FBC week 13 running thread

Gee, Agree with everything you said, but it doesn't aggravate me as much as it does you. There are 120 DI teams. I'd love to see a playoff system--maybe 16 teams, something the university presidents and the bowl barons will never allow. But no matter what you come up with, with 120 teams, there is always going to be someone somewhere with a gripe. Right now, you have a system that crowns a national champion that at least has a legitimate claim to one, but in any given year you also get one or two teams left out that have a legitimate gripe. Some years, it's clear, though. Go to the 16-game playoff, and you can have some team with 2 or 3 losses eventually winning a championship ahead of some 1 loss teams, who will then have a legit beef.

I agree with you that the old way was fun. At least you had a bunch of bowl games on New Year's that meant something and now you don't. But given that I don't think there is a solution that will ever make everyone happy, what we have right now isn't THAT bad. It makes the regular season exciting. Every week there is at least one marquee game that amounts to a "win or your potential BCS game is gone" game. It keeps fans interested. The conference system and natural rivalries are still there too, so not just the BCS Bowl or National Championship game picture matters to a lot of people. I had more fun watching Ball State-Central Michigan this week than I did most games, and when Oklahoma started to putting a hurting on Texas Tech last night -- the game that should have mattered more than anything due to the BCS -- I had Florida State-Maryland waiting for me, and then when that got boring, Cincy-Pitt was waiting for me. Earlier in the day, I had as much fun following Cal Poly almost beating Wisconsin as I did any of the marquee games. And a game like Boise-Nevada, which I watched most of, beat the heck out of any humdrum SEC game like LSU-Ole Miss I could have been watching.

I understand everything you are saying about how money has created a stupid entrenched system that isn't going to change soon, but it's hard to tell from your post if you still enjoy college football -- as much as I do -- even with the flaws. You sound angry beyond how I am about it. To me it just isn't like Don King and boxing because there are so many good teams and they actually face each other all the time and there are rivalries and enough good games with unexpected outcomes every week to make it fun to watch and then spend all week debating. For me, the regular season makes college football, not some scenario to crown a champion that will never please everyone.

 

Gee, I am with you. It's not like the BCS will guarantee something that I intuitively know is good. This year that would be Oklahoma playing Florida for the National Championship game. I know about the other Big 12 teams and USC is probably the most talented team rosterwise in the country, but at this point, Oklahoma-Florida would make the most entertaining and hard to predict (although I think Florida is the best team in the country) game possible. It's actually also good that USC probably won't be playing another Big 10 team in the Rose Bowl. It'll be nice to see USC against an offbeat opponent if that happens.

But none of that is guaranteed. Texas-USC was amazing. Boise State-Oklahoma was amazing. Last year's matchups, as you pointed out, were humdrum. Hawaii-Georgia was too predictable. Ohio State-Florida was doomed to failure.

This year, I'm afraid that out of Utah, Boise and Ball State, Utah will get a bid and be like a sacrificial lamb to someone.

EDIT: I didn't mention Alabama in this. I think Florida will beat them... If Alabama closes, they obviously have earned their shot. Florida has Florida State left and then they will have Alabama. If they finish off those two teams they are deserving.

 

I think Texas Tech will now be the odd man out. Oklahoma will jump to the head of the BCS pack and with the BCS as the tie-break for the Big 12, they'll get to play Missouri for the Chamionship. Texas will get at large, because they beat Oklahoma. So they will probably end up against Alabama, I guess in the Sugar Bowl. And Texas Tech will be left outside looking in -- they'll get to have fun in the Gator Bowl playing Florida State or possibly a trip to the Cotton Bowl playing someone like Ole Miss. A season's worth of effort sunk to that in the course of a few hours last night. If it all plays out somehow like that, you will probably see USC against Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. No way Utah hangs with USC. Just not happening. The dead spot will be the automatic ACC and Big East bids. I can't figure out the the ACC--it is still too jumbled, but assuming whoever it is plays Cincy, it will be a boring game. Georgia Tech or BC versus Cincy. Something like that.