Kickoffs and Giggles 2008

Annnnnd WE'RE BACK! It's a great time to be alive, what with more college football than you can shake a stick at.

It's been really busy here, so this will be a shorter update than usual (sorry), but at least it's not a goof of the magnitude of these folks:

• Mich1gAAn's Rich Rodriguez has completely bought into the tradition in Ann Arbor, leading the Wolverines to a opening home loss against another non=BCS conference team.
• Pitt followed suit, choking away their home opener to MAC p0werhouse Bowling Green. Way to represent, Big East pre-season favorite.
• aTm choked on a cupcake.
  
• VaTech proudly represented the ACC by dropping a game to Conference USA's Eastern Carolina. The ironic thing? It happened on a blocked kick attempt- something that Beamerball usually thrives on.
• Clemson continued the ACC legacy by falling apart against a resurgent Alabama team. Seems like Saban may be making his money after all.
  
• Staying in the ACC, North Carolina's football program continued to make news by having the game ball parachuted into the stadium before kickoff. Problem? Wrong stadium. Somehow, the Cameron Crazies will get credit for this.
• UWillingham let things get ugly in Eugene... Not that this wasn't all that difficult.
• Finally, the Fighting Zooks and APU Cougars both dropped games to much much better teams. Things can only move up, right?
• Kentucky won the "Governors Cup", which looks different than I thought it might.
  

Even the powerhouses had some trouble- tOSU saw the coming of the "Chosen One" tempered by a Heisman hopefull's injury, Georgia lost an anchor on their defensive line, and the guy who puts suntan lotion on Pete Carroll's back (I think this may be work study) has a hangnail. But, at least Anderson and Ntre Ame are still undefeated, right?

Speaking of U$C, let's introduce the new member of our jolly band of misfits- Jordy Dickey. I figured that we needed at least one fan from a good Pac-10 team (not so fast, Dan) to play along, since we've got the other major conferences covered.

And here's how we did for week one-
Wow- Paula's bad day carried over to the weekend- at least the Hawgs won.

As you remember, we do two competitions hereabouts. Here's how the picks looked this week:
Now you can see why- the #4 team for points is 14 for picks. I guess I'm just in an easy conference.

Next week, there are bigger games afoot (unless you have one of your two bye weeks). We see some battles for state supremacy, as Ohio and Ohio State/Eastern Illinois and the Illini/Eastern Michigan and Michigan State match up. Nebraska hosts the Spartans from San Jose State, and the Willinghams face the Mormons. Mich1gAAn tries to beat at least one team from Ohio, while Charlie's Chocolate Factory attempts to make due against SDSU (with or without thugs). Auburn host Brett Favre's fomer team (no, not that one or that one), and we get to see Vanderbilt in a conference game on Thursday night. Arkansas sees what's left after Gustav has swept through Lousiana, while Michale Houston visits Oklahoma State (what? Oh, it's another Houston... Got it).

Small schools- APU travels to their annual butt whipping against San Diego (which is Spanish for something, but I can't remember what), and Anderson opens their new facility in the "Wagon Wheel" game ( Joe- correct me if I'm wrong, but Taylor's never actually won that thing, right?).

Obscure game of the week: It's a tasty battle in Division 3, where Worcester State hosts Curry. Worcester has a legacy of academic excellance (Best college in Worcester County! Woo!) and civil rights; the Lancers have also established trade with Canada via their CFL signee. Curry College describes themselves as "forward looking", which is nice, and their campus is close to Boston (if you're in the area). Their mascot is the Colonels, which is just too bad.

Lest we forget

Happy "Kickoff Day!" I love college football...

But, let's also remember-

Neither higher education, of which college sports is only a small part, nor intercollegiate athletics is truly capitalistic. They do not generate revenue to make a profit; they generate revenue to fulfill a purpose, to meet the mission of higher education.

That's from NCAA President Myles Brand, in the Huffington Post.

The same Myles Brand who will receive $935,000.00 this year for his "service".

The same Myles Brand who approved a deal to give the SEC $2.25 billion over the next 15 years — about $150 million a year to allow ESPN to televise games.

The same Myles Brand who has allowed for a 12th game, and an opportunity for institutions to schedule "warm up games" and gouge the ticket prices.

"intercollegiate athletics is (not) truly capitalistic."

Right.

Finishing Touches

Sorry it's been so long in updating here- but we're one week away from kickoff, so it's a good of a time as any to jump back in the fray.

First, catching up with the "news": Seems that the winners of the USC/tOSU and Georgia/Florida games will have the inside track to the Mythical National Championship Game that's held in a warm state. USC has been fighting some injuries of late, but I wouldn't scratch them off my list just yet. Reggie Bu$h still hasn't been held accountable by the No Clue At All, but they're getting closer. Fewer NCAA Division 1 head coaches of African American heritage this year, and that may drop even lower depending on the "Revenge in Seattle" game.

So- where were we? Oh yes, the BC$ System and how to fix it.

Well, you remember that we first started the discussion with the history of bowls and the National Championship ideology. We then covered the financial implications- that you're actually better off being in a BCS conference and not going to a bowl game. Last time, I talked about what "champion" means, and if it's even important and relevant.

To summarize- The old bowl system (PreCS) was flawed in it's ability to create a national champion, since it didn't exist for that purpose. The original purpose was money; tourism, money for sponsors, etc. It will be impossible to lose this system and start from scratch because of the "tradition", the money, and the fact that the NCAA has been told in federal court that they cannot legislate post-season activity. So, we may always have a debate about who's best, but my opinion is that this is good for the game and part of the experience.

