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Did ANYONE pick Pitt to do this???

Dear Lord I hate Notre Dame.

Derek wrote:Dear Lord I hate Notre Dame.

You and me both! Let the national championship commotion cease from South Bend, Indiana.

Who knows what is going to happen. I can't see Oregon losing the rest of the way out. They'll beat Stanford and Oregon State to give them some help in the computers and there is a good chance that USC won't win the Pac-12 South. Kansas State has difficult tests ahead, but I think they should be solid favorites the rest of the way. The debate is going to come down between Kansas State and Oregon in my mind and the humans will go towards Oregon because they have the style points.

But, if Oklahoma State steps up tonight, I might have to revise that statement. I still think USC is going to beat Notre Dame in the Coliseum, but you never know with Lane Kiffin. He has proven that no amount of talent is too much for him to waste.

The thing to remember here, is; notre dame only has one solid team left on their schedule, in usc . . . who lost for a 3rd time tonight.

This means; should notre dame win out, their strength of schedule takes a hit by their winning in LA.
Because, usc will be 8-4 . . . assuming they don't drop another before then.

nd only played two other teams this season worth the weight of the schedule; Oklahoma & Stanford.

Oregon will play Stanford on the 17th
Kansas State beat Oklahoma in Norman; before notre dame did

In the end, the irish's schedule make keep them from showing up in the big game.

Navy, 6-3
Purdue, 3-6 (the Boilermakers are on a 5 game losing streak)
Michigan State, 5-5
Michigan, 6-3 (nd beat the Wolverines by 7; Albama beat Michigan by 27)
Miami, 5-4 (nd beat the `Canes by 38; Kansas State won by 39)
BYU, 5-4
Oklahoma, 6-2
Pitt 4-5, (with a loss to Youngstown St)

Then the irish finish out:

@ Boston College, 2-7
home vs. Wake Forest, 5-4
@ usc, 6-3 (and Oregon already had their way with `em tonight)

This looks like one season where designing their own schedule may just come back to bite the irish in the ol' shamrock.

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I still think Notre Dame's schedule was/is difficult in a way. On paper, it is short on elite teams, but I don't think you can make an argument that any other team faced a test every single week of the season besides the first week (Navy is ok, but Notre Dame's athletes are in another class; Boston College is bad too I suppose). I guess what I'm saying is outside of BC and Navy, there were no gimmies on the slate. That's worth something in my mind.

If you take a team like Florida State, they have an overall soft schedule relative to some other teams. Clemson and Florida being the only two very good teams on the schedule with Miami, Virginia Tech, and NC State being tests. FSU stumbled against one of those tests thus far and it did their season in. Notre Dame has passed all of their challenges to this point. But, on that same token, I think Kansas State's will be tougher when it's all said and done. It's hard to gauge the Big 12 this year in terms of rankings because everybody is beating up on each other. A team like TCU is 3-3 in the Big 12, but that's a testament to the strength of the conference. Kansas is the only bad team in it and Baylor is mediocre. Beyond that, anybody can beat anybody. So Kansas State gets the same due according to me and, in addition, it wound up being a stronger schedule.

When it comes to Oregon, I realize they will probably have had the easiest of the three schedules, but they pass the eye test the most for me. I would probably have to give them the nod, but I can't really build a case against Kansas State or Notre Dame. These are three teams, if they go undefeated, all have about as good arguments as each other.

Alabama's schedule will be decent, not amazing. They will have faced Georgia (SEC title), Michigan, Texas A&M, and LSU. That's really it as far as top-notch competition and Michigan is really stretching that definition a bit. But you can't discount the eye test factor because they've been lambasting everyone with the exception of LSU tonight.

Notre Dame has been very lucky....I guess it is better to be lucky than good. Every close game has fallen their way...and there have been a bunch.

A suspicious call went their way to save one game...an errent kick in OT let them beat Pitt...

But the Irish have not looked that good....3 point winner over a bad six loss Purdue, barely pulled it out over a mediocre Pitt, beat Syracuse by one freeking point, BYU by 3, two more games won by a TD....

I guess when it comes to these things there are two ways to look at it...ok maybe three.

Objectively, subjectively, or a combinations of both.

Objectively, the top 4 have all played 9 games...data comparison is easy.
So, do we look at the overall records of opponents?

1. Notre Dame 48-33
2. Alabama 45-36
3. Kansas St. 39-40, that is with the record of 1AA missouri st thrown in
4. Oregon 39-43, that is with the record of 1AA Tenn Tech thrown in

Do we look at strength of schedule, which seems to be everyone's favorite chew toy. For that we need a tool, we will use Sagarin for now

1. Notre Dame...Average Sagarin Rank of Teams Played...41.33
2. Alabama...49.67
3. Kansas St....56.22
4. Oregon...72.44

Now how did each team perform against their SOS...Sagarin Rank-Margin of Victory-home field advantange factor for away games (we will use Phil Steele's HFA Factor)

1. Alabama 15.36
2. Notre Dame 24.50
3. Kansas St. 27.28
4. Oregon 38.94

There are 3 objective criteria...measurable.

Subjectively...well, that is the eyeball test.

From a pure talent standpoint...most of it on defense...the nod goes to Alabama
From games I have watched and my gut...I go with Kansas St.
Ungodly power on offense...Oregon
Just plain gritty play...Notre Dame

If I had my way...I would have Alabama v. Kansas St.
It will probably go Alabama v Oregon as long as both win out. I don't see a place for Notre Dame excepte for as Derick says "To take up a spot in a BCS Game"

Subjective Truth = Water freezes at 32F

Objective Truth = It's cold in here.

Derek wrote:Subjective Truth = Water freezes at 32F

Objective Truth = It's cold in here.

Objectively I want Notre Dame to lose every game.

Spence wrote:Objectively I want Notre Dame to lose every game.

Yeah! I want...wait...the sig says it all...

It's a different kind of dislike I have for Notre Dame than I have for Michigan. I respect Michigan. I want to beat the crud out of them the last game of every year, but I still respect them.

I don't want nd to lose "every" game . . .
It get's boring to me, rooting against a team I know is going to lose

I'd prefer nd to start 6-0 (unless one of those first six is an ACC team)
And then have the irish (French Catholic School) to go on a losing spree.

hmm...

Wait a minute --- maybe I'd prefer nd to win every game; except to any of their rivals, or ACC opponents.
It's more fun to hear the conversations be avoided by nd fans when one of their rivals beats them.

hmm...

Wait a minute:

Navy (rival)
Purdue (rival)
Michigan State (rival)
Michigan (rival)
Miami (ACC & rival)
Stanford (rival)
BYU (talks of potential/future rivalry)
Oklahoma (I just have too much respect for my wanting them to lose to nd)
Pitt (ACC next year)
Boston College (ACC & rival)
Wake Forest (ACC)
usc (rival)

As it turns out; virtually everyone nd plays becomes their rival.
huh, I guess I "do" want nd to lose all of their games afterall.

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Objectively; ofcourse...

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