Still Plenty of B.S. in the BCS
Florida’s messy victory over Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game raised more questions than it answered.
- Would Utah have put up a better fight than Oklahoma did? How about USC?
- When will “Big Game Bob” Stoops win another BCS game?
- Was the Big 12 horribly overrated this season?
- Can Florida star Tim Tebow play quarterback in the NFL?
- Once pro teams take away the quarterback draw, how effective will Tebow be?
Here is what some of the nation’s leading pundits wrote after the spectacle:
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com: “The Gators won a crystal trophy, but the victory over OU was as artistic as a finger painting. It isn’t the first time a BCS Championship Game didn’t live up to the hype. No shame there. The difference is that there are three other teams that think they deserved a confetti shower — or at least the chance to have played for a national title. So what would the Gators say to Utah, Texas and USC?”
Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “Stoops, whose team became the first to score more than 700 points in a season, didn’t like hearing about the deficient defenses in his conference, or how Big 12 schools were scoring so much less in these bowl games. But again, that was the case. Oklahoma scored 40 points less than its season average.”
Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, on Tebow: “For a couple of wonderfully antique hours Thursday, this is the perfect player who made us forget college football’s imperfect system. After Florida’s messy 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game at Dolphin Stadium, I’m still not sure I can name the nation’s best team. But I’m absolutely positive of its biggest star, that being the Gators quarterback who looks like a Four Horseman, acts like Seven Blocks of Granite, and talks like Knute Rockne.”
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports: “Tebow’s heart gets a lot of hype – too much for some. The television announcers are often over the top in their praise and the stories of Tebow’s off-field heroics as a devout Christian can be fatiguing. It’s a strange phenomenon of the modern media. Fans can find themselves rooting against a good guy just because they keep being reminded of how good he is. A little fallibility can go a long way. So at least Tebow earned a taunting penalty in the fourth quarter to prove he’s human after all.”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering if the Cardinals will jump in on the starting pitching sweepstakes:
- Wouldn’t Randy Wolf or Oliver Perez make you feel better about the Cards rotation?
- How much far did Thursday night’s debacle against Xavier set back Rick Majerus’ program?
- How could the Billikens be THAT overmatched against an A-10 opponent?
THE BEAUTY OF THE GMAC BOWL
Count Texas coach Mack Brown among those wondering if America needs so many bowl games.
“It is an exciting time,” Brown told The Dallas Morning News. “I see 7-5 teams throwing Gatorade on their coach.
“At Texas if we were 7-5 they would be throwing something on me, but it wouldn’t be Gatorade, I will tell you that.”
THE LEGEND OF BABY MANGINO
Once again, behold the power of the Internets.
THE HARD LIFE OF A NBA ROOKIE
This is what happened when Jason Thompson didn’t follow rookie protocol:
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:
Dwight Perry, Seattle Times: “Maple Leafs center Matt Stajan was sidelined with blurry vision after he was struck in the eye by an errant shot — while playing foosball. Team officials quietly suggested he stick to much less-dangerous pursuits like, maybe, ice hockey.”
Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “Joe Paterno coached the Rose Bowl from the press box and didn’t even bother to come down to the locker room at halftime. Isn’t it only a matter of time before old Joe just stays home on game day and coaches from his recliner?”
MEGAPHONE
“I love to lead the team. I love to be in charge. I feel that is my personality.”
Tebow, talking to reporters after leading Florida to the BCS title.
Wow, what an awful production of a national championship game (or any game for that matter) by FOX last night. From the announcing, to the lack of replays, to that stupid between snaps clock for OU. Usually FOX does a good job but last night was just terrible all the way around. Utah gets my vote anyway.
Who could have guessed that at this point Ron Villone would be considered an upgrade to the Cardinals bullpen?
I agree with S.W., college football should be left to either ESPN or CBS.
