We're Going Streaking!!

Umm... "Bowling". "We're going Bowling"

Here's the 411:

http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/en/group?groupID=12676

Group: Pelini's Anger Management
Password: Jacob

Bowl Season

Ok, I'll admit it. I suck. Almost a week late on this. Sorry.

The good thing, other than the fact that I'm finally finishing this, is that we've seen over the last 24 hours that you can be inept in a job or two and still get a promotion and a raise.

Great job by Joe in the bowls... I guess the off season is really good to you!

For the record, Dan and I had a "let's not change the points and see what happens" agreement- If you finished lower than us, you've got that to console yourself with.

It happened- Visser beat Michael in both points and picks. Heck, Caleb beat Micheal in picks. Looks like you're raising him well.

Janie won the overall points competition for the year, with Carrie and Scott coming in as first and second losers. I'm not going to hear the end of that, I'm sure.

But Terp managed to squeak by them for the points championship. We'll have to have some sort of playoff- Steve, can you set something up?

That's all for this year- unless Joe accepts the open UT job; then things will get pretty interesting...

The most wonderful time of the year...

Yup- Bowl Season!! Or as Mich1gAAn and Notre Ame fans call it- "Prozac Month".

Get in the game here:

http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/en/group?groupID=19468

Group: House Of Sporks

Password: Jake Terp

More Treats Than Tricks

It was just one of those weeks in college football... must have been the haints and boogers out in full force, because some interesting doings were afoot.

For instance, our favorite Halloween colored team won it's first game, as the Anderson Ravens said "Nevermore" to Bluffton's Beavers. The Cougars of Azusa Pacific also added one to the "W" column, handily defeating Trinity Texas. Trinity's Tigers could not manage a miraculous comeback this time, not that there's any chance to get 28 points on one play. Tusculum defeated Mars Hill, while Southern Nazarene dropped another heartbreaker.

In the land of the Big Boys, the three "marquee games" didn't live up to the hype; resulting in three blowouts. T. Boone Pickens University couldn't channel the Black and Orange holiday mojo to overcome Texas, even at home. Looks like Texas will be headed back to Pasadena in January (more on that later). Florida obliterated Georgia in the "Beverage Redacted" bowl; St. Tebow again did the impossible by breaking Herschel Walker's SEC Touchdown record. Georgia was lucky to be on the field with Tebow, since he was able (as far as we know) to use his super powers to heal Washaun Ealey's eyes:

I'm certain that the SEC will be looking into Mr. Spike's actions, although with the level of respectability that their conference's officiating program has developed, you can't be too certain. To be honest, if Urban Meyer is the coach that they say he is, he shouldn't wait for the conference to make a decision.

In the other "big game of the week", we sent a correspondant to Autzen for the sole purpose of seeing which of the stupid uniform combinations the Ducks would come up with. Little did we know that he'd get to watch a dismantling of U$C, who gave up the most offense in the Pete Carroll era.

Ducks fans celebrate a likely Rose Bowl berth

There will be tons of debate about the Oregon/Boise State rankings- should the Ducks, who undefeated against better competition, jump the Broncos team that beat them in week one. I would vote "yes", but we'll get into that a bit more in a minute.

Our "This week in Schaudenfreude" moment comes from Champaign, where the Fumbling Zooks got their first victory against a Division 1 opponent. That team? Mich1gAAn. Ah, the sweetness. But, Wolverine fans, it could be worse- Your punt return unit could look like this:

Come to think of it, there are blue/yellow winged helmets involved...

The whole weekend started off strangely, with another ACC BCS team dropping a game to an unranked foe as North Carolina defeated Virginia Tech. Iowa continued whatever "black magic" they've got going, coming back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to manhandle Indiana at home. Hoosier fans- Basketball season is coming... oh, wait. Ohio State handled their warmup game, and covered a 44.5 point spread. This season, Ohio State has three games with over 500 yards of offense... but what's next is more important. You really can't blame the Aggies of NMSU for scheduling this game- given the economy and the fact that only 25 NCAA programs were in the black last year, a man's got to do what he's got to do.


Notre Ame had a similar scrimmage/game, paying out the Wazoo to have the Cougs play a game in Texas. Yawn... I'm still pulling for them to be BCS elligible and return to the greatness of losing bowl games against teams not named "Hawaii". Auburn gave Emily a great present (more later), upsetting #25 Old Miss. Miami squeaked by Wake Forrest, and aTm won their second straight game. Mike Leach's guys were able to look past their fat little girlfriends and beat a team coached by a... uh... well... "fluffy" gentleman. State Penn handled Northwestern, TCU continued to cruise, and Kentucky faithful are also ready for some roundball. Georgia Tech optioned all over Vanderbilt while LSU won the battle of New Orleans (oooh! All the etouffee you can eat!).

