Much Better

Now that's the way games against over matched opponents are supposed to go: Offensive excellence early and often, defense getting enough stops and turnovers to keep the game out of reach, and lots of young players getting their first substantial action on both sides of the ball. In the long run this game probably means about as much as last week's game -- its a win, read more into the game at your own peril -- but it is certainly funner to discuss and to relive, so here goes:
-The media seems to be overplaying the Denard injury just a little bit. It seemed fairly clear that he was alright, based on the way he was jumping around on the sideline. I still don't get the idea that he would be any more prone to injury as a QB running the ball than a running back carrying the ball.
-Yes, patsy opponent and all, but Tate Forcier looked good. The ovation he got when he took the field was heartwarming, and his comments after the game were encouraging. I know I was ready to write him off after his comments in the immediate aftermath of the UConn win, but his subsequent walk back of those comments and behavior since then show that maybe, just maybe, he's grown up a little bit through this whole ordeal.
-Gardner also looked good, but I think if Denard were to go down for any period of time, we'd be better off with Tate at the helm, even though he doesn't bring Devin's overall athleticism. I think Tate just brings some better reads and more accuracy. Either way, we have some of the better QB backups in the country.
-I liked the new punt formation, with three returners back, Odoms, Gallon, and Dileo, to combat the rugby style roll punts from the spread formation that a lot of teams are running these days. The extra returners allowed us to return a few punts that previously had ended up bouncing 20 yards, or had turned into turnovers when Gallon tried to dive after the ball.
-Not a bad first career carry by Fitz Toussaint, huh? I'd worry more about him being caught from behind if he weren't wearing a knee brace.
-I thought the freshman Ray Vinopal showed a good nose for the ball on his late interception. Now if we could just put a few pounds on him so he doesn't cough the ball up after his interception.

Thoughts from other games:
-I wonder if Alabama's come from behind win in Arkansas was just the first of many such games for the defending champs this year. With the way their schedule is set up, with many teams getting bye weeks before they play them, they're gonna get everyone's best shot, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall behind against Florida, LSU, South Carolina, or Auburn. But they just seem to have that Rasputin like quality that they're never dead even after you think you've killed them.
-What the heck has happened to Georgia? Losing to Miss. State? I don't know anything about the situation on the ground in Athens, but from the outside it doesn't look good for Mark Richt -- losing record this year, losing ground in the rivalry with Florida, a new AD, and a gaggle of legal troubles for this players. His only saving grace might be that Tennessee might be worse, and the luster is coming off Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech a little bit.
-Speaking of the Vols, you gotta feel a little for UAB, miss five field goals in regulation and lose in 2OT to Tennessee. Ouch!
-I couldn't help but think in the wake of UCLA's somewhat shocking demolition of Texas that it was the Bruin's 66-3 win in Austin that effectively ended the last Longhorn coach's tenure. I don't think Mack Brown is going anywhere anytime soon, but maybe they shouldn't invite UCLA to town anymore.
-I watched a little bit of the Temple / PSU game. It's kinda a shame that the Big East kicked Temple out, since I think that if Al Golden stays there, they will outgrow the MAC real fast. If they are seriously considering adding Villanova, they should first bring Temple back. Of course, Golden's a Penn State alum, so he might be on their short list if/when Paterno finally hangs them up / kicks the bucket (whichever comes first).
-Odd Stat of the week: Every touchdown scored in Florida's 41-14 win over Kentucky was scored by #8 -- Florida's Trey Burton (who scored six touchdowns), Jeremy Brown (INT returned for a TD), and Kentucky's Chris Matthews (Two TD receptions) all wear number 8. I wonder what the odds are on three different players with the same number all scoring in the same game, let alone scoring nine touchdowns.
-Some more Golden rankings stuff later this week -- conference rankings and a look at a new rankings feature this year, looking at average points scored and allowed vs. the opponents averages.