Congratulations to the Gators, enjoy it for 36 more hours because it is only 27 days until National Signing Day! As Barry Switzer once said, “You’ve got to keep feeding the monster.”
Fox was also really bad with the Fiesta Bowl earlier this week S.W.
Thanks to Tipsheet for calling this game like it was - SLOPPY. (Several websites called this a great game…sorry but that simply isn’t the case). Although, as Really pointed out earlier this week, having about 7 weeks off between games is a good way to screw up a football team. I’m sorry for bringing this up again and beating it like a dead horse, but until we get a top-8 playoff system that starts a max of two weeks after the regular season we will never actually know who is the best team. The regular season ends, then these kids have finals and Christmas break, and then they are supposed to play in a title game? Stupid if you think about it…
As for the Big 12, I feel like we got exposed. The Big 12 South went 1-3 and didn’t score anywhere near their season averages. I was sure the Big 12 was the best conference in CF this year, but I can’t say that now that the dust has settled. The only bright spots were the play of OK defense (I thought they did a pretty good job considering all the bad talk about them) and the 3-0 bowl record for the North.
Oh, by the way, the “Big” 10 went 1-6, another banner year for THE most overrated conference. But you can bet they will still have 2 teams in the top 8 next preseason.
I think Utah should be #1. No one stands out and Utah is the only team that doesn’t have to explain a loss. And they crushed the team (Bama) that Florida was losing to for 54 minutes of the SEC Championship game. And beat the team that beat USC. And beat 6 bowl teams during the regular season. Utes=#1.
Damn I miss hockey…
FOX has never been good at broadcasting college football. Forget their A or B team broadcasters and directors, I think they use their Z team. Thank heaven ESPN bought the rights to the BCS games. Tebow’s behind ought to be mighty clean, because Brenneman spent all night licking it. I thought he was going to light candles to Tebow at one point.
Tim, I’m not sure an 8 team playoff would solve anything. How are you going to determine the best 8 teams? There’s too much of a chance that an excellent “mid-major” team like Utah will be left out, while some over-rated big conference team will get to go. Penn State, anyone? Pollsters simply refuse to believe that the college football landscape has changed, and that former power conferences are not as good as they used to be, and their teams are not as good. The NCAA scholarship limitations have significantly leveled the playing field.
Agreed with the poster who was lamenting how much he had to hear about how Tebow might just be the second coming of our Lord and Savior. Look, I know the guy seems like a genuinely good person and does great things for the community and all that stuff, but say it once or twice and then talk about the game. Between that and everything about how tough the guy is or what an amazing leader the guy is and I was about Tebow’d to death. People do realize there is more than one way to lead, right?
My wife actually looked at me a little funny when I finally had enough about halfway through the fourth quarter and started screaming obscenities at the TV, telling it to stop talking about Tebow……she muted the TV.
I hear ya Don, but at least Utah would have gotten a chance to prove themselves this year (they were #6 I believe in the final BCS rankings). And the best team in the land is going to be in the top 8 of the BCS. Maybe a team that is the 8th best won’t get in, but that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as doing it the way we do now and not knowing if Texas, USC, or Utah is better than Florida.
The BCS is nothing more than a money grab for the six BCS conferences (and which the ACC and Big East should be booted out in my opinion). Legally the talk about anti-competition rules being broken has some water to it from what I have read. Everything else is this country is decided by head to head competition - business, elections, all other sports, etc. So it too should be with college football.
A playoff system would be great…but quickly ruined by the money-hungry conference and network pigs who would institute some sort of “wild card” format.
Imagine a wild card team, which backed into a playoff system, peaking in December and/or January, winning the national championship with three losses.
That’s nepotism in broadcasting again. If Brennaman’s dad wasn’t a famous broadcaster, he’d be doing single A games in Montana. That was painfull to listen to last night.
Paterno doesn’t need to coach at this point, he just needs to recruit. He’s a legend, and when he talks - people listen, especially recruits.
