Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Mutiny in Lubbock


Mike Leech, the man that fancied himself a pirate captain (see right), will no longer roam the high seas of west Texas. Earlier today Texas Tech finally gave Leach the boot after he decided to live out a pirate fantasy and had receiver Adam James put in the brig after Adam suffered a concussion.
The school's decision also puts into question Leech's treasure chest of 800,000 shiny silver dollars scheduled to be paid to Leach tomorrow.
After navigating his offense, and allowing his defense to follow behind on the dinghy, to more bowl wins than all other Tech coaches combined, winning season's could no longer cancel out the growing hatred from school administrators or growing discontent from the players.
Who Tech hires now is up in the air, however, I expect the new coach to be Mark Mangino.
Sources close to Captain Lech say he plans to visit San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl in order to plunder as many "fat, little girlfriend's" as he can before fleeing to the gulf of Mexico and sailing to East Carolina University where he can lead real pirates.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

My Bowl Picks

Texas just beat North Carolina...so Bowl Predictions! Big Ten doesn't win a game...
Fresno State over Wyoming, how did a 6-6 M. West team get a bowl?
Rutgers over UCF,Southern Miss over MTSU
Oregon State pulls the "upset" over #14 BYU
Utah beats Cal
SMU or Nevada
Marshall beats Ohio
Pitt over North Carolina
Clemson over Kentucky
I want to pick A&M over Georgia with the offense they turned on late even though I think a bland Georgia is the overall better team...let's go A&M
UCLA over temple, what a stupid Bowl.
Miami over Wisconsin, last year Florida State proved once more the Big Ten can't handle florida speed offenses and controlled chaos defense'
Idaho vs. Bowling Green is a bowl?!? ummm....Idaho
Nebraska over Arizona though both those teams are underanked
Houston beats Air Force
Oklahoma beats Stanford
Missourri over Navy
Iowa State over Minnesotta in a battle of 6-6 teams with 3-5 conference records. Cupcake non-conference schedules for these teams, this is exactly why people say there are too many bowl and you can't even watch it because it is on NFL network. Iowa State.
Tennessee over V. Tech for my first real upset pick
Auburn kills Northwestern who isn't ranked and still overrated
Penn State nearly dies against LSU
West Virginia finishes off Bowden
Oregon over Ohio StateFlorida over Cincy
USF over N. Illinois
Oklahoma State over Ole Miss
UCON over South Carolina
Arkansas over east carolina
Tech over Michigan State
TCU over Boise
Georgia Tech beats Iowa
Central Michigan over Troy
Texas over Bama

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Big Ten Defies Logic Even Further

There are three things I studied in college: Chemistry, Economics and why the Midwest can't count. After further review and research I have determined that the Big Ten's proposal to move to twelve teams makes perfect sense in all three fields.

In chemistry there is the octet rule. It states that eight valence electrons is the perfect number to keep a molecule stable and happy. For football conferences the rule is slightly different because the magic number is 12, but the general idea of the number creating stability holds true.

Twelve teams also had great economic benefits because it allows the conference to be divided up nicely into two sub-conferences of six teams. The sub-conferences themselves lead to a money making opportunity in the form of the Conference Championship game.


Twelve is also a good number for scheduling reasons. Five conference games against your sub-division and three against the other leaves four games to beat up the MAC. In this way your teams with 2-5 and 3-4 conference records can continue to be bowl eligible, pulling in more money for the conference to offset those 1-6 bowl records.

And as far as Midwesterners not being able to count, since twelve doesn't equal ten the rule still stands.

Now, all we have to do is find the perfect fit!

Let's start by examining all the teams that the Big-Ten might have the slightest interest in: which will include traditional powers located close to the region, non-BCS powerhouse programs on the rise, and teams in a state where the Big Ten currently has a team. Once this list is compiled each team will be subject to a demanding set of criteria in order to prove it is the right candidate.

Our initial List looks like this:
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Connecticut
Boston College
Maryland
West Virginia
Louisville
Houston
Ohio
Temple
Bowling Green
Kent State
Buffalo
Akron
Miami (OH)
Central Michigan
Northern Illinois
Western Michigan
Toledo
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Iowa State
Texas Christian University
Boise State



The first rule will take into account prestige, this is the Big Ten we are talking about, and if you don't have a program that used to be good you can forget about being welcomed into the big boy club. So lets go ahead and cut most of the MAC teams.

The second rule states that the prestige of your name must be based on what your school did, not a school from another state with a similar name. There goes Miami of Ohio.

The third rule states that you cannot steal a team from a conference that already has twelve teams. Iowa State, Maryland, Houston and Boston College are gone.

The fourth rule states the Big Ten must be the lead innovator in college football, as showcased by their offensive creativity and team speed on defense. Therefore stealing a team from the Big East would be passe since the ACC has already done so.

That leaves only TCU, Boise State and Notre Dame.

The fifth rule states that the team must have played after the 2009 season in at least two BCS bowl games. TCU bows out.

It's down to Notre Dame and Boise State.

The sixth and final rule states that the team must be able to win a BCS game and stop the o for 6 slide the Big Ten is in.

Ladies and Gentleman, meet the newest face of the Big Ten: Boise State!

Congratulations Broncos, you now have one year to design 11 trophies to play for against your new rivals. Please don't pain them blue.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Recruits Rockin Rocky Top

"Rebuilding a program ain't easy," and still Lane Kiffin does what he can to recreate the glory days. Undoubtedly you have hear the recent reports stating that Lane Kiffin and the University of Tennessee might have given recruits a little somethin somethin extra on the visit. Specifically, hookers.

Now understand, nobody thinks that Dolla Bill Lane is the only coach to guarantee recruits the all-important combination of playing time and play time, but now everyone knows for sure that he is the best wing man in the nation.

That's exactly what's so genius about the whole scandal, you have to let people know what you're offering to get them excited. After the story broke every recruit in the nation thought the exact same thing: "Les Miles might leave a sorority girl in the hotel room, but Lane Kiffin will decorate the room with black lights, will bring the entire sorority house over and even make the punch."

Immediately after the allegations first surfaced a wide variety of explanations were offered to defend the University's activities. "The recruits are going to play cover two with the ladies of the night anyways, Suede Silk Kiffin just makes sure they do it in a safe, disease free environment."

But there are undoubtedly downsides to White Chocolate L-Kif's strategy. Most players find calling the head coach "daddy" a little strange, and being threatened with a backhand after a false start often has the offensive linemen a little shaken up. Whenever coaches call for the Slot Receivers or Tight ends nobody is quite sure if they mean the players or the hookers. However, Johnathon Crompton has tweeted that his confidence drasticly increased since becoming the bottom bitch.

Overall, the bottom line is that Tennessee currently has the sixth rated recruiting class in the nation, which is somehow still just fourth in the SEC. They already have six top-150 recruits, stars at the skill positions and an OT named "Jose Jose." Let the nation know that one of college football's oldest powerhouses is back, thanks mainly to the worlds oldest profession.

Monday, December 7, 2009

How Good is the Big Ten?

Seven teams from the Big Ten will be making bowl appearances this year, and that stat becomes only slightly less impressive when you take into account the conference actually has eleven teams.

In the Coaches Poll the Big Ten finished strong: Conference Champ Ohio State and Iowa finished in the top Ten, Penn State finished just outside at #11 and Wisconsin was able to round things out at #24.

This year the Big Ten is gearing up and looking to build off the 1-6 record from the 2008 Bowl schedule. Putting together a winning bowl record for the first time since ESPN.com started keeping electronic records of Bowl seasons would cap a ... another season of Big Ten football.