Week one of the I-A playoffs

That's what this past weekend of major college football felt like, the opening round of a national playoff. It produced one of the best weekends of college football in recent memory. Oregon and Oregon State played a barn burner on Thursday night where the key plays down the stretch were not long pass plays or lightning quick touchdown runs, but an old fashioned, grind it out, eat up the clock 7 plus minute drive by Oregon that featured a couple of fourth down plays and stiff-arm to end all stiff-arms by Oregon's tank of QB. Friday's Mac championship was slightly less entertaining, but still worth a look-see. Saturday's early game was a "leave-the-defense-at-home" shootout between the ground game of Pitt and the spread attack of Cinncy. After a dud of an SEC championship game, the weekend finished off with a trio of interesting games - Georgia Tech / Clemson in a back and forth ACC championship game, UConn / South Florida in the snow (the way football was meant to be played), and the Pièce de résistance, a near all time upset in the Big 12 championship game which featured a bone-headed play that almost cost Texas a Big 12 title and a chance at the national championship. It was a treat to watch, and they were all games that would have been more meaningful if we had a full 16-team playoff, instead of the abomination we have now. Even the MAC championship game would have had a large TV audience if the winner go an autobid to go play at Alabama or at Texas in the first round of the really, really, Big Dance.

Bullets:
-What the heck was Colt McCoy doing? I'm only a marginal Texas fan, and I was freaking out and yelling at the TV. I can't imagine what it must have been like for Longhorn, Cornhusker, Horned Frog, or Bearcat fans watching it live. I also don't understand why Mack Brown didn't call timeout once the clock went past :10 and the ball had still not been snapped. I understand wanting to take one shot at the end zone, but call your TO before the play, set it up, and then run the FG unit out after the incomplete pass. Like in the Les Miles fiasco against Ole Miss, i don't understand how coaches who make millions of dollars, can't find one cheap grad assistant willing to work for peanuts whose sole job is to watch the clock and tell the coach when a timeout is needed.
-I wonder if Jesus ever had as bad a day against the Romans as Tebow did against the Tide.
-Boise State has finished three of the last four regular seasons undefeated and has not gotten a single first place or second place vote in the coaches' poll or Harris poll. Great system we got here.
-I was disappointed to see that the Richmond / Appalachian State game, a match up between the champions of FCS the last four years that was won in the last 30 seconds didn't even warrant a minute of highlights on Sportscenter. I understand why the game didn't get televised except through ESPNU, but come on, throw us a bone.
-There were a couple of interesting comments at halftimes from coaches who run offenses similar to Rich Rod's. Oregon and Cincinnati both run spread offenses that stretch the field vertically and horizontally and incorporate zone read options, bubble screens and the like. I think that if, or when, the offense gets going here, it will look very similar to both the Ducks and the Bearcats - quick strike, fast paced, not much concern for time of possession. Both teams trailed at halftime of their respective games after their opponents had put together long, grind-it-out drives. When asked by the sideline reporter what was wrong with their defense, Chip Kelly responded, "Our offense" In other words, if we execute better on offense, defense won't matter. When asked nearly the identical question, Cinncy's Brian Kelly responded, "We are who we are." In other words, we'll have to try and outscore them.
-The Big Ten bowl match ups almost make me glad we are staying home for the holidays. Texas Tech might throw for 1000 yards on our defense, and Miami would play action us to death. Don't even want to think how bad our linebackers would look trying to stop Georgia Tech's triple option attack. Perhaps that's just another indication of how bad we are - when you look at all the bowl teams, and none of them look beatable, maybe you're not ready to go bowling.
-The Boise State / TCU Fiesta bowl is horrible. Not bad as in it won't be a good game, but bad as in neither team gets a chance to prove themselves against a big boy. It's a perpetuation of the "nobody will play you" / "Who have they beaten" cycle that all mid-majors go through in both football and basketball.
-Anybody have a clue what's going to happen with the Heisman? My ballot has McCoy, Suh, Ingram, CJ Spiller, and Toby Gerhardt, but I'll be darned if I can figure out the order.
-In news you may have missed, both Hofstra and Northeastern dropped their football programs this week. While that might not seem like a big deal, it might change the balance of power in the FCS subdivision. Both were members of the Colonial Athletic Association, which had four teams in the elite eight, and has two remaining teams in the FCS Final Four. The disappearance of two of the bottom teams in that league might force some of the stronger teams to look for scheduling opportunities in the FBS division. League champ Villanova beat Temple, Richmond beat Duke, and the league was responsible for four of the five wins by FCS teams over FBS teams this year.
-Golden Rankings, and the 16 team bracket coming tomorrow evening.

