1 Week Down

The Florida Gators had a good warmup to their upcoming title defense. They definitely looked like they are ready to hand on to their title for awhile, although it's pretty easy to look good against Charleston State. It's kind of like as a Husker fan basing a lot on their win over Florida Atlantic. (Which by the way, it looks like if Nebraska wins out -- not likely -- but if they do considering they have 3 Sun Belt teams on their schedule they have the possibility of winning both the Big 12 and Sun Belt championships)

As you may be aware, Florida's win Saturday was not considered a Championship game. As Charleston State is not part of D1-A (now known as the Bowl Subdivision) they are not considered a title contender. So for all intents and purposes it was an exhibition game. All that said, the Gators look strong. I won't pick them to win out of course, that's just a tough thing to do in the SEC, but it wouldn't surprise me either.

It was interesting to see Oklahoma lose, and Ohio State nearly lose. To me, those games are an illustration of the point I've always held, that the regular season IS the tournament in college football. That's what makes it unique, and in my opinion, better.

How to choose the contenders

Fall is in the air, it's getting cooler, and, best of all, College Football is here! With a couple of games already in place, now begins the best time of the year.

I had a friend comment on Facebook the other day that he doesn't like college football's BCS and the way it picks the teams that play for the championship because it's too scientific and relies too much on subjective polls.

Think about it a moment. It's flawed because it's too scientific but not scientific enough? There is a problem because it's too subjective, but not subjective enough?

When you come down to it, it has to be one or the other, doesn't it? You either let people choose, which is subjective and prone to bias and sentiment. Or you put together something objective so there is no question who the participants will be based on how the season shapes out. It has to be one or the other.

The problem is there are flaws both ways.

After all, if the subjective polls were the answer, wouldn't they all agree with each other? If the computers were the answer, wouldn't they all have the same ratings? Objective and subjective methods of choosing have as much variation amongst themselves as they do with each other.

So, in the end, you pick one or the other, or you do what the BCS has done and try to balance the subjective with the objective. Frankly, i think that balancing the two different approaches of choosing the participants is the best way you can go and give the BCS a lot of credit.

The fact remains that you will always have an issue with how teams are chosen. As long as there are only 2 teams chosen for the championship, there will be strong arguments for why a different team is more deserving.

And as long as you have 16 teams in a tournament there will be a strong case that can be made that one or more teams would have been more deserving. Unless every team is in the tournament you will have arguments about how the teams are chosen and complaints that some were unfairly snubbed.

So in the end, the question isn't so much how to choose the 2 teams. It becomes more about whether it should be just 2 teams. That of course, is subject for another discussion.

One player wins me over...

I have not been a big Florida Gators fan by any means. Now I did get into a debate with my nephew on facebook a few days ago, as he'd posted asking how Florida possibly could have a chance against Oklahoma. I seriously thought the Sooners would win, but I didn't think they were a world ahead of Florida either, and given the Sooners' performance in past bowls. So I'll admit it was fun to rib my nephew a bit about his posts.

But having said that, my attitude about Florida has probably been more negative than positive, and I think a lot of that probably goes back to the bravado of the Spurrier years. I kind of wondered to myself whether Tim Tebow, their star quarterback, was a bit overrated. But I gotta say, the guy won me over last night.

Or maybe it was just me not paying that much attention all season.

The first thing that caught my attention was his wearing the John 3:16 in the black under his eyes, which I thought was pretty cool. But I had never seen is statement that he made after the Mississippi game in which he took responsibility and vowed to play and work harder than anyone to make up for it.

The passion and fire in that guy won me over as the game went on. He played his heart out and inspired the rest of the team to do the same. I think as teams, those two were evenly matched and truth be told Oklahoma's defense played a heck of a game. If they played again, I would not be surprised to see Oklahoma win.

But I really believe that one guy made the difference, in a way maybe even beyond the difference Vince Young made for Texas when they beat USC. Young's performance was amazing, and in some ways he did carry that team. But what impressed me last night was how Tim Tebow not so much carried his team, but led it.

I'm just sorry the season's over. For as slow as I've been at keeping this site up, this has been one of my favorite seasons, perhaps my favorite since I started this site. All I know is, there's a lot of reason to look forward to next year.

Pride

Pride, in its proper place, can be a good thing.

Maybe that's a lot of what I love about college football. The tradition, the history, but more than that the character that is part of the game, leave a sense of pride. I'm sure maybe it's just as true in about any other sport but perhaps just the influence of where I grew up, in a place where college football was everything, that becomes the sport that has its influence on me. And maybe it's silly to have pride in a sports team because after all, I have nothing to do with the team. I'm not the guy scoring the touchdowns, or blocking, or tackling, or even showing these guys how to do all that. I'm a guy who sits in the stands or in front of his tv. But for whatever reason, it's like we pick certain teams to represent us, and those teams become a source of pride.

My last post I was talking about the University of Buffalo football team, especially the guys who, 50 years ago chose to skip a bowlgame that, in that day, was the ultimate goal of a small college football team, rather than leave behind teammates whose skin was a different color. They took a stand back in a day when such a stand wasn't so fashionable, and it was that character that to me was a reasonable source of pride for anyone associated with the program.

Yesterday, I got to gather with a group of Nebraska fans watching the Gator Bowl. Watching this group of young men, who'd gone through some difficult times as a team, hang in there and battle back after some mistakes put them behind, was a source of pride. Seeing Joe Ganz come up hobbling, then getting his bell rung pretty well, and hanging in there to lead his team to a great comeback, was a source of pride. What has endeared me to this particular team is that they never quit, never gave up. I have as much pride in them as in any of the Nebraska teams from the glory days of 10 or more years ago.