The conference will especially look to improve results in the BCS games. Since Michigan and Ohio State were robbed of the rematch game for the title game in 2006 the Big Ten has gone 0-6 in the big boy bowls. That year Ohio State lost by 27 to Florida and Michigan lost by 14 to USC.

So lets take a quick preview of what December of 2009 and January of 2010 hold for the Midwest's champions:

Conference Champions Ohio State have alot to prove after going 0-3 in BCS bowl games during the last three seasons. The good news is that the Buckeyes will put on their sundays best helment stickers and praise the Lord that they don't have to play USC in the Rose Bowl. However, playing a red hot Oregon team is a tall order for any program right now and there is no reason to believe a potent spread offense won't continue to pull apart the Ohio State bowl game defense.

Advice for the Buckeyes: If Lagarette Blounte finds his way to the field make sure you keep safe and leave your helments on.

Iowa, the stalwart of 2008 after beating South Carolina, will face ACC champion Georgia Tech, a team that features the triple option and so-so defense in the Orange Bowl. Whether or not the formidable Iowa defense can figure out the Georgia Tech offense is the key, if they can then Iowa has a good chance of remaining the pride of the Big Ten's bowl season.

Advice for the Hawkeyes: If you play defense and there is a Georgia Tech non-lineman still standing, takcle him, there is a good chance he has the football.

Penn State will play #12 LSU in the Capital One Bowl. Good luck.

Advice for Penn State: Enjoy the time you have with Joe Pa, as we have seen with Bobby Bowden you never know when he won't be there anymore.

Wisconsin will for a second straight year play a team speed oriented program from Florida, and will meet Miami, Northwestern will play Auburn and Michigan State will play Texas Tech

Advice for Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan State: Don't play like you did last year.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Ranking Conferences Based on Bowl Records

The problem with ranking conference strength before the bowl season is two-fold. The first obstacle is the general lack of out of conference games that pit BCS conference teams agasint each other in the early weeks of the season. The second is that once conference play begins the paradigms of college football take over, and those take a very long time to catch up to a conference's actual strength.

Thus we have to look to the bowl season to give us the true story on the relative stengths of the conferences. Of course the bowl season presents its own set of problems: dissapointed teams going to smaller bowls have a long history of being upset by a hungrier underdog. Not all BCS conferences play each other in the Bowls, and if they do it might be a game pitting six and seven seeds. Also conferences don't send the same amount of teams to bowls; last year the Pac-10 sent five teams to bowls while the ACC sent 10 programs, more teams that are even in the Big East.

Trying to put together a mathematic formula to this mess gets complicated very, very quickly. But this is the system that I have so far, and it will be based on a scale of 0-100.

Each bowl bound team is ranked according to their conference schedule only. I have disregarded the non conference games in order to rank the teams against the same level of opponents, even though the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC do not play the same conference schedule and may played a weaker seet of teams from the other sub-conference. Furthermore each team is ranked according to the pre-bowl ranking, not their spot in the final post-season poll.

For example the Big XII from the 2008 Bowl season would rank as such:
1. Oklahoma (7-1)
2. Texas (7-1)
3. Texas Tech (7-1)
4. Oklahoma State (5-3)
5. Missourri (5-3)
6. Nebraska (5-3)
7. Kansas (4-4)

Since I don't think a linear system of ranking teams in a conference (simply saying that OU is #1 and Kansas is #7) would tell the entire story, I have a devised a system of awarding points to each team within the conference, so we can measure whether a conference is more "top-heavy" or "evenly matched". Clearly the Big XII is top heavy, with three teams at 7-1 and the other four bowl teams having close to .500 records.

This sysetm averages two numbers, the first is simply the number of conference wins. The second takes into account the teams conference ranking and its conference record and follows: Conference Rank (#1 = 10 points, #10 = 1 pooint) + conference wins - conference losses.
Oklahoma would be awarded [ ( 10 + 7 - 1) + 7 ] / 2 = 11.5 points. (The Pac-10 will have a further step of multiplying their number by 8/9 to correct for playing nine conference games when all other conferences play eight) This number will be referred to as the RCR, the Real Conference Rank.

1. Oklahoma - 11.5 points
2. Texas - 11 points
3. Texas Tech - 10.5 points
4. Oklahoma State - 7 points
5. Missourri - 6.5 points
6. Nebraska - 6 points
7. Kansas - 4 points

These numbers are alot more indicative of how the conference really should be ranked: OU, Texas and Tech close to each other at the top and the Kansas at the bottom worth a litttle more than 1/3 of the top teams.

At this point one last change is made to the rankings, they are converted to percentage points. This is done in order to even out the different number of teams each conference sends to Bowls, and does not affect the points assigned to teams according to conference rank and records.

This is done by adding together all points assigned to the teams, in this case 56.5. Then dividing each teams points by 56.5 and multiply by 100 to get the percentage. This number will be called the PCR, the percentage conference ranking.

1. Oklahoma - 20.35%
2. Texas - 19.47%
3. Texas Tech - 18.58%
4. Oklahoma State - 12.39%
5. Missourri - 11.50%
6. Nebraska - 10.62%
7. Kansas - 7.08%

Now we have the teams in the conference ranked in a way that corrects for both inter-conference issueas and intra-conferences problems. Hooray.

The next issue to tackle is the system to decide how many points the team gets to keep for its conference. This will be a bit more complicated than keeping the points of winning teams and losing the points from the beaten teams. It will take into account that an Oklahoma team that loss the national championship game by ten is still worth more than a Kansas team that blew out Minnesotta, but probably not as much as a Texas team that did win its BCS bowl.

This system will also take into account margin of victory, the percentage conference bowl record of the team they played (OCBR), the teams own PCR, the other teams RCR. The maximum amount of points awarded by the following formula is the teams own PCR, and the minimum possible value is zero. This number will be referred to as the teams BPE, Bowl Points Earned.

For Win:
PCR/2 + *{[(Opp RCR + MOV) * (OCBR)] + (Opp. RCR + MOV)] /8}
*If the second part of the equation is greater than the teams own PCR/2 it will be adjusted to equaling the Teams own PCR/2, in this case the team will retain its entire PCR as BPE.

For Loss:
PCR * MOV - [(1-OBCR) * 4] - [(1 / OPP RCR) * ]

MOV
21 or aove win +3 loss 45%
14 -20 win +2 loss 55%
7-13 win +1 loss 65%
0-6 win +.5 loss 75%
Ovetime win Even loss 85%

For Texas: (19.47/2) + {[(11.5 +.5 * .1428) + (11.5+.5)]/4} = 13.17 BPE
For Oklahoma: 20.35 *.65 - [(1-.75) *4] - [(1/11.5) *10] = 11.36 BPE

In the above cases Texas was hinderred by the combination of only beating Ohio St. by 3 (+.5)points when Ohio State came from a conference with a horrible win percentage (.1428). Thus they were awarded only 3.43 extra points for the win even though Ohio States RCR was extremely high at 11.5.

Oklahoma was not penalized too much because they lost by 10, lost to a team with an extremely high RCR at 11.5, and lost to a team with a confernce great win record of .75. Thus they still kept a little bit more than half their points.

Conference BPE results will follow as I calculate them.

Monday, November 23, 2009

THE BCS MANIFESTO

There are six ways to earn an automatic BCS bid.

The first is to finish top two in the BCS rankings, those two teams are gaurunteed a spot in the national championship game.

The second way is to be the champion of BCS conference, which includes: the SEC, the Big 12, the Big East, the Pac-10, the ACC and the Big 10.

