Bracketology after 3/14

Here’s where it stands right now: If Mississippi State upsets Tennessee in the SEC championship game, one “barely-in” team will be knocked out of the field. A case could be made for any of the five teams I have in…
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Jenkins wins Thorpe Award

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Ohio State’s Malcolm Jenkins was named college football’s best defensive back Thursday when he won the Jim Thorpe Award.

Jenkins finished ahead of Eric Berry (Tennessee) and Taylor Mays (USC).

 

“This is something I’ve had my eye on for some time,” Jenkins said. “And it’s not just about stats. If it was, I wouldn’t be here. It’s about leadership, and setting an example, too. You can’t imagine what this means to me. I was a semifinalist last year, and I’ve wanted to win it ever since.”

 

In other awards Thursday:

 

• Tim Tebow won the Maxwell Award for the second year, edging Texas’ Colt McCoy and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell for the honor given to college football’s best all-round player.

 

• Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford beat out Harrell and McCoy for the Davey O’Brien Award, which is given to the top quarterback.

 

• McCoy was the Walter Camp Player of the Year, leading the All-America team.

 

• Michael Crabtree, a Texas Tech sophomore, won his second straight Biletnikoff Award for best wide receiver.

 

• Running back Shonn Greene of Iowa won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back, finishing ahead of Knowshon Moreno of Georgia and Javon Ringer of Michigan State, who will meet in the Capital One Bowl on New Year’s Day in Orlando.

 

• The Outland Trophy (best interior lineman) was won by Andre Smith of Alabama.

 

• Rey Maualuga of USC won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the best defensive player over James Laurinaitis of Ohio State and Aaron Maybin of Penn State.

 

• Matt Fodge of Oklahoma State won the Ray Guy Award (best punter) and Graham Gano of Florida State the Lou Groza Award (best kicker).

 

• Nick Saban was selected the Coach of the Year after leading Alabama to the SEC championship game and a 12-1 record.

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College Football Bowl Games Are Boring

Bowl games are boring. BCS bowl games are also boring. College football experts put entirely too much emphasis on these games, especially the BCS games.

 

If you are Alabama, what’s there to play for? You had national title aspirations a week ago and watched your season go down the toilet with a loss to Florida in the SEC Championship Game. What’s next? Utah. Oh boy!

 

If you are Texas, why would you be motivated for Ohio State? The Longhorns feel they should be in the national title game playing Florida. Instead, it’s off to Arizona to play Ohio State for the third time in four seasons. Ho-hum.

 

Can’t wait to watch USC beat Penn State by 50 in the Rose Bowl—that is if USC feels like it. USC is in the Rose Bowl for the fourth straight season. Wouldn’t it get old after while? Why not travel at least to Northern California for the Emerald Bowl? It’s not like USC has to travel for its trip the Rose Bowl.

 

Penn State won’t score on USC if USC doesn’t want them to.  If you feel this is an intriguing matchup, you’re either a homer or have too much time on your hands.

 

The International Bowl? In Canada? On January 3? Where does Canada get off by playing its game in a sacred month anyway? Good teams play in January… Buffalo and UConn don’t fit the bill. Wonder if when Turner Gill took the Buffalo job he considered the possibility of needing passports for his players?

 

Will this game be played on a 110-yard field? Will forward motion on offense be allowed? Will Gill go for the first down on third and one, or will Buffalo punt?

 

Wait, the GMAC Bowl is on January 6? The nerve. Does Ball State get to play two days before the national championship game because it was highly-ranked due to a process of elimination? Isn’t there a law against this sort of activity? This game deserves to be on December 6, not two days before the title game.

 

These college football experts love to put these BCS bowl games on a pedestal. Why? Just because a committee that shouldn’t exist designates a few bowl games that shouldn’t exist as BCS bowls, why are these more important? Like the BCS committee should go to jail for putting Cincinnati and Virginia Tech into a BCS game.

 

Oh, okay. I guess a million payout could be a good reason. Why isn’t the Cotton Bowl a BCS bowl? Especially after the Cowboys open their new digs. Why does Texas Tech have to play in a bowl with a million payout when it beat Texas? What did Georgia and Michigan State do to warrant more of a payout in the Capital One Bowl than Texas Tech and Ole Miss in the Cotton?

 

Just like I loved the option, the wishbone, and 5-2 defenses, I loved the bowl tie-ins. I loved watching Nebraska and Oklahoma duke it out in November with a spot in Miami on the line. A lot of frozen oranges flying out of the stands at random players from the opposing team.

