Posts Tagged ‘sec’

I Will Eat My Crow, But I’m Not Going To Like It

Posted: January 8, 2013 in NCAA
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eat

Ok so that was a complete beatdown last night by Alabama against Notre Dame. Simply put, Alabama is on a whole other level than the rest of the college football world. For those of you who believe that Notre Dame should not have been there in the first place…who else should have taken their spot and actually been able to compete with Alabama who had 40 days to prepare? Oregon? Oregon couldn’t beat Stanford at home, whom Notre Dame beat. Texas A&M? Yes they beat Alabama, but they couldn’t handle Florida or LSU at home. So please just stop with the nonsense and accept that Alabama is just better. I had to come to that conclusion last night, and it was a very bitter pill to swallow.

Now Alabama isn’t perfect..their secondary is suspect, and I’m not convinced McCarron is that great of a QB. I mean when you can read War and Peace in the pocket before having to throw the ball, anyone can look good. However, what made Alabama so great, is that offensive line. It made the front seven of Notre Dame look like a high school team…and it isn’t. The ND front seven has as much girth as any college team in the nation, and still looked small and slow.

So, that is another College Football Season in the books and the last of no playoffs. The four team playoff might not fix everything wrong with college football, but at least it is a start. I really wish we didn’t have to go another year with this terrible system. Hopefully, after a year or two, football will realize just how great a playoff system can be with 8 or 16 teams. Then, we can crown a true national champion. Now it is on to College Basketball and the second half of the NBA and the beginning of the NHL. Although Xavier is down, I have no dog in the fight in the NBA, and the NHL is just about to begin, this still may be one of my favorite parts of the sports calendar.

Can We Stop Talking about How Dominant the SEC is now?

Posted: January 3, 2013 in NCAA
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Because it just isn’t true. The hype machine that is the worldwide leader has fed the public this line for years now, based on the fact that they have a huge stake in the conference. The fact is that yes, the most dominant team in college football for the past six years has come from the SEC, that does not mean that the conference as a whole is the most dominant conference from top to bottom.

Alabama might make it seven in a row for the conference ( I am not of that opinion,) but it could happen. However, again that just means that the most dominant team came from the conference, nothing more nothing less. Also, unlike most teams in college football, if you are a member of the SEC you get the benefit of losing a game or two yet still have the chance at even competing in the title game, based on the perception that the conference is the best. What exactly has Alabama proven over a team like Oregon that they get the nod instead of the Ducks or the Wildcats from K State? They haven’t…it is just perceptionthat has been built up for more than a decade now from the sports media world.

Take this year’s bowl results so far….Florida’s offense was exposed against Louisville, Clemson beat LSU with arguably their best player out from the first play of the game, Northwestern beat Miss St. All the SEC teams have done so far is beat a mediocre Nebraska team that lost by thirty against a 7-5 Wisconsin team, beat a suspect 8-4 Michigan team, and an N.C State team who was 7-5. That’s dominant? Hmmm…maybe the sports media world and the American public need to realize there are good teams outside of the South.

teddy

BCS Stands for Big Conference Schools

Posted: October 22, 2012 in NCAA
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That is all that is ever invited to the “dance” in the current College Football Championship, and it will be the same when the four team “playoff” starts in two years.

For the sake of argument, and because I am pretty familiar with the team, let’s take a look at the University of Louisville Football team. Currently they are 7-0, in a mediocre conference, with no big wins of note. The only possible big time win they could have this year is at the end of the season when they go on the road to Rutgers. Both of these teams could be undefeated at that time, and both would be ranked somewhere between 8-15 in the country. Again for the sake of argument, let’s say that both teams are undefeated until their matchup and Louisville wins that matchup. Best case scenario they move up to about 6-7 in the country. They will be behind any other undefeated squads sans Ohio U, and probably behind a one loss Sec or Big 12 team or two. That is just the way it is in College Football, and it isn’t right.

Save Room at the Table

Now do I think that Louisville is better than an undefeated SEC or Big 12 team…or even a one loss team from either of these conferences? Eye test tells me no. It isn’t like Louisville is playing good competition, and they aren’t blowing out the teams that are on their schedule. However, why don’t they even get the chance to play the “big boys” at the end of the season? I doubt anyone thought that Butler would go to back to back National Championship Games in Basketball…but hey at least they got the chance to prove they could! The system is screwed up and why does anyone think that the four game “playoff” is going to be any better??

