Random Bowl Thoughts

First and foremost this bowl season has been a huge bust to this point. Only one game so far has been competitive start to finish and will wind up being one of the top five Bowl Games this year, and that was the PetroSun Independence Bowl between the other, other OSU and Bama. Last year was a classic bowl season headlined by the best series of BCS games ever and several good to great mid-level bowl games and a few intriguing match ups in the menial bowls. This year all of 4 games have been close at the half. 2 were close going into the 4th and 1 actually had a satisfying finish. However there is hope as the bulk of the good match ups are at hand in the coming week so there is that much to look forward to.

Best Game: Oklahoma State vs. Alabama no question on this one. It was a close fought back and forth. Sure it was fraught with turnovers and would not be considered more than marginally entertaining or good last year but this was an exciting game to watch and had it all. From a Tackle throwback to some perfectly designed plays on the part of OSU the best of which was the screen call on third down to take the ball into field goal territory with under two minutes to play.

Best Performance: Colt Brennan next question. Seriously though he was nothing short of fantastic in the game with the desert devils. 33 of 42, 559 yards 5TD’s 1INT. I don’t care what offense you run who you play. That is amazing and he has been doing it all year. Unless Jamarcus Russell, Troy Smith or Darren McFadden tear of astronomical games he is not moving from here.

Worst Game: Holiday Bowl. The first tilt between ranked teams in this bowl season was a dud. A dud on a massive scale even Ryan Leaf would call that a dud. The game was close and went back and forth. for a quarter. from that point all Cal asserted its advantage and in large doses. That advantage was speed and the boys from Strawberry Canyon pressed it to its fullest degree. Behind the masterful play calling and decision making from Tedford, that was for the most part completely absent in losses to Zona, USC and a close call with lowly Standford, the sturdy Golden Bears rolled in the 2nd half to turn this into a laugher. It seems that once Desmond Bishop and Co. figured out the option read attack of the Aggies it was all down hill for Fran.

Worst Performance: Oregon Ducks. Nothing went right for the quack attack. First the coaching staff decided that they did not know which QB fits best in their offense (Hint, it is the fast one, not the slow pocket passer). They compounded the problem by forgetting to give Jon Stewart the ball more than 10 times, 8 to be precise. To top it all off the Ducks decided to wear their shiny new Yellow and Green tinted domes for the first time ever. Something tells me that we will never see those helmets again on the Ducks. Something else tells me that at some point next year the Ducks will rock the all white uni’s, including helmet, at some point next year.

Bowl picks so far 8 for 12

A Playoff Is Not the Awnser

One thing that I have never understood, and more than likely never will, is the idea that a 8+ team tournament is the awnser to all of College Footballs problems. What compels people to think in this manor?

Make no mistake about it, I want the national title to be decided on the field just like everyone else. However, unlike everyone else I am not willing to give up, diminish or destroy any of the things that I hold dearest about the game. College Football is a game that I love with a passion that is bordering on unhealthy. The aspects of College Football that set it apart are the traditions and rivalries that would be greatly diminished if not outright destroyed in a 8 or 16 team playoff.

A playoff would also put to an end the bowl season. For me the Bowl Season is akin to getting to spend two weeks in Elysium every year. The bowls enable people to watch and learn about the people who will dominate the College Football world in the year to come. Vince Young’s stellar red shirt junior year was launched from a virtuoso performance in the Rose Bowl against Michigan. Steve Slaton and Pat White were names on the tongues of all of the network talking heads this year because of the performances that they had in the relocated Sugar Bowl. As for this year. Raise your hand right now if you have seen Colt Brennan play, ever. That’s right you haven’t gotten to see him play, but you will if you remember to turn on the TV to ESPN at 8 on Christmas Eve. How about Dwight Lowrey, have you seen him play? Doubt it, he is probably the best cover corner in the nation but you wouldn’t know that because you have never seen the Spartans of San Jose State be led onto the field by Dick Tomey. Players that you have heard in name only come front and center in bowl games for all to see. That is what makes the bowl system great. The ability to bring programs and teams that have been marginalized all season to the fore front of the sport, if only for a night is something that is worth preserving. something that is worth holding on to.

With the bowl system every year conference’s and teams are either validated or exposed as frauds. That sense of closure is something that can only be found during the bowl season. If there was a 8 team playoff this year. How would you conclude the two debates that have been raging for weeks. First is the Big 10 a watered down version of its usual self with two great teams at the top, and unknown in the middle and a slew of average teams below? The other question to be asked is weather or not the SEC is once again the best conference in the land? Those questions simply could not be answered in an 8 team playoff and it would all be subject to debate and opinion. Instead though we get to see the virtues of each conference laid out from top to bottom. Those two questions will be answered this year with three head to head games with the SEC and Big 10, and they couldn’t be answered in any other way.

