2010-2011 College Football Wrap-Up

One of the weirdest, and somehow unsatisfying, seasons of college football has finally come to a close. With the NFL regular season over, only seven playoff games left, and roughly eight months before pitchers and catchers report, this is the saddest time of the year. I know there will still be Premier and Champions League games to watch, and I can sporadically check on the NBA (You hear that LeBron James went to Miami?!), but it just can’t fill the void.

I think the void is especially pronounced this year because something was missing from college football, something I can’t quite define. Maybe its because a number of schools and players shrugged off “serious” NCAA violations, or maybe its because a number of big name programs imploded, but its probably the fact that this season was stupefyingly dull. I think the everlasting stupidity of the media got me more riled up than any game, not that this surprised me. So since I enjoy getting angry, lets go over this past season and pray to God/Allah/Jebus/Anyone that next year is better.

Conference Realignment : The Big 10 has twelve teams now, and the Big 12 has ten teams, as if having an eleven team Big 10 wasn’t confusing enough. This had to be the craziest year for expansion/contraction ever, and it was all based on revenue. Nebraska really got everything started in the summer by jumping to the Big 10 and all hell broke lose. Once the Big 12 was down to eleven and looked vulnerable everyone reached out to grab the big prize; Texas. Well, more accurately the Texas TV revenue and all the cash attached to the program. The Pac-10 even invited Texas to join in an attempt to make an insane super conference, but instead supplied safe harbor to Colorado and Utah. So now we have the Pac-12, incorrectly named Big 10 and Big 12, and then things got even worse. The Mountain West lost Utah, so they took the opportunity to pillage the WAC and bring in Boise State, Hawaii, and Fresno State. Then BYU got it into their heads that they should be like Notre Dame and declared themselves independent, but wait, it gets better! In an attempt to one-up the Pac-10’s geographically confused attempt to absorb the Big 12 South the Big East took a look at its embarrassing eight team conference and decided to invite TCU. So ten is now twelve, twelve is now ten, and Forth Worth TX is in the east. Cash grabs are great, aren’t they?

>>> All this geographical ignorance/delusion makes me angry. That’s all I can say.

Big Programs Flop : This season was great for the little guys, not just because the media was in a hurry to crown them champions. I can’t remember so many big programs falling flat on their faces in one season, especially when expectations were high. The biggest culprit was Texas who failed to win six games, much to my delight, and found themselves without a bowl game. Everyone loved Texas after their loss to Alabama last year, and people were drawing up plans for the Garret Gilbert statue in Austin. Texas went 5-7, finished dead last in the Big 12 South, and found itself getting crushed in games it should have won. Florida played like crap on offense, finished 7-5 and lost Urban Meyer to a re-retirement. Michigan shot itself in the foot by thinking they were ready to dominate, fans and boosters did their best to undermine Rich Rodriguez once their defense started to implode, and a 7-5 season wrapped up with a 52-14 absolute ass kicking by Miss State in the Gator Bowl. Other notable failures include Georgia (6-6, bowl loss to UCF), and Penn State (7-5, bowl loss to Florida).

Coaching Carousel : Coaches had it rough this season as a number of them moved around, some with hilarious results. Rich Rodriguez was fired at Michigan, ending an uncomfortable union that featured Josh Groban, followed by in intense search that eventually found Brady Hoke. No, I didn’t know who he was until I Googled him either. Texas’ problem got worse when coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp got tired of waiting and took the Florida job. Guys coaching schools named Miami (Florida and Ohio, in a rare double) found themselves without a job as Miami sent Randy Shannon packing after a loss to USF, and Miami (OH)’s Mike Haywood was fired from his new job at Pitt before he even started after being arrest on a felony domestic violence charge. Guess who won’t be able to find a job anytime soon?

