Final thoughts on the BCS, and a too long college football season

About my only thought immediately after the whooping BCS champ Florida laid on tOSU was, "Well, that game sucked..."

As for the 4th down play on tOSU's own 29 yard line late in the 1st half? Cheatypants McSweaterVest knew the game was on the verge of getting out of hand if he didn't try something drastic. I doubt anyone other than the Vest thought doing that something at that point in the game was wise, though.

It's obvious that the Buckeyes would have lost even if they had managed to convert, so it's not as if that play was a huge momentum shift. Florida had already established themselves as the Alpha dog. Turning the ball over on downs just accelerated the Gators' ass kicking.

Ted Ginn's getting fragged by his own team during the TD celebration, thus missing the majority of the game, might have made things a tad closer. But even the most die hard fan of the scarlet and gray would have to admit that Ginn's injury wouldn't have changed all that much. Florida was not going to be denied.

So the Big 10 gets embarrassed on the biggest of CFB stages, the BCS bowls. The Big 10's supposed best and brightest, the Wolverines and the Buckeyes, looked slow and unable to make adjustments. To be honest, you can say the same things about the Vest as we've been saying about Lloyd Carr's Rose Bowl performance. Their seasons both ended in similar fashion, by getting their asses handed to them by better, faster, more effectively game planned teams.

Now that we've seen the final ass kicking of the bowl season, the college football season is finally over.

Lets not say "Goodbye," but rather. "See ya soon." It's been great, but I could use the break. I'll look college football up in August, after I've had a chance to forget all the bad things...

Bo Schembechler's death.

6-6 teams and the fleabag bowls that happily invite them.

The entire bowl system, and the lack of a true playoff.

The cluster that is the polls.

Beano Cook.

Notre Dame, The Notre Dame Broadcasting Network, and the anointing of Brady Quinn.

Alabama's coaching search.

Gary Danielson's SEC shilling.

Michigan's inability to finish a season on an up note.

All things recruiting.

The smugness of Cheatypants McSweaterVest.

FOX's college football coverage butchering.

The local ABC affiliate showing some ESPN Plus Big 10 bottom feeder game rather than a much better nationally televised one.

Division 1 teams scheduling community colleges, directional schools, orphanages, flag football teams, the Little Sisters of the Poor, any group of warm bodies whom can guarantee an easy out of conference win.

Division 1 teams making fans pay full price to witness those massacres.

Awful officiating.

The "Who should be in the BCS title game" and "There needs to be a Division 1 playoff" caterwauling.

Chris Rose, Paul McGwire, and Lee Corso on my TV.

Urban Meyer whining.

The Big 10 having 11 teams and thus no championship game.

And last but not least, Lloyd Carr pissing me off.

Quick BCS title game thoughts

It's January 8th, people. What in the Hell are FOX and the NCAA thinking? The BCS title game should have been played a week ago. After the bowl orgy of the past 3 weeks, waiting 4 days between the this game and the Sugar Bowl make tonight's game nearly an afterthought. In no way I'm going to factor in the 2 fleabag bowls that TWWLiS unnecessarily squeezed in over the weekend. With the NFL playoffs in full swing, they were played totally under the radar.

There is absolutely no reason, other than large amounts of cash, for this game to be played in the 2nd week of January. But when factoring in the large amounts of cash, I'm sure that FOX and the NCAA couldn't give 2 shits about what fans really want. That being the bowl season finishing by New Years Day.

In my mind, Chris Rose as the host of these BCS games make the whole broadcast feel like I'm watching high up the dial basic cable. In other words, he's minor league, especially when compared to Chris Fowler. To be honest, I can't get the awfulness of Rose's "TBDSSP" out of my mind.

FOX does the NFL damn well, save for all of the asinine wooshy sound effects and CGI robots. But they have a long way to go before they equal the production of either SEC mouthpiece CBS, or the Big 10's overseer, The Worldwide Leader/ABC. Personally, I've been watching "College Gameday" before every bowl game, then tuning in FOX around 8. Even with Lee Corso, "College Gameday" is the only broadcast on TWWLiS that doesn't make me grind my teeth.