The third way (part a) is to be the Champion of a non-BCS conference, which includes: the WAC, the MAC, the Mountain West, the Sun Belt or conference USA, and be ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS standings. However only one non-BCS team can earn an automatic bid, and if two teams both meet the requirements the one with the highest final BCS ranking will win the automatic bid. This rule will play out this year in the duel between MAC powerhouse Boise State and Mountain West Texas Christian University, and most likely TCU will win the bid if both teams remain unbeaten.

Part three B states that the the champion of a non-BCS conference can earn an automatic bid if they are ranked in the top-16 and are ranked higher than a BCS conference champion that received an automatic bid. For example, if SMU was the conference USA champion, and is ranked number 13 they receive a automatic bid if Oregon won the Pac-10 championship and was ranked 18 in the final BCS poll.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Penn State Continues to Commit Poll Fraud

The Big Ten is once revolutionizing the college football game, as figureheads all acrosse the Pennsylvania countryside have figured out off-season planning for a weak schedule is much more important then X's and O's.

Penn State was ranked 11th going into the highly-anticipated match against rival poll frauds Ohio State. Up to that point the Nittany Lion Nation hoped like hell that the 7-1 ranking would white out the strength of the schedule issues, and somehow they succedeed.

Joe Pa has yet to notch a win against a Big Ten opponenet with a winning conference record. The Big Ten wins include Minnesotta (3-4), Michigan (1-5), Indiana (1-5), and Northwestern (3-3).

Penn State has racked up non-conference wins against FBS Eastern Illinois, last in the Big East Syracuse, and two MAC teams: Akron and Temple. In fact Temple is the marquee win because they actually have a winning record.

In the two losses against ranked opponents Penn State has scored a total of 17 points.

The Pennsylvania State University is drawing the blue prints for how to make a New Years Bowl game with a bad team, everyone pay attention.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Colorado's Decision

In his fourth year Coach Dan Hawkins promised the fans in Boulder ten wins. But two weeks into this season they are 0-2. The sting of defeat at the hands of Colorado State has become a very familiar sensation for the Buffalo's over the past years, but the blowout defeat to MAC opponent Toledo marks a new low for a program that used to matter. So does the rebuilding begin now with a new coach now? Or with a new coach after the season?

The fact that Colorado brought back enough talent to make a run in the Big 12 North made the Ten Win Promise farfetched, but not altogether impossible. And it might be that elusive Big 12 North run that keeps Hawkins in the captians chair for a few more weeks. Pre-season Nebraska and Kansas were ranked right at the upper end of the top 25, and after a convincing win over Illinois in the arch-rivalry Missourri joined them in the polls. After two weeks anyone can see that there is no room for Colorado to be in the ranks of those three powers.

The schedule Colorado must play in the Big 12 South is even more brutal and includes both Texas and Oklahoma State. In a rational mind those two games keep Colorado out of Big 12 North running alone. Thus, with no memories of national prominence and no chance of Big 12 success, the university should fire coach Hawkins. If only for recruiting reasons: so they do not have a lame duck head coach bringing in new players.

The honeymoon of Hawkins is over, years of having an invitation to a bad bowl game and pulling one or two upset victories over Big 12 powers are no more. The University of Colorado must make drastic changes in order to pull out of this tailspin, and to once again become a respected and ranked program.

Without a doubt the Colorado of old is gone, just like the Nebraska and Kansas State of old. Whether they are able to follow Nebraska's footsteps and build back up or continue to flounder like the current Kansas State program remains to be seen, but teither way the short term does not look good.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Terel Pryor Loves the Vick

"Not everybody is the perfect person in the world. Everyone does -- kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me. I just feel that people need to give him a chance."

Week Two Upsets and Best Game to Watch

Week two presents only one matchup between ranked teams, Ohio State and USC, but quite a few chances for unranked upsets.

Can Ohio State beat USC? Probably not, but if a Big Ten teams wants to beat the Trojans before the Rose Bowl now would be the time. Taking advantage of a freshman quarterback at home worked for the Buckeyes against Colt McCoy his freshmen year, and forcing Barkley into mistakes is definately the game plan.

It's seems a bit unthinkable but Syracuse might be able to give Penn State a game this week. Syracuse is a program excited for the new year, should have pulled out the Minnesotta game last week, and has a Duke point gaurd running QB. Penn State looked good against Akron. But who cares about looking good against akron.

LSU did not look good against Wahsington, failed to come together last year until the bowl game. Vanderbuilt exploded last week, had a breakout year in 2008 even though they could not live up the hype of top ten ranking, add the SEC rivalry angle and you have the formula for an upset.

Marshall always gives big name opponents troubles, perhaps they give Virginia Tech a game but after the nation got a glimpse of how good Virginia Tech is (even though they lost) I doubt the upset idea bears fruit.

Michigan is going to pull the upset and beat Notre Dame at the Big House if they keep Todd Forcier on the field and end the quarterback shuffling.

The best game this week is going to be Georgia Tech and Clemson, an early season ACC matchup on thursday night that will allow the eyes of the college football nation to get a good long look at the scary option attack of the yellow jackets.

Fantasy Football Preseason Power Rankings

1. The Headskins.
2. Pink Highlighters
3. Tai-Pan
4. Et Tu Fav-re?
5. Hurricane Ditka
6. Hurrican Scrambles
7. Smegmites
8. Saving Face
9. MeLlamoKeanue
10. $ Texas
11. The Jackson Four
12. The Pen-15 Mightier

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The Big 12 V. The SEC; Week 1

The debate over who is the best conference in the nation begins again, and luckily for college football fans and the sake of the debate the opening week featured a top-tier matchup of the two superpower conferences.

#13 Georgia (5th in SEC) was handled quite efficiently by #9 Oklahoma State (3rd in the Big 12). Oklahoma State's Defense answered alot of questions for the Big 12, and the Cowboy's offense was able to overcome an excellent Georgia Defense with big plays.

Despite the head-to-head win this week belongs to the SEC. A huge win for Alabama over a Virginia Tech team that looked superb, and the blow BYU handed to Oklahoma and Sam Bradford in particular undoubtedly tips the scales in favor of the SEC.

The premier teams for the two leagues, Texas and Florida, showcased their claims to the nations top two spots by destroying lesser opponents. Until these teams, (if these teams) play each other in the National Championship game, Florida has to be given the edge as the defending National Champions.
Win: SEC.

The next-best teams, still college football elites, could not have put themselves in different situations. Alabama made a stronger BCS case than any other team in the nation by defeating future ACC champion Virginia Tech. The Sooner's lost to a skilled and ranked BYU team and almost as importantly lost Sam Bradford for an unforseen amount of time.
Win: SEC

The third best teams for each conference: Oklahoma State for the Big 12 and LSU for the SEC (the debate between LSU and Ole Miss is for a different article) is the only clear win for the Big 12. We all know what the Cowboys did, but a late start time for LSU left them out off the prime time picture. A close win over last year's worst team in the BCS was probably not as bad as it seems on paper. A new coach and a new year inspired Washington to give LSU everything the Tigers could handle, still images of last year's crumbling still danced before every LSU fan's eyes.
Win: Big 12

Nebraska handled Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss eventually took control of Memphis and posted a blowout on the scoresheet. Although I don't believe Mississippi should be ranked anywhere near their top ten spot, they are most likely a better team than Nebraska from everything we know at this point.
Win: SEC

Georgia lost to Oklahoma State, but the story would have been very different if their opponent was Kansas. Kansas is underrated and calls plays like they are BCS buster in a BCS conference, and towards the end of the season could be very dangerous, but as with Nebraska they still have to prove they are better than their SEC counterpart on the field.
Win: SEC.