Sadly the touching lyrics of Josh couldn't reach Michigan's AD

Sweeping Violations Under The Rug : I’m still really confused about this, like really really confused. Ever since the Reggie Bush saga colleges all across the country have been on pins and needles; well, everyone but Auburn and Ohio State. They must know something that everyone else doesn’t, since they managed to flaunt NCAA rules and walk away with a mere finger wagging. Auburn’s QB, and Heisman winner, Cam Newton was mired in a pay-for-play scandal where his father solicited money to sign is son. This is an NCAA violation, a serious one, even though Cam “knew nothing” about what his father was doing. Auburn made the meaningless gesture of suspending Newton, who was rapidly reinstated by the NCAA, won the SEC title, won the Heisman in a landslide, then won the National Title. Ohio State followed suit with their own problems. A number of players, including QB Terrelle Pryor, received improper benefits and sold team awards. All of this came out before their Sugar Bowl showdown with Arkansas, and they should have been suspended. Ohio State acted quickly and suspended the players for five games... starting next year. The NCAA allowed this, and the suspended players “promised” not to enter the NFL draft early in order to play in the Sugar Bowl. How the NCAA allowed any of this is beyond me, much like conference realignment this was all clearly about money. I’m sure the NCAA didn’t want to enforce its rules if it would effect the BCS Bowls - that would require some integrity.

>> Nodding. But have you considered what would’ve happened to your (and my) sports world if Newton had actually been suspended for the whole season? Auburn would’ve certainly lost any number of those close games they played towards the end of the season (‘Bama, especially), TCU would’ve snuck into the title game, your head would’ve exploded in an apoplectic fit, and Oregon would’ve most likely trounced them as I nodded gleefully, saying with a self-satisfied and knowing smirk that “See, the system totally works!” Even though, of course, it continues to be a total farce.

The NCAA can't wait to get that back...

Morons Vote TCU #1 : I think I may have breathed fire when I saw this the other day, but I really should have seen it coming. Auburn handily took most of the AP and USA Today votes, but a few idiots decided that TCU was #1 in the final season poll. The only thing keeping my head from exploding is that these few voters are probably upset with Auburn (see above) and said “Hell, I know Auburn went 14-0, beat #2 Oregon, and won the SEC, but I’m going to be controversial and vote for TCU!”

>> The irony of Oregon finishing lower than the year they got hosed out of the title game in ‘01 (#2 in the final poll - duh) doesn’t amuse me in the least, in fact it makes me want to swear off college football for the 13th consecutive season. OK, so, if the title game is a legitimate contest between the nation’s two best teams, and one of them loses by three points on a fluke running play and a botched interception call, suddenly they’re only the third best team in the nation? WTF?!!! I hate college football, and I hate that it sucks me in every. single. season.

Bowl Season Recap (Hindsight Is A Bitch)

Best - BCS Title Game. I don’t care that they both looked a little off in the first quarter, this game came down to the wire. I also don’t care that they didn’t finish 77-73 like everyone wanted, both teams played hard and Auburn deserved to win. They outplayed Oregon and their defense came up big time.

>> I will grudgingly admit that Auburn played well, but I won’t go so far as to say that they deserved to win. Sour grapes or astute analysis? You be the judge. But as far as the game goes, this was our take on it immediately after (I’m including it because I think Bert nailed it - you won’t see this kind of analysis on TV, folks):

AS: ~ Pounding my head into a wall repeatedly~

BA: It wasn't that bad, you guys just couldn't tackle.

AS: C'mon, it was a cruel game of inches. There was cliff harris' non-interception (which I still think was an interception), Tunei and TheMichael being stopped short of the goal after that trick punt play and amazing catch by Tunei... the safety where TheMichael almost got out of the end zone, but ended up putting the ball on the last inch of chalk... every little thing went against the Ducks.

BA: Yeah, because they were smaller and couldn't block. Auburn effectively controlled the tempo, and you guys just lost it.

AS: This conversation is over!

BA: Thomas made some really bad reads on the option.

AS: Yeah, no shit. Horrible reads, and some bad passes in the red zone.

BA: Its like he didn't want to run, so he always handed it off.

AS: And then when he should've handed it to TheMichael, he kept it. It was amazing.

BA: Well, on the safety, I'm very confused why you went into a single back set with Thomas under center... like you thought you could overpower Auburn.

AS: ~Punching myself in the throat repeatedly~

BA: That was by far the best BCS game though.

