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| Monday, November 1 Updated: November 7, 7:08 PM ET Where fans come to sound off ESPN.com |
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From coast to coast and in every state in between, college football fans have one thing in common -- an opinion. And they're not afraid to let people know what it is. Here's sampling from ESPN.com users. It's always interesting when The Fans Speak
The talk at the top
While everybody is complaining about FSU's recent subpar offensive efforts, the closeness of the games has brought out the best in the FSU defense. FSU has given up a total of 7 points in the second half during its last four games, that 7 being a touchdown on the last play of the Wake Forest game, and it took Wake 6 chances inside the five to score. It's no surprise that the top three teams in the BCS got there with defense first, and it is defense that will take FSU to the Sugar Bowl.
Again the University of Florida has put up an impressive win against a top 10 team. Why then is Tennessee still ahead of UF in the polls? UF beat Tennessee in the swamp and look to be going on to the SEC Championship. Is it possible Tennessee could win the National Championship and not the SEC Championship?
I am tired of hearing people complain about how Florida is in front of Tennessee. The voters are doing right! They are voting the best team at this point and time. Tennessee is playing better football than Florida now and if they played again right now, I am most confident that TN would beat them. The fact is Tennessee is playing better than Florida now and deserve to be ranked ahead of them.
Am I the only one who thinks Miss.St is the worst team to ever be ranked in the Top 10?
The Kansas State Wildcats are sitting at No. 6 and are a sleeper team right now. After the offense struggled in the first few games of the year, it has put itself together nicely. Watch out for the Cats down the road.
After watching Florida State and hearing about Penn State's less-than-stellar game, there seems to be no clear, dominant team. Virginia Tech looks good but they play in a weak conference. Penn State will have a very hard time with Michigan and Michigan St. I think the team that is playing the best ball this year is Tennessee. I think they should be in the Sugar Bowl.
Only one thing was decided this week. Florida will be in the SEC
title game. If they win out they could make it to the Sugar Bowl.
They only need either Penn State or Virginia Tech to lose.
Although I think they should be rated ahead of Tennessee, I am
not worried because they will leap-frog them if they win out.
What I don't understand is why people say Mississippi State has the one of the weakest schedules in the nation. They play in the SEC, one of the hardest in the nation, while Virginia Tech plays in the Big East, one of the easiest. And their hardest opponent is Maimi, a 4-3 team, which lost to East Carolina! To the people who say Syracuse is good, I say Boston College! Schedule somebody next year, then yell about national title hopes.
Every week I read The Fans Speak just to see how many people complain about Virginia Tech being in the top 5 in the nation. We have a really great football team here and as long as we go undefeated I don't see why we can't stay in the top 5. As for the BCS, I think it is very fair. There isn't a person on campus here who feels that if FSU and Penn State go undefeated, they shouldn't go to New Orleans for the championship. For everyone who has been whining about Tech, I say suck it up and pull for the little guy. You might start to see how good Virginia Tech really is.
Problems with the polls
Why are the Washington Huskies not in the top 25? After losing two close games to open the season, they have now won 5 of 6, including beating previously undefeated Stanford and decent teams like Oregon and Colorado. While the Pac-10 may not be the most dominant conference this year, I think they are really getting a raw deal. They are not the MAC or the WAC!
Why isn't Miami ranked higher than Ohio State when they beat them soundly in the season opener? Miami is a young team and could easily be 7-0 if it had more experience.
Q: Is the AP Poll a joke?
Why are the AP voters sticking it to Marshall? I
understand Texas jumping them after the big upset over
Nebraska, but the Tide beat a Southern Miss squad that
wasn't ranked in the Top 15. Marshall is a true Top 5-10
team. They can play with the FSUs and PSUs of the world.
Probably wouldn't beat them, but who else has?
I guess the real question is, one I truly dislike, does
Marshall have to put up 70-0 scores to be taken seriously.
No team with two losses should be rated higher than them,
Period. What do you think?
Why isn't Penn State No. 1? Florida State sucks so bad.They play fruit-cake teams. Penn State plays teams that are in the top 25. Over half of the teams on their schedule are in the top 25. The rankings are such crap.
