The College Football thread

“Did you say you wuz in Switzerland?”

“In your case, bongofreek, its easy to imagine that you can't think of much.




Why aren’t you Tennessee guys talking about LSU? That should be a great game.


I didn’t like the outcome of last year’s game but I wasn’t devastated by it.

I didn’t surprise me that Florida beat Tennessee this year. Let’s look at the history:

Two years ago, Florida was controlling the game until Tennessee pulled a Hail Mary right before halftime. That seemed to change the momentum of the game, and that’s what we love about college ball. The teams were fairly evenly matched, and that was under Ron Zook.

We all know how last year’s game ended. By all rights Florida should have won the game. The refs have admitted that there should have been offsetting penalties and that there was an error in clock management. It is fair to say that Tennessee never would have had the chance to make that 50-yard field goal except for those two major goofs. The teams were fairly evenly matched, and that was under Ron Zook.

Florida had talented, but young, players just like Tennessee the past couple of years. The skill level of the athletes is pretty even.

Urban Meyer brought hope and energy to Florida. The players were tired of their record under Ron Zook. They want to challenge for National Championships. That’s why they come to Florida. It’s funny to read about how all these young players consider Florida’s tradition of excellence as something they want to bring back. I guess tradition depends on how old you are (in that case, bongofreek must be Methuselah). They had extra program-pride incentive this year.

This year, Urban Meyer had an offseason conditioning program that was intense to say the least. He puts huge emphasis on mental and physical toughness. The players say that playing 60 minutes of football is easy compared to Meyer’s practices. The Florida players are in the best shape they’ve probably ever been in. So Florida had incredible conditioning.

Florida players were upset about how the game ended last year. And they kept playing TV clips of Casey Clausen leading Tennessee’s band in a rendition of RockyTop at Florida field the past two times Tennessee played here. Florida didn’t appreciate that sort of rubbing it in your face. They had extra emotional incentive this year.

Coach Meyer stresses home field and there probably is no tougher place for a visiting opponent than the Swamp (at least not according to NCAA Football video game). The Gators had a big home field advantage.

So the talent level was about even but the Gators had some advantages. And it was still a war. The offenses didn’t look very good but the defenses did.

Is there a coach in the SEC with a higher winning percentage than Phil Fulmer? Phil Fulmer had a higher winning percentage than Steve Spurrier. Tennessee fans have a lot to look forward to.


So get off yer butts Tennessee fans and let’s hear about LSU! That may be the best game of the week.

The Florida/Tennessee spread was 6 points and I bet it.

LSU is favored by 6.5. I bet three games each week. I’m 7-2 betting the spread this year. I like that game. My buddy, who I bet against, likes that game. We both like Tennessee. Get up and GO VOLS!”

“Yeah, ape. Last I heard, bongo is in Switzerland. When I was there last summer, we narrowly missed each other - I think he went camping in some area near Interlaken like the day after we were there. You guys should hook up - not too far from each other....”

“Is there a coach in the SEC with a higher winning percentage than Phil Fulmer? Phil Fulmer had a higher winning percentage than Steve Spurrier. Tennessee fans have a lot to look forward to.


So get off yer butts Tennessee fans and let’s hear about LSU! That may be the best game of the week.

The Florida/Tennessee spread was 6 points and I bet it.

Nope. There is only one coach in history who has a higher winning percentage than Fulmer and that's General Neyland. If I remember correctly from Tennessee's preseason media, UT is the most successful team in the past 20 years. Even won more games in the 90s than UF. Also, Phil sure has an extremely high winning percentage after a loss. However, this may be the one year that brings about some major personnel changes on the Hill. In a few weeks we may see that UT's offense has awakened but I have no confidence as of now. Overrated? The word dysfunctional offensive system comes more to mind.
last edited: 9/21/05 9:54:54 AM”

“Oh man Bowlder, I was there in the Interlaken area just last week! Stayed 4 nights in Gemmelwald! Did the James Bond restaurant thing, and we all hiked back down to Murren, awesome Alps hiking! Checked out Grendalwald at the foot of the Eiger. Much too overcast to take the train up thru the Eiger and onto Jungfrou, but hoping to hit it before we leave Italy.

Yeah you're right, I need to hook up with him sometime. Crazy, he moved to Cali right after we did.”

“Hey Ape:

BowlderMan is right, I am in Basel, CH.

Things have been a bit crazy at work and we are now expecting our first little Freek, so the trips and hiking have been severely curtailed this summer.

Where are you in Italy? I tried sending you an email a while back and I think it bounced, but it's been a while so I could be wrong.