But nothing compares to the pride related to this morning's ventures. This morning, I took my son to the airport. He flies back east to complete his basic training for the army. There are many times I look back at my role as his dad, sometimes my lack of role as his dad, and it's easy to look at life with regrets. And yet despite it all, I've seen this boy become a man. His comment on the way to the airport: "I've got to finish what I started." He could have gone anywhere for the holiday break, but what meant the world to me was, he wanted to come here. And as I see this man who has transformed almost instantly go off to catch his flight and serve his country, I felt tremendous pride in him. That's a good thing. Really good....

Great Football History Story

While this has been my most poorly blogged season to date, I did give some time to the University of Buffalo when they were about to play Missouri for the championship. In my last post I referenced gettign to go to a Nebraska Oklahoma game, Turner Gill was the quarterback for Nebraska in that game. So I have a bit of an affinity for the Buffalo football program now that he's coaching them.

I loved seeing Buffalo get the MAC championship. Prior to Gill's arrival, Buffalo had won something like 5 games in 3 years. In 3 years he's turned that team into conference champion that gets their first bowl invitation in 50 years.

But this is where the story is so great. Because if I have my facts correct, Buffalo has never been to a bowl game. In 1958 they were invited to the Tangerine Bowl. But being in the deep south like it is, the Tangerine Bowl ever so kindly informed Buffalo that their African American players were not welcome, so if they wanted to play, they had to leave some of their team behind.

The team voted to decline the invitation. To me, that took an incredible amount of character, because the honor of playing in a Bowl like that for a very small school like Buffalo was huge, especially since back in the day there weren't 30 odd bowl games. That had to be an incredibly hard decision. I'd be proud to be a fan of a team like that.

So fast forward 50 years. Our nation has made a lot of progress. And yet, one sign that we still have a ways to go is the fact that the number of black coaches in division 1A is rediculously small in ratio to the number of black players. I still think something is terribly out of whack.

And yet, one of the wonderful ironies of today is the fact that one of the three remaining African Americans coaching division 1A football is Turner Gill, coach of this year's Buffalo Bulls. Coach Gill will be leading his team to the International Bowl this year, and the 1958 team will be going as special guests.

To me it's a great story, and a sad one all the same. I'm thrilled to see the team do so well, and I love seeing the recognition being given to those great young men of the 1958 team. And I'm ashamed at the same time that it ever happened and that that kind of thing was even accepted in our country at the time.

All that said, the International Bowl, minor bowl game that it is, will probably rank third this year on my list of bowlgame priorities, right behind the BCS championship of course, and the Gator Bowl. Go Bulls!

My apologies to the fine folk in Oklahoma

I know that at the moment the main page of the site is still showing Texas Tech as the reigning champs. Of course that changed when Oklahoma beat Tech, I've just been too lazy to change the site.

Oklahoma being the current champ definitely has a level of nostalgia. Growing up in Nebraska, there was always that rivalry with the Sooners. I remember some great games, and great plays. I also remember that level of respect that developed between the schools, to the point that Barry Switzer may well be the third most popular football coach to Nebraska fans. I lived for awhile just north of the Oklahoma Kansas border and even remember interviewing for a couple of jobs in Tulsa, where my Nebraska loyalty got some good ribbing. It was the kind of rivalry that was just fun.

There are a number of Nebraska Oklahoma games that I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I watched. Sometimes it was with the big extended family watching it together on Thanksgiving -- that game always screwed up Thanskgiving dinner schedules. Sometimes it was watching with special people. I still have a couple of pictures of the one Nebraska Oklahoma game I attended... dang was I skinny then. =(

I feel sorry for the kids who grow up as Nebraska fans now just because they don't get the same sense of what it is to grow up with a great rivalry like that. There's Missouri and Colorado, but they just don't have the feel like there was in the days when the Big 8 was Nebraska, Oklahoma and those other guys.

I also remember the days when Oklahoma football was not very good at all. The world just didn't seem right in those days.

So, today, even though your guys humiliated the Huskers this year, congratulations to the Sooners. It's good to see you back where you belong.

Good Effort by Buffalo

Give credit to Buffalo for a strong effort against Missouri. For a team that most said wasn't supposed to come close, they hung in the game a lot longer than expected. I think it's a safe bet you'll be hearing more from them as time goes on.

Missouri gets a break for this week, with their next challenge being at Nebraska. The championship game finally gets to Lincoln, which is pretty cool. It would be even more cool if i still LIVED in Lincoln.

e-mail from Turner Gill

A number of times, I've sent emails to different members of the athletic department and coaching staffs of teams to wish them luck on their upcoming National Championship game. For the first time, I got a response.

Turner Gill, head coach of the Buffalo Bulls, responded back "Hello Ron, Thank you for the kind words & the interesting way of looking at our upcoming Missouri game."

Okay, it's got his name after the quote, although it was sent from his administrative assistant, so I guess I don't know for sure if it was really him responding or not or just a courtesy response. But still, it was pretty cool.

Okay, I have to say, for me the ultimate satisfaction to having this website would be if some coach were ever to use the fact that his team's playing for the National Championship as part of getting his guys pumped up for a game. A team like Buffalo or Nevada would have been perfect for that kinda thing.

If it weren't for the fact that Lou Holtz giving his pre-game speech of the week is getting really really really old, really really really fast... I'd break into my own pre-game speech about now. But it's been done, and done too often now to the point it's kinda ruined it all for everyone else. But to be able to say 'Men, no one's giving us a chance here. No one has ever heard of us, and most of the world still thinks we're a Division 3 team, but here is our chance for glory. Today, we play for the National Championship!'

Okay, I guess I did break out into a bit of the coach speech thing... sorry.

