NCAA Div IA Football - Week 6 Quick Analysis

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams playing this week:...104

Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......53

Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:........2
(All games played at Div IA home)
(One game a replacement for a cancelled Week 2 game)

Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....0

Average Points per game:.................51
Highest Total:...........................91
(Rice at Tulsa[w])
Lowest Total:............................22
(Northern Illinois at Tennessee[w])

Average spread of victory:...............17
Highest Spread:..........................35 (2 games)
(Alcorn State at New Mexico State[w] &
 Rice at Tulsa[w])

Lowest Spread:............................1 (2 games)
(Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee[w] &
 Auburn at Vanderbilt[w])

Visiting Teams that won:.................27
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....0

Conf......W.....L
ACC......40....22
Big 12...43....16
Big East.25....16
Big Ten..41....19
C-USA....29....36
MAC......31....41
MWC......31....19
Pac-10...25....27
SEC......43....19
Sun Belt.13....26
WAC......21....22
Ind.......9.....7

Interesting Facts:

Three of the AP Top 25 did not play in Week 5

Mr. Obvious: Ball State undefeated and now ranked!

Number of Teams Undefeated Teams left after 6 weeks: 15

Trying my hand at Predictions (Random Selection):

......Arizona......at..USC
Pass..135yds..1TD......296yds..2TD
Run...162yds..1TD......158yds..3TD
Def...........0TD..............1TD
FG............2FG..............0FG
.............20...............42

......Boise State..at..Southern Mississippi
Pass..307yds..3TD......200yds..1TD
Run....98yds..1TD......253yds..1TD
Def...........0TD..............1TD
FG............1FG..............3FG
.............31...............30

......LSU..........at..Florida
Pass..205yds..2TD......130yds..2TD
Run...144yds..2TD......173yds..1TD
Def...........1TD..............1TD
FG............1FG..............0FG
.............38...............28

......Texas........at..Oklahoma
Pass..291yds..2TD......325yds..2TD
Run...233yds..2TD......199yds..3TD
Def...........0TD..............0TD
FG............2FG..............0FG
.............34...............35

To explain the title, it took up to Week 6 for data on the Independent teams, Army, Navy, and Notre Dame, to show up in Fox's stats and the stats were ready Sunday night instead of Wednesday. Will use the actual scores to try and add corrections to the predictions. Next Week, Week 7.

DF

Part Three – The BCS Computer Component and BCS Problems and Fixes

The BCS Computer Component

The 2008 BCS computer component consists of six ranking; Fox has the list of the participants and links to their sites here.

How the rankings in each "poll" are calculated is too complex for this blog. If you are truly interested, you can follow the links on the page listed above to the participant home page and look for the detail there. Here is how the BCS component is calculated:  

For each team, their rank in each poll is added together, the final score for each team being that sum divided by six (the average);

The scores can be sorted to rank the computer component.

The final score for each team is the sum of individual scores given by each component of the BCS, the Harris Poll, the Coaches Poll, and the computer-ranked component, divided by three (the average). The scores are sorted to give the BCS ranking for that week. The first BCS rankings come out two Sundays from now (October 19th)

Flaws in the Human Polls

If you've been following along, you probably noticed that the mathematics of the three components tend to feed on itself. Tell me if this statement makes sense: The average of the sums of the averages of the sum of the ranks creates a meaningful relationship between the true strength of teams. Nonsense, right? If you remember my first blog on this topic, performance on the field is the only true determinant of strength.

What makes the human polls mostly useless are, of course, the humans. Believe it or not, I am not talking about a human failing like corruptibility, but the more positive aspects of preference and differentiation.

Fixes for the Human Polls

In the human polls, how many points are there between each ranked team? One. Only one. So the difference in strength between the first place team and second place team on any one ballot is one point. The difference between first and third is two points. And, so on.

Imagine if we gave each voter a thousand (1,000) points to distribute along with the ranking on their ballot. This would show a difference between each of the ranks and create a preference differential that can be included in a larger calculations.

