Category: College Football (Page 253 of 296)

In a truly chaotic college football season, the BCS got exactly what it wanted: a marquee matchup between two big schools for the National Championship game. And while Ohio State/LSU isn’t the game everyone wanted, I note in my latest column for Bullz-Eye.com that it’ll likely be enough to keep BCS apologists happy for another year.

The matchups for the college football bowls have been determined and as usual, there are some intriguing games.

Capital One Bowl: Florida vs. Michigan
What’s the over/under on Tim Tebow’s total touchdowns in this game? I’ll set it at four and I’m taking the over.

Rose Bowl: USC vs. Illinois
Who would have thought at the start of the season that the Illini would be heading to the Rose Bowl to play USC? Based on talent alone, the Trojans should probably roll, but U of I might have another upset up its sleeve.

Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Hawaii
This might be the most intriguing matchup of all the bowl games. UGA is angry that LSU leapfrogged them for the national title game and Hawaii gets a chance to prove that they’re for real.

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
Hopefully Pat White’s dislocated finger will be healed by this game, because it’ll be interesting to see how he and the rest of the Mountaineer offense matches up against a real defense (i.e. one that doesn’t play in the Big East).

Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
Kasnas’s high-powered offense vs. VA Tech’s stingy defense? Sign me up.

National Championship: LSU vs. Ohio State
The Buckeyes get a shot at redemption after last year’s national championship debacle and the Tigers get a shot at a title despite losing to Arkansas late in the year. One matchup to keep an eye on: OSU’s offensive line vs. LSU monster DT Glenn Dorsey.

Here are some quick hit thoughts for the week that was in college football:

– I give massive props to West Virginia’s Pat White for trying to tough it out and play with a dislocated finger. That kid manned-up when his team needed him most, but unfortunately the injury was too much to overcome. However, I don’t feel sorry for WVU and I don’t want to hear that they lost because of not having White. Pitt has a solid defense, but there’s no excuse for the Mountaineers to score only 9 points at home, even without White. With how bad Pitt’s offense is, two touchdowns would have won it for WVU and they couldn’t muster that.

– So much for Mizzo’s high-powered offense. It was clear that Oklahoma’s defense came out on a mission and that was to punish every player in a black and gold helmet. It seemed that every time one of the Tigers receivers made a play, they limped off to the sideline.

– Don’t tell me Hawaii doesn’t at least deserve mention for a national title appearance. Yeah, they play in the WAC and their schedule is a joke. However, they still finished undefeated and they arguable play under some of the toughest circumstances considering the time and travel difficulties they face throughout the year. I’m not advocating they actually play for the title, but they at least deserve mention with how many two-loss teams are in the mix.

– What a tough night for Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge. The Vols had LSU on the ropes until Jonathan Zenon took one of Ainge’s passes to the house early in the fourth quarter. Then, Ainge looked great leading UT down the field, only to throw another pick in the red zone. Ouch.

– Central Florida’s Kevin Smith is the best running back nobody is talking about. Of course, I said a similar thing about Ainge two weeks ago and we all know how that turned out.

– Raise your hand if you thought Matt Ryan was going to lead Boston College to another fourth quarter comeback over Virginia Tech…

– Did the stars align for Ohio State or what? Oklahoma beating Missouri obviously wasn’t far-fetched, but Pitt topping West Virginia certainly was.

– So does Georgia get in vs. Ohio State or do voters put LSU back in the title game? Are Ohio State and LSU the two best teams in college football? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter anyway. The fine folks at the BCS obviously aren’t interested in answering that question.

Saturday spoke volumes to why we don’t need a playoff system in college football. Missouri, the best team in the country according to the BCS, got steamrolled by Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship. West Virginia, the second best team in the country according to the BCS, lost quarterback Pat White for most of the game due to a finger injury and was defeated by Pittsburgh at home.

So it’s clear who the two best teams are, right? Ohio State, Kansas, Georgia, LSU, Virginia Tech, USC, Oklahoma and yes, Hawaii all have an argument to play in the title game. Why use a playoff system to figure out which program is the best? Na – let’s just leave this decision up to a computer. That makes perfect sense.

For those in favor of the current college football system, Saturday was a disaster for you. The only thing that would have been worse for your cause would have been if Missouri and West Virginia both won, because most college football fans would be outraged if that matchup was for a national title.