Chris Dufresne

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How about a Boise-TCU matchup?

How about a Boise-TCU matchup?

November 12, 2009

We've heard some crazy projected Bowl Championship Series matchups, and some could even happen.

  • Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings

    November 12, 2009

    Rankman is starting to wonder whether he has had the wrong Texas at No. 1 all season, what with Texas Christian having won at Virginia and Clemson and Brigham Young this year and Texas having won at Wyoming. But one thing you learn in this business is never look back . . . unless you're Oregon's defense trying to chase down Stanford's Toby Gerhart. We salute Navy's poll debut this week after the Midshipmen punched Notre Dame in the midsection. And here's a Rankman first: having to come up with a comment . . . for Temple.

  • Has the Pac-10 dropped the ball on how it picks a champion?

    November 11, 2009

    The fairest way to determine a champion may cost the Pacific 10 Conference a chance of earning an additional $4.5 million by getting a second team into a Bowl Championship Series game.

  • Season is more inevitable than incredible

    November 9, 2009

    The season seems stuck in third gear. It has been good, but not great -- more interesting than compelling.

  • Trojans make a statement, though not an emphatic one

    November 8, 2009

    Pete Carroll's USC team bounced back again after a loss.

  • Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings

    November 5, 2009

    Rankman cleaned house with the extra time he had this week not having to move USC below Oregon in his rankings order. Anyone else already have Oregon ahead? Nothing personal, Trojans, but we had seen both defenses play. We originally ruled on the field that Iowa's knee was down at No. 12, but the Big Ten replay crew overturned it and placed the team inside the 10. And, remember kids, have an ophthalmologist picked out in advance before jumping into a pile with Florida's Brandon Spikes.

  • The more unbeatens, the merrier for the BCS

    November 5, 2009

    Memo to the enemies of the Bowl Championship Series state, saboteurs, seekers of subterfuge, plotters, pamphleteers, "Hatch's Hecklers," lobbyists, fomenters, "Barack's Bracket Brigade," and mercenaries for the MAC:

  • Oregon and Arizona have shaky perches atop Pac-10

    November 4, 2009

    It might seem like a new day in Pacific 10 Conference football, but we're still a long way from judgment day.

  • Something doesn't smell right around the BCS

    November 2, 2009

    The Bowl Championship Series can probably survive controversy and silliness and talk-radio arguments and, more than likely, political bullying from windbag representatives interested mainly in their reelections.

  • These Ducks are filling the bill

    November 1, 2009

    The best team in the country right now wears green and goes "quack, quack."

  • Leaving the USC football team in a sorry state

    October 31, 2009

    Where they are now, as if anyone who follows USC gives a load of lumber:

  • Rose Bowl's dream scenario is as easy as 1-2-3-4

    October 29, 2009

    The Rose Bowl brain trust doesn't publicly cheer for schools, but it can shake 100 pompoms for number sequences, and the dream countdown for this season's two-game extravaganza is, without question, 4-3-2-1.

  • Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings

    October 29, 2009

    Memo to Associated Press, Harris and USA Today voters: excuse me? Florida escapes two weeks in a row with help from the officials and stays No. 1? Alabama almost loses to a team UCLA (0-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference) defeated and stays No. 2? And Texas finally plays like No. 1 but stays at No. 3?

  • USC-Oregon is the game to watch in conference -- for some

    October 28, 2009

    Pacific 10 Conference coaches can't wait for Saturday's marquee matchup, USC at Oregon, the game of the week in college football.

  • One play can turn the tide of a college football season

    October 26, 2009

    If Alabama and Iowa end up playing for the Bowl Championship Series title in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 7, a game that probably would end up 3-3 on its way to overtime, remember Saturday.

  • Nobody should be No. 1 in college football

    October 25, 2009

    Forget what you may have heard, read, said, e-mailed, faxed or tweeted -- there is no No. 1 in college football right now.

  • College football season reaches halftime with a full slate of surprises

    October 22, 2009

    It has been a strange season and you only know the half of it.

  • Oregon-Washington: the Uncivil war

    October 21, 2009

    Oregon at Washington isn't just an interesting game with title implications and bowl ramifications: It's probably the Pacific 10 Conference's nastiest annual encounter.

  • For USC, it's a fright at the finish against the Irish

    October 18, 2009

    It was USC versus Notre Dame so you knew who was going to win, but at least it wasn't 81-0 or 45-2 or Irish fans crying their eyes out.

  • Charlie Weis' Irish may need to win one for the skipper

    October 17, 2009

    No one can deny fifth-year Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis' dedication or intellect.

  • Chris Dufresne's top 25 rankings

    October 15, 2009

    Rankman plays Texas "hold em" (barely) at No. 1 after the Longhorns' shaky win over Colorado, but Mack Brown's band of punt blockers can get back in good graces with a win over Oklahoma. Also came close to dumping Texas Christian, a three-point winner over Air Force, for Alabama at No. 6, but realized how good service academy schools were after Army beat Vanderbilt, a Southeastern Conference bowl team.

