It Takes a Big Man to Admit When He's Wrong...

...and right now you can consider me William Perry. It’s not often someone goes out and just admits it (Clemens, et. al.), but I was wrong. I liked Tampa to win, at home, New England “Hangover” curse I made up, Eli, Tiki, Ronde, everything. That was my double secure lock of the season. It just goes to show you, this is why I don’t gamble, it proves everything I’ve known for a while. Mainly, the undeniable fact that I, am an idiot. But those of you who know me, know that I am an idiot, and there has never been a doubt in their minds. With that said.

LSU will win tonight, consider it my triple secure lock of the Bowl season. From the guy who brought you TCU over Texas, comes LSU over Ohio State.

The Superdome is practically a light jog from home for LSU and their fans. These fans travel to an insane extent as it is, when it’s a stone’s throw from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, they will be there, and they will be loud. This is the closest thing to a Home National Championship game we have ever seen.

LSU beat some really good teams, Ohio State beat…Michigan. Ohio State’s defense is good, Laurenitis is really good, built in the Urlacher model of a quick LB who plays all over the place as long as the DLine keeps the OLine off of him. The rest of the Buckeyes D aint that bad either. But LSU has been dominant on both sides of the ball all season.

LSU is in the all powerful SEC, the Big Ten is looking at being demoted in favor of the WAC as far as the BCS conferences go. LSU will win this one hands down, have I ever been wrong?
More after the jump...

How Things Could Have Lined Up

What if Pat White wouldn’t have injured his thumb?
If White hadn’t injured his thumb in the 2nd quarter of the Backyard Brawl with Pitt would the Mountaineers offense have stumbled so profoundly. WVU lost by 7, wouldn’t the dual-threat Heisman Candidate White have scored at least those 7 points, if not more? With White still in the game and WVU possibly winning it leads us to another thought.

What if West Virginia won?
I think it’s pretty obvious, West Virginia, then number two would have moved up to number one after Mizzou’s loss to Oklahoma, and thus would be playing in the National Championship, most likely against (current) number one Ohio State. If that’s the case then LSU would not be in the National Championship led by Les Miles which again brings us to another point.

What if LSU was not in the National Championship?
There wouldn’t be as much pressure on Miles to make a decision. And reading into his original words in the pre-game , “Thank you very much, Have a Great day” speech before the SEC Championship, he said “I am the coach at LSU” not necessarily I will be the coach next year. LSU had made him an offer, but he had not signed it yet. Michigan, his dream job, had also made an offer. Had LSU lost that game I’m about 40 (stay)/60 (leave) on whether he would be in Purple and Gold or Maize and Blue next year. Even if they won that game they would not have been in the National Championship, does Les stay or go?

How does this affect West Virginia?
If Les traded in his purple tie for the block M, Rodriguez would still be at West Virginia. Would LSU have offered him to replace Miles? Probably not, he would, most likely, still be in Morgantown.

How bad is Rodriguez leaving for WVU?
Pretty bad, not many people saw Rodriguez leaving for Ann Arbor. He met with Michigan on Friday, he signed with them yesterday. This coming after Rodriguez said he wasn’t going to leave for Alabama last year and that his alma mater (WVU) was his place. This was a shock to many and there is no possible way that West Virginia was prepared for this. Now they are in full panic mode. They have to find a coach to fill in at WVU and most of the programs looking for coaches, have already picked a lot of the market. And if Rutgers coach Greg Schiano isn’t going to Michigan, why would he go to Morgantown. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few Mountaineer recruits who haven’t signed their Letters of Intent yet, dropping out soon. Especially if they were looking forward to playing in the WVU spread.