The non-ranked others: I'm not sure if anyone will believe me but the Big 12 has the upper hand in depth. Texas Tech and Missouri are still very good teams though losing team leaders to the NFL. Baylor could be the best team in the nation that nobody knows, and because of Baylor's ever improving play the Big 12 South will still be the best sub-conference in the nation. A&M continues to pull in enough recruits to make itself dangerous should the team ever come together. The Big 12 north, however, is not deep. Colorado has not turned the corner, Kansas State's decline from power seems un-reversible at this point and Iowa State is doomed to the depths of the Big 12 locker.

Naturally there are always teams in the SEC that come from unranked positions to prove how deep the conference is. Tennessee and Lane Kiffin are a match made in heaven and after week one have put themselves back into the discussion of the SEC east. Kentucky, South Carolina, Auburn, Vanderbuilt and Arkansas could show something down the stretch, but that remains to be seen.

The Week 2 Conference Heirarchies:

Big 12 SEC
Texas Florida
Oklahoma State Alabama
Oklahoma LSU
Nebraska Ole Miss
Kansas Georgia
Missouri Tennessee
Texas Tech Auburn
Baylor Vanderbuilt
Texas A&M South Carolina
Kansas State Kentucky
Colorado Arkansas
Iowa State Mississippi State

Cash For Clunkers to Blame for OU loss?

"We have been so busy filling out the government paperwork that even the (Oklahoma Sooner's) football players actually had to come in and work overtime." The assistant manager of sales from Big Red Sports in Norman, Oklahoma asked to rename nameless, but was able to shed some light on the puzzling situation of the OU football team.

"After Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn were kicked off the team uppper management decided to make players work for the $18,000/month paychecks. Up until the Economic Recovery Plan the players were able to fill up their time with mindless tasks and still look over the playbooks between helping customers. But lately they have had to put practice in the background as our auto sales have absolutley overwhelmed us."

New reports now claim that Jermaine Greshman injured his knee when he slipped in the break room on a puddle of coffee cream. Sam Bradford had also reported a sore shoulder before the BYU game and claimed it was due to the hours upon hours of filling out government forms.

It is widely believed among full time emplyees of Big Red Sports Auto Sales that Coach Stoops would call, using a different alias each time, and demand that the players be released so the team could practice stopping statue of liberty 2-point conversions attempts.

With or without Bradford on the field the OU offense was sluggish and hardly showcased last years prowless. But, now that car sales have leveled out, the big qustion is whether or not OU's offense will be able to recover and get back on track in time to salvage the 2009 season.

All is not lost in Norman, with the BCS's emphasis on down-the-stretch football perhaps the Sooners still have a chance to make a BCS bowl, or even the National Championship game. It is important to realize that this team has a very real chance to take the next step and achieve what recent teams have failed to do.

Losing five consecutive BCS bowls (LSU, USC, Boise St., West Virginia and Florida) coupled with dropping three of the last four Red River Shootouts/Rivalries against archrival Texas have decreased Stoop's nickname from "Big Game Bob" to "Medium Game Bob" to "Iowa State game Bob."

In the future fans can expect Oklahoma to stop scheduling BCS buster teams such as TCU and BYU as the season opener in the future, and to use a less strenuous profession to funnel money from boosters to players.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Day 1: Hating the Big Ten

The storied teams representing the Great Lake states begin their quest for college football domination today, with all eleven Big Ten teams in action. So far eight teams have completed their games, and the Big Ten has tallied eight wins. Let's take a more in depth look at the games:



Starting with the traditional week 1 blowouts:


Michigan beat interstate rival Western Michigan and won their season opener. They didn't use to be rivals, but after a 3-9 season Michigan fans decided that energy used to get ready for Penn State and Ohio State games would be more usefull if directed to a set of new, less skilled rivals from the MAC.


Northwestern looked solid while toppling FCS Towson 47-17. The Wildcats took care of bussiness and looked every bit the perennial bowl losers that they are working so hard to become.



Penn State had a great defensive showing against a FBS MAC opponent Akron. The big question this year is will Penn State replace Ohio State as the class of the Big Ten, after today's performance it looks a bit more likely that Penn State will earn the right to be humiliated by USC in the Rose Bowl.



Michigan State dominated Wyoming State, and will probably be at the head of the Big 10's second tier, doomed to lose to an SEC team at the end of an overhyped season.



Purdue did blow out MAC opponent Toledo, but showcased a defense that will keep the program in the cellar of the big ten, the lowest, smelliest and darkest cellar of all.



The close misses:



Ohio State almost loses to Navy at home, not a good sign when USC comes knocking soon. What OSU should keep in mind is that they still get to play a Big Ten regular schedule.



Minnesota pulls out a tough win in overtime against the allied forces of Duke and Syracuse, SYRACUSE. That's not good.



Iowa, the lone team from the Big Ten to win a bowl game last year, pulls out a come from behind, Disney type win over the powerfull FCS North Iowa Kurt Warners. A lost would have made my day, but a performance that poor still makes me smile.



Indiana almost losing to Eastern Kentucky suprises nobody, these guys suck.

THE LOSSES!

Once again Illinois proves that when you think they are a good team; you are a moron. The defense of Illinois let Missourri's quarterback do his best Chase Daniels impression. No td's on offense. No hope in Champaigne.

I will also assume that Wisconsin loses to Northern Illinois. Go Huskies.


Thursday, February 26, 2009

Monday, February 16, 2009

2009 Non-Conference Schedule to Suck

There are always a select group of non-conference games that make week 1-5 worth watching. Unfortunately, that group is getting smaller by the year, and decreasing even faster than the number of black head coaches.

It seems that the BCS ensures that top-tier teams don't want or need to play tough opponents. With the "what have you done for me down the stretch" attitude of voters the only thing important about the three or four games before the conference schedule is making damn sure you have three of four wins.

Consider:

Currently there are 119 teams in the Bowl Subdivision, and no matter how big your conference is you still have over 100 teams to choose from for your non-conference schedule. One frieken hundred. No matter, teams in the FBS are still finding a way to play smaller schools. Next year 75% of BCS conference teams will play a FCS school.

The Pac-10 once agains earns praise from this blog for being the only conference that has more teams not playing a FCS school than teams that do. In fact, they look to have the toughest non-conference schedule for any conference as a whole.

The ACC and SEC have ten teams playing FCS schools each, but the SEC does not have the honor of having three teams that will face two FCS schools. Congratulations to the state of North Carolina: Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State all refuse to schedule real games.

On the positive side no BCS team has schedules three FCS games yet. And Michigan will face Delaware state, looking forward to that one. Although if they played Deleware the teams helments would have been virtually the same, talent level too.

Coming Soon the Best OOC games that we actually will look forward too!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Breaking News from Salt Lake City!

Two unofficial sources are now claiming that fifty eight Brigham Young University players have tested positive for viagra, which is now listed as a performance enhancing drug.

According to a 2006 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology Viagra, sildenafil citrate, can enhance cardiovascular workouts when in a high altitude setting. This is because Viagra can increase oxygen transport to the blood when working out high above sea level, where oxygen levels in the air are lower.

The list of players included sophomore kicker Tristan Maldanado, the only one to respond to questions from thinkingoutsidetheranking interviewers. When asked about the incident Maldanado said that players often talked about Viagra, but none of them "knew anything about its performance enhancing ability on the football field."

In an unidentified Facebook post one player responded to the allegations by stating reasons the football team had to take Viagra that didn't involve football.

"There is alot of pressure to perform your best for the ladies. Some of us look forward to having three or four wifes down the road, and keeping sexually fit is a must if the maximum number of multiple wives is to be achieved."

