By Brendan Loy
Uga VI, the mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs since 1999, has died. 
I'm not a Georgia fan, obviously, but Uga (pronounced "uh-guh") is pretty freakin' cool. Not as cool as Traveler, of course, but cool nonetheless. R.I.P., Uga VI.
By Brendan Loy
You know those "House Divided" license plates -- they're really popular here in the South -- for families in which the spouses root for rival schools? Well, the governor and first lady of California have something similar going on, except it relates to politics rather than sports, and it's on their house instead of their car:
Heh.
Of course, while the Schwarzenegger-Shriver split gets front page treatment in the New York Times, the same thing happens every day in the Carville-Matalin household. :)
(As for those license plates, I need a customized USC/Notre Dame version that says "A Man Divided." Heh. Okay, not really, but it'd look cool, anyway...)
By Brendan Loy
Last week, I confessed that, although the rational side of my brain is undecided between Barack Obama and John McCain, the "portion of my brain that views politics as a sport can't help 'rooting' for Obama" because he is "the scrappy mid-major going up against the staid, boring, established program; he's Boise State against Oklahoma ('They said this day would never come: a WAC team in a BCS bowl! Yes, we can!'), he's Appalachian State against Michigan... or, as McCain might prefer to say, he's Hawaii against Georgia."
Now, Ben Smith uses a college-football metaphor, saying that Obama's 50-state, expand-the-map strategy is the political equivalent of the "spread offense."
If so, Obama's definitely going to win Michigan. :)
By David K.
Gays aren't the only new couples in California. USC and the Coliseum have patched up their differences and worked out a deal to keep the Trojans playing at the Coliseum for another 25 years, about the same time Coach Carroll will be ready to retire.
By Brendan Loy
The ACC and Pac-10 have the least despicable non-conference schedules in college football. And when you consider that the Pac-10 plays a nine-game, true round-robin in conference, their schedules are the most respectable by a mile.
Which conference has the cupcake-iest schedules? The Big Ten, of course. Though the SEC and Big 12 are nipping at its heels.
By Brendan Loy
Every Day Should Be Saturday is running a contest that gives all you college sports fans an opportunity to help the victims of the recent spate of disasters -- the Burma cyclone, the China earthquake, the Midwest tornadoes -- while simultaneously showing your team pride. Here's how it works:
1) Make a donation online to the American Red Cross, CARE, or the International Rescue Committee.
2) Email the donation confirmation to kevin@fanblogs.com and state your team affiliation by 8pm EDT on Wednesday, May 14th.
3) Results will be displayed at Every Day Should Be Saturday and Fanblogs throughout the week, with the final results shown by Thursday, May 15th.
4) The winning school will have its colors displayed at EDSBS and logo/mascot shown on every page at Fanblogs.
Things are looking dismal in the current standings for both USC and Notre Dame. Neither school shows up in the Top 10, and in fact, if EDSBS is counting ND as part of the "Big East" for purposes of their conference standings, it appears that zero dollars have been donated by fans of either school. (The Pac-10 and Big East are tied for last place with $0.)
So, pony up, Irish and Trojan fans! We can't let freakin' Michigan -- in first place with $1,000 -- win this thing.
By Brendan Loy
[Warning: All of the links below are at least marginally SFW, in that they contain no actual nudity. However, some contain scantily clad women, suggestive material, etc., so depending on your situation and location, you may want to steer clear.]
The Arizona State cheerleading squad survived the uniformed ex-cheerleader in a porn movie scandal, but apparently the specter of six current cheerleaders in their underwear, baring their not-quite-naked bodies on the Internets for all to see, was too much for the university to handle:
[T]he cheerleading squad that performed at Arizona State football and basketball games has been eliminated. Arizona State will instead have "spirit squads" that will be led by the band director.Why the change? It's not entirely clear, but the Fox TV affiliate in Phoenix suggests that it's because TheDirty.com posted photos of Arizona State cheerleaders in their underwear.
More on this story -- including the photo -- after the jump.
Continue reading "ASU cheerleading team axed over raunchy photo" »
By Brendan Loy
I mentioned yesterday that college football's powers-that-be have once again decided, in their infinite wisdom, that the BCS is just fine & dandy, and playoffs r teh suxx0rs. But I missed this detail: the NCAA has certified two new bowl games, bringing the total to 34. Because, as AOL Fanhouse says, "that's what the nation really wanted."
This means a total of 68 teams will be goin' bowling. Last year, 71 teams finished with records of 6-6 or better. We're seriously getting into the territory where, in a given season, there might not be enough bowl-eligible teams to fill out all the slots. I expect we'll soon see a rule change allowing in teams with 5-7 records if there aren't enough .500-or-better teams available. (Remember, 6-6 teams have only been allowed in for the last two years, and that change coincided with the expansion from 28 to 32 bowls.)
In any event, 34 bowls means that more than 57 percent of all Division I-A teams will be playing in the postseason. Remember when a bowl bid was actually a meaningful reward for a good year?
Anyway, the new kids on the block are the Congressional Bowl in Washington, D.C., and the St. Petersburg Bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mercifully, a 35th bowl -- the Rocky Mountain Bowl in Salt Lake City, which would have pitted the fifth-place Mountain West team against the fourth-place WAC team -- was rejected.
