Alabama and Auburn take it to court

Filed in state court in Alabama.

I anticipate filling a similar motion in 20 years the next time Marquette makes it to the Final Four.

Read more...

Wait, Really?

So I was just looking at something on ESPN.com and I saw that 12-0 Boise State (ranked #9 nationally) is going to be playing #11 TCU (10-2) in a bowl game this year. Sounds like an awesome game, right? Two reasonably prominent teams that played well this season. Then, something struck me a little funny.

Boise State and TCU will be squaring off in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. I'm sure this has been brought up before by people far more knowledgeable about college football than I, but seriously? Going undefeated gets you to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? Granted, it seems on paper like a decent game, with #11 and #9 playing against each other, but come on. A game that good deserves a much more prestigious sounding bowl game, or at least one with a lot more succinctness to it (also, is succinctness a word? Yes, I know, I have a degree in English. Shut up.).

For Christ's sake, if we're not going to have a playoff in college football, then we should at least have a law mandating that quality of competition be reflected in quality of bowl game name. Went 12-0 or 10-2? You get something like the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl or Rose Bowl. Went 6-6 and just made a postseason game because there are a ridiculous amount of superfluous bowl games? Congratulations, assclowns, you're going to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, the PapaJohns.com Bowl or the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Come on, people, it makes sense.

Anyway, congratulations on going undefeated, Boise State. Don't worry, The BCS totally works. Totally.

Read more...

Just to switch things up...a post on the BCS

Since this discussion is going down in an everyone-write-your-own-post fashion, here is my contribution.

DISCLAIMER: This post does not take the financial aspect of the debate into consideration at all. My argument is that a playoff would ultimately leave the fans just as upset, and ultimately more upset, than they are with the BCS system.

Maybe I glazed over someone mentioning this, but I'm pretty sure that you guys are missing one important point: if you go to a playoff there will still be debate over who really deserves to be there, conference championships would still unfairly screw over certain teams, and no one would really be all that satisfied. In other words, it would solve nothing.

Consider the following, very plausible situation: Missourri loses to Oklahoma and LSU loses to Tennessee in the Big 12 and SEC Championships, respectively. Also, West Virginia holds up against Pittsburgh.

That would mean a championship game between West Virginia and Ohio State (which, by the way, I really really hope doesn't happen). Since the Rose Bowl always wants a Big Ten/Pac-10 matchup, they would invite Illinois and Arizona State (a real thriller). Since Tennessee won the SEC, they would get a BCS bid. Since Hawaii is undefeated and eligible to go to a BCS bowl, they would get an invite. Then you have the ACC champion, either Virginia Tech or Boston College and the Big 12 champion, Oklahoma.

Now, one might say, "Look at those terrible games, this is why there should be a playoff." And yes, a playoff between those eight teams would be more entertaining than four independent, crappy games. But explain that to Georgia and Kansas, who would finish the regular season #3 and #4 in the BCS rankings, respectively. Kansas is a one loss team (and their one loss was to a tough team) and Georgia is almost inarguably the hottest team in the country right now. Explain to them why they don't even get into the eight-team playoff.

Now you can say that Kansas had their shot. "All" they had to do was beat Missourri and Oklahoma to maintain their perfect record. But Georgia has dominated their opponents--including Florida, Kentucky and Auburn--over the last two months. At times, they've looked unstoppable. Except they are stoppable, by a playoff system or the BCS system. Either way, Georgia gets screwed. And either way, people are not satisfied with the declared champion.

Even in a less bizzarre year, with a playoff, people would argue about who should get those two at-large bids and people will bitch and moan when a weak conference sends a weak conference champion in the place of a great non-champion from another conference.

So with those complaints existing either way, I prefer the current system that really does give a playoff feel to every game throughout the year, increasingly as the season progresses. A two or three loss team can pull a conference championship out of their ass and go to a BCS game, but the moment they lose that second game, all national championship hopes essentially evaporate. Games like LSU/Kentucky, LSU/Arkansas, Kentucky/Lousiville, Kentucky/Tennessee, USC/Stanford, Oklahoma/Texas Tech, etc. etc. lose a lot of "magic" (or whatever you want to call it) if you know the losers of those game will probably get into the playoff anyway.

Read more...