Another unconfirmed reason for taking Viagra circulating the press is that the male population of BYU, not just the football players, need Viagra in order to make love to a female student body that isn't exactly attractive. According to a nation-wide poll of college students on Studentsreview.com BYU has the second least attractive girls in the nation, falling behind only Capella University.

The performance enhancing abilities help to explain why BYU, a team full of slow white guys can compete at such a high level during conference play in the mountainous region of the states but continues to lose bowl games when they travel away from the high altitude stadiums.

How the NCAA will respond to the violations is not yet known. It has been suggested by sources that the NCAA could limit the team to 15 scholarships for three years and two wives for the same time period.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Urban Meyer Cheated Anyways

If anyone remembers the day after Lane Kiffin took the job at the University of Tennessee Urban Meyers accused him of a recruiting violation. Oh the SEC, they hate each other so much. So when Kiffin celebrated a recruit he won over Florida at a Tennessee football luncheon even though Urban Meyer "cheated" it wouldn't seem to be such a big deal.

Thats why when the Florida press release came out I had to cringe a little. "There was no rule violation and we have confirmed this with the Southestern Conference, It is obvious that Coach Kiffin doesn’t know that there is not a rule precluding phone contact with a prospect during an official visit on another campus during a contact period...are very disappointed with him..." Blah blah blah.

Lane Kiffin didn't do a damn thing wrong.

Urban pulled a classic punk move: throw the first slap, get slapped back and run to the nearest authority figure to tattle. The worst part is now ESPN is going to cover the shit out of this for the next three weeks. If you're not immediately throwing mud at Urban Meyer, Les Miles or Nick Saban and you are a new head coach in the SEC you suck. I'm still waiting for a shot at Alabama, Chizik.

It would seem that Florida has a good enough football team to settle things on the field, remember when Georgia did the amazing celebration dance after their first touchdown against Alabama? Then what happened? Alabama spanked em back on the field next year. That's college football for you.

When Rich Rodriguez tried to steal an Ohio State recruit last year, the Big Ten's "Gentleman Agreement," to not steal recruits from other Big Ten programs was brought up in an interview with Tressel. He responded "I guess it only counts between gentlemen." Superb. That's college football, shots between rivals that don't involve stuffy athletic directors.

This year when rivals USC played UCLA in the rose bowl stadium, UCLA was the "away" team. But they wanted to revive a tradition where both teams wore home uniforms. They did and were charged a timeout per half, so Pete Carrol called a useless timeout at the beginning of each half to even things out. That's college football.

If Urban Meyer was in Carrol's situation he would have had the law students looking for a way to have another timeout taken from them, maybe even the review flag. How many luncheons with the football boosters following signing day involved a shot at the Rivals? Or a comment about a four star recruit stolen from a in-conference team at the last moment? For a team coming off a national championship I would expect a little bit more.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Big XII Championship Tiebreaker

I have finally come to terms with the Big XII's tiebreakers for the sub-conference champions.

Last year Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma together made for one of of the most exciting conference races in the history of college football, in the history of college sports, in the history of conferences. Three 11-1 teams, all 7-1 in conference play, forming the perfect rock paper scissors dilemma.

So when it was time to decide the Big XII south champion and the team with the inside track to the National Championship game, the Big XII decided to let the BCS decide. This was done to ensure that the team with the best chance to succeed at the national level would get the nod. That was the stated reason for the tiebreaker rule #5, and it actually did make sense.

I have one suggestion though, for a simple and very precise rule to be slided into slot #4: Oklahoma does not get the tiebreaker if Bob Stoops is coaching. This, more than any other single change, will ensure that the Big XII will have success in the BCS and future national championship games.

In 2007 and 2006 Ohio State lost two consecutive National Championship games and became the new Oklahoma, remember Oklahoma lost the National Championship game in 2003 to LSU and in 2004 to USC. Now Oklahoma has snatched the title back thanks to Florida.

Two other BCS game losses to, may we never forget, Boise State and the ass-whooping delivered by West Virginia make five straight BCS losses for Oklahoma. Just as the Notre Dame bowl losing streak comes to an end Oklahoma gives me hope and something to live for.

Texas, by contrast, is 3-0 in BCS games. The choice seems clear, in order to be as successful as the SEC in bowl games, especially the big BCS ones, Oklahoma must be stopped, have their football program dismantled or killed.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Charles Barkley vs. Auburn

DISCLAIMER: I am a Gene Chizik fan, forever grateful for his help in the 2005 National Championship the Longhorns won.

"I think race was the No. 1 factor," said Barkley, who played basketball for three seasons at Auburn during the early 1980s. "You can say it's not about race, but you can't compare the two résumés and say [Chizik] deserved the job. Out of all the coaches they interviewed, Chizik probably had the worst résumé."

Charles Barkley's comments reflected the sentiments of the nation when he commented on Auburn not hiring Turner Gil. The case for Turner Gil was obvious, he was able to turn around one of the worst college football programs at Buffalo almost immediately after arriving, and this season took them to their first bowl game ever. Turner Gil was this years rising coach star, and looked almost certain to get the job at a big name, BCS school like Auburn, Clemson or Tennessee.

The case for Gene Chizik was much less flashy, and certainly less talked about. But don't forget that three years ago Gene Chizik was the Turner Gil. He was an extremely effective defensive coordinator at Auburn and a large reason for the undefeated season of 2004. In 2005 he was an even larger reason when the Longhorns wrapped up the National Championship. This guy was a huge part of something like a 25 game winning streak in college football, and his stock could not have been higher.

The main point of comparison between Gil and Chizik was records, this was the only issue ever talked about and my God it was hammered into the ground. Both Gil and Chizik had head coaching job for three seasons, and one had a hell of a lot more wins than the other. But the issue there is both coaches inherited down and out squads, and one had to compete against the Big XII with his and the other against arguably the worst conference in the nation the MAC.

Iowa State's schedule every year includes eight Big XII games and a game against rival Iowa. With a much tougher schedule Iowa State was bringing in decent recruiting classes and showing promise, they were also beginning to show promise on the field. At least twice each year Chizik was coaching Iowa State led a much better national power going into the 3rd quarter and lost the game in the second half when depth starts to show.

That being said I certainly don't know how much racism played into the case. And to be perfectly honest I don't know how much Charles Barkley or any other person outside the Athletic Director at Auburn. But that didn't stop speculations on phantom "racist boosters" keeping out Gil because of a white wife that ran rampant over the internet and ESPN.

Lately College football has been subject to conversations about race, and rightfully so, because of the small number of Black head coaches, which has become even smaller with the departing of Croom at Mississippi State, Ron Prince at Kansas State and Willingham at Washington. This leaves three black coaches for 119 schools in a sport where 60% of the players are themselves black.

When the history of the schools are examined the race issue could not help but be magnified. Buffalo received one bowl bid in its school history but did not accept because two players, who were black, would not have been allowed to play. Auburn is looked upon suspiciously because of its location in the deep south.

But here is my point, Gene Chizik never made the rule that black players would not be allowed in the Tangerine Bowl, he wasn't one of the supposed racist boosters who underhandedly had him hired. Gene Chizik is just a coach who had a history of being successful in the SEC, with a history of winning at Auburn, he knows the all-important recruiting layout. He has actually shown himself to be a better recruiter than Gil over the years. He was a much better candidate than anyone ever gave him credit for.

Gene Chizik will for the foreseeable future be the coach who won the job over a better candidate due to racism thanks mostly to Barkley. Without the alumna's comments Chizik would have been a passing conversation point on ESPN, which has a history of lingering on any controversial point they can find. So Gene, have fun recruiting, have fun answering questions about it for the next four years, have fun when your players are asked about the situation and if they would rather play for a black coach. If i was Gene Chizik I would issue an official statement for Sir Charles, "Thanks, Fucker."

