Category: College Football (Page 290 of 296)

Coaches rank Ohio State #1, Texas #2 in preseason poll

Coming off a dominating win over Notre Dame last season in the Fiesta Bowl, the Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked #1 in the coaches preseason poll. Defending national champions Texas is ranked #2, followed by USC and Notre Dame tied for the #3 spot.

Ohio State has to overhaul its defense with the graduation of several stars, including the entire starting linebacking trio of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel. But the Buckeyes have talented players waiting in the wings, and they return nearly all of their key players on offense, including quarterback Troy Smith and wide receiver and return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., both Heisman Trophy candidates.

Defending national champion Texas (13-0) is second after receiving 11 first-place votes and 1,378 points. But the Longhorns, who won a championship for the ages with a 41-38 triumph over Southern California in the Rose Bowl, have to replace all-everything quarterback Vince Young, who left after his junior season and was drafted third by the Tennessee Titans.

This sets up another huge matchup between the Buckeyes and the Longhorns, this time in Austin on September 9th. Both schools deserve huge credit for scheduling games in back-to-back seasons.

NCAA Football becoming more like the NFL

The NCAA Football Rules committee is making a recommendation to implement the “challenge rule” to college football. The National Championship game had a number of controversial calls, but none quit as obvious as Vince Young’s knee hitting the ground before he pitched the ball to his teammate.

This rule would allow an NCAA coach to call a timeout during the course of a game to challenge a call. If the call was correct, the team would be charged a normal timeout and lose their challenge for the rest of the game. If the call was incorrect, the team would retain their timeout and ability to challenge a future call. This would open the possibility to unlimited challenges.

This is just another step at making college football similar to the NFL. I believe it’s the right decision for college football. There are too many critical games that finish with questionable or wrong calls.

BCS may strip Trojans of Championship

The BCS is struggling to gain creditability in the college world. They have a chance to gain some respect by pulling the National Championship from USC, if they find that the Trojans were violating NCAA policy when Reggie Bush’s family was living in a luxury home and receiving money. This situation looks questionable at best.

The USC Trojans have enjoyed a long run of victories and Coach Pete Carroll has been running the sidelines like he walks on water. I believe that if these allegations are true, there is no way you can allow USC to keep their National Championship. The rules, like them are not, have to be followed.

The BCS would finally show the college world that is ready to call the shots and continue to improve on crowning the right National Champion every year.

Championship still lacks a playoff

The first time I read about the “extra” BCS” game, I immediately thought that the NCAA had finally fixed an ongoing debate by putting in a playoff game for the college football Championship. I was under the impression that the top four seeds would play in two BCS games, the winners facing off in the extra game.

I was not only wrong, I’m now being told it’s to allow more “mid-major” schools to play in the BCS series. This is a joke. It’s about money and everyone should admit it. I have attached the explanation for people to understand the process, but the bottom line is the extra game is about money. College football has been lucky for the past couple years, having the top two teams face off in the finals. Although, a playoff would eliminate some controversy and allow better matchups for non-conference games.

USC nation continues to fall apart

The USC Trojans are continuing to be in the news for controversy not successes. The police were called to campus to arrest a young man accused of sexual assault. The young man was Mark Sanchez, the next starting quarterback for the Trojans.

This comes less than one week after Reggie Bush’s family is under investigation for their living arrangements during the 2005 season. The Trojan community seems to be falling apart as the bad news continues to follow them. Pete Carroll, who has avoided the “bad rap”, is learning quickly that things can fall apart fast and it will take some quick action to repair the damage. At this point, Carroll hasn’t commented on the situation.

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