But where it would be cool is, someday there will be that big upset where a team like Buffalo will win their match. And the next week, they play Central Michigan. Okay, if I want world recognition of the whole Heavyweight Football concept, Central Michigan playing Buffalo for the title is NOT the way to get it. But since I don't care if anyone takes it seriously, that's okay. Can you imagine Butch Jones, head coach of Central Michigan, telling his team they're playing for the National Championship? THAT is the fun and the whimsy that makes doing this site so enjoyable for me.

Mizzou Buffalo may be closer than thought

Okay, I have to say this to start. Buffalo Bulls. Buffalo Bills.... I'm not sure which came first, but you have to wonder if someone from one organization didn't get a little miffed when the other came out with a nicname so close to the other.

That said, I'm a little more interested in this week's match than in most. Okay, maybe it's because I'm still chomping at the bit for a Buster Douglas kinda knockout... where this outta nowhere nobody suddenly and surprisingly is the champ. I've enjoyed having Missouri as a sort of unconventional champ, especially to end the year, but they're still a really really good team. Every once in awhile though, an unknown has come along and claimed the title for a short while. In 1996 Tulsa and BYU held the title for the greater part of the year. And quite frankly, I'd be much more inclined to compare to Tulsa than to BYU, as they've always been recognized for having at least competitive teams.

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who had plans to watch Colorado and West Virginia and he thought CU would be slaughtered. I said I thought they had a pretty good chance, that CU's been getting better. So now having witnessed the upset and feeling vindicated, I feel like a college football guru, so maybe I'll use my guru powers to predict a Buffalo upset this weekend. I do think Missouri is underestimating these guys -- maybe it's Turner Gill coaching them or maybe it's that great Hail Mary pass and victory against Temple, but I like these guys. So I'm going to predict a Buffalo win.

Okay, I'll predict with my heart anyway. I'd personally love to be able to declare a MAC team as National Champs.

Great Start

Missouri and Illinois were a great way to start the new season. While the game was never quite close enough to be totally suspenseful, it was a far cry better than the start of the past few seasons. Congratulations to the Tigers for their first successful defense of their National Championship.

Next week will be an odd one, as Missouri does play but this is not considered a championship defense. Southeast Missouri State does not quite qualify as a contender, as they must be a Division 1A team.

This brings up a chance to thank Bob Kirlin . Way back in March, Bob emailed me about Southern Miss winning in 1953 even though at the time they were not considered a Division 1 team. He went to the trouble of tracking how that would have gone if they had been allowed to claim the title then. In fact he hand typed the whole thing and sent it to me, and at some point I want to post it all on the site. I'd never had the opportunity to meet Bob before that, but he's one of those college football historian types whom I'd love the chance to pick his brain some more. Check out his site some time, you can find it on David Wilson's site, or follow the link. It's pretty much a pure text site, so while it's not flashy, to me it's one of those goldmines for college history buffs. Fitting that it's all hosted off David Wilson's site.

Anyway, the next two weeks are, at first glance, runaway wins for Missouri. But, Nevada should never be underestimated, and Buffalo could make things more interesting than anyone might have guessed. You'll see them in a bowlgame this year, and while it might not be one of the glamor bowls, that's a pretty good accomplishment for a team that not that long ago was a shoe in for double digit losses.

And then of course, the part I'm excited about, is Nebraska and Missouri matching up. And while I don't think the Huskers are on Missouri's level this year, it will be fun all the same to finally see my hometown boys finally in a title game.

But for now, congratulations Mizzou on a good win over a solid contender.

A time to celebrate

This, my friends, is truly a time for celebration!!!

For one, the Democrats are going home! Now, don't get too upset at me for that, if i were living in Minneapolis I'd be cheering the departure of the Republicans as well. When you've got this great little way of driving home from work, and then all of a sudden one day your little best kept secret of a road is jam packed with cars because they closed down I-25 so some guy could make a speech at a stadium... you get very happy at the prospects of having your little road back to yourself.

But.... the real important reason....

Football is back!!!!!!!

Okay, anyone wanna know how I really feel?

I'm a little disappointed looking back at the past several months, just because this has been the best time for this website in terms of circumstances, and I feel like I've totally squandered the opportunity, being totally inactive. For the first time since the site was started, the Heavyweight Championship has been held in the off season by a team that wasn't considered a National Champion. This was just the kind of situation I was licking my chops about when I started this all up because it just makes it more fun, to me, to say 'Missouri is the National Champ' when everyone else says it's LSU.

But that's okay. What's done is done, it is what it is. The important part is, in 2 days a new season begins, and for the purposes of this site, it's a big one. Probably the most high profile season opening championship game there will be for awhile. Not that North Texas isn't a high profile start... well, okay, they're not.... but Missouri and Illinois is a great way to start it all off.

Reason to celebrate indeed. Whether you're Republican or Democrat....

R.I.P. Mzone

Wow.

Okay, you can tell by looking at this blog that I've been out of commission for awhile. It dawned on me just how long today...

I sat down and thought, I wonder what's going on over at the MichiganZone... it's been awhile since I've been there, and with football season getting close they gotta have some funny stuff. And then I realized just HOW long it's been... The last post is 2 months old... The Mighty MZone has gone silent.

Damn.

When I started this site and started to get familiar with the blogs out there, that quickly became one of my favorites. Okay, it WAS my favorite. It was Yost and crew who first posted the picture of the USC Songgirl cheering as Texas scored against them.... now granted that was pretty mild compared to some of the other stuff they posted. And I'll never forget the Buckstache.

If you've never seen the Mzone, you're probably scratching your head wondering what I'm talking about. If you have, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm gonna miss you guys. The college football blogosphere will never be the same.

Thanks Sprint

This blog has been pretty quiet especially through bowl season, which is pretty inexcusable for a blog on college football national champions.

First off, congratulations to LSU on their BCS Title. Second, congratulations to the Missouri Tigers for their win over Arkansas to claim the Heavyweight Football Championship. Both championships are well deserved and earned.