The St. Petersburg Bowl is still in need of a corporate sponsorship, which gives me an idea. If every college football fan who supports a playoff, and hates the endless proliferation of meaningless bowls between 6-6 teams, were to donate, say, $5, couldn't we make these folks a sponsorship offer they couldn't refuse -- and force them to name their bowl something like the "Utterly Meaningless St. Petersburg Bowl" or the "St. Petersburg Bowl Brought To You By Shameless Greed" or the "Let's Have A Freakin' Playoff Already St. Petersburg Bowl" or the "F***-the-BCS St. Petersburg Bowl"? Cuz that'd be sweet.
Meanwhile, another AOL Fanhouse blogger wonders how on earth USC lost two games (and played poorly in a bunch of other games) each of the last two seasons, given that seven former Trojans were drafted during the first two rounds of the NFL Draft last weekend -- which continues a trend of Trojan dominance on Draft Day. It's a fair question.
By Brendan Loy
Well, everybody who matters, anyway.
By David K.
The Connecticut legislature reached a compromise with UConn that will allow the university's football team to schedule a six-year series against Notre Dame, even though none of the games will be played in Connecticut. The Irish balked at playing at the Huskies' 40,000-seat home stadium, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, insisting instead that UConn's "home" games played in larger stadiums elsewhere, most likely in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and/or New York. However, Connecticut lawmakers were unimpressed with the idea of UConn outsourcing its home games to other states. In the words of State Rep. Michael Christ, D-East Hartford, who proposed an earlier bill that would have required UConn to play all its home games at Rentschler, "Many of us felt we already had a beautiful facility in Connecticut and it was built for UConn."
The newly announced deal requires UConn to play six home games at Rentschler Field each year, "as long as the NCAA rules permit a 12-game season and permits a team to use one Football Championship Subdivision win per season as a bowl-eligible win." It also reduces the length of the series between UConn and Notre Dame from ten years to six. "I believe we have crafted a reasonable solution," said Christ, who added that he hopes UConn can persuade the Irish to play at Rentschler Field in the future. (Ha! Fat chance.)
The series will start in the 2011 season and go through 2017. The three home games for the Irish will, of course, be played at Notre Dame Stadium. The deal still needs to be approved by Notre Dame and venue officials. Connecticut and Notre Dame already have a separate deal to play next season in South Bend.
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Rep. Christ wrote a scathing op-ed about this topic last week in the Hartford Courant. My dad suggested the headline, "Christ to Notre Dame: Screw you." Heh.
Anyway, here's an excerpt:
Loyal Husky fans flock with family and friends to Rentschler for every home game, rain or shine, in support of their beloved team. There are hundreds of stadium workers who depend on a game day payday from parking cars, working concessions and post-game clean-up. Many local school bands and clubs as well as charities also use games to bolster fundraising. Should all those benefits move to Massachusetts? I say no!
If Rentschler Field is too confining for the Leprechaun army the Fighting Irish deploy each week, how come the similar capacity stadium of the Boston College Eagles (formerly of the Big East) is not too small? That series alternates between South Bend and Chestnut Hill, Mass. ...There is no question Notre Dame will remain the "Wal-Mart" of college football as long as it is able to keep its national television network deal. However, UConn officials can come out of this looking like heroes both here in Connecticut and nationally by saying "no thanks." They could brag that no one, not even the legendary Notre Dame, can tell Connecticut where to play its home games. Even if the Fighting Leprechauns, after a few more years of two-win seasons, do eventually find their television revenue dried up and are forced to finally join a conference, it is very possible that the Irish will abandon their pseudo Big East affiliation and join the Big 10 anyway.
Ahem. It was a three-win season, thank you very much.
Incidentally, to answer the question posed by the title, I will, of course, root for Notre Dame, my alma mater. But as I said in comments, "if I had to pick one game (other than USC) for ND to lose, it would be the UConn game. Imagine what a huge win that would be for the Huskies program."
That said: Gooooo Irish! Beeeeeat Huskies! :)
By Brendan Loy
The Shirt 2008 is out. It was unveiled yesterday. (Hat tip: Lisa.) The money quote is "NOTRE DAME WILL RISE AGAIN," which seems appropriate.
Domersphere reactions? Her Loyal Sons hates it. Rakes of Mallow likes it, although he wishes it was green. Blue-Gray Sky thinks it's "pretty good." Of course, it features the famous quote about "the blue, gray October sky" that BGS is named after, so they would like it. ;)
By Brendan Loy
The Frozen Four is underway, and Notre Dame leads Michigan 3-2 with 10:44 left in the second period. It was 3-0, but Michigan just scored two rapid-fire goals to get back in it.
Liveblogs here and here. The game is being televised live on ESPN2. Winner gets Boston College in the national championship game Saturday. GO IRISH!!! BEAT SKUNKBEARS!!!
UPDATE: Michigan tied it at 3-3... then Notre Dame just took a 4-3 lead with less than 9 minutes left.
UPDATE 2: Tie game 4-4, with 5:21 left. Ugh.
UPDATE 3: Overtime. And, alas, I have to go to bed. Go Irish.
UPDATE 4: IRISH WIN!!!! (Okay, so I didn't actually go to bed...) WOOOHOOO!!!
UPDATE 5: The Associated Press is mean. Check out their lede:
Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field. Not so the ice.
Jeez! Is that really necessary? The Irish hockey team makes it to the national championship game for the first time ever -- upsetting the #1-ranked team in the country, and becoming the first #4 seed ever to advance this far -- and the first sentence of the AP article takes an irrelevant shot at the football team? WTF?! Is Brian Cook working ghost-writing for the AP or something?
