Tuesday question on CFN.com

[Spazztic1]

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/2...y_Question.htm

Some of the predictions are a little out there. My personal favorite was the Ohio State v. Purdue, All Big Ten, Sugar Bowl match up. That one gave me a good chuckle.

[kinch]

I can only assume Fiutak assumes that Ohio State loses one game:

I'll make the call: Purdue will be like Auburn of last year and won't play for the national title after going unbeaten. With no Ohio State or Michigan on the schedule and Iowa coming to West Lafayette, the schedule works out for the loaded, experienced Boilermakers. O.K., so the college football gods won't be kind enough to offer us a true Big Ten championship with the Ohio State/Michigan winner facing an Purdue, but I can dream.

By "true Big Ten championship" he must mean having a winner who is not only the only undefeated team but who also beat the winner of us or scUM. Otherwise, with us undefeated, we wouldn't be in the Sugar Bowl.

For me, if one team goes undefeated and no other team does, then that one undefeated team is the true big ten champion. . .

Lots of love for Purdue (or their schedule) in this article, eh?

[AJHawkfan]

Well, he is predicting Purdue will be undefeated by saying they'll be the Auburn of last year. If it is to be a true Big Ten Championship game, OSU would have to be undefeated as well. OR, they could lose a non-conference game and be undefeated in conference play.

Is he saying we'll lose to Texas? Miami? San Diego State? Does he even know what he's saying?

[BuckeyeNation27]

2004 Auburn: Great undefeated team
2005 Purdue: (if they go undefeated which they wont) Easy Schedule undefeated team

Don't compare purdon't to auburn....that auburn team could've given USC a run for their money last year.

THATS RIGHT METHOMPS.....BRING IT!

[Dryden]

Originally Posted by kinch

Lots of love for Purdue (or their schedule) in this article, eh?

Both. Since Purdue returns pretty much everyone from last year except for Orton and Stubblefield and the schedule has them dodging OSU and UM, plus getting Notre Dame and Iowa at home, their toughest OOC game is a road visit to Arizona. The schedule could not possibly be better, and Kirsch was considered the better QB coming in as far back as two years ago.

Factor in that Iowa lost their entire D-Line, Michigan lost their best DBs on an otherwise suspect D, plus Baas and Edwards, and OSU has three Top-5 opponents on the schedule without Nuge, QB questions, and no proven RB ... I think there is always a possibility that the Big-10's "Big 3" all go 9-2, while Purdue could cruise through the season 10-1 or even 11-0. Both Northwestern and Wisconsin have enjoyed the same benefit where everything aligned just right for one or two consecutive seasons in the past 10 years.

Really, I don't think it's a bad pick, aside from putting both OSU & Purdue in the Sugar. I question the Michigan pick though. The best combination of Big-10 teams to take the BCS spot plus one of the at-large spots will come from OSU, Iowa, and Purdue.

Good luck in the Outback Bowl, UM.

I'll add, after thinking about the schedule system having UM @ Iowa, Iowa @ OSU, and OSU @ UM, then Purdue dodging two of the three with their two best OOC opponents being "down" when compared to where those team were in the mid/late 90s when those games were probably scheduled, there is a very real possibility that after all the games, including the bowls, are played, four Big Ten teams will have 10 wins with none of them playing in the Rose Bowl.

[WTEXBUCK]

Originally Posted by Dryden

Both. Since Purdue returns pretty much everyone from last year except for Orton and Stubblefield and the schedule has them dodging OSU and UM, plus getting Notre Dame and Iowa at home, their toughest OOC game is a road visit to Arizona. The schedule could not possibly be better, and Kirsch was considered the better QB coming in as far back as two years ago.

That seems like a lot to me. How much of their offense was generated outside of Orton and Stubblefield? IMO they could play the Iowa game in Stubblefields back yard and the outcome doesn't change. Iowa scares me more than Texas or scUM. Returning QB, 2nd best LB corps in the country, and a quality coach. What gives tOSU the edge? Weapons. Weapons. Weapons. Purdue does not have these. That game will not be close IMO.

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNation27

2004 Auburn: Great undefeated team
2005 Purdue: (if they go undefeated which they wont) Easy Schedule undefeated team

Don't compare purdon't to auburn....that auburn team could've given USC a run for their money last year.

THATS RIGHT METHOMPS.....BRING IT!

Auburn's SOS wasn't as strong as you think. Yes, they did have the SEC, but the OOC is a joke. Oh, and USC beat the snot out of Auburn the year before when AU was rated #1 by some mags.

Pre season - #70 schedule according to CFN. Ohio State was 17. Purdue, incidently, was 31.

Of course, AU did end up with a harder SOS than did eitehr OU or USC, if memory serves.