UF’ers should hope that athletic director Jeremy Foley has plans to renegotiate a contract extension and salary increase for Urban Meyer. Urban is among the best head coaches in the nation, if not now THE best, and he deserves compensation alongside the top notch earners. Isn’t Urban worth that to the Gator Nation?
Cheers and Congrat’s!
Who is Rick Majerus?
Trust me James, you don’t want to know!
Tim, I’m a lawyer. I don’t think anti-competition (anti-trust) statutes can be used to destroy the BCS. I don’t like the BCS, and I’m not really sure how to structure a viable playoff system at this point. Personally, I liked how it worked before the SWC folded–just let everybody argue over it, and if we had two “national champions”, so be it. Yeah, I know I’m old!
Tebow should get drunk and get his picture taken with a half naked fat woman giving him a lap dance. Trust me, people will then stop talking about how good of a person you are.
Draft Maclin with the 2nd pick!
He would put people back in the seats, help offense, punt returns and kick-off returns (three areas as opposed to one area for a lineman). A lot of bang for the buck. We could always use rounds 2-5 to get linemen or pick up the many free agents out there.
Thoughts?
I agree that a tournament would be the best format. I like the idea of a 16 team format with the winners of all 10 conferences getting in, and the remaining 6 spots being filled by the BCS order (excluding the division winners). And if Army/Navy/W. Kentuck or Notre Dame finish in the top 10, they get in as well.
I agree that a tournament would be the best format. I like the idea of a 16 team format with the winners of all 11 conferences getting in, and the remaining 5 spots being filled by the BCS order (excluding the division winners). And if Army/Navy/W. Kentucky or Notre Dame finish in the top 10, they get in as well.
To do this you need to:
1. Get rid of all conference championship games
2. Figure out a tie-breaking procedure for all conferences.
3. Make everyone play an 11 game schedule
All of the teams are then reseeded based off of their BCS finish, and they play the first round at the top 8 seeds home field. This round of games would be played the first week of December to reduce the gap and avoid Thanksgiving. This format does not guarantee a conference winner gets a home game as well (See Sun Belt Champ). Then the second week in December the final 8 meet at the highest remaining seeds home field as well. Then on New Years day (about two weeks later) the final 4 meet at two of the four major bowl sites (pre determined) with the championship being played a week later at a third major bowl site. These sites will consistently rotate.
If that happened this year, you would have the following (***using conference championship game winner as conference winner if multiple teams tied as I didn’t come up with the all-knowing tiebreaker myself…lazy I know).
Conference winners (BCS Ranking)
ACC – Virginia Tech*** (#19)
Big 12 – Oklahoma*** (#1)
SEC – Alabama (#4)
Big 10 – Penn St. (#8)
Big East – Cincinnati (#12)
Conference USA – Tulsa (NR)
Pacific 10 – USC (#5)
MAC – Ball St. (#22)
Mountain West – Utah (#6)
WAC – Boise St. (#9)
Sun Belt – Troy (NR)
Next 5 (via BCS standings)
Florida (#2)
Texas (#3)
Texas Tech (#7)
Ohio St. (#10)
TCU (#11)
The tournament pairings would be
16. Troy @ 1. Oklahoma
9. Boise St. @ 8. Penn St.
13. Virginia Tech @ 4. Alabama
12. Cincinnati @ 5. USC
15. Tulsa @ 2. Florida
10. Ohio St. @ 7. Texas Tech
11. TCU @ 6. Utah
14. Ball St. @ 3. Texas
I love the thought of home field advantage of people who deserve it, and not just because the bowl game is played in their back yard. Also, I think this format stresses the importance of conference play and the BCS, while maintaining the integrity (to an extent) of the major bowl games. Some first round games would be great, but the second round matches look awesome.
Just my opinion though. Thoughts???