Moreover, it's inaccurate. Yes, Michigan beat Notre Dame -- badly -- in 2007 and 2006, but the Irish won easily in 2005 (when Michigan was ranked #3 in the country, the Irish just #20) and in 2004 (when ND was unranked and Michigan was #7). Michigan won in '03; Notre Dame won in '02. That makes them 3-3 in their most recent series. (They didn't play from 1998 to 2001.)
If you want to go back further, the Irish are 12-11-1 against the Skunkbears since the series was renewed in 1978 after a 35-year hiatus. Michigan leads the overall series 20-14-1, but somehow I don't think the Wolverines' 9-2 record between 1884 and 1943 was what the AP reporter had in mind.
In any event, 20-14 is hardly a massive advantage, and 11-12 isn't an advantage at all, nor is 3-3. However you look at it, you simply cannot construct an accurate historical reality in which "Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field," unless you're looking only at the last two years, which is rather myopic and hardly a sufficiently representative sample to make such a sweeping statement. Neither team has the other's number; they've been very even in recent years.
Maybe the AP's hockey writers should stick to talking about hockey. How about that.
Anyway, here's a better ESPN article about Notre Dame's amazing run to the national championship game. In hockey.
P.S. Now, if you want to say that USC currently has Notre Dame's number in football, thanks to six straight wins -- five of them blowouts -- that would be accurate. :) Likewise, it would have been accurate to say that the Irish had the Trojans' number back during their 13-year undefeated streak in the '80s and '90s. But no way does either ND or UM have the other's number right now.
By Brendan Loy
Man, oh man, has it been a great year to be an unheralded, small-conference school in western North Carolina, or what?
First Appalachian State beats Michigan in the Big House. Then Gardner-Webb beats Kentucky at Rupp Arena. And now Davidson -- Appy State's conference-mate -- is going to the Elite Eight.
Just call it the Bermuda Carolina Triangle:
"Abandon hope, all ye major-conference foes who enter here!"
Heady days in western Carolina. HOT! HOT! HOT!
By Brendan Loy
The University at Buffalo football team will play a home game on ESPN2 on Election Night against Miami of Ohio. It'll be Buffalo's first nationally televised game since moving to Division I-A, and the first-ever nationally televised game out of UB Stadium. And according to UB grad Weston (pictured below with yours truly on the night of the Buffalo-Rutgers game last fall), they're calling it the "Blue vs. Red Game," in reference to its Election Night timing. Heh.
Speaking of Buffalo, the Bulls are currently trying to extend their men's basketball season in unlikely fashion. At 3-13 in conference play and 10-19 overall, UB is the lowest seed in the conference, #12, but they're leading aforementioned Miami, the #5-seed, by a score of 51-42 with 11:39 to go. Can Buffalo get four wins in four days to win the MAC Tournament? Um, probably not. But hey, you never know. Crazier things have happened -- like the UB football team winning five games in a season. :) Winner gets #4-seed Ohio tomorrow.
UPDATE: Buffalo loses, 69-68. :(
By Brendan Loy
Not content with pissing all over USC's football championships, now LSU wants to steal our basketball coach. :P
Floyd responded with a non-denial denial. I'm sure Les Miles will be rushing to the microphone any minute to castigate the media for reporting on such rumors when Floyd is busy trying to focus on winning a Pac-10 and NCAA championship. ;)
(Hat tip: Jay.)
By Brendan Loy
Pete Carroll and new UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel have reportedly reached an agreement that will allow the Bruins and Trojans to renew the old tradition of both wearing their home jerseys when they play each other.
Sweet.
The Daily Bruin and Bruins Nation have more. (Hat tip: Doc and Chris Newbury.)
By Brendan Loy
USC has had an awfully impressive track record on the recruiting trail in recent years, especially in the area of quarterbacks. John David Booty was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2003; Mark Sanchez was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2005; Mitch Mustain was the top QB recruit of the Class of 2006. All three went to USC (after a brief sojourn at Arkansas, in Mustain's case).
Well, the embarrassment of riches continues: the Class of 2009's top quarterback recruit, Matt Barkley, announced yesterday that he will go to USC. (Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.)
Sweet.
By Jay Johnson
Looks like Norm Chow is headed back to southern California to assume the role of Offensive Coordinator.
For UCLA.
That is all.
By Brendan Loy
Pete Carroll isn't talking about the ongoing speculation concerning his possible return to the NFL with either the Atlanta Falcons or the Washington Redskins. But the Associated Press asserts that the Falcons' hiring of Tom Dimitroff as general manager last weekend "likely will end [owner Arthur] Blank's possible interest in Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll. Carroll has said he would have interest in an NFL job only if given the authority in personnel decisions."
Meanwhile, USC linebakers coach Ken Norton will remain at Troy instead of defecting to his alma mater, UCLA, which had tried to woo him across town. "I'm flattered," he said of the Bruins' interest. "They'll always be a team in my heart . I feel real good about Rick Neuheisel and what he's going to do there. ... The timing just wasn't right. I'm really appreciative of what Pete Carroll has done for me over here, and my business is not finished."
By Brendan Loy
Buffalo's Turner Gill gets a contract extension: "Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Gill's new salary is expected to put him in the top tier of MAC coaches."
By Brendan Loy
Ladies and gentlemen, I dreamed the impossible dream, but alas, it looks like that dream -- of former Michigan State coach John L. Smith "doing crazy s**t while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei" -- will not happen. It appears Hawaii is going to keep things in-house, hiring defensive coordinator Greg McMackin as June Jones's successor.