The biggest congratulations of all, though, goes to the four (!) perfect scores this week!

While I usually try to be arbitrary in deciding who is listed first in the case of ties, Emily is the big winner this week as she, Jake, and Abby Jane welcome two new wonderful War Tiger fans: Blythe and Joy.

Please also notice that Matt has resumed being a realist about his favorite squadron, and Jeff finally comes through with a week befitting his status. Steve's lower than usual ranking can obviously be attributed to his spending time in preparation for the Oregon game... Can't say that I blame him. Although, he still did better than other folks that we won't name *cough Michael cough*.

Dan remains in first place, but has several people nipping at his heels. Janie seems to be running away with the Salem Shike's bracket.

At the end of the year, I'll also do a "conference challenge" and see how the picks percentages work out for our particular allegiances. I'll have to get some clarification from some of you, though- I'm guessing Ms. Terp is a Husker, and Cat wants to be a Gator. Joe, where do you stand- Big T1e1n? Michelle- SEC (Vandy), Big 12 (Nebraska) or Pac 10 (Oregon)? Doug, you've already won the Mountain West- congrats.

Speaking of the end of the year, the Trojan's loss still doesn't change much in terms of what I'd like to see during BC$ week; if it were up to me Texas and Florida would still play for the shiny ball, Oregon and Iowa would be a good Rose Bowl match up (although I know Iowa's losing in two weeks and think that the Ducks would smoke them), Let Cincinnati and whoever comes out of the clowncar that is the ACC play in the Orange Bowl (thems some guaranteed great ratings!), have Alabama embarrass Notre Ame in the Sugar Bowl, and showcase TCU and Boise State in the Fiesta (no conference affiliations required). Did I leave anyone out?

Big games coming up this week: Ohio State begins the "murders row" of it's schedule as it travels to "Happy? Valley" for a huge game against the Lions. Mich1gAAn plays Purdue and looks to get off the schnide. LSU goes to Alabama in a big SEC West conference matchup. Oklahoma returns to Lincoln for another historic matchup of two Big Eight powers. Florida hosts Vandy, U$C travels to Sun Devil Stadium, while Auburn writes a big check to Furman. UK has a bye against Eastern Kentucky, and Illinois hopes to continue it's winning ways as it meets up with a resurgent Minnesota.

Small schools: APU ends it's season with Sooner Conference power Langston University. Anderson squares off against the engineers of Rose Hulman, and SNU's Crimson Storm host Oklahoma Panhandle State. Gosh, I hope their mascot is the Skillets.

Speaking of unusual mascots, our obscure game of the week has the Builders hosting the Bobcats. Yup, the Bobs and the Builders.

First the visitors, from Frostburg State University in western Maryland. Initially known as "Normal School #2", Frostburg has gone from a teacher's college to a school that prepares students in 45 degree programs. The institution is nationally recognized for their "Bottom Line" student newsletter, which has both hard hitting articles about student debt and advertisements for credit cards. Famous alumni include actress Debra Monk and model Jennifer Hurt (no, I'm not linking to photos), Frostburg's other claim to fame is the Appalachian Festival, which featured Highland Grass at this year's events (Googling their band name was an adventure, as you can imagine). The football Bobcats are winless on the season.

Perhaps that will change when they play this year's "longest named school champion", Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding- Newport News Apprentice School of Shipbuilding. As far as I know, this is the only institution that has direct sponsorship from a corporation or entity, other than Oregon and Oklahoma State, of course. The school is unusual in that it's degree are actually awarded from nearby Thomas Nelson Community College, but it competes at the Division Three level in six sports (although not under NCAA jurisdiction- kind of like U$C, I guess). Famous alumni include the USS Enterprise (not that one), the USS Yorktown, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Dallas submarine. The Builders football team has only one win in 2009, but I'm not going to make any snide comments because a) their opponent hasn't beaten anyone and b) they have access to nuclear weaponry.

8 is more than enough

In what appeared to be another week of potential upsets, only two top teams went down while the rest coasted through the middle point of their season.

We started off by watching UTEP squeak by the same Tulsa team that scared Boise State the week before. Free Shoes continued their Jekyll and Hyde persona by bouncing a UNC team that seemed to be looking forward to basketball season. For the FSU fans out there; if it weren't bad enough that their team seems to resemble a plane crash into a clown college, they've got to be hating the fact that they've stooped to playing on Friday nights to gain viewers. Next stop: The Ocho.

Saturday's Big T1e1n matchups included State Penn exorcising their "Big House with small seats" demons, beating Mach1gAAn at home for the first time in thirteen years. We'd dispatched a correspondent to cover the game, but so far I haven't gotten photos yet. If I do, we'll post them.