Thanksgiving weekend games

-If I had a Heisman vote, it would go to Colt McCoy after his performance against A&M. Although some of that sentiment is based on his whole career. I can see the arguments for Gerhardt from Stanford, Spiller from Clemson, and of course, Tebow. I wasn't that impressed by Ingram.
-Speaking of Tebow, I'll be more than happy to see him go. He's clearly a great player and as an impartial observer in most Florida games, he is exciting to watch. But the cult of personality that has grown around him is quite sickening, frankly, especially where religion is concerned. I've always believed that religion and sports shouldn't be mixed. God didn't help either team win, and players who believe that are either fools, or think we are foolish. The fact that Tebow goes on missions, or puts a bible quote on his eye black doesn't make him a better football player, or even a better person, it just makes him a more devout christian. Would he be any less of a football player if he knelt down, pointing towards Mecca and prayed to Allah four times a day? i wish him all the luck in the NFL (or CFL), but I'll be happy if I can watch a Florida game with out some announcer going on about St. Tebow the saviour of Gainsville.
-Nice bounce back win for LSU. Good to see that Miles will keep his job for another year Their loss at Mississippi was quite embarrassing, and it's good that it won't really impact their season too much. Golden had a pretty good breakdown of all the game management mistakes in that game. I just don't understand how coaches (and it's not just Miles) who make millions of dollars can't completely master something that a majority of the fans can figure out. Shouldn't you assign some graduate assistant to watch time and tell the head coach when it's time to call a time out?
-Sad to see Chuckles out at ND. He was always good for a laugh, and there was a certain comfort in knowing that no matter how well he recruited the likely hood of them being a really good team was slim.
-I don't have much sympathy for Bobby Bowden. I know people think he should have been allowed to pick his own exit, instead of being forced out. But Bowden created a culture at FSU that the only thing that mattered was winning football games. Nothing else, academic scandal, criminal charges, or loyalty to the university matters as much as winning. The fact that mercenary attitude came back to bit Dagummit in the ass shouldn't surprise anyone.
-If the reports of 10-15 MSU players being involved in the post football bust beat down of frat boys turn out to be true, Dantonio should turn down the bowl bid. When nearly 20% of your team decides to don ski masks and start a brawl moments after gathering with coaches, families and supporters of the team to celebrate the team's accomplishments, that's a sign of an overall problem with the program. Because if 15 team members went to the brawl, you know that there were many more that knew about it and didn't do enough to stop it. The fact that it happened right after the banquet show that these players have little respect for the coaches. The whole incident is a giant "fuck you" to Dantonio and his coaching staff. -- "Thanks for the great season coach, now we are going to go do something that will embarrass you and the program and goes against everything you've been trying to teach us this past year" Of course, one could argue that Dantonio's reinstating Geln Winston to the team fresh out of jail because he was worried about his depth at RB sent the message that winning on the field was the only thing that mattered. If Dantonio wants to change that message, he should cancel the bowl trip. His alma mater and Clemson did that a number of years ago after a particularly ugly post-game brawl.

Can't Win Them All

For 55 minutes on Saturday, it looked we had gone back to last year: receivers dropping balls, lineman and running blocks missing blocks, defense giving up big plays on third down, players looking like they didn't know their assignments, and the team generally sleepwalking through a game.
And then Tate Forcier reminded us why it isn't last year. The coaches basically gave up trying to run the ball, MSU abandoned what had been working on offense, and Forcier led not one by two long drives down the field in a driving rain without using so much as a timeout to tie the game. A scramble one way, a scramble another way, a pass to a receiver just past the first down line, a bullet on a slant catching safeties flat-footed. All of this while quite visibly in pain, wincing with every hit and every glancing blow. It was quite a sight to behold, and you could almost here spartans across the state cursing to themselves, "Oh No, we can't lose like this again"
But for once, the bounces didn't go our way in overtime, and we lost for the second time in a row in this rivalry for the first time in our lifetime. Forcier tried to make one pass too many, Troy Woolfolk missed one last tackle, and Larry Caper scampered into the end zone bringing joy to most of Spartan Stadium.
This loss hurts because this was probably our most winnable road game, with the probable exception of Illinois. And State was trying real hard for a while to give us this game: personal foul penalties (although the last one they got was a bad call), bad turnovers, trying to much to run the ball when they could've just passed us into oblivion, etc. And we just couldn't, or wouldn't take it.
But in the big picture, this is not a horrible loss. An overtime loss on the road in a rivalry game, while painful, is not something that will torpedo the season. Despite the good start, anyone who told you they expected us to win the Big Ten this year is either lying, or 12 years old. This is probably a 7-5, maybe 8-4 team. Not sure this loss changes that.

