Category: College Football (Page 199 of 296)

      What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Part 3)

      December 1, 2008 /

      (Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.)

      With Oklahoma vaulting ahead of Texas in the BCS standings, it is a clear reminder that the BCS system is horribly flawed. Each team has one loss and Texas beat Oklahoma on a neutral field. Texas’ only loss was to a good Texas Tech team on the road, and it shouldn’t outweigh the Longhorns’ win over the Sooners. Oklahoma did have two great non-conference wins (Cincinnati and TCU), while Texas didn’t really play anyone out of conference. Still, should a strong non-conference schedule outweigh Texas head-to-head win over Oklahoma? Apparently, USA Today and the computer rankings think so. (For their part, Harris Poll voters had Texas #3 and Oklahoma #4.)

      This brings me back to my proposed eight-team playoff that I introduced a couple of weeks ago. Here are the assumptions.

      1. There will be an eight-team playoff, with the six BCS-conference champs getting an automatic bid.

      2. If a conference champ is ranked lower than #15 in the rankings, they give up their automatic bid and it becomes an at-large bid. (This rule is to ensure that the regular season keeps its meaning and only the elite teams make the playoffs.)

      3. Seeds and at-large bids are distributed based on the current BCS standings. Certainly, these rankings can be tweaked, but they are fine for now. If an at-large team has a better BCS ranking than a conference champion, they will get a higher seed.

      4. There will be three rounds of playoffs. The first round will be held at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team. The semifinals and the final will rotate amongst the four BCS cities (Miami, Pasadena, Tempe and New Orleans).

      So how does this weekend’s action affect the playoff field?

      8-seed Cincinnati @ 1-seed Alabama
      A 30-10 win over Syracuse puts the Bearcats at #13. Cincy still has to beat Hawaii to stay playoff-eligible. Meanwhile, Alabama has a date with #4 Florida in the SEC Championship Game this Saturday.

      5-seed USC @ 4-seed Florida
      Since the Gators still have to play Alabama, this matchup probably won’t happen since Florida will likely move up or down in the BCS rankings depending on how they fare against the Crimson Tide. A bad loss to Alabama might knock the Gators out of the playoffs since the #7 and #8 seeds are conference champions, and Boston College might very well move into the playoffs with a win over Virginia Tech. If that were to happen, and USC were to leapfrog Florida, the Gators could very well miss the playoffs.

      6-seed Utah @ 3-seed Texas
      Utah remains the only non-BCS conference representative. With wins over #11 TCU and #18 BYU, they have the best resume of the three non-BCS schools in contention. (Boise St. and Ball St. are the other two.) The Utes need to root for a Virginia Tech win over Boston College.

      7-seed Penn St. @ 2-seed Oklahoma
      OU still has to beat Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game to remain the 2-seed. If Alabama loses to Florida and the Sooners are convincing in their win over the Tigers, they could move up. They could also fall completely out of the playoffs with a loss to Missouri.

      Since Cincy moved into the BCS Top 15, they earned a berth in the playoffs. The lowest ranked at-large team – Texas Tech – were pushed out of the playoffs. #17 Boston College could conceivably move into the Top 15 with a win over #25 Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game, and in that case, Utah would likely be the team to be knocked out of the playoffs. (And that would be a shame.)

      Of the teams that are on the outside looking in, only #9 Boise St. and #12 Ball St. don’t have losses to teams that made the playoffs. #10 Ohio St. lost to USC and Penn St., #11 TCU lost to Oklahoma, and #14 Oklahoma St. lost to Texas and Oklahoma. So, despite what the anti-playoff crowd says, the regular season still matters with this playoff system.

      Since it looks like Boise St. and Ball St. will miss the playoffs, and a Boston College win might push Utah out, it might be interesting to have a four-team playoff amongst the best non-BCS teams to see who has the right to make the playoffs. Of course, this would add two games to the schedule and it might just be easier just to go to a 12-team field (though most of those extra slots could easily go to BCS schools like Texas Tech and Ohio St.)

      Check out Part 4 now.

      College Football, Television

      Is USC being unfairly punished?

      December 1, 2008 /

      That’s what Darren Everson of The Wall Street Journal writes:

      USC TrojansIt’s becoming increasingly clear that, unlike the champions of other conferences, USC must go undefeated to reach the national-title game. Even in 2003, when the Trojans finished the regular season ranked first in both major polls, the BCS computers excluded them from the title game. The Big 12 likely will land a one-loss team in the national-championship game this season, as have the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences in recent years (the SEC sent two-loss LSU last season).

      But USC, regarded as playing a weaker schedule in the Pac-10, has been held to a tougher standard. The irony of this predicament? The Trojans should have less to prove than other contenders, given their 5-1 all-time BCS bowl record and that, like the rest of the Pac-10, they buck the national trend by playing a rigorous nonconference schedule. Sensitive to more fickle fan bases less likely to swallow the weak nonconference pablum served elsewhere, USC and other Pac-10 schools schedule more major-college competition than other conferences. For example, undefeated Alabama’s nonconference slate included Clemson, Tulane, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State.

      Meanwhile, the Trojans played Virginia, Ohio State and Notre Dame — three big names, albeit two mired in surprisingly mediocre seasons. Come season’s end, though, USC gets little credit for it, and gets unfairly punished by the computers for playing in a conference with Washington and Washington State teams playing outrageously awful ball. The worst in other conferences — say, Iowa State in the Big 12 — were about as beatable. They just didn’t get outscored 127-0 over two games the way the Cougars did.

      The Pac-10 also lacks a championship game. Florida, a team with a resume similar to USC’s, can play its way into the national-title game thanks to its conference title match with Alabama. Then again, there’s no need for it out west, since every Pac-10 team plays each other.

