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      What would a college football playoff look like this year? (Part 2)

      November 24, 2008 /

      I debuted this feature last week, but now that another week’s worth of games are behind us, it’s wise to take another look.

      First, my 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.)

      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).

      Off we go…

      #8 Penn State (11-1) @ #1 Alabama (11-0)

      #5 USC (9-1) @ #4 Florida (10-1)

      #7 Texas Tech (10-1) @ #2 Texas (10-1)

      #6 Utah (12-0) @ #3 Oklahoma (10-1)

      In this case, since likely conference champions #16 Cincinnati (Big East), #17 Oregon State (Pac-10) and #20 Florida State (ACC) are not in the top 15 of the BCS rankings (and are therefore not one of the “elite” teams in the country), they give up their automatic berths.

      Compared to last week, with the institution of the “Top 15 Rule,” Cincinnati would no longer get a berth, but since the Bearcats are at #16 and still have two games to play, they could still finish in the top 15. Right now, Texas Tech would be the first at-large team to lose its spot, and given the drubbing they took this weekend, that makes sense.

      With Cincy no longer qualifying, #6 Utah moved into the playoffs. Undefeated Boise State is currently ranked #9 in both human polls and the BCS rankings. Their computer ranking (.630) just doesn’t measure up to Tech’s (.890).

      Other than Boise State, the teams that are on the outside looking in — #10 Ohio State, #11 Georgia, #12 Oklahoma State, #13 Missouri and #14 TCU — all have losses to teams that made the playoffs, so the regular season still matters, despite what the pro-BCS crowd says.

      So, how does it look?

      College Football, Television

      Couch Potato Alert: 11/24

      November 24, 2008 /

      All times ET…

      NFL

      Mon, 8:30 PM: Packers @ Saints – ESPN
      Thurs, 12:30 PM: Titans @ Lions – CBS
      Thurs, 4:15 PM: Seahawks @ Cowboys – FOX
      Thurs, 8:15 PM: Cardinals @ Eagles – NFL Network

      College Football

      Thurs, 8:00 PM: Texas A&M @ #2 Texas – ESPN

      College Basketball

      Mon, 5:30 PM: Indiana vs. #8 Notre Dame – ESPN2
      Mon, 8:30 PM: #2 UConn vs. #19 Wisconsin

      NBA

      Thurs, 10:30 PM: Hornets (7-5) @ Nuggets (9-5) – TNT

      College Basketball, College Football, Couch Potato Alert, NBA, NFL, Television

      Pro-BCS’er Jason Whitlock knows best

      November 24, 2008 /

      We took a poll last year and 90% of our readers said that the BCS should be trashed in favor of a playoff system. It takes guts (or something) to stand up against that kind of popular opinion, and Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock is the latest to take up the mantle, using President-elect Barack Obama’s pro-playoff stance as a starting point.

      Like I did with similar arguments from Tim Cowlishaw and John Walters, let me respond to Whitlock point-by-point…

      I realize I’m one of just a handful of American men unpleased by Obama using the weight of the presidency to pressure college presidents to disband the BCS. He knows this, too. It’s probably pretty much all he really knows about big-time college football. Fans — Republican, Democrat and Libertarian — are dissatisfied with the current system. There’s virtually no risk in bashing the BCS.

      Why is that? I’m not one to argue that the majority is always right, but when 90% of the populace agrees on something, we should probably go ahead and give it a try.

      President-elect Obama doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, and he diminishes his high office and invites other politicians to join him by foolishly entering a debate that has life only because “Joe the Sports Writer/Broadcaster” can’t wrap his brain around sports issues of substance.

      Now Whitlock claims that anyone that is pro-playoff “can’t wrap his brain around sports issues of substance.” Mind you, he hasn’t yet made an actual point, but he is already declaring that anyone who doesn’t agree with him just simply isn’t as smart as he is.

      Yeah, by lending his name to this non-issue, Obama has pleased every Bubba in America and pretty much ensured that big-time college football will continue an escalation toward professionalism and exploitation of “amateur” athletes.