 

On January 1, we would wake up early in the morning to watch wall-to-wall football, capped off by the Orange Bowl at night on the painted grass in Miami. Some of my fondest college football memories took place in the Orange Bowl.

 

Remember those halftime shows at the Orange Bowl? No wonder more people did drugs back then. I would imagine you could trip out pretty severely while watching one of these halftime shows in the 1970’s or early 1980’s. And this was before the Orange Bowl became the FedEx Orange Bowl. It was more pure back then.

 

I watched a re-run of the 1980 Orange Bowl between Oklahoma and Florida State on local television a few weeks back. I don’t touch foreign substances, but I was tripping out by watching the halftime show myself. Did they actually think this was cool back in 1980?

 

Now the Orange Bowl isn’t even at the Orange Bowl. The Cotton Bowl won’t even be at the Cotton Bowl next year. Chick-fil-A bought out the naming rights for the Peach Bowl. Now it’s just the Chick-fil-A Bowl. There is a bowl game on a blue field in Boise, Idaho… outdoors! Have you ever been outdoors in the Rocky Mountain region in December? Have you ever felt your urine freeze?

 

There’s even a bowl named after pizza. No, not just Papa John’s pizza. It’s the Papajohns.com Bowl. Why not call it the Pizza Bowl and play it in Italy? Hey, we have a game in Canada. Why not?

 

How is this traditional? That is the excuse for keeping these things around in the first place. There are 34 bowl games, which is about 24 too many. Can’t imagine many people will set the DVR to record Rice and Western Michigan… and that’s not because nobody has the NFL Network on their cable system. It’s the Texas Bowl, which will probably move to Oklahoma in a few years and still be called the Texas Bowl.

 

A playoff system won’t happen. If you truly believe in your heart it will, you are kidding yourself. If you have an eight-team playoff, the ninth team will complain about being snubbed. If you have a 16-team playoff, the 17th team will whine. People are going to whine regardless. And there are 17 million reasons—34 million for the Big 12, SEC, and Big 11—not to have a playoff.

 

It’s all about the almighty dollar. Or in one case, it’s all about the almighty Canadian dollar. And pretty soon, it will be about the almighty Peso in the Mexicanfoodisnotreallytacobell.com Bowl from Mexico City.

 

These bowl games can’t take a hike, eh?

 

Ole.

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The Wrong Teams Are Playing for the National Championship…Again

Well, here we go again.  Another year of college football madness, and another year settled by the BCS system.  Ah…the BCS system!  Every year college football gets more complicated at the end of the season, and every year the BCS continues to show us more and more of its flaws.

Last year, if you remember, Ohio State was the only one-loss team left in the major conferences.  There were a number of deserving two-loss teams that could have gone to the National Championship, including Kansas, Georgia, USC, and LSU.  We all know that Ohio State and LSU got in, but who really should have gotten in?

Let’s see what happened.  Georgia demolished Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and were ranked No. 4 before the BCS selections were made.  USC obliterated Illinois in the Rose Bowl.  Kansas beat a very good Virginia Tech team.  LSU beat overrated Ohio State by two touchdowns and were ranked No. 7 before the BCS selections came out.

USC and Georgia were the two most deserving teams, and the two best teams.  Even if Ohio State had to stay in, USC and Georgia were both better than LSU and had more of a claim to the title than LSU.

The National Championship should have been Ohio State (and that’s only because they had one loss) against either Georgia or USC.  Georgia was ranked higher than LSU, and they really did deserve the National Championship that year.  After what USC did in the Rose Bowl, they proved that they also deserved the National Championship.

Now to this year.

What a mess this year was!  There were many one-loss major conference teams who had a fair claim to the National Title.  Let’s take this step by step.

First, we’ll look at the National Championship.  Florida lost at home to a good, unranked Ole Miss team.  Oklahoma lost by 10 on a neutral field to…No. 3 Texas…ouch.

Now, let’s look at the Fiesta Bowl.  No. 3 Texas lost on the road to No. 7 Texas Tech in the final seconds…but they beat Oklahoma.  Ohio State…lost to the two good teams they played, so they don’t get a say.

Next, we have the Sugar Bowl.  No. 4 Alabama lost to Florida in the SEC Championship game, but they’re still 12-1.  Utah played a weak schedule, and they wouldn’t get in anyway because they’re in a bad conference, so they don’t get a say.

Now we have the Orange Bowl.  The Orange Bowl will now be possibly the worst BCS bowl in history, pitting 9-4 Virginia Tech against 11-2 Cincinnati.  What a snoozer.

