#1 Oklahoma v. #2 Florida. January 8, 2008. Miami, Florida.
To me, the two best teams in the country are playing for the National Championship, but too much of it by chance. Technically, it's the Bowl Championship Series National Championship. I found out that the BCS actually has no official affiliation with the NCAA. It's actually the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) title that is called the NCAA Division I football championship. They've got it right, and they've been getting it right since 1978. 11-game regular season, 16-team tournament (which will go to 20 teams in 2010), and there is really no one who is in the know that would have a valid opinion that has a problem with it.
Especially in the last handful of years there's been so much controversy involving who should be there, why another team shouldn't be in there, and what's going on with undefeated mid-majors? As the talent level has stepped up so much, so has the controversy. Many are advocating a 8-team playoff with the conference champions of the 6 BCS conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, ACC, SEC, Pac-10), and 2 at-large bids, but I really don't think that would work.
This 8-team playoff would include the ACC Champ Virginia Tech, who went an abysmal 9-4, and is ranked a mere 19th in the BCS Standings. It would also include Big East Champ Cincinnati (#12 BCS), who although sits at 11-2, beat the likes of Eastern Kentucky and barely squeaked by Akron 17-15. Why am I not bashing the rest of the powerhouses who put cupcakes on their nonconference schedule? Because the ACC and Big East were incredibly weak as a whole this year, at least for a BCS conference. Hell, the Mountain West has more teams (Utah, TCU, BYU) ranked in the AP top 25 than the ACC (Va Tech, Ga Tech) or the Big East (Cincy, Pitt).
And what about those 2 at-large bids? Taking out the 6 BCS conference champs (Va Tech, Cincy, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC, Florida), here's a list of who you have left to vie for the last 2 spots, with current BCS standing:
#3 Texas
#4 Alabama
#6 Utah
#7 Texas Tech
#9 Boise St
#10 Ohio St
This system would take teams like the aforementioned Cincy and Va Tech over a team like Texas Tech, whose only blemish in their 11-1 season was a 65-21 drubbing by Oklahoma. I'll admit it was a bad loss, but I would take that 10 times out of 10 against a 4-loss Va Tech. And I will be one of the first in line to say that an undefeated team (Utah and Boise St both at 12-0) should at least have a shot at the title. Even #10 Ohio St (and this is hard considering my die-hard Illini fandom) deserves some credit, because they lost to the BCS #5 USC and #8 Penn State.
Therefore, if you go with 8 teams, you would have to go straight up BCS standings, without regard to making sure certain conferences get in or the number of bids per conference. This would give you the following matchups:
#1 Florida vs. #8 Penn St
#2 Oklahoma vs. #7 Texas Tech
#3 Texas vs. #6 Utah
#4 Alabama vs. #5 USC
Maybe you move around Texas Tech to make sure that there's not a conference matchup for the first round, or find a way to put Boise in there, but as it stands you have 8 quality teams, each of which have no more than 1 loss, and each of which were in the national championship conversation (with the possible exception of Utah) at some point during the year. You also have 3 weeks of games, which is still shorter than the current 34-bowl schedule in place this year.
To me, if you wanted to include the 6 champions of the BCS conferences, you have to go to a 16-team playoff, giving you 10 at-large bids, and giving you the exact format of the FCS, although, as stated before, the FCS is going to 20 teams in 2010. It would also give teams like Oklahoma State, Georgia (who by the way seemed like everyone's pick for the BCS Championship in the preseason), and Ohio State a chance to make a run. Even 16 teams, if you started at the same time the bowl season started, would take you less time than to play 34 bowls.
And to those who say you would lose the pageantry of the more classic bowls, I say you can still have it. Name a bowl game for every game in the playoff...it's that simple. That's 7 bowls (in the 8-team playoff) and 15 bowls (16-team playoff) right there. You can fill the rest with the less classic bowls such as the ever-popular San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl or the always riveting magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.
This would also make it hard to actually get into a bowl, with some teams playing 2 or 3 bowls. I can't really find solace in the fact that there will be 34 teams this year that will end their season with a postseason victory, or that a 6-6 team is considered bowl-eligible. If you can't finish a season with an winning record, your season should not be extended. This also means that if a 6-6 team were to make it to a bowl and lose, that means they made the postseason but finished with a LOSING record. Pardon my French, but WHAT THE FUCK?!
I really wish a had a few followers, not for the fact that I could say I have fans, but I would like to hear what others have to say.
This 8-team playoff would include the ACC Champ Virginia Tech, who went an abysmal 9-4, and is ranked a mere 19th in the BCS Standings. It would also include Big East Champ Cincinnati (#12 BCS), who although sits at 11-2, beat the likes of Eastern Kentucky and barely squeaked by Akron 17-15. Why am I not bashing the rest of the powerhouses who put cupcakes on their nonconference schedule? Because the ACC and Big East were incredibly weak as a whole this year, at least for a BCS conference. Hell, the Mountain West has more teams (Utah, TCU, BYU) ranked in the AP top 25 than the ACC (Va Tech, Ga Tech) or the Big East (Cincy, Pitt).