      Okay, here’s the big windup…

      Let me quickly repeat the argument I introduced in the mid-1990s:

      Division I-A college football has the greatest regular season in all team sports, and a playoff system would ruin that distinction. For decades, coaches and players focused on winning conference championships and were quite satisfied with a “mythical” national championship decided by poll voters. The advent of ESPN and sports-talk radio created the fallacy that the lack of a playoff system scars athletes, fans, women and children, contributes to global terrorism and delays Santa Claus’ delivery run on Christmas Eve.

      There’s nothing wrong with college football on the field. It is America’s healthiest sport in terms of consistent entertainment value. This is not even remotely debatable.

      So Whitlock’s argument is that the college football regular season is perfect as is, and that it was sports-talk radio that created a “fallacy” that the sport needs a playoff. Assuming this is correct, sports-talk radio was successful in convincing 90% of college football fans that the current system – the very system they were supposedly “fans” of – was broken. Wow, sports-talk radio must be really powerful. How often do 90% of Americans agree on anything?

      He also declares that it is “not remotely debatable” to say that any other sport is as consistently entertaining as college football. I know a few million NFL fans that would beg to differ.

      There’s a lot wrong with college athletics. Many football and basketball players are funneled through the system without receiving much of an education. Coaches and administrators are paid salaries that invite questionable ethics. Too many athletes arrive on campus completely unprepared to be educated and solely interested in the development of their bodies. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is out of control within most athletic departments.

      These and other issues are worthy of discussion at the presidential level.

      Who’s No. 1? How to set up an eight-team playoff format?

      Leave that to the idiots.

      This is a classic debate tool. Distract from the real issue by making points that almost everyone can agree with and then act like you’ve won the argument. Just because there are other issues to deal with in collegiate athletics, it doesn’t mean that Obama shouldn’t help to facilitate something that 90% of college football fans want to see.

      He didn’t say why a playoff would ruin the regular season, he just stated that it would, as if it were a fact.

      I guess that’s just one of those “sports issues of substance” that we mere mortals just can’t wrap our brains around. Jason Whitlock says he knows best, and therefore he must.

      College Football, NFL

      Wizards fire Eddie Jordan

      November 24, 2008 /

      After a 1-10 start, the Washington Wizards have fired head coach Eddie Jordan. The team has been without Gilbert Arenas all season, but still should have more than one win at this point.

      Ed Tapscott, the Wizards’ director of player development, will replace Jordan on an interim basis, running his first practice as the team’s new head coach Monday morning, a team spokesman said.

      Jordan was in his sixth season with the Wizards and led the team to the playoffs each of the past four. In September, shortly before the start of training camp, the Wizards picked up a one-year option to keep him under contract through the 2009-10 season.

      He leaves as the Eastern Conference’s longest-tenured coach and No. 3 in the NBA behind Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.

      Clearly, the Wizards are off to a frustrating start. Their chances of rebounding and making the playoffs this year get worse with every loss.

      NBA

      Fantasy Fallout: Week 12

      November 24, 2008 /

      Everything you need to know (and a lot that you don’t) about the fantasy implications of the NFL’s Week 12 action…

      QUARTERBACKS

      It looks like the beginning of the end of the Donovan McNabb era in Philly. He was yanked for Kevin Kolb after tossing two picks in the first half. Kolb didn’t fare any better…Joe Flacco (183 yards, 2 TD) was once again effective. He isn’t going to throw for a lot of yards, but he has tossed at least one TD in each of the last six games…Brady Quinn (94 yards, 2 INT) was supposed to have a nice day against a pretty bad Houston pass defense, but he stunk up the joint and was actually replaced by Derek Anderson (51 yards, INT), who didn’t do any better…Gus Frerotte (120 yards, INT) had a string of solid performances broken against the Jags. The Vikings got up by 14 early and didn’t look deep very often. Bernard Berrian (1-6) is suffering as a result…After a strong start, something seems to be wrong with the Denver passing game. Jay Cutler is averaging just 210 yards and 0.5 TD over the last two weeks.

