Time to go Bowling

• I think the BCS game is actually the right pick for once. Shocking, I know. Granted I think Texas should have been in the Big 12 game instead of Oklahoma, the National Championship game is right though. The two champions of the two best conferences in football are playing for the National Championship.
• Although Utah is undefeated and very well has a claim to be playing in the National Championship after an unblemished record, at least they're not Boise State. The Broncos were left out of a BCS bowl discussion...again. I think Utah's schedule and how they won the games put them in place for at large bid. But what says the Ohio State deserves the remaining BCS at large over the Broncos? Yeah, I know, they only lost 2 games and to very good teams in USC and Penn State but how does a team thats 12-0 get left out in favor of a 10-2 team? How does a #10 team get selected over a #9 team? Oh, revenue. Thats how. Look for a great game between the Broncos and TCU...its the best non-BCS matchup.
  
• Virginia Tech won its 3rd ACC championship in 5 years..and they said the Hokies would hurt the ACC didn't they? I won't dwell on this too much since I am obviously biased towards the Hokies. I think a great amount of credit is due to the coaching staff this year and the ability to do what they did considering the amount of players lost to the NFL, suspensions, and injuries. Bud Foster proved once again that he is one of the best in the business as the Hokies finished 7th in total defense...after losing 4 starters to the NFL draft.
  
• Colt McCoy announced today that he's going to return for his senior season at UT. And why not? He already owns Longhorn passing records, why not try for all time records? But I don't think that's the reason he's returning. After the Longhorns went 11-1 this year and were left out of the National Championship, I think McCoy wants to prove next year that the Longhorns can win it all while he's there. He's already going to be a no-doubt first rounder in the NFL so barring a career ending injury he's got nothing to lose. Also, look for the Longhorns to make a point in the Fiesta Bowl. I know I know, "the Buckeyes have a good defense!" But they have seen nothing like McCoy and the Longhorns offense.
  
• One last thing, Hawaii fans, don't chant "overrated" until there's less than 2 minutes left in the game and you're up by more than 2 scores. Matt Ryan taught me that lesson unfortunately. All that does is fire the opposing team up. How did that 19 points that Cincy dropped on you in the 4th quarter feel? Not too good in the end I'd imagine.

That's it for now.

BCS Mess

I guess that title isn't really news or anything. Once again it looks like there is going to be a great debate over the current system and the institution of a playoff into D1 football.

The only thing that we're sure of so far in terms of the National Championship game is that it will be either Florida or Alabama as the 1st ranked team in the polls versus whatever team survives the possibilities of the Big 12 title game's implications. It could very easily be just as simple as ALA/FLA vs. Oklahoma. But then again it could get far more complicated. Do you take Texas even though they did not win their own conference but are ranked right behind OU? Do you take USC as a conference winner but not in a conference that has a title game? Or do you go outside the BCS conferences and select Utah or Boise State. Both the Utes and Broncos went 12-0 and won their respective conferences. Both Utah and Boise State build good arguments. Utah beat Oregon State, #12 TCU, and then dismantled #14 Brigham Young. Boise State beat #17 Oregon and added style points by blowing nearly everyone out of the water on the rest of their schedule.

There are so many ways that the BCS bowls can shake out and no matter what there will be arguments for a playoff. I think a playoff is still not ready yet but I think one of the best steps toward that is requiring that all conferences have a championship game. Look at Ohio State last year, because they did not have a championship game in the Big 10, they were able to back in to the title game while everyone else played for their conference title. This year, Cincinatti (a good team in a weak conference) will automatically get a BCS bid and block one of the teams truly deserving a BCS spot. I could also argue the fact that either Boston College or Virginia Tech is undeserving of a BCS spot. However, they are playing in a conference championship game in a conference that is very even this year in terms of quality teams. 8 out of the 12 teams in the ACC are bowl eligible and the ACC went 3-1 this weekend against the very strong SEC.

I guess pretty much what I'm getting at, no one will ever be happy with whatever system that is in place to decide who gets to play for the big bowl games.

One last thing...
Before people give Virginia Tech crap for doing terrible in BCS games, lets look at how some of the more storied teams in college football have done in BCS games

• Michigan: 1-3
• Notre Dame: 0-3
• Florida State 1-5

Granted that 1-3 and 1-5 are better than VT's 0-3 is, the Hokies could very easily be 2-1 considering that 2 of the games were decided by 3 points or less.