Category: College Football (Page 293 of 296)

Other than the epic battle coming up between Texas and USC, the matchup between Ohio State and Notre Dame should offer the best game of the bowl season.

Charlie Weis has breathed new life in the great Notre Dame program, though his recent comments dwelling on the close losses this season seemed a little strange. Notre Dame has lost seven straight bowl games. They need to get their mind off of USC and focus on the Buckeyes. Notre Dame had a pretty tough schedule, but the Ohio State defense will present their toughest test yet. The key will be whether Ohio State can put enough pressure on Brady Quinn to disrupt Notre Dame’s explosive passing attack.

On the other side of the ball, Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes have won three straight bowl games, including the epic 2002 National Championship against Miami. Tressel knows how to prepare his team for big games, and the Buckeyes are thrilled to have a shot at Notre Dame after two disappointing losses earlier in the season against #2 Texas and #3 Penn State. This team has been playing great football since QB Troy Smith found his game in the middle of the season. I have to give the Buckeyes the edge.

This isn’t a big surprise, though Vince Young also deserved to win. Bush was the most exciting player, and we know that the Heisman Trophy is more about hype than anything else.

As usual,the national media is going a little overboard in singing Bush’s praise. Yes, he’s very talented and he’s a playmaker, but I don’t think you can put him in the same category as other college great like Barry Sanders, Herchel Walker and Bo Jackson. Those guys literally carried their teams. Bush, on the other hand, is part of the USC highlight team, running through gaping holes in the Pac-10 conference where sometimes it seems like they outlawed physical defense. I’d like to see what he can do in a tougher conference like the Big Ten or the SEC.

Well, we’ll get the chance to see him against a very tough Texas defense in the Rose Bowl, and we’ll see next year how he fares in the NFL. At 6-0, 200 pounds, we’ll see if he can take a pounding.

I’ll admit it. The BCS “worked” this year. USC and Texas are the two best teams, they’re the only undefeated teams and everyone wants to see them play. A playoff would still be better, but at least we get to enjoy some great matchups with the upcoming BCS bowls.

The Rose Bowl featuring USC vs. Texas should be a great game. Many are calling the USC offense the greatest of all time, but before anyone gets into that argument the Trojans have to prove themselves against a tough Texas defense. They’ve been feasting on Pac-10 defenses all season, which frankly doesn’t mean much. I can’t wait for this game.

The Fiesta Bowl offers a matchup of two legendary college football programs with Notre Dame taking on Ohio State. The Buckeye defense is probably the best in the country and they’ll be tested by an explosive Notre Dame offense. The advantage might be in the matchup of the Ohio State offense against a weak Notre Dame defense. The Buckeye offense has come alive in the second half of the season and should be tough to stop.

Of course, Oregon fans will be pissed, and frankly they should be. They’re ranked #5 in the BCS and they only have one loss (to #1 USC), but they’ve been shut out of the BCS bowl games and two two-loss teams are facing each other in the Fiesta Bowl. Again, cue up the argument for a playoff. That said, Oregon would get crushed by both Ohio State and Notre Dame, so it’s hard to take their argument too seriously.

The Orange Bowl pits Joe Paterno against Bobby Bowden in a matchup of the two winningest programs in college football history. Everyone (including me) thought Joe Pa was finished, but he woke up and started playing his freshmen and now he has the third-ranked team in the country. His Penn State team should have the horses to handle Florida State.

Finally, we have the Sugar Bowl. This one isn’t nearly as interesting. Fortunately for the Big East, West Virginia had a solid season and they should give Georgia a decent game. That said, it’s time to boot the Big East from the BCS. Better yet, let’s boot the whole system and get a playoff. In the meantime, drink up and enjoy the games.

UPDATE – The early lines are in, and the experts aren’t necessarily expecting tight games. USC is favored by 6.5 points over Texas; Ohio State is favored by 5.5 points over Notre Dame; Penn State is favored by 7.5 points over FSU; and Georgia is favored by 8.5 points over West Virginia. It will be interesting to see how the lines move leading upto the games.

The knuckleheads in Congress certainly have better things to do (we are at war), but I have to admit I’m glad they’ve decided to have hearings on the BCS system for picking the college football national champion. Calling the system “deeply flawed,” Texas Republican Joe Barton announced hearings to be held next week by his subcommittee.

Barton said he does not have legislation in mind to force a change, but said he hopes congressional hearings will spur discussion and improvements. It won’t be the first time Congress has looked at the BCS. In 2003, the Senate probed whether the system was unfairly tilted against smaller schools.

Something has to give. The current system is an improvement over the old system, enabling #1 vs.# 2 matchups like Ohio State/Miami and Texas/USC (barring an upset today) that never would have happened under the old system. Yet it has also produced fiascos like the last two seasons. An undefeated SEC champ should never be left out of the process.

There are numerous scenarios that would work. Maybe Congress can actually do some good by forcing the parties to come up with a compromise.