Now, to the point of this post, a shameless plug for a mobile phone service. And yes, in some ways this plug was paid for, but in a bit of a different way.

A bit more than a year ago, the good folks at Sprint PCS contacted me after coming across this website. They invited me to try out their service, gave me a phone to try out and let me sample all the different services they offer. They started off with this great little Fusic phone and i loved it. I've always thought of Sprint as being rather limited on range and such, but that hasn't been my experience at all. I've done a lot of travelling and it's served me quite well wherever I've been. Then several months ago they sent me this M610 phone by Samsung, and again, I was quite impressed. For anyone who wished they had the NFL Network... you know, i never thought i'd ever watch a football game on my cell phone but i was pretty surprised at how clear it was on that Samsung phone.

Shortly they are going on to other programs, and my beloved Sprint service through this program will be going away. I think that's why I wanted to wait until a time like this to mention the service and all, in that I wanted to make sure that it didn't appear to be just offering a plug like this in order to get more services. But I did want to give a bit of a shout out to the guys at Sprint -- one as a thanks for letting me try their services, and two, to give an honest appraisal of the service I received. I did not think I would be impressed by Sprint, but I was. Thanks again guys for the opportunity and keep up the good work.

And now, back to fooball... hopefully sooner this time than last time....

Inconsistencies

There are those who will look at the Heavyweight Football Championship as a joke. My buddy George likes to let me know what a stupid idea it all is and insists I get a life (though it's interesting he has nothing better to do with his own time than send derogatory emails complaining about stuff on a website).

But it's interesting the inconsistency in the approach of some. There are those out there who think there's only one way to do college football right, and that's by having a full blown playoff. And yet, they'll say it's asinine for a guy like me to declare Arkansas the champion simply because they beat LSU. (That is, if they know what asinine actually means)

And yet, if it were in a playoff that Arkansas defeated LSU, then they have no problem with Arkansas now being called the champion. In fact, they'd be pretty adamant that Arkansas was now the champion.

Manipulation

By now, it's become clear to me that the most glaring weakness of the BCS system is the reliance on the polls as the major part of the criteria for determining the teams in the BCS championship game.

More specifically, the problem with the voter element comes is that of poll manipulation. Rather than picking teams based on who they really think are the best, you have campaigning and blatant manipulation of votes, and instead it becomes a popularity contest that goes to whoever does the best job of making their case.

First off, I respect Jim Tressell for declining to vote due to conflict of interest. Especially with the way some of the other votes went, that was one instance that I admired and appreciated.

It started with the shameless campaigning by Kirk Herbstreit during the Missouri - Oklahoma game for LSU to be voted in. You already know how I feel about the Punditry in college football media, but this was a new low. The "worldwide leader' has been plugging LSU the whole season and to openly campaign for one team in particular was out of line for a news organization.

It's very clear there was some vote manipulation going on. The problem wasn't so much people voting for LSU or Ohio State, but in voting other teams lower than they normally would have been voted in order to allow LSU in particular to get in. All you have to do is look at Georgia and Virginia Tech. How does Georgia end up dropping one spot without playing a game while two teams ranked above them both lose?

But the other area has to do with Virginia Tech. Here they are rated ahead of LSU, they then go on the road (compared to LSU at a neutral site), they beat a higher ranked team than LSU beat, and they beat them much more convincingly. And yet, LSU still gets moved past Virginia Tech.

I won't go so far to say LSU doesn't deserve to be in the championship game. It seems like this year everyone did their best to stay out of the game. LSU is right up there with a number of otehr teams. My problem isn't so much LSU but how they got there.

So many times I've heard 'the Punditry' rant and rave about the problem with computer polls being that computers can't see the intangibles. But the real problem with the BCS is not the computers as much as it leaves open too much possibility of people manipulating the polls to make sure the 'right team' gets in. Even if it's done from a genuine belief that a team like LSU is the most deserving team, it's still wrong.

So it IS George, and not Lynn

Based on the comment received to the last post, it appears that it is, indeed, George. Same wit, wisdom and intelligence. Thanks for dropping by again George.

Lynn, you must be so proud.

And of course, Georges comments once again speak for themselves. I mean, who can expand on that classic stuff?

The dumbest concept....

I've let that email sit a bit, and i do have to say, i still can't get over the fact that this guy is so concerned about me wasting time on an unrealistic concept and yet he's willing to waste time sending comments like this.

Okay George -- I will assume you are George. If it was you who sent it Lynn, I apologize for the wrong assumption. But I guess the question is.... what exactly do you accomplish by this? Is it a practice to go to websites and critique them? Did you think you'd change my mind with your well reasoned email? Though maybe if you'd paid much attention you'd realize I probably agree with more of what you say than you realize. And no, it's not because of your brilliant email.

Here's the thing. This is a novelty website. I don't take it seriously as a way everyone should look at it. I've stated that several times on the site and in this blog. It's a fun way to look at college football that all started with 'what if they did it this way?'

Now, that said... it's every bit as much a true National Championship as anything out there, INCLUDING the BCS. Why? There is no national championship in college football. Not officially. Not even the BCS, that's a coalition of bowls and conferences but it's not an NCAA institution. Different people and organizations declare their national championships. But there is no official national champion.

And that's where you're right: everyone doesn't agree. But isn't that the beauty of college football? While everyone doesn't agree... i think you see more interest in it than in any other sport. And this season has shown more than ever, the regular season counts. In fact the regular season is everything. The regular season IS the playoff.

But in the meantime, I have fun with this site. It's a hobby for me. Like i said, a novelty.

Do you really have fun sending these kinds of emails?

Thank you George (or is it Lynn?)

