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.

Do they split the Heisman?

So do they split the Heisman? If not, this might be the first time for such a reasonable debate. With Graham Harrell, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford, and Tim Tebow playing head and shoulders above other QBs in Division I and Michael Crabtree making 5-star Big 12 corners look like they're in Pop Warner, its hard to have a clear cut winner.

As you can see from my picture above, my choice has been made (through the past weekend). Although he trails Okie State's Dez Bryant in receiving yards, he has the edge in touchdowns--none bigger than the game ending tightrope catch against the Longhorns--and receptions. He's caught a TD pass in every game thus far for the Red Raiders and has scored at least two touchdowns in 6 games. What the stats don't tell though is his game changing ability. How often has he made that oh-so-crucial catch?Maybe even more importantly, how often has he not made a catch? The man is just an excellent receiver. Big frame, big hands, big time speed. Although he's not the flat out burner that Bryant is, he's got the right type of speed; in and out of cuts, stutter-stepping to turn corners around and leave 'em thinking of an explanation for their coach on way to the sideline. He probably wont win the Heisman because of his age and his position, but he deserves it just as much as any of them.

Graham Harrell is my second leading candidate for the Heisman. Believe me it is a very close second place. This guy is incredible to watch. He can make every throw in the playbook. I guess it helps when your offense is 80% pass and 20% rush, but Harrell has thrown for over 4000 yards. Even more impressive, his completion percentage is over 70% and he has 36 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions. Jarrett Lee of LSU threw 4 interceptions vs. Alabama alone. Maybe that's an indicator of how good Alabama's defense is, or how Lee is prone to bad decisions but maybe it's also an indicator of how well Harrell takes care of the ball. He never looks pressured in the pocket and stands in there for a throw even when he has a linebacker bearing down on him. Even though he doesn't have incredible speed, he is able to escape the pocket and throw on the run. In the game versus #8 Oklahoma State, he threw 6 touchdowns. In one game he doubled the passing touchdowns for the season for Tyrod Taylor and Sean Glennon of my Virginia Tech Hokies. He's just a passing machine and can pick apart nearly any defense it seems. When the Red Raiders face the Sooners, Harrell will either win the Heisman or lose it in that game.

Sam Bradford. What can you say about a guy that leads all BCS conferences in QB rating and touchdowns? He too is in a pass happy offense at Oklahoma, even with DeMarco Murray in the backfield. This a guy that has at least 2 passing touchdowns in every game thus far and has thrown for four or more 6 times this year. 6! Those six games alone give him more passing touchdowns than the top performers for the Big 10, Big East, ACC, Pac-10, or SEC...for the season. He too is another quarterback that can make any throw in the playbook and does so consistently. His completion percentage is a little lower than Harrell's but Oklahoma's offense often throws deep bombs instead of the shorter routs that the Red Raiders run. Bradford may not win it either because of his age but that whole age factor might be gone after Tebow's 2007 sophomore year win. Like Harrell, Bradford can win or lose the Heisman in the November 22 showdown or the following week against the OSU Cowboys.

Colt McCoy is in fourth place from my point of view. Its hard to overlook someone in the same conference as the previous 3 players who is completing a higher percentage of his passes (78%) while still throwing for 28 touchdowns. He's thrown a touchdown in every game and at least 2 touchdowns in 9 of the 10 games this season. However, he only has 28 total compared to Bradford's 38 and Harrell's 36. He also has a lot fewer yards than Harrell or Bradford. However one thing that many people overlook, McCoy leads the team in rushing and has 7 rushing touchdowns. I'm sure if it's bad for your offense that you quarterback leads the team in rushing or if it's awesome. Think about it, he leads the team in rushing yards and that's with all of the negative yards from being sacked 16 times. He's the ultimate driving factor for the Longhorns being number 3 in the polls.

You can't have a Heisman discussion without including last year's winner, Tim Tebow. His numbers haven't dropped off that much from last years season and he's the main reason Florida is still in contention for the National Championship. He's still running over linebackers (often smaller than he is) and still throwing for 17 touchdowns and 1700 yards. However, what might be the most impressive part about Tebow is that he flat out does not turn the ball over. He's only thrown 2 interceptions on the year and is yet to fumble the ball on 100+ carries. That might be the main reason Florida is number four in the BCS and the reason they've put up 30 or more points in every SEC game this year, including 63 on Kentucky, 49 on then #6 UGA, and 51 on then #4 LSU. Tebow is just as capable at repeating the Heisman as Archie Griffin was. The only difference, Tebow could end up with three of the trophies before he's done in Gainesville.