While I'm not surprised that Joe Pa's team won, I am shocked that 4CA!! was still standing at the end of the game. UM fans, here's your "legend's" numbers from Saturday: 13/ 30 for 0 TD and 1 INT, 13 rushes for 20 yards. Not that I don't think he's a great fit for your program, just giving a bit of perspective.

Iowa needed a late slant against the Spartans to continue their undefeated season. I think I heard it best this weekend: The Hawkeyes are Ohio State circa 2002- few mistakes, solid defense, doing what it takes to win. It will certainly be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Elsewhere in the midwest: Northwestern and Indiana played a tight ball game, Ohio State thumped Minnesota (well, in the second half), Purdue made the Illini AD speak up, while a proud Boiler alum alienated an entire portion of the Western Hemisphere.

Over in the SEC, Alabama staved off a scare from the sherbet Volunteers, blocking a field goal with time running out. Another point of discussion from yesterday- Why not fake it? Your kicker has already missed one, had the last one blocked, and you know the Tide is selling out. Plus, you're on the road as a huge underdog- Tell me a TE release wouldn't have been wide freaking open:

Florida held on to beat Mississippi State, in spite of Lord Tebow's two "pick six" throws. Again, having ranked teams in nail-biter games against unranked teams means that your conference is awesome (note: does not apply to the Big T1e1n). Mississippi beat Arkansas- maybe Corso was right. Kentucky beat no one, Auburn fell to LSU, and Vandy is still Vandy.

Over in the Big 12, more upsets abounded as Texas A&M discovered that you can also play offense and pounded Cap'n Leach's piratey crew. TBPU rolled Baylor (minus their QB), Nebraska fell to unranked Iowa State and Oklahoma defeated #25 Kansas. Remember, having ranked teams beaten by unranked teams proves your conference's awesomeness (note: does not apply to the Big T1e1n).

The ACC's poster program du jour took a hit as #10 Miami lost to Clemson at home. The ACC = Awesome, given what we've already discussed (not so fast, Big T1e1n fans). Georgia Tech also continues to ramble, and Boston College lost this year's "Catholic Clash" with Notre Ame. It must be nice to have opposing QBs constantly throw interceptions to wide open defenders in the waning minutes of close games. This means, as we learned on ESPN 360's halftime show, that Notre Ame continues to be the top independent program in the country; analogous to being a homeschool valedictorian.

Out west, TCU throttled BYU (see what happens when you can't put the QB out of the game?), Boise State remains undefeated, Washington Ducked, U$C managed to beat Oregon State- bringing them to .500 against them for the last four years.

Small schools update: SNU dropped to Langston, Western Oregon spoiled APU's homecoming, and no amount of defiance will change the fact that Anderson lost at home to the Yellow Jackets. Juanita managed to slip by the Moravian Greyhounds, 10-3; not a good day to for homecoming at smaller programs.

Over in the Picks League, Jake's "War Tiger" loyalty is the only thing that kept him away from a perfect week of choices:
Nice work by Jake and Aaron, being the only ones to see through the "Miami's BACK!"facade. For the folks who picked Michigan over Penn State- Awwww... that's cute.

Look! Dan's got a friend at the bottom of the list this week! And, it was not a good week for Joe at all...

Dan still holds onto the top spot, but Jake's strong week bumps him up the the top echelon. This has been your weekly use of the word "echelon".

Much tighter race in the pick department- at this juncture it could really be almost anyone's to win. (note: does not apply to people who have missed weeks. Or the Big T1e1n).

Last week, we talked about what I'd like to see for a "final four" package if, you know, college football had a playoff. This week, let's look at the "Hope for Destruction"- this one not involving a Mayan Calendar. We could, realistically, end up with six undefeated teams: Boise State, Cincinnati, Florida/Alabama, Iowa, TCU, and Texas. Given that only two of these good squadrons could end up in Pasadena at the end of the season (well, technically, four- but only two for the huge corporate sponsership fiasco with the sparkly football), there will be some sad pandas. Given the wonderment of logic that is the BCS, the remaining four undefeated teams will more than likely not be matched up against each other (if they even get to the BCS- realistically, both TCU and Boise State won't make it). So, we could end the season with five undefeated teams. This wonderfulness brought to you by the BC$... it's Fan-Tastic!

This week, there are some great games on slate- U$C squares off against Oregon, and Texas and Oklahoma State play for the Big 12 South Championship. Florida and Georgia meet in the "World's Largest Outdoor Renamed Event", while Baylor hosts Nebraska. Mich1gAAn travels to Champaign, while Notre Ame meets WSU! In primetime! Get excited!!