Bullets:
-For the second straight year I think Dantonio out coached Rich Rod. I thought they looked like they made a decision to kick away from Stonum on kickoffs, and they ran a little toss sweep off the three receiver set that was quite effective. Obviously the fake punt call, whether it was the coaches' call or Mesko's read was horrible. And I would have liked to have seen Robinson in earlier, but as a slot or a RB, in with Forcier. There were rumors this week they were working on 2 QB sets in practice, but we didn't see any of that.
-One thing that Dantonio did screw up, IMO, is putting Keith Nichols in. Perhaps Cousins was hurt, but if he wasn't, there was no good reason to bring Nichols in. Unlike Robinson for us, Nichols doesn't really provide any new look that Cousins doesn't.
-The receivers really did not help Forcier much at all during the game. Koger dropped a couple, as did Kelvin Grady.
-We miss David Molk something fierce. Hope he's back for Penn State.
-Considering the day didn't appear to have many great match ups when it started, there were some great finishes. our course our game went to overtime, Notre Dame beat Washington in OT, and LSU and Georgia played a classic where they scored 13 points in the first 57 minutes of the game, and 20 in the last three. LSU has enough talent to make that Florida game interesting, if they can find a way to be more consistent on offense. You can bet that Tebow will take more than a coupld of hits. I wouldn't try and run him too much, I wouldn't want to give one of those LSU safeties a chance for a kill shot on the Savior.
-In that game there were a pair of celebration penalties that were just ridiculous. It seems like every five years or so, the NCAA decides to try and legislate out the emotion of the game, and we get these stupid calls deciding games.

Depth Charges

More than anything else, games like yesterday's game against Eastern are about depth - developing depth by giving backups and second and third stringers a chance to play, and using depth to avoid the inevitable letdown that comes when you play a team you're expected to beat handily.

It's clear that we have developed the depth we need to be a championship team in some areas, but are still sorely lacking in others. We have as much talent at the offensive skill positions (QB, RB, WR, TE) as anyone in the league. The depth certainly helped yesterday. Tate Forcier had his worst game of the year. He missed a number of passes. Not Threet or Sheridan missed, but turn a 20 yard gain into a 5 yard gain type misses. A number of times he passed up a sure couple of yards trying to make a big play. It seemed pretty clear that he had read some of his press clippings this week and wanted to show that he was the newest superstar. As a result, our passing game was not nearly as efficient yesterday as it was the previous two weeks. In it's place was a devastating rushing attack. From the first snap, it was clear that Carlos Brown was going to have a great game. Eastern had no answer for his speed. Michael Shaw looked almost as good.

On the other hand, it's equally clear that we are nowhere near a championship level defense, and we are amazing thin there. With the Big Ten suspending Jonas Mouton just a day before the game, we were left starting a walk-on, Kevin Leach at linebacker. What's worse, he appeared to be the better of our two inside linebackers. Obi Ezah just seems lost out there at times -- tentative, slow, and consistently out of position. EMU basically had success with two plays, a sort of counter that sucked the linebackers into the line, before the RB bounced the play around the end, and a play action waggled that got the linebacker open crossing in front of the moving QB. Both plays really took advantage of the decision making of our linebackers. Given that poor play, I was disappointed to not see more of the backups once we got up big late in the second half. If backups like Kenny Demens, Brandon Smith, and JB Fitzgerald can't get playing time against Eastern, the chance of them helping later in the year is slim to none.