I got a great email yesterday. I'll admit I spent a lot of time trying to come up with snappy comebacks but decided that's a waste of time. I'll post the email right now, and I do want to respond to it because despite its tone it does bring up some good points that are worth responding to. According to a combination of the email header and the email address, I'm assuming this came from George Mathews. I'm assuming it was George, though the email address was georgeandlynn, so maybe it was Lynn, but somehow knowing how guys are with somewhat anonymous email I'm assuming it's the guy of the couple (anyone surprised he/she didn't actually put their name on the email itself?)

This has got to be the dumbest concept I've ever heard. You should put your time into something alittle more realistic.If they used something closer to proball we would have a true champion. But what is wrong with what we have? So everyone doesn't agree ! They never have and never will. The biggest flaw I see with your Idea is that teams change personal every year. And once a conference gets the title they hold on to it since they don't play very good out of conference schedules.

I figured I didn't need a snappy comeback, the email speaks for itself. But, comments are to come later...

The perfect weekend for this kind of season.

What a weekend eh?

Of course first and foremost, we got a new national champion out of the deal. Arkansas now takes over the throne, defeating LSU to become the new Heavyweight Football National Champion.

And of course, the whole BCS game qualifiers got tossed around some more. Personally, I think it's an awesome college football season. I was pretty sure LSU would get beat either this week or in the SEC game, they've just let too many teams get too close. I know i've made it clear how already how i've felt about the Punditry of College Football declaring them the best team in the country. I won't argue that they have a great team, but such an 'anointed' team shouldn't have the close calls that they've had against the kinds of teams they've had them with.

I think in the end, the SEC has been exposed as not being the superconference everyone has claimed they are. They are a conference with a lot of good teams, but with a lot of parity. Parity and superiority as a conference are not the same thing. Now if they were dominant against good teams outside their conference, then maybe that would say something. But when they can barely be .500 against other BCS conference schools (of which they play far too few of) and some of their marquee teams lose out of conference in the manner they have, then it's pretty clear they're not really superior to other conferences.

Now, a question: Was Kansas exposed? Yes and no. Kansas did a great job coming back against Missouri and kept it interesting down to to the last few seconds. It was a good game overall, and I have to admit to being far more impressed by Missouri than I expected to be. I really expected Mizzou to screw up somewhere along the line. But, as to the question of whether Kansas was thus overrated as many claim them to be, no, I don't think they are. Frankly, I find it interesting that no one squawks about Ohio State's schedule when you talk about them being in contention for the championship game, but it really wasn't any tougher than Kansas' was.

Here's what I think about Kansas. I think they suffered from the same problem that Kansas State used to have in Bill Snyder's glory days. I think they may actually have the best team right now, just like I think there were years that KSU maybe had some better teams than they were given credit for. But the problem is in their schedule. it's not that they are any less good because they have a weaker schedule, but i think it's because the lack of tough competition early on does not prepare them for the big games that come at the end of the year. the manner in which Kansas rolled over their schedule is a good indication they were indeed an excellent team, but the lack of a real test left them ill prepared for the big game. You could see it too because you could tell they weren't ready for what hit them. I don't think you can be ready without having any challenges before hand.

So now what happens? West Virgina's not a lock. They have Pitt, a team that could surprise them. Missouri's already lost to Oklahoma, so we know that's a possibility. Ohio State has a good chance of getting back in. So, if West Virginia and Missouri both lose, who gets in? It could be Georgia, (and i wonder if as many will howl about a team getting in after not winning their conference as did when Nebraska got in a few years back) or maybe even LSU. Although at this point if all that happens maybe Hawaii should get a shot. I mean, if everyone else is trying so hard NOT to get in, weak schedule or not they took care of business. Especially winning on the road at that ugly blue field in Boise.

A sign of strength? Or Mediocrity?

One comment I heard on the radio, in various forms, was 'even though they have 2 losses, I still see Florida as one of the top teams in the country.' Well, make that 3. Meanwhile, Kentucky, the #2 team in this mighty conference, loses to Mississippi.

The Punditry would say that's a sign of strength, that the Southeast Conference has such a brutal schedule. Most of them would have you believe that 3 losses in conference is superior to undefeated in most other conferences.

But the question remains, if the better teams are losing to the more average teams in the league, is that not also a sign of mediocrity? A couple of weeks ago when Oklahoma and Texas were beaten by lesser teams in the conference, that was widely proclaimed as a sign of the weakness of the Big 12. Now I'm one of those who would agree that the Big 12 has fallen greatly in stature (and I'm a Big 12 guy). But if the logic is true for the Big 12, it remains true for the supposedly mighty SEC.

I'm not anti SEC, in fact I love the passion for college football that I see from their fan base, from top to bottom.

But, I don't buy into the hype that the SEC is head and shoulders above the rest.

In fact, were you aware that SEC teams have a losing record at this point against teams from BCS conferences? They are currently 4-5 , including a losing record against the Big East. Two things stand out, one being they've played so few games against BCS conference teams, the other being that such a totally superior conference would also be pretty dominant in their record against BCS conference teams.

One stat that is in their favor: SEC teams are undefeated in out of conference games against teams that are not in BCS conferences. No one else can say that, particularly the Big 10 whose losses include Appalachian State and North Dakota State. However, having said that, much of the reason for this is that most of their out of conference matchups are against teams from arguably the weakest 1A conference, the Sun Belt.

Having said that, the Southeast Conference has avoided some of the total embarrasments that have befallen some of the lowlier teams in other conferences. And maybe for that reason alone, right now I would probably rate the SEC as the strongest conference in football. But that said, other conferences are not that far off. Maybe it's that parity everyone keeps talking about, but there aren't many easy games in any of the BCS conferences. If you looked at the strength of teams top to bottom in the Big East, looked at their records out of conference, but then put names of SEC teams on those schools, you would find the Punditry still making a case about how brutal the schedule was and how much stronger the conference was. You could probably say the same thing about the Big 12, where there is really no overwhelmingly weak team, except maybe Baylor and possibly Iowa State. I probably would have included Nebraska in that group if not for nearly beating Texas in Austin today.