The APU Cougars travel to Trinity Texas (Maybe they'll bring back Barbecue), Anderson faces off against the mighty Beavers of Bluffton, and Southern Nazarene plays Northwestern Oklahoma in Sooner Athletic Conference action.

This weeks game from obscurity sees Mars Hill headed to Greenville to meet Tusculum College. No, it's not the controversial Mars Hill, or even the Mars Hill graduate school. The Lions of Mars Hill hail from Western North Carolina, and are inspired by the panoramic views of the Craggies, Clingman's Peak, and Mount Pisgah. Named after the famous site of St. Paul's discourse and located on it's original site, MHC's Baptist roots have led the nation in liberal arts education and clog dancing.

As Tennessee's oldest college, Tusculum is listed in the National Registrar of Historic Places on nine different occasions. Unique in higher education TC is one of only three colleges to use the "block" or "focused" academic calendar, allowing students to take one course at a time. The Football Pioneers are currently 2-6, but hope to break their spell of bad luck at Halloween's homecoming festivities. Of course, if there are any boogers or haints that get in the way, all bets are off.

Getting Fixed

There's been some buzz about the BC$ lately- Congress has been in "hearings", but the one conference who feels jilted has signed on for another 4 years of the same thing.

So, since it's the offseason, folks have been trying to "fix" the system. Two ideas floating out there recently hold to the need for overhaul and re-alignment:

Option A- Cutting some dead weight and moving to 8 team leagues and a 16 team playoff
Option B- Realigning everything and moving to super conferences (Oohhh!! Maps!)

Again, good to see the creative juices flowing during the "dead period", but the solution to this problem has already been created.

Can't blame them for trying, though...

Fiesta Follow-up

To good not to post:

That's all folks...

It's been a great season of college football- Nebraska wins their bowl game, Ohio State loses theirs and moves up in the polls (?), Cat really takes "jumping on the bandwagon" to a new level (you did know that you didn't have to move- that there wasn't actually a physical bandwagon to jump onto?), and everybody hates the BCS (well, everyone except Tebow fans).

It's also the end of our "picks league", and Terry "proved it on the field", taking both the regular season and the bowls scoring championships.
It was surprising that such a Godly man would hog the spotlight and win the picks championship as well. Some people... :)
Congrats to Amanda, who's 20-14 was the best overall picks percentage, and to Nate, who wins the Scott Strawn award.

Well, that was interesting. What say we do this again next year?

Owen Five/Three

In all the excitement about Florida's win, let's not forget one thing:

Since their championship, Oklahoma is 1-5 in BCS games
Three of those losses were in BCS Championships- one being a 30 point blowout
One of the other losses is considered one of the greatest upsets of all times
The other was a blowout against a team that was a significant underdog
Coach and program are 1-3 against top rival in the last four years.

"Big Game Bob" has got some 'splaining to do. Although, I guess it's not "Big Game Winning Bob".

I'm really looking forward to the "Oklahoma doesn't deserve any more BCS Championship shots" and "Slow-klahoma" commentary that ESPN and the national media are sure to publish in the coming weeks. You know, like the ones pointing to tOSU after their second BCS championship loss?

Yup, looking forward to it, but not holding my breath.

Fiesta Thoughts

8- 11 point underdogs
National media expecting "another BCS blowout"
Playing a team that is a dropped interception away from playing in the National Championship Game
With a true freshman at QB
Gashing the #2 run defense for 203 yards, including 100 yards from Beanie
Missed FG, 2 missed extra point opportunities
Dropped interception by a defensive lineman
Beanie out for most of the second half
Veteran QB (who should have won the Heisman) needed a last minute drive and a missed tackle to win

And still- Ohio State lost by 3 on a neutral field to a team that beat the #1 team in the country by 10 on a neutral field.

I can live with that.

Not happily, and I wish the 28 seniors (especially those who chose not to go to the NFL) could have had a better outcome for their final game.

But I'm excited about things to come.

O! H!

Well, Duh.

All those attempts to "protect the tradition, heritage, and honor of the bowls"? The "real reason" according to some, that we can't have a playoff?

Yeah, it's not working. Lowest Orange Bowl ratings ever.

And have we really reached a point in society where everybody needs a trophy, rather than an honest-to-goodness playoff? Let me remind you why commissioner of BcS John Swofford most recently said we can not have a playoff in college football. We have to protect the great bowls.What great bowls? Has he been watching? We have, for another year, been treated to mostly junk bowls.

Yeah, but you knew that already.

Bowl-pocalypse

I'm getting killed in our bowl picks league, and lost big points today. But it just goes to show how amazing this time of year is for college sports.

Just an observation: U$C crushed Penn State (as expected). And, also as expected, the "Trojans deserve to share the national championship" noise has started. "We just blew out a team with only one loss, we're arguably the best one loss team in the country".

