The SoapBoxers

2012 may be over, but football, both college and professional, are still in the 2012 season. The Pros still have weeks of playoffs to go, but the college ranks will be finishing off this week with a Monday night, crowning of a national champion. This week, let focus on College. So how did the season go? The experts fawned over the SEC all year. It turns out that they were correct. The SEC leads the rest of the conferences with 5 bowl wins and one more chance in the championship game. The ACC, Big XII, Pac 12 and USA all came in with 4 wins. The SEC and Big XII put 9 teams into bowls with the Pac 12 putting in 8 bowls appearances. So who did not do as well? The Big Ten and Big XII both had 5 bowl losses with the MAC having a chance to join them on Sunday night. The Big Ten number is skewed since the two best teams in the conference were not bowl eligible. This forced lesser teams into stronger bowls.

Even now, the experts are talking about the rankings next year. Obviously, the SEC will figure strongly in the predictions and rightly so, but all trends change. A few years ago, the Pac 10 was the best, before that the Big Ten. All these things cycle, although some conferences drift to the bottom never to return. Just two years ago, Notre Dame was on the ash heap of history, but now they are playing in the national championship.

There are also people complaining about the conference realignments. This is a natural part of the sport as each school positions for the best possible financial return on their programs. The demise of the Big East has most of the experts (who are east coast centric) upset, but even in their own analysis, they show that this is an evolution. The Big East is 34 years old (founded in 1979) and was not a football conference until 1991. Teams have come and gone constantly, some by choice such as West Virginia, and some were voted out such as Temple.

These same reporters did not shed a tear when the Southwest Conference evaporated, a conference that included a three time national champion in football and contenders in basketball (men’s and women’s). The Southwest Conference was exceptionally stable, with seven members staying from 1923 to 1991 (when Arkansas left for the SEC), before it dissolved in 1996.

Other conferences such as the Big Ten and Pac 10 have been even more stable, while the SEC has been on a steady growth path to the fourteen teams that now make up that conference (expect this to grow to sixteen for the first super conference). The SEC started in 1932 with ten of the current teams as part of that line up. They had lost three teams by 1966 but gained two in 1991 and two more in 2012. The Big Ten started in 1896 with six of the current teams, adding two in 1899, one in 1960, one in 1990, one in 2011 and two more will join in 2014. University of Chicago dropped out in 1946. Expect the Big Ten to expand to sixteen teams as well to make a second super conference. The Pac 12 started in 1915 with four of the current teams, adding and losing teams to stabilize at eight teams in 1928. Two schools were added in 1978 and two more in 2011. Expect the Pac 12 to become the Pac 16 to become a third super conference,

One conference that has changed dramatically in the last three years is the Big XII. This conference was created from the Big 8 and the Southwest conference when the SWC folded. When two teams left a couple of years ago, the experts were calling for the dissolving of the Big XII and the creation of a super conference based on the Big East. That was interesting in that the Big East at the time only had a couple of teams that could be considered good, while the Big XII still had at least three if not more high quality football programs. Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas A&M have left with West Virginia and TCU joining. Comparing the impact of these gains and losses based on bowl performance shows that it is pretty much a wash for the Big XII. Two of the teams that left did not make it to bowl games, the other two were one loss and one win in their bowls. The two newcomers both made it to a bowl, and both lost.

Sitting at a total of ten teams, the Big XII does not seem to be in a position to become a super conference, but they could by scavenging from the Mountain West, MAC and WAC. If the political questions could be overcome, the ACC and Big East could merge to become a super conference, but there is some bad blood between those conferences as far as membership goes.

Next year, the NCAA will try a playoff of the top four teams to make sure that they are crowning the true champion. Some of the experts have stated that there should be automatic bids for positions in that playoff. Such predetermined matchups are for elites who are afraid to lose their position to a better team. The four slots should be filled by the four best teams of that year. I do have an opinion beyond what the NCAA has posted. I think that any member of that group must be the champion of their conference. I state this to avoid another same conference championship like happened last year, or the whining that got Texas into the Rose Bowl in 2004 (and I am a Texas Alumni). If you don’t win your own conference, how can you claim to be one of the best teams in the nation?

If super conferences do come into being, a playoff would be inevitable. There are currently 124 schools in the NCAA Division 1 FBS. If there were 7 super conferences of 16 teams each, 112 of these teams would be filtered down to 7 champions. An 8 team playoff would pit these champions against each other and 1 non-super conference team that was qualified based on record (this would allow independent teams like Notre Dame and Navy to have an opportunity to play for the championship). Will it happen? I think so. There is so much money to be made, all of the universities will be drawn to it. The traditional bowls will never go to the wayside, it is too good of an excuse to party and for northern teams to have a warm holiday.