And what about those 2 at-large bids? Taking out the 6 BCS conference champs (Va Tech, Cincy, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC, Florida), here's a list of who you have left to vie for the last 2 spots, with current BCS standing:
#3 Texas
#4 Alabama
#6 Utah
#7 Texas Tech
#9 Boise St
#10 Ohio St
This system would take teams like the aforementioned Cincy and Va Tech over a team like Texas Tech, whose only blemish in their 11-1 season was a 65-21 drubbing by Oklahoma. I'll admit it was a bad loss, but I would take that 10 times out of 10 against a 4-loss Va Tech. And I will be one of the first in line to say that an undefeated team (Utah and Boise St both at 12-0) should at least have a shot at the title. Even #10 Ohio St (and this is hard considering my die-hard Illini fandom) deserves some credit, because they lost to the BCS #5 USC and #8 Penn State.
Therefore, if you go with 8 teams, you would have to go straight up BCS standings, without regard to making sure certain conferences get in or the number of bids per conference. This would give you the following matchups:
#1 Florida vs. #8 Penn St
#2 Oklahoma vs. #7 Texas Tech
#3 Texas vs. #6 Utah
#4 Alabama vs. #5 USC
Maybe you move around Texas Tech to make sure that there's not a conference matchup for the first round, or find a way to put Boise in there, but as it stands you have 8 quality teams, each of which have no more than 1 loss, and each of which were in the national championship conversation (with the possible exception of Utah) at some point during the year. You also have 3 weeks of games, which is still shorter than the current 34-bowl schedule in place this year.
To me, if you wanted to include the 6 champions of the BCS conferences, you have to go to a 16-team playoff, giving you 10 at-large bids, and giving you the exact format of the FCS, although, as stated before, the FCS is going to 20 teams in 2010. It would also give teams like Oklahoma State, Georgia (who by the way seemed like everyone's pick for the BCS Championship in the preseason), and Ohio State a chance to make a run. Even 16 teams, if you started at the same time the bowl season started, would take you less time than to play 34 bowls.
And to those who say you would lose the pageantry of the more classic bowls, I say you can still have it. Name a bowl game for every game in the playoff...it's that simple. That's 7 bowls (in the 8-team playoff) and 15 bowls (16-team playoff) right there. You can fill the rest with the less classic bowls such as the ever-popular San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl or the always riveting magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl.
This would also make it hard to actually get into a bowl, with some teams playing 2 or 3 bowls. I can't really find solace in the fact that there will be 34 teams this year that will end their season with a postseason victory, or that a 6-6 team is considered bowl-eligible. If you can't finish a season with an winning record, your season should not be extended. This also means that if a 6-6 team were to make it to a bowl and lose, that means they made the postseason but finished with a LOSING record. Pardon my French, but WHAT THE FUCK?!
I really wish a had a few followers, not for the fact that I could say I have fans, but I would like to hear what others have to say.
Little 5-7 Jacquizz (wtf kinda name is that anyway?) Rodgers runs for 186 yards and 2 TDs on 37 carries through a thought-to-be iron wall of a defense. Rey Maualuga had 12 tackles, but the defense as a whole looked like they just couldn't find him over the respective linemen of OSU and USC.
#2 Oklahoma, putting a 35-10 beatdown on #24 TCU, was the only team in the top four to post a W in Week 5. With 411 yards and 4 TDs, OU quarterback Sam Bradford put himself right in the middle of the Heisman race. The OU offense is also legitimately balance on the ground as well, averaging nearly 170 yards per game. Taking over #1 in the AP poll, if the Sooners don't lay an egg against their remaining Big 12 schedule (I see now-#5 Texas giving them all they can handle), the Sooners should be on the road to Miami.
Tim Tebow looked more liked Florida alum Rex Grossman in a stunning defeat to Ole Miss. Although he didn't throw any interceptions, Tebow just looked uncomfortable in the pocket, getting sacked three times, coughing up a costly fumble and not converting on a fourth-and-one late in the fourth quarter. Are we to think this is the down-to-earth year for the Gator quarterback, or is this just a bump in the road? As Florida falls from #4 to #12 in the AP poll, its seems unlikely we will be seeing them in a BCS bowl, with a remaining schedule featuring #3 LSU and at #11 Georgia. Speaking of Georgia…
I figured Nick Saban would bring Alabama back to the national scene, but I had no idea it would be this quickly. In the “Black Out” game in Athens that saw the Crimson Tide rolling over the Bulldogs 31-0 at halftime, Georgia (one of my favorites to be in the national title game) looked like mere pups. Flashy tailback Knowshon Moreno only had 34 yards, and a supposed vaunted defense gave up 334 total yards to ‘Bama between the hedges. The Tide, which rises all the way to #2 in the AP poll, now seems to be the front-runner of the SEC.
When the Cubs held up a 1-0 against CC Sebathia in the sixth, I thought we would be able to pull it out. I can’t really blame anyone on the Cubs here, since pitchers in the game (Guzman, Gaudin, Cotts, Hart, Marshall, Wuertz, and Howry) were all relievers, and it was smart to rest the starters, especially Zambrano, who was scheduled to start today, for the playoffs. I’ll give credit where credit is due, as Sebathia pitched a helluva game, going the distance with a 4-hitter, 7 K’s on 122 pitches. I really won’t be surprised if his arm falls off during the playoffs. Consider this: he has made 2 fewer starts with Milwaukee than Cleveland this year, but was traded a week and a half after the midway point of the season and included the All-Star break. In those 16 starts, he has thrown 121 2/3 innings (an average of 7 2/3 per start), and made 3 starts in 9 days. All I have to say is, CC, we’ll see you in the NLCS.