Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1435 of 1503)

I absolutely love the war that wages every year between fans of college and pro football. It’s a topic that always gets heated and always leads to beatings, paralysis and often death. Okay, so that’s a little overboard, but the debate is always a great one.

However, with another year of college football coming to an end without a playoff system, I don’t know how one couldn’t love the setup of the NFL more. I hear it all the time: “Pro football players just play for the money.” “College players play for the love of the game.” “The atmosphere for college football is better, because it’s all kids.”

Great points, but the NFL also has a way to determine what the best team in America is. College football has the best way to bring politics into an arena were politics should never be allowed. How lucky is the BCS this year that it only has to deal with two teams (Florida and Michigan) in a web of controversy? What if Rutgers stayed unbeaten? USC beats UCLA? Oklahoma doesn’t get jobbed over by the refs? And what about undefeated Boise State? It’s ironic: the players in the NFL are driven by money, but yet the same thing drives the head honchos in college football.

The system sucks and the NC-two-A needs a playoff system to officially compete with the NFL. Until then, college football will always be that movie with a great setup, but no ending.

It was wild, crazy and probably a little too close for comfort for head coach Urban Meyer. But with a 38-28 win over hard-charging Arkansas, the Florida Gators are the 2006 SEC Champions.

Give the Razorbacks credit, because they did pull out all the stops in trying to pull a “UCLA” over Florida on Saturday. But the Gators did what LSU was able to do a week ago in proving that Arkansas just isn’t there yet. Darren McFadden is a fine player, but every time the Razorbacks needed a big passing play, Florida was able to come up with a big interception. With no real passing threat, Arkansas was doomed and I think that’s what we saw the past two weeks.

With the win, Florida deserves to play Ohio State in the national championship, period. Michigan had its chance and lost. I understand that the Wolverines only loss was to the No. 1 team in the country, but how is it fair to Ohio State to have to play Michigan again? What if the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes? Michigan didn’t even win its conference, so you would have a split and then do fans really get to see who the best team in college football is? The Gators need to play for a title.

I will say this Florida fans, if the Gators do get their shot, Chris Leak better take care of the football better. Leak proved again Saturday night that he has lapses in concentration. As great of a job as Leak has done this season for Florida, Ohio State lives off of guys who can’t protect the ball. You don’t want to give the Buckeyes offense any extra chances to put points on the scoreboard.

Let me start off by prefacing that my upcoming point isn’t about protecting a specific team.

USC’s Pete Carroll holds on to all of his timeouts in the second half of the Trojans 13-9 loss to UCLA on Saturday. USC drives down to the Bruins 18 yard line before quarterback John David Booty is intercepted with 1:10 left in the game. Good thing Carroll hung on to all three timeouts right? Well it doesn’t matter since the damn clock runs as soon as the ref spots the ball on a change of possession. So Carroll has to burn one of his timeouts so that UCLA doesn’t run 25 seconds off the clock. A play isn’t even run and USC is forced to call a timeout. Then, the Trojans stop the Bruins on three straight plays, but the clock continues to run on third and fourth down because USC is now out of timeouts. The end result is that the Trojans are left with just three seconds once they finally get the ball back.

This is just one example of how terrible the new clock rules are in college football. There were many examples to choose from throughout the year. I saw one game this year where a team was able to run almost two minutes off the game clock without even having to pick up a first down. I understand that the NCAA is trying to speed up the game, but how does it make any sense to start the clock on a change of possession? What is the reward for a team that makes it through a second half with all of its timeouts intact? If you want to save time, don’t go to a commercial every time a team scores and then go right back to a break after the ensuing kickoff. If you want to save time, don’t stop the clock after a team makes a first down, ala the NFL.

Just don’t take away from a potentially dramatic finish because a team that’s in the lead can milk the clock for 15 minutes without having to run a play.

It’s said so many times that people take the statement for granted. But in USC’s 13-9 loss to UCLA, it should be said again, and again, and again. Anything can happen in a rivalry game. You have to throw out the records, the setting and all the other hoopla except for the actual game.

It should have been easy for the Trojans. Beat the previously 6-5 Bruins and you’re guaranteed to play Ohio State for a national championship. But then Eric McNeal intercepts John David Booty with just over a minute to play in the game and all of USC’s title hopes are wiped out. Give UCLA massive credit for doing something Notre Dame couldn’t do just one week ago: hold the Trojans’ prolific wide receiver duo of Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith in check. After torching the Irish for seven catches for 134 yards and three touchdowns, Jarrett was held to just four receptions for 68 yards and no scores.

USC fell asleep twice this year and it cost the Trojans everything. When your only loses are to unranked opponents on the road, that comes down to concentration. For as great of a job as Pete Carroll has done in Southern Cal over the years, he has to be befuddled with how his team floundered away such a great opportunity.