January is Football Euphoria

The Bowl Season is nearly complete. The office confidence pools are wrapping up, and more of us are looking forward to the BCS Title Game between Alabama and Notre Dame. The NFL playoffs start this weekend and there are a bunch of intriguing match-ups as well.

Hopefully Santa dropped off that new large flat screen LED TV for you to take in all the action from the warm and friendly confines of your home.

Wildcard Weekend!

Adrian Peterson (Photo credit: Mike Morbeck)

The NFL games start off with a rematch of last week’s battle of Minnesota and Green Bay. This match up puts arguably the best two players at their position, Aaron Rodgers and Adrian Peterson, against one another yet again. How many weeks can Peterson carry the Vikings? I would have thought they would have slipped out of the race a long time ago, but the fact they are here at all speaks volumes to their coaching staff and well…Adrian Peterson. Weather forecast for the Frozen Tundra…not exactly frozen, but upper 20’s with a chance of snow.. Will that hurt the Pack’s passing attack?

Pack get revenge as it is too tough to beat a team in back to back weeks. Packer  27, Vikings 17

Houston and Cincinnati. It seems like just a few weeks ago (and actually was) that Houston was in the driver’s seat for home field advantage for the entire playoffs. Now they have to play a first round game against red hot Cincinnati. The Texans are better but you never know…Who Dey? Dey are going home early. Texans 21 – Bengals 20

Ray Lewis (Photo credit: Keith Allison)

Indianapolis Colts play the Baltimore Ravens – this one to me is a toss-up, the Colts have played well, and Baltimore is the model of inconsistency. This is the Last Hurrah for Ray Lewis. Will Flacco find some magic? Ravens in a close one. Baltimore 23 – Indianapolis 21.

The final game on the slate is maybe the most exciting. Two rookie quarterbacks face off as the Seahawks face the Redskins. To me, this game is three factors, 1) it is at Washington, 2) Shanahan is a way better coach than old cheatie Petey C. and 3) RG III ! Gimmie the Skins 28- Seahawks 17

Back to School

I said earlier this year in more than one article that Alabama was clearly the superior college football team. I mean they have the deity of all college coaches, Nick Saban, at the helm. Alabama is so great in the eyes of all of the television announcers, ESPN, ABC, FOX, CBS, and all of the sportswriters in North American that 2 of the last 3 quarterbacks to pull off the Herculean task of beating Alabama have won the Heisman Trophy (our condolences to the LSU Quarterback tandem, but the voters couldn’t find reason to vote you for Heisman in 2011 as you only scored 9 points in a win).

Alabama has superior defense, the Tide has the more experience quarterback, and is clearly the superior team.

Notre Dame on the other hand was the recipient of a quick whistle against Stanford on a 4th and goal play, and used the voodoo doll to ensure that Pittsburgh’s kicker Kevin Harper kept shanking short field goal attempts.

Yep no way Alabama loses this game.

Go Irish!!!!

Until next time, stay classy Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Another week in the books and overall there were some HORRIBLE games this past week.

Alabama and Arkansas was supposed to be a big game. That was until Arkansas lost to Louisiana Monroe and then proceeded to also lose their starting quarterback for the game against the Crimson Tide. In case anyone is doubting Nick Saban and the 52-zippo blanking of the Hogs, trust me, the Tide is good. How two voters in the polls still think otherwise is beyond me.

Paper Spartan???

Andrew Maxwell fumbles against Notre Dame

Michigan State proved finally to a national audience what Johnny G has been spreading around the water cooler all year – OVER-RATED. The problem is two-fold with their loss. One, it just further cements the fact the B1G 10 is not having a banner year and two, the fact that Notre Dame beat the Spartans just adds more fuel for the Gold Dome zealots who are proclaiming that Brian Kelly is the program savior. If he is that good of a coach, I just hope he is not as big of a cheater as Lou Holtz……

Meeeeeechigan versus Notre Dame

On the topic of Notre Dame, This upcoming week, (or should I say WEAK) is good time to go golfing with your buddies as there are a ton of barely watchable games filling the airwaves. We have Michigan and Notre Dame and then….not much else to look forward to except maybe Clemson against Florida State. I am not much of a fan of the ACC but this is the only other game likely to get much play nationally this week.