See, here's the problem with that: Utah. Utah is undefeated, and just upset one loss Alabama at (essentially) home. Oh, and Utah is from the Mountain west, who also saw BYU beat UCLA by more than 40, and Utah beat Oregon State. You know, the Oregon State that handed U$C their only loss?

Things to remember: Championships can be overrated, and I've given you a solution to this thing.

Oh, and U$C? Here's a suggestion: 1) Beat teams that you're supposed to (cough- Beavers, Cardinal, Bruins).

Until then? You know your cake hole? Shut it.

For fun:

Utah>Alabama>Mississippi>Texas Tech>Texas>OU
and
Utah>Alabama>Mississippi>at Florida

Playoff Wrap Up

Thoughts from watching the games last night and today...

• Hey, remember when the Big 12 used to play defense? Yeah, me too.
• I wonder how Chase Daniel's family is feeling during his bowl game- Are they there? Oh, that's right.
• Man, what I wouldn't give to have a constant update on the ESPN ticker about Brett Favre's current situation- You mean he's going to think about returning for a while before letting us know? Whatever will I do in the meantime...

And now, let the totally imaginary games that will never happen in real life because money and television are too much of a factor begin!

One glitch has emerged: The NFL is considering moving the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl (when our hypothetical National Championship Game was to take place). Personally, I don't think this will work out, especially when none of the players from the Super Bowl teams participate. So there's still a chance for our plan.

Here's where we left it:
First Round: January 2-3, 2009

• West Region: Fiesta Bowl (Arizona)- Boise State and U$C
  
• South Region: Sugar Bowl (Louisiana)- Virginia Tech and Florida
  
• Central Region: Cotton Bowl (Dallas)- Texas and Oklahoma
  
• North Region: Bailout Bowl (Detroit)- Cincinnati and Penn State
  

Second round: January 9-10, 2009

• Rose Bowl (Pasadena): West verses Central
  
• Orange Bowl (Miami): North verses South
  

National Championship Game : January 24, 2009

• Indianapolis

As I look at this, there may not be many surprises. Let's go game by game:

NORTH (Bailout Bowl)- Penn State and Cinci would be a great game against two regional teams that don't typically face each other. But it wouldn't get any more interesting than that- Penn State in a blowout.

WEST (Fiesta Bowl)- The darlings of the NCAA against the only true power on the West Coast. Guess who wins? U$C by two touchdowns.

SOUTH (Sugar Bowl)- Florida has to travel to hostile territory in N'Awlin's to face the Hokies. It will be more difficult for Coach Meyer to keep the Gators off of Bourbon Street than it will be to keep Va Tech out of the endzone. Florida wins big.

CENTRAL (Cotton Bowl)- This is where things get interesting. First, it's the rematch of the Red River Shootout, on the same field in Dallas. Second, it would address the "neutral field"/"neutral computer" debate that was all over the place prior to the Big 12 Conference championship. You don't often get a "do over", in life or in college football- but I can guarantee that the tickets and ratings for this game would be insane.

I still believe that Oklahoma wins a close one- they seemed to be playing better at the end of the season, and I think they will have figured out how to stop Texas from running (something that cost them the first match up), but the ramifications are interesting. Mostly because:

SEMIFINAL 1 (Rose Bowl)- U$C versues the "Red River Rematch" winner- and that's the interesting part. As good as the Trojan's defense is, I don't think that they could beat Oklahoma (even in a home game), but I've thought that before. But if Texas happens to beat OU in the first round, I see a U$C victory here (in part because Vince Young has no more elligibility) . I'm not the only person who sees these results as probable.

SEMIFINAL 2 (Orange Bowl)- Florida and Penn State meet in Miami. The Gators win, and Joe Pa can stay in state for his retirement, if he so choses.

FINALS (NC Game- Indianapolis)- Either Oklahoma or U$C versus Florida. Some guys who gamble on things (something I bet I would never do) say that the odds would favor a Trojan victory. In my opinion, OU beats Texas and then U$C, but loses to the Gators.

At least that's the result I've got in my picks league- and we all know how well that is going.

Tomorrow: CC update, with promising news.

Playoffs, continued

Before we get back to our discussion of Jim Mora's favorite topic, here are just a couple of observations:

• Remember me saying that bowls were and are about tourism and money and not sports? I told you so.
• The ESPN ticker statistics like "Oklahoma State has been to 3 consecutive bowl games, after not going to any from 1968 to 1998" or whatever are worthless. Now, there are opportunities for more than 50% of Division 1 teams go to bowls. Then, there were 5 bowls, and we liked it, dadgummit. Although, it does make it a lot funnier if you can't make a bowl and break a long bowl streak.
  