However, maybe i don't want any of these players to win the Heisman. I like to watch all of them play. I'd like to watch all of them play at the next level for a long time. Since 1987, only a handful of the 20 players that have won the trophy up to the last winner have had a good or notable career in the NFL. Tim Brown, Barry Sanders, Desmond Howard, and Eddie George are really the only players that have won it since 1987 that have had a notable...or Hall of Fame...NFL career. Charles Woodson might be on the way to doing the same thing. Including Woodson, that's five out of the past 20 that have had an impact at the next level. If it wasn't for Ricky Williams' brief retirement and then return he might be on that list too. Then there is the group that is untested so far; Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Troy Smith, and Tim Tebow. Well, Tebow still has a chance to rack up 3 total Heisman Trophies before he even gets to the NFL. As for the other 10, most of them floated around in the NFL for a few years and never really had an impact, or they went to play in the NBA like Charlie Ward did. Can anyone tell you with certainty where Jason White is? How about Eric Crouch? Gino Torretta anyone? I'm not saying that the Heisman is cursed or anything, but statistically speaking it may not be the best thing to win it. I know I want to watch Tebow in the pros and see if offensive coordinators stick with his running and passing style. I want to see Graham Harrell be part of the next high powered passing offense. I know I want to see Michael Crabtree continue to tear apart defenses.

I guess my main point about the Heisman is that no one ever really wins it on their own. Running backs couldn't do it with out linemen. Quarterbacks couldn't do it with out receivers and linemen. Receivers couldn't do it with out quarterbacks. The Heisman isn't won alone and if there were a tie for the Heisman, it would exemplify how players are dependent upon each other.

Introduction

This is the first time I've done one of these things so here we go.

I figure that I should probably start off by explaining a little bit about me and what I will be writing about. First off, I've spent all of my life in Virginia. That being said, with no state team its hard to claim sports loyalty by location to any professional team. Most of my ties to my favorite teams are based on who I've liked since I was young or family that is from that area.

I can remember being about 7 years old and the Red Sox going to the playoffs on the back of Mo Vaughn, John Valentin, Mike Greenwell, TIMMAY! Wakefield, The Rocket, and Jose Canseco in 1995. That was back when being a Canseco fan was still considered legit, before he blew the steroid scandal in baseball wide open like it was hanging curve. Of course at age 7 I had no idea really what was going on in the games other than knowing we needed more runs than they did and that Big Mo's beard was pretty wicked awesome. Over time my obsession with the Red Sox grew from being moderately upset with the playoff loss in Pedro's first season to being irate over losing games in April of this season. I've developed a problem, an obsessive problem, along with several other Red Sox fans (Note: SEVERE understatement when I say several) . Fretting over Matsuzaka's walks versus runs or how well we are hitting with runners in scoring position with 2 outs...which is apparently our forte. No matter how many games back we are, the score in the game, I seem to always have faith until the last out of the game.

Then there's hockey. The sport that makes me look like a mountain man for two months because I'm afraid to even consider cutting my beard because it might change the fortune of my team. Hockey has been my favorite sport ever since playing NHL 94 on Sega. I remember playing games against both of my brothers with the stunning graphics. The 96 version of the game was when I remember first really knowing the Red Wings players. The cover of the game had the image of the Devils' captain Scott Stevens and Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman. This was the season that the Red Wings lost to the Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals. I can remember playing numerous games against the Ottawa Senators because they were the worst team on the game and it was pretty hard to not beat them. This first Red Wings team that I started to truly know was loaded with talent from Russia ("The Russian Five") and Sweden, as well as from Canada and the US. The captain then, Steve Yzerman, and the captain now, Nick Lidstrom. The enforcers Martin Lapointe, Darren McCarty, Kris Draper, and my personal favorite Joey Kocur. The enforcers were all the type of players that many people associate with hockey. Toothless, black-eyed, bloody knuckled protectors of the star players. That's not to say they couldn't still play hockey though. Darren McCarty scored perhaps one of the most beautiful goals in Stanley Cup history and essentially clinched the Cup for the Wings. Many people say that the Wings team that won last year is completely different from the ones that won the 97, 98, and 02 Cups. They say that the 08 team is more focused on scoring and less on the physical play. Sure, it does seem to be the case and why not when you have players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg? But to say they lack the physical play of the teams of the past would be wrong. Just ask Ryan Malone about Nick Kronwall or Sid the Kid about Brad Stuart...or you could just have Datsyuk do it all. That is the beauty of hockey though. One minute it can be so brutal and the next you could see one of the most spectacular goals in the sport.

Sometimes I wonder though what the true value of sports is. My dad once told me a realization that he came to after watching numerous College Basketball games during March Madness. "What is the point of watching these games? I've lost sleep. I don't get a single piece of work done for my job the next day. My status in this world does not increase one bit. So why do I watch the games?" He makes a very good point. I've often wondered the same thing. How does me spending 4 hours watching one game out of a 162 game ever contribute to what my impact is on this earth? Answer is simple. It doesn't. But it gives us joy. Its a temporary refuge from anything that troubles us. It unites us with complete strangers. It makes you feel a sense of accomplishment, even though you're most likely sitting on the couch or at a bar. You associate yourself as a member of the team, "We need to win this game." But there's something that you can't describe about when you're team wins a big game. Something equally as terrible when they lose. But that's the way it is being a fan. You live and die with the team, go through the rough times and be there for the great ones. I think its worth every second to feel the agony of defeat and the exhilaration of victory.

That's all for now...guess that was pretty long introduction huh?