Flaws in the Computer Polls

I don't have any simple fixes for the problems that the computer polls have, though I'm willing to list them:

 

1. Strength of Schedule - is based on last's years win/loss of teams your team will play against this year
2. Margin of win and quality of opposition - supposed to remove the 'cupcake' factor
3. Calculations to remove Home field advantage
4. Calculations and recalculations to give higher weight to a team's performance in their more recent game
5. Unknown portions of systems

Well, I had to know for myself And, of course, you know how I feel about it all: performance on the field...

And, you see how much is involved in creating promoting the system...it feeds upon itself. That's why there won't be playoff system...for a long time.

DF

NCAA Div IA Football - Week 5 Quick Analysis

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams playing this week:....98

Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......52

Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:........6
(All games played at Div IA home)

Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....0

Average Points per game:.................55
Highest Total:...........................97
(North Texas at Rice[w]
Lowest Total:............................10
(Western Michigan[w] at Temple)

Average spread of victory:...............17
Highest Spread:..........................57
(North Texas at Rice[w]

Lowest Spread:............................1
(Mississippi[w] at Florida

Visiting Teams that won:.................16
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....0

Conf......W.....L
ACC......34....18
Big 12...37....10
Big East.22....13
Big Ten..36....14
C-USA....25....30
MAC......26....35
MWC......26....15
Pac-10...21....21
SEC......38....15
Sun Belt.10....23
WAC......10....23
Ind.......6.....7

Interesting Facts:

Seven of the AP Top 25 did not play in Week 5

Mr. Obvious: Intra-conference play has started for ALL conferences. Only conferences with an odd number of teams need to play an out of conference game.

Number of Teams Undefeated Teams left after 5 weeks: 18

Big 12........5
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas Tech

Big East......2
Connecticut
South Florida

Big Ten.......2
Northwestern
Penn State

C-USA.........1
Tulsa

MAC...........1
Ball State

MWC...........2
BYU
Utah

SEC...........4
Alabama
Kentucky
LSU
Vanderbilt

WAC...........1
Boise State

Next Week, Week 6...and maybe back to work...where I have access to the supercomputer...and decent coffee...

DF

Part Two - CFB Human Polls

The BCS computation comes in three parts, two of which are the human polls, the Harris Interactive and the Coaches Poll, and one part that is made of an amalgam of computer-generated rankings.

The Harris Poll is composed of former players, coaches, and persons associated with various communications media. The 2008 pool consists of 114 voters. The poll is managed by Harris Interactive.

The coaches poll is composed of Division I-A coaches, all members of the American Football Coaches Association. The 2008 pool consists of 61 coaches. The poll is now managed by USA Today.

For these human polls, each member in the pool picks his top 25 teams and ranks them from 1 (top) to 25 (bottom). The key is that each coach doesn't necessarily start out with the same 25 teams or ranks them in the same order. In the case of the Coaches Poll, there have been questions of bias as the general public does not know what was on the individual ballots as they are kept secret.

In the published list of both polls, there is a points column on which the list is sorted. Where do the points come from? The formula is simple: Each team on each ballot is given points in inverse of their position on the ballot. That is, the first place team on a ballot receives 25 points and the last place team receives 1 point. The points are accumulated for each team across all ballots in that poll.

Lets look at an example: In week three of the Coaches Poll, where USC is ranked number one with 56 first place votes and a total 1517 points. 1517 minus 1400 (56 first place votes times 25 points) leaves 117 points and five voters. 117 points in five parts is 4 second place votes and a fifth place vote at best or two second and three thirds at worst.

As a component of the BCS calculation, these points and divided by the total number of possible point if everyone voted a particular team. In the case of the Coaches Poll, the divisor is (61 coaches times 25 first place points = ) 1525. So, if the BCS were to come out this week, USC would have a component value of .995 (1517/1525).

