Sunday, September 24, 2006

What we think we know . . .

. . . a month into college football:

1. No super teams. No Texas and USC of last year, nor USC of a year previous. The BCS works--and works splendidly, give it that--only when there are two squads head-and-shoulders above the rest of the nation: USC and Texas last year, Miami and Ohio State in 2002. This year, we are headed for a train wreck in which as many as five or six teams could plausibly claim they belong in Glendale come January.

The motto of those who would tear apart the BCS, root and branch, resembles that of Marxists in the 1930s: "The worse, the better." That is, the more chaotic, the more unfair, the more biased (toward the Big Six confrences, the East Coast, Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Notre Dame), the sooner a reform (and thus a playoff) will occur. This is fantasy. It matters not that a college playoff would run to the billions in rights fees and make March Madness money look like a tip jar. The Big Six (plus, as always, Notre Dame) knows that anything resembling a playoff cedes power to the NCAA, and at all costs that must be avoided.

This, too: the one danger to the BCS comes neither from public clamour, nor from the NCAA but from Congress, whose presumptive hearings and anti-trust legislation could be the ruin of this closed shop. This spectre, by itself, was enough to prompt the four-plus-one formula, a strategy that would allow the odd Louisville or TCU a run at the big cash and placate everyone.

I'm remembering probably the best moment in the history of ESPN's "Game Day": the trek by Fowler and the guys, in 2004, to undefeated mid-major Utah. This was when the Fiesta Bowl was lusting hard after Utah, and Utah knew it; Corso and Herbstreit donned sombreros for the show's final segment, and Tostitos were frisbeed across the set. The new formulation will allow for a few more of those moments--but that's it.

2. One month in, Ohio State, USC, Michigan, Louisville, Auburn, and West Virginia have--the best way to put it?--at least not disappointed.

3. Arizona State. Next subject.

4. USC? A passably competent win in a hostile stadium that has known its share of upsets (my brother went to Arizona State, so I should know).

I’m wondering, though, if USC’s defense is that good, or if they’ve been lucky in their opponents.

One other thing:

Half the yahoos in the country (Lee Corso, take a bow) said that of course USC would lose one of its first three games: hostile Arkansas, Nebraska on the road back, Arizona . . . well, once a year, at home, in a game against a huge favorite, Arizona forces seven turnovers and scores six touchdowns on special teams and four touchdowns on tipped-pass interceptions and seventeen atrocious calls go Arizona’s way . . . and since USC was a nineteen-point favorite, it only figured, right? Right?

4. Notre Dame. Some nights you just go, “Holy crap!” I hit Buffalo Wild Wings (the sports bar that is the epicenter of the Houston sports scene)a half-hour after standing at Minute Maid Park to watch Luke Scott drill a walk-off three-run homer over the wagon gate to keep the Astros’ slim-just-left-town playoff hopes alive. USC was finishing up its efficient win over Arizona, and I was settling in to watch what apparently, for the night’s clientele, passed for the main attraction (Ultimate Fighting) when a lad in a Longhorn golf shirt said, “Switch to Notre Dame! Switch to Notre Dame!”

I asked him, “Christ, aren’t they out of it?”

He said, “They’re about to be three points out of it.”

And then the extra point was missed.

And then, the interception.

And then, THE INTERCEPTION.

Look, this game was the Ultimate Fighting Conference or whatever. In other words, it was a bar fight: nothing but offense. ND had better figure out how to stop someone; scoring 40 points a game and endeavoring to hold the opposition to 39 (or 38, or 37) won’t cut it.

College football. It's corrupt. The championship is a closed-shop. The officiating is terrible. And I love it to death.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

(This is from the college football post below, I just moved it to here)

Arizona State fans are now wondering this, will Dirk Koetter EVER win a big game on the road? Is Rudy Carpenter ever going to play like he did last season? 5 turnovers-2 for TD's and a special teams TD for Cal spelled doom! Now how crazy is this? ASU seems to have one of the best RB's in the Pac-10 with highly touted JC transfer Ryan Torain (or as Tim Healy, tha ASU play-by-play announcer calls him "All Torain Vehicle") who stomped his way to 196 yards against a stingy Cal D.

Is USC still trying to work out the bugs on their offense, or is Arizona that good on defense? As a Sun Devil, I hope it's not the latter. After the Wildcats rushed for a net -16, I do now this, the wildcats offense is again horrible(yea!) and the Trojan defense is awesome (boooo!).

Now it's time for the Ducks to get fried at Sun Devil Stadium next Sat. Pray for 100 degree weather!!!!

Anonymous said...

My two cents (or more appropriatley 4 Quarters):
1. I agree, the BCS is great. I would hate for the NCAA to get a hold of a playoff system.
2.Notre Dame really stepped in **it last night. They will beat the remaining patsies on their schedule, get killed by USC and then get invited to the Sugar Bowl who has the first "at large pick" this year after the championship game. We will then take bets on how much they killed by a la the Fiesta Bowl.
3. Robbie-Boy, I agree with your take on the "Rats". Take notice that, when they have lost to good teams, they failed to score more that 3 points.