The highlight of week 4 from the National Spotlight will be Michigan versus Notre Dame – Mainly because…well…it is Notre Dame playing.

I am rooting for my buddy Aaron, (sorry Denis and K.R.) in a match-up of teams my friends root for. Go Blue. Johnny supports you!

Weak B1G 10

And since I mentioned a week of weak games, I might as well stay with the topic of weak – – – in the B1G 10, the Ohio State Bunkeyes barely crept out a win against the California Bears at home this past week. (Yes, that is right, I said Bunkeyes) Cal looked to have them on the ropes until a busted coverage late in the game gave Braxton Miller an easy long touchdown stat padding completion. I took Braxton off the Heisman 5 this week, mainly because some others needed props. Ohio State at this point is clearly the best team in the otherwise weak conference….too bad they can’t play for anything meaningful to end the season….cheaters.

A Tale of Two Mannings

Wow totally different ends of the spectrum for the Mannings in the NFL this week. Eli throws for 510 and 3 TD’s (also had three interceptions) in a win over the Buccaneers in a real life version of Tecmo SuperBowl, and Peyton throws 3 first quarter picks in a loss last night to the Falcons. A word of warning to the AFC. The NFC seems to have the cream of the early season crop of teams. Let’s see if everyone stays healthy and they are the ones to beat at the end of the year.

Heisman Watch – Week 3

1. Rakeem Cato – Quarterback – Marshall – Averaging a crazy 423 yards per game. Of course it is Marshall, but here is some love for the MAC – he leads the NCAA in total offense. Through three weeks that gets you top billing.
2. Geno Smith – Quarterback – West Virginia – Running roughshod with just two games under the belt, but is 2nd in the nation with an incredible 409 yards per game total offense. Finally might be showing he is legit since Matt “can’t ever beat Stanford” Barkley checked out last week.
3. Jonathan Franklin – Running Back – UCLA – Still leading the nation in rushing with 180+ a game, and still high on Johnny’s Heisman Watch list
4. Denard Robinson – adding some huge stat padders against Air Force and Massachusetts. This week he gets the Golden Domers…so if he is here next week, that means Big Blue fared better than those Spartans of East Lansing.
5. Darius Slay – DB- Mississippi State – What? A defensive guy on the Heisman top 5? He does lead the nation in interceptions with 4 in 3 games and he took one to the house for 6. Plus I love the last name. Slay just sounds like a bad ass defensive player doesn’t it?

Until Next Time, Stay Classy Homewood, Alabama

Week #2 is in the books, and there is a lot of news on the college football front.

No much to cheer about for Razorbacks fans on Saturday

Arkansas was clearly the upset of the week, losing to Louisiana Monroe. Arkansas somehow managed to stay ranked even after this debacle. Oklahoma State also moved out of the rankings after losing to the Pac XII Arizona Wildcats. The Pac XII also recorded big wins as UCLA knocked off Nebraska in a defensive struggle, and upstart Oregon State shocked Wisconsin,10-7 in Corvallis. Wisconsin was so shocked that they promptly fired their offensive line coach, Mike Markuson. It sure does not look like Monte Ball will be in the Heisman discussion this year.

On a down note for the Pac XII, the Colorado Buffaloes got…well…buffaloed in losing to Sacramento State on a game winning field goal by Edgar Castaneda.

My beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers

Of course I get to write about this now and then, why? Because it is my article of course, and many of my so called “readers” (if there are any) are Husker Fans as well. The Corn got shelled this week past Saturday in California by a team that looked much more ready to play than the Scarlett and Cream.

As any of you football fans can relate to, the sky is bluer, the flowers prettier and the steak dinners taste better all when your team is winning.

Once you suffer a loss, or that unexpected loss, suddenly it is Armageddon.

UCLA exposed some match ups that gave the defense bit time trouble. Unfortunately, Nebraska had no real answer for it this past Saturday.

This week Arkansas State rolls into Lincoln. The Red Wolves currently are 7th in the NCAA in total offense. Nebraska is 96th in total defense. Looks like the 20-24 point spread may be getting smaller by this weekend.