Continue reading "Slap thyself, John L. Smith: Hawaii says no" »
By Brendan Loy
Heh: In the wake of June Jones's departure as Hawaii's head football coach, state-employee union rules have forced the university to post the job on the Internets, available for anyone to apply. "By mutual agreement with the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, the position must be advertised for at least five working days." It was posted on Tuesday, so you have until at least Saturday to apply:
Head Football Coach, position number 80110, UHM Athletics, (Manoa), Duties: Under administrative direction, Coach is responsible for planning, administering, and evaluating the overall operation of the intercollegiate football program to include, but not limited to, academic achievement of student-athletes, recruitment of qualified prospects, supervision of assistant coaches and other staff assigned to the program, compliance, program management (eligibility, scheduling, travel, budget, equipment), and student-athlete welfare. The head coach assumes full responsibility for ensuring that team performance is competitive in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with the goal of achieving post-season competition.
And so on, and so forth. Applicants must submit a cover letter, a resume, three references, and UH Form 64. (God bless bureaucracy.) "Review of applications will begin on Jan-15-2008 and will continue until the position is filled." They've received 30 applications so far -- including, apparently, one from former Michigan State coach John L. Smith.
This is kind of ironic, at least in the Alanis Morrisette sense, considering that Smith's Spartans lost 41-38 at Hawaii in 2004, then spent the better part of 2006 trying to weasel their way out of a contract to play there again in 2007. They finally succeeded -- though not until after Coach Slappy had already been fired -- paying $250,000 for the right to not play Hawaii.
The scheduling cowardice of Smith & co. helped doom Hawaii to an abysmal SOS rating, while allowing Michigan State (under new coach Mark Dantonio) to go 4-0 in its non-conference slate against cupcakes UAB, Bowling Green, Pitt and Notre Dame. (Okay, so those last two might not have been cupcakes when they were scheduled, but still...)
And now, Smith wants to go to Hawaii. For good. He's not shy about it, either, telling a reporter: "With 18 years of collegiate head coaching experience and over 130 wins, I would hope that would qualify me as a candidate to be the next head coach at the University of Hawaii."
"And if they don't hire me, I'll slap myself," he added.
Okay, maybe he didn't actually say that last part. But oh, John L. Smith, how I've missed you.
Hawaii, please, please, make this happen. It'll be good for college football. Check that: great for college football. John L. Smith doing crazy s**t while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a lei = COMEDY GOLD.
(Hat tip: EDSBS.)
In other coaching news, it seems a Washington booster offered the school $100,000 to fire Ty Willingham.
By Brendan Loy
Amid all the excitement of the past few days, I never got around to posting the final standings of the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. Of course, the final point totals are already online, but that's without tiebreakers. Full standings, with tiebreakers, are after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
It's January, which means it's Pete-Carroll-to-the-NFL rumor season. This time, though, it sounds like there may actually be something to the rumors:
USC coach Pete Carroll is interested in the Atlanta Falcons' head coach opening and is expected to speak with Atlanta owner Arthur Blank via phone Wednesday, sources at the American Football Coaches Convention in Anaheim told ESPN's Joe Schad.
Blank is expected to offer full control of personnel decisions to Carroll and the sources said that is what intrigues Carroll most.
DAMN YOU, BOBBY PETRINO!!!
(Hat tip: BK.)
P.S. Reaction from around the Trojansphere:
Student Body Right: "Let’s face it, at some point the guy will jump back to the NFL, it seems inevitable, but… Atlanta? Maybe the single worst job in the league right now? Seems a little nutty, if you ask me."
AOL Fanhouse: "It's... interesting to speculate why Carroll would leave a gravy job at USC for a massive rebuilding project in Atlanta."
Conquest Chronicles: "I am a little shocked that the Falcons would even entertain going after another college coach, regardless of [the coach's] success, after the whole Petrino mess. I have said before that I think Pete Carroll will end up back in the NFL but I'm not sure this is right fit for him. ... [But] I think this might the time for him to go. This is an itch he really wants to scratch and you will only get so many opportunities to make the move back into the NFL. Don't get me wrong I want to keep him as long as we can but we need to be realistic that sooner or later this will probably happen."
TrojanWire: "Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona and Houston have all courted the man, but so far no team has been able to woo him back over. ... [But now Atlanta] is supposedly offering what Pete wants most: full control of all personnel decisions for the Falcons. ... Pete has been quoted saying he'll 'never return' to the NFL, but who knows...if the conditions are right, any man has his price -- even Pete."
Scott Wolf: "About two weeks ago, I spoke to Carroll about the Falcons job and he was not bullish on it or the organization." And later, a quote from the USC sports information department: "There's nothing going on, no reason to even talk about it." Yeah right -- "Nothing going on . . . except an interview with the Atlanta Falcons today," Wolf adds.
By Brendan Loy
If LenDale White gets a first down on that 4th-and-2 against Texas, if John David Booty doesn't throw an interception with 1:10 left against UCLA, and if Stanford's Tavita Pritchard doesn't complete that 4th-and-goal prayer from the 10 (or the 4th-and-20 moments before), USC is celebrating its fifth consecutive national championship right now.
I know: if, if, if. And throw in two more "ifs," because I'm assuming the Trojans would have beaten Ohio State in the title game the last two years, if they'd made it in (though that seems like a pretty reasonable assumption). Still, it's pretty incredible to contemplate how close 'SC has come to a dynasty like no other.
