7 Thoughts On the BCS

Now that the BCS train has left the tracks and careened through theholiday-choked mall, I'm actually ecstatic. The disaster has come to pass and, for the second year in a row, I couldn't be happier. Yes, my conference got one of the worst shafts ever handed out, but really, watching the BCS fall apart, again, is getting to be my sports highlight of the year.a few thoughts I haven't seen elsewhere:


1 - The Hurricanes aren't in it, right? We can forget them for theyear, right? Nope. There's still a big fat reason in the middle of the BCS to hate them: had Miami lost to Louisville in what we can now officially call the game of the year, then Louisville would have bumped Texas which wouldhave put FOUR undefeated teams into the system (though probablysequesteredtogether in two games) and we'd have had TWO mid-major conferencesstealingBCS money. That would have been it - why would the BCS conferencesparticipate in a system that gives away 1/4 of their money to twonon-memberconferences? Instead, Miami pulled out a 41-38 game with two lateluckybreaks, and the spectre of a BCS renewal continues to hang around.
2 - USC-OU. Well, USC has beaten - barely - a team like OU (Cal). OUhasn't played anybody like SC - note even close - but the only teamsthathave had success with OU were entirely UNLIKE SC (Ok State and A&M,both ofwhom put 35 on OU, are centered around fast, running QBs - in bothgames, itlooked like OU simply didn't have enough guys to cover the QB, whichwon'tbe a problem against SC). And why isn't anybody talking about ReggieBush'snew favorite hobby, fumbling in key spots? He tried to give away notjustthe ball but the whole game TWICE on Saturday to UCLA (who finallyplayedwith courage after 2 years AWOL).
3 -Auburn. Hmmm... Well.... THEY PLAYED THE CITADEL!!!!! IAA!!!!Sorry.No sympathy, and no tolerance for any argument they got screwed. Mylongstanding policy has been a IAA game should be a BCS-standings loss,andthat's enough for me. You're OUT! The Citadel isn't the technicalreasonwhy they aren't in, but it's terrific karma. And besides, Va Tech isprobably a full tier better than the second best team in the SEC thisyear.If I was going to make one guess in this BCS, it would be VT overAuburn.The rest of the games I'm not touching.
4 -Sorry. It should have been Cal. Not by much, but it should have. I can think of reasons why it shouldn't be Texas - Kansas and OklahomaState,mostly. And then there's OU. But on the Cal side, the actual reasonCalisn't in is the worst reason of all - Southern Miss. Come on... Iwatchedat least half of that game. All we needed was Ron Franklin and a badrerunof Frasier to make a textbook Thursday upset game - a major team withallthe pressure rolling into a mythical Biggest Game In Campus History, toendthe season no less. Cal didn't play great, USM did and the refs (C-USAcrew) gave them every call, including a hideous, possibly prosecutableclipcall that wiped out a touchdown that would have made it a blowout. And did you see that blocked PAT? Cal blocked what would have beenago-ahead PAT for USM, then ran back the rebound for a 2-pt conversion(didn't we just discuss this recently?) to keep the lead. How manyteamsmake that play? So if you're telling me that Cal is out because of the Southern Missgame(which is what happened), then THAT is wrong. To penalize Cal for thatgame- a game in which a desperate, frenzied home dog fought to the deathandSTILL could not overcome Cal's better talent - is absurd. Anybody who changed their vote should lose their vote.
5 - The ABC guys - John Saunders and Craig James - should be fired fortheirtreatment of Urban Meyer during the BCS selection show. It's ahorriblepublicity stunt show with no value at all. ABC should be estatic tohave acoach on such an idiot show. Instead, after blowjob interviews withPeteCarrol and Stoops' O-Coordinator (with Mack Brown still to come in thestudio!), Saunders and James insulted Meyer about as badly as I've everseenan honest man insulted on live TV. Saunders first question, "Coach,defendyour right to be here." Really. That's what he said. Meyer, clearly stunned (I'm sure they told him the whole thing wouldbefluff), quickly said he didn't need to defend anybody and this was agreatday for Utah. Next Q: "Coach, will it be tough to coach Utah while recruiting forFlorida." Meyer, now back on his feet and pissed: "Today has nothing to dowithFLorida, today is about our Utah seniors blah blah blah." Then an easy one from Aaron Rodgers, then the three ABC guys gavethePitt coach an embarrassing, flipant 2 questions then back to Meyer. Saunders: "Coach, we have to ask this, is there something about thesituation at notre Dame that will make it hard for a coach to go thereandwin in the future." Meyer, now clearly livid: "This is not an appropriate place to talkabout Notre Dame." And he was absolutely right. the entire show was a non-news charade to present the non-event of who got in - they didn't even go to the botherofsetting up a hockey 'reveal' stage - and they had absolutely no rightto goafter Meyer like that. None. just awful.
6 -If i had to pick just one bowl to watch - BCS or other - I mightpickLouisville-Boise State. I've seen BSU probably 8 times now, and I'veneverbeen disappointed.
7 -Just how many times are they going to fuck the ROse Bowl? Thismakesabout 5. I gotta believe the Rose Bowl blows this up next year.