Now it’s the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl.  This features No. 8 Penn State against No. 5 USC.  Penn State lost to a very underrated Iowa team, on the road, in harsh conditions, and they were not supplied heaters.  Did I mention they lost on a last-second field goal?  It was a traditional upset that happens to even the best teams in the nation.

USC, on the other hand, lost to Oregon State.  Oregon State dominated them the entire game, even though the final score was close.  Also, just for your information, both USC and Penn State played Ohio State and Oregon State.  Penn State and USC both beat Ohio State, and USC lost to Oregon State while Penn State beat them by 31.

Now let’s look at No. 7 Texas Tech, who got left out of a BCS bowl because only two teams per conference are allowed in a BCS bowl.  They beat No. 3 Texas, but lost to No. 1 Oklahoma, who No. 3 Texas beat…see what I’m getting at?  Correct!  The Big 12 mess will start everything off.

Now here’s how it goes.  Earlier in the season, Texas and Oklahoma played on a neutral field.  Texas won by a score of 45-35.

Texas then went on to play games against four tough teams in a row.  On the final game of that stretch, they faced Texas Tech on the road.  Texas Tech beat them on a last-second touchdown throw, 39-33.

Texas Tech then went on to play a couple of tough games.  Texas Tech then played Oklahoma on the road.  They got demolished…completely demolished.  Texas Tech was held to 21 points, while Oklahoma put over 60 on the scoreboard, which they ended up doing for five games in a row, a new NCAA record.

The Big 12 mess gives three teams the claim to the Big 12 Championship and the National Title.  Let’s put it this way: Texas won on a neutral field and lost on the road, Oklahoma won at home and lost on a neutral field, and Texas Tech won at home and lost on the road.

Texas Tech ended up being down in the rankings and almost losing to Baylor, so they really shouldn’t have expected a National Championship bid.  Texas and Oklahoma, however, both have great claim to the National Championship.

I think head to head does matter, and the tiebreaker says not, but since OU jumped Texas in the rankings when they didn’t play, the Big 12 tiebreaker puts them in the Big 12 Championship.

I think that Texas, honestly, is more deserving to go to the National Championship.  Texas won on a neutral field and lost on the road on a last second play.  Oklahoma won at home and lost on a neutral field.  Therefore, Texas should be in the National Championship over Oklahoma.

Now for the next part.  Alabama, Penn State, and USC all feel that they have a claim to the National Championship as well.  Let’s see what Florida’s loss was like compared to theirs.

Alabama lost to Florida, and although they are a great team, they are eliminated for that reason.

Penn State lost in horrible conditions on the road.  Yes, the horrible conditions affected Iowa too, but it affected PSU more.  Penn State is a balanced offense, and Iowa is a running offense.  In harsh winds and cold, it is much easier to run than pass, so Iowa was given another advantage, along with being at home, for this game.  Iowa pulled a classic upset by kicking a field goal in the final second.

Florida lost to a good Ole Miss team (who are not as good as a very underrated Iowa team).  Florida was at home, and it was a clear and warm day.  They lost because they missed an extra point and instead of attempting a field goal with 30 seconds left to win it, they went for it on fourth down and failed.

The last time I checked, a loss at home in perfect conditions is not as respectable as a loss in a hostile road environment in bad conditions.  But oh…that’s right, we can just forget about Florida’s loss and say that Penn State’s loss was horrible and they don’t deserve a shot at the National Championship.

USC lost to Oregon State on the road (who Penn State crushed).  USC has a fair say in the National Championship, except that they only proved themselves by beating Ohio State at home (who Penn State beat on the road, where Ohio State has lost only four times in the past eight years).  USC has a case for the Championship, but it’s not as strong as Penn State’s.

Therefore, from the arguments given, Penn State should be in the National Championship over Florida.

Now I know that all you fans will start complaining, but based on the arguments, these are the deserving teams.  The National Championship should be Penn State vs. Texas.  However, even if that was not the case, other good National Championship matchups could be Penn State vs. Florida, Florida vs. Texas, and Penn State vs. Oklahoma.

Although the National Championship should be an entertaining matchup, the BCS got it wrong, again.  Due to severe blindness and bias by voters, and due to the computers’ lack of ability to grade performances, the BCS continues to show more and more flaws.

Either we need a playoff, or the BCS needs to be fixed.  As for this year, the winner of the “National Championship” should have to share it with the winner of the Rose Bowl (most likely Penn State) and with Texas if they win.

Every year the BCS causes more and more controversy and gets worse and worse, yet nothing is being done to fix it.  It is a shame that these teams that deserve the National Championship don’t get it.  Hopefully the teams I mentioned will get a share of the National Championship if they win convincingly, but if not, it’s even a bigger disgrace for the BCS.