Bullets:
-Eastern may have provided the game plan to beat us this year -- run, run, run, play action to the TE. Keep our D on the field.
-Denard clearly has a long way to go at QB. He made a couple of bad reads that led to our two turnovers. But he has good arm, decent mechanics, and of course could turn off the light and be in bed before it gets dark. The bar is not very high for his passing competency. He only needs to be adequate at passing to make him a quarterback capable of moving the ball against good defenses.
-I was hoping to see more of the OL backups - Omaneh, Barnum, Khoury, Mealer.
-I hope Andy Schmitt is ok. He's a good QB, and Eastern really has no chance of having any sort of season without him. I was watching him with the binoculars when he went down, it looked bad. He planted and his knee buckled.
-There were a couple of spreads this week that looked like fool's gold. Unfortunately this fool only recognized one of the three before the games were played. What's the old saying, "It's not the Xs and Os, it's the Jimmies and the Joes." In college football, most times, talent wins. That's why OSU wins 10 or 11 games every year with the world's dullest offense. There were three games where the talent gap between the two teams seemed to be at odds with the spread:
1) BYU was favored by a touchdown over Florida State. While everyone focused on BYU's win over Oklahoma and how they executed, the truth is, even as much as the 'Noles have slipped in recent years, they still have a lot more talent than BYU
2) Oklahoma was only favored over Tulsa by 18. Everyone wondered if OU could recover from the loss of Sam Bradford. But remember that a program as good as OU always has talent waiting in the wings. Given a couple of weeks, It should have been obvious that Landry Jones (the backup QB) would be just fine.
3) Florida was favored by 30 over Tennessee. With all the hype about Kiffin's comments and conjecture about how much Florida would run up the score, we lost sight of the fact that Tennessee's problem in recent years hasn't been their defense, and that they still have a fair amount of talent, with a very good defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin.
-Watching the Texas - Tex Tech game, it appeared to me that the new enclosed end of the stadium, which was only partially completed when we went there, makes a big difference in the noise level of the stadium. Perhaps I should attend another game there.
-I think that the end might be near for the USC "dynasty" They really looked quite mediocre against the Huskies and I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to Cal, UCLA, or even, gasp, Notre Dame. I think Carroll should really think about opening up the offense a little, there appears to be little imagination in what they do.
-Is it just me, or did it seem like Tennessee wasn't really trying to win the game against Florida, so much as just keep the score down.
-I didn't really see much of the MSU/ND game, but it looked very similar to our game against ND a week earlier, except that the absence of Michael Floyd hurt the Irish in the stretch run. I was kinda surprised how much the announcers were commenting on every penalty the Irish got. I think that they've bought into what Weis was trying to convey last week - they only lost to us because of the officials.
-The Arkansas / Georgia game was absolutely bonkers. Ryan Mallet is going to make opposing defensive coaches in the SEC sweat for three years. Of course the Razorbacks don't have enough other talent to win a title, but their games will be fun to watch.
-Ditto for the Fresno / Boise game on Friday night. Boise may have a great rushing attack and some good skill players, but they will get carved up when they play a BCS conference team on New Year's if they don't improve their rush defense. A lot. And why did Fresno keep kicking the ball deep, after giving up two kickoff returns for TDs (one that counted) and two other 60 plus yard returns? Pat Hill is vastly overrated as a coach. Did you realized that he has never won a conference title?

