Pete
Fiutak
Q: Does Louisville deserve the No. 3 spot?
A:
I want one more week before I believe. Don't get me wrong,
Louisville is strong enough on offense and at home to beat anyone in
America, but I'm still not 100% sold that this is the third best team in
America. On a neutral field at the moment and with everything on the
line, out of Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Florida, LSU, Arkansas,
Auburn, USC, Wisconsin, and yeah, on a neutral field, West Virginia, I
think the Cards would win, maybe, three of those games. But that's not
the point right now. Is it the number three team? It's very, very
possible; I just want to see the Rutgers game.
My beef with West Virginia rings true with Louisville; while UofL is a
good team, I don't believe it would get through any of the other BCS
conferences unbeaten. The best road with is at Kansas State? That's a
regular October afternoon for most Big 12 teams. One win over West
Virginia is certainly nice, and now the offense has to show it can keep
the fireworks going in hostile environments against Rutgers and Pitt.
While I think Louisville will win the Big East and go to the BCS, I
don't think it'll get through the next three games unbeaten before
playing Connecticut. I'm not 100% certain this is a top ten team, but if
it gets through the year 12-0, yeah, it should probably get the shot to
play for the national title. Like I said, I could quickly change my tune
in a few days.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q: Does Louisville deserve the No. 3 spot?
A: Sure. Considering how hot this topic has become since last Thursday,
you’d think Louisville played in the Sun Belt rather than the Big East.
No, the Big East isn’t as deep as the SEC or the Big Ten, but the league
has come a long way over the past two years, shedding the Big Least
tag. Plus, the Cardinals’ perfect record has included wins over Miami
and West Virginia to go along with victories against Kentucky, Kansas
State and Cincinnati, which look pretty good now that all three are over
.500 and in the hunt for a postseason game. The prominent one-loss
schools, such as Texas, Florida, Auburn and USC, are quality programs to
be sure, but hardly dominant enough in their wins to jump an unbeaten
team from a BCS conference. The Horns, Gators, Tigers and Trojans have
each been tested by unranked teams over the past few weeks, so why
exactly are so many people up in arms that 8-0 Louisville is ranked
ahead of these schools? The clincher for me comes courtesy of the six
computers used in the BCS rankings. You know, those unbiased entities
that strip away personal biases and factor in those little details that
many voters fail to consider. Guess where they have the Cardinals? You
betcha. No. 3. If you want to gripe about where Louisville is ranked
these days, you’d have a better case contending it should be higher, not
lower. Have you seen No. 2 Michigan play lately?
John
Harris
Q: Does Louisville deserve the No. 3 spot?
A. After
this weekend, taking the full weekend into account, along with the body
of work that is the 2006 season, I’m not convinced that there is a team
that should be ahead of Louisville. That assessment is more negative
assurance than positive, but I think it’s a combination of factors that
imply that Louisville is my choice for that spot.
First of all,
Louisville is undefeated in a BCS conference. That’s not easy. I don’t
care what conference it is, especially a BCS conference, that’s a feat
that doesn’t and shouldn’t go unrecognized. Would that mean more in
another conference? Maybe. But the fact of the matter is that there
are only four teams in the nation that are undefeated (three at the most
after this weekend and two at the most after next weekend). What does
that say? Sure, Louisville struggled with Syracuse and Cincinnati, but
Texas struggled with Oklahoma State last year in its national
championship year. USC needed all four quarters to beat Stanford in
2004 in its national championship year. Ohio State – Purdue 2002?
Shoot, how about Ohio State-Cincinnati in 2002? The point is that even
undefeated national champions have a couple of hiccups throughout the
season, but still win. Louisville hasn’t been a traditional power and
it’s hard for most people to break through that barrier of believing
that the Cardinals are good. Very good. And, maybe it’s because the
success is so recent that it’s hard to understand (case in point, the
Cardinals had ten guys drafted into the NFL the last two years – from
1997 to 2004, they had a total of eight).
The second part is that
no other team is proving to be truly worthy of that spot. Texas played
exceptionally well against Oklahoma State, but is one Terrence Nunn
fumble away from being a two loss Texas team. Florida survived its
tricky middle of the season SEC stretch, but how good do wins over
Alabama and Georgia appear now? Furthermore, they didn’t play well at
Vandy this weekend (shoot, Duke scored more points against Vandy). Who
else could you make an argument for at #3? My next vote would go to
Texas for that spot, I suppose, but a team with a loss (no matter where
that loss emanates still has a loss) has to be dominant each week to
take that spot away from an undefeated BCS conference team. Texas was
good last week, but the last three weeks? Not like I would’ve wanted to
move them ahead of Louisville.
So, Louisville at #3?
As good as anyone else in that spot.
Matthew
Zemek
Q: Does Louisville deserve the No. 3 spot?
A:The real question is, does Louisville deserve the
No. 2 spot?
Louisville, unlike Michigan and Florida but like Texas (who, by the
way, also has a strong claim for No. 2--that is, if we're going to
determine the best teams in the nation at this point in time, instead of
using the faulty "who deserves the ranking slot based on record until
they lose on November
18 in Columbus?" standard), actually has an elite quarterback. This
means just a touch in big games, dunnit? Louisville would be Michigan's
equal on a neutral field, and the two teams would likely split a
home-and-home. Texas would likely beat either team, but at the end of
the day, it would be entirely reasonable to split a vote between UL and
Michigan for No. 2.
Not that this matters, though... if Michigan beats the Buckeyes, this
whole conversation becomes a moot point. (At least if UM doesn't look
ahead yet again... unlike Ball State, Indiana could make the Wolverines
pay.) Michigan didn't cover itself in dust and glory against Ball State,
but if Lloyd Carr's team wins two more regular-season games, they're in
Glendale, case closed.
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