Many fans may attack me for saying that I’m just mad, but so are so many other fans.  The other teams that I mentioned have just as much of a case to go to the National Championship as those who are in it.

In conclusion, the BCS got it wrong again, and it will continue to get things wrong until it is eliminated or fixed.

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Mitch’s Week 15 College Football Picks: Part Four

I’m having very mixed feelings about doing my final write-ups of the regular season for this year.

I am coming to the realization that football is almost over for another year, but at the same time, I realize that we have a full slate of bowl games to go. As I know that most days I’ll be writing up just one or maybe a handful of games at a time, it is going to give me time to work on a lot of the other projects I have been talking about recently.

Jordan and I have been working on and discussing the inner workings of several other sites we’ll be starting up that will all be similar to The College Football Place.

On tap we have college basketball, Major League Baseball, pro football, pro basketball, and pro hockey, but we plan on branching into just about any sport you can imagine.

While my favorite sport is and always will be college football, I plan on remaining active in the other sites but may not be as prominent as I am here. For the professional sports, we plan on having fantasy covered as well, though we haven’t fully decided if we are going to go with a fantasy site that covers fantasy of all pro sports or just add a fantasy section to the site itself.

We’re just trying to keep it real and to give people what they want in a comprehensive manner that will allow the sites to be easily navigated . We feel based on what we’ve seen and heard from everyone about the first site, we can deliver the same quality that our audience has grown accustomed to.

I also plan on writing a series of articles that I intend on compiling together into a book.

While my first book, Betting on College Football Made Simple, was more of a “how to” style book, my next work will revolve directly around the current state of college football and delve into what is working and what isn’t, bringing to light a lot of how we got to where we are today.

Without giving too much away, I plan on going into everything from bowl tie-ins to ESPN Game Plan and the impact of cable television. I will also take a peek into the future and on what paths I think we are headed.

This is something I have been planning to do for quite some time, and I am looking forward to getting it rolling, though I have no idea how long a project of this scale will take to complete, especially with everything else I’ll be working on.

In any event, back to picking some games.

Today I’m only going to cover one game, as I’ve already covered all but four, and they can be found as usual under the picks tab.  I am saving the Big 12 Championship for the expanded coverage in the free newsletter, and tomorrow I will spend the entire article previewing the SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Florida.

 

Ball State -15 Vs. Buffalo (Friday 12/5/08, 8 EST) 4 out of 10

 

Here is a pick I’m not enjoying having to make and a game I probably will end up not playing.

I have been on Buffalo and coach Turner Gil almost all season, but I think that the Bulls may just be too overmatched in this one to continue to side with them. Ball State has been on a season-long roll, and I have ridden it as well.

The past few games I thought I could get value going against the Cardinals, but in the end, the value wasn’t there, as Ball State covered against both Central Michigan and Western Michigan. I think Gil and the Bulls need to be congratulated for the fine job they’ve done, especially QB Drew Willy.

That being said, I don’t think the Bulls’ offense is going to be the problem. Ball State QB Nate Davis has proved that he has all the tools to be successful under center at the major college level, and I suspect he’ll have his way with the nation’s 78th-ranked defense.

What disturbs me even further about Buffalo’s defense is that they are 94th in the country in yards allowed and 94th in passing yards allowed. This matchup doesn’t look favorable for them.

Buffalo enters the contest 7-4 against the spread this season, while Ball State is 9-2 against the number.

Buffalo is 5-1 against the spread in its last six following an against-the-spread loss and is 9-4 against the spread in its last 13 conference games.

Ball State is 6-2 against the spread in its last eight conference games, 20-7 against the spread in its last 27 games overall, and 6-2 against the spread following an against-the-spread win.

As I said earlier, I admire a team like Buffalo that gives 100 percent effort every time it hits the field, but In this case, I just don’t think that effort is going to be enough to cover against a very good Ball State team.

 

See the rest of Mitch’s Week 15 Part 4 College football picks against the spread

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BCS Got it Right: Oklahoma More Deserving than Texas or Texas Tech

I’m not a Texas fan or a Texas Tech fan and I don’t like Oklahoma.

I don’t like Oklahoma because they appear to get overrated in the polls each year and because I seem to remember Bob Stoops once saying, “The Big East and the Atlantic Coastal Conference should  play an elimination game for a BCS automatic bid.”

I’m hoping Oklahoma loses to Missouri this weekend and ends up playing Boise State in a bowl game.

However, I really do believe that the Sooners rightfully deserve the chance to play in the Big 12 Championship game over Texas or Texas Tech.