Still basking in the afterglow

-I find it highly ironic that one of the biggest days of the year for college football, that as I watched Sportscenter last night I kept wishing they'd finish with their college football talk so that get to the college basketball news. I'm kicking myself a little bit for not buying tickets to the game earlier this week when I found some online, but am hopeful there will other big games this year. I wonder how much tickets to the Big Ten tournament are.
-I also find it ironic that the same school year that saw an end to our great bowl streak, may also see an end to our awful non-big dance streak of ten years.
-Like most of the country, I get the feeling that Florida and Oklahoma are the best teams in the country, and despite OU's recent big bowl history, I get the feeling that their game could be a classic on the lines of UT / USC a few years back. That being said, I can't help but feel bad for the Texas fans. I don't know how much more you could expect from your team than they got from theirs this year, yet they still have to watch their arch-rival and a team that lost to a mediocre Ole Miss at home play for the national championship.
-If the Sugar Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl were smart, they'd let Texas go the Sugar to play Alabama, and invite Utah and Boise State to the Fiesta to play a sort of mid-major national championship game. That way, along with the championship game and the USC/PSU Rose Bowl you'd have all 8 teams that have a reasonable claim to a national title shot playing each other.
-I love what UCLA and USC did with both wearing their home jerseys. In the big scheme of things one timeout at the start of a game doesn't really affect much, and the nod to tradition was very cool. I wouldn't mind seeing us do this against OSU one year.
-I don't get the Lane Kiffin hire for Tennessee. It just strikes me as far less inspired a choice than someone like Brian Kelly, and has Callahan to Nebraska written all over it.
-Just when you thought that Washington couldn't get any worse, Cal's running back Jahvid Best runs for 311 yards on only 19 carries! I still find it hard to believe that Washington could be that bad. I mean outside of USC (and maybe UCLA), the Huskies have the most football tradition in the Pac Ten, and somehow, in a little less than a decade (they were in the national title discussion in 2000) they've become possibly the worst program in FBS.

-Final regular season rankings will be up soon, as well as a look at what a playoff would look like if I ran the circus. The season's first basketball rankings coming tomorrow.

June 19, 2008 Note: This is a post that originally appeared on Golden's Football Rankings and is reproduced here for posterity