Interlaken is a great area...good skiing too, if you like that kind of thing.
I got in a day trip hiking from Wegen to Klien Schiedigg (sp) this summer, sort of on the opposite side of the valley from Murren. Did a dayhike from Lauterbruen to Murren last summer. I love it up there...wish it was a bit closer though.

Bowlder:

I think it was that you were going to be in Luzern and were asking about Mt. Pilatus last year, right? One of my few other day trips was doing an ascent from half way up one side of Pilatus and all the way back down the other. It was June, but there was still snow at abou 6500 feet...we had to scramble on snow covered scree for about the last 1000 feet up...a little scary in t-shirts and shorts...

oh, and, hey Arc...if you go to a top school like Notre Dame, you don't have to live in the crappy places the schools are located. You get to like in places like Switzerland, instead of flipping burgers in a swamp.

But, you know, viva la Gainsville, you backwater troglodyte!
last edited: 9/21/05 12:08:57 PM”

“LOL bongo!”

“If Fulmer loses another one, the Fans here will go into cardiac arrest.

Personally, I don't think it is as bad as some want to think. I believe the coaching staff made a mistake with the two QB system and appear to now have it corrected.

There is nothing wrong with UT's defense and if the offense comes together (soon), we'll have another good year.

Plenty of football left, sports fans.”

“Yeah, bongo, that's right! In fact, here's a shot of me at Pilatus:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/185196283/185197027MIaNDL


And, for ape's benefit, here's what it looked like for us at Murren - really the only day it rained in the two weeks we spent in Europe.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/185196283/185196631HzhcrH

There are a bunch of other photos there, too; just hunt around....”

“I agree Chili, I just hope six days is enough to "get it together". I'm just disappointed because I drank the orange koolaid about how good they were and how much further along they were in the preseason than usual. In fact it's same old, same old with TN in that it takes a disappointing loss for them to get their $hit together. If UT had a decent OC they wouldn't find themselves playing catchup.”

“Honestly, I didn't buy into the preseason hype of how good UT would be but in the least believed that UT would play as good as we finished last year playing. Same personel right? I also felt they would continue to improve throughout the year enough to have a shot at a SEC or National Title. Still believe we will greatly improve over the next few weeks and be a very tough team to beat. I'll be happy with 10 wins now. Yes, I know were spoiled.
last edited: 9/21/05 4:38:15 PM”

“The fact that someone thinks that ND has any sort of leg up as far as quality of undergraduate education is laughable. I'm not quite sure what location has to do with quality of education either.”

“Arg, cool pix of Murren, dang we wuz there just last week. In fact, just last Wedndesday we ate lunch in Vaduz, Leichtenstein! Yeah bongo, Basel, I thank I remember seeing that on my map or on a roadsign. I'll check it out on my map. I live a little N of Pordenone, which is one hour NW of Venice on the northern Adriatic. Look me up. I'm about 6 hours from Vaduz (give you an idea of how far I am, 'bout 3.5 hours from Milan). A'course I drive 95 here, not in the Alps nachurly.

In your e', pic of the ape and family atop Kleine Matterhorn last week. Wee bit nipply upair.

Oh, and bongo, do consider coming down and staying with us sometime. We've only about 10 mo's left tho, but dang do we have killer Italian nabes! They're like my Mom and Dad, no doubt.”

“A friend of mine went to ND for undergrad and tells me that it is a perfectly OK university. Like many universities, you get out of it what you put into it. I think in the context of football, ND is well respected because their football players almost all graduate. But it's not exactly an Ivy League school....”

“And ND folks are so darn nice!”

“Guys, guys, aren't you forgetting something? Tennessee did not lose to a bad team. Florida's man coverage was good if not great. There were a number of catchable passes that were broken up by our secondary.

Greg Mattison is a highly respected coach. Anyone who knows a lick about football knows he's one of the best at stopping the run. He came up with a wonderful plan to stop the VOLS running game.

The big downside to all that great defense is that now other teams can see our weaknesses. Although Meyer did say that Tennessee's d-line was so good that we didn't get a chance to run our full offense. Tennessee probably has the best front seven we'll see all year.

I only hope that Tennessee doesn't have one of those letdown hangovers.




“if you go to a top school like Notre Dame, you don't have to live in the crappy places the schools are located.”
bingofreek


I have no doubt that South Bend is crappy. I work with a guy who went to Purdue. He told me how crappy South Bend really is. Gainesville is FANtastic, but chances are you don’t have a clue, never having been to our little slice of paradise. If you don’t like museums, performing arts centers, a thriving art community, free concerts, free speakers (on a wide variety of subjects), a world class University (not some nunnery), a laid back atmosphere, east and west coast beaches, rivers, lakes, lots of forest, and perfect weather to enjoy all that for about eight months out of the year, then Gainesville’s pretty crappy, yessir.