Enough math, lets look at how the members of the Coaches poll are distributed:

Distribution of Coaches by Conference

CONF......................COUNT
Atlantic Coast Conference....6
Big 12 Conference............7
Big East Conference..........4
Big Ten Conference...........7
Conference USA...............6
FBS Independents.............1
Mid-American Conference......6
Mountain West Conference.....4
Pacific-10 Conference........5
Southeastern Conference......7
Sun Belt Conference..........4
Western Athletic Conference..4

Distribution of Coaches by State and Region

Mid West 16
IA.....1
IL.....1
IN.....3
MI.....4
MO.....1
NE.....1
OH.....4
WI.....1

North East 3
CT.....1
NJ.....1
NY.....1

South East 22
AL.....2
FL.....6
GA.....1
KY.....1
LA.....2
MS.....1
NC.....3
SC.....2
TN.....2
VA.....1
WV.....2

South West 9
OK.....1
NM.....2
TX.....6

West 11
CA.....4
CO.....1
ID.....1
OR.....2
UT.....1
WA.....1

The names of the 114 members of the 2008 Harris Interactive Poll can be found here. Someone before the season is out will look-up each member and their affiliation. I will put the link to that document in this blog when it happens.

In Part 3: Analyzing the BCS Computer Component.

DF

NCAA Div IA Football - Week 4 Quick Analysis

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams playing this week:...101

Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......56

Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:.......11
(All games played at Div IA home)

Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....0

Average Points per game:.................51
Highest Total:..........................109
(Fresno State[w] at Toledo)

Lowest Total:............................12
(Wake Forest[w] at Florida State)

Average spread of victory:...............19
Highest Spread:..........................54
(South Carolina State at Clemson[w])

Lowest Spread:............................1 (three games)
(Fresno State[w] at Toledo &
 New Mexico State[w] at UTEP &
 Iowa at Pittsburgh[w])

Visiting Teams that won:.................18
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....0

Conf.......W.....L
ACC.......28....13
Big 12....33.....8
Big East..16....11
Big Ten...31.....8
C-USA.....19....25
MAC.......20....29
MWC.......23....11
Pac-10....17....17
SEC.......32....11
Sun Belt...9....19
WAC.......14....15
Ind........4.....6

Interesting Facts:

Four of the AP Top 25 did not play in Week 4

Number of Teams still undefeated: 27

Distribution of Undefeated Teams across Conferences

ACC........1
Big 12.....7
Big East...2
Big Ten....4
C-USA......1
MAC........1
MWC........3
Pac-10.....1
SEC........6
Sun Belt...0
WAC........1
Ind........0

Current Undefeated Team to Face a Current Undefeated Team:

Alabama: Wk 5-Georgia, Wk 6-Kentucky, Wk 11-LSU
BYU: Wk 13-Utah
Colorado: Wk 9-Missouri, Wk 12-Oklahoma State, Wk 14-Nebraska
Florida: Wk 7-LSU, Wk 9-Kentucky, Wk 10-Georgia, Wk 11-Vanderbilt
Georgia: Wk 8-Vanderbilt, Wk 9-LSU, Wk 11-Kentucky
Kentucky: Wk 12-Vanderbilt
Minnesota: Wk 10-Northwestern, Wk 12-Wisconsin
Missouri: Wk 7- Oklahoma State, Wk 8-Texas
Nebraska: Wk 6-Missouri, Wk 10-Oklahoma
Oklahoma: Wk 5-TCU, Wk 7-Texas, Wk 10-Texas Tech, Wk 14-Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State: Wk 9-Texas, Wk 11-Texas Tech
Penn State: Wk 7-Wisconsin
TCU: Wk 8-BYU, Wk 11-Utah
Texas: Wk 10-Texas Tech

Most Interesting Undefeated Team: Ball State

Next Week, Week 5.

DF

Part One - CFB Polls

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Statistics is about gathering data for the purpose of making some sort of statement about a collection of objects. The data collected about the objects is quantitative which means that the data consists of counts or measures. What the designer of the collection has in mind is to create a model that emulates a real-world entity, so the first goal is TO DESCRIBE. Any other goal is secondary, including PREDICTION. One quantitative tool is the AVERAGE or the MEAN which is used to describe central tendencies. In other words, the AVERAGE places a point in the mathematical middle of the collected data which acts as a signpost from which individual objects can measure how close or how far they are from the middle. This tool works best when comparing subsets of the collection to the whole.