Greetings to my regular readers out there (all three of you), sorry about the absence of comments in the last week or so. Family took a short vacation on the west coast of Michigan in a pleasant little town of South Haven. Despite the lack of snow (what global warming?), it was a very relaxing little getaway.
-Of course one of the drawbacks of this trip was the lack of consistent internet access, and an inability to keep up with all of the various comments on all the games and goings-on in college football. As it turns out this isolation turned out to be a blessing in disguise given the results of the Rose Bowl.
-You would think as a lifelong Michigan fan, I would be used to Rose Bowl losses by now. In my lifetime Michigan has won four Rose Bowls, two of which I attended, and has lost eleven. But each loss is different and brings renewed pain. This loss was frustrating because it seemed like we added nothing to the offensive or defensive packages for this game. We made no halftime adjustments. No screens, no draws, no misdirection, nothing to account for USC’s constant blitzing that was destroying our offensive flow. I didn’t think our defense played with much intensity, especially after USC got up a TD. They showed little or none of the fire they had in the first 11 games of the year. I don’t think this was an unstoppable USC offense, or an immovable defense. We simply got out-coached.
-That being said, you won’t ever find me calling for Lloyd Carr to be fired. Carr is a man of integrity and is a great representative of the university. He’s pretty mediocre as an X-O guy, but he is a great recruiter, a good teacher, and a good role model for our student athletes. I think when Carr finally steps down, the chance that we get a coach who is better than Carr are not that great, maybe 5-10%. The chance that we get a coach who is measurably worse than Carr is greater than 50%. I take issue with what Herbstreit and Mush-burger were saying during the Rose Bowl broadcast about “the Michigan bloggers” being hard on Carr. I would not consider myself a full-fledged blogger, but most, if not all the Michigan blogs I read would not call for Carr’s ouster. There was quite a bit of mainstream media claiming that Lloyd Carr was under fire, when in fact that was never the case. The only ones talking about Carr getting heat were the national media. Now them seem to have figured out that the powers that be at Michigan will allow Carr to choose his departure time, they have decided to blame “bloggers” for what was really their fabrication. Check out this post at MGoBlog for a better explanation of this (down lower, below the college hockey stuff).
-My New Year’s Day was saved somewhat by the remarkable Fiesta Bowl win by Boise State. What a fantastic game! That game demonstrates the need for a playoff that includes all of the league champions, not just the BCS teams. Plus one, four team, eight team, all of those formats would have left the Broncos out in the cold. They could be the best team in the country for all we know.
-As I am writing this, The Florida Gators are putting the finishing touches on a shocking dismantling of the OSU *uckeyes. What amazed me the most is how unprepared the Buckeyes looked on defense. I understand why they struggled on offense once they lost Ted Ginn and fell way behind. But I would have thought that they would have practiced for Florida’s short passing game, and would have run more nickel and dime coverages to get faster DBs in the game instead of slower LBs. I also thought they would have blitzed more. I know the Florida’s offense throws a lot of different looks at you, but Jim Tressel is generally the best in the country at preparing his team to play. Or at least he was prior to this year. There’s a reason why he won three national championships at Youngstown State and was 4-1 in bowls. But Urban Meyer just totally out-coached him.
-Meyer has to be considered to be the top coach in the country right now. Two years at BGSU to turn 2-9 to 9-2. Two years at Utah to go 13-0 with a BCS win. Two years at Florida to win a national title. If he can recruit and doesn’t get wanderlust, he could create a real dynasty at Florida.
-Of course Florida is now the answer to the ultimate trivia question: The only school to win College Football and College Basketball titles in the same calendar year. Considering only five other schools have won both titles all time (UCLA, Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan State and Michigan), that’s not likely to be duplicated anytime soon.
-Speaking of wanderlust, Nick Saban leaves the Dolphins to return to college ball. He swears this time he’s going to stick around for a while. No way is he in Tuscaloosa when the contract runs out. This guy makes Larry Brown look like a homebody. I understand why folks down Baton Rouge might have a slightly higher opinion of him, but I don’t see how he is worth $4 million a year, or whatever it is he got. I don’t think he’s one of the five best coaches in the country, I’m not even sure if he’s one of the ten best.
-Since Florida has locked up #1, the question turns to, who is #2? I think good arguments could be made for three teams: USC, LSU, and Boise State. The case for Boise is about giving the little guy a fair shake. They probably would get beat by the other two, but they did win every game they played, and no other team can say that. Heck you could argue that they should be #1 for the same reason. I think USC had the best quality wins, with four wins over teams with 10 or more wins, but they also lost to worse teams than LSU. I think that USC did better than LSU against two common opponents, Arkansas and Notre Dame (margin of victory 56 points vs 33 points). But I think Jamarcus Russell would be the best player on the field in a fictional matchup between the two teams.
-I wanted to comment about a recruiting matter. Joseph Barksdale, one of the top DT prospects in the country from Detroit Cass Tech committed to LSU at the Army All-Star game. Barksdale has been all over the map with his comments and leanings the last 10 months or so. At one time or another he listed Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan State as his leader. In the end, UM, ND, and MSU all backed away from him. I don’t know if he ever mentioned LSU as one of his favorites. I don’t know if all this means anything or not, but it is the type of behavior which makes you wonder exactly what is going on.
-Loved the Dallas/Seattle ending. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer team or a nicer coach.
-I was kinda surprised by the Glen Mason firing. I understand the frustration at that loss, but Mason really has brought that program up from the depths. That being said, Minnesota is an athletic program that really has more tradition than people realize. For the first 60 years of the 20th century, they were on of the top programs in the country in just about every sport. They have a good baseball program, and perhaps the number one hockey program. They may seem like a mid-level Big Ten program to most, but I can see how those inside the program might expect more. I think they’re wrong, but what do I know.
-I included my updated college basketball rankings. Now that the college football season is done, I will try and do a full basketball comments.

Aftermath

June 19, 2008 Note: This is a post that originally appeared on Golden's Football Rankings and is reporduced here for posterity.