• Watched the Papajohns.com bowl today, and realized three things. First, this is one of those bowls that ESPN owns and televises; Second, it seemed like a good crowd, but it could also be that they moved everyone around for TV purposes; Third, PJ's does not deliver to my house, no mater how often I order online. Jerks.

Now, back to the topic at hand. In our last post, we wrote:

Look, anytime there's any sort of ranking there's going to be some controversy. Think of March Madness- even with 65 teams there are others who feel shunned unfairly. And there are often others who end up in a really easy bracket or a really difficult one. It's a part of the nature of the game- The Patriots only lost one game last year, but it was in the Super Bowl to an allegedly inferior opponent. In football and college basketball, it's not "best of..." series- it's one and done.And you have to draw a line somewhere- my line is that national champions should also be conference champions.

And so it is that in the NFL we have the 8-8 Chargers hosting the 12-4 Colts while the 11-5 Patriots sit at home. Yes, it seems unfair, but the No Fun League's rules also value conference championships, and it seems as if America has accepted those parameters pretty well. You're not going to have anyone from the Office of the President Elect talking about redoing the NFL playoffs, now are you?

Ahem. Where were we? When last we left our intrepid challengers, we had eight worthy adversaries: Florida, Oklahoma, U$C, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Texas, and Boise State.

Remembering one of our other directives, the playoffs have got to involve the current bowls as best as possible (money and tourism, remember?), while working to remove automatic home field advantage for teams in the south and west AND thinking regionally so fans can go and tailgate appropriately. This meant creating two extra bowls (sanctioned by the NCAA), one for the first round and one for the final game.

The location of this final game would rotate between Dallas (new Cowboys stadium- it's not like they're going to have any playoff games there), Indianapolis (Indy is home of the NCAA, which is why the Final Four is there so frequently), and St. Louis (see earlier Cowboy comments). These locations are central to every college fanbase, and as neutral as possible without leaving the country.

Last year's bracket looked like this
Playoff first round: January 1-4, 2008

• West Region: Fiesta Bowl (Arizona)- U$C and Hawaii
  
• South Region: Sugar Bowl (Louisiana)- LSU and Georgia
  
• Central Region: Cotton Bowl (Dallas)- Oklahoma and WVa
  
• North Region: Bratwurst Bowl (Minneapolis)- tOSU and BC

Playoff second round: January 15, 16, 2008

• Rose Bowl (Pasadena)- U$C and WVa
  
• Orange Bowl (Miami)- LSU and tOSU

National Championship Game : January 25, 2008

• Indianapolis- U$C and LSU

Given what we know, here's how 2008-09 would play out:
First Round: January 2-3, 2009

• West Region: Fiesta Bowl (Arizona)- Boise State and U$C
  
• South Region: Sugar Bowl (Louisiana)- Virginia Tech and Florida
  
• Central Region: Cotton Bowl (Dallas)- Texas and Oklahoma (Same conference- required to play each other)
  
• North Region: Bailout Bowl (Detroit)- Cincinnati and Penn State
  

Second round: January 9-10, 2009

• Rose Bowl (Pasadena): West verses Central
  
• Orange Bowl (Miami): North verses South
  

National Championship Game : January 24, 2009 (week between NFL Conference Championships and Super Bowl)

• Indianapolis

Thoughts? All of these would be games that I would want to watch (better than the current BcS).

Tomorrow, I'll talk through the individual matchups and see where we would end.

Playoffs?

A wise man once said- "Anyone can smell a rotten egg; it takes someone special to lay a golden one".

Folks a lot smarter than me have offered their solutions, but even those have flaws- The Old School Plus One would either leave two teams who won their bowl games arguing that they deserved a shot; Brian's plan takes away from conference championships and current bowl tie ins (unrealistic, given the money involved).

Consider this my golden egg. First, a review of the rules:

1. Colleges cannot play more than 11 regular season games (one less than current numbers)
2. First poll is not released until the end of September (after teams have played); Coaches and AP polls abolished for conflict of interest (or if continued, cannot be used in televised commentary)
   
3. 6 wins needed to be bowl eligible, games against non division 1 schools do not count towards total
4. The major 6 conferences will need to adjust their membership to include 12 teams
   
5. Each conference decides their champion by a championship game; how they determine who plays there is up to them
6. This CCG should be considered the first round of the playoffs; a team who loses is eliminated from the postseason tourney, but may still play in one of the many other bowls
   
7. The six conference champions will be matched up into a playoff; number one seeds determined by a ranking formula similar to current BCS (including schedule strength, margin of victory,etc.)
8. The last two spots will be filled by the highest ranked two teams remaining, as long as neither team played for their conference championship . This allows for teams who are in a stronger division within their conference (Big 12 South, SEC East) or are not within a power conference (Boise State, Tulane) to be involved, preventing any ridiculous legal action.
9. No more than two teams from any one conference in the final eight, and teams from the same conference must play in the first round; the final four will consist only of one team per conference
   

So today, we'll start with rules 4 and 5 (since the first three are not really relevant here): Conferences and Champions.

