College Football

From Slate: an article that directly addresses the fundamental design flaws in the BCS formula, specifically w.r.t. its use of computer polls.

http://www.slate.com/id/2208108/pagenum/all/#p2

Mostly arguments that have been used before, but this article lays them all out in a logical and convincing fashion.

Hat Tip: Dr. Saturday

This year, like every other year (except for the 2005 season – USC/Texas NC game), there is going to be some BCS craziness happening at the end of the year.  There is actually the potential for 3, yes 3, non-BCS schools with a shot at BCS bowl games.  The winner of the Utah/BYU is one, Boise State is the second and Tulsa/loser of the Utah/BYU game could be the third dark horse.  With the BCS committee only required to take one non-BCS school in a BCS bowl game, there is the potential for 2 very good undefeated schools not getting picked over a 2 loss SEC or Big 12 team or a 1 loss Big Ten team.  As a BCS committee member, what would you do?  I am going to pose a scenario for you and would like some discussion.

Big 12 Champion – Oklahoma (13-0)
Big 12 Runner-up – Missouri (12-1)

There is potential for those to be switched.

SEC Champion – Alabama (12-1)
SEC Runner-up – Florida (11-2)

Big 10 Champion – Ohio State (11-1)
Big 10 Runner-up – Penn State (11-1)

Big East Champion – Pittsburgh (10-2)

ACC Champion – Virginia Tech (11-2)

Pac 10 Champion – USC (11-1)

Mountain West Champion – BYU (12-0)
Mountain West Runner-up – Utah (11-1)

WAC Champion – Boise State (12-0)

Conference USA Champion – Tulsa (13-0)

MAC Champion - Ball State (13-0)

Going by what I just laid out, here are the BCS Bowls

National Championship – #1/#2
Rose Bowl – Big Ten Champion/Pac 10 Champion
Fiesta Bowl – Big 12 Champion vs. At Large
Orange Bowl – ACC Champion vs. At Large
Sugar Bowl – SEC Champion vs. At Large

(Pittsburgh automatically gets one of the at large bids)

There are only 10 slots for the BCS bowl games and 6 are guaranteed to BCS conference champions, who will fill the other 4 slots?  Here are the candidates: Missouri, Florida, Penn State, BYU, Utah, Boise State, Ball State and Tulsa.  Here are some questions to ask yourself: Does an undefeated BYU team deserve to play in the National Championship Game? Does a 1 loss Utah team deserve to be in a BCS Bowl, how about a 13-0 Tulsa or Ball State team, or a 2 loss Florida team?  Will Missouri be penalized again for losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game?

This is complete insanity and the BCS needs to take note and make some significant changes to its current system.  With the current scenario posed, most likely all of these teams will be ranked in the top 14, but 4 are going to get the shaft and my fear is that all 4 of those teams will be non-BCS teams.  I think the worst case scenario for the BCS committee would be for Oklahoma, Penn State and BYU to go undefeated with Alabama going 12-1.  At that point who do you choose?  With the word parity being used almost every week, the BCS needs to get with the times and see that a 2 team championship game just isn’t going to cut it anymore.  I know that I am beating a dead horse with this issue, but I think now, more than ever, the shit is going to hit the fan.

On a side note, I would like to see some comments about who you would put in the BCS bowls based on the posed scenario.  This is what I got:

National Championship – Oklahoma/BYU
Rose Bowl – Ohio State/USC
Fiesta Bowl – Missouri vs. Boise State
Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Pittsburgh
Sugar Bowl – Alabama vs. Penn State

My apologies to Ball State, Tulsa, Utah and Florida although I think that any of these teams deserves a bid over Pittsburgh and Ball State, Tulsa and Utah deserve one over Virginia Tech.  More reasons why the BCS Sucks!

I'm sure we all have our favorite M football experiences.  Here's one of mine:

 Last September I got a call from Scott Draper asking if I would be willing to do a prayer for the team before the Illinois game (I'm now a pastor in Illinois just west of Champaigne, although I was an EECS guy at UM a while back). Apparently Lloyd was aware that players wouldn't get to go to church typically on Sundays after road trips, so they brought in a priest,  a Protestant minister (me in this case), and perhaps someone else  depending on demand, to hold a little service for the team before games.  My instructions were:  a one-minute prayer, an eight-minute, spiritually-based motivational talk, and a one minute closing prayer.  It was a late game in Champaigne, so I got to the hotel around 1:00 that afternoon.  The players were all in their matching sweats.  They ate first, which took NO time, I couldn't  believe how fast they ate, and then if any of them wanted to they could go to a worship service.  I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know  enough of the players without their numbers to know who I was speaking to.  About 35-40 of them came to my room, along with a few assistant coaches (not Lloyd, he arrived late and was still eating.  I don't know if he would have come otherwise).  Chad Henne was one I did recognize, and he was in the middle of the front row.  They all filed in and completely filled up the front rows while the coaches sat in the back.  I did my thing, and after the closing prayer, every player came up (Chad was the first) and shook my hand with their bear-paw sized right hand and thanked me.  They were unbelievably classy, not just in thanking me like they were obviously taught to do, but also in their attentive listening -- to a man, complete with nodding at the right times and smiling at the right times and the whole bit.  I couldn't have been more impressed.  Nor more nervous.  I could easily speak in front of Congress after speaking in front of those guys, even if they are just kids, practically.  Any other team would have been no big deal, of course, just Michigan.  I hope that level of class continues with the new regime. Maybe all teams are like that in D-1, though.  I guess I wouldn't know.

 Afterward I asked "Soup" Campbell, who was my escort during the process, if what I did was alright.  I had no idea what I was supposed to say, really. I graduated seminary with Frank Reich, who qb'd for Maryland and then the Bills, and I emailed him asking for suggestions, but he didn't get back with me until after the fact.  Soup said, "That was perfect.  We'll have to tell Lloyd to ask you back next time."  But I doubt Lloyd will get rehired, so I won't start planning what to say any time soon.  And I have no idea if all schools offer such services or if Coach Rodriguez will continue the practice.

 It was cool that Chad Henne then went out and gave one of the gutsiest performances ever.  All because of my two prayers and eight minutes of Christian motivation.  Yes, I know I had zero to do with the team's win and Chad's performance, but it's infinitely cool to have been part of what the team did that day.

Kevin Newsome barely made the espn 150 (#147), and they have him listed as an athlete. why is it that rivals and scout rankings are almost identicle and espn is so far off?

other notable QB's:

Tajh Boyd #121

Eugene Smith #132

Tate Forcier #141

Morgan Newton #145

Holy shit balls.....I found this preview of the Fartin' Spartan's:

http://sports-odds.com/american-football/072908-michigan-state-spartans-...

Two words: the worst. Who writes this stuff? At one point the author says:

...............it almost seems like they should be in a better position than they were last season.

But, they never say why they won't be in a better position than last season. WTF? Why write this sentence?

It gets better:

The Big 12 better have their rushing defense prepared when they face the Spartans.

Say what? Are we supposed to take this preview seriously? The Big 12? Dude, WTF? Who wrote this, my mother? Holy hell this is embarrassing.

Yeah, the Intertubes.....I know.......this probably isn't surprising. But still, seriously, if you're going to write a "preview" let's not be this stupid, 'em K?