Surveys also gather data, but the data is mostly qualitative which means the studied set of objects has a quality that can be used to group together or distinguish between objects. Surveys are marked by their subjective nature such as LIST CREATION or the EVALUATION of each member of a selected group. The most common qualitative tool is the QUESTIONAIRE. The questionnaire is given to a set of individuals who are asked a series of questions, the set of questioned designed around a subject or related set of subjects in order to elicit an OPINION or PREFERENCE. The predictive value of a survey is small unless the survey is restricted to responders who have the characteristics about which the questions are designed or the responder has unique knowledge about the subject of the survey. Poll is just another name for a survey.

The Best Team in College Sports?

Most college sports are organized into divisions based on college size and geographical location, the largest being the NCAA. Of the major sports "managed" by the NCAA, only Division I football does not have a championship playoff. This, at times, has caused much furor when, at the end of a season, more than one team has been able to claim it is the best. The NCAA attempted a solution to the championship issue by creating the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), but the selection process has come under question and the series has ended with undefeated teams with rightful claims to being #1. The only thing that the winner of the BCS championship game can lay claim is to being the BCS champion. Nothing assures the BCS champion of being the national champion or the best college team in the US.

The Logic behind a Claim

Claims are opinions. Opinions are subjective. Any team with one win has a claim. Any team without a win has no claim. Any team without a loss has a claim to being the best team. At the end of a season without a championship playoff, ALL teams without a loss have claims to the championship. How to resolve this conundrum?

There are 119 Division IA teams, soon to be 120. Ideally each team would play the other 118 teams and the team with the best record would be called the best, ties being resolved by head-to-head results or a head-to-head playoff for the time the transitivity of head-to-head fails to make one team stand out. Of course, this is fiscally, physically, and politically impossible although this case is the only time where the who-beat-who argument has any sort of validity.

The next best is solution would be to play one game against every team in your division and the champions of each division enter into a playoff. Any sort of invitational tournament is subject to politics or being twisted for financial reasons. In fact, this is why there is not a playoff system. The traditional bowls are afraid to lose status and the financial benefits that go with that status.

---

In Part 2: .The Logic behind a Poll and How BCS bracketing scheme works and how it can be improved.

DF

NCAA Div IA Football - Week 3 Quick Analysis

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams playing this week:....97
(One game involving two Div IA teams cancelled because of Hurricane Ike)
Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......54
(Minus the one cancelled game)

Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:........8
(All games played at Div IA home)

Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....0

Average Points per game:.................50
Highest Total:...........................86
(Nevada at Missouri[w]
Lowest Total:.............................5
(Auburn[w] at Mississippi State)

Average spread of victory:...............21
Highest Spread:..........................65
(Alcorn State at Troy[w])

Lowest Spread:............................1 (two games)
(Auburn[w] at Mississippi State &
 Memphis at Marshall[w])

Visiting Teams that won:.................16
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....0

Conf......W.....L
ACC......20....11
Big 12...28.....4
Big East.10.....9
Big Ten..25.....6
C-USA....14....18
MAC......16....21
MWC......18.....8
Pac-10...14....14
SEC......26.....6
Sun Belt..7....14
WAC.......9....13
Ind.......3.....4

Interesting Facts:

Two of the AP Top 25 did not play in Week 3.

Coaches AP Poll Ranks 25 teams each week.

Number of Games involving Ranked Teams in the first 3 weeks: 61
(Minus cancelled games)

In those 61 games:

Average Points per game:.................54
Highest Total:...........................94
(Illinois(2) at Missouri(6)[w](Week 1)
Lowest Total:.............................5
(Auburn(9)[w] at Mississippi State)(Week 3)

Average spread of victory:...............25
Highest Spread:..........................69
(Kansas(14)[w] at Louisiana Tech)(Week 2)

Lowest Spread:............................1
(Auburn(9)[w] at Mississippi State)(Week 3)

Ranked Teams that have lost:
Week 1: Pittsburgh(25), Texas A&M(12), Clemson(9) to ranked Alabama(24), Virginia Tech(17), Tennessee(18), Illinois(20) to ranked Missouri(6)
Week 2: South Carolina(24), West Virginia(8)
Week 3: Arizona State(15), California(23), Ohio State(5) to ranked USC(1), Kansas(13) to ranked South Florida(19), Fresno State(21) to ranked Wisconsin(10)

Next Week, Week 4 and Top 25 analysis. Or, you could pose a question that could be answered in a statistical fashion...and I'll give it a try.