Ah well. Next year. BEAT THE CAVALIERS!!
By Brendan Loy
Well, not really. But with LSU #1 and Georgia #2 in the final AP poll (just as I predicted), it's sort of inescapable. The drumbeat of SEC chest-beating will be unavoidable between now and next September. OMG BEST CONFERENCE EVAR!1!!
By the way, LSU was not a unanimous #1 -- second-ranked Georgia got 3 first-place votes, third-ranked USC got 1, and seventh-ranked Kansas got 1 -- but this wasn't even close to being a split championship. (Again, just as I predicted.) LSU finished with 60 first-place votes and 1,620 points overall. Georgia got 1,515 points; USC, 1,500.
Of course, as David mentioned yesterday, I'm sure LSU will graciously refuse to accept the Associated Press championship trophy. ;)
After the Tigers, Bulldogs and Trojans comes a tight battle for #4, which Missouri eked out with 1,347 points -- one more point than #5 Ohio State (1,346) and five more than #6 West Virginia (1,342). A bit further behind is Kansas, one of just two one-loss teams in the nation (the other being #19 Hawaii), with 1,303 points.
Rounding out the AP Top 15: #8 Oklahoma, #9 Virginia Tech, #10 Texas and Boston College (tied), #12 Tennessee, #13 Florida, #14 BYU and #15 Auburn. For those keeping score at home, that's five SEC teams in the Top 15. Please shoot me now. ... Of course, if you look at their records, you'll note that Tennessee, Florida and Auburn are the only four-loss teams ranked above #18, which is further evidence of the Kreutz Theorem ("when [pollsters] rank SEC teams, they automatically subtract a loss from their record"). Heh.
Michigan, if you're wondering, finished #18, the highest-ranked non-SEC four-loss team. Who can honestly say they saw that coming back in September? Oh, and Appalachian State got 5 votes, effectively tying them for 34th place with South Florida. HOT! HOT! HOT!
Anyway, on a more serious note: congratulations to the LSU Tigers! Whatever we may think of the BCS, the Bayou Bengals deserve credit for surviving this most turbulent of college-football seasons and earning, at last, an undisputed national championship... sort of. :) Well done, guys. Way to geaux.
P.S. This is the first time two teams from the same conference have finished the season ranked #1 and #2 in the AP poll since 1971, when the top two were #1 Nebraska and #2 Oklahoma of the Big Eight. (And it didn't stop there. Fellow conference-mate Colorado was #3!)
UPDATE: In the final USA Today coaches poll, USC edged Geogria for the #2 spot, 1,380 points to 1,370, and Ohio State headily beat Missouri for the #4 spot, 1,287 to 1,241, with West Virginia close behind Mizzou at 1,239, and Kansas at 1,217. Unlike in 2003, there were no dissenters from the contractually obligatory coronation of LSU as the #1 team.
UPDATE 2: As long as we're talking rankings, Stewart Mandel has posted his preseason Top 10 for 2008. Of course, much depends on various juniors' stay-or-go-pro decisions. But provisionally, he has Georgia at #1, Ohio State #2, Oklahoma #3, USC #4 and Missouri #5. LSU, which he says "will be hit harder by graduation than any of the other top teams from 2007," is #9.
By JLR
In yesterday's Washington Post, there was a decent article examining the pros and cons of a playoff system for college football. I've already explained my position, and I've heard numerous arguments from the Brendansphere. However, with a 2-loss "champion," I need to say it again: the BCS system sucks. If App State can figure out how to have their students take their final exams even though they have playoffs, why can't Virginia? (UVA purposely declined their invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl because it would have conflicted with exams).
And now I need to stop and look at what I wrote. I'm a teacher, for chrissake ... A teacher who sometimes resents ploys arguments like this from athletic departments. Somefeel the stress is too much ... maybe.
Some of the Appalachian State football players felt that way, crammed into the ballroom some 48 hours before playing the most important game of their season. Afterward, though, they also agreed the stress was worthwhile. Years from now, unlike whichever team wins tonight [OSU. or LSU -ed], the merits of their national championship will not be questioned.
I was a student athlete in high school (though not in college, I'll admit). Classwork comes first. If there was a conflict, I went to the teacher and worked something out. Period. Almost every teacher I know would be willing to give students other opportunities to make up work (or an exam) if they had a legitimate reason for missing class--and I think playoffs would qualify. True, it might be tough, but isn't that what being a student athlete is about?
By Brendan Loy
My two favorite sports, college football and presidential politics, converge tonight. The BCS national-title game is underway (LSU is up 17-10), and the first New Hampshire primary results will be available in less than three hours, as the polls open -- and close -- in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location. I don't know how many people will be flipping between Fox and C-SPAN around midnight, but I know I will be!
UPDATE: LSU was up 34-10, but Ohio State just scored a crucial touchdown to cut the Tigers' lead to 34-17 late in the third quarter.
UPDATE 2: Still 31-17 with 5:43 left, and after two straight interceptions by LSU, it's pretty much over.
Meanwhile, back on the political front, here is some corroboration of what Matt Drudge was reporting earlier today.
UPDATE 3: LSU 38, Ohio State 24, final. (It was 38-17, then tOSU got a garbage-time touchdown with 1:13 left.)
So, um, yeah, nevermind. ;)
The Fox analyst says Ohio State "could very well be back in this game next year." Oh good lord.
Now, over to C-SPAN...