I know that Texas beat Oklahoma 45-35 on a neutral field and I know that Texas Tech beat Texas and Oklahoma beat Texas Tech.

You can go around in circles forever about which one deserves the higher BCS ranking on the basis of these three games. That’s up to you.

Oklahoma is still the right choice!

The Sooners aren’t more deserving because they totally annihilated Texas Tech as some people suggest, but rather because they went out and beat some tough non-conference teams while Texas and Texas Tech did not.

Oklahoma beat Cincinnati, the Big East champion, and TCU, currently ranked 11th in the BCS.

Texas played and beat Arkansas, Rice, UTEP, and Florida Atlantic. Meanwhile, Texas Tech had the easiest schedule of any Divison 1A team in the country—the Red Raiders beat Umass, Eastern Washington, Nevada, and SMU.

There is a lesson here—if you want to be highly-regarded, go out and schedule some tough non-conference teams!

Alabama, No. 1 in the BCS, didn’t make an effort to play a tough non-conference schedule. I don’t consider Clemson, Tulane, Western Kentucky, and Arkansas State a real test. They’re No. 1 because no one else from a BCS conference is undefeated.

Florida did play some tough games out of conference. They beat Miami (FL) and Florida State. This didn’t get them ranked higher than Alabama because they have a loss, but it did help the odds makers to decide they should be a 10-point favorite over Alabama in the SEC Championship Game this weekend.

USC is another team that made an effort to play a good non-conference schedule—Virginia, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Nobody knew how bad Notre Dame was going to be, but I believe it’s the way they beat Ohio State and the great defense they play that makes USC the best team in the country.

Back to the topic: Oklahoma should be rewarded for aggressive scheduling and Texas and Texas Tech should be penalized for poor scheduling.

This makes more sense than arguing about which one of the three had better wins against each other.

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Big Ten mailbag Part I

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

It’s a bit of a slow week around the blog and you guys have a ton of questions (well done, folks), so this will be the first of two Tuesday mailbags. Let’s get it going.

John from Austin, Texas, writes: Adam, First off, congrats on a great year with the blog! Its been a pleasure having someone cover the Big 10 as well as you do. My question is: What the heck is keeping Mike Locksley at Illinois? His name was mentioned for a few of the higher profile head coach jobs this season, but never seemed to get past the first interview. I can understand why he might be shy about an SEC job, but what else is keeping him from going to the next level?

Adam Rittenberg: Thanks for the kind words, John. Locksley is definitely holding out for a BCS-conference head-coaching position, ideally on the East Coast near his recruiting hub of Washington, D.C. He did talk with Clemson but didn’t have a great chance to get that job. Other than Clemson, I’m not sure how many other schools have interviewed him, though it wouldn’t surprise me if Syracuse has made contact. Locks gets paid well at Illinois and has no need to leave for a non-BCS job if he doesn’t want one. He’ll be a frontrunner for the Maryland job whenever Ralph Friedgen moves on, and he should get a close look for Syracuse. Locksley definitely has the personality and recruiting clout to succeed as a head coach on the highest level.

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Rob from Philadelphia writes: I’ve been reading the national media since Oregon State lost and (most likely) gave USC a Pac10 championship and a Rose Bowl birth. Most people of the opinion that it’s very unfortunate that USC is resigned to destroying Penn State. Some USC players are acting like they’ve already won the game. Defense aside, what is the basis for the Trojan’s status as a national media darling this year?

Adam Rittenberg: The national media loves teams that dominate November and win bowl games, and USC does both. After watching the USC-Notre Dame game on Saturday night, I’ll admit I bought into the hype quite a bit as well. The Trojans’ defense is merciless, and it will be tough for Penn State to score points. That said, USC’s offense is nothing special, and this team falls short of previous editions with Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. Penn State has a strong bowl record and doesn’t seem like the type of team to play itself out of a game. I’ll have a hard time picking against USC, but it won’t be a rout.

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Ian from Hartford, Conn., writes: It’s not necessarily big ten related, but who would play in the national championship game should OU get knocked off by Missouri this weekend. Texas is still ahead of USC in the BCS, but would they take a team that didnt win their conference? If USC does get bumped out of the Rose Bowl in favor of the title game, does Oregon State take their spot or another BCS team maybe OU or Texas?

Adam Rittenberg: If Missouri wins, I’d expect Texas to get the nod and play the winner of the SEC championship game in Miami on Jan. 8. USC might get bumped to No. 2, but the Trojans really lack quality wins, while Texas has beaten Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Missouri. Texas absolutely deserves to go over the Trojans, who needed a marquee win down the stretch and couldn’t get one because of the competition. Should USC jump into the title game, the Rose Bowl likely would take a team not from the Pac-10 (Texas would be my guess). USC, of course, also has to take care of business against UCLA.