Louisville doesn’t have a freaking chance in either of these systems, neither does Ohio U from the MAC who may also go undefeated. Well why don’t they schedule tougher non-conference games you might say?? Well Louisville tries, but people won’t play them. Georgia backed out of a home and home just a few years ago. It could do more potential harm than good for a Big 12 or SEC team to play a good college football team outside of their conference. There is just no point….it isn’t like they are playing for seeding in a tournament and need that signature road win outside of their conference. There is zero initiative.

So, what is a team like Louisville to do? Well nothing except win the games that are on their schedule. Sadly, unless they change conferences, it isn’t going to matter when it comes to the Championship game. Louisville could go undefeated for the next three years and still won’t get to sit at the big boys table. It’s not fair, but that is just the way it is. Here is my question….why are the College Presidents, Conference Commissioners, and the Media trying to persuade us that everything is going to be great in two years when this new system is in place? All it is doing is inviting more big boys to the big boy table for big boy money….whoopdeefreakingdo!

Georgia On My Mind

Posted: September 9, 2012 in NCAA
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“Light-headed and memorable. Gut-twisting and humbling. Saturday night at Faurot Field was the sort of gawdawful moment that epitomized the wildest dreams and most agonizing nightmares of Tiger lovers everywhere.” —Bryan Burwell St. Louis Post-Dispatch describing many Mizzou fans emotions during and after the game.

Here is the thing, I was wrong in my prediction for Missouri against Georgia. I can freely admit when I was wrong, and I was wrong there. However, I was not wrong in knowing that Missouri can compete and possibly beat teams in the SEC not named Alabama and LSU. That is different than what every national sports writer will have you believe. Well, on a Saturday night in Columbia, Missouri proved that they could do it.

Missouri had this game in hand for three quarters. The defense was sensational, Franklin was good enough, and the offesnive line was holding up well. Mizzzou is just as fast and nasty as these teams in the SEC on both sides of the ball. They proved that last night. Until the end of the third quarter, Missouri was leading the entire game, up 20-17 until about three minutes left in the 3rd.

Unfortunately, the incompetency of the coaching staff and mistake prone QB that kept Missouri from winning Big 12 championships, once again showed up in this game. 4th and 11, backed up at their own 35, Gary Pinkel callls a fake punt run with a tiny and slow white punter. Genius! Then, Franklin decides to throw a pick six right into the hands of the Georgia’s best defender…my brother from another mother, Jarvis Jones. That kid is really freaking impressive by the way.

Anywho, here is what I found out last night from the game. The talent is there. However, if Missouri is going to succeed this year in the SEC, the coacahes are going to have to stay out of their own way.

 

Leave It To Them To Turn It Into A Negative

Posted: June 4, 2012 in NCAA
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That is what the University Presidents and College Conference Commissioners have done to the promise of a College Football Playoff.

I tell you what, when the possibility of a college football playoff started to become a reality about a month ago, I was more excited than anyone. Even though they decided that a four team playoff was the better route than an eight or a sixteen team playoff (which I preferred more), anything is better than the BCS system, which is more corrupt than Enron ever was.

However, of course the Big conferences have to turn it into a complete pissing match. Since in this scenario there are only four teams involved, everyone wants to make sure that they get their share of the pie i.e lots and lots of money. So the SEC and the Big 12, being the two best conferences in football by far, want the four best teams regardless of conference affiliation. When the Big 10 and Pac whatever found out about this, they whined about it not being fair and that only teams who are conference champions should be allowed to be in the four team playoff.

I can see pros and cons of either scenario, but the main problem is that to limit the number of teams to four is completely stupid anyways. However, why should I expect anything else from these money grubbing idiots? In my opinion, go to 16 teams, use the current bcs formula to rank the teams 1-16 ( look the formula is ridiculously hard to understand but at the end of the season it seems to pass the eye test pretty well, plus it is a good mix of human and computer)   but put back the strength of schedule in the formula so that maybe we will get a good out of conference game every once in a while. Done….perfect system! Yes people will complain (just like they do after the 68 basketball team tournament field is announced), but if you can’t make it to the top 16, you don’t have much to gripe about. That 5th team might though.