Signing Day

Welcome to college football signing day! Since I have no idea who the actual recruits are, and if I did know who they are I would hate them for having that much fame coming out high school. Today we will highlight some men who never got their due love by making player profiles in NCAA 2005 Football and simulating the recruiting process:

Jameson Otto, #14 CB. A lockdown corner with speed that can match any other defensive back in the nation. Questions about his ability to come down with interceptions and be a game changing player have been raised due to his small hand size.
Signing Status: Signed with Notre Dame his sophomore year of high school.

Michael “Motha Fuckin B-Rice” Wersonske, #2 OT. As athletic of a big man as we have seen, but early problems in the recruiting season were felt across the nation when Michael demanded to be recruited as a tight end. Since then his prospect status has dropped from #2 OT to #145 TE. Questions about work ethic and spiking the Gatorade have further complicated the issue.
Signing Status: De-committed from Texas; currently considering Louisiana Lafayette, New Mexico State and Syracuse.

Dylan Daniel, #14 WR. A big, strong receiver that can come down with jump balls over many of the smaller corners. An excellent facet of Daniel’s game is blocking down field, he often takes on Linebackers and can become a huge bonus in his team’s running game. This makes him a perfect fit for the option run game of West Virginia. Downsides include forgetting most of his routes.
Signing Status: Committed to West Virginia because of the stank ass weed the state produces.

Daniel Hagleberg, SS #1. Daniel plays like a mad man, averaging three personal fouls per game this strong safety is often found at the line of scrimmage screaming unintelligibly at the other teams quarterback.
His speed and ferocity have made him the overall top recruit in the nation. After a lengthy discussion with the coaching and lawyer staff at Miami “Danimal” made a verbal commitment and has stuck with it. Other skills include fitting team mates with better shoes for the perfect fit during bus and plane rides.
Signing Status: Miami.

Huhrod Lindenmuth, C #421. Lindenmuth started the recruiting season near the top of ESPN top 150 and as the best center on the board until a workout session with Texas A&M revealed that he lied about his weight room numbers and had never actually worked out.
Signing Status: North East South Dakota State.

Mike Miller, ATH #1. High School highlight films of Miller look like a compilation tape of Randy Moss, Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Doug Flutie rolled into one love child. Although there have already been seven NCAA recruiting violations involving Miller the top programs in the nation are still lining up at his door. This recruiting season Mike set a NCAA record for having to give back five Lamborghinis.
Signing Status: Considering Florida, Arizona, USC, Texas, LSU, Miami, Oregon, Auburn, Michigan, Missouri, Boston College, Hawaii, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Penn State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Colorado, Texas A&M, Marshall, East Carolina, Oklahoma State, Boise State, UCLA, BYU, Florida State, California, Georgia Tech, Oregon State, Northwestern, Kansas, Kansas State, Maryland, Wake Forest, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Iowa, Colorado State, Air Force, Georgia, USF, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Tulsa, North Carolina State, Washington State, Washington, Tennessee, Ole Miss, UCF, Fresno State, Utah, Clemson, South Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Army, Navy, Southern Miss, Troy, Buffalo, Iowa State, Minnesota, Louisville, Memphis, Arizona State, Colorado State, Arkansas, Kentucky, Rice, Houston, North Texas, Miami of Ohio, UTEP and Appalachian State.

Evan Hoface, WR #12. Perhaps the top possession receiver coming out of high school this year, Evan reminds coaches and scouts of a Wes Welker type player. Evan is in the unique position of traveling anywhere in the nation because of the flexibility offered by his internet girlfriend. Celebrating this fact Evan is looking at the legendary “Four Corners” of the college football world.
Signing Status: Currently Considering Washington, USC, Miami and Buffalo.

Matt Hanson, C #2. Benefiting from Lindenmuth controversy, Hanson has moved up the scouting boards. His straight forward blocking mentality and skills as a long snapper and shotgun snapper have attracted the nation’s best spread offense teams. Hanson is also the top rated shit talker in the nation, and enjoys making defensive tackles cry,
Signing Status: Considering Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Those Mountains Have Possibilities!

As it stands the Mountain West has an excellent argument to be considered one of the six best conferences in the nation. The problem with the Mountain West is two-fold: the prestige of football teams from that region of the nation lag behind the rest of the country and the conference is top heavy with very little depth.



But there are enough names in the Mountain West to strike fear into the established BCS conferences. Utah has done more for BCS busters than any other program in the nation, they were the first to get in and they pulled off the biggest win.



Though Boise State probably won the most memorable BCS game when they beat Oklahoma in overtime with the now legendary statue of liberty play, Utah beat a stronger Alabama team that had a legitimate case to be in the national championship game. But don't forget about Boise State, they will be back.



BYU, TCU, Colorado State, and Air Force round out the more respectable programs in the Mountain West. UNLV, Wyoming, San Diego State and New Mexico represent the bottom levels of the conference.



With a little help (from the WAC) this conference can not only scare the BCS conferences, I think this conference can be strong and prestigious enough to become a BCS conference. Imagine for a second if Boise State, Fresno State and Hawai'i switch conferences and join the Mountain West. This move would add quite a bit of firepower to the Mountain West's arsenal and give it much needed depth. In the perfect world some of the smaller schools like New Mexico and Wyoming would be kicked back the WAC.



No doubt this move would shatter the WAC, putting on par with the Sun Belt and MAC as the nations worst conferences. But it would make more sense to consolidate the best teams from the West and let the other fill out a minor conference. The same situation is seen with the Big Ten overshadowing the MAC and the SEC being the big, drunken brother of the redheaded stepchild Sun Belt.



As for the Mountain West becoming a BCS conference with an automatic bid, who would they replace? Nobody. There are now five BCS bowls which mean that seven automatic bids with three at-larges being the new ratio. If this proposition could ever actually happen, the Mountain West would contain every team that made a BCS bowl from a non-BCS conference.



With the rise of Boise State and Utah, and the consistant play of TCU, Fresno State, Air Force and BYU the new Mountain West could have enough names to overcome the lack of prestige and give the Mountain region a BCS conference.

Small Colleges Lead the Way Into the Biggest Sporting Event of the Year

Kurt Warner played his college ball for FCS Northern Iowa, Big Ben graduated from Miami of Ohio, and two weeks from now these men will lead their teams into the biggest sporting event in the world.

While the NFL remains a quarterbacks league, these two past Super Bowl Champions will be in much more prestigious company on the field as far as Alma Mater's are concerned. For example protecting Kurt Warner will be products of the powerhouse Universities USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State as well as not so well-known division II Clarion.

The defensive and offensive starting lineups for the NFC and AFC champions will represent 39 different NCAA universities. It might be surprising to know that there are eight universities represented that are not FBS schools; including five FCS schools, two division II school and even a division III representative.

Naturally a conference break down is in order for the FBS players.

Big XII - The Big Twelve will send four starters to Super Bowl 43, including two Texas products, and one from each Kansas and Oklahoma State.

SEC - The SEC will contribute six players to the starting lineups. Two from Georgia, and one from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana State and Auburn.

Big Ten - The Big Ten leads the way with the most starters in Super Bowl 43, seven overall. Michigan is the single most represented team with three players. Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois and Penn State also have one player each.

ACC - The ACC follows the Big Ten closely with six starters. Two from each Virginia University and Florida State, with North Carolina and North Carolina State adding one each.