As an unabashed Big 10 fan, I'm torn. Do I root for Cheatypants McSweaterVest and tOSU, keeping with my personal rule to always pull for the Big 10 Conference in bowl games and the NCAA hoops tourney? Or do I cheer against the bucknuts, as after all, they are the God damn unholy bucknuts. I don't think it makes me a bad Wolverines fan if I cheer for the conference as a whole, as the Buckeyes winning would be in the best interest of Michigan's somewhat Rose Bowl battered reputation.

In what should be the only time you'll see this on TWFE, let me say, "Go Buckeyes!"

Post holiday housecleaning

Things will be back to normal here at TWFE tomorrow. I expect my posting to be back on schedule, that being damn near every day at whatever time I feel like.

I do have a couple of quick thoughts in regard to the last few days....

The more I think about Michigan's performance, or more correctly the lack thereof, in the Rose Bowl, the more pissed I become, and the more I believe I let Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines coaching staff off much too easy yesterday. The Wolverines embarrassed themselves, pure and simple.

The hugely entertaining Fiesta Bowl more than made up for the Rose Bowl debacle, I think we can all agree. We can only hope that Carr and Mike DeBord were watching and learning. Boise State was as unpredictable and fun of a team to watch as I've ever seen. When BSU's late game playcalling has you literally jumping out of your La-Z-Boy yelling "GODDAMN! HOLY SHIT! THE STATUE OF LIBERTY? I DON'T BELIEVE IT!", yet Michigan's you can accurately predict 90% of the time, nothing more needs to be said as to who you'd rather have on your sidelines.

Say what you will about the Worldwide Leader (They are evil incarnate), they do a damn fine job covering college football. FOX's presentation was as bad as bad gets. Chris Rose? Barry Switzer? Please...

Alabama is backing up the Brinks truck for Nick Saban. The Dolphins are doing their damnedest to keep him from leaving, and will most likely back up their own Brinks truck. That leads me to this question. Can anyone explain to me again how Michigan State didn't know what they had in Saban, and let him leave East Lansing uncontested? But I'm sure MSU's latest Conference USA reject, Mark Dantonio, is a much better solution...

So Matt Millen is coming back for a 7th season? We all knew it was going to happen, but Christ Almighty, that blows. On the bright side, at least I'll have at least 1 more season's worth of material. I'll have plenty more to say about the Lions tomorrow...

Lloyd, I was so believing in you. Then the Rose Bowl happened...

I have a few quick thoughts on tonight's Michigan Wolverine debacle. And there's no debating it, the loss to USC was a debacle.

1. We are going to hear "Fire Lloyd" til the start of the 2007 season. You aren't going to hear it from me, as it's a waste of breath, and not yet deserved. For that matter, we all know Carr won't be given the ziggy, anyway. But after ending yet another season on a 0-2 downslide, Lloyd REALLY needs to beat tOSU next season. A bowl win would be nice, but Carr HAS to beat tOSU.

2. I have to admit, I didn't know that my little blog had so much influence. According to ABC's the Worldwide Leader's Herbstreit, Musburger, and Davie, the evil bloggers don't like Lloyd, and have plenty of say in the future direction of the Michigan program. If I had only known I had such clout, I'd have gotten Tommy Amaker's ass canned last year. I will say this, I promise to use my power wisely, and only for good.

3. Dwayne Jarrett is damn good. Jarrett is also an A number 1 first class asshole.

4. I've been trying not to say what we all have been thinking, and I didn't want to, but as the game went on, all that was running through my head was,"Lloyd is getting outcoached again." We saw the difference in coaching philosophies after USC went up 2 scores. If Carr had been in the Trojans' coach, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that Carr sits on that lead, plays conservatively, and ends up punting. The opposition would still have a sense of being in the game. Pete Carroll, on the other hand, went for the jugular. 4 passes later, the game, for all intents, was over. That drive KILLED Michigan. Dead.

