Mano

Why even play the games when the committee ignores the results? If I were affiliated with the FSU program,  I would be beyond pissed. 

Utes playing Northwestern in the Vegas Bowl.

On 12/3/2023 at 6:41 AM, HLB said:

I expect today's CFP FINAL FOUR teams to be:

1. Michigan, 2. Washington, 3. Texas, 4. FSU

The placement of these teams is based on overall win-loss record, which is regarded as "most deserving".  When considering "most deserving" there should be consideration given to wins over current ranked teams, with the strongest strength of schedule.

If consideration is given to "wins over current ranked teams", with the strongest strength of schedule, the rankings "should be":

1.  Michigan 3 wins (over ranked Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa), 2.  Texas 2 wins (over ranked Alabama {and SEC Champion who defeated #1 Georgia} and OK State)

3.  FSU 3 wins (over ranked LSU, Louisville and Clemson), 4.  Alabama 4 wins (over #1 Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU and Tennessee)

The committee is choosing to place value on quantity and not quality.  When analyzing Alabama, the committee is placing emphasis on one loss, over a team with the most quality wins of all other teams where consideration is given.  Alabama has the strongest SOS, the best win, and are conference champions in the strongest conference.

> In the past, Ohio State - who lost head-to-head against B1G Champion PSU, was placed in the CFP, while PSU was relegated to the Rose Bowl.

> In the past, Ohio State lost to a 6-win Virginia Tech team yet won the B1G, made the CFP and won the NC.

> In the past, Clemon lost to an unranked Pittsburgh in the month of November yet made the CFP and won the NC.

If Alabama makes the CFP, I believe they will win the NC in a repeat game with Texas.

If this committee is truly seeking to put the "best" teams in the CFP, then the four "best" teams are:

1.  Michigan

2.  Texas

3.  Alabama

4.  Georgia

To that end, I expect the Final Four to be as I listed above - which is okay.  And I expect Texas (a future SEC team) to dominate and win the CFP Championship, where the games will be mildly competitive, and not closely contested contest.

And for what it's worth, I follow Auburn, and I'm not an Alabama supporter.  But I do admire Saban and what Alabama has accomplished.

What a twat.

Should be Michigan, Washington,  Florida State and Texas in the playoff, but they will screw someone over to get an SEC team in.

I am feeling a bit melancholy today as the realization that the final Pac 12 football game has been played is hitting me. It was a seemingly unrealistic dream that my beloved Utes would join this conference when I started going to school at Utah in 1985. Seeing my team rise from being a bad WAC team to the first BCS buster to joining the PAC and eventually winning a couple of PAC conference championships has been one of my life's sweetest pleasures. I really loved this conference, and hope that sanity wins out in the future and that these schools are in a conference or division together again sometime in the future. While I am optimistic about Utah's future prospects, I am going to miss everything about this conference ( except the refs ).

On 12/1/2023 at 4:53 AM, HLB said:

We're talking about this 2023 season, not 10-plus years ago.

On 12/1/2023 at 4:57 AM, HLB said:

I responded.

You made a stupid response, we were talking about teams Utah played in the past, not the 2023 season.

On 11/27/2023 at 7:10 PM, HLB said:

In any form, Utah needs a break from the Ohio States, Penn States, Michigans, Alabama's, LSU's, Georgias, Texas(es), Oklahomas, FSUs, Clemsons, etc.

Utah 4-1 vs Michigan and Alabama. 

On 11/25/2023 at 10:33 AM, utenation said:

It started at 22.5. So it’s moved a hair. Looks like we will run the ball 6 million times and play defense today. 
 

I hope we have enough in the tank to get this win. I’ve never seen injuries like this. 

Add onto that half the team had the flu earlier in the week. Unfortunate this team has been so snake bitten with injuries this year, would have been fun to see them compete at full strength.

Apparently Barnes is banged up and Nate Johnson has quit team and entered portal.

Jerry Jones is the Cowboys problem, and they might not win until he goes. They could have had a mega dynasty in the 90's, but Jerry's ego couldn't stand Jimmy Johnson getting alot of the credit,  so he replaces him with Barry freaking Switzer. Their franchise deserves every misfortune they have had.