The fact that there are no easy games in the conference isn't enough any more. If the best teams in the conference want to claim being among the elite in college football, they still have to beat the lesser teams on their schedule.

Pundit Hypocrisy

I have been trying to figure out what it is that has me all grumpy today whenever I listen to the experts and pundits, particularly in the 'World Wide Leader' on tv and on the radio. I finally figured it out. I think they're hypocrites.

Probably the one that got me going the most was listening to one of them, I believe it was Mel Kiper (since I was working my real job at the time I didn't get a chance to take notes) who was complaining about how the problem with the current BCS system is that it doesn't allow for any Cinderella's. You won't see a story like the Colorado Rockies.

And yet, all this whining about things like that, I also noticed most of the punditry was just giddy over the loss of South Florida. On one hand they complain about how the BCS is stacked against certain programs, but every time a program like South Florida makes enough waves to actually prove them all wrong, there is almost full scale rejoicing when they lose.

I'll admit, I wanted to see South Florida to win out just to prove that a team like that could get into the championship game. If they had won out, there is no question in my mind they'd be in there (even if LSU wins out as well, though they trail Auburn as I write this). In fact, I believe the odd man out would be Ohio State.

As I see it, the Punditry (sheesh, sounds like some conspiracy theory) doesn't want to see a team like South Florida succeed in the end, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it proves them wrong. Second, such a success gives credibility to the BCS. They can't have that because their mantra is that college football needs a major playoff system.

I'll digress for a moment... one of the great blogs in college football has a classic name: Every Day Should Be Saturday. That name to me sums up what is awesome and unique about college football: It's like every saturday matters. Every week there is at least a game or two that has some kind of major implication. And then, when a Stanford can upset a USC, that even says it more how important every game is. But if you were to have a blog like that in college basketball, the name of that blog would have to be Every Month Should Be March. Because no one really cares that much about the rest of the season. Personally, I'd rather have EDSBS than EMSBM.

End of Digression.

Okay, end of THAT digression, I'm off to another digression although it's more on point than the last digression.

I'm loving a couple of things about this weeks games. The Punditry as I'm really starting to enjoy calling the major college football media has really enjoyed making a big point about the strength of the PAC 10 Conference. But, when a team that was kinda beat up on by some pretty weak non conference opponents ends up so far more or less dominating the conference (see UCLA) doesn't that say something about the true strength of the conference. Okay now, you LSU fans, I see you shouting in agreement because you've had a Pac10 beef ever since the year you split with USC. But my other comment has to do with LSU. I think you guys have a great team this year, but i guess my comment is that the Punditry seems to have branded you guys as the second coming of (insert name of favorite dominant dynasty type college football team here). And hey, I'm actually getting back to where I was going to begin with. But one of the big things you heard the Punditry howling about this week has been that a once beaten LSU would end up deserving the title game more than an undefeated South Florida team, and part of that argument ends up being you have to establish that LSU is such an awesome team. LSU is a great team, but.... a team of the status they want to make them out to be wouldn't be sitting there with one loss and fighting for their life to avoid a 2nd loss. Auburn (remember that team that lost at home to South Florida?) is definitely looking like the better team at this point. (And you can probably guess that I'm still gloating over the fact that the Punditry had determined, I mean anointed, early on in the season that LSU, USC, and Oklahoma would all run the tables and we'd have another BCS mess.

The fact is that the experts love to sensationalize. But when it all comes down to it, they don't really know that much more than the rest of us ordinary Joe's. And I'll admit, it's kinda sweet to see them be so wrong.

Now that the BCS Standings are Out

Of course there is a lot of discussion about whether South Florida can hang on to its top 2 position. The question being whether a 1 loss team like an LSU will catch up to them in the end.

Because of the position that computers have in the BCS standings, a question some of the pundits should consider is, will Ohio State be able to hold on to their position. I'll say this now, if South Florida, Ohio State and LSU all win out, the championship game will be South Florida and LSU. People wrinkle their noses and say "South Florida? Who the heck are they?" without looking at the schedule, and I will almost bet most football fans are totally unaware that they have already defeated the #5 team in the country, as well as a win AT a decent Auburn team. Strength of schedule is very much on South Florida's side.

Okay, but won't Ohio State gain on South Florida as far as the computers are concerned? After all, all 5 teams they have left are 5-2, that's gotta help them, right? Not really. The teams left on South Florida's schedule have pretty good records themselves, and you also have to take into account that further wins by West Virginia and Auburn will take up the slack where the computers are concerned, in fact if both teams win out South Florida will likely end up further ahead of Ohio State in the computers.

Right now the only thing Ohio State has going for them is the perception that the Big 10 is a stronger conference than the Big East. An objective look at the two would show that to be a myth. Unfortunately, too few voters in the polls look at things very objectively.

Of course that's all moot. I'm calling it here, Michigan's going to beat Ohio State anyway. Then we'll have to figure out whether it should be South Florida or Arizona State.

Break it down?

With a great week of college football games coming up, I'm listening to as much sports radio as possible, watching TV looking forward to what people have to say. And I have to say, there's one phrase that drives me nuts as much as any: Breaking it down. Everyone uses it and it nauseates me. Breaking down this matchup. Breaking down the rosters. Someone was even going to break down a NASCAR race.

Once upon a time it was probably a nice fresh phrase, a different way of saying 'we're going to give you some in depth analysis' but once it's been used, everyone else says Ohhhhh, I like that, I'm going to have to use it. And in everyone's rush to sound fresh and original, they all sound alike. So instead what they end up saying is 'look at me, I cannot come up with anything imaginitive so I'm going to dip into my cliche' bank instead.'