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Celebrating Thanksgiving with YouTubes

Since I’m kind of bored this Thanksgiving day, with nothing really to do nor any work projects that need my attention, I thought I’d upload another Michigan-related Drive-Thru compilation.  It came down to 1970, 1974, 1987 or 1994.  The first three constitute much more interesting games in the series, but the 1994 game was easier to compile.  So, to celebrate Thanskgiving, I’ve uploaded John Cooper’s first… and sadly penultimate… win over Michigan in 1994.

This game was something of a career make-or-break game for Cooper.  He had received an extension after the 1992 tie, much to the chagrin of several Buckeye fans.  While his 1993 season marked a significant improvement over his previous years at the helm of the Buckeyes, the season ended in a shutout loss at Michigan and a very bleeh win over a 6 win Brigham Young team in the Holiday Bowl.  To make matters worse, the 1994 season was something of a painful one.  The Buckeyes lost early to Washington in Seattle, again lost to Illinois in a second-half collapse in the Horseshoe and, the coup de grace, were routed by Penn State 63-14 in Happy Valley.  Another loss to Michigan would put Cooper’s record against the Wolvereenies at 0-6-1 and make his already hot seat one hot enough for him to spontaneously combust.

The Game started off well enough for the Buckeyes.  They kicked off to Michigan, who drove about 60 yards through the strength of Tyrone Wheatley.  However, they found themselves in a 4th and Inches situation at the fringe of the Buckeyes red zone.  Instead of taking 3 points, Moeller opted to go for it with a pass to the fullback in the flats.  It backfired, giving Ohio State the ball on the turnover on downs.  However, it didn’t take long for an Eddie George fumble to give Michigan the ball back in great field position.  Before his Heisman season in 1995, fumbles were a chronic problem for Eddie George.  Combine his fumble-itis with some of the impatience you can see in his earlier games and you can imagine why the coaching staff, at the time, honestly thought Pepe Pearson would be their tailback for the future (that is: 1995).

Michigan’s offense, in spite of the great field position given to them, went backwards 34 yards.  On 3rd and 44, Michigan went with the draw for a short gain and punted back to Ohio State’s offense.  Ohio State’s offense, a very anemic unit in 1994 in spite of the brilliance of future Pro-Bowler Korey Stringer and professional mainstay Joey Galloway, stalled, setting up a punt.  However, the Scott Terna punt that followed was a gamechanger.  Amani Toomer, Michigan’s punt returner, made a curious decision not to field the ball with a fair catch¹.  Ohio State’s punt team eventually downed the ball within the Michigan 2 yard line.  A few plays later, Todd Collins, Michigan’s QB, tripped over himself in the end zone for a safety.  This safety marks the first real appearance of the LOLverines for this game.  Later in the second half, they would show up in full force to give the game to the Buckeyes.

The kickoff following the safety gave Ohio State a short field.  It didn’t take that long for Ohio State to capitalize.  After marching deep into the Michigan red zone, Bobby Hoying ran a poorly executed bootleg keeper into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.  The Buckeyes had taken a 9-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Bill Young, pictured to the left, had held Michigan in check through the first half.  After Michigan’s ensuing drive went nowhere, the Buckeyes received the ball back.  On this drive, the Buckeyes found themselves in that gray area between punting and going for it on 4th down.  With the down and distance 4th and 5, Hoying connected with Joey Galloway to extend the chains.  However, on 3rd and goal later in that drive, Hoying overshot a wide-open Galloway in the end zone.  The Buckeyes settled for a field goal and a 12-0 lead.

Michigan’s ensuing drive was cause for consternation for the Buckeye faithful.  It had seemed that Michigan’s offensive coordinator had finally found something he liked in Bill Young’s defensive schemes.  A bootleg fake-stretch play to Tyrone Wheatley freed up Amani Toomer deep down field for an enormous gain early into the drive.  With it, Michigan had moved from their own 30 yard line to the Ohio State 11 yard line.  Fortunately, Bill Young’s unit held, forcing Michigan to settle for a field goal to cut into the deficit.  The 12-3 scoreline eventually carried over into the intermission.  Ohio State led by virtue of the game-changing punt by Terna and the safety gift by Todd Collins.  Failing that, they were outplayed in most statistical areas in spite of the brilliant play from the defense.