UPDATE 4: WTF?? C-SPAN does not appear to be showing Dixville Notch live!! Why does C-SPAN exist, if not to allow political nerds to watch live coverage of ridiculous, nonsensical, meaningless political traditions?
UPDATE 5: Phew, CNN is live from Dixville Notch!
UPDATE 6: It's midnight, and the New Hampshire primary is underway! Four of the 17 residents of Dixville Notch have already voted absentee, and the other 13 just dropped their ballots into the ballot box. ... And the polls are closed!
UPDATE 7: This is riveting.
UPDATE 8: Duncan Hunter is there. In Dixville Notch. Heh.
And they're about to announce the results!
UPDATE 9: McCain 4, Romney 2, Giuliani 1. No love for Hunter!
UPDATE 10: Obama 7, Edwards 2, Richardson 1. w00t!
By Brendan Loy
Back on December 3, the day after the BCS pairings were announced, the always eloquent Sunday Morning Quarterback had an excellent post about LSU and SEC fan hubris in anticipation of the Mythical Championship Game showdown between the Buckeyes and the Tigers. I meant to blog about it earlier, but never got around to it. Now, with the game mere hours away, seems like the perfect time to finally do so. Quoth SMQ:
The worst result of last year's mythical championship game was the growth and perpetuation of this absurd notion of superior "SEC speed," based not on the collective 40 times and shuttle drills of hundreds of players on a couple dozen teams that make up the SEC and Big Ten, but on a handful of plays in a single game that was decidedly outside the season-long patterns of both participants, and not demonstrably decided by "speed" (unless you're willing to suggest Tennessee and Arkansas were done in a week earlier by "speed," too, which was at least as plausible). ...
One would think the false sense of inevitability that followed Ohio State prior to last year's championship (or USC the year before that, or that very, very fast Miami team in 2002, or, I don't know, LSU, Ohio State, West Virginia, USC, Oregon, Michigan, Oklahoma, California, Florida or LSU again prior to stunning upsets over the last three months) would demonstrate the virtues of humility to fans everywhere, and lead them to stop for a second to recognize - last year's anomalous championship beatdown is a great example of this - that anything can happen in one game, on one night, and "anything" will not necessarily reconcile itself with the accumulation of disparate performances that precedes it. It only adds to the accumulation; it doesn't define it. Based on everything we know from the dozen "samples" on both sides leading up to last January, that Florida team couldn't beat that Ohio State team by 27 points again in a whole season of trying. There's a reason the Gators were underdogs, and it's not because they kept the fast guys under wraps when squeaking out wins against South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Based on everything we know from both teams' performances this season, Ohio State and LSU should be a close, hard-hitting game between two of the few teams that still operate largely from traditional two-back sets on offense and do not hesitate to run old-fashioned isos, counters and traps into the line. It's an interesting collision of style and persona between loose cannon Les Miles and icy, understated mercenary Jim Tressel, and their emphases on emotion, "poise" (as Miles likes to repeat to his oft-flagged charges) and discipline. But it will be decided by the side that executes and catches the right breaks under the specific set of circumstances that unfold on Jan. 7, at which point, of course, that team will be instantly refashioned into gold-drenched superheroes with inherent abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Naturally: We are the champions! These are the myths we make.
But the athletes, the speed, all of that is a given. LSU and Ohio State have both turned in top ten recrutiting classes each of the last four seasons. They've all got the athletes. They've all got the speed. The differences in raw talent on this level are nil. This championship, like all championships, will be about combining management, strategy and execution in the moment, and probably a bounce or timely flag or two. Not as catchy as "SEC Speed," but anything more precise than wrongheaded, bumper sticker hubris rarely is.
Indeed.
Anyway, you may notice that in the title of this post, I'm going out on a limb, aligning myself with the 27 out of 90 Bowl Pick 'em contestants and 25.3 percent of ESPN readers who believe the Buckeyes will prevail. I am predicting this not because I'm pro-OSU but because I'm anti-CW (conventional wisdom, that is), and I see no particular reason to believe that Ohio State can't win this game. This isn't an SEC-Big Ten Challenge (which the former would certainly win), it's a game between two specific teams from those conferences, and while I won't be particularly surprised if either one wins -- such is the chaotic nature of college football, especially this season -- I think a Buckeye blowout would be the perfect conclusion to the season, in the sense that it would turn conventional wisdom on its head one last time. And the Buckeyes certainly have plenty of motivation, while the homestanding Bayou Bengals could easily fall into the trap of reading their press clippings a bit too much. Also, for the love of God, I don't think I can handle the SEC chest-thumping if the Tigers win. So: Ohio State 27, LSU 10.
Oh, and the talk about a split national championship? Forget about it. This is, as I keep saying, a Mythical Championship Game in the sense that there's no particularly compelling reason to believe that these are actually the two best teams in the country, but at the same time, nobody else stands out as being worthy, either. The problem this year, unlike in all past BCS controversies, isn't that there are too many championship-worthy teams, it's that there are too few. My USC Trojans, for one, really and truly should not be in this discussion at all, and it's frankly an embarrassment that they are. Yes, they'd probably win a playoff, but who cares? We don't have a playoff system, we have a system where you're judged on your body of work, and USC lost to Stanford and beat next to nobody. As for the others -- Georgia, Kansas, West Virginia, Missouri (!) -- they all, like USC, are nice teams, but none of them scream "national champion" and all have glaring flaws. So will the LSU-OSU winner, of course, particularly if it's the two-loss Tigers. But in this strangest of all seasons, sheer inertia should result in the Mythical Championship Game winner being recognized by both polls. If Hawaii had beaten Georgia, it would have been a different story, but of course, that rather emphatically did not happen. So tonight's game is for all the marbles: BCS and AP. That said, the phrase "undisputed champion" would not be proper. There's plenty of cause to dispute the result. It's just that no single alternative stands out, so tonight's winner gets the consensus title by default.