DF

Terrapin Breeding Habits

The Chesapeake Bay is home of the Northern Diamondback Terrapin. They mate only once a year, the females laying eggs a month or two later.

A Prolapse is the act of an organ falling out of place. In the male terrapin, his male organ acts in prolaspe. That means it is normally hidden in order to protect it and only "falls out" when needed.

Tradition

Some time near the beginning of the last century, back when Cal still had a live bear mascot, the traditional cheer of the faithful was the "oski-wow-wow" cheer. The next line is Whiskey-wee-wee. No kidding.

African Tribe?

There's an old story of three missionaries and their guide captured by warriors of a fierce African tribe. They are brought before the chief of the tribe where he is fascinated by the overly pale skin of the missionaries and, using the guide as a translator, offers them a deal: death or woomba. The first missionary thinks that he he is too young to die, so chooses woomba. He taken aside and the males of the tribe molest him in countless numbers of ways, his screams echoing about the royal village. The second missionary, even though he now knows what "woomba" means, decide that God has yet more plans for him, so also chooses woomba. His cries reverberate through the jungle, birds flying from the trees. The third missionary thinks that he could not last the punishment or the humiliation, so chooses death. The chief looks to the translator who is told of the third missionaries choice. He leaps to his feet and yells something in his language that brings celebratory sounds and actions to the entire tribe. The missionary looks to the translator who, shaking his head, says, "The chief say okay, death by woomba!"

Wee Willie Winkie

The score does not even come close to showing how the Terrapins, with their miniscule male modules, went woomba on Cal. I'm at once feel both embarrased by the gameplay and vindicated by my earlier post about the shortcoming of this year's Cal team. I can only repeat that Tedford and his coaching staff have lost their edge.

A very disappointed DF

Ps. But no where near the disappointment of the dead animal the Mormons where whipping...

NCAA Div IA Football - Week 2 Quick Analysis

This stuff is hard! Fox's stats are incomplete and I have to enter quite a bit of data by hand. Lucky for me I found this site:

NCAA.ORG WORKSHEETS

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams playing this week:...109
(Two games involving three Div IA teams cancelled because of Hurricane Gustav)
Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......65

Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:.......22
(Minus one of the cancelled games)
(All games played at Div IA home)

Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....1
(Army loss to New Hampshire)

Average Points per game:.................55
Highest Total:...........................93 (two games)
(Texas Southern at Arkansas State[w] &
 Houston at Oklahoma State[w])
Lowest Total:............................16
(Richmond at Virginia[w])

Average spread of victory:...............24
Highest Spread:..........................73
(Texas Southern at Arkansas State[w])

Lowest Spread:............................1 (two games)
(Louisiana-Monroe at Arkansas[w] &
BYU[w] at Washington)

Visiting Teams that won:.................15
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....1
(New Hampshire[w] at Army)

Conf......W.....L
ACC......14.....8
Big 12...22.....2
Big East..8.....7
Big Ten..18.....3
C-USA....11....12
MAC.......9....16
MWC......11.....7
Pac-10...11.....7
SEC......18.....4
Sun Belt..5.....9
WAC.......7.....7
Ind.......2.....3

Interesting Facts:

Only one Div IA team has not played a single game: New Mexico State

Two conferences did not lose a game in Week 2: Big 12 & Big Ten

Four of the AP Top 25 did not play in Week 2

Next Week, Week 3 and Top 25 analysis. Not enough data points to start predicting yet...

DF

 

NCAA Div IA Football - Week 1 Quick Analysis

Okay. Fixed the errors in the data. If you think I should put the worksheets or databases up, let me know.

