If teams want to switch conferences, how about we find some new conferences that might actually make sense?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Big East: A Conference of Desperation
I never gave much thought to conferences until Virginia Tech got stuck in the mess trying to move from the Big East to the ACC. I just went to the home games and watched whatever away games came on TV. I was happy when they won, and sad when they lost. I didn't realize how much we gained by joining the ACC until we started playing in the conference and had much more interesting matchups. In fact, it seemed to elevate VT's level of play, because the first year in the ACC was the year that the 10 wins per year streak began.
As the Big East evolved following the 2005 alignment, it became clear that the conference was viewed by many as a stepping stone towards a greater status.
As the Big East evolved following the 2005 alignment, it became clear that the conference was viewed by many as a stepping stone towards a greater status.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
What the 2011 NCAA Playoffs could look like.
Based on the playoff proposal, here are several versions of what the 2011 playoffs could look like.
A playoff system - our proposal
Here it is - our thoughts on how college football can implement a playoff system. It's a system that Tony and I came up with staying up late one night about a year and a half ago discussing football. Over the course of the last two seasons, we've tweaked it a bit.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Bowl Games - 2011-2012 Edition
The full list of bowls is available.
And, if you're into that sort of thing, here's the page that lists all of ESPN's announcers on TV and radio for all of the bowl games that they cover.
(Link courtesy of Tony in the comments section of the Week 14 wrap up.)
Here's to hoping that LSU blows Alabama out.
And, if you're into that sort of thing, here's the page that lists all of ESPN's announcers on TV and radio for all of the bowl games that they cover.
(Link courtesy of Tony in the comments section of the Week 14 wrap up.)
Here's to hoping that LSU blows Alabama out.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Big East season is done.
We can finally say something definitive about the Big East.
Cincinnati, Louisville, and West Virginia are co-champions. The highest ranked of those three in the final BCS standings will go to a BCS bowl. (Likely WVU, and likely to the Orange Bowl, who has the last pick, against the ACC champ.)
Rutgers and Pittsburgh join them as bowl elligible.
Syracuse, South Florida, and Connecticut are staying home for the holidays.
Cincinnati, Louisville, and West Virginia are co-champions. The highest ranked of those three in the final BCS standings will go to a BCS bowl. (Likely WVU, and likely to the Orange Bowl, who has the last pick, against the ACC champ.)
Rutgers and Pittsburgh join them as bowl elligible.
Syracuse, South Florida, and Connecticut are staying home for the holidays.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Conference championships preview
Here's what we can look forward to this weekend in college football.
Pac-12: UCLA at Oregon
UCLA is only in because USC is still sanctioned. Otherwise, we'd be getting a rematch of a game that Oregon lost just two weeks ago. As it stands, UCLA will either go to the Rose Bowl with a win, or no bowl with a loss. Either way, their coach is fired.
SEC: LSU vs. Georgia
An undefeated team against a team that started 0-2 and had fans calling for the coach to be fired. There could be an upset here, but LSU wouldn't care, since they have enough of a stranglehold on the #1 spot in the BCS rankings that they're virtually assured of a trip to New Orleans. Then again, so is Georgia if they win, but on a different day.
ACC: Virginia Tech vs. Clemson
A rematch of a home blowout for VT. They feel they've learned from that and developed as a team. They also see an outside chance at getting to New Orleans. Besides, VT is no stranger to ACC title game grudge matches, having revenged losses to Boston College two years in a row. Clemson has been on a downslide the last few weeks, and has actually managed to hurt the ACC as a whole. If they had won their last two games, this would have been a matchup of two top six teams, and the Orange Bowl would have been guaranteed a top five team for once.
However, the Orange Bowl can still get a heck of a matchup if West Virginia comes out on top of the Big East, and VT wins this game, and that old rivalry can be renewed once more.
Big Ten: Michigan State vs. Wisconsin
There are two Big Ten games that I really enjoyed watching this year, enough to put in my top five games of the year perhaps. One was Ohio State-Michigan. This was the other. It had a crazy enough ending to be regarded as legendary. Can they repeat that legendary performance in Indianapolis?
