Play Action Pass

New Year's Day Relevance

As a college football fan, I sometimes yearn for the days of lore when New Year's Day meant sitting around the TV watching meaningful college football games and hoping the hangover went away quickly.  Although I think tomorrow's bowl games will be great, their relevance has diminished in the BCS era.  Two of the four major bowl games, the Orange and Fiesta, are not even played tomorrow.  Is the diminished relevance and the spread out schedule good for college football?  Yes.

I think college football should be played 365 days a year.  I think the NCAA could work this out before they decide on a playoff system.  The longer the season, the more games the fans get to watch.  What is wrong with that?  With the increased number of bowl games, having the four majors played on one day is no longer feasible.  Last time I checked, there's still six games tomorrow which based on my first grade math knowledge, is more than four.  More games.  More football.  Bad for wives and cows, good for Budweiser.

I am not convinced that decreased relevance is bad for college football.  All but one of the bowl games is played for Pride.  Before the BCS era, maybe two games were relevant in determining the national championship so this system is not too different.  If the SEC goes 0-3 tomorrow, the off season will brutal for their teams and fans.  Only a LSU victory would take the sting out of the losses.  Off season bragging rights mean a lot to coaches, players and fans.   Don't believe me?  Check out the comment boards on any major sports website. 

Bowl games to date:

Winners:

Florida Atlantic

East Carolina

Texas

The MWC

Losers:

The WAC

PAC 10

Winner's for tomorrow/BCS Title

Wisconsin

Florida

Tex Tech

Virginia Tech

USC

Oklahoma

Missouri

Georgia

Ohio State

Enjoy tomorrow's games.

The Bowl season is in full swing with little flare yet, but the MWC is 3-0.  With TCU playing Houston and Air Force playing a destraught Cal team, the MWC representatives may go 5-0.  If anyone is shocked by this, I wonder if you watched the 2007 regular season.

I happen to love the bowl format.  I think we need more bowl games.  Don't confuse this with BCS acceptance because I think the current format is seriously flawed.  I just love college football, and the bowl games offer me a long extension of the regular season. 

As we approach the busiest five days of the bowl season, there are several interesting match-ups.  The first is the Holiday Bowl with Texas playing Arizona State.  Texas is 9-3, but has had a disappointing year.  A win against ASU would give Texas another 10 win season and momentum heading into Colt McCoy's junior year.  ASU is feeling shunned by the BCS.  How will they respond by playing in a non-BCS, non-Jan 1st bowl game?  I think Texas wins a shootout, but McCoy and Carpenter will have huge nights.  A late turnover will decide the outcome.

The Liberty Bowl matches Central Florida versus Mississippi State.  Kevin Smith is the best running back in the country most people do not know.  He rushed for 2448 yards for the Knights this season and will be tough for the resurgent Bulldogs to contain.  For the record, Smith had 149 yards against Texas and 217 against NC State this season so he can play with the big boys too.  Miss St is playing in their first bowl game under Sylvester Croom.  If MSU keeps Smith under 150, I think they win the game.

The Peach Bowl is usually a dandy, and this year is no different.  Clemson and Auburn will tussle in the 40th Peach Bowl.  The key match-up will be whether Auburn's stingy defense can keep Clemson's running back duo's James Davis and CJ Spiller in check.  I think the ACC lacked quality defenses this year.  Auburn wins by ten, 27-17.

Hopefully the bowls will give us some upsets as well as some good, tough games.  Some other games to watch this week are Indiana versus Oklahoma State, Michigan State versus Boston College and Alabama versus Colorado.  These are toss up games with good story lines. 

Playoff, Heisman and Bowl Games

First, let me congratulate Delaware, Appalachian State, Northwest Missouri State, Valdosta State, Mount Union and Wisconsin Whitewater for getting to their respective divisions championship games. 

Mount Union is seeking their 10th Division III championship in the last 15 seasons.  10 out of 15.  This is an amazing accomplishment.  You can compare this feat to three other sports dynasties, NY Yankees (1948-1962), UCLA (1964-1975) and Boston Celtics (1956-1969).  This is the list and the measuring stick for greatness. 

Mount Union is also seeking their third straight championship for the third time.  They are playing Wisconsin-Whitewater for the third consecutive year.  Good luck.

Appalachian State is seeking it's third consecutive Division 1AA (FCS) title.  The Mountaineers started the 2007 season with a huge bang by upsetting Michigan in the Big House.  If you have not watched App State's quarterback/Mr. Everything, Armanti Edwards, watch the title game against Delaware next weekend.  For all the talk about Dixon, White, Tebow, Daniels, Bradford and Brennan, Edwards is equal or better.  He has over 1500 yards passing and 1500 yards rushing this season with 14 TDs passing and another 21 rushing. 