      RUNNING BACKS

      Brian Westbrook (16 touches, 34 yards) looks like a shadow of his old self, and it’s not clear if it’s the injuries that are bothering him or the lack of good play from his QB. Correll Buckhalter sprained his knee, so the Eagles are really hurting at RB…Jamal Lewis (12 touches, 68 yards) was fairly productive, but he failed to score a TD and fumbled once. I thought he’d be a solid start due to a nice schedule down the stretch, but the Browns’ offense is in trouble and Lewis’ numbers are suffering because of it…Warrick Dunn (19 touches, 127 yards, TD) was very productive against a bad Lions rush defense. Cadillac Williams (16 touches, 27 yards) came in for mop up duty…Kevin Smith (16 carries, 86 yards) looked pretty good against a good Bucs rush defense before leaving the game with an apparent knee injury…Larry Johnson (9 touches, 105 yards) ran the ball well, but only received seven carries since the game got out of hand…Apologies to anyone who started Antonio Pittman (12 touches, 19 yards) on my recommendation. Ryan Grant was successful against the Bears rush defense last week and I thought that Pittman would at least post 70-80 total yards and maybe score a TD…The Tennessee running game is suddenly ineffective. Over the last three games Chris Johnson and LenDale White have combined for just 243 yards and one TD. White carried the ball once against the Jets, so right now, it looks like the Chris Johnson show. He might have big week in a great matchup against the Lions next week…Even though he’s supposedly healthy, Sammy Morris (10 touches, 49 yards) didn’t get as many touches as Kevin Faulk (14 touches, 105 yards, TD). Moreover, Faulk was more productive and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (a.k.a. “The Law Firm”) vultured seven carries and a TD…Maurice Jones-Drew (12 touches, 117 yards) is so valuable in PPR leagues because when things aren’t going well on the ground (3 carries, 4 yards), he can be heavily involved in the passing game (9-113)…DeAngelo Williams (21 touches, 120 yards, TD) appears to be RB1 in Carolina for the time being. He’s startable this week, against the Packers and in Week 15, against the Broncos…Michael Turner (117 yards, 4 TD) finally broke out against a good rush defense. All year, he’s been overperforming against bad defenses and underperforming against good ones…Clinton Portis (31 touches, 159 yards) is a warrior…LaDainian Tomlinson has scored just two TD in his last seven games.

      WIDE RECEIVERS

      If the Eagles go with Kevin Kolb at QB, I’d downgrade DeSean Jackson and Kevin Curtis…It doesn’t appear that any Detroit WR other than Calvin Johnson (3-66-1) is worth owning right now…Dwayne Bowe (3-58-1) continues to clean up in garbage time. His numbers weren’t looking very good, but late in the game he caught a garbage TD to finish with a nice stat line…It looks like Torry Holt (4-84) is still WR1 in St. Louis. Donnie Avery (1-14) cannot be counted on…After a couple shoddy weeks, Greg Camarillo (6-75-1) had a nice day, but he’s going to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. This should give Ted Ginn and Davone Bess a boost in value…Terrell Owens (7-213-1) busted out with a huge game against his old team. He hadn’t gained more than 38 receiving yards in the last five games…Simply stated, Plaxico Burress (0-0) can’t be counted on right now.

      TIGHT ENDS

      Kellen Winslow’s poor day (1-11) could be attributed to poor play at QB or his sprained shoulder. Either way, he was a disappointment…In a week when guys like Winslow, Jason Witten (1-11) and Antonio Gates (3-28) were disappointments, Tony Gonzalez (10-113-1) came up huge…Dustin Keller (6-42) continues to be a favorite target of Brett Favre. Over the last three weeks, he has posted 20-236-1 and looks like a good TE start down the stretch.

      FREE AGENTS

      LeRon McClain (18 carries, 88 yards, TD) was the most productive RB for the Ravens, continuing the season-long carousel at the position. There’s no telling who will play well week to week…Over the last three weeks, Kerry Collins has averaged 254 passing yards and 2.0 TD per game. He did most of his work this week in garbage time, which is an unusual situation for the Titans to be in…Tatum Bell got some work (7 touches, 14 yards), but it was Peyton Hillis (19 touches, 96 yards, TD) that got the lion’s share of the touches in the Denver backfield.. He has a tough matchup with the Jets next week, but a great matchup with the Chiefs in Week 14…Derrick Ward played well (24 touches, 99 yards, TD) with Brandon Jacobs out. Keep an eye on this situation as Ward could be a productive back if Jacobs misses more time. Keeper league owners should take note – Ward will be a free agent after this season…Maurice Morris produces 113 yards and a TD on 17 touches. Julius Jones had two carries for 21 yards and injured his calf. Morris might be able to help fantasy owners down the stretch.

      Fantasy Football, NFL

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