Get Ready For Another Crappy Year of Big-11 Football

From CBSSportsline's Dennis Dodd:

This might be the worst I've seen the Big Ten in 11 years.

The Big Ten remains the leader in BCS bowls (19) but you don't have to be told the league has lost a step in recent years. The 28 NFL draft picks each of the last two seasons ranked fifth (2008) and tied for fourth (2009) among major conferences.

The league is only 9-20 in bowls (1-6 last season) since 2005.

Here's my best example for how average the Big Ten has become: Penn State has to replace 12 starters (the most in the league), including its entire secondary. It is a twisted ankle at quarterback away from finishing fifth. A good, not great, group of receivers have to be replaced by what might be good, not great, group of receivers.

Still, the Nittany Lions are a virtual pick-'em with Ohio State to go to the Rose Bowl.

By the way, the Rose Bowl is going to be it for the conference champ. I don't see a national title contender in the bunch. The letters U, S and C will burn the ears of Big Ten loyalists. USC has beaten Big Ten teams by a combined 60 points the past three Januarys. The Trojans will likely be waiting in Pasadena to lay the smack down once again.

Like the Woody and Bo days, it's still a two-team league. Unlike the Woody and Bo days, there's not much national buzz.

As for Bucky:

7. Wisconsin -- Is it time to panic yet? Bielema started 21-5 in his first two seasons, then slumped to 7-6 last year. But it was the way it happened: Bielema still hasn't been able to find a serviceable quarterback. The Badgers looked lost on defense and the prospects aren't good for this season. The formula to beat Wisconsin hasn't changed: Let the tailbacks get their yards, smack the quarterback in the mouth, wait for the turnovers and control the ball against a poor-tackling defense.

Good Work, Little-11

Another craptacular effort by the Big-11's "elite" team on the big stage. USC toyed with it's over matched opponent in the Rose Bowl. 31-7 at halftime? You're telling me that's the best team the Little-11 could bring to the table?

It wasn't much better for the others. All told, L-11 teams were outscored 186-104 (average 31-17). Thank goodness for Iowa or it would've been 176-73. Don't worry, I'm sure Ohio State will give Texas all it can handle.

Quick aside: And imagine - if that Iowa kicker misses the game winning FG vs Penn St a few weeks go...JoePa's boys would be in the National Championship Game!! Great system, College Football. No, really, it's awesome.

It's Really Not That Hard - See

President-elect Obama called me to lead his newly created College Football Playoff Committee. The goal: Create a college football playoff system that still keeps the morons administrators who like the current bowl system happy. I gladly accepted.

If your conference has a championship game, fine. Keep it. If it doesn't, that's fine too.

16 team playoff. I wanted to do 12 and give the top 4 seeds a bye, but 16 would pile more money into the NCAA. They like money.

6 Automatic Bids (Conference Champs) from each of the BCS conferences
2 Automatic bids to the two best non-BCS conference teams
8 At larges

We can use that stupid BCS Commodore 64 to figure out the 2 best non-BCS teams and 8 at-larges. If you want stipulations like: a max of 3 teams from one conference or teams from the same conference can't play in the first round...I’m flexible. Surly #17, 18, and 19 will be pissed. Yeah, well so is #65 in hoops. There will always be bickering.

First Round (8 Games - Dec 12th - 13th): At home sites of the higher seed.
These tickets would sell out faster than you can say "Butler By'note." A couple games on Friday night, the rest Saturday. I even threw in an off week after round one so the "student-athletes" can study for finals. Because, as we know, the NCAA's biggest concern is the students. Yeah, right.

Second Round (4 Games - Dec 27th ): Gator#, Holiday#, Cotton#, Sugar*
Here's where you start incorporating the bowls. Other second tier bowls (Outback, Capital One) will want a piece of the pie. Fine; they can rotate with the bowls noted with one of these things next to them #. Worried about selling tickets? Then regionalize some games. Put a Pac-10 team in the Holiday Bowl site. Put a SEC team in the Gator. The Big-11 would get screwed because there's zero worthwhile bowls up north. Another solution - move the Outback and Capital One (the two second tier bowls with little history/tradition) to the domes in Indy, St. Louis, or Detroit once in a while. Would the Outback Bowl people really care if it's bowl game is in Indianapolis in 2016? Of course, all these sites would be predetermined years in advance, like in Hoops.

Honestly, when's the last time you watched the Cotton Bowl? Who even played in last years Cotton? (Mizzu 38, Arkansas 7, by the way) Look, I'm sure it will be another memorable game this January...yawn. But how much more intriguing would the Cotton Bowl be if the winner advanced to the National Semi-Finals? Would you watch now? Hell yeah! The exposure and attention would triple. At least! In years when certain second tier bowls are not part of the playoffs, play them like they do now. Go ahead.

Semi-Finals (2 Games - New Years Day): Fiesta*, Orange*

Championship (Jan 8th): Rose*

The four Big Guns with asterisks (Sugar, Rose, Fiesta, Orange) will rotate every 4 years. Thus, like they do now, each of these bowls will host the championship game every 4th year. I can already hear the bitching from the Pac-10 offices. They seem to enjoy the antiquated tradition of Big-11 vs Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl every year. Their soft spot for us in the Upper Midwest is appreciated, but it’s time to move on. The string was already broken with Texas playing in the Rose in 2005 and 2006. Is anybody really exited for this year's Rose? Penn St is in. If Oregon State beats Oregon, we have a rematch of a week 3 meeting: Penn St 45, Oregon St 14. Yippee!! If the Beavers lose, USC is in. Do we really want to see USC bitch slap another Big-11 school? Click here, here, here, here, and here for a refresher course.

