Five Inconveniences in College Football (Not Called the BCS)
December 2, 2008
These are a few things one must realize when covering, analyzing, and just plain being a fan of college football in today’s world. These are grossly opinionated, and I may be wrong, and it would be a terrible tragedy…but if you agree, show me some love.
5. It takes three years to build a program
That’s incorrect, and the first year does not count. I do not care if you are Michigan or New Mexico State. You cannot be given three years and expect to turn around a program.
In the first year, whatever you do as far as wins go is great. That’s where Notre Dame screwed up in re-signing Weis after just one season, and that’s where Michigan fans are being wrong in judging Rich Rodriguez.
How many years? Five. You give the coach a chance to get his own freshmen in and graduate them. If he can’t win with his program in five years, can him. If he is winning, re-sign him. Simple as that.
Four years is just one short. This is not the NFL where you can buy and sell players up the river whenever you please. You have to recruit them, train them, groom them, and help them mature.
4. Oklahoma is always best of the best
I am going to catch a lot of flak here, but there is no secret the BCS loves OU. They are the WORST of the best and, with stats, it is easy to say.
It is evident again this year. It is yet to be seen what happens in the Big 12 championship and probably inevitable national championship appearance. Since Bob Stoops arrived, the Sooners they have dominated the Big 12 and the BCS charts. But there results stop looking impressive there.
In the nine years Stoops has been there, he has taken them to nine bowls, 4-5 overall. Six were BCS bowls, 2-4 overall. Three were national championships, 1-2 overall.
The record shows that maybe Stoops cant handle the pressure on top of the hill, since the last four BCS games (in five years) were all losses. (College football’s Marty Schottenheimer, anyone?)
So the argument doesn’t begin and end there; let’s compare them to a primary rival and similarly successful opponent in Big 12 play, Texas, the last nine years. Texas vs. OU head to head in the last 10 is 6-4, OU with the advantage. Texas has also been to a bowl every year and amassed a 6-3 record.
It took Texas two tries to equal Oklahoma’s BCS wins, going 2-0. It took Texas one trip to the national championship to take the trophy home, 1-0.
This rivalry will be argued to the depths of eternity, but the last nine years, Stoops has the edge on Brown, but Brown beats everybody else on the main stage. The BCS loves OU, plain and simple. But maybe the BCS and the media need to re-work that.
3. USC plays an inferior schedule
OK, the Trojans are in the Pac-10 AND when you see my No. 2 misconception, it will add to the fact they blow it away. Their current streaks? Six 11-plus-win seasons in a row, six BCS bowl appearances in a row, six (going on seven, some albeit shared) Pac-10 titles in a row.
But that only adds fuel to the fire that they play a cupcake conference, right? Nope. They are 5-1 in those BCS games the last six years, 1-1 for the national title. They beat Big 10 and Big 12 opponents in those five games.
Sure, they have gone 51-7 since 2002 in the Pac-10, but what have they done, really? Including bowl games, since 2002, the Trojans have handled the other major conferences, 15-2. They are 2-0 vs. the ACC (two teams), 5-0 vs. the Big 10 (four teams), 4-0 vs. the SEC (two teams), and 4-2 vs. the Big 12 (five teams). They haven’t played a Big East team, and if you want stats on the mid majors: 3-0 vs. MWC (two teams), and 4-0 (three teams) vs. WAC.
They haven’t played anyone else except Notre Dame, whom they have beaten seven years in a row. Um, that doesn’t seem too inferior. Pete Carroll got there in 2000, by the way.
2. Big East Football doesn’t belong in the BCS
I am not going to argue for or against the BCS; I am currently evaluating the way the system is at current. Um, earth to college football fans, Big East Football has won a BCS game three years in a row (versus the Big 12, ACC and SEC). It hasn’t sent a team to the national championship since Miami left the conference, but was close two of the last three years, when it produced one-loss teams in Louisville and West Virginia.
As far as the six major conferences go the last five years in the BCS, No. 1 is the SEC, which is 6-1 overall in the BCS games and 3-0 in the national championship, with four teams (LSU, Georgia, Florida, and Auburn) accounting for that record.
No. 2, statistically, is the Pac-10, which is 4-1, 1-1 in the title game. One problem, USC is the only representative for the five years. For that reason, the Pac-10 drops to third.
So, technically, No. 2 should be the Big East, which is 4-1 as well, but no title game appearances, though it has done it with four different teams, as well (WV, Louisville, Pitt, and Miami).
No. 4 would be the Big 12, which has the second most teams placed yearly but is 3-5, 1-2 in the title game and has sent four teams (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Kansas State).
No. 5 is the Big 10. Regarded for a long time as the best conference in football until recent times and the proof, the Big 10 has been involved in nine BCS games in five years (out of 22), but is a measly 3-6, 0-2 in the title game. It has also sent four teams to the BCS (Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Illinois).
Last is the ACC. Although it has been competitive this year, recent history shows it should be fighting for its spot. It is 0-5 in the last five years with no title appearances, this is among three teams sent (VT, Wake Forest, and Florida State).
1. Lee Corso picks
So what is his record, anyway? On the GameDay site games, Corso went 6-8 for the regular season. I had to watch ton of YouTube footage for this one. I was also investigating 2007 picks, and, man, he had a great year last year. He at very least won 10 games from what I saw. I couldn’t get all of them.
So even though he had a good year last year, he showed signs of slowing down this year. But I would sell on Corso picks from now on. He’ only getting older…
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