Last night's drubbing of mighty (?) Alabama by the lowly (double ?) Utes stirs up sooooo many thoughts and opportunities for analysis that I thought we all deserved a new thread to discuss things.1) Conference Competition.
Hmmm. Let's see, the PAC 10 won all 5 of it's bowl games making them the winner of the nefarious Bowl Cup (which sounds like an oxymoron of sorts, no? bowl. cup. whatever...) Would anyone have said, Oh the PAC-10 is the strongest conference and will surely win all their games??? I think not.
2) Big Ten whiffs. Again.
The Big Ten teams who actually did show up for their games included Iowa and Northwestern. I won't even get started on MooU and have nothing but empathy for Penn State, as they were up against Andre the Giant, poor things. As for us? Well I'm just glad we weren't there to contribute to the ridicule. Best for us to sit this one out--at least this year. On the positive side, it was highly encouraging to see that the best games, with the best offenses included what sure as heck looks like RichRod's spread offense in some way shape or form. And some talking head along the way pointed out that the spread is completely dependent on a skilled QB to run it. Absent one of those (testify!) the spread gets creamed...... Hope springs eternal in A2. Book it.
3) The BCS Championship Series.
DISCUSS.....
4) The Mid-Majors.
Well that moniker just seems like a plain-old insult now doesn't it? We could talk all about the successes of Troy (who took Southern Miss to OT), Florida Atlantic over Central, Rice (soon to be new home of Sam McGuffie), or resurrected Houston--but the biggest story of them all is of course Utah. Not only was 'Bama outhustled but I submit to you that 'Bama was completely out-coached. And I mean from the git-go. From the defensive sets to the poorly cobbled-together offensive line.
But the most egregious behavior came from Saban himself. How many times did the camera show him angry and frustrated with his players? Yelling at them or being overly-demonstrative with his frustrations? Dude. You are the Head Coach--don't act like a disgruntled fan on the side-lines. Show some leadership--make your kids believe that they can. Saban contributed to the tight pressured play of 'Bama all night long. This loss is all on him.And I don't mean to take a thing away from Utah. We know from first-hand experience just what they are. I'm just saying that in response to Utah's quickness and well-coached schemes 'Bama had nothing--and that to me, is about coaching. Particularly when Alabama had been #1 in the polls for most of the season.
I could go on and on!
But, I'm really interested to hear what all of you have to say...so have at it!!!
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6 comments:
Utah for your AP national champion. If they are not at least #2 then there is something completely flawed with all of college football. The only team to go completely undefeated. I think over the course of the season they beat 4 ranked teams. They thrubbed (im making up words) Alabama who was arguably the best team all season going into the last 3 weeks. Just because they are not a "BCS" team then they don't get the credit they deserve.
Utah is the reason why I think that we need some sort of playoff system. It seems like every year, we have a non-BCS team that is able to make it up into the ranks and go undefeated. And it seems like they end up beating the "annointed" team (except last year) and end up finishing the season undefeated. But because they don't come from one of the BCS conferences, they don't have a shot at the national championship.
However, you just need to see the money flying around and see that we will never get a national championship playoff. Which is a shame. They like to say how things like this should be decided on the field. How can they in all honesty say that when in order to get to the field you have the East German judge messing with the results? How can they say with a straight face that the coach's poll is not flawed or biased?
I think the only reason that Oklahoma is playing in the Championship game and not Texas is because they were able to pour on the points in their last games. And that is bad for college football because it will only encourage the big colleges to schedule teams like Eastern for their off season.
And one more thing, did it seem to anyone else that towards the end of the game the refs were told by the BCS commissioner to make sure the game went the way it was supposed to (Alabama winning). Anything to maintain the sham...
Utah also beat Oregon State who beat the Mighty USC Trojans!
We also need to point out that they came to the Big House to open the season and stole a 2 point win from the Wolverines - who knows - if that had gone a little differently we may be having a different discussion now and the Wolverines would have been relevant this season....
A cut and paste from the Cotton Bowl thread last night:
"Alabama, heh.
Maybe Florida ain't so hot.
Maybe the SEC sucks this year.
Who knows?"
That said, how 'bout them Utes?
wv = hersc (Am I promoting hersc as regards the BCS?)
Of course one of the problems I would have with a playoff is that it would be based on the same flawed system. I can't imagine they would scrap the bowl system entirely, so we'd be talking about a playoff between the top 8 teams (or so). And that number would pretty much shut out the Utahs and Boise States of the world. And I think for a playoff to be legitimate, you have to include them.
Living in Georgia, I am grateful that Utah was able to beat Bama. Otherwise, all we would hear about is how the SEC is better than the NFL. They needed a little humbling, and got it in a big dose. I still expect Florida to beat Oklahoma, but at least they have some doubt in their minds.
IMO, Alabama came out flat and Utah was ready for them. As a Buckeye, I am familiar with this scenario. Texas Tech should be feeling some heat too, but the focus of ridicule on Alabama has deflected some criticism.
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