College Football Week 14

The season has come to a close and Iowa's destination and opponent have been decided. The Hawkeyes take on the Champion of the ACC and will play their first opponent from the conference since the 1992 Kick-off Classic where they met the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.

The BCS was set up to determine the top two teams to play for the National Championship. This year it pits the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide, champions of the SEC against the Champions of the Big 12, #2 Texas Longhorns. There are three additional undefeated teams that will have a chance to claim a stake for the national title. Boise State, Cincinnati, and TCU--all Champions of their repsective conferences.

I am one who is in favor of the bowl process, but not necessarily the BCS. Many advantages to both, but choosing a true national champion this way will have problems. As for one who is against a play-off my solution is hypocritical, but this is how I would do it.

The regular season is important and the fact that each game means something needs to be preserved. However an eight-team playoff is the way to go. The NCAA BB tournament has 65 teams and there is still debate as to who should be the 65th team. How often does an 13 seed win the national title. Never.

My playoff would start the week of Thanksgiving. On that weekend the conference championships would be played. The conferences are responsible for deciding who their champion is. Whether by a one-game championship or by criteria based on standings. For example Ohio State is the Champion of the Big Ten based on their record and victory over Iowa. They received the Rose Bowl birth. The Big 12 and SEC are among various conferences with one game to decide. Teams that are included in the playoff are champions of the BCS conferences (Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, SEC, Pac 10, Big East) as well as the highest rated teams from among of pool of Notre Dame and other independents, and champions of the WAC, MAC, Big West, C-USA, SunBelt, etc.

The following weekend would be the first week of the playoff with the semi-finals played the week after. Then the championhsip game would be played days after New Year's at a rotating spot, decided upon by the bowls.

Those teams who are "bowl-eligible" can then begin to plan on their destination as determined by the conference tie-ins. There should not have to be the wait to decide Northern Illinois playing South Florida in Tornoto. If this process were to occur this year, the bracket would be as follows.

#1 Alabama
#8 Georgia Tech

#4 TCU
#5 Boise State

#3 Cincinnati
#6 Oregon

#2 Texas
#7 Ohio State

Once teams are defeated, they can be placed into their bowl tie-ins. For example, Ohio State, with a loss to Texas, would then go on to play in the Rose Bowl against Oregon, who based on seeding, would lose to Cincinnati. The remaining top ten BCS teams could then be placed as at-large teams in the current BCS bowl system. You may find some of the same bowl pairings as are scheduled for January of 2010, but the decision on who should play for the title will be decided on the field.

All are conference champions, seeding is based on BCS and this would include many interesting match-ups. Iowa fans would be disappointed with me as the Hawkeyes perhaps would not be traveling to Miami, instead Orlando. And yes, this 10-2 team is more deserving of a bowl greater than the Capital One Bowl, but it places the importance on winning your conference.

College Football Week 7

With the first BCS poll announced over the weekend, this is a good time to showcase the ladies of one of the top FCS programs. On Saturday Southern Illinois defeated Northern Iowa in one of the most impressvie victories of the day. In a sold out UNI Dome, the Salukies from Carbondale defeated a Panther team which is next to unbeatable at home. However, in a division with a play-off all this victory will do for SIU is position them in a 16 team play-off. The Panthers have their backs to the wall with a must-win game at South Dakota State this weekend. With a loss, the Panthers are out of the play-off.

In College Basketball, ESPN has introduced Bracket Buster Weekend. It is intended to generate excitement among non-BCS conference teams and improve their seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The time has come for ESPN to do the same with College Football. Boise State is #4 in the first BCS poll released on Sunday. TCU is #8. Among the remaining game Boise has, one is against a team with a winning record giving them little hope to improve in the BCS poll. ESPN could reserve Thanksgiving weekend for a BCS buster set of games. Pairings could be announced on November 1 and each year the host team can rotate among the different conferences. A Boise State - TCU match-up would definitely create interest and perhaps provide credibility to the winner. Will the winner have a legitimate claim to being in the National Title Game? Doubtful, but it is one step closer to the playoff the media and fans have been asking for, with the winner guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl.

BCS on ABC?

(Doesn't this look GREAT!)

Word is spreading that Fox may be willing to hand over the BCS to ABC / ESPN this year rather than after this bowl season when the contract is up. ABC holds the rights to the Rose Bowl, and since this year's National Championship game is also at the Rose Bowl and will be shown on ABC, Fox may be willing to sell the rights to the Disney Family of Networks.

We Can Only Hope.

Interesting how College Football's version of March Madness is heading to pay tv while CBS is willing to show all games free over the air as well as to anyone with a high-speed internet connection, regardless of whether the game should be blacked out. ESPN / ABC definitely knows how to televise college football. ABC has been doing it since the 60s, but it would be nice that the premier college sport would also be willing to be shown free to everyone in the country.

UPSET!!!

Last night Oregon State beat the #1 team in the land, the University of Southern California Trojans. I wrote earlier USC would not be beat and would land in the title game. That dream is over. There is much football to be played, but there are too many teams that will qualify for the BCS Champsionship Game and USC's performance on national television against a 1-2 team will not be forgotten by the pollsters.

We have elminated Ohio State and USC from title talk at this time, and one more team may be eliminated as well after this weekend. #3 Georgia has more on the line as they host #8 Alabama. The Bulldogs cannot afford to be upset at home on national television if they want to keep their title hopes alive.

Oklahoma has the tendency to be tripped up at some point during the season. They have a favorable schedule hosting Kansas and Nebraska, travelling to Dallas to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl, while finishing the regular season at Oklahoma State. Watch out there. The Cowboys have tripped up the Sooners before. The favorite team from the Big 12 North to face them in a title game is Missouri. The Tigers have to go to Austin for a showdown with the Longhorns and to Lincon to meet Nebraska. They meet Kansas in Kansas City to finish the year. I predict the Tigers to lose at least once, if not twice as well as in the Big 12 title game.

Take a look to the Big Ten. The Conference is down, but two undefeated teams have a chance. Penn State has road trips to Purdue, Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions will go down to two of those three. Wisconsin has the meat of their schedule in front of them. The next three weeks the Badgers will travel to Ann Arbor to meet the Wolverines, then come home to play Ohio State and Penn State. Two weeks after that is another home meeting with Illinois. I believe they will win all four, but in between Penn State and Illinois is a trip to Iowa City. That is a trap game and we'll see how Bielema's Badgers will stay grounded for this boarder battle.

The SEC will have a team in the BCS Title Game. This is the best conference for college football in 2008. Florida has two tough games, LSU in the Swamp, and Georgia in Jacksonville. They are my favorite to be playing for the national title.

Tonight's upset was exciting and it sets up another weekend of great college football. However this is the last upset of week 5. Oklahoma will not be tripped up by TCU, and if Illinois beats Penn State, is that a surprise? Post your thoughts and keep it clean.