But- Let's say we COULD change things? How would we do this, and under what criterion? Like a friend of mine says, "Anyone can smell a rotten egg, but it takes someone special to lay a golden one".

First, the ground rules.

We have to keep money in mind; both for the sponsors and for the institutions. As such, a lengthy playoff won't work- most schools don't have the resources for a long post season like they do at other levels of NCAA Football, and the fans (true fans, not rich boosters or hangers on like you see at the Super Bowl) don't have the funds either.

Second, we need to keep the bowls around and use them as best as possible. They do have great tradition, and (as a mid-western guy) provide ideal vacation spots in January. But, we should also seek to remove the home field advantages that occur, as best as possible. This means that, while the bowls would still be an important part of this discussion, conference ties would need to be dissolves (and yes, I'm looking at you Pasadena).

A third major change would be the end of the pre-season poll. Other people have said this much better than I could (Heisenberg principal? Wow...), and even point out that the BCS numbers use the Harris poll which does not release rankings until late September, after teams have actually played. Pre-season AP polling impacts national opinion, and takes away from the "win it on the field" idea that a playoff would allegedly correct.

Fourth major change: Conferences. There would need to be six 12 team conferences, meaning that the Big T1e1n, Big East, and Pac-10 would need to add members. These could chose to do so from the smaller conferences (WAC, Conference USA, etc.) around them. As a corollary, major independents would need to join a conference. While this would kill Notre Dame (who would finish in the middle of the Big 10 most years), it would level the playing field and give us a chance to compare similar schedules. These conferences would need to add a championship game as well; if that means scheduling like the Big 12 and SEC does (east/west, north/south), so be it.

Also, conferences could change memberships once every five years, but only by adding teams that are not in another BCS conference. For instance, the SEC could drop Vandy (and see their academics tumble) and add a Conference USA team; the Big 12 could dump Iowa State and pick up someone from the WAC or Mountain West. The advantage would be that these teams could make the conference stronger, and might impact ranking and seeding later on.

Yes, I know that this screws with tradition and schedules that are set for 20 years- you wanted me to be creative; here you go.

Fifth, schools would need to go back to only playing 11 games a season. Again, this hits the pocketbook; most institutions have used the extra games to schedule cupcakes at h0me for the ticket revenue (which is funny when it backfires). Scheduling changes should also be made to ensure that seasons start and end at the same time, and that schools only have one bye week a year (unlike some folks).

So- with those things in mind, here's what we do:

On the first weekend of December, the 6 major conferences play their conference championship games. Winners will be placed in a playoff along with two additional teams based on some sort of polling/statistical data. These would either be the champions of the 'lesser' conferences or would be another team from a major conference, if there was good cause. For instance, the SEC might lobby to have Georgia be an "at large" team last year based on their record and the fact that scheduling kept them from playing in their title game. Two caveats: only two teams per conference, and no team that loses it's championship game can go to the "tournament". Consider the conference championship the first round of a single elimination tourney- but they can go to any of the other 8 billion bowls. Additionally, if a conference sends two teams to the playoff, those teams are required to play in the first round.

These eight teams would play four games during "Bowl week", and would include three "traditional" bowls and a new one rotated between Minneapolis, Detroit, and St. Louis (to eliminate home field disadvantage for the Big T1e1n, half of the Big 12, most of the Big East, and some of the ACC). Rankings would be used for seeding purposes in regions for this first round- North, West, Central, and South.

Two weeks later, the winners would face off in Pasadena and Miami, and two weeks after that the winner would be crowned at a new bowl in either Dallas or Indy's new stadium. The "Championship" is played during the week before the Super Bowl.

What might this look like? Let's use the rankings and the end of the 2007 season as a guide.

Championship weekend: December 6th, 2008

• SEC (Atlanta): Tennessee and LSU
  
• ACC (Tampa): Boston College and Va Tech
  
• Big 12 (St.Louis): Oklahoma and Missouri
• Pac 10 (Candlestick Park): USC and Arizona State
  
• Big T1e1n (RCA Dome): Ohio State and Illinois (not going to happen again)
  
• Big East (Giants Stadium): WVa and UConn
  

The two at large teams would be Georgia and Hawaii, based on their final ranking

Playoff first round: January 1-4, 2008

• West Region: Fiesta Bowl (Arizona)- USC and Hawaii
  
• South Region: Sugar Bowl (Louisiana)- LSU and Georgia (LSU has a home advantage, but must play Georgia first)
  
• Central Region: Cotton Bowl (Dallas)- Oklahoma and WVa
  
• North Region: Corn Bowl (Minneapolis)- tOSU and BC

Playoff second round: January 15, 16, 2008

• Rose Bowl (Pasadena)- USC and WVa
  
• Orange Bowl (Miami)- LSU and tOSU

National Championship Game : January 25, 2008

• Indianapolis- USC and LSU (NCAA created, sanctioned, and sponsored- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em)

Those are my thoughts- it ends up adding one extra game for some teams (currently, LSU, Tennesse, Missouri, and Oklahoma played 14 last year), gives the NCAA some regulatory ability, uses the current bowls, takes away some of the home field advantage issues.

It would still be a problem for fans to travel to these extra events, would also impact academics (going an additional month into spring semester/quarter), and would not totally remove the debate aspect (who's the at-large teams? Are seedings and regions fair?). But, these issues seem to not be much of a concern during basketball season, so I'm sure we'd get over it. Plus, it allows for other teams to still be involved in the pagentry of December/January football.

Like I said, though, this requires a lot of change, and I like the old system better.

And the fun begins on Saturday!

Who's a big winner?

Me- that's who...

Eleven Warriors (scroll down).

Anyone who knows me could have guessed my choice of a trick play.

Hooray for free Woody!