Yet again, college football voters have encountered another wonderful time of year: Deciding who gets to compete in the national championship game, and where other teams should be placed.
The season can be described as unpredictable, with seven no. 2 teams losing throughout the season, and on the final day, the top two teams lost in their respective conference championship games, making way for other teams to jump into those vacant spots atop the polls. With just one team, Hawaii(12-0), ending the season undefeated, yet ranked no. 10 in all four of the polls that determine what college goes to which bowl, the current system is flawed, to say the least. College football fans were once told a two-loss team would not be eligible to make the championship game, but it seems LSU(11-2) and voters supporting them, could look past the pair of triple overtime losses to pencil the Tigers in for the Sugar Bowl. Ohio State(11-1), who is part of one of the few conferences in division one football without a conference championship game, was idle, yet still found a way to gain a trip to New Orleans, where they will once again square off against a stronger SEC team like they did a year ago. Luckily for Jim Tressel's Buckeyes, Les Miles and LSU dont have a combination of Chris Leak and Tim Tebow as Florida did when they crushed Ohio State in last years championship game.
As for the other teams that may have got snubbed, Kansas, the only other one loss team in the nation aside from Ohio State, has to face Virginia Tech(11-2) in the Orange Bowl.
Hawaii will face Georgia(10-2) in the Sugar Bowl.
Southern California(10-2), who came on strong at the end of the season after a disappointing October, will face Illinois(9-3) in the Rose Bowl, which returns once again to the traditional Pac-10 vs Big-10 New Year's Day matchup.
Missouri(11-2), who dropped out of the top spot on the final day, will face Arkansas(8-4) in the Cotton Bowl.
West Virgina(10-2), who fell out of the second spot, will face Oklahoma(11-2) in the Fiesta Bowl.
The mindset for most of these teams is the game we are in is a great national spotlight for their university and program. Other teams might not come forward to say it, but feel they belong in the championship game, and will prove it when gameday comes.
As for the other programs who might not have had the season they desired, some of the bowl games are great preparation for next season, but many are the last stop for most of the coaching staff.
Hopefully, the voting panels will correct their mistakes of this year and years past and implement a playoff system, which now seems like the most logical thing to do, as year after year worthy teams have been snubbed. If no remedy is made, college football will have to live with the fact that regardless of how good a team does, if they play in an inferior conference or lose to a college they should have not lost to, they will be snubbed, regardless of how dominant that team was throughout the course of the season.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
College Football Rivalries
For years, the debate has lingered: Which two schools are the fiercest rivals?
Time after time, week after week, schools stake claim to show how their rivalry is better than anothers. Being a resident of Los Angeles, I have been surrounded by the USC-UCLA rivalry since I was a child, regardless of the fact that I was unaware of the significance.
In recent years, I have seen how rivalry games are unlike any other games, where any national rankings or favoritism from the oddsmakers goes right out the window. An example of this is the 2006 USC-UCLA meeting at the Rose Bowl. USC entered the game with a national championship berth in sight as the no. 2 ranked team in the nation, a stellar defense, and an offense that had collapsed in just one game earlier in the season to Oregon State.
In that game, UCLA showed that regardless of their rivals ranking, rivalry games are played on passion for the game, and most of all, pride and the Victory Bell.
Other big name rivalry games I have watched through the years are USC-Notre Dame, Arizona-Arizona State, Cal-Stanford, Ohio State-Michigan, Florida-Florida State, Miami-Florida State, Oregon-Oregon State, Michigan-Michigan State, Wisconsin-Minnesota. Although most of these games provide more of a intruiging matchup for the fans of those colleges, to me, the USC-Notre Dame/UCLA is one of the most spirited rivalries in all of college football, as throughout the years, those games determined who would win the Heisman Trophy, who would appear in the national championship, who would take the conference crown, and who would walk away with the rivalry trophy.
Time after time, week after week, schools stake claim to show how their rivalry is better than anothers. Being a resident of Los Angeles, I have been surrounded by the USC-UCLA rivalry since I was a child, regardless of the fact that I was unaware of the significance.