      Everson brings up several good points. It’s not USC’s fault that Ohio State and Virginia took a step back this year or that Notre Dame is a mess. They didn’t schedule Appalachian State or the Citadel. (Although I fully believe that App State would beat Washington or Washington State if they played tomorrow.)

      That said, USC gets more than enough media love so yes, they do have to go undefeated. They should beat Oregon State and they should hang 60 points on Washington and Washington State. No Pac-10 title game? Then every week is a Pac-10 title game for the Trojans.

      The BCS is a mess and USC’s situation is just another small example.

      College Football

      Jason Whitlock on Texas being snubbed by BCS

      December 1, 2008 /

      Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City-Star reacts to Texas getting the shaft after Oklahoma leapfrogged over them in the BCS standings.

      Sam BradfordAP and Harris voters could comprehend a simple, unavoidable fact: On a neutral field, Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 this season.

      There’s nothing left to debate. It doesn’t matter that Oklahoma’s nonconference victories are more impressive than Texas’. It doesn’t matter that Oklahoma is playing “better” football at the end of the season.

      Texas beat Oklahoma.

      And I don’t care about the three-way tie, and the fact that Texas Tech beat Texas. We’re allowed to use common sense when deciding a complex situation.

      The Red Raiders lost a game by 44 points this season. The Red Raiders barely beat Baylor this season.

      The Red Raiders needed a last-second touchdown to slip by Texas.

      Tech had a magical year, beat up a bunch of cupcakes early and hung on for an 11-1 season. It’s a fluke. Oklahoma exposed the Red Raiders and Mike Leach’s gimmicky offense.

      Look, my main point is that it’s criminal Oklahoma will get to play for the Big 12 crown and not Texas.

      Everybody allegedly wants a playoff system, but it appears we reserve the right to ignore what happens on the field when it suits our purpose.

      As Whitlock points out, there really is nothing to debate. Texas beat Oklahoma on the field. Texas beat Oklahoma on…the…field. Texas beat Oklahoma on the field. TEXAS BEAT OKLAHOMA ON THE FIELD!

      Only in the BCS system could a team beat another team on the field and not benefit from it. It’s a complete crock of crap, but unfortunately not even something as ludicrous as this will force a change. I’m of the mindset now that we’ll never see a college football playoff.

      College Football

      Oklahoma jumps Texas in the BCS

      November 30, 2008 /

      This makes me sick on so many levels. I have no alliegence to Texas, but they got completely screwed by this retarded system. Texas beat Oklahoma. Enough said.

      Even worse, Bob Stoops is being rewarded for being a complete ass. I understand that style points matter, but do we really need coaches who run a no-huddle offense in the fourth quarter with a 50-point lead? Every year we watch Bob Stoops run up the score during the regular season, only to have his team choke in bowl games.

      Of course, we need a playoff system, but even BCS critics like Ivan Maisel seem unable to get past the arguments advanced by BCS apologists.

      A playoff is not the panacea to cure college football’s ills. A playoff would present as many problems as it does solutions. A playoff is politically unfeasible unless the regular season is shortened, which is financially unfeasible. A playoff could suck the life out of the regular season, much as it has done to college basketball.

      A playoff wouldn’t ratchet up the tension throughout November — National College Football Arguing Month — the way the BCS does.

      His first sentence makes no sense. If you assume an eight-team playoff, only five games need to be added – four playoff games one week following the regular season, and then one championship game following the bowl games that would cover the semi-finals.

      His second sentence is even worse. Is he really comparing an eight-team playoff to the 64-team tournament used in March Madness? This year there would have been a mad scramble for the last several seeds, as teams like Utah, Boise State, Ohio State and Georgia would be playing for a spot in the playoffs. Also, we’d have a huge fight for the first four seeds, who would be hosting first-round playoff games in their home stadiums under this proposed system (wouldn’t it be great to see a Big-Ten team hosting Florida in a playoff game up north in November?). This would create plenty of tension in November.

      Remember when baseball purists argued that expanded playoffs would ruin pennant races? They were wrong.

      College Football, General Sports

      Oregon State loses to Oregon – will Boise State get an at-large bid?

      November 29, 2008 /

      Oregon-Oregon StateThe task was simple enough for Oregon State – beat Oregon on Saturday night and they would set up a date with Penn State in the Rose Bowl. But the Ducks crashed the party, beating the Beavers in a wild, 65-38 shootout in Corvallis.

      Oregon State still has a shot at the Rose Bowl, but now they must have USC lose to UCLA next week. That would put the Beavers in a three-way tie with Oregon and USC, which would mean all hell breaks loose. If USC beats UCLA, then the Trojans would play Penn State in the Rose Bowl and open up an at-large bid for either Boise State or Ohio State.

      Even though Boise is undefeated and the Buckeyes have two losses, the Broncos won’t necessarily get the at-large bid because they don’t play in one of the bigger conferences ala Ohio State. It might not be fair, but it’s the way the system is set up. Essentially the BCS only cares about one thing – figuring out which two teams are the best in the nation. They could care less about the rest of the matchups.

      You could essentially make an argument for either team. The only team Boise beat with any substance was Oregon. But they beat the Ducks in Eugene, which happens to be one of the toughest places to play in college football. Ohio State’s most impressive victory was in East Lansing when they beat Michigan State, although how would Boise have done against USC and Penn State (two teams that beat the Buckeyes)?

      Personally, I say Boise deserves the at-large bid more. It’s tough to go undefeated – I don’t care who’s on your schedule. But I think Ohio State will get the bid because the folks handing out the at-large invitations are more worried about having two schools from bigger conferences than whether or not the teams are deserving.

      College Football

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