The Big 12, SEC, and ACC are already good, so we need to tweak the PAC 10, the Big T1e1n, and the Big lEast.

To me, the PAC 12 is easy: Add BYU and Utah, and you've got two really good divisions- North (UW/WSU/UofO/toOSU/BYU/Utah) and South (U$C/UCLA/Cal/Stanford/UofA/ASU).

This year, U$C and Utah would square off in Tempe for the championship, with U$C emerging as the PAC 12 champ.

The Big T1e2n gets a bit more complicated: Ntre Ame is the logical addition, but the divisions are more challenging. For the sake of rivalries and splitting up the traditional powers, let's go with this: Corn (tOSU/UM/MSU/Indiana/Purdue/Iowa) and Cheese (Penn State/Notre Dame/Minnesota/Wisconsin/Northwestern/Illinois).

This year, Soldier Field would see Penn State defeat Ohio State for the championship (and yes, it hurt to type that.)

The Big lEast is even more confusing, mostly because I don't care. They need to add four teams to get to 12, so let's raid the mid majors and independants: Army, Navy, East Carolina, and Buffalo, come on down. Here's the divisions- Rivers (WVa/Pitt/Syracuse/Buffalo/UC/UofL) Oceans (South Florida/Army/Navy/UConn/Rutgers/ECU).

At Giants Stadium, West Virginia beats East Carolina for the automatic bid.

Our 6 champions, then: Virginia Tech, Florida, Oklahoma, U$C, Penn State, and West Virginia. So, who else gets in? Last year, it would have been Georgia and Hawaii; 2008 sees Texas and Boise State as at large candidates.

And this is where the controversy begins- Are Texas Tech (one loss, ranked higher), Alabama (ditto), Ohio State (personal favorite), etc. better than Boise State or one of the teams from the ACC/Big lEast? Sure, but they didn't win their conference championship game (rule 6), or had another conference at large team ranked higher (rule 9).

Look, anytime there's any sort of ranking there's going to be some controversy. Think of March Madness- even with 65 teams there are others who feel shunned unfairly. And there are often others who end up in a really easy bracket or a really difficult one. It's a part of the nature of the game- The Patriots only lost one game last year, but it was in the Super Bowl to an allegedly inferior opponent. In football and college basketball, it's not "best of..." series- it's one and done.

And you have to draw a line somewhere- my line is that national champions should also be conference champions. It keeps the regular season meaningful, and will reward (or at least not penalize) teams for playing difficult out of conference games- you can lose one, win your conference, and still be dancing at the end. Also, if you're in a difficult conference and "beat up on each other every week", your record won't matter if you win your CCG.

Now that we've got the teams, tomorrow we'll look at how this would all come together.

Bowl Crap

Well, we're in full swing here in bowl season. Since I'm getting my brains beat in as a part of both of the picks leagues I'm in, I've got nothing better to do than vent... uh... brighten your day. So here goes.

Pat White is the stuff. And I love Bill Stewart. But it will be interesting to see how Burning Couches University does now that he's moving on. Also from that game- The definition of "re-donk-you-lus" is this catch:

Explain to me how the ACC has ten of its twelve teams in bowls this year? Especially since they are one of the two worst conferences this year? Yeah, the whole "going to a bowl game" thing is really overrated.

It's good to see that I'm not the only one calling shenanigans on the Bowl Challenge that ESPN does. I'd be more than excited to have everyone except Indiana or MACh1gAAn play the ACC's bowl schedule and see where that leaves us.

Congratulations to Notre Ame on their huge bowl win (first in 9 tries). You beat a 7-7 school who lost their head coach and Heisman candidate QB, and couldn't win their own sub-par conference. Strike up the echoes, and get ready for a top 10 ranking at the beginning of the season. After you coast through your unbelievably easy schedule (Nevada? Washington State?), you'll be guaranteed a BCS bid due to what we call the "Papal Bull". That will allow for another long "haven't won a bowl game" streak to begin, and for the rest of us to enjoy your collapse.

We've talked about this before, but the BCS games are not all that great for schools- especially monetarily. For instance, Utah (undefeated Utah) may actually lose more than $400,000 for the honor and privilege of playing in the Sugar Bowl, and they're not the only ones.

Remember our discussion about the crappy match ups in the BCS? How about this for proof: Orange Bowl tickets are easy to get. Really easy. And they're not the only ones. It's really become ridiculous.

