Afterbirth (Week 11)

You know... the stuff that just kind of falls out when the party's over.

Big 12 Defenses Are Downright Offensive (Part 4)

In the latest colossal Big 12 matchup on Saturday, Oklahoma State went up 7-0 before Texas Tech scored three unanswered touchdowns. Playing from behind, and with a weaker defense than I had even imagined, the Cowboys were doomed early. But, once again, I would like to note that…

You and me and 9 guys from the nearest pub could score a touchdown on the Oklahoma State defense. (76 points scored in that game, a Texas Tech victory)

You and me and 9 guys from the nearest pub could score a touchdown on the Texas A&M defense. (94 points scored in that game, an Oklahoma victory)

You and me and 9 guys from the nearest pub could score a touchdown on the Kansas defense. (65 points scored in that game, a Missouri victory)

Cats and Dawgs. And Gators.

Saturday’s game between Georgia and Kentucky was a classic. Unfortunately, it came down to a bad interception thrown by Kentucky QB Randall Cobb, who had otherwise played a very good game. Georgia survived to win 42-38, but lost in the excitement of this game is an indication of how good Florida’s defense is playing. Georgia and Kentucky combined to score 15 points on Florida’s defense, but they couldn't stop each other from scoring. While they amassed 80 points on each other, Florida destroyed these teams, not just with scary offense, but with great defense, beating Kentucky 63-5 and Georgia 49-10. If you’re wondering why poll voters and BCS pundits are giving Florida the benefit of the doubt in many cases, it’s because it appears, at least at the moment, that the Gators can play offense and defense.

Many Thanks to the Hawkeyes

In another interesting game from this past Saturday, Iowa upset Penn State 24-23 on a last second field goal. While part of me wants JoePa to win as many games as possible before he retires, and, by doing so, ensure that he (not Bobby Bowden) will hold the record for all-time Division I college football wins, I have to admit that the Iowa win may have saved us from having to deal with an unbeaten Penn State team at the end of the year. While an unbeaten team from a major conference has a right to make an argument that they belong in the BCS championship game, I firmly believe that Penn State would lose by 50 to either the Big 12 or SEC champs this year. And I’m not kidding. The loss to Iowa saves the BCS gurus from having to justify why they wanted to leave Penn State on the outside looking in. Sorry, JoePa, but, while this year’s squad may be the best in the Big 10, that’s not saying much.

Playoff Schmayoff

This is the time of year that cynics, critics and complainers from every corner of the nation start complaining about the BCS, and arguing for a playoff in college football. At some point during the offseason, I plan to write at length about the reasons why a college football playoff is a bad idea - and there are many of them. But, for now, let me just point out that any system designed to pick a group of participating teams based on an arbitrary ranking system is bound to continue to create controversy. Some scenarios want an eight team playoff with the 6 BCS league champions, plus the highest-ranked non-BCS league champion and the top-ranked at-large team. So, at least two of the eight teams involved will have their fate decided by the same ranking system that people complain about now. And that seems fair? Every year, there will still be teams that feel they got screwed by the system, no matter how many teams you include in the playoff pool.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament started in 1939 with just 8 teams, but, during the course of eight periods of adjustment and expansion, the tournament grew to include 64 teams by the year 2000 because so many teams who deemed themselves worthwhile over the years were left out by the selection committee. Even with a 64 team field, there were whiners and complainers who felt that they had been screwed, so the NCAA added a 65th team and a play-in game in 2001.

The point is, you could include the top-ranked 60 teams in the FBS (formerly Division I), and teams 60 through 69 would feel that they had somehow been screwed by the rankings. There are many reasons why a playoff would be bad for college football, but I’ll leave you with this reason: the way things are now, every game is a playoff game in college football, and that’s one of the things that make the game so exciting.