[NU Sports] Win one for Rutgers (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> Exactly - ESPN may keep trying to build the hype that
> their local conference is "for real," but all it
> really showed was that Louisville was highly overrated
> and would have been torched in a title game against
> OSU, Texas, USC or Florida. As I ranted in the picks
> e-mail, of COURSE all these guys are unbeaten, they've
> played 3 conference games in a weak conference and
> feasted up on cupcakes before the league slate.

Yeah, but what about schools that feasted on powermouses 
like Vanderbilt (4-6), Central Michigan (6-3), Ball State (3-7),
Northern Illinois (5-5) and Bowling Green (4-6)?  

> So that leaves a BC-Mess and I love it! I'd say that
> it leaves us with two "semifinals" of Michigan/OSU and
> the SEC title game, but there's still a lot that can
> go wrong in the SEC and there's still that little
> matter of a defending champ from Austin who has an
> easier road to 12-1. 

I'm not convinced the Huskers are back on the national scene yet, but if 
the Huskers can pull it together and defeat TAMU on the road, I wouldn't
put it past their knocking off Texas in Kansas City, which will be
close to a home game.  (And the Huskers owe Texas some payback from a
loss in the Big 12 Championship game a few years ago.)

> True - I think it'd also mess up the BCS further
> because fans and the other 1-loss teams wouldn't want
> a rematch - not to mention the team that WINS
> OSU/Michigan who will find it tough to beat a team
> twice in a row.

Aww, heck, wasn't FSU involved in a rematch title game a few years back?
I don't buy the "fans wouldn't want it" argument, unless you're referring
to fans at the other 1-loss schools.  But they'll howl no matter who gets 
in, if it isn't THEM.

BTW, the history of rematch bowl games suggests that the team that won the 
first game has about a 50-50 chance in the rematch.
--
Mike Nolan