Musings on NCAA football

I’ll start this post off with a disclaimer: As a graduate of D-III school Wesleyan (which has inexplicably produced two NFL head coaches – Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini - and one MLB GM – Jed Hoyer - but that’s a story for another day), I’m not a huge follower of college football.  I will also admit ignorance about the BCS, a system which commentators and school officials outside the SEC seem to despise without offering a viable alternative.  However, I did watch more games on TV this season than ever and while the “Game of the Century – LSU vs. Alabama” was a bust, many have been thoroughly entertaining like Oklahoma St.’s 2OT loss to Iowa St which knocked them out of the Championship Game. With this increased exposure I feel the need to share my thoughts so here goes…

1) I understand that the BCS correctly identified the top 2 teams in the country in LSU and Alabama but realistically who outside the Southeast wants to watch this game? While I’m not going to argue with Alabama finishing in front of #4 Stanford despite the fact that the latter’s one loss came against a Top 10 team (Oregon), I personally believe that some sort of playoff system should be implemented to put an end to the constant second-guessing. In any event, I only hope that the Championship Game is not a field goal slugfest like the first match-up!

2) Andrew Luck, Stanford’s QB, is NOT projected to win the Heisman Trophy this Saturday in New York which to me represents such a remarkable turn of events that I’m almost rendered speechless. There was so much made of his decision to stay in college for one more season that anything short of a National Championship is now a failure. Forget that he led a PAC-12 school known for its academic rigor to the still-prestigious Fiesta Bowl, threw for 35 TDs and over 3,100 yards and is guaranteed to be the #1 pick in the upcoming draft; Baylor’s QB, Robert Griffin III (who??) clearly deserves the award because he’s fun to watch and he beat Texas (which has an 0-4 record against Top 25 teams by the way). This makes absolutely no sense to me but Luck can console himself with thoughts of a very large contract coming his direction! Now if  he could only get Archie Manning to stop giving his input on the Colts’ QB situation…

3) Can someone explain to me why Virginia Tech, which got blown out by Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, was given a BCS at-large bowl bid? They are now playing in the Sugar Bowl instead of (the more deserving) Kansas St or Arkansas, two teams which face each other in the Cotton Bowl (apparently not a BCS bowl which I only figured out now.)

4) Along the same lines, how embarrassing is it that UCLA – which had just fired its coach for getting demolished by USC the previous week - played Oregon for the Pac 12 title? If that wasn’t enough, the team actually received a waiver to accept a bowl bid. Are you kidding me? Why does a team with a 6-7 record and no head coach deserve to go to a bowl? The mind boggles…

5) Finally, I just read a very confusing article about the Big East’s expansion next year to include Boise St., Houston, SMU, San Diego St, and Central Florida.  I haven’t studied geography in awhile and currently live outside the U.S. but am I correct in pointing out that Idaho, Texas and California are very far from the East Coast? Apparently, these teams have worked out some convoluted agreement that this is solely for football purposes (e.g. ability to make money from TV contracts) as their other sports programs will play in other conferences like the Mountain West and Conference USA. You understand my confusion right? Do conferences even matter anymore as the constant realignment has realistically rendered them pointless. Come 2014 when these teams are allowed to opt out of the Big East, I bet they form their own conference just out of spite!

The BCS trophy goes to an SEC team...again

The darkside of college sports

Unless you’ve been living under a proverbial rock, you’re acutely aware of the allegations surrounding Ohio State’s football team and coach Jim Tressel’s subsequent “resignation”. Numerous sports outlets, including Sports Illustrated (Sports Illustrated investigation on Jim Tressel, Ohio State – SI.com – Magazine) and Pardon the Interruption, have dedicated time and space to the topic. Certainly the involvement of up to 20 star players with an owner of a tattoo parlour currently under investigation for drug trafficking is not what a University considers good publicity. However, this is really nothing new and as Michael Wilbon of PTI pointed out on a recent show, he expects that approximately 90% of big-time college programs (meaning ones with competitive Division I football and basketball teams) have similar issues. Also, let’s not forget about the mockery Florida State and Miami football players made of the academic aspect of college back in the 80s and 90s which prompted the NCAA to institute new regulations surrounding student-athletes.  

While I’m still uncertain whether the NCAA is winning that particular battle, I know for sure that it’s way behind on the memorabilia sale for benefits schemes playing out amongst boosters and local businesses (hello, Terrelle Pryor and his numerous cars!). The reason I’m so definitive on this point is because the coaches, who spend more time with these players than their own families, consistently play dumb when confronted with these issues. Tressel, who many consider the second coming of Woody Hayes, apparently denied knowing that star player Maurice Clarrett was getting paid a few years back and unsurprisingly this pattern of feigned ignorance has come back to haunt him. What about John Calipari? The only coach to have 2 Final Four appearances (with different schools no less) vacated before shockingly being hired by Kentucky, the most prominent job in college basketball. He denied ever knowing about all the misdeeds occurring behind his back (and to be fair, the NCAA cleared him as well) but again I find it difficult to believe that with all the time Calipari dedicates to coaching, he was totally deaf to the rumours. In any event, the question begging to be asked is this: what is the point of maintaining the naive assertion that men’s college basketball and football athletes should be treated on par with say gymnasts or women’s field hockey players? They’re not the same due to the enormous money making potential for Universities like Ohio State so we should stop the charade and simply start to pay the players. I have no idea how this would work (stipends? salary?) but I do know that at least it would be all out in the open and we wouldn’t have to feign surprise and indignation every time a major offense is uncovered.

Nice ride