A further aspect that is being overlooked by everyone is the effect that merely participating in a bowl game has on the mid level programs. If you instituted and 8 or 16 team playoffs some of the best stories of a year would never come to a head. They would never be brought to the attention of Joe Casual fan in middle America. You can mock the third tier bowls all you want. Call them a joke and a waste of time. Or you could just call them another money grab by the conference and university presidents. call them whatever you want and you would be right to some degree but you would be terribly wrong on another. You can blast away calling the New Orleans bowl a waste of space and a meaningless game played by two meaningless teams on a forgotten night, but you would be wrong. Rice is one of the better stories of the year that no one is talking about or even mentioning. In their first year under and new head coach they go to a bowl game. Couple that with the fact that this first year coach came in and changed the entire offense for these kids. They went from an old school flex bone option attack to a philosophy of spreading the field and airing it out with the same kids who just 12 months ago were passing the ball an average of 12 times a game. The players from Rice were brought in to run the offense of the previous coaches. Those players took the change of system in stride, played one of the toughest non conference schedules in the nation and made their way to a bowl game and you want to say that these lower level games don’t mean anything? I say you are nuts. This is merely one story that has been told this bowl season. what about the validation of the Mountain West as a conference? Or the lack of identity for the Oregon Ducks brought on by one of the worst coaching jobs of the year? These are three stories that have presented themselves so far this bowl season. Each will have a carry over effect to next season and people want to run their mouths about these games not mattering. Shut up. The games do matter to each and every one of those schools in the lower tier bowls, and their are plenty of good things that come out of the bowl season each and every year. Taken into context and looking at the scope of it all how can you say that the bowls are a bad thing at every level, from top to bottom?

A playoff would diminish the greatly diminish, if not destroy the importance of the regular season in College Football. This is the most important aspect of the game of College Football, the one that places it over and above every other sport in this country of ours. Unlike the professional leagues, the NBA, NFL, MLB, hell even the NHL, even though Hockey doesn’t really count. Unlike NCAA Basketball, Baseball and Soccer. The regular season of College Football is important. The games matter each and every week in college football. If you lose one game, your chances for playing for a national title are slim. you lose two regular season games and your chances are non existent. The old adage is that every week is a playoff in college football and it is the truth to the enth degree. Win and advance. Every single week matters weather you are playing the Men of Troy or the men from Troy State you have to be prepared and you have to bring it. In the other leagues and sports you can have a bad night or five and still be alive. not in Football, and that is what makes it better. College Football requires weekly focus of an unnatural level and the ability to get up for every single game no matter the opponent.

If you really want a playoff be prepared to see some of the greatest rivalries in sports be reduced to shells of themselves ask for a playoff. Think about it. Would this years Ohio State Michigan game be as important, or inspire the incredible hype if the game was not an elimination game? Would the public get as caught up in the moment as it did if everyone one knew that both teams would still go to the playoffs and still have a chance to compete for a national title? If you think it would you are delusional. It was a great game and was a joy to watch but it would lack a great deal of significance if there was a playoff waiting for both teams on the other side as opposed to a national title bid for one and a Rose Bowl bid for the other. The knowledge that there was no tomorrow for the loser of that game ramped the intensity up to another level. A level that is rarely reached in a regular season game of any sport. Like it or not the system that we have fed alot into some of the best games of the last decade. Think back to last year and the Notre Dame USC game. Or try on the 2001 Miami at Boston College game on for size. Some of the best moments in this sport have been created because everyone knows that to win a national title you have to stay unbeaten. You have to be perfect. Think back to the 1998 game between Sparty and Ohio State. That was an upset that resonates to this day because that one slip, that one game where the minds of the Buckeyes were lax. If a playoff was in place then the importance of that game would null in void because the Bucks would still have had the chance to compete for a national title. The only thing that would happen as a result of Sparty’s triumph is that OSU would not be considered as one of the best teams ever assembled. But because of the lack of a playoff Sparty pulled off an upset of historical proportions. Like it or not the BCS preserves the big rivalries and it preserves the integrity of the regular season. It preserves the history of the game. Contrary to what the majority of the public thinks a playoff would be a giant step backwards.

There is only one logical solution. Its called a plus one and it solves most of the problems. Take the top 4 from the BCS and match them up 1-4 and 2-3. To be in the top 4 there is only one simple rule. You have to win your conference to be able to win the national title. This is a simple rule and a logical one. why should a team be able to be national champions if they are not the winners of their own conference? If you want to argue the point with me go ahead but you will lose. this year the match ups would be OSU vs Louisville and USC vs Florida. winners advance and play for the national title. this is the best solution, even more so when you consider that in a given year no more than 4 teams deserve a shot at the title anyway. with a plus one you preserve the integrity of the regular season and you also decide it on the field. There is not another option. I am so smart it makes me sick.

