Florida a BCS champ, but not national champ
The first mistake we make is calling it a national championship. National would imply ocean-to-ocean, from ice shanties and snow-blowers to sandy beaches and gulf breezes. National would imply everybody, all 119 major college football teams. National would imply the NCAA, in which the 'N' stands for, well, national.
The BCS is not the NCAA. It is an alliance of 66 schools, each with an armored truck backed up to the vault.
So, Florida did not win the 2008 national championship, arguably not even with the AP poll, which is not BCS-controlled but was certainly BCS-influenced, agreeing the Gators were No. 1.
Florida won the BCS title. Period. The national champion? There were three - Richmond, Minnesota-Duluth, and Mount Union.
Relax, this is not going to be another diatribe about the need for a playoff system in major college football. I have wasted too many gallons of ink, too many reams of newsprint and too many brain cells on that argument. In fact, I'm down two quarts on brain cells, which should be evident to any discerning reader.
Plus, the coordinator of the BCS, John Swofford, assures us that, "The [BCS] structure is within the antitrust laws. We're not out there trying to test the antitrust laws of the United States of America."
Well, of course they're not. But they had better get ready. The attorney general of the state of Utah may not scare the BCS. How about our soon-to-be president?
Barack Obama has more to worry about than who hoists a crystal trophy. He has a bit of a problem with the economy, with jobs, with education, with foreign turmoil and terrorism, basically with preserving what we like to call the free world. You know, the car in every garage and the chicken in every pot.
But Mr. Obama is on record as feeling there should be a playoff. A little nod from him to the Justice Department and the Department of Education to check out those pesky antitrust aspects should send major shivers up the BCS spine because I suspect the vast majority of those 66 schools aren't shy about accepting federal funding.
Of course, none of that will help the 2008 Utah Utes, the only 13-0 team in major college football, a team that dispatched four ranked teams, a team that beat the same Oregon State team that beat Southern Cal, a team that punched Alabama in the puss in the Sugar Bowl.
The president of the University of Utah called the BCS "a conspiracy." OK, not bad. The BCS provides for its party to be crashed and will share the booty in exceptional situations, which may or may not satisfy those antitrust concerns. But it isn't about to roll out a red carpet for an outsider to play for its championship.
The Mountain West Conference, of which Utah is a member, has no seat at the BCS table. The ACC and Big East do, which is equally suspicious. Heck, the Big Ten is doing little more these days than hoodwinking people into believing its football merits center stage.
The whole debate is whether going undefeated in the M-West is better or even equal to being a one-loss team in either the SEC or Big 12, the only true super-conferences. Few intelligent, unbiased observers would say it is.
That's why in the absence of a legitimate championship Florida is a legitimate champion. Just not a national champion.
Copyright 2009 The Blade
There's nothing wrong with the BCS, but ...
There is nothing wrong with the BCS National Championship pairing of Oklahoma and Florida. Each team is worthy of its spot.
But so were Southern Cal and Texas, Alabama and Texas Tech (at least heading into Friday's games) and Utah, the only unbeaten FBS team.
What makes the one-loss Sooners and Gators the two top teams? Primarily, it's because they won their conference championship games and their conferences were deemed the best two conferences in the country.
But what if USC had won a conference championship game? The Pac-10 is looking pretty tough in the bowl season, and USC easily beat a team some fans thought should be in the title mix, Penn State.
Alabama had the misfortune of losing at the wrong time. Even in the old days of bowl politicking and brokering - and old-timers will tell you Bear Bryant had a big hand in who went to what bowl - Bama would be on the outside looking in. A loss late in the season will get you every time.
And if you're a Utah - well, go ahead and go unbeaten, but it'll be a sweltering day in Salt Lake City before you get a title game call. And that is true too, as we saw, for even an SEC team like Auburn that hasn't proved itself to be a major player for several years.
Every time this comes up, someone says just wait until 2013, when the current format will be up for review. Many college football experts think the "plus-one" format will be adopted for the 2014 season, although there are major roadblocks to a Football Final Four.
Back in May, the Bowl Championship Series commissioners rejected that model, proposed by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, and decided to continue with the current postseason format through the 2013 season.
