A Four Team Playoff? Wow!!

It looks like Division I college football will be going to some sort of four team "playoff" format in the next couple of years. Great. That should fix the whole ridiculous BCS system that is in place now. I can't wait. Now we will be able to really and truly get to see which school is the "real" champion in the ranks of "big time" college football. My money is on a revolving door of  USC, LSU, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame (because they are special), Oklahoma, and maybe even Florida, FSU, Oregon or Texas. Year in and year out.

Yep they really have fixed things over there at the NCAA.

What a bunch of dolts.

A Few Things Wrong With The Game

I love college football and have for many years and I believe there are some changes that are long overdue. The game, at the Division I level (I refuse to call it FBS), has become little more than a farm system for the NFL (and other pro leagues) in which the players receive no compensation. I am not for any paid compensation for college players, but let us call it what it is -big business which utilizes unpaid semi professional players. Think it is not big business? Consider this - If a coach for a major college team does not consistently win, he is out of a job. No ifs, ands, or buts. Look at Bobby Bowden. He was forced out (of course he was) of his job at FSU after building that program. A man of his stature should have had the luxury of staying until he felt the need to retire, even if that meant mediocre seasons for FSU until he retired. The same can be said for Paterno at Penn State. I have been a Florida State fan for years, mainly due to Bowden. I will miss him leading the Noles and will also miss defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews (I used to work with his son) prowling the sidelines with him. Andrews just looked like he had anger management issues and that was kinda cool. Needless to say I am an FSU fan no more and wish them no success in the future. The point is that the need to "win at all cost" in major college ball shows that the game has become more akin to the NFL than to the game for "student athletes" it is supposed to be.

A couple of things I would change on the field is the ridiculous college overtime. If the teams are tied at the end of regulation, and an overtime must be played, why not just play another quarter. Frankly I would just as soon see the end of the game be the end of the game even if that means a tie.
I also think that the ground can cause a fumble. This waiting around for officials to determine if the ground caused the fumble is stupid. If a player fumbles the ball, he fumbles the ball. I don't care if a bird caused it.

I won't go into the BCS system much here, other than to say that it is somewhat of a scam. Tonight's Fiesta Bowl is a good case in point. Boise State and TCU square off in what may be a very good game. Here is the rub. Neither of them is in a BCS Conference and therefore a game between them proves very little. It is probable that the BCS leadership don't want another embarrassment which shows their system to be a sham. That being said, I do not believe the government has any business getting involved in changing the system.They might have better things to do. Hopefully the BCS will just die on its own before too long.

I also have issue with Allstate Insurance being so heavily involved in the college game. They certainly have the right to sponsor college ball, but it just seems a little odd. They appear to have ample money for sponsorship, but let me ask you a question. Have you ever dealt with these folks? Have you ever tried to get them to pay a fair and equitable claim? I have and can tell you from experience you will know you are in good hands. You may feel them sliding up your backside. I feel comfortable saying this as I have felt myself victimized by them. They are happy to take your money but it is my experience (and many others) that you are dealing with perhaps an unethical organization. Perhaps the NCAA should be a little more discriminating on who they let sponsor the sport. I am silly for thinking that I know.

One other thing; There are far to many bowl games. A game between two 6-6 teams is just not interesting. A .500 record should not qualify a team for post season play.

Just a few thoughts on the game.

Week 10 College Football Recap

Ok this week my record is 9 wins to 7 losses in predictions. Not good but better than last week where I had a losing record. The grand total stands at 102 to 60. There were some quite good games to watch this last week with a couple of minor surprises of note. I have noted that there is a lot of parity in the college game and that is holding true throughout the season.

The Sun Belt is still Troy's to lose. UlM and Middle Tn. the only two that may yet challenge Troy, were both victorious in conference action. The Trojans kept rolling with a victory over W. Kentucky. Next up on their slate is the University of Arkansas. That probably will be a loss, but will not figure into conference standings.

The Big Ten is now really intriguing. Iowa's loss to Northwestern and the Buckeye victory over Penn State throw this one up for grabs. Who will be the eventual conference champion? Iowa can not be considered for the BCS Championship Game, but still has a good shot at the conference championship. I did think Iowa would trip up before it was all said and done, but did not think the Wildcats would be the team to do it. It is easy to forget that Wisconsin is still technically in the mix also.

Over in the MAC it is still between CMU and Temple. Temple had some difficulty last week but did come out of it in the win column.

The SEC now is down to Florida and Alabama. They both clinched and will meet in the conference championship game. The season is not yet finished and one or both still may be tripped up, but they still will meet for conference honors regardless. The Hogs pulled off a minor upset against SC. LSU may still yet land in a BCS Bowl. At worst, they will play in an upper level non BCS contest. Most of the rest of the league played IAA opponents this week and there were no upsets. Furman did keep pace with the Bulldogs of Ga. somewhat. Memphis of CUSA did not fare well against TN. but that was to be expected.