  • Get ready for a Bunch of Crazy Stuff to hit college football

    October 15, 2009

    The Mercury Astronauts were introduced in 1959, graced the cover of Life Magazine, conquered space and were mythologized in film.

  • Coaches fear a freaky Saturday

    October 14, 2009

    League coaches, control freaks that they are, watched in horror Saturday night when Washington defeated Arizona, 36-33, on an intercepted pass that deflected off an Arizona receiver's foot.

  • Ducks are under control

    October 12, 2009

    Woke up Sunday never expecting to see the Angels on television right after sunrise services, or these unexpected college football story lines:

  • Tim Tebow returns, cautiously, for Florida

    October 11, 2009

    There is nothing left to see, folks, please clear the area.

  • Alabama, the home of Southern hostility

    October 10, 2009

    Chris Dufresne takes time out (he gets two per half) each Friday during the season to answer questions on college football.

  • Answering the big Florida questions

    October 8, 2009

    It feels like the humid old days, when FBS stood for Florida Bowl Series and Saturday in America tilted like a teeter-totter toward Tallahassee.

  • Stanford unranked? That's a Cardinal sin

    October 7, 2009

    Maybe all these pollsters need is a weekend visit to a Palo Alto think tank.

  • Notre Dame benefits from, yep, luck of the Irish

    October 5, 2009

    Back from Berkeley in time for a landscape recap, with inspiration from Joe Kapp.

  • The going will get tougher for Trojans

    October 4, 2009

    It was separation Saturday for two ranked Pacific 10 Conference schools on a chilly East Bay evening at Memorial Stadium.

  • UCLA at Stanford is the Bay Area showdown to watch

    October 3, 2009

    Tension mounts for the important Bay Area game featuring two three-win teams, a rookie quarterback, a quarterback named Kevin and one of the nation's leading rushers.

  • The Times' Top 25

    October 1, 2009

    Booking manager at "Puns, Pizza and Polls" instructs opening act Rankman to keep introduction short to make way for dancing penguins, so give me an "A" for Alabama moving up one spot, a "B" for Boise State proving it belongs and a "C" for Cincinnati. OK, my time's up, you've been great.

  • BCS standings have some practice runs before they're still not ready

    October 1, 2009

    Harris Interactive wasn't about to be Harris Hyperactive like those other polls that haphazardly published in August, before anyone knew who was who or what was Washington.

  • Pac-10 is suddenly earning A's in D

    September 30, 2009

    Arizona State ranks third nationally this week and USC is sixth, with UCLA checking in at No. 15 and Arizona at No. 25.

  • Experts were wrong? Anyone could've predicted that

    September 28, 2009

    In pool it's called a re-rack, in cards it's a re-shuffle, in the wilderness it's retracing your tracks and in college football, well, it's just ridiculous.

  • Cal's new appointment with disappointment

    September 26, 2009

    Two thoughts to take out of Saturday: Never, EVER trust an e-mail that says you inherited millions, or California football.

  • The Times' Top 25

    September 24, 2009

    Miami at No. 3?

  • Miami's young quarterback comes out slinging

    September 24, 2009

    Check out the vibe at Miami, an urban "swagger" school with a hip-hop, glam-rock football reputation, celebrities on the sidelines and as many national titles -- five -- as Florida and Florida State combined.

  • Arizona State needs to come up big in this game

    September 23, 2009

    Arizona State football has a history in big games, but this isn't a subject a Tempe student would want to major in.

  • USC seems out of sorts

    September 21, 2009

    We know when the season started, we know where it has been, but where does it go from here?

  • Pete Carroll is the common denominator in USC debacles

    September 20, 2009

    Florida versus Texas or USC for this season's national title is no longer the cinch it seemed Saturday when your paper hit pavement.

  • Roll the dice or play it safe? Pressure decisions can define a college football coach

    September 17, 2009

    It's fourth down at midfield and what the millionaire coach decides before the play clock runs out -- punt, pass, kick? -- could win the game or ultimately cost him the national title and/or his job.

  • The Times' Top 25

    September 17, 2009

    The Alabama Inch Worms continue to impress Rankman and parlayed a big win over Florida International last week into a one-spot catapult to No. 11. Because Utah is not on the schedule, the chances for an undefeated season and top-five finish appear excellent.

  • Cal hopes to avoid another early kickoff trap

    September 16, 2009

    This is a critical nonconference weekend for the Pacific 10 and it starts with California's early-morning kickoff at Minnesota on Saturday.

  • Chris Dufresne: Another big setback for the Big Ten

    September 14, 2009

    Ohio State got 86'd again -- right on the number.

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