Week #2 Heisman Leaders

1. Braxton Miller – QB – Ohio State – An impressive 151 yds per game average running and 4 td’s to go along with another 362 yards passing and 3 TD’s through the air. Can he throw himself the ball? IF so, hand him the trophy now.
2. Jonathan Franklin – RB – UCLA – keeping the love here as he piled up a monster night against the Cornhuskers and leads the nation with a 215 per game average.
3. Kolton Browning – QB – Louisiana Monroe – an impressive first outing of the year, skinning the Razorback defense on a 42 for 67 performance for 412 yards and 3 TD’s. He also added another 69 and a score on the ground in the upset win.
4. Ryan Aplin – QB – Arkansas State – 101 on the ground and 625 in the air through two games = 5 total touchdowns and a 1-1 record. Can he beat the Huskers and be 2-1?
5. Cody Getz – RB – Air Force – 43 rushes for 348 yards and only one negative rushing play in all of those carries. Oh yeah….6 touchdowns as well. SERVICE!

Until next time, stay classy Colorado Springs, Colorado

This is my annual rant about college football ranking. The two major systems that are used until the 6th week when the BCS system kicks in, are the coaches poll and the sports writer poll. Both of them are based on the feelings of the voters and are heavily stilted toward the fashionable conferences. Admittedly, the major conferences do each have 3 or even 4 good teams. I also do not have a problem with the polls being the opinions of the voters. What I complain about the is the inconsistency that this method brings. A team can win and still drop in the polls. A team can get pounded and only drop a few spots. The thing that gets to me is when teams with several losses is still ranked above an undefeated team. Now we are only in the second week of the season, so there are no apparent problems yet.

When we finally get the BCS system results, the rankings get much more stable. An opinion pole is include in that system along with a computer poll and several statistical polls. As the polls progress, there is still a bias towards certain conferences based on “strength of schedule”. So if you play teams that are ranked, you go up in ranking. If a lot of the teams in your conference are ranked, you guaranteed a ranked position. The result of this type system is the insanity of having a national championship game featuring two teams from the same conference.

There are 12 conferences plus some independent schools eligible for the BCS. A true playoff would have the 12 conference winners contending for the championship. To be fair to the independent teams, there would have to be some “wild card” invitations for those independent teams that are still highly ranked. This would allow teams who are blocked out of BCS bowls because of the polls to have a chance. If there is that big of a talent difference, then the playoff games will just be warm ups for the big boys. If the opinions are incorrect, then the smaller schools will have a chance to prove them wrong.

Is there a perfect polling method? Probably not. My rant is a reaction to the ridiculous statements by sports casters with the new playoff proposal that two slots should be reserved for the South East Conference. One of the problems, or benefits, of the bowl system is automatic bids. For the national championship, all positions should be earned, not awarded. The four team playoff is a good start, let’s not mess it up immediately by determining who should be in it at the beginning of the season. The SEC is good right now, but that is the genius of the conference system, you determine a single champion. Then you have the various champions compete for the right to claim the top spot for the year, just like the pros.

And So It Begins…

Colgate 1895 college football team (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Thursday with a couple of games to kick-off the season. While most of the country will be focused on watching the big opening weekend match up of Alabama and Michigan, (Alabama coincidentally is a 14 point favorite over Big Blue) Thursday night officially starts the season. 9 games top the slate of action, with Ball State and Eastern Michigan likely providing the closes match up, at least on paper.

Play Like A Champion Today

Saturday morning you can awaken early (real early if you are on the left coast) and watch Notre Dame take on Navy from Dublin, Ireland. Yes the Golden Domers – if that is what we can call them after their new helmet designs – are headed overseas. I guess the Notre Dame Broadcasting Channel – NBC must really trying to be able to spike viewership of their beloved team….or maybe hoping that they can put a better product on the field. The main thing hurting Notre Dame is that they really are irrelevant since Cheater Lou Holtz was heading the club. While a lot of people will tune in to watch Notre Dame win or lose, they lose a lot of TV sets when they are just plain average, which is what they have been for quite a while.

Best Places to Watch Games

The USA Today is running an article all week, showcasing the best stadiums to watch a game from each conference. I don’t know what they have used as part of their criteria, but I guarantee most people will disagree with their voting. They are not all done with covering all conferences this week, but to date this week they have the following selections:

ACC – Clemson – hard to argue this one, I will agree this gains the top spot. Hokie fans likely disagree, but I think they got voted down to #2 due to their hideous chicken feet helmet design…..The only one approving of this new helmet is Foghorn Leghorn

Pac 12 – Oregon – so last year….but they get the top vote.

Big 12 – A big Shocker here…Texas…OVER-RATED – This would be behind Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska if they had not all gotten ticked off by the Longhorns and went elsewhere.

Big East – Does anyone really care? The article picks Cincinnati. I would go with Pittsburgh, Heinz Field is a cool venue.