5. The Wolverines finished 11-2. That is still one Hell of a season. So why am I feeling so damn disappointed?

The BCS breaks hearts every year. Unfortunately, this season it's the Wolverines turn

As an unabashed fan of the Michigan Wolverines, for reasons we are all aware of, "cough BCS cough," I'm not happy today. I will say that I'm not upset with the Florida Gators, or their fans, as I'm sure they would have the same exact feelings as Wolverine fans do today. The BCS was going to ream somebody, it was the Wolverines' turn this season. Michigan joins USC, Auburn, and Oregon, as schools that were left standing at the championship game altar by the BCS.

But there are others that truly deserve our scorn.

Gary Danielson: When did he become a paid shill for Florida and the SEC? His performance during the SEC Championship made the best carnival sideshow barker jealous with his Gator hyperbole. He came off more slanted and biased than Beano Cook was when talking about Ron Powlus' 3 Heisman trophies or the greatness of JoePa. On Saturday night, the SEC had, for all intents and purposes, a paid advertisement on CBS for 3 + hours, with Danielson channeling Ron Popiel...

"It slices, it dices, it wins fluky games! Order now, and we'll throw in a BCS Championship game at no extra cost! Your ballots are standing by, VOTE NOW!"

Danielson did his damnedest to pimp the Gators to the BCS voters. As it turned out, it was one HELL of a sales job. I'm sure he'll get a nice bonus from the SEC.

Urban Meyer: The Gators' coach is damn near as slick as Cheatypants McSweaterVest. As good as a football coach Meyer might be, he makes an even better lobbyist. The running of his mouth continiously for the last 2 weeks, saying that a Michigan - tOSU rematch would be a farce, and that his team was more deserving, paid off in spades. I think Florida was made # 2 by the voters just to shut his whiny ass up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let up with the"Woe is us" attitude till next September.

The Big Ten: If there ever was an event that should drive the staid Big 10 into making significant scheduling changes, and possibly changing it's makeup, the shuffling of Michigan out of the BCS #2 spot could be the straw that breaks the camels back. Florida had 3 extra weeks to impress the voters, let alone being able to play in a title game. Move the schedule to where U of M meets tOSU after Thanksgiving. Play the extra out of conference game after the tOSU game. Add a 12th team, go to a 2 division setup, and have a championship game. Anything to keep Big 10 teams in the eye of the pollsters. One thing is certain, Michigan not playing, while USC and Florida had the national stage unopposed, gives much credence to Kirk Herbstreit endorsed "Out of sight, out of mind" theory. It's time the Big Tenleven to enter the 21st century.

Harris poll voters: A motley crew of loons, used-to-bes, never-weres, and no-nothings with an agenda, pure and simple. Their vote for Florida was more of a vote against a UM - tOSU rematch, than a vote for the Gators. I thought the BCS was supposed to allow the #1 and #2 teams to meet, not what teams the voters think is "More deserving." If you'd watched either team at all, you'd see that Michigan has played better, more consistent, higher quality ball than Florida. Unfortunately, the moldy Harris voters have been watching "Matlock" reruns instead.

Division 1 college presidents: D1 football is the only college sport without a playoff. The schools are sitting on such a HUGE cash cow. A D1 football playoff would make the NCAA basketball tournament look like the NIT. The networks would back up to NCAA HQ with Brinks trucks full of cash. But no, the school presidents would rather stay with a convoluted, arcane, outmoded, and outright silly way of selecting the top 2 teams in the country. You'd think the heads of these schools of supposed higher learning would know better. Goes to prove that being book smart doesn't make you street smart.

FOX: Their BCS selection show was just plain awful, with a decided slant against the Rose Bowl. As soon as I saw that they had cameras in Gainesville, I knew that Michigan would be left out in the cold. And what's with those poor, clueless souls in Boise? Fill an arena to hear that BSU would play the Sooners? Must have been a damn slow night in Idaho. FOX may not be quite so happy to have the BCS rights when they saw the matchups. The most entertaining game will be the Michigan-USC Runner-up Bowl, which will be televised by ABC, thank God. Never thought I'd say that about the Rose Bowl, but that's what FOX's money has brought upon us.

One thing to keep in mind. Next season, it may be the team that you root for that gets shafted by the BCS. What it all comes down to is that a D1 football playoff makes too much sense for it to ever happen.