When all is said and done, you can’t trust a coach until he signs something, and the buyout clause that Miles has in his new LSU contract should start popping up in all contracts. Erickson isn’t destined to stay more than his typical 3-5 in Tempe, he’ll walk out, Saban can’t stay in one place too long as we’ve seen. Rodriguez actually was the most honest of all of these guys, but he’s just another in the line of coaches who leave after saying they won’t. What is the point in even signing contracts in this day and age in college sports. Other than the guys who are long termers (JoePa, Tressel, etc) these guys get fired before their contract is up or leave for somewhere else before their contract is up. It’s a sick fact in today’s game. I guess when it’s over Rodriguez will be in Ann Arbor, and if he needs someone to show him around, he can call former WVU/current Michigan basketball coach John Beilein.
More after the jump...

The BCS 60% of the time...

...it works every time.

That doesn't make any sense. And neither does the BCS. In NCAA football the now 9 year old cure for the common split title is the equivalent of Sex Panther. It reeks and needs to be stripped down, cleaned, and possibly burned. I'm not saying we need to institute a 64 team playoff or even 16 teams but something needs to change.

Let's look at the last (almost) decade of college football and the glory that the BCS has bestowed upon us, and I'm not just talking about the BCS title game:

1998/99 season: #3 Kansas State is passed over for a BCS game (11-1 regular season record) for #'s 4 and 8, Ohio State (10-1 regular season record) and Florida (9-2 regular season record).
The number 3 team in the land and they don't even go to a BCS game, I'm not even talking the Nat'l Championship here, but how does this work? Oh and C-USA champion, undefeated #7 Tulane did not go to a BCS bowl game either, and they beat 3 Big East teams (a BCS Conference), did I mention they were undefeated.

2000/01 season: FSU, Miami, and Washington all had a valid reason to expect to play undefeated Oklahoma in the Nat'l Championship game. They were all 1 loss teams and the kicker? FSU lost to Miami (#2 in both human polls) who lost to Washington (#7) who lost to 2 loss Oregon. How was FSU able to leapfrog the team that was ahead of them in the polls and that they had lost to? the BCS at its' finest.

2001/02 season: 1 loss Nebraska (#2 in BCS, #4 in both Human polls) selected to play in the Nat'l Championship despite not winning their division or conference championships. Meanwhile, 1 loss Oregon (#2 in both Human polls, #4 in BCS) beat Colorado by 22 points (the same Colorado who beat Nebraska by 36) and Nebraska fell to Miami 37-14.

2003/04 season: At season end there were 0 teams undefeated and 6 teams with 1 loss. Oklahoma, Louisiana State, and Southern Cal in the major conferences, and Miami (OH), Boise St., and TCU also stood with 1 loss. USC was #1 in the AP and Coaches Poll but had a "weak schedule" according to the computers, and though Oklahoma lost to KState in the Big XII Championship they were #1 in the BCS but #3 in the Human poll and LSU was #2 in both. LSU upset "#1" Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl earning the Nat'l Championship, BUT the Human polls still thought that USC should have been in that game (seeing as how they had SC ranked #1 before the game anyways) and in a lopsided vote gave USC the #1 ranking at the end of the season and LSU the #2 ranking giving us the first split championship in the BCS which had promised...No Split Championships. To further confuse things, in the Coaches poll, LSU did not get unanimous #1 votes, though the coaches are Contractually Obliged to do so. 3 votes went to USC to show that they thought USC was the best team in the country and the there were a few coaches who were not recognizing the BCS as a legitimate answer to the championship problem.

2004/05 season: 5 undefeated teams ended the regular season, #1 USC, #2 Oklahoma, #3 Auburn, #5 Utah, and a surprising #10 Boise State team. Auburn was undefeated in tough SEC play. Really, Boise State and Utah had less convincing regular seasons but were nonetheless without a loss and deserved a shot at the title as much as the 3 other undefeated teams. And with Bowl wins by Utah and Auburn USC, Auburn, and Utah all ended the 2004/05 season without a loss, but there was only one Nat'l Champion and only 2 teams that had a shot.