The plus-one model, which would have pitted the top four teams in the BCS standings in a mini-playoff, has long been opposed by the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences. They have several reasons, but the main one seems to be keeping their Rose Bowl tie-in. There's also the concern that a four-team playoff would eventually expand beyond that to an eight- or even 16-team playoff. There's concern about too many games and players missing finals - even though the other divisions of NCAA football have playoffs.
So what would be happening if we'd had the plus-one this season?
Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Alabama were the four teams ranked 1-4 in the BCS standings prior to the bowl games.
The Sooners and Alabama would likely meet as 1 and 4 seeds (perhaps in the Fiesta Bowl) with Florida and Texas squaring off as 2 and 3 seeds (with the Gators the host in the Sugar Bowl or the Orange). The winners would meet in the extra game (hence, "plus-one").
Maybe now I get why the Big Ten and Pac-10 are so resistant.
A full-on playoff would be best way to determine a champ on the field. But the bowl games are so ingrained and benefit the universities and bowl bigwigs that we'll never get rid of them nor incorporate them in any way into a playoff that college football honchos will allow.
The plus-one is the next best thing. And maybe, maybe, we'll finally see it after the 2014 season.
In the meantime, the "Football Final Four" this week are the International, GMAC, Fiesta and BCS championship game.
Today
International Bowl: Connecticut (7-5) vs. Buffalo (8-5), 11 a.m., ESPN2
Fun fact: Buffalo was invited to the 1958 Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, but the school was told it could not play its two black players. The school president and coaching staff left it up to the players to decide whether to go. The players said no, without even taking a vote. Those two players, Willie Evans and Mike Wilson, have been invited along with their 1958 ex-teammates, to accompany the current Bulls on the bowl trip.
Why I'd watch: We've heard a lot about Turner Gill, Buffalo's coach. Let's see if he can do better than another prospective Auburn coach, Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson.
Why I wouldn't: UConn is 10th in the country in total defense and 19th in rushing offense. Buffalo prefers to pass and is 94th in total defense. Buffalo has lost its last four games against UConn and been outscored 129-10 over that stretch. That portends domination by the Big East team over the MAC champ.
The line: UConn by 61/2.
On TV overall bowl ranking: 32nd.
Monday
Fiesta Bowl: Texas (11-1) vs. Ohio State (10-2), 7:30 p.m., Fox 6
Fun fact: The game will again be played in the University of Phoenix Stadium. The domed facility with a retractable roof was built by HOK, the same group selected to build Birmingham's dome. The University of Phoenix mostly offers distance learning degrees online, although it has some small campus sites around the country. It's the largest private university on North America, but it doesn't have a football team.
Why I'd watch: Tons of talent, starting with Texas QB Colt McCoy, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, and Ohio State QB Tyrelle Pryor and RB Beanie Wells. A win over No. 10 Ohio State could very well make the Longhorns the preseason No.1 team for 2009. Ohio State is carrying the tattered banner for the Big Ten.
Why I wouldn't: Will the Buckeyes continue their big-stage embarrassments? We won't even mention the Big Ten is 1-5 so far in bowls this season. The league last posted a winning bowl record in 2002, when the Buckeyes stunned No. 1 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national title and cap a 5-2 postseason for the conference. Since then, the Big Ten is 15-27 in bowls, including 3-7 in Bowl Championship Series contests. The league has lost its five BCS games by an average of 20 points. Of course, Texas could be flat after missing out on title game, but they still harbor hopes of an improbable AP national championship.
The line: Texas by 8.
On TV overall bowl ranking: 3rd.
Tuesday
GMAC Bowl: Tulsa (10-3) vs. Ball State (12-1), 7 p.m., ESPN
Fun fact: David Letterman went to Ball State; my mom went to Tulsa.
Why I'd watch: Two exciting quarterbacks - Tulsa's David Johnson and Ball State's Nate Davis - should provide a lot of scoring. Keep an eye on soon-to-be Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, Tulsa's OC.
Why I wouldn't: This is a pretty decent game, but would somebody please move these non-BCS games back to December?
