CFB question

corblimey

Got NASN over the weekend (ah, NFL Prime Time, Countdown, Films Presents) and was watching a bit of live CFB on Saturday. It's all good except I don't understand why some CFB teams have little numbers in front of their names on the scoreboard. Like Notre Dame (go! Fighting Irish) was 20 and Michigan was 3. Look here: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team?statsId=104

It's hardly their league position, right? Some teams don't have any, but are still playing, and ND seem a little too quality to be 20th. I've heard of the Big Ten in terms of NCAA, but don't understand the significance. Maybe I need a bluffer's guide to CFB?

por

They are the teams rankings in the 'Polls'

I am not 100% on how this ranking works so here is what I know about it.
There are different level of college football, Div1, Div1 A, Div 2 etc
The football you see on TV is Div 1 which contains the big college teams, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio, ND, Tenessee etc etc. i.e. the big sports colleges.
They are split into various 'confrences' primarly based on geography.
Beacuse there are so many of them and the season is so short (14 odd games) they cannot have everyone playing everyone so they have a ranking system which determines how the teams are preforming.
This ranking is based on a poll of writers and coaches so basically who is the best is based on someones opionion.
At the time you watched the ND v Michigan game ND were ranked 20th and Michigan 3rd.
At the end of the season the top ranked teams play in the Bowl Championship Series which is a series of high profile games in various cities with the main game being the championship game between the 1st and 2nd ranked teams for the nation championship

For all the deatils on the College football season go to Yahoo Sports or for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS)

Padwick

Basically these are the BCS rankings which are based on a coaches poll of the teams, strength of schedule, computer forumlae, amongst other things. Like it explained above, it is to get some level playing ground as the teams cannot all play each other.

At the end of the season these rankings will play a part in who gets into the big BCS Bowl Games - The Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl (although with Nawlins the way it is, who knows about the Sugar?). These 4 Bowls alternate the National Championship game between them every year and this game is contested between numbers 1 and 2 in the final poll. The other teams are made up of the winners of the 6 BCS Conferences (PAC-10, Big Ten, Big XII, SEC, ACC, and Big East). Numbers 1 and 2 will more often than not be two of these winners. Then the two other teams will get in based on BCS rank (called 'at large' teams).

You will get strange situations though like a few years back where Oklahoma were way ahead at number 1 in the polls only to lose the Big XII championship game to Kansas State, but it wasn't enough to knock them out of the top two so they still played for the National Championship. Although it was enough to put K-State into a BCS Bowl game too.

It all can get complicated but makes for great TV arguments (Auburn/USC/OU all for number 1 last season) and Bowl season is great television.

Padwick

And just as I query where the Sugar Bowl will be held this year, the announcement is made that it will be in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.