Total Div IA Teams:.....................119
Total Div IA Teams played this week:....113
Total Games involving Div IA Teams:......73
Div IA Teams playing non-IA teams:.......32
(All games played at Div IA home)
Div IA Teams losing to non-Div IA team....1
(San Diego State loss to Cal Poly)

Average Points per game:.................52
Highest Total:...........................94
(Illinois at Missouri[w])
Lowest Total:............................17
(South Carolina at UCF[w])

Average spread of victory:...............25
Highest Spread:..........................70
(Idaho at Arizona[w])
Lowest Spread:............................1
(Ohio at Wyoming[w])

Visiting Teams that won:.................16
Visiting Teams that won - Non-Div IA:.....1
(Cal Poly[w] at San Diego State)

Conf......W.....L
ACC.......7.....4
Big 12...10.....2
Big East..4.....4
Big Ten...7.....3
C-USA.....7.....4
MAC.......6.....6
MWC.......6.....3
Pac-10....7.....3
SEC......10.....2
Sun Belt..2.....6
WAC.......5.....3
Ind.......1.....1

Tomorrow night...Week 2. Next Week, Week 3 and Top 25 analysis. Not enough data points to start predicting yet...

DF

Delay in Analysis...

I did say I'd have analysis for Div IA teams,...but the dog ate my stats. No, really, I decided to use Fox's NCAA FB stats, but they're already broken out in pieces, so I had to redesign for re-integrating the data before I ran analysis. I should be done before the week is out.

Bird of Ill Omen

My time is filled with more than sports. I assume that the rest of you have a life, too.

My spare time since I've moved to LA is spent volunteering at a museum where I need to mentally change gears and be aware of a different patois. I decide this past weekend to invite over a couple of volunteer buddies who have managed to show interest in my sports babble during my breaks. Okay, they've overheard me as I talk when I type.

Some of you may have seen what I prepare as vittles for an away game in Lisa's blog, but I decide to do a little something different in preparation for a future blog article...by smoking a couple of ducks...and taking pictures to insert into the Oregon at Cal game blog when the time came.

To make a long story short, my friends and I were sitting in the sun, sipping a very good white wine, eating warm brie on fresh garlic toast, when I go to the smoker to check on the ducks. At the very moment that I lift the lid, one of the ducks explode...showering the entire right side of my face and body with hot duck fat. Be sure that I wasn't sophisticated enough to say, "By George, that rendered duck fat has a high heat content and has raised bit of fleshy region of my integument!" Now, I'm neither the Brad Pitt that B&O says he is, nor do I wish to be the mangled remains of humanity that JW's avatar represents. I now have battle scars, some permanent, to show for this football season.

In ancient days, what happened may have required an explanation. The gods are angry with me...or I did not give proper thanks to the animal's spirit before I killed and cooked it. So, hopefully, the moral of the story isn't...

Don't mess with the Ducks.

Don't mess with the Ducks if they've been smoking.

DF

Ps. Yes, Husker, what were they smoking...?

Pss. Salutes to our up-north brothers...nice blog article DeGraff...

Too Early to Tell...?

...the first points of the season in the Fox Sports Blog League.  Go G-men...!

DF

\

It's Going to be a Long Season

MSU may have lost, but it's going to be a long season...for both Bear and Spartan fans. Call it first game jitters, but both teams have huge holes to fill. If you are not an alcoholic, some of what happened will make you drink. If you are, some of the plays sobered you up...quick. To be sure, the score did not reflect how well AND how unlucky MSU had been.

The strength of Cal is still it's defense, though a lot of the decisions made by the safeties led to big plays. Hoyer, the MSU QB showed great touch, but critical drops and a push-off by receivers kept MSU from keeping the ball moving upfield or scoring. MSU's running game showed a spark, but did not make a difference in the end. MSU lost by 7 points, but the last score to make it that close wasn't really of consequence. Cal's offense was one of big plays and MSU defensive mistakes. Cal's #1 running back was injured and put up 'only' a 100 or so yards, but the killer play by his backup, an 80+ yard run broke the game open. Make no mistakes, Cal will be hard put to score as many points as they did this game.

Nail in the Coffin

Both special teams will lose these teams games this season, though Cal's punter looks like a star. Giving uo 20, 30, 40 yards on the kickoff will kill Cal down the stretch. And a roughing the kicker penalty...long after the ball was gone, gave MSU life when Cal could have shut down MSU. Luckily, we have some finality with the Longshore situation. Fans of Cal football blame Longshore for Cal's 1-6 slide last year which led to the very first time we have questioned the savior status of Jeff Tedford. But Longshore's two series which started well, ended in a score for MSU when he threw into what looked like the entire MSU secondary covering his target. The fans showed there disgust early and gave Riley's return in the next series as positive a vote of confidence as they could.