The line: Tulsa by 1.
On TV overall bowl ranking: 17th.
Thursday
BCS National Championship Game: Florida (12-1) vs. Oklahoma (12-1), 7 p.m., Fox 6
Fun fact: Only two sophomore quarterbacks have won the Heisman Trophy. They are Gators QB Tim Tebow and Sooners QB Sam Bradford.
Why I'd watch: It's the national championship and there are playmakers on both sides.
Why I wouldn't: Ole Miss' manhandling of Texas Tech exposed some of the Big 12's weaknesses. Ho-hum. Getting tired of watching the SEC embarrass the rest of the nation.
The line: Florida by 3.
On TV overall bowl ranking: 1st.
(c)2008 Alabama Live LLC
Hurricanes Face Cal In Bowl On 'Road'
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Worrell Williams was a star high school linebacker in Sacramento, his college choice came down to nearby California or exotic Miami, where his older brother was a star.
Although he decided to stay close to home, Williams knows more than most of his fellow Golden Bears about the unique Miami mystique they'll face in the Emerald Bowl.
"That's an amazing program," Williams said. "With the history they have there, and just the whole atmosphere around the University of Miami, it's an honor to be on the same field with them. But still, we also think we can beat them. We're going in expecting to win."
A baseball stadium packed with shivering Cal fans will have much the same thoughts tonight when the Golden Bears (8-4) essentially host Miami (7-5) in the seventh edition of the game, but the first featuring one of the Bay Area's two Pac-10 schools.
The Bears traversed the Bay Bridge repeatedly this week, going from a hotel in the city to their regular practice fields in Berkeley to prepare for their sixth straight bowl appearance under coach Jeff Tedford. Yet Tedford doesn't see a huge advantage in being home, aside from a free trip to Alcatraz and the support of Cal's fans, who snapped up every available ticket - including roughly half of Miami's allotment.
"These are two very evenly matched teams, actually," said Tedford, who's 4-1 in bowl games. "Both of them have a lot of speed. All the speed that's on the field is going to be very exciting for our fans."
After missing the postseason in 2007 in head coach Randy Shannon's debut campaign, Miami was eager to get back into bowl action, even if it meant traveling across the country for the holidays and practicing at City College of San Francisco in the bone-chilling rainy weather for which the city is known.
The Hurricanes lost their last two games and missed the chance to play for the ACC championship, but Cal's mix of speed and experience - along with its 3-4 defense - provides plenty of challenges to a program hoping to take its biggest step forward in Shannon's rebuilding project.
"I watch football late at night, and I see a lot of Pac-10 games," Shannon said. "We know about Cal. They're a very run-oriented team, but they can take shots downfield as well. There's going to be a lot of speed on both sides, but you'll also see two tough teams. I know it's going to be a great TV game, that's for sure."
Miami punt snapper Chris Ivory will not play because he violated an unspecified team rule. He is the fifth Hurricane suspended for the final game of the season.
Jake Byrne, who handles snaps on field goals, will take over Ivory's punt-team duties. Byrne will also be the backup quarterback behind Jacory Harris, who will start after Robert Marve was suspended for missing classes.
Tight ends Richard Gordon and Tervaris Johnson, along with linebacker Jordan Futch, were also suspended last week for the bowl game because of team rule violations.
Miami hasn't played in California since the 2002 Rose Bowl victory that completed its national championship run in the 2001 season. Yet the Bears know all about them, with linebacker Zack Follett clearly remembering Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Ed Reed and various other stars of that title team.
"They signify college football, basically," Follett said. "I remember when they won that championship, I had my Miami sweat shirt on. I'm sure every kid did at that time, even out here in California."
Copyright (c) 2008 TheLedger.com
Vols Add Defensive Tackle on Word of Monte Kiffin Hiring
KNOXVILLE -- New Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin said his father, Monte, would be one of the school's best recruiters when he arrives.
But even before he arrives at Tennessee -- he's due two days after the Tampa Bay Bucs' final game -- he has had his effect.
Just on word last week that the older Kiffin was officially headed to Knoxville, Tennessee got a commitment.