Pac-10 - The Pac-10 ties the Big East the fewest players from a BCS conference with only three. Two come from the NFL factory USC and one from Arizona State.

Big East - Two players from Pittsburgh University will play against Pittsburgh's NFL team, add one Rutgers product and the Big East sends three players to Super Bowl 43.

MAC - Two players come from the MAC, of course there is Big Ben from Miami of Ohio and Kent State also pitches in with one player.

Mountain West - This year Mountain West powerhouse Utah has made its presence felt not only in the BCS but also in the Super Bowl.

WAC - The WAC has sent two starters to the Super Bowl, one from Hawai'a and one from Fresno State.

Sun Belt - One player from Louisiana Lafayette graces the roster.

Conference USA - Tulane is the only school to represent Conference USA in the Super Bowl starter ranks.

Independents - Notre Dame sends its prayers and one player.


Thursday, January 15, 2009

USC's Sanchez Entering NFL Draft

USC quarterback Mark Sanchez says that he will skip his senior season and enter the upcoming NFL draft.

Ben Liebenberg / NFL.com
QB Mark Sanchez started only 16 games and fondles imaginary friends during a throw.
Welcome to the first segment in our multi-part series: "Athletes who are overconfident in their abilities and their value in the marketplace."

Thursday was the deadline for underclassmen to apply for the 2009 NFL draft, which takes place
in NYC on April 25-26, and apply they did! Mark Sanchez joined Ohio State's Donald Washington as applicants forgoing the rest of their NCAA eligibility to enter the Draft.

For a full list of underclassmen heading to the draft check here.

It has been reported (NFL.com and USC.com) that Trojans coach Pete Carroll tried to talk Sanchez into coming back for another season by correctly pointing out:
  • Sanchez started only 16 college games
  • NFL teams generally prefer quarterbacks with much more experience.
  • He wasn't even close to the Heisman picture.
  • No one likes him anyways.
Fun Facts:

Sanchez only started one full season at USC

He started in three games during the 2007 season for the injured John David Booty.

Sanchez follows in the footsteps of three quarterbacks currently on NFL rosters who also played for Pete Carroll:
Palmer, Leinart and Booty.

Lets see how Sanchez matches up!

Carson Palmer
  • Heisman Trophy winner
  • First overall pick in the 2002 draft
Matt Leinart
  • Heisman Trophy winner
  • Tenth overall pick in the 2005 draft
YEAR YDS TD INT
2004 3322 33 6
2005 3815 28 8

John David Booty
  • Not a Heisman Trophy winner
YEAR YDS TD INT
2005 327 3 2
2006 3347 29 9
2007 2361 23 10

Mark Sanchez
  • Not a Heisman Trophy winner
  • The only one of the four to leave school early for the pros.
  • Bad foot odor
YEAR YDS TD INT
2006 63 0 1
2007 695 7 5
2008 3207 34 10


Okay, the Heisman would have been nice, but that's a popularity contest anyways. A popularity contest that was won this year by an ape-boy, but a popularity contest nontheless.

Assuming you only compare each QB's best season, side-by-side those numbers don't look so bad. Right? Wrong. With a conference as unbelievably weak as the PAC-10 during 2008 (except for the state of Oregon and a bowl eligible Arizona) do those number really hold up? Nope. Guys like Sanchez thrive in conferences with winless and 2-11 teams.

Here's how it went down:
Win over VA
Beating an overrated Ohio State program
Pwned by an Oregon State team that ended the season unranked
Running up the points against Apple Cup winning Washington St.
Barely beating Arizona
Running up the points against winless Washington
Rinse, Repeat.


I gotta run,
check back for more in our multi-part series: "Athletes who are overconfident in their abilities and their value in the marketplace."

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Defending an Amazing Streak

From now on nobody is allowed to dismiss Texas' streak of consecutive ten win seasons because of the Big XII championship game. This is why: Texas has unfortunately only been to the Big XII championship game four times, and won only twice. The first win was in 1996 when they upset Nebraska. That was before the ten win season streak started. The second win was in 2005 when the team put together a 14-0 season National Championship season. Never was the Big XII championship game the reason the Longhorns reached ten wins, because the only year they won the game during the continuing streak they already had ten wins easily wrapped up. On a number of occasions the bowl game was the reason they were able to get to ten wins, but not once the conference championship game.

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Monday, January 12, 2009

The State of Iowa

Iowa is a riddle wrapped in an enigma grown in a corn husk. Everything about the funny looking little state in 2008 gave birth to ambiguous positions. Last year I focused in on Iowa and most likely found it to be more intriguing than anyone else in recorded history, and I learned some things. Did you know that Iowa is the only state that the Big XII and Big Ten share? And the sharing mostly goes to the Big Ten lately with Iowa States fall to the basement in the post Seneca Wallace era. Iowa also is currently experiencing a farming boon due to the government mandated production of ethanol. Also, Iowa alum seem to love to move to Texas, and then change our flag to from Red, White and Blue to Black, White and Gold and put this mutant flag on everything from bumper stickers to sweaters in order to announce their presence. Furthermore, on this banner the famous Lone Star has been replaced with the Hawkeye symbol, and the words "The Hawkeyes of Texas are Upon You" hovering above the new, distorted flag. Clever. Clever in a way that makes me want to run my shopping cart into an old mans heels. Iowa is also known for painting the opposing teams locker rooms pink, because the color is supposed to have a calming effect. One time I ate at a Des Moines Denny's on my way up to Minnesota during college. That's really about all I know about Iowa, but those five things put me well ahead of the nationwide curve.

Back to college football. To begin with, Iowa saved my football season by not allowing Penn State to carry an undefeated record into the National Championship game. This years game, though unfulfilling in the face of demands for playoffs, was well-played and exciting, and for once actually competitive. Another year of the Big Ten getting spanked would have probably killed me... if I didn't live for the big ten getting spanked. But alas! Iowa allowed me to have my cake, and eat it too when the Big Ten still went 0-2 in BCS games for the third straight year, and didn't throw snake eyes in the title game. For all you have done for me Iowa I am truly grateful. But you also ruined the perfect Big Ten bowl season by winning your bowl. Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin all followed my plan perfectly; but you had to win. A 1-5 Big Ten bowl season makes me happy, a 0-6 would have been pure bliss. But maybe I am wrong to blame you, South Carolina did roll over and die for you the way the Big Ten rolls over for the ACC in the basketball challenge. Which brings me to my next point. South Carolina is a riddle wrapped in an enigma covered with a Confederate flag...

Friday, January 2, 2009

Explaining the BCS

Since the BCS is political in nature the best way to explain it would be through an analogy with, well politics. The BCS poll is a combination of three polls which include the Coaches, the Harris Poll and the computers polls; and in this way it works a lot like the federal government. The Coaches Poll consists of around 65 FBS coaches who vote weekly on the top 25. We will call the coaches poll the legislative branch of the BCS. This poll is undeniably subject to special interests because it directly affects the people who run it and often gives birth to strange oddities. For example during the 2007 season when Kansas put together a cinderella run every ballot for the final poll going into bowl season listed Kansas somewhere in the top 12, except for Texas Tech's ballot. In fact the Mike Leach never once voted Kansas in the top 25, maybe he had something against coaches who looked like blueberries, or maybe coach Mangino said something to insult pirates, who knows. Most of the conspiracies are based on more concrete reasons: Oklahoma was making a case to be in the 2007 National Championship Game and their ballot reflected it, not only were they ranked number 1, but every team they had beaten was an average of five spots higher than they appeared  on the actual poll. Currently the statistical research team of Thinking Outside the Ranking is looking into the oddities of the coaches poll, including why the Big Ten gets nine votes when they have eleven teams and if there is indeed a Midwest conspiracy to rank everyone in the conference four or five spots higher in order to make the conference look better, until the results are published we will assume the conspiracy is very real and ongoing. The computer poll is actually the average of six different computer programs, with the high and low results dropped. The computer poll functions without the consequences of popular opinions and without having to listen to the other polls and for that they are the judicial branch. There isn't much more to elaborate on really. That leaves the Harris Poll as the executive branch. Harris voters are experts, on college football and on statistical matters, and are paid to be right. It is only a matter of time before I receive a vote in the Harris Poll. These are the three branches of the BCS, each poll generated is exactly 1/3 of the final BCS poll. I hate them all. 