Northwest Missouri State finally got the monkey off their back, or better yet, the Grand Valley State off their back.  Grand Valley State has beaten NW Missou St in the Division II Championship the last two years.  Unlike the two championship games where the game was close, NW Missouri St dominated Grand Valley for most of this game.  Behind Xavier Omon's rushing, the Bearcats punished the Lakers in 4th quarter to earn their ticket to the championship game.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy last night beating out Arkansas running back Darren McFadden.  McFadden also finished second in 2006.  Brennan of Hawaii and Daniel of Missouri finished third and fourth respectively. Looking at the season as a whole, Tebow probably deserved the award, but McFadden is definitely the best college football player.  SEC and Big 12 foes take note, Tebow and Daniel are back next season.

The bowl games kick off next week and unlike many college football "experts," I happen to love every game.  Who cares if some games are not sold out or if some games match fairly weak opponents?  The bowls give me a chance to see more football as well as a look at teams not seen to often.  Here's my opinion about some of the early bowl games:

Utah v. Navy.  I think this is an excellent match-up.  Both teams are 8-4.  After starting the season 1-3, the Utes went 7-1 down the stretch losing only to BYU.  Navy finished with four wins, including big wins over Notre Dame and Army.  This will be a high scoring game with Utah winning by a touchdown.

Southern Miss v. Cincinnati.  The experts think Cinci will roll Southern Miss, but I think this game will be closer than expected.  Sure, Southern Miss will be without Coach Bower (bad decision), and Cinci is very strong defensively, but I think Cinci is disappointed in their bowl selection and may play flat. 

UCLA v. BYU.  The Bruins won by 10 on Sept. 8th, but these two teams are headed in opposite directions.  BYU finished 10-2 and won the MWC, and UCLA finished 6-6 that got Coach Dorrell fired.  I see the Cougars winning the rematch by 10.

Boise v. East Carolina.  Gotta love the Hawaii Bowl.  I think if you don't make a BCS game, this is the bowl you want.  Last year's bowl darling, Boise, looks to finish the season with a big win.  East Carolina had an up and down year - losing a close battle to Va Tech, beating UCF and Houston, but losing to Marshall and Southern Miss.  I think Boise wins by 10, but don't be surprised if the Pirates pull an upset.

I'll dissect the remaining bowl games in my next column.  A big part of me is sad because another season is winding down quickly.  Hopefully there will be some good early bowl games.

 

Playoff Correction

Last week I supported an eight team playoff to determine the Division 1 college football champion.  While I still support a playoff, I am not convinced the system will work for several reasons.

First, everyone wants to compare Div 1 college football to all the other sports that have a playoff and argue that the playoffs work better.  How do the other sports playoff work?  Professional sports, except football, are best of series with a few home and away games.  Filling the stadiums/arenas with average fans, season ticket holders and corporate executives is not too difficult.  Very few fans travel to the away games to watch their team play. 

Professional football is different in that the teams are seeded and can play at home throughout the playoffs and it is single elimination.  Similarly, most fans do not travel to the away games to watch their teams play.  The stadiums are filled with home team fans and corporate execs. 

College basketball has March Madness which is great, but the first and second round games are generally close to the Top seeds location.   The arenas are filled with local fans and fans of the top seeded teams.  The lower seeded teams have very fans in the arenas.  Additionally, it generally takes 15,000-20,000 fans to fill the arenas.

All the other college sports have playoffs to determine their champion, but how many fans travel to attend the games?  How much are the tickets to watch the games? The popularity of these sports is not as significant and the cost to attend the games is minimal compared to Div 1 college football.

Division 1 college football is a different beast.  The stadiums are filled with alumni, student body and 5000 opposing teams fans.   At each game, we're not talking 15,000 fans, were talking 90-100+ thousand fans and another 20-30,000 tailgaters.  Cost of a ticket is generally $100-$300 for an average game and $500+ for a great game, e.g, Ohio State v. Texas. 

If you implement a playoff for Div 1, the cost to the fan would be too much.  Right now, all the ticket brokers are asking a minimal $1000 per ticket for the OSU/LSU game.  Cost of airfare to New Orleans is about $400.  Cost of hotel is about $300.  Add in the luxury items and the trip for one game is about $2000 per person.  By my calculations, the average fan would have to pay close to $5000 to watch all three games. Most fans I know cannot afford to do this.   

Some may argue that other fans may attend the games that are closer to their homes.  As I stated earlier, college football has a unique fan base.  I cannot see an Alabama fan paying $1000 for a ticket to watch LSU/OSU play - even if the ticket is subsidized by a corporation.  College football fans are rabidly loyal and would rather stab a needle in their eye than watch a rival have a chance to win the title.   

The financial burden can reduced by having home games for quarterfinals, but the ticket cost would still be enormous.  The fans would still have to pay a lot to travel for the semi's and championship game.  Unlike other sports, the fans still matter.  Asking them to pay this burden would be tragic.  If the fans don't go to the playoff games, the seats will be filled with corporate hacks.  At this point, we've lost the best sport. 

The BCS is flawed.  The old system was flawed.  A +1 system is flawed.  Let's face it, whatever system we have to determine the champion will have critics.  I like having the debate - it makes my favorite sport unique, and the arguments are intense.  Change is not always good.  Be careful what you wish for - it may be worse.