Welcome to Cliche' Hell.

Not that I'm necessarily any better, but I promise this one thing: I'm going to give 110% effort in not using that worn out phrase. It won't be easy, but if I can do it one post at a time.

Know what's scary to admit? I don't know how many sports columns and such I've ever seen that did the whole cliche' thing tongue in cheek like that, but it's enough to probably make it a... omg.... cliche'.

I'm sorry everyone.

That said, so far today college football has been awesome. Ohio State is struggling, West Virginia is struggling. I won't group Nebraska in that since they're not a top 5 team even though so far they ARE struggling.

Which of course brings me to a totally different subject. The curse of the pro style offense. It seems like the rule of thumb in the NFL is the only time you can move the ball is with 2 minutes left to go in the half or game. Why can't my guys look this good the rest of the game?

Enough of all that. Good luck, Florida AND Troy in tonight's title game. And... Go Big Red for the 2nd half.

What Right Do I Have?

I've sent emails off here and there lately making declarations such as Troy Trojans to play for National Championship. And the thought occurred to me the last time I did this, what right do i have to make such a declaration? Really, who am I to make such a declaration, after all I'm not in any position of authority whatsoever in the college football world. I'm barely a blip, if even that, on the radar screen.

So can someone just go out and declare a national champion just because they say so? How different is that than saying I declare myself president of the United States?

But that's one of the things that stands out so well about major college football. Because there is no official national champion, it does leave things wide open. We do have the BCS, but the whole USC LSU debacle a few years back proved that to be problematic. The fact of the matter is there IS no official college football champion. There never has been. Right now it looks like there likely never will be. The authority that is has no system in place to declare a national championship. People forget that the BCS is NOT an NCAA institution, but a third party institution comprised of some schools, some bowls and some conferences.

Thus for years, different entities have made their own declaration of who the national champion is. Anyone remember when it was AP and UPI? And there were others who through the years have made their declarations.

And the question stands, do i have any less right to make such a declaration? I would say that if it were just an arbitrary thing, where I just said okay, I think Appalachian State is the overall National Champion just because I liked that one game, then I think no, that's not right. But when it's based on a system, on something clearly defined, then I think in the end I have no less right to make such a declaration than anyone else. The polls do it based on a system, being a group of (hopefully) carefully selected voters. There are tons of computer polls out there that all have their own formulas. And the Heavyweight Football Championship is based on something very very clearly stated. So I don't think i'm going overboard to state that I think my declaration has no less weight to it than any of the others. I won't pretend to be any more important than any others or any more definitive.

I guess that's another area where we're looking at something a lot like boxing, huh? After all, look how many different 'authorities' have their own champions declared.

I love this!!! Nothing like a little bit of football to make me feel important. Important enough to declare the National Champion.

If you want to see someone on cloud 9, let Troy upset Florida. Which is nothing against Florida at all, because I believe Florida deserves to be the champ right now. I'd feel the same way if it were Nebraska that were the champ and got upset, I'd still be loving it because I could make a declaration of a National Champion no one else would dream of making.

Hmmm... am i in this just to stroke my ego? Probably.....

Coaching blog

Just a quick note, I got a note from the guys at College Gridiron Boss. They're off and running, with a lot more consistency so far anyway than this particular blog, but so far they've had some interesting takes. The idea of the blog is to focus more on coaching... so maybe they'll come around to questions like has Bill Callahan really earned his 3 year extension for 1.75 million dollars a year?

I gotta say, when I'm thrilled to death when someone wants to pay me a few hundred dollars to put together a website for them.... it's really hard to fathom a million dollars a year plus to coach football. Although.... come to think of it now.... when you consider the intensity of hatred for Lloyd Carr right now by the better part of a whole state... a state who happens to cheer for the very team he coaches... i'm not sure any paycheck is worth being in that position.

And since I've brought that subject up... why can't we concentrate for once on what I think is the real story out there... that these kids from a smaller school who were not given a prayer played out of their minds for a full game, and just played an incredible game. I think that's the tragedy of it all, that here is this incredible story, one of the true david defeating goliath stories in all of sports... heck, it's even bigger than Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson (gotta stay true to the heavyweight theme, right?)... and yet for all the talking heads and all the blogs I've read, I don't read much about what an incredible game was played by a team that was supposed to be squashed. What I read is about all of Michigan's mistakes and Carr's coaching mistakes and whether Michigan should be dropped from the top 25, how many games will Michigan win the rest of the year, etc. Michigan Michigan Michigan!!!! Ummm, hello? Appalachian State won the game!!! How about a little more credit for the guys who won?

I feel bad really for the kids at Appalachian State. To me, they should be the story, and yet everyone's talking about Michigan. Well, here's at least one guy out there saying way to go guys, you impressed the heck outta me.

Although I'd hate to see it happen to my guys... I find myself wishing it coulda happened here at Nebraska, if for no other reason than to see the guys get the standing ovation as they leave the stadium as is the tradition here. It happens even when guys beat us, and I'd think there'd be nothing greater for those kids to get this huge show of respect from the fans of the opponents. They deserve to kinda feel like Rocky beating the Russian and winning the crowd over.

Okay, I'm waxing sentimental here. But for what it's worth, first of all I have a lot of respect for the Michigan team and I know they're still better than a good share of the teams they dropped past when being booted from the Top 25... but even more important, there's at least one guy here in Nebraska giving Appy State a standing O because they deserve a lot more credit.

Is it proof?

Appalachian State? For the first time ever, a non Division 1A team has pulled off a win over ranked team, and this was not only a ranked team, but one of the teams expected to be in the hunt for the BCS Championship game. Is this proof that anyone can beat anyone?

Keep in mind that Appalachian State is not just anyone. They are the 2 time defending national champions in Division 1AA. I know, I know, that's a big jump from 1AA to 1A, but still, this is a team that those who are serious enough about college football could have told you would be a tougher opponent than even some of the Big 10 teams they will face later.

