a shot to overcome those natural deficits in some organized way.

[WM Wolverine]

There is no good way to reorganize divisions without sacrificing rivalry games. They've already hurt enough...

B1G just needs Nebraska to be as good as they were suppose to be, and another West program to be what Iowa was this year.

[froot loops]

There were no dubious circumstances in Columbus.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Weather? I'd say you kinda lucked out there (the great equalizer and all that) but, fundamentally you are right. You play football in any and all weather so be ready for it. MSU was osu wasn't

I will say that that game (MSU v.osu) was so horribly schemed and played by osu, so out of character for ufm coached teams compared to what they had been doing, you got a gift handed to you on a platter albeit you did take advantage.

[iam416]

MSU whipped OSU on that day. Nothing else to be said.

OSU would be favored by 4-5 points tomorrow if they played again. I agree with that. Sometimes you shit the bed. It happens.

MSU came dangerously close to losing to Rutgers. I mean dangerously close...like convert a 3rd and 15 or else close. MSU lost to UNL. MSU would be favored tomorrow if they played.

There's absolutely no way OSU's offense will ever play a worse game under UFM. None. That was inexplicably bad.

As for Iowa, they were pretty lucky to win in Madison, but I think they're a solid team. I expect that to be a really close game.

And I think OSU will end up in the Rose Bowl. So, eh, that's not terrible. We'll see.

Also, re Oklahoma...we'll see. They whipped Baylor. That's about the only good team they've beaten, IMO. Okie State is a fucking joke. They beat TCU w/o Boykin or their WR. They also pulled out a miracle against Tennessee.

I'm really not sold. I'm not particularly sold on Clemson either. I think Bama will be the prohibitive favorite.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Bama ..... yep.

What Saban has is the depth on his DL to keep guys fresh against teams with less talent all around that can tempo you. His O isn't great but his D is fabulous because the second and third string guys would probably start anywhere else.

I would have loved to see a repeat of the 2014 Alabama/osu play in for 2015. I think Saban would have answered the bell this time out.

[iam416]

Bama would have some motivation for that one.

[froot loops]

The one thing I have to say about the Spartans is the Rutgers/Purdue near losses were the peak of terrible injuries. OSU had a suspect game plan but they faced a much better team than Rutgers or even Michigan faced. They are nearly as healthy as they can get.

[iam416]

That's 100% true.

[drok]

Healthy minus their best player: Cook

[Kapture1]

Cook is healthy, played on Saturday.

[drok]

Meant against OSU