Regular Season Diminished?
Here's the big one: "This would diminish the regular season." Not really. These teams would still be fighting for conference titles, rivalry games, BCS positions, NFL draftablility, and that first round home game. And the thought that "ever game matters now" is a farce. Last year, LSU lost to unranked Kentucky and Arkansas. Didn't matter - they played in the championship game anyway. I understand monumental losses like Pitt knocking West Virginia out of the national title game last year in week 12 would be gone. But, did you watch that game? I didn't. The trade off is worth it.

What about the other bowls?
Go ahead, play 'em. You can still have your Horseshit.com bowls where 7-5 Minnesota can collect a fat check, take their squad on a vacation, and the head coach can tell recruits "come to Minnesota, we go to bowls."

Recap:
The old schoolers still get their bowls. The fat cats stuff their wallets. They can still use their bullshit computers. The Apathy.com bowls will continue to please the 6-6 teams of the world. There is still a huge party on New Years Day. And we will finally see what most people want - a real ending to the college football season.

Everybody happy? Yeah? Great. Now lets line 'em up and play some Goddamn football!

Seeds as of Today....straight from the BCS with Cincinnati and FSU added 15 and 16 because the ACC and Big East are devoid of any top 16 teams.

1) Alabama - SEC Champ
2) Texas - Big 12 Champ
3) Oklahoma
4) Florida
5) USC -Pac 10 Champ
6) Utah
7) Texas Tech
8) Penn St - Big 11 Champ
9) Boise St
10) Ohio St
11) Georgia
12) Oklahoma St
13) Missouri
14) TCU
15) Cincinatti - Big East Champ
16) Florida St - ACC Champ


Bracket looks like this: Sorry it's crappy, a graphic designer I am not. The little turds in front of the top 8 seeds are the @ sign. As mentioned, the sites will rotate.




Now THAT’S change we can believe in, right Barack!!

Brad - Chuckie Hacks/President - College Football Playoff Committee

Rooting Interest

Can we please, please, PLEASE have Florida beat Alabama, Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, and everybody else win out. That would leave us with seven 1 loss teams and two non-BCS teams undefeated. Smoke would be pouring out of those computers like a '73 AMC Pacer…

Pathetic In Pullman

Train - the biggest Badger homer I know - has already called this season a loss. The rest is meaningless. To brighten his spirits, he started handing out UW hoops schedules around the office. Hey...cheer up Bucky fans, you could be a Washington State die-hard. Where's Ryan Leaf when you need him? Or at least Timm Rosenbach? From a CNNSI mailbag:

Is there any other team in the nation that is having a worse year than the Washington State Cougars? First they lose nine scholarships due to academic failings that happened under the old regime, they bring in a new coach from the I-AA ranks who looks to be in way over his head, they lose starting QB Gary Rodgers to a career-ending spinal injury and in the same game lose back-up QB Kevin Lopina for a significant amount of time. An open try-out was then held to add another QB to the roster. Now comes news that the current starter, redshirt freshman Marshall Lobbestael, will miss the remainder of the season due to tearing both his ACL and MCL this past week against Oregon State, which leaves another redshirt freshman to take his place with the walk-on as his backup. Aside from a win against I-AA Portland State, the Cougars haven't even been competitive, losing every game by at least 25 points. And to top it all off, just when it seems that things couldn't possibly get any worse, USC is coming to town this weekend. Ugh...-- Dan Smith, Richland, Wash.

Mandel: I don't have anything to add to that. My jaw drops just reading it.

God Bless The SEC

Anybody catch the South Carolina game? Up 27-0 with 5 minutes left, Spurrier airs it out and completes a 50 yard bomb. Only the Ole' Ball Coach. The OBC...one of the many reasons SEC football gives me a tingling sensation in my loins. Others?

- SEC is 9-1 in their last 10 BCS games.

- 5 coaches are wearing NCAA championship rings (Ball Coach, Les Miles, Nick Saben, Phil Fullmer, and Urban Meyer) and a 6th (Tommy Tubberville) went undefeated but didn't get a chance...because the BCS is a turd sandwich. Three others (Houston Nutt, Bob Petrino, Mark Richt) are considered excellent college coaches...and I haven't even mentioned the 2007 SEC coach of the year, Sylvester Croom. That's a solid list.

- Pressure. At every institution but one (Kentucky), football is king. More interest = more pressure. More pressure = more resources dumped into football. More resources dumped into football = You better F-ing win now, or you're canned!

- Stadiums: Death Valley, The Swamp, Neyland, The Hedges, Bryant...the list goes on...

- Talent. More starters in the NFL hail from SEC schools than any other.

- Verne Lundquist. Sure, he might butcher 2 out of every 3 names he tries to pronounce, but a SEC game on CBS with Verne at the mic is always a must see/listen.

- Speaking of, how's this to get the juices flowing? Goldy loves the Old School NFL Today song (which is sweet), and I'm partial to the March Madness theme....how about this? CBS College Football Theme Song.

Enjoy the College Football season, Mopes....if it only had a better ending....

Quick prediction: Badgers 38, Akron 17