2006/07 season: Undefeated Boise State, 1 loss Louisville, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida all worthy choices to play undefeated #1 Ohio State in the BCS Championship game. Human polls had Florida higher than Michigan (perhaps because Michigan had lost in the Big 11 finale vs Ohio State), Computer polls had Michigan and Florida tied for #2 spot. After all was said and done Florida upset #1 Ohio State convincingly, and Boise State upset Oklahoma leaving a mess at the end of the season. Ohio State, Florida, Louisville and Wisconsin all had 1 loss, and lowly Boise State was undefeated, without even a chance to play Florida. Florida received all but one 1st place vote at the end of the season, with the one remaining vote going to Boise State. .

That's a lot of information. In Summation, there is something seriously wrong with the BCS and the "quality wins" and "strength of schedule" and everything else that goes into it. Hawai'i is undefeated right now and might not even get into a BCS game let alone having a chance at the Nat'l Championship. Meanwhile in the BCS rankings there are 4 1 loss teams in front of them 6 2 loss teams and a 3 loss Florida. #11 Boston College lost to unranked Maryland and Florida State, #10 Florida lost to Georgia, LSU, and Auburn in the way overrated SEC, #9 Oklahoma lost to unranked Colorado and unranked Texas Tech, USC lost to Oregon and unranked Stanford, LSU lost to Kentucky, barely beat an unranked Auburn, and lost to an unranked Arkansas (not to mention their coach doesn't even want to be there anymore), #6 VT lost to BC and LSU (who were both #2 at the time and both have 2 losses since then), #5 Kansas lost in their only tough game of the season thus far to Mizzou (beating teams with names like Central, South Eastern, International, and Toledo don't really count for too much, especially for a BCS division team), #4 Georgia's losses are to unranked S Carolina and Tennessee, #3 Ohio State dropped one at home to previously unranked Illinois, #2 W Virginia couldn't get past South Florida who since starting 6-0 is 3-3 with wins over Syracuse and Pittsburgh, and #1 Mizzou on the capable Heisman winning arm of Chase Daniel lost to an average Oklahoma team as discussed earlier. Now Hawai'i doesn't have a whole lot of quality wins but did beat a ranked Boise State team this past weekend. In fact their schedule looks awfully similar/similarly awful, compared to #5 Kansas. This season more than any other should prove that there needs to be a playoff.

One idea is 16 teams. Each of the 11 major conferences sends their champion with 5 other at large bids for the independents and high ranked other teams. There could be stipulations that if the minor conferences (C-USA, MAC, MWC, WAC, and Sun Belt) don't field a top 25 team, their playoff spot would be given to one of the other top teams instead. Based on the ranking playoff games would be set as one would expect 16 vs 1 and so one. It could even be scaled down to 14 teams or 12 teams and allow for byes and follow a typical bracket set-up. This way teams like Hawai'i or last years Boise State squad can prove that they deserve a shot or that the voters/computers are right in rating them where they are. Yes this, or something like it, has been suggested and the bowl tradition would be ruined and there would be less impact of a loss in the regular season, and universities would lose money. This just goes to show that there isn't a perfect solution here. I said earlier that a playoff is not necessarily the answer, and it's true but I can't think of a better one at this point. A playoff would make the BCS and other voting and ranking obsolete, who cares you can play these playoff games at neutral sites and call them bowl games, and can even award a trophy if you want. Something needs to change.

Am I saying Hawai'i is the best team in the land, no. Am I suggesting they deserve a chance to prove everyone wrong and that they very well might be the best team in the land, absolutely. So did Utah and Auburn a few years ago, and a USC vs LSU would have been nice to watch in '03.

A playoff would once and for all end all post season speculation, vote changes, and there would never be a split championship.

Wait, wasn't that what the BCS promised not too long ago?
More after the jump...

Random musings in between sales calls

...a few random thoughts:
Ohio State, do they really have a shot if they play LSU or even Oklahoma? Or are they going to make it in because of tough schedule (Illinois and Michigan still lying in wait) just to get trounced again and they start looking like the Buffalo Bills?

