Thursday Football
The BCS and bowl systems are broken, this much is clear to most fans and journalists. Teams like Connecticut (8-4) and Virginia Tech (11-2) are awarded big money BCS bowl games simply for winning the weak ACC and Big East. Meanwhile, Michigan State (from a very competitive Big Ten) and Boise State (lost a game they should have won twice to a very good Nevada team) are left out. Despite the glaring problems, I don't see the BCS going away. The traditionalists and greedy of the college football world are waaaaaaaay too attached to the status quo.
That being said, I'd like to see an 8-team playoff. It would certainly be more entertaining and competitive than what exists now. The system I'm proposing (and has been proposed by others) would keep the BCS rankings and take the top 8 teams, regardless of conference affiliation or championship, seeding them in a 3 round playoff. Use the current 4 BCS bowl games and two others, probably the Cotton and Capital One Bowl (formerly Citrus Bowl), to host the quarter and semi-finals.
This season would look like this:
1. Auburn vs. 8. Arkansas - Capital One Bowl in Orlando, FL
A rematch of a SEC West shootout from earlier in the year that Auburn won at home. This time it would be played on a neutral field
2. Oregon vs. 7. Oklahoma - Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX
Randomly selected the Cotton Bowl for this game giving Oklahoma a pseudo-home game. Great matchup of Oregon's blur offense against Oklahoma's defense
3. TCU vs. 6. Ohio State - Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, AZ
Opportunity for TCU to give a big suck it to Ohio State's president and his uninformed comments. I would love to see this game and I'd love it even more after TCU whooped one of the traditional (and often overrated) powers.
4. Stanford vs. 5. Wisconsin - Orange Bowl in Miami, FL
Two big power teams that play smashmouth football. Also, the best 2 1-loss teams. A fantastic matchup.
The best part of this scenario is that there are 3 more games to be played after this. Actually, even better is that there is no dispute as to the national champion. As for the rest of the bowl games, leave them in place. Let all of the other teams outside of the top 8 play a postseason prize game.
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In NFL news, I was particularly pleased by the result of this past Monday Night Football matchup between the Patriots and Jets. My gut reaction was to predict a close win for the Patriots, mostly due to their home field dominance. However, I changed my mind when the vest (Rex Ryan) started his boasting and defined his Jets as a team designed to beat the Patriots. The Patriots weren't going to win close anymore, they were going to win by at least 20. There was no way the hoodie (Bill Belichick) was going to do anything less with that kind of bulletin board material. I wasn't even half right as the Patriots pummeled the Jets 45-3. BB didn't hold back even late in the game as the Pats put up 2 more TDs in the 4th quarter. Ryan looked confused, stunned, dazed and a million more adjectives contrary to his usual cocky self. It was a work of beauty.
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Next week I'll look at all of the bowl matchups including predictions for each game. I'll probably enrage my TCU friends in the process. SPOILER ALERT: I'm picking Wisconsin in the Rose.
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