Go Buckeyes.
By Brendan Loy
Tulsa leads Bowling Green, 21-0 at the end of the first quarter of the GMAC Bowl, and the Golden Hurricane is threatening to score again. That's bad news for Trisha Neudorff and good news for Seth Carmack, who, as noted earlier, will clinch the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest if Tulsa wins tonight.
UPDATE, 10:35 PM: It's 42-7 Tulsa with 11:20 left in the third quarter. I'm going to bed now, but I think we can safely declare it over: Tulsa wins, and Seth Carmack is the 2007 Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest champion!
Carmack is the first winner to clinch the contest prior to the BCS title game. That's partly the result of how heavily favored LSU is -- just three of the current Top 15 contestants picked Ohio State, so most of them have no opportunity to gain any ground on Carmack, who went with the majority and picked LSU -- and partly the result of my blatant editorializing in making the Mythical Championship Game have an equal point value to the other BCS bowls. If the title game was worth 8 points, like last year, Neudorff would still be alive to win. But it's only worth 5, and she trails by 6, so the best she can do is lose by one point.
Anyway, congratulations, Seth!
UPDATE: The final score was 63-7. Pick 'em standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Rutgers's 52-30 win over Ball State in the International Bowl means that Seth Carmack will clinch the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest if Tulsa beats Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl tomorrow night.
Trisha Neudorff needs for Bowling Green to win tomorrow, and then for Ohio State to upset LSU in the BCS title game Monday. If Tulsa wins tomorrow, Neudorff will be too far behind Carmack to catch him, even if the Buckeyes win.
After the jump, complete standings plus each contestant's predicted winners of the final two bowls. (The GMAC Bowl is worth 1 point; the BCS title game, 5 points.) Standings are also here.
By Brendan Loy
It's Kansas 24, Virginia Tech 14 with 5:51 left in the Orange Bowl. Hokies ball on their own 22.
As I mentioned earlier, if the Jayhawks win, the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest will become a two-person race between Seth Carmack and Trisha Neudorff. If the Hokies rally, Brian Dupuis will clinch the contest.
UPDATE: Awesome touchdown catch by Kyle Harper for VT, and after a 15-play, 78-yard, 2-minute-51-second Hokies drive, it's 24-21 Kansas with three minutes left. Finally, a competitive BCS game!
UPDATE 2: Kansas wins! So, Dupuis is eliminated. Carmack leads the pick 'em contest, and can clinch early if Rutgers and Tulsa win the International and GMAC bowls, respectively. If either Ball State or Bowling Green (or both) win, Neudroff stays alive heading into the BCS title game, needing an Ohio State victory over LSU to move ahead of Dupuis.
Complete standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Brian Dupuis, a.k.a. DUP, who won the first annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest in 2005-06, can clinch the third annual contest tonight if Virginia Tech beats Kansas in the Orange Bowl.
If Kansas wins, Dupuis will be eliminated, and the contest will become a two-person race between Seth C. and Trisha Neudorff. Neudorff would win if Ohio State beats LSU in the title game and either Ball State or Bowling Green (or both) win the International or GMAC bowls, respectively. If LSU wins, or if both Rutgers and Tulsa win, Seth C. would win the contest.
Current standings here and after the jump.
Continue reading "Dupuis on verge of another pick 'em win" »
By David K.
With less than 6 minutes remaining the Mountaineers of West Virginia are dominating the Oklahoma Sooners 48 - 28. A win would not only be a huge upset (for instance only 17 of the 90 entrants in the bowl pool picked WVU and over 84% of the voters in the ESPN Bowl Mania challange picked the Sooners, with an average confidence of 24.5 out of 32) but the first win of the bowl season for a team playing with an interim coach. Oklahoma is looking at another loss in the Arizona desert, although not nearly as exciting as last years to Boise State. And its been a messy game too, 21 penalties so far and 225 penalty yards between the two teams, a dubious Fiesta Bowl record.
Oh and one more thing, the next time someone complains about USC only playing one song I'm going to tell them to watch an Oklahoma game, that stupid Sooner ditty is ridiculous.
UPDATE:
Final score 48-28 WVU, congrats to the Mountaineers. If West Virginia is smart they'll hire interim coach Bill Stewart right after the game. He got this team to play for him when no one else believed in them.
By Jay Johnson
We've had some excellent, very competitive BCS bowls so far.
I mean, this Fiesta Bowl is practically a nailbiter, with West Virginia struggling to hold on to a 20 point lead over Oklahoma.
48-28, WVU with 9 minutes to go in the game.
Sheesh.
By Brendan Loy
Loyette and I are watching the Rose Bowl in the hospital (well, she's asleep, but she's sitting on my lap while I watch it, anyway), and so far, we like what we see: the Trojans lead 21-3 at halftime.
UPDATE: USC 49, Illinois 17, final. w00t!
Meanwhile, Georgia and Hawaii are underway in the Sugar Bowl. Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis -- the same announcing team that called last year's Boise State win in the Fiesta Bowl and this year's Appalachian State upset of Michigan -- are calling the game. I sense an upset!