On a related thought, with the Tribe out again, in heartbeaking fashion, and if the Buckeyes go back and lose in the title game again, will that cause suicides throughout Columbus and other reaching parts of Ohio that mirror Heavens Gate? Will black Nike runner shoe sales skyrocket in Feb. after the game, and White PJs (too soon for a heaven's gate joke?)

Let's look at the last few weeks of college football, 5 of the top 10 lose, then 4 of the top 10 lose, then numbers 1 and 2 lose, it's like a cruel formula that's starting to add up, like the college football Gods were just finding a way to ruin college football pools across the country and in turn ruin gambling for a nation of young future gambling addicts.I can't get over it, 10...TEN...top 10 teams have lost to UNRANKED opponents this season, and 6...SIX...times it has been on their own field.

If you could pick one sports reporter/anchor/color guy/analyst etc to do the play by play of your life and capped off with highlights at the end of the night who would it be? I think Kenny Mayne would have to do my highlight real, as for the play by play does it get any better than Keith Jackson, just imagine, Schilders has something important to tell Domschke, she moves in WHOA NELLY she's pregnant, I did not see that coming. Or doing the play by play for one of our beirut games, Fighting through his own mistake of knocking a cup over we're in the 2nd overtime, this is a barnburner here tonight. I wouldn't mind them throwing it to John Clayton to debate my good and bad decisions along with any updated injuries, while just waiting to see if his head actually falls off one day, and then the eventual top 40 highlight show with Chris Rose and Spider Salley.

Is Brett Favre overrated, and I'm not just saying this as a Bears fan, yeah he's the all time touchdowns leader (it took him longer than Marino) but he's also the all time INT leader (and it took him less throws than Blanda), he's in his 78th season and he still throws passes like that one to Urlacher a couple weeks ago, he makes TERRIBLE decisions. And he really needs to retire, I think he's the Emmit Smith of QBs, good but not as great as everyone thinks. Just wait until he's in Arizona, mark my words they went after Montana 12 years ago before he went to KC, they have Warner, and we can't forget Emmit Smith. The Cardinals, really do have the greatest front office, they want the stars but can't afford them, until they're too washed up to play anywhere else then Bowtie Bill (Bidwell) opens the door to overpay them. It's amazing. I heard Howie Long just signed a three year deal in AZ to make a comeback.

Why are my teams always in contention for the overhyped, extremely overpaid players, ARod constantly in Cubs talk, Kobe again re-entering into possible Bulls Uni, Why break up Deng, Gordon, Tryus or whatever ridiculous combination it would take to make this deal, I'll eat crow if he comes and we win a title but didn't we all see how much of a team player he is and the Bulls are the quintessential team. And ARod is a little more understandable, we'd only be getting rid of a lot of money not players, but didn't we struggle enough in October as it is, why not go after a guy who gets better in October, the only benefit to this is seeing a Cub shatter Bonds' *h*o*m*e* r*u*n* r*e*c*o*r*d*

Every week we're getting closer to hearing "and with the 7th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft the Chicago Bears select Brian Brohm, in another QB failure to add to the list, or Darren McFadden, to continue with a longstanding tradition of Heisman winning or finalist running backs or quarter backs to have their career start and end in Chicago, Darren have you met Rashaan Salaam and Curtis Enis yet? Or Brian let me introduce you to Cade McNown and Rex Grossman. They sell programs across the street. I think they'll have an opening in 4 years.

Is it too much to ask to be this guy in 30 years http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3062376

Is this what it feels like to be Bill Simmons getting paid while just writing thoughts on sports and life? Of course I'm not getting paid by ESPN, my musings really aren't that insightful or funny, and no one else is reading it, but still, yeah not really that close, just wait till I do a running diary, that'll show em.

Is it March yet?
More after the jump...