The third quarter was a nailbiting affair for Ohio State fans.  The Buckeyes began with the ball, but went 3 and out.  The would continue to go 3 and out for the remainder of the quarter.  Michigan, on the other hand, racked up 94 yards of offense in the quarter to Ohio State’s 10 total yards.  While Michigan continued to dominate possession, Ohio State’s offense couldn’t muster a first down.  Michigan’s first drive of the second half resulted in a field goal to halve the Buckeye lead.  Michigan’s next offensive series after that played out just like the first of the half.  With the clock rolling over into the final quarter of play, Michigan had the ball, the momentum, and were looking to take the lead.

However, Michigan’s offense did sputter again, setting up another field goal try for the Wolvereenies.  With momentum clearly on Michigan’s side, Marlon Kerner — special teams superhero for the Buckeyes — made the play of the game.  A high snap by the LOLverines on the try was all the delay Kerner needed to spike the ball and spike it backwards.  Mike Vrabel was in pursuit of the live ball, hoping for a scoop and score.  Vrabel, however, was not able to come up with it, but Kerner’s authoritative block not only denied Michigan 3 points, and not only turned momentum back to the Buckeyes, but also flipped field position.  Ohio State’s offense now had the ball within the Michigan half of the field.  They made good on Kerner’s efforts as only that 1994 offense could: by getting at least 3 points out of it.  Ohio State now had a 15-6 lead with about 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter, good enough to extend their lead back to a two-score cushion.

The LOLverines now woke up.  On the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Todd Collins found the waiting arms of the pass rush by Luke Fickell, the consensus scariest dude currently on the Buckeye coaching staff, who tipped the Collins pass to himself for the interception.  Unlike the last gamechanging play by Kerner, the Buckeye offense plowed ahead with Eddie George, then an impatient banger between tackles, for a touchdown.  The score was now 22-6, with about 10 minutes left.

Michigan’s next drive went a long way in making that the final score of the game.  Michigan’s offense took what the Buckeye defense gave them, eventually getting into the Buckeye red zone.  However, the LOLverine offense went backwards after that.  As you’ll see, on a 3rd and 23 play, Michigan’s left tackle flinched while a Michigan receiver was in motion, upending him.  As it turned out, the left tackle was flagged for a false start, and not an unnecessary roughness penalty against his own teammate.  3rd and 23 became 3rd and 28.  3rd and 28 became 4th and 28.  4th and 28 became a turnover on downs.  With about 5 minutes left, the Buckeyes were feeling it.

Ohio State ran out the next 4 minutes, exhausting Michigan’s timeouts in the process.  Michigan was set to get the ball back with about one minute and 30 seconds left, down 16 points, but the LOLverine special teams roughed the punter.  Now, the Buckeye offense could ice the game away, celebrate their first victory over Michigan in Columbus in 10 years (sigh…), and prepare to face the loser of the SEC Championship game in the Citrus Bowl.  That happened to be Alabama that year, and, sadly, I think you know what happened.  Fucking Jay Barker².

Still, for all the static John Cooper got at Ohio State, it was rewarding to see him feel so relieved after this game.  He deserved the free ride he got as time expired; it’s just unfortunate he couldn’t beat them more often.

Two other things of note about this game:

• First, it was Gary Moeller’s first loss in November as head coach at Michigan.  He was undefeated in November for 5 years to that point.
• Second, Ohio State set a team record for sacks this game, breaking a mark set in 1991.  Musburger and Vermeil didn’t say how much the Buckeyes tallied in this game.  However, the Buckeye pass rush was excellent this game.

Without any further ado, the game can be seen below.

1. He would eventually repeat this later in the game.
2. He does campus promotions all the time at the University of Alabama, maybe I should make time to find him and demand an apology for that game.

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A Letter to the NCAA: Please Institute Title Games for All BCS Conferences

Dear NCAA,

As college football fans look at our calendars and see that the date is currently Nov. 27 (Happy Thanksgiving everyone, by the way), we realize that there is still a lot to be decided in college football.

For instance, Alabama and Florida are already all set to meet in the SEC Championship game, and it will more than likely decide who represents the conference in the national title game, and who will go to the Sugar Bowl instead.

Also, you have an ACC race that is still completely up in the air, and a Big 12 South that is rife with controversy over who should represent it in the conference title game against Missouri.

Finally, you have Notre Dame, who is just looking to coast into the Sun Bowl, but they have an enormous roadblock called USC in their way.

These issues, for the most part, will take two weeks to sort out. What are these two weeks lacking? The answer is Big Ten football, and I don’t like it.

This conference is one of the Elite Six that comprise the BCS, the system that you have chosen to determine our national champion. This conference has not only sent Ohio State to the slaughter two years running against Florida and LSU, but it also sent Illinois to get pulverized by a USC team that some people thought should have been in the National Title Game last year.