Big 10 – TBA – Everyone will argue that it is the Big House or the Horseshoe…Come talk to me when you sell the place out 307 times straight and counting. Yeah, call me a homer, but Memorial Stadium in Lincoln Nebraska wins the conference on that stat alone.

SEC – TBA – A lot of great venues and rabid fan bases. I still love the fact you can take your boat to the stadium so I am going to Knoxville and choosing Tennessee. Plus that checkerboard orange and white end zone is still a memory from my youth.

Upsets of the Week

Iowa State over Tulsa…The only Hurricane working this week is Isaac.

Auburn over Clemson – I just have a good feeling about this one.

Ohio over Penn State – How will the Lions react in their first game in spite of all of the events and lots of losses?

Until Next time, stay classy Eek, Alaska!
 

I love this time of year. The leaves are changing and the real college football games are finally on. I had the opportunity to see my Texas Longhorns open Big XII play against Iowa State. My kids and my money go to Iowa State, but my heart is still in Texas, at least for college sports. My daughter and I sat on the 10 year line row 4 on the Texas side of the field. We both wore burnt orange. I have to say that the Iowa State fans were (for the most part) very nice and polite. Sure there were a couple of annoying drunks complaining about every play, but all in all, nice.

The game was good, from my point of view. Texas was up 34-0 at half time and the game was never really in doubt (don’t forget you owe me a lunch, Kosmo). It was kind of sad when the crowd got excited about a 5 yard penalty against Texas. Nothing went right for Iowa State until late in the fourth quarter. They had a lot of penalties and several hurt players. One young man left on the golf cart after a helmet hit. Both teams and the entire crowd prayed for him as he left.

This is college football at its best. Enjoying the game, respecting both teams, and games that matter. What I mean by this is a perspective on College football. Only a few teams are “playing for the national championship” from the start of the season. The first few games are warm ups, sometimes matching two high level teams, but usually matching small against large. The real contest for most teams is to try to win their conference. With that under your belt you can consider the national championship, that is once you get your bowl game sorted out. Some teams look forward to just one specific game against a specific rival (for Texas, that is beating Oklahoma), and that can sometimes be more important than even having a winning season.

As long as I have followed College ball, opponents have worn tee-shirts emblazoned with “Beat Texas”. I have also seen “Beat OU”, “Beat State” (pretty generic actually) and “Beat N”. I guess it gets expensive to write out Oklahoma or Nebraska. This year, the Iowa State fan had shirts with “Beat Texas Again”. I liked that. It didn’t happen, but I still liked the sentiment. Since they beat Texas last year, (and really started the Texas collapse by showing the world where Texas was weak) those shirts can be worn every year from now on.

There were several great games (sorry about Nebraska Johnny) this week. There were still some tune up games (notably Oklahoma beating up on Ball State), but mostly we saw conference battles and relatively evenly matched schools. It just gets better next week. With the realignment of conferences, there will be some games that will not occur (OU or Texas vs Nebraska for the big XII championship is one), but that just provides more opportunities for really good bowl games in December and January.

I still do not understand how the rankings work. I do not see how not playing can cause you to drop in the polls or how there can be 2 loss teams still in the top 25. But that is OK. I am not a sports writer and I do not have a vote. That lets me complain about every team’s position in every poll.

Quarterbacks– A couple of guys I like here that will not immediately come off the board but can help you out. First is Josh Freeman – The Bucs are young and people forget they won 10 games last year. Look for even a better performance this year. Also he is a bigger name, but the Cowboys are not going to be ahead in many games so grab Tony Romo to get you some big time stats. Be a little more cautious of him however in leagues that penalize for throwing interceptions

Running Backs – Love me some Ryan Matthews. He was highly touted last year but was banged up early, never really looked to be in shape, and was a large bust as a rookie last year. Have a short memory here. He will get the load of carries for a Chargers offense that was #1 in the league last year.

Legarrette Blount is another guy I like (wow two Bucs players early on) He came on late last year and since he is in Tampa flies under the radar. He should be on yours

Wide Receivers – Former Stud now turned sleeper is Chad Johnson ( I am calling him by his real name since he got shut down by the Jets last year and then never followed through to change his name back) He is with the Pats, Brady has to have someone to throw to…and let’s face it….the Patriots have NO running game at all. Dez Bryant – See my comment from Romo above. Miles Austin still will get the brunt of the coverage which means a healthy and big play maker Dez will get plenty of chances to shine

Tight Ends – Heath Miller – Big Ben is in town for all of the games this year, and with and aging Hines Ward, this guy becomes and even more popular target for the Steelers offense.

