OT: BE football champ?

[tweakers_suck]

I am absolutely shocked at the season Rutgers is having in football this year.  They remind me of Kansas football of the mid-1990s.  A traditionally underdog team that has a breakout year and vaults to the top 15 out of nowhere.  It used to be that Rutgers was the perennial doormat.  Always at or near the bottom of every single statistically relavent measure in football.

So, is Rutgers really that good?  Or was U of L overrated?  I tend to believe that it is a linear combination of those two options.  However, each team has put the Ws in the win column all season.  One can argue schedule this or schedule that, but they have produced on the field.  It just seams odd that Rutgers has a chance to become the BE representative in the BCS.

*shakes head in amazement*

The polls are open.  Vote now.

[dwaderoy2004]

i've seen rutgers play 4-5 times this year, and they know what they are good at and play that way.  they can run the ball, and they can defend.  their plan is always to get a lead and sit on it, and that is pretty much what they've been doing all year.  what shocked me about last night was that they came from behind.  but they did it the same way, running the ball and playing stifling defense.  you could see that they just wanted it more.  that defense was swarming and man were they hitting louisville hard.  i think rutgers is that good.  having said that though, louisville still should have won that game, and IMO, west virginia is still the class of the big east.

[bheitz]

I watched the game last night and couldn't believe the speed of the Rutgers defense.  The game was enjoyable to watch even if Louisville sputtered (and that's being kind) in the second half.

Having said that, I'm still not sold on either team.  My feeling is it would be great to see Rutgers go against the traditional BCS powers, but I don't want it to be in the national championship game -- at least this year.  I'm still a bit skeptical of Rutgers, UL, and WVU being able to hold their own against OSU, UM, UF, etc.

[NavinRJohnson]

First, that was a great game last night. As much as I wanted UL to make that Championship game, I couldn't resist pulling for RU. I think they are better than anyone gave them credit for, and they played a great game.

What I don't understand is why everyone is automatically discounting them when they had no problem projecting WVU in the National Championship game, just as they did with UL once they beat WVU. Early on it was assumed that if WVU beat UofL they would go undefeated and get into the title game on the strength of an undefeated record. UofL proved to be better than people thought, and after beating WVU, had they won that game last night, would have been a close third at worst, and probably would have been in the title game. Now, everyone assumes RU has no shot. My question is why? They will most assuredly move up quite a bit this week, and they still get a shot at WVU. If they make it out unscathed (Big if as the WVU game is on the road), someone explain to me why they don't eblong in the conversation. Their history should have no impact on what they have done this season. If UofL was worthy 24 hours ago, why is RU not worthy today (assuming they get the wins they need to get of course)?

[dwaderoy2004]

I personally feel that RU is worthy if they run the table.  However, their SOS to date is only 63, which is quite low compared to other one loss teams.  (for example, florida is 5, cal is 6 and texas is 16).  Because of this, the computer rankings (1/3 of the BCS equation) will not show much love to Rutgers.  Tied together with that SOS is the fact that this was really the first national exposure Rutgers has gotten all season.  fair or not, the coaches and media can only vote on a team they've seen play.  Another factor is that one loss teams in the SEC are given a lot of credit due to their conference being so good from top to bottom.  The big east is still not given a lot of respect, and even though they are very strong at the top, the talent drops off considerably after the big three.  all things being equal, i think RU still has a strong shot at the BCS championship game if they win out.  but it is only possible if they finish #2 in the human polls, and that will be difficult because they are not a big-time football program historically.

[Big Papi]

I think Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia are three very good football teams.  There was talk about how Big East football was going to be horrible and not deserving of a BCS game after BC and the other programs left.  I don't think the Big East misses those teams now.