Arthur Jeffery, a 6-4, 285-pound defensive tackle from Sarasota, Fla., announced late in the week that he is coming to Tennessee and it is because Monte Kiffin will be the defensive coordinator. He chose Tennessee over Big East school South Florida.
"It was between USF and Tennessee, but when I heard that Kiffin was going to run the defense it flipped them ahead," Jeffery told media representatives when announcing his choice. The decision is non-binding, but Jeffery says UT is who he will sign with on Feb. 4. "It's solid as a rock. When I make a decision I usually stick with it and in this case there is no way I am changing my mind."
Added Jeffery, who was the Sarasota Herald-Tribune 2007 All-Area Defensive Player of the Year with 11 sacks, 5 blocked extra points or field goals, five forced fumbles and 27 tackles for loss: "Coach Kiffin was the key for me. There is something he brings to the table that makes his players play better and I want to find out what it is."
Jeffery tore an ACL in September and had an operation on Oct. 24, but is expected to be recovered in time to play next fall. He said Tennessee and South Florida are the only programs that stuck with him through his injury.
"It meant a lot to me that those schools stayed with me," Jeffery told the media.
Jeffery, who is rated three stars by Rivals.com and four stars by Scout.com. He raises Tennessee to No. 18 in the Scout.com national rankings and No. 7 in the SEC. Currently, LSU is No. 3, Alabama is No. 5, Georgia is No. 9, South Carolina is No. 10, Florida is No. 14 and Auburn is No. 17. Other SEC teams in Scout's Top 25 are Arkansas at No. 20 and Mississippi State at No. 21.
Copyright (c) 2008 TriCitiesSports.com
Lack of bowl won't hit UT bottom line
KNOXVILLE -- On the surface it appears the Tennessee athletics department is taking a huge hit this holiday season. The football team failed to make it to a bowl game, and more than $1 million went out the window.
But a closer look at the bowl payouts and what a university does with them tells a much different story.
"We budget to break even every year out of our bowl game," said Bill Myers, UT's senior associate athletic director of business operations and the department's chief financial officer. "In terms of what you receive from the bowl and what you spent to participate, the financial impact is negligible."
Last season UT took in about $1.06 million from its appearance in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. But that money was earmarked to pay for a number of bowl expenditures, including purchasing the team's full ticket allotment, hosting multiple functions with alumni, donors and UT employees, and travel and lodging beyond what the Southeastern Conference provides for the team.
While UT's number crunchers don't have to worry about breaking even this season with its bowl payout, the school still will make plenty of money by way of college football's postseason.
Per conference policy, every SEC team that makes it to a bowl game must return a percentage of its payout to the league office. That pool is equally distributed 13 ways to the 12 member schools and to the conference. The pool also includes payouts from other NCAA championships, but the bowl games bring in the most money. Last year, each SEC school received about $10.5 million in the revenue distribution.
Shoe on the other foot
The high-dollar payouts were a traditional complaint many UT fans had with Vanderbilt, which for years benefited by the revenue distribution despite not qualifying for bowl games.
This year, the roles are reversed; the Commodores will be playing in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl while the Vols are home for the holidays.
This is the second time in four years UT failed to advance to a bowl game. Still, there is a school of thought that the financial hit to an established athletic department such as UT barely registers a blip on the radar.
"Revenues at the top level are pretty unresponsive to a couple of years of hard luck or coaching changeover," said Rodney Fort, a professor of sport management at the University of Michigan. "Revenues don't really vary much. You really have to work hard to make your revenues go down if you're a perennial top-20 football school."
Fort added that a school's annual ledger doesn't always tell the complete financial story.
"When you get into the postseason and the BCS level, it's about convincing the next crop of great high school athletes to come to your place," Fort said. "That has monetary value. I would say it is a rate of return impact factor on the future viability of the athletic program."
It's a notion Myers agrees with. UT will take a hit in national exposure because it will not be playing on national television during a time when football fans have more free time and take in multiple bowl games. And there is a financial impact beyond that.
"There can be an intangible loss in the excitement factor," Myers said. "You go and win a bowl game and you have more people willing to donate and buy season tickets for the next year. You don't know what that number is, but I'm sure there is some impact there."