Further proof that the two polls in college football are a
joke: Georgia Tech needs OT to beat a mediocre North
Carolina team, then barely gets by another mediocre team in
Duke, yet moves up in the polls. Michigan gets by a pesky
Indiana team in a close game, yet drops in the polls. Hey
voters, where is the consistency?
Why does the coaches poll hate Notre Dame? We have played one of the toughest schedules in all of football. And yet they don't seem to like us, why?
Don't you think Georgia Tech should be ranked a little higher than 7th. I do, because they almost pulled out a win on the number one team in the nation, Florida State. That is their only loss. They to be given more credit. Why aren't they higher?
Heisman hype
Why has Chad Pennington not received more Heisman talk? He is having an excellent season, no matter what kind of schedule Marshall plays. Marshall is undefeated, and has only lost 3 games since moving to Division 1A. I think the voters should take a look at Chad for Heisman.
Why is there no mention of Western Michigan's outstanding quarterback Tim Lester for any of the major awards? He has put up comparable, if not better numbers, than Brees, Hamilton, and Pennington, all in leading his team to an undefeated MAC record with their only two losses coming to tough Florida and Missouri teams (which he also lit up).
How come Virginia's Thomas Jones gets absolutely no press coverage or respect from anyone? He is one of the best, if not the best rusher in college football today.
Congrats to Virginia running back Thomas Jones for an outstanding season, and for breaking Virginia's all-time career rushing record, previously held by Tiki Barber of the New York Giants. His NCAA Division I-leading 159.1 yards per game, in the midst of a down season for Virginia football, only serves to bolster the case for his Heisman consideration. I understand that Heisman candidates usually spawn from teams with winning seasons; however, I believe that the trophy should represent the accomplishments of the player, not the team. The trophy is, afterall, awarded to a single player, not an entire team.
Does Shaun Alexander still have a chance at the Heisman after sitting out a game with a hurt ankle?
I think that BYU's quarterback, Kevin Feterik, deserves more credit than he receives. He leads the nation in average passing yards per game, and he has led BYU to a No. 13 ranking overall, and a 7-1 record. Do you think he is Heisman-worthy?
Last week it was Penn State's Courtney Brown, this week Rashard Casey takes play of the week honors. LaVar Arrington is a virtual highlight reel. Forget Butkus, Lombardi and Heisman -- these guys are gunning for Oscars.
This n' that
How low does LSU football have to fall before Gerry DiNardo is dismissed? LSU has lost a school record 9 consecutive SEC games and 13 of its last 16 overall. It is painfully obvious that he does not have the ability to steer the LSU program in the right direction.
The fan who thought Warrick wouldn't be playing if
Paterno was his coach, must not have seen Ol' Joe sic
LaVar on the Pitt punter. To think that wasn't his
assignment would be naive: good players do what they're
told. Not that I condone FSU's handling of the situation,
but I think before you go jumping for the moral high
ground, you should be sure you have something solid to
land on.
To all you Purdue fans who think Purdue was "cheated" out of a win by PSU running a defender on the field to make a tackle the other weekend ... that is absurd! The PSU defender thought it was fourth down,and left the field. However, a PSU penalty gave Purdue another chance. When the defender looked on the field and saw that 10 (not 11, for those of you who can't count) of his teammates were still on the field he tried to run to his position before the play started. The ball came his way and he made the tackle, and then received the proper penalty. Had the defender stayed home to begin with you would have been dropped for a few yard gain (not a wishful thinking touchdown, all you Purdue fans). Instead making excuses Purdue, you should have made some PLAYS to win.
All I heard about this preseason was that Kentucky was going to struggle without Tim Couch at quarterback. However Kentucky is now 5-3 with a good chance of going to a bowl game for the second straight year. How come they still get no credit? James Whalen: best no-name guy in the country!
I tried to tell some friends 4 weeks ago, even before Ron Curry got hurt, that it would not surprise me if Furman won at Chapel Hill; they all laughed. Who is laughing now. Anyone who still laughs at 1-AA football is ignorant and can't appreciate what these programs do.
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