Apparently “if you go to a top school like Notre Dame” you never learn to write properly.

“You get to like in places like Switzerland”?
bingofreek

What the fu… is that supposed to mean? By God man, get a grip.

Come on down to Gainesville, to a REAL school. We’ll teach you how to write English properly, and how not to look as if you’re writing Latin.

Come on down to Gainesville, to a REAL school, and we’ll teach y’all how to play football properly. You has been Looooooooooooosers.”

“Gainesville sounds like a GREAT place!









fer queers”

“Florida's D is not as good as TN made them look. I suppose UAB's D is almost on par with Florida. Florida's defense is good but the TN OC's inability to make adjustments hurt more than anything. No slants or crossing routes to let the WRs gain some space against press coverage....just baffling to me. TN offensive production has gone steadily downhill since the '98 season.”

“arc- The people at your school call it the "swamp" afterall. Doesn't sound very nice to me.”

“Ah arc, picking on typos and changing screen names...have we exhausted your capacity for vitriol so quickly that you have regressed to 3rd grader mockery tactics already?

Of course, what can you expect from someone from the middle of Darwin's waiting room who wants to argue about the superiority of Gainesville "culture" to someone who lives in the middle of Europe.

You should get out more, see the world, expand your horizons a bit, I think the humidity is softening your brain.

On second thought, you probably like being that really "smart" fish over there in the shallow end of the gene pool.


Oh and DeoreDX, not that anyone asked for your opinion, but if you want an objective view on Notre Dame being a top school, look up US News' Top Colleges 2006--ND is #18. Not quite Ivy League or Stanford (as BowlderMan likes to point out), but I would say it would qualify as a top undergraduate university. Coming in ahead of Vandy, Cal, UVA, Michigan... Not quite as laughable as your unwanted commentary.

By the way, UF is a respectable #50, USC #30, not to shabby for second tier schools...”

“If you really do belive that there is that much of a difference between the undergraduate education at 90% of the colleges out there you are really delusional. When I am recruiting new engineers the name on their undergraduate degree has very little to do with if I recommend them for hire or not. Well... unless they are from my Alma Mater of course ;) That's one thing ND has is a good network, I'll give them that.”

“If you think the way to analyze the difference between undergraduate schools is solely by the education their engineering students recieve, then you are even more delusional. :)”

“As someone who talks to students about going to a university, I often like to point out that a student could go to a small school and be the class valedictorian... or they could go to Harvard and flunk out because they partied too much.

Yes, "name recognition" has some power. However, it is up to the student to get the most out of his or her education...In the long run, however, where a student goes as an undergrad is much less important than where they attend graduate school.

For most students, the school name may seem important at the time they are attending and just after they graduate, but after a few years, most students realize that getting the degree (at an ACCREDITED institution) is what is important in the “big picture”.”

“I’m going to Friedman University, or as we call it F U.

Go F U!”

“I do agree with Pinky though. Shoot low and go to M-chicken State University! LOL!

Just kidding Pinky!”

“Go to Morehead State University and listen to the students cheer

More head, more head”

“Nigal,

It all depends upon the program... Each program is different at each university...

For instance, in Michigan, if you want to study architecture, you should go to Lawrence Technological University, University of Detroit, or U of M as an undergrad (IN THAT ORDER)... My dad is an architect, and the feedback I got from him is that LTU students are far better prepared to WORK in the field architecture than U of M--U of M architectural students tend to be more "conceptual" vs. "practical".

If you want to be a teacher, go to MSU - The School of Education is top in the Nation.... Hospitality Business is top with Cornell University...

If you want to go into Music Performance, go to U of M, If interested in Music Education, go to MSU...

For Pharmacy, go to Wayne State or Ferris State... etc....

ON a professional school level,
If you want to study Medicine, Wayne State University is the largest med school in the nation... MSU has 3 med programs - MD,DO and Veterinary... U of M just offers the MD...

As you can see, most universities find it hard to be number 1 in everything... Students need to go to where they get the right "fit" in their education....

*** Nigal--I do understand that your comment was made "tongue-in-cheek". :-)”

“So basiclly what you're saying is go to U of M. :)”

“Sure, I'd love to see a vet from U of M. :-D”

“I base my judgement on the feedback I receive from my peers, one of which is a department head at the local university, one was a dean at Alabama, University of Buffalo, and University of West Florida. How well someone is prepared for teh workplace has very little to do with the name on the degree, it has more to do with the person. In industry where productivity and performance is the bottom line if you base your hiring decisions on a name on a piece of paper you're going to fail badly. If you are so elitist you have to belive that because you graduated from one school makes you a more educated person then someone who graduated from another school then you probably aren't the type of person I would want to hire. But what do I know, I'm a successful professional in charge of million dollar projects, you're some kid in college.”

