Archive for the 'Purdue' Category

Jeffrey Stewart: Making a Case for the Irish Beating the Vols Like Vouching for Bill Gates’ Credit

Friday, November 4th, 2005

Scout.com’s Jeffrey Stewart draws Notre Dame in the site’s weekly Devil’s Advocate feature. For those unfamiliar with the column, Stewart and Randy Moore, both excellent sports writers, take sides, each making the case for a win by the team they draw. For his part, Stewart starts out with a bang:

Making a case for Notre Dame beating Tennessee in South Bend on Saturday is a little like vouching for Bill Gates’ credit. In other words, the only real obstacle to overcome is — where to begin?

These are two teams headed in opposite directions at the speed of light. The Fighting Irish are reborn under first year head coach Charlie Weis, the mastermind behind a potent offensive attack that is putting points on the scoreboard in bunches. With a 5-2 record that includes victories over Pittsburgh, Michigan, Washington, Purdue and Brigham Young, Notre Dame is best known for its instant classic cliffhanger last month against defending national champion and undefeated USC. That near victory propelled the Irish back into the top ten where they remain today at No. 9.

Conversely, Tennessee is in the depths of a spiraling free fall from a preseason ranking of No. 3 through a 3-4 start, until it was finally spit out of the bottom of national polls last week, following a 16-15 defeat to that other USC. The one with the roosters on its helmet and no national championships under its belt.

The Vols dramatic demise is the result of an offense that rarely has a pulse and produces points at the pace of the Tunisian national ice hockey team. If you say it’s not fair to compare Tennessee’s offense to a team that doesn’t exist. Well, I rest my case.

Pretty much nails it, doesn’t it?

On the other side, Moore is hanging his hat on this week’s offensive shake-up.

Moore does an admirable job, but you’ve got to go with Stewart and Notre Dame this week.

Posted in Brigham Young, Michigan, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Tennessee, Tennessee Volunteer Football, USC, Washington | No Comments »

The Race to the Rose Bowl (with Logos!): Week Five

Sunday, October 2nd, 2005

The Tennessee Volunteers arguably didn’t get the bump they deserved for beating the LSU Tigers last Monday night (because the win was after last week’s Coaches’ Poll), but they survived a potential let-down game against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Here are the horses after Week Five:

The Gators fall out of the top ten to number 15 after getting thumped by the Alabama Crimson Tide, who enter the race at number 10. The Gators’ loss makes the Vols’ loss to the Gators look worse, but it’s a necessary evil because the Vols have virtually no chance at the Rose Bowl without winning the SEC Championship, and they can’t do that unless the Gators lose two SEC games. The Gators losing to Bama is a good start, and they play both Georgia and LSU in the next several weeks, so it’s not out of the question. Plus, the Vols can redeem themselves by beating the Crimson Tide if Bama is still in the top ten at that time.

Again, look at UT’s schedule:

  • Play Florida when the Gators are ranked, what was it, number 5?
  • Play LSU when the Tigers are ranked number 4.
  • Play Georgia this week when the Bulldogs are ranked number 4.
  • Play Alabama and Notre Dame later, who are now numbers 10 and 12, respectively.

Potentially 5 top ten teams. Maybe another in the SEC Championship. If the Vols can come out of that schedule with only one loss, should they be ranked above even some no-loss teams with lesser schedules?

See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

Posted in Alabama-Birmingham, Animations, Bowl Championship Series, California, Florida, Florida State, Iowa, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Rankings, Tennessee, Tennessee Volunteer Football, Texas, USC, Virginia Tech | 10 Comments »

The Race to the Rose Bowl: Week Three

Monday, September 19th, 2005

It could have been worse. The Tennessee Volunteers fell out of the top ten in the Coaches’ Poll after losing to the Florida Gators in the Swamp. They only fell to number 11, but this is a ten-horse race, and so the mighty Power T has been replaced. For now.

Here are the horses after Week Three:

The Purdue Boilermakers enter the race at number 10, and the other 9 teams get shuffled just a bit. This is the point in the season where Vol fans start worrying not only about Tennessee’s next opponent, but the fate of the horses in front of them. The Vols must win the rest of their games and most of the teams now in front of them must lose some of theirs in order for Tennessee to make it to the Rose Bowl.

What the Vols were viewing as a curse of a schedule last week could now very well be their blessing. They still get to play number 3 LSU and number 6 Georgia, and if they can beat them, they may find themselves back in the top 5.

The biggest problem right now (besides trying to win at LSU this Saturday) is the Gators. The Vols need Florida to lose two SEC games in order to jump them in the SEC East and play for the SEC Championship. The games the Gators are most likely to lose are at Alabama on October 1, at LSU on October 15, and versus Georgia on October 29.

See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

Posted in Bowl Championship Series, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Purdue, Rankings, Tennessee | 12 Comments »