Tomorrow- Taking a look at what things would look like if we had playoffs according to me.

Bowling for Dollars

Note of welcome to folks coming over from Buckeye Planet.
We're honored to have you here and to be listed with others in the community of the "Affiliates" list.

Couple of thoughts, now that the Bc$ is out and the bowls are full...

Item 1: 34 games. 68 schools. There are only 120 schools in Division 1 A (FBS), so somehow 57 percent of the teams are bowl elegible. Really not that much of an honor anymore, is it. So, Irish fans, keep that in mind.

Item 2: In case you forgot- the BCS is about MONEY and not "great matchups". The goal was to have the top two teams play, not to create amazing games across the board. This year's lineup should be proof positive, as evidenced by Vegas' odds:

• OU +3 vs Fla
• Alabama -10 vs Utah
  
• Texas - 10 vs tOSU
• U$C -10 vs Penn State
  
• Cincinnati -1 vs Va Tech
  

So other than the Championship Game and the "Really? We have to let these guys play because they won their conferences?" game, it's a bunch of double digit spreads.

And why is that? Money. The Fiesta Bowl selected Ohio State to give them their fourth visit to Tempe ("Columbus West") since 2003 purely because Buckeye Nation travels and spends well.

The Rose Bowl won't set aside their conference affiliations, and wants a home game for the Trojans. And the Sugar Bowl didn't exactly stretch itself in giving the Crimson Tide a virtual home game as well- close fan bases equals money spent on tickets and the like.

Can you imagine what might have been? With one minor tweak, changing one of the bowls to tOSU and Utah, you would have had three games with one loss teams, including matchups of at least four of the top five (Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, U$C, Alabama). Instead- double digit spreads, and possible blowouts across the board.

If it seems that bowls are being short sighted, remember that they (host committees or host citys) don't make money off of TV revenue. As such, they don't care if a blowout makes people turn the channel- they're invested in "butts in the seats and dollars out on the streets".

Item 3: MACh1gAAn has big plans for bowl season. They're going over to coach's house to watch (those who haven't quit, that is).

Item 4: OK, a bit of Big T1e1n homerism. Every year, ESPN does this stupid "Bowl Challenge", where they compare conference wins and losses in the post season. And, of course, they make huge assessments about programs and conferences based solely on the numbers, without also considering home field advantage and other issues.

Well, let me say this up front: This year, the Big T1e1n got hosed in all of their matchups. Even Vegas agrees:

• Florida State -4.5 vs Wisconsin
• Missouri -13 vs Northwestern
• Kansas -10 vs Minnesota
• Iowa - 3 vs South Carolina (I think that may change as we get closer to gametime)
• Georgia -7 vs Michigan State
• U$C - 10 vs Penn State
• Texas -10 vs tOSU

Seriously? We send seven teams to the Bowls, and they are ALL underdogs? Crap, even the ACC and Big lEast don't have that difficult of a run, and it's well documented that those conferences suck this year.

Item 5: We'll be looking at the "Because Chuck Said so" starting later this week, with the matchups that would result from my evil plan to... um... perfect idea to fix college's post season.

Item 6: It's Bowl Challenge Season! As always, we use ESPN and their "Confidence Points". Our group name is "Where's Michigan??, and the password is "Franklin", our regular season winner.

Here's the link- ESPN College Bowl Mania

Following up

Just a quick update on my post of gratitude:

I closed my eyes, and it slipped awaaaaaaaayyyy.....

Boston + Buckeye BCS hopes = Gallons of Liquid Awesome

Sure, why not?

Well the BC$ is out, and as such Oklahoma has jumped Texas for the chance to represent the Big 12 South in the Big 12 Championship game. Let the griping continue.

Personally, I think it's the right call. Play the Red River Rivalry four more times, and the Sooners win three of them.

But, we don't have that option. And, while the BC$ has it's problems, it's not the issue here. The issue is that the Big 12 defers to as a tiebreaker for its' three way catastrophe. So, Texas fans, you've got no one to blame than your Athletic Director (well, and a certain DB).

As always, though, Mike Leach has a simple solution- Three way tie? Send the team with the best graduation rate.

Well, sure. Especially if you're at a tech school. But it would 1) affirm that these are allegedly "Student" Athletes and 2) make about as much sense as anything else I've heard.

Personally, I think there's nothing in this that a jamboree wouldn't solve...

Thank you!

I can't believe I was pulling for a team that wears these uniforms.

But I was. Thank you, Ducks, for reminding toOSU why they're not the premier program in Oregon.

Thank you, too, for allowing a two loss (both to BCS teams) Ohio State to have an opportunity to play in their sixth BCS game.

Now I have to cheer for the shudder Trojans to beat the Bruins.

Fight on.