Running bowl thread

Right. Because Florida got destroyed by Alabama. And Texas had them within three in the fourth quarter with a true freshman backup quarterback running their offense.

 

As I was just reminded by Sports Illustrated, prior to the 1965 season, the AP (and UPI) had their final polls and named national champions BEFORE the bowl games took place. I also note that the poll in 2009 after the conference championship games were no different from the final poll (1. Alabama, 2. Texas, etc.) except that TCU was 4th and not Boise.
So they might as well go back to the old system, because obviously nothing that happens in the BCS matters except the final game. Just as obviously, at least PART of the motivation for matching Boise and TCU was to preserve the purity of the BCS conference race.

 

Given that the SEC has produced an unbeaten team in each of the past two years, your one-loss strawman is a little weak. Obviously, I'm an idiot. The rest still stands.

And if the choice is between unbeaten SEC champ, unbeaten Big 12 champ and unbeaten Boise, then, sorry, Boise still loses. At a minimum, those SEC and Big 12 champs will have played nine BCS-conference games.

And if it's Alabama, they'll have played 11. (OK, including Duke. 10 1/2. But also including Penn State.) Same for LSU and Georgia.

(And if it's Vanderbilt, they'll have played 12! OK, now I'm just being ridiculous.)

 

I was just using Kentucky as an example. Could have said Purdue or North Carolina or whatever and made the same point. I don't want you to think I'm in the "Boise deserves a No. 1 vote" camp because I don't feel that way. Alabama beat three teams in the final top 10 this season. I don't think there's any question the Tide is No. 1. I don't think Bama would destroy Boise or anything, but the Tide just looks like a better team just from the eye test.

 

CFB's problem is simple. Too many teams playing an incredibly small number of games, thus causing schedule differences that basically resemble one team playing a major league schedule and one playing a Triple-A schedule.

All pro team sports have schedules that are very similar. And the other college sports at least have a high number of games, which allows a College of Charleston to easily schedule a North Carolina in basketball.

In CFB, someone is going to get screwed --- even if there is a playoff: Either the team with a murderous schedule that suffers a couple of last-second losses, or the team that plays nobody and loses to nobody. The latter getting screwed is the lesser of two evils.

 

College football always ends like eating chinese food. It's good but rarely satisfying.
I'm not going to bitch about the poll voting - though I don't see how you have Boise at four and TCU at six. If TCU finishes a six losing to Boise, Boise shouldn't be a four.
The sport is becoming American Idol with "favorites" anointed early on - perhaps a surprise or two - someone coming on late. I feel like I'm being played for a sucker every year. The bowls are great - I'd actually prefer a step back to the old way than this garbage.


I do think the sport moves like a glacier. It takes more than one game or one season to really get anywhere. I do think Boise and TCU have gotten to the point where mid-level big 6 conference teams will schedule them as one of their tough non-conference games.

 

Depends on the timing, as well. In a standard bowl-game setup, Boise might be able to hang around longer, because it would have added time to scheme and come up with things to exploit.

But in a situation like people are calling for now, where they'd have a week to get ready? Then it becomes much more of a line up and play situation, where you have to rely more on what you do well, rather than what the other team doesn't do well. And in that regard, I think Alabama would have a decided edge.

It's also much harder to call a fake punt in your own territory in the fourth quarter of a tie game when it's for a championship, rather than just a bowl game. Same for going for a make-or-break two-point conversion in overtime.

 

Eye tests and stacked decks make the system bullshit. If the NCAA wasn't so full of shit it would say screw the BCS and implement its own playoff system. Then if the bowls still want to continue after the playoffs, so be it.

I know the money thing is the biggest obstacle, but I'd bet my paycheck that a playoff would generate even more revenue. Of course the Big 6 would no longer be able to hoard the majority of it. And I don't want to hear any missed school bullshit, since college basketball players miss 10 times as much school as the football players do.

 

A screwing of the team that didn't lose vs. a team that did is antithetical to everything that sports are supposed to be about.

If the differences among the teams are too big, reclassify.

 

There's no "if" to it. The differences are too big, and it's not remotely debatable. But reclassifying is much more difficult than just having Boise and the wannabes just, you know, play somebody.

The schedule hurdle can be overcome . . . if a team wants it bad enough. Boise doesn't.

 

Bama's victory was hardly overwhelming. You've got a true freshman going what 1-10 with two picks and a 24-6 lead and you almost lose after going 3 and out the entire 3rd quarter?

I was rooting for 'Bama (grew up idolizing the houndstooth) but I believe BSU would have given 'Bama a run for its money.

I give credit to Texas for opening it up in the 3rd quarter with Gilbert. They gave him a few short screens to get some rhythm then went downfield. Never was a huge Mack Brown fan but kudos to him and his staff for the in game adjustment with Gilbert.

'Bama? Wow, could you play any plainer on a huge stage? LG lead for what 9 straight times in the 3rd quarter? Ingram coming back was huge. He's a pretty powerful guy, the way he bounces off the first contact and keeps the legs going.

 

Boise State beating Kentucky on the road would certainly be a lot more impressive than blowing out UC-Davis at home. But this is all futile rhetoric. As someone said earlier, Boise's 2010 national championship drive will crash and burn at Landover. Then we won't have to hear any of this "Boise State co-national champions" bullshit.