But still, no one expected them to win this one. It's an exciting thing to me though because it just shows that a lot of these games coming up have a potential for an unknown to win the National Championship.

I don't think it's a joke to say that Troy could have a chance next week. Troy has been known to take on a pretty tough non conference schedule year in and year out, and has been known to pull off some upsets and some close calls. They played Arkansas tough to the end yesterday.

Personally I think it would be a blast if Troy could pull it off. Oklahoma State would be their next opponent, and being in Big 12 country that wouldn't be so bad. Or better yet, to see the title tossed about in the Sun Belt conference? It could be the kind of thing that would make the Heavyweight Football Championship that much more interesting, and maybe get some more attention to it.

Go Trojans!!!

The Clock Ticks

Okay, I'd love to put up something like the cool clock that Kanka's Sports Page has, I love that thing. Anyway, the new season is just days away. Woohoo!!

I noticed an error on my main page that had been sitting there for far far too long. I had down that Florida's first title defense was supposed to be against Southern Mississippi. Instead it's Western Kentucky. That's a huge drop off from one to the other, isn't it? So did I make a mistake there, or was there a game scheduled? I noticed they played each other last year. I'd be interested if anyone has any insight on whether there had been a game scheduled and if one or the other had backed out.

So instead, we get a less interesting matchup, although maybe a bit more of an interesting story, in having Western Kentucky play against the champs. Okay, not that anyone is giving Western Kentucky much of a chance here. This is their first year as a Division 1-A team, which says about all there is that can be said right there. So to go with the whole boxing theme, it's kinda like a boxer getting a title match for their first pro bout. And probably with about as good a odds of winning as well.

I'm going to start making pages for each game, at least going forward, that will have previews and recaps for each title game. Some fun projects would be to go back and create pages with summaries of past games, and even start tracking title game records. Okay, talk about time consuming.... The things a football geek will come up with....

Going Back

I read an article the other day about Mike Rozier reminiscing about his days with the Cornhuskers. All of this was part of his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Reading that took me back to what were for me the golden days. When Mike was running over defenders on his way to the Heisman Trophy, I was in college myself, albeit not on a football field (unless you count those sloppy pickup games where we all demonstrated exactly WHY we were running around on a field at a very very small college and not playing for some NCAA powerhouse).

As a football fan, they were golden days indeed. Nebraska was in the midst of its time of dominance, and for one year had what I think was still the most incredible offense ever put together on a college football field. I cheered them on with an incredible enthusiasm. And even though they never captured the national championship, for me it was a more passionate time to be a Husker fan than even the mid 90's when Nebraska won or shared the title 3 out of 4 years. Maybe it was the energy of youth. Maybe it was just a time of more passion in general, I don't know.

I know that even aside from football, it was a time I really didn't want to leave behind. When I got out of college, I don't think I ever wanted to leave. The best friends I ever had made were made in college, and for a number of years I think I thought I could go back to those times and have it all be the way it was before. Of course, all my friends had graduated too, and thus were gone. This was a very difficult reality.

There are times we want to go back in time to those special moments. As a football fan it's watching this amazing comeback against the number one defense in the nation in a quest for a sure National Championship, sitting with your nose inches from the television scared to death because your beloved coach has decided to go for two, to go for the win even when a tie would have gotten him the championship... sitting with your nose inches away from the television knowing Mike Rozier was going to pound it in for the win, and then sitting in stunned silence as Turner Gill's pass bounced off Irving Fryar's shoulder pads. To this day I remember the feeling, and even though my team lost, I often wish I could go back to the thrill of watching one of the most dramatic moments in sports.

Life has those moments. It can be a great success. Or knowing true love for the first time. I think we all have those times we want so badly to go back to.

But we can't. That's probably a good thing.... though sometimes it doesn't seem like it. It's a good thing because in reality, we actually can go back.

Okay, how's that for circular logic at its finest? What I mean is... as I wrote this, for a few moments I was back in my folks' living room being told to get out of the way so everyone else could see the play too... Somehow God has given us this amazing ability to relive those most amazing times in our lives. And savor them.

But what I mean about how it's good that we can't go back because we can go back (I know, you're still scratching your head over that) is just that life is better lived in forward mode. I think the reason we can relive those moments isn't just to relive them, but take them with us, to use them to live life to the best we can live it.

If we go back, we also have to go back to the stuff that wasn't so great but that we forgot all about because we romanticized those moments too much. If I go back to those days, yeah, the Huskers were incredible (not to mention my beloved Orioles were still a good baseball team) but I have to go back then to the consequences of poor studying and the utter futility that was my dating life of those days.

Come to think of it, maybe there was a connection there? Overly passionate about football and baseball teams... no dating life....

Nah!!!!!!

Anyway, I digress. The thing about going back is, the stuff that was there in those days that made us long for the days ahead would still be there. And even if it wasn't all that bad, there's so much ahead that I just don't want to miss. Because in the end, we don't end up moving forward. If we stay back there, then we rob ourselves of the chance to have more of those moments.

Because we can have them. Just because something was special in the past, doesn't mean it can't be as special or more so. Maybe we can take what was special, hang on to it, or let it spark us on to the kind of life we know we're meant for, to the point that what lies ahead is far more exciting than anything in the past that we cling to. And I guess I'd rather not go back in time so much as take what was special, hang on to that for dear life, and then try to figure out what can be done about life that can allow us to have that magic again and again.

So, Mike, Irving, Turner, and all the rest of you Huskers from those days, thanks for the magic and the thrill. Thanks Coach for daring to go for it all. But more than anything thank you for those times because of the way that that was a time that helped me focus on what was amazing about life, and I pray that it can be turned into something that can be amazing again.