Bowl Championship Series RIP

The College Presidents’ Oversight Committee has approved a four team seeded playoff.  It is WAY overdue.

It is hard to understand why it took the ivy covered college presidents so long to realize their dream of squeezing more money out of the sport of football.  Any form of playoff would automatically generate a lot more money than the BcS ever did.  While this plan is a major step forward, I still have a lot of questions.

My first question is why did this take so long?  We hear that the Bowl system had to be protected.  Who among us did not shed a tear when the Poulan Weedeater Bowl went belly up?  I have more to say about the Bowls later.  But when a team must only win 6 games to qualify, how important can the bowl be?

Then there was the argument that a playoff would negatively impact the student-athletes.  But those same educators have no issues with the basketball players missing 3 weeks of school for the NCAA basketball championships.  And those require teams to visit 3 different cities.

 

Second it will not start until the 2014.  WHY?  Because none of the supporters of the BcS can … Read more at FryingPanSports

EDITORIAL: The NCAA declares Auburn QB Newton eligible

2010 BCS National Championship Game
Image via Wikipedia


To protect their backsides, the Auburn administration declared QB Newton ineligible and then asked the NCAA to make him eligible for the SEC Championship game.

The NCAA obliged like the faithful dog it has become for the power conferences and granted eligibility. There seems to be little doubt that Newton’s Dad tried to extort $180K from two other schools for his son’s services.

The NCAA said there was “no direct evidence” that Newton Jr. had any idea that his father was trying to sell his services. That is crap and everyone knows it.

If the BcS was threatened by a QB with eligibility issues from a 1st place Boise State or TCU team, you can bet the house, the car, the wife and your first born that the NCAA would suggest that the QB be held out until the full investigation was complete. Given its history for prompt action in the Reggie Bush case, that would occur in 2099.

The NCAA should complete the investigation immediately. To assume that the child knew nothing about the father getting nearly 200K is ludicrous. The NCAA needs to release the evidence of innocence.

This organization is totally incompetent when it … Read more at FryingPanSports

A bad weekend for good College and NFL games.

College:

#1 Oregon @ California – Cal struggled with Washington State last week 20-13 but plays better at home. That said it does not play well enough to make this a game. That’s OK because no one will see it because the game is on Verses. Oregon continues to win and gets this one easily.

Georgia @ #2 Auburn – Georgia is playing a little better than in earlier in the season. They have won 4 out of their last 5 but that stops Saturday. Georgia’s best hope it that Auburn is looking past them to next weeks game with Alabama. Auburn wins if Newton plays but not as big as you might think. If Newton does not play, the Bulldogs win. In any case this game will be pulled off the board at Vegas.

San Diego State @ #3 TCU – SDS is the last chance for a team to beat TCU. Next week TCU gets 1 win New Mexico State. SDS is a solid team at 7-2 but does not have enough speed to play with TCU. TCU wins and finishes the perfect season next week with a win over NMS.

Penn State @ #9 Ohio State – … Read more at FryingPanSports

Things to look for this week in College and Pro football.

FOOTball

The Big East is a fraud. Despite the pollsters doing their best to get a BE team into the top 25, the league stinks this year. Several teams have crept into the top 25 only to lose and fall back out the next week. The current top team is Syracuse (6-2) who is tied for 28th in the AP. The league is recruiting BcS #3 TCU to join the league. TCU would love to get into an automatic qualifying conference. The BE desperately needs a team–any team– that can get into the top 25 and stay there. It also would love to have a TV presents in the Dallas market. The only problem is the BE basketball is 16 teams already and TCU does not have a strong basketball tradition.

#3 TCU @ #5 Utah – The loser is out of the Championship picture. The TCU D is #1 in most college stats and the O is 9th in scoring and 9th in rushing. The Utah D is 6th in points allowed and their O is 3rd in scoring. The key may be the difference in opponents. The only big time opponent that Utah has played was a badly over … Read more at FryingPanSports

Will this week be full of upsets in football?

football

College games:

Louisiana Tech 20 @ #3 Boise St 49 – Boise looked just OK against a very out manned LTk team. The play of LTk did not do Boise any good convincing the pollsters or the computers they deserve to be higher.

#1 Auburn @ Mississippi – The Tigers shouldn’t have any trouble with Ole Miss but they probably will struggle early. Auburn plays great against really good teams but tends to play down to the level of the lesser SEC opponents. Auburn wins.

#2 Oregon @ USC – The Ducks looked really good against an up and down UCLA team. But this is USC and it is the closest thing the Trojans will get to a bowl game this year. The key will be how does USC handle a fast and nasty Duck D? The Oregon D holds its own but the USC D is not nearly what it has been in previous years. Oregon passes the test and wins.

#5 Michigan State @ #18 Iowa – The Hawkeyes looked like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football after the 1 point loss home against Wisconsin. The loss took them to the back of the Big 10 1 … Read more at FryingPanSports

What to look for in this weekends college and NFL games

football

UCLA @ #2 Oregon (Thursday) – The question here is which UCLA team will show up. If its the one that went to Texas and thumped them 34-12, this could be a real game. If it is the one that folded like a cheap suit at home against Stanford and lost 35-0, then you can be in bed by 10 PM. UCLA is better but they have not seen a RB with the speed of James. Some strange things happen on ESPN on a night game. This could be a Gotcha game with the always tough visit to USC coming up next week. But I think the Ducks win but it could be close.

#7 Michigan State @ Northwestern – NW may be 5-1 but they are a fraud. MSU wins easily.

Purdue @ #10 Ohio StatePurdue is a fraud at 4-2 despite being 2-0 in the league. OSU remembers a loss last year against the Boilers and will take out their frustrations on the improved but still not effective Purdue D.

Iowa State @ #18 Texas – Texas has two weeks to get their team ready for the tough games against #22 Kansas State and #14 Oklahoma … Read more at FryingPanSports