Copyright (c) 2008 The Tennessean
Petersen not leaving BSU for Mississippi State
BOISE -- Boise State head football coach Chris Petersen has denied rumors that he will be the next football coach at Mississippi State.
There are plenty of coaching vacancies in college football and not surprisingly Petersen continues to be mention for many of the openings.
Late Friday afternoon, Petersen released this statement to NewsChannel 7...
"I have a lot of respect for director of athletics Greg Byrne and the Mississippi State athletic program, but I am not taking the head coaching position at Mississippi State. Mississippi State has not offered me the head coaching position. I normally do not comment on coaching positions at other schools, but felt I needed to do so in this situation. We are very happy here at Boise State and look forward to our upcoming bowl game later this month."
Byrne and Petersen were together at the University of Oregon.
Coach Pete's name has been all over the radio and blogs in the Mississippi area.
And as far as Boise State and the bowl situation, the odds are stacked against the Broncos and another BCS bowl birth.
They'll likely be headed to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 23 to take on 11th ranked Texas Christian.
We'll know more when the BCS officially announces its pairings on Sunday night at 6 p.m.
The Poinsettia Bowl will make an announcement at 6:30 p.m., and the Broncos will hold an official press conference at 7 p.m.
(c) 2008 KTVB-TV
Thompson was key to UTM's success
UT Martin quarterback Cade Thompson began fall workouts unsure if he was the No. 1 quarterback on his team, but the junior ended this season as the coaches' selection for the No. 1 signal-caller of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Thompson, a Steve Spurrier recruit who transferred from South Carolina in the 2006 offseason, beat out quarterbacks like Jacksonville State's Ryan Perrilloux and Tennessee State's Antonio Heffner.
Thompson fits the mold of UTM coach Jason Simpson's "underdog" mentality as Perrilloux was a former No. 1 high school recruit in the nation and Heffner, who also transferred from South Carolina, led the conference with 249 total yards per game.
"It was a great honor to be selected for that," Thompson said. "The season didn't end the way we all envisioned it though."
Thompson compiled the OVC's best passing statistics with more than 223 passing yards per game and 24 touchdowns, but the Skyhawks (8-4) fell short of their second conference title in three years in a 33-31 loss to Eastern Kentucky in Hardy M. Graham Stadium.
"We really wanted to win that one for the seniors," Thompson said. "Everybody was pretty upset and disappointed after the game, but all we can do is look back and see what we could have done.
"We will use that game to prepare for next year."
While Thompson nearly led UTM back from an 18-point halftime deficit, the Skyhawks were unable to overcome five first-half turnovers (four interceptions) to advance to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Simpson said Thompson was "very apologetic" Tuesday in his office, but Simpson said UTM could not have had its success without the Maryville native.
"The team would never put the blame on him," Simpson said. "He is a first-team conference player that has developed extreme confidence since coming here.
"His best football is ahead of him."
Thompson will also have most of his weapons returning on UTM's quest for its first outright OVC championship next season.
Receivers Mike Hicks (Ole Miss transfer) and Roren Thomas combined for 110 catches for 1,684 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Hicks led the OVC with 12 touchdowns and posted the second-best season in school history with 894 receiving yards.
UTM's top four rushers and three offensive linemen return to the OVC's third-best rushing attack, while the defense returns everything except the defensive line.
The defense contributed to UTM's top-ranked offense in the conference (37 points per game) with six defensive touchdowns, five from junior safety Dontrell Miller. Miller's scores are believed to be an NCAA record for all divisions.
Simpson said he is confident the Skyhawks can improve on their 16-7 OVC record since he joined the staff in 2006, which is second only to Eastern Kentucky's 20-4 conference mark.
"I met the 1988 team (UTM's last conference championship squad) at the Eastern Kentucky game and thanked them for all their help," Simpson said. "I had never met them, but they were a major recruiting tool to build this program when I arrived in 2006.
"I feel like we are at a point where we put a quality product on the field every year, and we can be perennial contenders for the OVC title."
Copyright (c)2008 Jackson Sun
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