[BuckeyeNation27]

Originally Posted by Buckeyeskickbuttocks

Auburn's SOS wasn't as strong as you think. Yes, they did have the SEC, but the OOC is a joke. Oh, and USC beat the snot out of Auburn the year before when AU was rated #1 by some mags.

Pre season - #70 schedule according to CFN. Ohio State was 17. Purdue, incidently, was 31.

Of course, AU did end up with a harder SOS than did eitehr OU or USC, if memory serves.

I'm not talking about SOS because in the end that really has little bearing on how good of a team you actually are. That Auburn team was a VERY good team....despite playing the Citadel. They couldve put up more of a fight than chokelahoma.

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I don't want to quibble with you, cause you are correct that SOS has little to do with how good your team is, but as an indicator of who deserves to be in what game, I would rather see the teams that got there thru the harder schedule than the easier.

Auburn was very good, I still think USC walks the floor with them. On the other hand, AU's DB's could likely have matched up better than OU's DB's managed.

[BuckeyeNation27]

no im not saying they shouldve been in the game.....i was just saying they were on par to OU and USC.....and comparing a team like that to this year's purdue team is laughable. at the time of the game i thought they had the 2 best teams in the NC game.

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNation27

no im not saying they shouldve been in the game.....i was just saying they were on par to OU and USC.....and comparing a team like that to this year's purdue team is laughable. at the time of the game i thought they had the 2 best teams in the NC game.

Well, on that point I think I have to agree. Maybe my reading up on the preseason stuff I read up on will change my view, but Purdue doesn't strike me as a serious title contender (surely not in front of OSU, Iowa and even me[censored]again)

[methomps]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNation27

2004 Auburn: Great undefeated team
2005 Purdue: (if they go undefeated which they wont) Easy Schedule undefeated team

Don't compare purdon't to auburn....that auburn team could've given USC a run for their money last year.

THATS RIGHT METHOMPS.....BRING IT!

[BuckTwenty]

I would liken Purdue of 05-06 to the Michigan of 04-05, rather than the Auburn of 04-05. Scum had a very favorable schedule last year, a TON of starters and AA's back, and were not only picked to win the Big Ten, but make it to the championship game. What happend? They choked. And they had no one to blame but themselves for not making it there.

They lost to a sorry ND team away, near losses to SDST and Minnesota at home, plus a 2-point win at Purdue before losing to tOSU and Texas to finish at 9-3. They had EVERY right to win every one of those games with the schedule and players they had.

Purdue's schedule:
9/10 Akron
9/17 at Arizona (night game)
9/24 at Minnesota
10/01 Notre Dame (night game)
10/08 Iowa
10/15 Northwestern
10/22 at Wisconsin
10/28 at Penn St
11/05 Michigan St
11/12 Illinois
11/19 at Indiana

They make it sound like they have a "gimme" schedule, but I think their schedule is NO gimme! at Minnesota? Notre Dame under new command? Top 10 Iowa? At a revamped Penn State? And we should all know how dangerous Wisconsin is at their place, even if they'll be rebuilding this year. Hell, even Illinois is guaranteed to be up-and-coming under Zook. The only gimme's on that schedule are Akron and at Indiana (which is basically an extra home game for them).

If you take a look, you'll also notice that they do NOT have a bye week before any of their games. Yes, 11 weeks, 11 games. The team with the longest win streak of consecutive games in consecutive weeks is tOSU (2002, 12 straight games between weeks 2-13), and THAT was a magical season. Just don't see it with the cursed Boilermakers, doomed to lose 5-6 games by less than a touchdown's margin. I'll give em credit for not picking one of the 3 Big Ten teams ranked in the top 10 preseason, but if they're picking them solely because of their schedule, they have another thing coming... disappointment.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by BuckTwenty

...They lost to a sorry ND team away, near losses to SDST and Minnesota at home, plus a 2-point win at Purdue before losing to tOSU and Texas to finish at 9-3. They had EVERY right to win every one of those games with the schedule and players they had...

Not to mention that they only led Miami (Oh) 10-0 at halftime...

[Sloopy45]

BuckTwenty: "What happend? They choked. And they had no one to blame but themselves for not making it there."

I don't think scUM was a prohibitive favorite to win the Big Ten title last year. They had true freshmen at QB & TB, a lot of questions in the secondary, and had to play at Columbus.

On paper, Purdue or Wisconsin were much more likely to win the Big Ten last year than scUM.

"They had EVERY right to win every one of those games with the schedule and players they had."

They didn't have every right to win the Rose Bowl or the Ohio State game. Texas ran the same play over & over again, and scUM couldn't stop it, and there's no way a true freshman QB is walking in the 'Shoe in "The Game" and coming out victorious. Just no way. scUM should've been 10-2 or right where they were at last year.

They weren't a world-beater team that fell apart, they had a lot of questions. If they didn't get extremely lucky & have the one in a million QB who can contribute as a true frosh, they would've been even worse.