Kickers – I will go to the homer card here and take the rookie from Nebraska Alex Henery – He steps right in with the Eagles who have had David Akers…well …forever. This is one of the harder places to kick in all of the NFL due to the wind conditions as well as the fan base, but the Eagles will have plenty of opportunities to score. If you have to have a rookie on your team, this is the guy to have as he is about the safest bet to score 130-150 fantasy points.

College Football Week 1 recap

The early talk of the college football season is not the fact that Johnny G picked straight up upsets by Bowling Green and more impressively the Baylor Bears over TCU. Nope, the newly rolled out uniforms of the Maryland Terrapins made the twitter world blow up last night. If you think these looked funky, wait until you see what they will roll out later this year with some other color combinations that they have available in their arsenal.

Once again Notre Dame proves that they are horribly over-rated in the polls and now have a distinct possibility of starting 0-2 as they face Michigan this week.

Boise State blows out a super over-rated SEC foe in Georgia. Boise State has 17 returning starters and a bunch of seniors….Georgia well…they could not even beat the Colorado Buffaloes last year. This was about the easiest upset pick of the week in Johnny’s opinion. Boise now has a clear path to undefeatedness once again but will they get a shot at the title game once and for all? I am sure the talking heads on ESPN will be rolling this out all day today…too bad I am not home to watch it.

Until next time…stay classy Dubuque Iowa!

[Editor’s note: It’s that time of the year again. The kids are back in school, summer’s enjoying one last hurrah until the autumn inevitably causes the leaves and temperatures to fall. In the coming weeks, one lonely hot dog will become the final wiener to die a martyr’s death – dropping between grill grates and into the fires below. The television lineup gets refreshed with new shows (Hope Solo on Dancing With the Stars – how can other shows possibly compete with such high drama?</sarcasm>). On the athletic fields, baseball has already separated the chaff from the wheat, with several teams on the cusp of having their playoff tickets punched.

But for our sports writer Johnny Goodman, this time of year means one thing – COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Without further ado, I turn it over to Johnny for his pigskin picks.]

We are entering that great time of year when the end all of end all college football arguments just starts to heat up.  That’s right, the BCS talk.

A plethora of one undefeated teams still remain.  A lot of great one loss teams are out there.  The conference match-ups are starting to hit full bore and the host of rivalry weeks are soon to be upon us.

Phooey!

I for one am proposing that we totally re-vamp the BCS program.  What is that you ask?  Johnny you need to get in line with countless of hundreds if not thousands of others that argue the same thing.

Nope, I propose we scrap the whole shooting match and go back to the bowl tie in agreements that each conference used to have pre-BCS. 

Let’s look at the facts.  The BCS is driven by two factors … and no they are not determining who is ultimately the most deserving national champion each year.  Heck most years we can’t even agree who should be playing in the game. 

Factor one is pure and simple greed.  Greed of the NCAA, greed of the sports stations such as ABC/ESPN and CBS who cover the majority of games. ( I am not including FOX in the argument as they only have only covered the BCS games the last few years and frankly their telecasts are painful at best to watch) 

Factor two is the perception that this alignment actually settles something.  That it actually does determine the best and most worthy team at the end of the year.

I miss the by gone days of long ago, before many of you who likely read this blog were even following college football.  In those “olden days” each conference had multiple negotiated terms to send their teams to certain bowl games.  It still works much the same way today for the non-bcs games. 

What this accomplished each and every year was exciting and epic games on New Year’s day.  You didn’t have to “hang around” until January 7^th to see if your team was going to win.

The best part of the “old way” was the scenarios were impossible to predict.  Since I am a Husker at Heart … lets take 1982.  When due to a series of upsets earlier in the day, the Clemson Tigers and the Cornhuskers found themselves playing on New Year’s Day night in the Orange Bowl for all the marbles.  This could not have happened today, and it lead for great drama and excitement.  Heck this same scenario played out countless times in the early years of the television bowl era …

Was it so wrong?

The BEST part of college sports is the water cooler talk, the speculation.  The Horned Frogs could beat Florida because of so and so….the ol’ My Dad is Bigger than your dad argument … that is where the true passion and fun of college football exists.

So let’s jump back up the rabbit hole, throw out the man behind the green curtain, and we just get an instant replay and see that the wrong call was made on the field?