UPDATE 2: Or not. Georgia 24, Hawaii 3 at halftime.
UPDATE 3: Nope, definitely not. Georgia 41, Hawaii 10, final.
Remember how everyone wanted to see USC vs. Georgia instead of putting them in separate bowls? Tonight pretty well demonstrated why, no? It's not the Rose Bowl's fault that a Trojans-Bulldogs matchup didn't happen, but man, it would have been pretty awesome. The BCS sucks.
By Brendan Loy
Although I suddenly find college football considerably less interesting than staring dumbfoundedly into my daughter's eyes, nevertheless a bunch of bowl games are happening today. And things are going well so far for the hometown team, as Tennessee leads Wisconsin 21-7 near the end of the first half.
Later, of course, it'll be USC vs. Illinois in the Rose Bowl and Georgia vs. Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. Loyette says, "Fight on Trojans, and Go Warriors!" Okay, actually, Loyette just sort of let out a sleepy squeak, but that's how I interpret her sentiments. :)
Also about to begin: the Sabres-Penguins outdoor hockey game, with 73,000 crazed Buffalonians packing the Bills' iced-over football stadium. Kevin at Bfloblog calls it "the biggest sporting event to occur in the City of Buffalo in my lifetime."
Now if you'll excuse me, Becky and Loyette are both napping at the moment, and I'm going to try and do the same. I haven't gotten much sleep in the last 36 hours (something I know will be quite common for the next several weeks/months/decades), and I gotta rest up before the Rose Bowl!
By Brendan Loy
Heh.
That's USC alum Michael Walsh, a.k.a. lex icon, at left, and UCLA alum Mike Tran at right, looking pretty sanguine under the circumstances.
(This is all because I won a bet, in case you forgot.)
In accordance with the terms of the bet, Tran's ride will be flag-adorned all day today and tomorrow. So there will be one extra Trojan car driving around the streets of L.A. (or Orange County, whatever) during the Rose Bowl.
Hopefully Mike will manage to contain his self-loathing enough not to drive across the center line or anything. ;)
Here's another shot of just the car with the flag:
Fight on Trojans, Beat the Illini!!!
By Brendan Loy
Alabama's win over Colorado in the Independence Bowl kept Hal Strickland in sole possession of the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest lead. Things could change a lot tomorrow, though, with six bowl games worth two points apiece. Strickland picked Air Force, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Kentucky, Clemson and Oklahoma State. Everyone else's picks can be viewed here and here.
Current standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Penn State beat Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl, so the top six in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest remain unchanged from the last update.
If Alabama beats Colorado in the Independence Bowl tomorrow, Hal Strickland will remain in sole possession of first place. If Colorado wins, D. Brooks will tie him for the lead.
Full updated standings here and after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
Hal Strickland took sole possession of first place in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest moments ago as Mississippi State beat Central Florida, 10-3 in the Liberty Bowl.
Strickland picked Penn State in the evening's final game, the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M. But he will stay in first place at the end of the night even if the Aggies win.
Mark Gardner and 2005-06 pick 'em winner Brian Dupuis are tied for second place, one point behind Strickland. They also picked Penn State, as did Scott Fort, Courtney Tawresey and D. Brooks, who are tied for fourth place, two back of Strickland.
All of the bowls for the remainder of 2007 are worth two points each; the non-BCS New Year's Day bowls are worth three apiece; and the BCS bowls are worth five each. Current standings after the jump.
By Brendan Loy
ESPN's announcer for the Meineke Car Care Bowl just stated that the AP is reporting that UCLA has hired former Washington coach and Bruin alum Rick Neuheisel, who left a trail of recruiting-violation carnage in his wake at both UW and Colorado, as its new head coach.
Hahahahahaha.
The score, by the way, is Wake Forest 17, UConn 10 in the closing seconds, with the Demon Deacons running out the clock.
UPDATE: Wake wins, 24-10. Hal Strickland and Mark Gardner are now tied for the lead in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest. One of them will take sole possession of the lead depending on who wins the Liberty Bowl: Strickland if Mississippi State wins, Gardner if UCF wins.
Meanwhile, here's an article about Neuweasel.
And in basketball, Tennessee and Gonzaga are underway. Go Zags!
By Brendan Loy
After Boston College's win over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl, there's a four-way tie atop the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest among Gerry deSimas, Mark Gardner, Anthony H. and Hal Strickland. All four picked Oregon State over Maryland in the currently-underway Emerald Bowl, but in the also-underway Texas Bowl between TCU and Houston, deSimas picked Houston while the others picked the Horned Frogs. So deSimas will take sole possession of the lead if the Cougars win. If TCU wins, it'll be either a three-way tie among Gardner, Strickland and Anthony H. (if Oregon State wins) or a six-way tie among those three and JLR, Chris Healey and Lane Buchan (if Maryland wins). Both games are currently tied in the third quarter.
UPDATE: TCU wins, 20-13. So it'll be either a three-way or six-way tie. Oregon State leads Maryland 21-14 with 6:39 to go.
UPDATE 2: Beavers win! Finally, the Pac-10 pulls one out. Latest pick 'em contest standings here and after the jump. Also after the jump, scenarios for who will have the lead at the end of the day tomorrow.
By Brendan Loy
Did Darren McFadden just ruin one of the few intriguing-on-paper matchups of this wretched bowl season by rendering himself ineligible?
UPDATE: Apparently it ain't so. The TV station that initially reported the story has retracted it and apologized.