Over in CUSA Houston pulled one out of the hat with a last second field goal that put them on top of Tulsa. I thought this would be a tough game and was right. U of H looked a little flat and Tulsa came to play ball. What is interesting is that some announcers have all but accused Todd Graham of having players fake injuries as time was running down. This is in effect a time out that Todd (allegedly) would use to give his offense time to score if U or H tied the game. If true, it bit him in the ass as the Coogs missed the two point conversion to tie. This apparently effectively ended the contest, but an onside kick recovery by Houston and subsequent long field goal put the Cougars in the win column. I put Todd Graham in the same column as "He who shall remain nameless" over at Alabama and that jerk over at Ole Miss. Graham screwed Rice University. That reminds me of something funny of note. When Graham bolted for supposed greener pastures after 1 year with Rice it was considered a slap in the face. When Tulsa and the Owls met at Rice Stadium the following year the MOB (Marching Owl Band) lampooned him viciously. Are you familiar with the MOB? They pull no punches. Often halftime at Rice Stadium is more interesting than the game. At any rate Graham demanded an apology. I do not remember if one was forthcoming, but I am not familiar with a case of the Marching Owl Band ever issuing one. Screw Graham.
Enough pontificating? I think so. Rice came pretty close to winning the game with SMU. This is the first time this season they have not been utterly blown out. Is that progress? The Coogs should be the winner of CUSA West but it is unclear who they will meet in the championship game. I think it will be ECU but it is still not settled. ECU did lose a contest with VA. Tech Thursday night but that was non conference and should not affect the conference standings.

Cincy took down UConn over in the major Big East contest and most likely will land a BCS Bowl. They are a good team. I would love to see Cincinnati and Ohio State square off. WV still has a shot perhaps and were victorious in their contest. Same with the Pitt Panthers. This is a pretty interesting conference that does not seem to really get proper respect nationally. Frankly I would give Cincy and even chance against any other undefeated team in the land.

The Pac 10 just got more interesting with Oregon faltering against Stanford. Will Arizona be the top dog in this conference before it is all said and done? Why was Cal in the top 25? Tedford does a good job with the Golden Bears, but this has not been a good year for him. The rest of the conference (maybe even USC) is forgettable.

The WAC is still Boise's to lose. They did have some trouble against a pesky La. Tech team Friday night in Ruston. They came out victorious as usual however. Fresno State took down a vastly improved Idaho team last night in a pretty good game. It had all the earmarks of a complete blow out but Idaho kept is fairly close. Pat Hill's squad is under rated. They are a legitimate top 25 team. Tonight Nevada, which is still undefeated in conference play, meets SJSU and should have little problem with the Spartans. Nevada still has a shot but probably will not be able to get past Boise. The game next week against Fresno State will be a good game though. If Nevada wins, which would be a minor upset, they still have a shot. Their game with Boise State is their last of the season. This is an interesting conference and the top dogs should get a little more respect nationally.

The ACC is the ACC. Georgia Tech looks like they will represent the Coastal Division in the championship game. Miami took down Virginia and Clemson took out Florida State. The only other game of note was the NC victory over Duke. Not sure if any of the teams in this conference can be counted among the game's elite. Perhaps Ga. Tech. Look for Miami to be a power to contend with in the coming years.

Almost forgot about the Mountain West. TCU meets Utah next week and that should be the deciding factor in whether TCU (or for that matter Utah) is BCS qualified. This may well be the game of the week.

The Big Twelve should have Texas as the representative from the south. It is hard to see who in conference can beat the Horns at this point. The Big Twelve North is another matter. KSU is in the drivers seat and may well be the eventual winner here.

I will try to get week 11 predictions out at some point. Have a good and safe week.

BCS Controversy

The BCS is of course B.S. and everyone knows it. Mack Brown and others are no fans of the system, though he and others (Florida, Bama, LSU, KSU especially, etc. ) take advantage of it by scheduling weaker non conference opponents that on paper at least, have little chance of winning. That is why it is so wonderful when one of these IAA or weaker teams from say the Sun Belt Conference or MAC bites them on the ass. The ULM victory of BAMA was great a couple of years back and of course Appalachian State embarrassed Michigan not too long ago. This year alone Iowa was scared by IAA Northern Iowa and came within a hair of losing to Sun Belt Arkansas State. KSU was beaten by the Ragun Cajuns and that was fun also. The point being, the BCS pushes these major power football schools into working the schedule this way. The "lessor" team gets a good payday and the "power" team usually comes away with a victory. This runs up the wins for a team with national championship aspirations, but a good many of these games are in reality just meaningless scrimmages. Before the BCS there were a few games like this here and there. Often they were scheduled between coaches that had a friendly history, but it has gotten ridiculously out of hand. I saw and editorial the other day concerning this phenomena. Apparently USC does not schedule down nor does Stoops over at Oklahoma. That is to their credit, but it can most definitely hurt their chances at a shot at a national title. Take Oklahoma's loss to BYU this year. That is factored into the BCS computer when it comes to doling out BCS Bowl Games. USC of course had their loss this year also. A win over a IAA team should not count when factoring points and a loss should count three times more than a loss to a D1 team. That would cut down on some of this particular abuse in the college game.

Senator Hatch of Utah apparently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to look into the BCS system personally. Hatch is under the opinion that the BCS system violates the anti trust laws that this country has in place. He may be quite right.vIt goes without saying that the BCS system is flawed and (hopefully) will eventually go away; but do we really need the government to get involved in this right now? They should have other things on their plate at this time. That reminds me of when John McCain was hounding baseball about steroid use, when our troops were fighting and dying in the war against the Mohammedans. This is still the case of course. Our president and government are bickering about side issues while our economy sinks (don't let them fool you; this nation may be in for a major economic meltdown) and our troops are fighting, without proper support mind you, in Afghanistan and still in harms way in Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

Are those damn fools in Washington out of touch with reality? The BCS System, steroids in baseball, thugs in the NBA, Soviets in the NHL (just kidding), the popularity of un American Soccer (not kidding) and so forth will eventually work itself out. Get on with the nation's business.