In recent years, I have seen how rivalry games are unlike any other games, where any national rankings or favoritism from the oddsmakers goes right out the window. An example of this is the 2006 USC-UCLA meeting at the Rose Bowl. USC entered the game with a national championship berth in sight as the no. 2 ranked team in the nation, a stellar defense, and an offense that had collapsed in just one game earlier in the season to Oregon State.
In that game, UCLA showed that regardless of their rivals ranking, rivalry games are played on passion for the game, and most of all, pride and the Victory Bell.
Other big name rivalry games I have watched through the years are USC-Notre Dame, Arizona-Arizona State, Cal-Stanford, Ohio State-Michigan, Florida-Florida State, Miami-Florida State, Oregon-Oregon State, Michigan-Michigan State, Wisconsin-Minnesota. Although most of these games provide more of a intruiging matchup for the fans of those colleges, to me, the USC-Notre Dame/UCLA is one of the most spirited rivalries in all of college football, as throughout the years, those games determined who would win the Heisman Trophy, who would appear in the national championship, who would take the conference crown, and who would walk away with the rivalry trophy.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
closed minded college football fans
In the airport recently, I decided to pick up a USA TODAY and see what was going on in the world. Of course, the first section I went to was the sports section. After reading the majority of the articles, I found a comment from an SEC football fan stating "I say we discontinue football at all other schools but those in the SEC. There's no reason to continue competing. I suggest the rest quit. Take the budgeted money for football at those universities and send it to the SEC so they can recruit even bigger, faster, more talented athletes. And five some to all their people who keep all thsoe statistics on wins/losses versus other conferences, etc."
Personally, I know a few fans of the SEC, and their view is that their conference is better than all others. But the same goes for fans of the PAC-10, the Big 1o, the Big 12, the ACC, and all other conferences which hold the 119 Division 1 collegiate football teams.
What i don't understand is why someone would cut competition. Competition is a good thing. Day after day, people compete for jobs, athletes compete against other athletes, students compete against other students for better grades, and in election time, candidates compete against candidates, and along the way doing what they must in order to gain whatever legal advantage they can.
Over the past seven years(not including the destructive 2007 season), I can think of two SEC teams that have either won or split the national championship. 2003 LSU split with USC, as voters from USA Today and the Associated Press, the two main polls, voted different champions at the end of the season. In 2006, Florida rolled over Ohio State, leaving no doubt that Florida was the best team in college football at the end of the season.
When you look at the big picture, eliminating all other conferences would maked college football dull. Out of the last 5 Heisman trophy winners, not one of those winners have came from an SEC school, while 3 have played for Southern Cal. One cannot say that the SEC is the best conference, because without any of the other conferences, college football as we know it would be as dull as a tumbleweed, with schools like Arizona and Stanford and Arkansas defeating top ranked schools such as Oregon, USC, and LSU.
Personally, I know a few fans of the SEC, and their view is that their conference is better than all others. But the same goes for fans of the PAC-10, the Big 1o, the Big 12, the ACC, and all other conferences which hold the 119 Division 1 collegiate football teams.
What i don't understand is why someone would cut competition. Competition is a good thing. Day after day, people compete for jobs, athletes compete against other athletes, students compete against other students for better grades, and in election time, candidates compete against candidates, and along the way doing what they must in order to gain whatever legal advantage they can.
Over the past seven years(not including the destructive 2007 season), I can think of two SEC teams that have either won or split the national championship. 2003 LSU split with USC, as voters from USA Today and the Associated Press, the two main polls, voted different champions at the end of the season. In 2006, Florida rolled over Ohio State, leaving no doubt that Florida was the best team in college football at the end of the season.
When you look at the big picture, eliminating all other conferences would maked college football dull. Out of the last 5 Heisman trophy winners, not one of those winners have came from an SEC school, while 3 have played for Southern Cal. One cannot say that the SEC is the best conference, because without any of the other conferences, college football as we know it would be as dull as a tumbleweed, with schools like Arizona and Stanford and Arkansas defeating top ranked schools such as Oregon, USC, and LSU.
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