On 11/20/2023 at 7:29 PM, utenation said:

Ought Oh @MrBug708, Bill Walton is doing the Maui games today. 
 

I wonder if we’re going to hear about how good Wooden was and a break down of every UCLA player that has made the NBA?

This man lost his marbles decades ago. 

While true, I still find him entertaining. 

Whatever happened to Jalepeno?

Good win cats. Outplayed the Utes start to finish.

I really hope the plague of injuries does not extend to next year. Been hearing a lot of chatter that Cam and Kuithe coming back next year, so if they can stat healthy I think the Utes will compete for the Big 12 title along with Arizona and OSU. 

GG Dawgs, you have a fine team and deserved the win.

Proud of the Utes, they played hard and didn't quit. The interception when they were in the redzone was the backbreaker, can't have that against a team the caliber of UW and expect to win.

Utah seems to have flipped the switch on offense.

I guess with an SEC education you are unaware that the same percentage of a bigger number is a bigger number.

On 11/6/2023 at 2:53 PM, utenation said:

I'm happy Johnny Juzang made our Jazz Roster.  He scrapped his way through summer league and earned a spot.  Still a building year but he's with a good organization.  

Unfortunately, team kinda sucks right now. I think they made a huge mistake not tanking last year. They are going to suck this year with a much worse draft class.

On 11/6/2023 at 2:55 PM, utenation said:

Bill Riley discussed this at length today on his show. I don't think we have perfect in us.  If we can get after Penix, we have a shot.

Will need to consistently pressure Penix and get home several times to win. I just question if Utah can do that after seeing how Nix carved the defense up without any issues.

On 11/6/2023 at 2:08 PM, utenation said:

@Orange is HLB still at 98.345% correct this year on his picks on his threads? According to him, he would dominate this pool. 

How insecure do you have to be to post weekly on a conferences board that you claim not to be a fan of, but make weekly threads for your picks because you are afraid you will not stack up against the fans of the conference.  The guy needs to get a life.

On 11/6/2023 at 1:43 PM, utenation said:

What's your call on this one? I'm at UW by 14.

You are probably in the ballpark, but hoping for a better result. I had this as a loss at beginning of season, thinking the Utes would be near full strength by now. Washington has seemed a little down since the Oregon game and Utah played their best game of the year last week, giving me a glimmer of hope, but Utah would have to play a near perfect game to pull this one out.

On 11/6/2023 at 12:43 PM, utenation said:

Don't underestimate Barnes ability to turn the ball over in a big game like this. He forces some balls.  I've been hard on him this year but I just don't have a lot of confidence about this game in Seattle.  I hope I'm wrong. 

To be honest, I can live with the turnovers if he is decisive in his throws. The times I have seen Utah's offense be absolutely abysmal is when he ( or Nate ) are indecisive and sit and hold the ball in the pocket waiting because they fear throwing a pick. This past game against ASU I thought he made his throws quicker and more decisively than he has in the past, and that directly led to a lot of the success.  

On 11/5/2023 at 1:25 PM, glduck said:

I would hope so, but I can’t help shake the feeling the universe may have one more insult in store for the Pac-12 if the ACC and B1G champions are undefeated, and a 1-loss Bama beats an undefeated Georgia in Atlanta.*

* Only in Oregon’s situation. An undefeated, 13-0 Washington obviously makes the CFP in every scenario. 

I would wager UW does not go undefeated.  The Ducks look like the strongest and most balanced team to me right now, and UW has been getting some close calls. If there is a rematch, I would favor Oregon. 

CU has shown they can bring in guys through the portal to improve their players rapidly. I have not seen any evidence of players being "coached up" or flaws exposed in earlier weeks being fixed. Seems they have a good recruiting staff, but evidence of a good coaching staff yet to emerge. 

Riley definitely needs to fire his buddy Grinch and get a real DC, or USC going nowhere. As things stand, I think UCLA may have the better team next year.