12/03/24
November 19, 2011
SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
That wheezing, whirring sound? It's the BCS computers, blowing a few transistors.
posted by etagloh at 12:08 AM on November 20, 2011
That wheezing, whirring sound? It's the BCS computers, blowing a few transistors.
Was this week all that different from previous weeks?
Top 25 seeds losing games against lower/unranked teams:
Week 12: 2, 4, 5, 7, 17, 22, 23
Week 11: 3, 5, 12, 21, 23
Week 10: 9, 13, 20, 24
Week 09: 6, 9, 10, 12, 16, 19
Week 08: 3, 4, 11, 20, 23
Week 07: 11, 12, 16, 20
Week 06: 23
Week 05: 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20
Week 04: 11, 23
Week 03: 15, 17, 21, 22
Week 02: 16, 21
Week 01: 3, 14, 16
Yup. Week 12 was a slaughter for teams in the top 10 (four go down hard) and in general (7 teams lose).
What I've also discovered:
Teams ranked #20 or #23 have lost to lower/unranked opponents 9 times in the last 9 weeks.
posted by grum@work at 12:48 AM on November 20, 2011
I think it's the cumulative effect at the top that makes this week different: OSU lose, so the one-loss teams are back in the running; then having Oregon and Oklahoma go down less than an hour apart means you may have an all SEC West top three. And of course, only one SEC West team gets to play the Bulldogs.
A BCS championship game that includes a team that didn't qualify for its conference title game? Remember, the arguments are a feature, not a bug.
posted by etagloh at 01:58 AM on November 20, 2011
I don't like the idea of a team that possibly loses their conference championship game qualifying for the BCS championship game, but a team that doesn't qualify for it is a different story. You can't fault Alabama for being in the same division of the SEC with LSU. They lose a close game to the Tigers for their only loss and you can't hold the SECs meaningless division breakdown against them.
posted by dyams at 07:52 AM on November 20, 2011
The Film Soccer City' Is Now Available on DVD and will be on ESPN Classic on 4 Dec.
"With the first ever FIFA World Cup in Africa as a backdrop, witness the cultural importance of soccer in township South Africa through the lives of five individuals born and raised in the oldest and toughest of South Africa's townships, Alexandra"