“"But what do I know, I'm a successful professional in charge of million dollar projects, you're some kid in college."

You're kidding, right? Do you drive a Dodge Stratus. Are you a middle manager? Do people fear you?

typical inferior school educated angst...

(am I doing this right, arc?)
last edited: 9/22/05 11:36:31 AM”

“Yeah bongo, what's wrong with you? We only need one arclite to "brighten" our day.

Back off buddy! LOL!”

“PS, the Seattle area Ivy League alums think we are their caliber because we are invited to the Ivy League pub crawls and ND is not. So there! : p

(I'm poking fun at you btw. No actual insult or harm intended.)

Hey Bowlder, FYI, your Stanford alums are also at the Ivy League pub crawls. : )”

“Of course Bongo doesn't have the capacity to put up any valid arguments so he attempts a thinly veiled insult. But since he was kind enough to show interest and ask:

Technically in the days of DSM the Dodge Stratus and the Mitsubishi Galant did share the same 2.4l powerplant. So I guess you could say I do drive at lest part of a dodge stratus. I'm not quite sure how what I drive has any relavence in this conversation. I also have a Chevrolet SUV, an old Mercedes that I'm restoring, and two honda motorcycles if you want to know what other vehicles I own. Middle management is not the line of work for me, I find that line of work unfullfilling... I prefer the role of consultant and analyst, less stress and the pay is better. Plus I still get to do a lot of product design which is the fun part. No, people don't fear me that I know of... well... except Pixie. She knows the horrow or my wrath. I can be quite scary and intimidating eh?”

“*shivering* yeah, watch out for DDX. He's a barracuda.

LOL!”

“Well, pix, you know, Harvard is the Stanford of the East!


Ha!

I probably know some of those SU alums!”

“Bowlder, the Ivy League pub crawls are pretty dull. A lot of the MIT folks come out and they really aren't the drinkin'/partyin' types. : )

The Stanford fun people are more likely to be at the Pac-10 pub crawls instead.”

“oh jeez.

DeoreDX,

for god sakes, it was a Saturday Night Live skit...Will Ferrell, really funny. He was playing a tool that was trying to sound like he was important by talking about the great car he drives.

Your comment: "But what do I know, I'm a successful professional in charge of million dollar projects, you're some kid in college," had the exact tool box tone as Ferrell did in the skit. And I am disappointed you thought the insult was thinly veiled.

If you are trying to vaildate your argument that Notre Dame isn't a top school by telling me how important you are at work, or how many cars you own, then I don't think I can make any arguement that you would understand.

No matter what you think about a person's education and how it relates to their job, you still have not disproven that Notre Dame is a top school. Objective organizations ranked it as a top 20 school. And, if you think that going there doesn't give you a leg up, then go back and reread your comment about Notre Dame's network.

Finally, this is a football thread, if your feelings get hurt by trash talking to the point that you need to try to prove to a person online how much money you make or how important you are at work, you need to get a freaking life.

Pixie:

the Ivy League kids only invite your school because they think all socal chicks are hot. :)”

“bongo, that's cause they are! : p”

“most are, anyways...

:)”

“Please continue to think those rankings mean anything as far as UNDERGRADUATE education is concerned, other then a marketing tool. The metrics they use are laughable.

Now the Nike Rep for USC I met when we played them in '03... she was an uber hottie. I don't recall seeing many female USC fans around though.”

“Its begining to look as if the UT vs LSU will not be played as planned. Also, Rita continues to gradually turn northward.”

“You know what they say, pixie: 9 out of 10 Pac-10 women are hot; the 10th one goes to USC! Hahahahah!!

[WHACK!]

Ow!

;-)”

“Bowlder, you are high!”

“Hee hee hee hee!!!”

““*shivering* yeah, watch out for DDX. He's a barracuda."

With "cute" shoes... LOL
last edited: 9/22/05 2:30:11 PM”

“Technical schools/Universities...

"Where the men are men,
the women are, too,
and the sheep are afraid."

(An old joke we would say about schools like Michigan Tech.)”

“UT v. LSU to be played Monday night 6:30 Central, on ESPN2”

“Woo Hoo! I just got my homecoming tickets for Wazzu at SC. Fun fun! Trip to LA! Yay!”

“I faced a tough decision. USC v Auburn next weekend or the Petit LeMans. I guess it will be OK if I miss one home game... gotta keep my Petit Lemans streak alive!”