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Two Teams in the BCS Bowls, a Valid Excuse?

Ask any of my college room mates, I was calling the Big Ten overrated way before it was cool. So when an Ohio State fan on a chat room blamed the BCS bowl games always taking two Big Ten teams for the conference's poor Bowl records I presented my hastily gathered case against him. His accusation did not catch me off guard, I often thought about the consequences of having two BCS bowl teams, but had never explored it fully. Well, here it is: the inside and outside look at the claim that two teams in the BCS Bowls can really hurt a conference's bowl record.

The claim by the Buckeye was true, the Big Ten constantly puts two teams in the BCS games. In 2006 the National Championship game was added to the four BCS games, giving us a grand total of five BCS bowl games. Since 2005, a year before two more slots opened, the Big Ten has put two teams in the BCS bowl games every year. Lately they aren't doing so hot in those BCS bowls. Since winning both games in 2005 when Penn State beat Florida State in an overtime instant classic kind of game and Ohio State was given a gift of a game against Notre Dame, the Big Ten has lost six straight BCS games. More often than not over the three year stretch the Big Ten team was also on the wrong side of an ass whooping.

The Ohio State fan was also correct about his claim that the BCS gave the Big Ten a tougher bowl schedule. When a conference puts two teams in the BCS one of them no longer counts in the conference hierarchy, thus the at-large team that received a BCS Bowl is left out of the conference standings as far as the non-BCS bowl games are concerned. The number three team bumps up to the number two spot and plays a tougher bowl game and so on down the line. Over the past six years the Big Ten put two teams in the BCS five times, the Big XII has accomplished that feat four times, the SEC has put two in the last three years running, the ACC, Big East and Pac-10 have never put two teams in the BCS. So obviously conferences putting two teams into the BCS gives it tougher match-ups. But, we are here to determine how much tougher.

Over the last five Bowl Seasons the Big Ten has had four losing seasons, all of them coinciding with the year they had two teams playing in the BCS Bowl games, and one .500 season the year that they had only one. That would point towards the Ohio State fan being absolutely correct; while not having winning seasons when they had one BCS team they did do better and have an even Bowl season. However the data for the other two conferences points the opposite way. The years the SEC had two teams in the BCS they had winning, and very good, records in the Bowl Seasons, the years they did not have two teams they had .500 Bowl Seasons, it seems they do better with tougher schedules. When the Big XII has two BCS bowl teams they have winning records, without two they have one winning and one losing bowl record. Like the SEC the Big XII also preformed better with two teams in the BCS Bowl games.

Looking at that data I don't think the Big Ten can complain about the two BCS bowl games, but there are a list of other reasons that I came up with for them, and I am not even going to list the ever-popular "lack of team speed" as one of them.

From what I can tell there are two forces that pull Big Ten at-large teams into the BCS when they don't have the best resume. The first is the Rose Bowl, which I have already talked about, a since the 2007-2008 Bowl season has the guarantee of the classic Big Ten versus Pac-Ten match up. This mechanism has only happened once, but in the 2007 season Illinois catapulted seven or eight teams with better at-large cases because Ohio State was in the National Championship game and the Rose Bowl wanted its precious match up. To make a long story shot USC destroyed them. The second force is what I call the Notre Dame attraction. This is simply name-recognition, and an example of that force is this years Ohio State. Both Boise State and TCU were ranked higher than the Buckeyes and the Rose Bowl had Penn State, but the fan base of Ohio State and the prestige of the name put them in the Fiesta Bowl over the two non-conference teams. (Texas Tech was also ranked higher but only two teams from a conference can have BCS bowl bids.)

As for losing Bowl records with the non-BCS bowl games there is one huge fact: the Big Ten has a a very tough set of tie-in's. The two and three teams go to play SEC two and SEC four. In case you were wondering the SEC is good. The Big Ten four goes to play the Big XII four, and the Big Ten six the Big XII six. The Big XII, also good. So besides having the absolutely brutal trend that the Big Ten winner either plays in the National Championship game or against the seven year running Pac-10 champion Trojans, the Big Ten has two forces pulling in at-larges to face higher ranked opponents. Add on top a tough bowl tie-in ladder that pits four teams against the best two conferences over past five years and you have a much more legitimate set of reasons than the two BCS Bowl team argument. Also your team speed is holding you back.

So never let anyone say I am not fair to the Big Ten, I am a college football fan and an honest enough man who cares about the facts. While everyone else is happy knowing that the Big Ten sucks, I am determined to show WHY the Big Ten Sucks.

Ode to the Pac-10

USC made the closing arguments for their case to be in the BCS National Championship game new years day in vain. For the third year in a row they steamrolled the Big Ten team that was tossed to them in the Rose Bowl, excuse me, the Trojan bowl. USC was so dominant in this game that the biggest accomplishment for Penn State was the excellent playing of Bohemian Rhapsody by the band during halftime. Everyone who knows anything about college football knows USC is good, everyone who is a part of the college football nation knows USC is just plain scary. Everyone who likes Queen enjoyed the Penn State band. Earlier this season the loss to Oreron State was the reason for a nationwide exhale. Under thursday night lights fans of Alabama, Florida, Penn State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas all toasted each other because perhaps, if they made the National Championship game, they wouldn't be looking at Trojans on the other sideline.

The case presented by USC was good, but it should not change as many minds as the what the rest of the Pac-10 did. An undefeated bowl season is a hell of an accomplishment for any conference, something the west coast can hang a hat on for a long time. But the fashion in which the Pac-10 competed this bowl season was more impressive than just going 5-0. It starts with the blowout in the Trojan Bowl. Next most impressive is the Oregon upset win against a very, very good Oklahoma State team. Oregon State upset Pittsburgh in a 3-0 barnburner that still baffles me. Arizona upset BYU and looked every bit the better team the entire time they were doing it. California also won a close game against Miami. The Pac-10 can close a game out, they can pull the upset, they can bowl an underdog opponent over, they can win a game when they score only three points, they can show everyone in the nation that "weak conference" belongs to someone else.

So now what? What happens after USC was kept from National Title game chatter because of the "weak conference schedule." That conference schedule doesn't look so bad anymore does it. The loss to Oregon State, now a top 15 team, looks better than a Florida loss to Ole' Miss to me. Not to mention an extremely tough non-conference schedule. Don't get me wrong when reading this, I am not a USC fan, I am a Longhorn fan. A bowl season like this from the Pac-10 and USC takes away from the already slim chances of a AP National Championship for Texas. But it has to be said. The BCS beat USC. (I stole that from a newspaper I cannot recall).

Earlier in the season Pete Carroll said he did not understand the BCS, the truth is he understood it completely, and simply disagreed with it. The system will not allow USC or Texas Tech, Texas, Alabama, Utah and Boise State to have a fair chance. The Pac-10 made a bigger case for playoffs in one bowl season than any press conference complaining. I cannot change the current system, but there is something small that I can do.

Dear Pac-10, I am sorry.