Ignore that first paragraph and start with the second. I meant to say 11 conf champs and 5 at-large teams. Sorry
Happy New Year
I believe you if you say so Don, I was regurgitating what I’ve read. I wonder what that A.G. in Utah is thinking then? He is one of the people talking anti-trust stuff…
I still think the current BCS system sucks though.
Tony - If we needed Maclin I would say go for it, but the Sheep need OL help more than a speedy wideout. I love the guy and wish him well though, and I think going pro was the right move for him.
Really - Getting rid of championship games is a good idea, as long as each league has a foolproof tiebreaker system. I would cut the number of non-conference games each team can play (kinda like they did in basketball with preseason tournaments a few years back) so that they can play the majority if not all of their conference opponents, which would probably need to happen for the tiebreaker system to be worth a damn.
The format sounds great. Some people are hesitant about 16 teams as opposed to 8, but it could be made to work. I like 8 myself, but the number of teams is small potatoes compared to getting a playoff system in the first damn place. Starting Dec 1 would still give teams that lose in the tournament a chance to play in a regular bowl game too.
Let’s do it.
Tim - 2009 OL Free agents from Footballsfuture.com
Most are unrestricted free agents. You could sign 1 or 2 from here and draft 1 or 2 in rounds 2-5. I get your point though. The ‘fins drafted 3 linemen last year in the first three rounds and look how well they did.
Matt Birk, UFA, Minnesota Vikings
Mike Goff, UFA, San Diego Chargers
Jordan Gross, UFA, Carolina Panthers
Mark Tauscher, UFA, Green Bay Packers
Marvel Smith, UFA, Pittsburgh Steelers
Jahri Evans, RFA, New Orleans Saints
Jason Brown, RFA, Baltimore Ravens
Jeff Saturday, UFA, Indianapolis Colts
Other Offensive Lineman
Stacy Andrews, UFA, Cincinnati Bengals
Khalif Barnes, UFA, Jacksonville Jaguars
Jordan Black, UFA, Houston Texans
Vernon Carey, UFA, Miami Dolphins
George Foster, UFA, Detroit Lions
Chris Gray, UFA, Seattle Seahawks
Pete Kendall, UFA, Washington Redskins
Seth McKinney, UFA, Cleveland Browns
Jon Runyan, UFA, Philadelphia Eagles
Tra Thomas, UFA, Philadelphia Eagles
Fred Weary, UFA, Houston Texans
John Welbourn, UFA, Kansas City Chiefs
The AG from Utah is thinking about getting re-elected!
The 8 team playoff system would be vastly superior to what we have now. You have 6 BCS conferences, each of which crowns a champion. You have 2 at large berths, filled by looking at record ONLY, not strength of schedule or other BS that the bigtime schools try to use to protect their powerbase. No undefeated team should ever be left out, you can only lose it on the field. If you end up the year with 3 non BCS conference undefeated teams, take the weakest two, hold a play-in game. Once you have your final 8, seed them according to strength and play it out. You will have virtually no arguments about who is the national champ.
What, Alabama only has one loss, in the conference championship game and the champ comes from the PAC-10 with 3 losses? Tough. You had a path to win the national title, win your conference.
How can the NCAA football leaders look themselves in the mirror and claim that Utah is on a level playing field with USC, Florida, LSU, Ohio State, etc? No matter what they did this year, they were never going to be given a chance to compete for the “national championship”. Sportsmanship demands that every team start the year with the knowledge that if they excel, they have the chance to win it all ON THE FIELD. Going undefeated and finishing second to a team that might be able to beat you on the field, might not, no one really knows, is unacceptable to any logical football fan.
Another Texas vs. USC would be a better game. Strength of Schedule should be a high part of any National Ranking. When an SEC team plays the Sisters of Mercy or any Div II or lowly ranked team ie the Roccky Mt. Institute of Weather Mapping, They sould drop out of the top 25, This whle Texas plays Rice , and USC plays UCLA, Where’s tha balance?