1-3 on bowl selections.

Kerry Coombs to Cinci

For the uninitiated Kerry Coombs is the former head coach of the Colerain Cardinals, a nationaly recognized program which has consistantly been ranked among the best High School programs in the nation. Alongside Independance, De La Salle, Poly, Southlake Carroll and Hoover. The magnitude of this hire will not be truely appreciated by people outside of the Queen City. Make no mistake about it this is the most important addition to this staff that Brian Kelly could make. The key to success at UC is keeping the local talent local. For the most part this has not happened and for the most part the Football program at the University of Cincinnati as been average. The Cincinnati area is a powerhouse in terms of producing Division 1 players, you would be hard pressed to find an area comperable in size that produces as much as Cincinnati. This year there are no fewer than 40 athletes who have been offered a scholorship from at least one program. Not to mention Harmony Community School, a prep school that will send no fewer than 15 players to division 1 programs. There is no reason why UC should not be able to piggy back in on some of these kids and convince them to stay home. Coombs will be a big part of helping to keep these kids home. There are very few coaches who are as well respected as Coombs in the area. He might not be the most popular guy but he is well respected in area coaching circles. Couple that with the fact that no one that Kelly is bringing with him knows the area as well as Coombs. It is the logical choice and the biggest addition to the staff that Kelly will make before this season. There is also the rumor flying that Eugene Clifford will decommit from OSU and stay home for the Bearcats. But the most important aspect of this hire is the buzz about this program that continues to build.

For the record I am 1 for 1 with my bowl selections.

Ted Ginn Jr.

Chances are that win or lose Ginn is going to take his game to the next level. He is projected by alot of different sources as being a first round pick. How they come to that conclusion is beyond me. He is not the best WR in his own class by any margin, personally I rank Calvin Johnson, Dwayne Jarrett and Robert Mecham over him. Not to mention guys like Dwayne Bowe and Steve Smith, maybe even Jeff Semardzija over Ginn. All of those guys have done more on the field and have performed at a high level more consistently than Ginn Jr. I never drank the Ginn Cool-Aid, and frankly I am not sure why anyone would. Ginn does do very well and they are run fast and run fast. He lacks polish on the finer aspects of playing receiver. Things like getting off the jam at the line of scrimmage, reading zone coverages, route running, and catching the Football consistently. There is also that little issue of Ginn fearing contact. Ginn will stick in the NFL but I don’t think that he will ever be a star. At OSU Ginn induced fear in every defensive coordinator because of his speed. Ginn will not cause anyone to stay up late at night in the NFL. He has lived off of the fear and hype that was generated because of his stellar freshman year. Johnson and Jarrett have both made tremendous strides in every phase of the position while Ginn just continues to run faster than every one. He can’t do that in the NFL, not consistently.

Bowl Selections

My picks are bold

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Northern Illinois vs Texas Christian

Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl
Oregon vs Brigham Young

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Troy vs Rice

PapaJohns.com Bowl
East Carolina vs South Florida

New Mexico Bowl
San Jose State vs New Mexico

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Tulsa vs Utah

Hawaii Bowl
Arizona State vs Hawaii

Motor City Bowl
Central Michigan vs Middle Tennessee State

Emerald Bowl
University of California Los Angeles vs Florida State

PetroSun Independance Bowl
Alabama vs Oklahoma State

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Texas A&M vs University of California Berkely

Texas Bowl
Kansas State vs Rutgers

Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Kentucky vs Clemson

Brut Sun Bowl
Missouri vs Oregon State

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Houston vs South Carolina

Insight Bowl
Minnesota vs Texas Tech

Champs Sports Bowl
Maryland vs Purdue

Meinike Car Care Bowl
Navy vs Boston College

Alamo Bowl
Iowa vs Texas

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Goergia vs Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

MPC Computers Bowl
Nevada vs Miami

Outback Bowl
Penn State vs Tennessee

AT&T Cotton Bowl
Nebraska vs Auburn

Toyota Gator Bowl
Georgia Institute of Technology vs West Virginia

Capital One Bowl
Arkansas vs Wisconsin

Rose Bowl
Southern California vs Michigan

Tosteitos Fiesta Bowl
Boise State vs Oklahoma

Fed-Ex Orange Bowl
Wake Forest vs Louisville

Allstate Sugar Bowl
Louisiana State vs Notre Dame

International Bowl
Western Michigan vs Cincinnati

GMAC Bowl
Ohio vs. Southern Miss

Tostitos BCS Championship Game
Ohio State vs Florida