Pac 10...

The USC defense looked incredible as did the Oregon offense. Stanford's running game looked big, but if a team can stop this, Stanford has nothing left. I say the Beavs were unlucky. Okay, UCLA seems to be holding there own, but Tennessee is driving...oops, score...Vols. I've got to post this and watch the rest of the game...

DF

Ripping off an idea from Lisa...again

Driving up, you have the choice of blasting up the 5 and cutting over to the 580, going up the 101, or taking the leisurely ride up the 1

The 5

Geologically, inland California is a raised inland sea that is now a desert. The summer temps in the 100s and the lack of any natural cover are proof. Whatever you do, don't stop. Drive like hell with no breaks and be happy when you get there.

Hwy 101

Inspite of the fact that the 405 drops you off into the two fast lanes of the 101 with a high population of knobs who are easily confused by a merge, 101 has many points of interest.

Santa Barbara is on the beach and has a beautiful stroll through down town and to the water. It also is the beginning of the wine tour that was 'advertised' by the 'Sideways' movie. My advice is get out of the LA rush very early, 5:30A - 6:30A, drive the hour and have a leisurely outdoor breakfast in SB.

Santa Maria up the road is a p-hole of a town where the CHP lives and sets up a speed trap. Don't get into an argument with the SO and forget to slide over behind the tomato truck or you'll be forced to give an unintended, expensive donation to the state.  Again.  Let out the clutch and you have a chance to lose speed without drawing attention to yourself.  Don't touch the brakes.

San Luis Obispo has the Thursday market downtown. Fresh fruit and vegetables and hippy chicks. For you desperate women , there's a men's prison up the road.

San Jose? P-break. Gas up. San Jose can't decide if it wants to be LA or SF, so it ends up being a hole. Great America used to be fun, but, like everything else, its gotten expensive.

If you're just up for the game, then it's smart to pull into the Fremont BART and take the train in to Berkeley. Relax. Read a book. Have a few beers after and you'll be mostly sober by the time you get back to your car.

Hwy 1

Just past SB, is the cutoff to Highway 1, the most scenic drive in the continental US. If you are driving at night, you may see a night launch a Vandeberg AFB. Lompoc has a couple of fantastic small home-cooking cafes though it's off the beaten track.

Rosebud.  The Hearst mansion is worth the stop.  There are four tours, the best being the castle at night.  No camping.

Big Sur.

The fresh havest at the roadside stands are well worth the price.  Fresh avocados.  Fresh artichokes.  And how do you make a fatman?  A pound of cashew and a pound of pistachios.

Monterey has a bay. The Fisherman's Wharf is okay, but if you are spending the night in SF, the wharf thing is done much better there. The Aquarium is a don't miss and so is the drive to...

...Santa Cruz. Park downtown and walk to the beach. The resturants at the wharf are tourist traps (overpriced), but you can't beat a ride on one of the US' remaining wooden roller coasters at the Boardwalk. Walk up to the surfer museum at the lighthouse for some real history (see my blogs "The Fatman Toes In" or  "I can't zip up my wet suit"). Early evening the bars around the promenade are hopping. Surfer chicks (jail bait) and street dudes bumming (and selling) cigarettes. Rosie McCanns for an Irish Carbomb. Or two. Pick up a pillow case of weed for $5 for Husker.

If you feel the need, you can cut back over to Palo Alto to see the world's largest sewer, but if you wait long enough over a Pac 10 season, the sewer will come to you.

Okay, that's it from Santa Cruz. More from the game tomorrow, if I can type.

DF

A Pac 10 game in the first week of the season?

I was using my lunch to set up the DB to collect the first week CFB data, when I noticed the Washington at Oregon game on Saturday. This is unusual isn't it? Didn't the Pac 10 teams beat up on patsies the first couple of weeks of the season...like the rest of the CFB contenders?

Then it hit me. The winner of this game will be in first place in the Pac 10 standings for a couple of weeks until Pac 10 intra-divisional play starts. Well, if the pundits are correct, this will be the only time Washington or Oregon will be at the top.

DF

Ps. Woof-woof! Go Bears!