Top 25 Ranking Discrepancy

This is in reference to Louisville being ranked 20th and BYU ranked 25th.  First of all BYU beat Louisville in a head to head meeting on a neutral site while the Cardinals other lose came at home to the Dayton Flyers who are from the A-10.  Also a week earlier at home Louisville barely beat Miami (OH) BY 4 and they are only 5-4 on the year.  As for BYU they all ready beat the Cardinals and then the played UNC tough in Vegas only losing by 10 on a neutral court, even though free throws down the stretch were the main difference when BYU was fouling trying to stop the clock.  Then their other loss came against top 10 team Michigan State on a quasi neutral site when the game was played at Salt Lake City just 40 miles north from BYU in the Energy Solutions Arena the home of the Jazz.  BYU had the lead through most of the game but eventually lost to the Spartans by 7.  As for the closest win by BYU not named Louisville is a win by 15 points over inter state team Weber State.

So, why is Louisville ranked ahead of BYU?  A few reasons might be because Louisville was ranked higher then the Cougars, but that is not my reason.  I believe they are ranked higher because of conference affiliation and past rep, even though this is the non conference schedule.  Just by comparing the loses BYU has the better loses by losing to 2 top 10 teams while Louisville lost to 2 non ranked teams at the time, and almost lost to a third in Miami (OH).  This is the life of playing outside a high major conference, the Mountain West is not a mid major basketball league, but they are not a high major league either just somewhere in between if that makes any sense.

11/24 Basketball Preview

(5-0)  #1 (6-0)

Las Vegas Invite Orleans Arena 7:30PM PT TV:

BYU all ready beat on top 10 team and their reward is another game against the number one team in the land against UNC.  UNC is beatable just look back at their close game against Davidson recently, and BYU has a similar up tempo style game that could cause problems for UNC.  Last night against Louisville the Cougars were lead by the two man team of big man Trent Plaisted and Jonathon Tavernari who combined for 50 points and 19 rebounds.   UNC also likes to run so BYU better be careful what they wish for in this game.  A matchup to watch for is BYU’s big man Trent Plaisted against UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough.  Plaisted does have a slight height advantage, but one trend that I noticed last year when watching Plaisted play against someone who had size he struggled.  This will be a good test to see how Plaisted can matchup against someone with size and who is NBA ready.  UNC should win because they want to score in the 90’s each game and run similar to BYU, but UNC has better athletes.  For BYU to stay close they need to play the inside outside game that was going on last night to be able to keep the defense honest and limit mistakes.  This game will be close for a half, but I think BYU used most of their energy last night and will falter down the stretch to the Tar Heels

(3-2) (5-0)

Hispanic College Fund Classic Spokane, Washington 2:30PM PT TV: NONE

This is the second game of this mini tournament in Spokane. Air Force was able to knock off Mississippi Valley State by 18 points and have a surprisingly great start at 5-0 and have a chance to make it 6-0 against a solid Montana that comes from the Big Sky conference.  Air Force continues to play their grind it out slow it down game and have been successful even with their new coach in Colorado Springs.  The Falcons win came down to their defense which they held Mississippi Valley to 24% shooting and that is what they will have to do defeat Montana who likes to score and they have 70 points in every game so far this season, so something must give tonight.   Look for the defense to take over and look for Air Force to slow it down and pull out the win.   Montana is coming off a pretty good performance where the lost to #9 Washington State by 11, but they were unable to shoot a good percentage because of Wazzu’s defense.  Now against Air Force Montana will need to make their possessions count because Air Force will slow it down, and throw in the fact that the Falcons play pretty good defense.  Look for Air Force to pull this game just as long as the Falcons slow it down because the Grizzlies like to score.

Week 3 Rankings

This week is an interesting one with all the top teams losing so I will do my best to get an accurate assesment of the league. As a remi

1.

This is the largest jump by far of any team in the league. Air Force who was to have a tough time in this 4 game stretch that included games against Utah, BYU, TCU, and Navy. So far the Academy is 3-0 and leading the conference at 2-0. This weeks game at BYU is huge for both teams.

2.

BYU is here is because they have the fire power on offense to keep up with any team. Even though they lost to Tulsa I believe it was a hang over from last weeks lost to UCLA. I feel this is the right spot for this week, but all could change next week when Air Force and BYU meet.

3.

The same thing can be said about TCU with BYU about a hangover from a loss the week earlier.  During the last game TCU just thought that they could run over the guys from the Academy.  To be a good team they need to take every team seriously along the way.

4.

The Utes make the biggest jump during the week, because of their utter dominance over an overrated UCLA team at home.  The Utes are 9-0 at home against teams from a BCS conference in school history.  I really like the mix up that the coaches did by playing many true Freshman and young guys.  We will see how long this will last, and some good news is that Brian Johnson will be ready for the Louisville game and could see action as soon as this week at UNLV.

Top 50 games of the year

Collegefootballnews has put up an early list of the top 50 games of the year and just as I did with the ESPN list I will put what college football news has to say here.

• 49. Utah at Louisville, Oct. 6
  In the past this might have been seen as a nice matchup of top mid-major programs, but each has been to the BCS in the last few seasons, and Louisville has established itself as a Big East superpower with national title aspirations. It’ll be a battle of quarterbacks with the return of Brian Johnson giving the Utes an offense every bit as potent as Louisville’s with Brian Brohm leading the way. However, this is Louisville at home, and it’ll put up points in bunches in one of the more exciting non-conference October games. It might be a case of the team with the ball last coming up with the win.
  Predicted score in July: Louisville 45 … Utah 31.
  • I think this will be a high scoring game, but I think it will be closer then this, the Utes have a great linebacker corp that will help this young defense.
• 26. TCU at Texas, Sept. 8
  Alright TCU, here’s your change at the big show. Considered by most to be the best team in the Mountain West, the schedule works out well enough for the Horned Frogs that a win at Texas might kickstart a run to a BCS spot. Texas will have had a tune-up against Arkansas State, but will have to deal with one of the best defensive lines it’ll face all year. As good as the Longhorns might be, they’ll need the full sixty minutes to finally pull ahead. The TCU offense won’t quite have enough in the bag.
  Predicted score in July: Texas 20 … TCU 10
  • With this game EVERYONE from most major news sources predicts TCU has a great shot and if they win they then will be in the national title chase. Very doubtful look at Boise State last year they are the only undefeated team in I-A and get nothing. Yes, TCU has a better schedule and a slightly better conference. Plus, TCU better not look past Utah and Brian Johnson who will want revenge in Fort Worth plus those who don’t know Brian Johnson had almost identical total yards (3370 total yards, 26 total TD’s), to Heisman Finalist Alex Smith (3583 total yard, 42 TD’s) Johnson just needs to score more.  Also, TCU is breaking in a new QB wonder how he will do against that Texas defense.

Compare these schedules

I am going to list 2 teams schedule and I want as many comments out there on which is better. I will use a ranking of 1 to 6 with each point representing teams in order of ranking. So 1 would be teams ranked 1-20, 2 would be 21-40 and so on through the rest. I also will include the ’06 record as well, bold means bowl participant. One of these schedules is said to be one of the toughest in the nation I disagree strongly, while I know that one is most likely better then the other I just don’t think one is one of the top over schedules. You guys decide.