Surprise, Surprise, The votes are in, and once again the BcS has controversy with a deserving team left on the outside looking in. Due to some campaigning by Urban Meyer and some excessive whining from Gary Danielson, the Gators are in, Michigan is out.
I guess I wouldn’t have been as disappointed in this outcome if Michigan had dropped to #4 immediately after the loss at Ohio State. If the voters truly believed that Florida was better than Michigan, that would be ok. But that’s not why they voted the way that they did. This was not a vote for Florida, it was a vote against a second Michigan / Ohio State game. Some of the voters even admitted that they thought Michigan was the better team, but they still voted for Florida. So unlike 2001 or 2003, when Big 12 teams who suffered more decisive losses in their final regular season game got championship game bids, the voters voted to engineer a particular match up, rather than voting for the two best teams. Instead of making the regular season more meaningful, the BCS has made the regular season meaningless.
So how do we fix this for the future? Eliminate the top and bottom five votes for each team in each poll. Create a BCS committee similar to the basketball committee that will be above the silly politics of the coaches and Harris polls. Of course the most obvious solution is the one that 80-90% of all fans, many coaches and players would like to see – a playoff.
But there are strong reasons why a playoff is unlikely to happen, the first of which is Money. The bowls are a huge windfall for the power conferences. The Big Ten has seven teams going to bowl games. The SEC has nine teams playing in bowl games this year and will take in over $45 million dollars from those bowl games. It would take an astronomical payoff from any potential playoff to replace the nearly $4 million per school each SEC team receives. Additionally, the bowls create a large amount of revenue for southern and western cities. Any university president who came out publicly in favor of a playoff would have to deal with pressure from local tourism boards and business owners to ensure their yearly cash cow doesn’t disappear.
Perhaps the strongest roadblock to a playoff is the power conferences themselves. The bowl system helps to maintain the current balance of power in college football. The BCS conferences got 44 of the 64 bids and a lion’s share of the prize money. It would have been more if not for a new NCAA rule, which forbid power conference 6-6 teams getting at large, bids over 7-5 or 8-4 teams. For the first time this year both the MAC and Sun Belt got at large bids to bowl games. With more money, and the extra practice time that is permitted with a bowl game, the power conferences have a stranglehold on success in college football. There are no Gonzagas or George Masons in football.
Furthermore, the current system helps the southern power structure of the game. Most of the bowl games are played in the south; most of the bowl games are won by teams that are closer to the bowl. How successful would the ACC be in basketball if all NCAA tournament games were held in Chicago of Kansas City? The reason the BCS was created by an SEC commissioner and is still run by a former SEC commissioner is that the SEC has more to gain with the continuation of the current system that just about any other conference. 17 of the last 28 national champions came from the south. In contrast, in I-AA, the last 28 years of playoffs, where teams play on campus, have resulted in 14 southern championships, and 14 northern championships. A playoff system would level the playing field and would take away the built in advantage that SEC, ACC and to a lesser extent, PAC 10 teams currently hold.So if you are waiting for a playoff, don’t hold your breath. If you really want a playoff, root for more situations like 2004, where an SEC team is left on the outside looking in.

Reasons why Michigan should be playing in Glendale, not Florida:

June 19, 2008 Note: This is a post that originally appeared on Golden's Football Rankings and is reporduced here for posterity.

-Florida 21 FSU 14, Wake Forest 30 Florida State 0
-Even if the SEC is the nation’s toughest conference, that does not give the champion an automatic birth in the title game.
-If you switched the schedule so that Florida played at OSU and Michigan played at Auburn, Michigan would be 12-0, Florida would still be 12-1
-If the computer polls still considered margin of victory, Michigan would be ahead of Florida in all of the computer polls.
-If the Gators go to Glendale, they should surrender their 1996 championship. After all, they got a back-to-back rematch, after losing on the road by 3 points.
-Michigan beat Vanderbilt handily, whereas Florida struggled with the Commodores. Michigan had more rushing yards (254-125), more total yards (381-344). More first downs (20-18), gave up less rushing yards (69-114), less passing yards (95-275), less total yards (164-389), and less first downs (9-19). Michigan was never in danger against Vandy and led the whole game. Florida barely escaped with their lives. Ask the Vandy fans which team they think is better.

Michigan is the Better Team!!! -- Rematch, conference strength, past history, none of that matters. The best two teams should play in the championship game. Period. That’s why the BCS was created. In all the arguments about this game, none of the Florida backers are saying that the Gators are a better team, because they aren’t. Everyone who has seen both teams in person will tell you that Michigan is the better team. Michigan trailed for all of 8 minutes all season before playing OSU, against the 3rd toughest schedule in the country. Florida played a slightly tougher schedule, but struggled at many points, and easily could have lost 4 or 5 games. Vegas has Michigan as a touchdown favorite in a game between the two on a neutral field.


An OSU / Florida game would be a travesty (and a bloodbath). It would mean that voters were voting to engineer a matchup, not voting who they think are the best two teams. How many SEC coaches are going to drop Michigan below #3 to influence the outcome (Hello Phil Fulmer!)? It would mean that politics, media, and $$ matter more than the games on the field. It would mean that once again, the BCS (due mostly to the human component) has failed to bring satisfaction to the nation’s college football fans.