The reason I point out these facts is that they don’t jibe with the notion that the Big Ten is one of those Elite Six. There are many things that stand in the way of this recognition amongst the American sports-loving public, but one of them is something that should be rectified immediately: The Big Ten should have a Conference Title Game. 

This discrepancy creates an unfair advantage for the Big Ten that most other conferences would kill for. Their top team is merely the one that has finished the season with the best in-conference record, not the one that had to go to a neutral site and fend off a team hell-bent on destroying them.

This creates champions who perhaps aren’t as battle-tested as those in other conferences, and the previous two seasons’ BCS performances help back up my point on that.

I am of the opinion that the Big Ten could do itself a big favor in helping restore some of its national splendor if they adhered to the following plan.

First off, let me say that I feel that a conference title game will not work if there are an odd number of teams in the conference. Therefore, part one involves attracting a 12th team.

Now, I know that they currently stand at 11, and that if they have 12 teams they might as well be called the Big 12 Part Deux. However, if they can attract another team to join from the MAC or from Conference USA, they could split into two divisions: an East and a West.

For the sake of my hypothetical arrangement, let’s say that Northern Illinois decided to join the Big Ten. You could split the conference down the following lines.

 

Big Ten East

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Penn State

Purdue

Indiana

 

Big Ten West

Illinois

Iowa

Minnesota

Northern Illinois

Northwestern

Wisconsin

 

Obviously, the champion from each division would compete in this conference title game, similarly to all the other ones throughout the nation. This game could be played in many places, including Ford Field in Detroit or at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.

This move would be profitable for the Big Ten provided it could find a suitable title sponsor for the game, and they could run programming on the Big Ten Network touting the game, have in-depth perspective and behind-the-scenes access throughout, and even have the game simulcast on ESPN and BTN.

The best part of all of this would be that you could have it the week after the season ends, i.e. this week, the week BEFORE the other conference championship games would be played. This would make the game easily marketable, and a much better watch than some of the other fare available this week (can anyone say Notre Dame/USC?)

The idea of having a Big Ten Championship game is something I’m sort of surprised that the brass in the conference hasn’t given more serious credence to. After all, they were one of the final holdouts of the conference tournament trend at the end of the men’s basketball season, but they finally realized the financial and exposure gains they could make, and they went ahead with the idea.

Now, if the Big Ten goes ahead with this idea for a conference championship, I would say that the Big East and Pac-10 should follow suit as well.

But wait, you may say. It may be easy to tack on an extra week to the Big Ten schedule since they finish two weeks before other conferences, but the Pac-10 would be more difficult to do, since their last week is also the last week of the season.

Au contraire, mon frere. It isn’t so difficult when you look at the schedules.  It just so happens that USC has THREE BYE WEEKS! Can anyone explain to me why USC, playing in the hapless Pac-10, needs three bye weeks? If anyone can, I’m all ears.

I think it should be a rule that if your conference is going to be in the BCS, then you have to have a conference championship game. In the interest of fairness, this is how it should be. It isn’t fair that the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 all have to beat up on each other for the entire season, and then play one more trap game the final week if the other three conferences don’t.

The splitting into divisions of the Pac-10 and Big East would be easier than the Big Ten, mostly because you wouldn’t have to add another school to make them equal in size. You could play the Pac-10 title game in San Francisco, Phoenix, or San Diego. You could also play the Big East title game in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, or Foxboro.

Any of these options would be a far better one than just letting the regular season sort out who plays.

If you institute conference title games for each of these three conferences, it would serve two main purposes. One, it would provide more drama and intrigue for each of the titles. People would tune in to see if an upstart West Virginia squad could spoil Connecticut’s aspirations of a BCS berth, or if Oregon State could somehow foil USC yet again to snare a spot.

The other and more enticing option to these conferences is the money that could be drawn in. Who wouldn’t want to throw dollars in the direction of a major market like Boston, Phoenix, or any of the other cities mentioned?

These conferences could make themselves more money by having these games, and the exposure granted to their programs could prove invaluable in attracting donors and recruits, both precious commodities in the college game.

Am I saying that conference title games will help fix what’s wrong with college football? No, but it will certainly go a long way toward making these conferences more relevant in the future of the BCS, and perhaps will quiet some of the doubters who refuse to admit that these schools aren’t qualified to be in the biggest games of the college football year.

I hope that you will consider my proposals, and in the end, act upon them not only to help your members’ schools, but to help continue to advance your brand.

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Big House Blog Turkey Day: Big Ten Bowl Projections

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