Pac-12: UCLA at Oregon
UCLA is only in because USC is still sanctioned. Otherwise, we'd be getting a rematch of a game that Oregon lost just two weeks ago. As it stands, UCLA will either go to the Rose Bowl with a win, or no bowl with a loss. Either way, their coach is fired.
SEC: LSU vs. Georgia
An undefeated team against a team that started 0-2 and had fans calling for the coach to be fired. There could be an upset here, but LSU wouldn't care, since they have enough of a stranglehold on the #1 spot in the BCS rankings that they're virtually assured of a trip to New Orleans. Then again, so is Georgia if they win, but on a different day.
ACC: Virginia Tech vs. Clemson
A rematch of a home blowout for VT. They feel they've learned from that and developed as a team. They also see an outside chance at getting to New Orleans. Besides, VT is no stranger to ACC title game grudge matches, having revenged losses to Boston College two years in a row. Clemson has been on a downslide the last few weeks, and has actually managed to hurt the ACC as a whole. If they had won their last two games, this would have been a matchup of two top six teams, and the Orange Bowl would have been guaranteed a top five team for once.
However, the Orange Bowl can still get a heck of a matchup if West Virginia comes out on top of the Big East, and VT wins this game, and that old rivalry can be renewed once more.
Big Ten: Michigan State vs. Wisconsin
There are two Big Ten games that I really enjoyed watching this year, enough to put in my top five games of the year perhaps. One was Ohio State-Michigan. This was the other. It had a crazy enough ending to be regarded as legendary. Can they repeat that legendary performance in Indianapolis?
Mike London - ACC Coach of the Year
Even though he's the coach of my team's rival, I still have to respect Mike London, this year's ACC Coach of the Year. I first became aware of him during his final season at the University of Richmond (my wife's alma mater) shortly after he took that team to the FCS National Championship (something that my wife does rub in my face every once in a while when I start going on too long about "what-ifs" for VT to get to the title game). I was bummed when he left, but was even more bummed when he went to UVA, of all places, because Mike London is the kind of guy that you just can't hate and want to see do well.
Just check out the piece ESPN did on him during College Gameday and you can see how hard it is to not like the guy.
Of course, he can win any game he wants to, except during the last weekend of November (unless the ACC moves the rivalry game to a different weekend). So, congrats to him for making the VT/UVA game actually matter on the way to the ACC title game. That's a decent two year turnaround after Al Groh basically ruined the program.
I like that the ACC rewards teams that show a drastic improvement on and off the field, instead of just rewarding one of the coaches that reaches the championship game (although some years that could also be the case). There are a lot of good coaches in the ACC, but each of them faces different obstacles each year. As such, they can receive different rewards.
Just check out the piece ESPN did on him during College Gameday and you can see how hard it is to not like the guy.
Of course, he can win any game he wants to, except during the last weekend of November (unless the ACC moves the rivalry game to a different weekend). So, congrats to him for making the VT/UVA game actually matter on the way to the ACC title game. That's a decent two year turnaround after Al Groh basically ruined the program.
I like that the ACC rewards teams that show a drastic improvement on and off the field, instead of just rewarding one of the coaches that reaches the championship game (although some years that could also be the case). There are a lot of good coaches in the ACC, but each of them faces different obstacles each year. As such, they can receive different rewards.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
"The BCS formula is an exercise in nonsense."
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports wrote a very informative article that basically sums up a lot of what I feel about the BCS and have been trying to state in various posts here.
Mr. Wetzel has also co-written a book called "Death to the BCS", which proposes a 16 game playoff.
I think my favorite line came from Steve Spurrier:
Mr. Wetzel has also co-written a book called "Death to the BCS", which proposes a 16 game playoff.
I think my favorite line came from Steve Spurrier:
“I don’t know why we vote. I guess we vote because college football is still without a playoff system. I really believe most coaches do not know a whole lot about the other teams.”And then there's this Rick Reilly article that sums up the anti-rematch argument.
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