AS. Yeah, it was great. I felt like I was gonna throw up for three straight hours.

BA: You just boned that TD, why Kelly insisted on running inside I will never know.

AS: I can't decide if you're making me feel better or worse... hang on... yep, definitely worse.
Did you think Harris intercepted that throw?

BA: Wait, perhaps I was drinkign too much... when he caught it and rolled out of bounds?

AS: (Grasping at straws) Yeah! He had control!!! Or?

BA: Wait, I thought it was called a pick.

AS: No. He caught it, had control, and his forearm was down. Auburn scored on the next play, or one after that.

BA: Well you got hosed there.

AS: Thank you.

BA: (Sadistically rubbing salt in the wounds) Also, you guys weren't throwing down field. 3rd & 15, lets try a 5 yard WR screen. There were a number of play calls where you threw a 5 yard pass when you needed 15, and that was clearly the play call.

AS: ~Sighing~ There was a 3rd and 12, too, I think, where Thomas elected to keep it, and he had NOWHERE to go. It was bizarre. Despite all that, their defense played really well, and had it not been for the safety and the non-interception, it could've easily been 19-3 or something like that. Everything went horribly wrong.

BA: Sadly, I didn't gamble on it. I picked Auburn in a close one. Plus, you got boned because Auburn plays a similar offense. They probably practice against your style of offense all the time, so it wasn't new.

AS: (The final nail in the coffin) True that. Let’s just move on to making myself feel better by making fun of those redneck southerners, shall we? Jizzik was sporting some sweet sideburns, did you see? It was like Mattingly in the Simpson's ringers episode.

BA: Jizzik seems like a real good ole boy - probably fucked a pig after the game.

AS: Yes, see!!! This proves that Oregon was the better team. Did you see their QB coach's name?
Guz! "Gus iz too hahd fuh me tuh say, so ahm jist gonna call yew Guzzzz."


Since this was obviously the highpoint of our post-game analysis, we decided to stop there.


Worst - Orange Bowl : This was incredibly disappointing, but I should have seen it coming. The worst part of this game was listening to the announcers talk up VT’s QB Tyrod Taylor, who just flat out sucks. They went on and on about how versitle he is, and how dangerous his legs are, but that doesn’t seem to matter if you can’t convert a third down. VT got their ass kicked, and stanfurd’s QB Andrew Luck came out looking like the next Peyton Manning; so much for that vaunted Hokie defense.

Clock Management Award - Bret Bielema / Rose Bowl : This could have beat the title game, but Bielema boned this game and gave idiots an opening to complain for another year. TCU played well, and deserved to win, but Wisconsin pissed away a chance to get into the endzone before the half. With two timeouts the Badgers took their sweet time on the final drive of the half, but were caught off guard by the fact that you can’t score after the clock hits 0:00. Wisconsin had no choice but to kick a FG when they should have been trying for 6 - way to go Bret.

Winners

The SEC West : Four ten-win teams, five ranked teams, and the National Title.
Non-AQ Media Darlings
Committing Infractions
Jim Harbaugh : Turned stanfurd’s 12-1 season into the 49ers head coaching job.

Losers

The SEC East : No ten win teams, 1-for-5 in bowl games, only two teams finished above .500.
Boise State : Lose their chance to complain about being snubbed by losing to Nevada, leave the WAC for the MWC which promptly implodes to leave them where they started.

Boise State leaves the WAC for the MWC.

The ACC
The Big East
NCAA’s Authority
Programs Stuck In The Past : Michigan, Miami, and ND have a long way to go. They act like they are elite programs, but they haven’t been for a while. It won’t happen overnight.
Jake Locker : Draft stock may be confused with Enron’s.
Andrew and his stupid Ducks.

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

Its that time of year again, Bowl Season! I finally get to melt into my couch and reap the benefits of Sanity’s win over the surging Media. Every season the media, and coaches who get “cheated”, come out and bash the BCS and do what they can to make it seem like the worst idea ever. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like it and I think we need a +1 format, but we were so close to the media taking it out on fans by “breaking” the BCS. Had Boise State played TCU for the National Title, gah, I don’t even want to think about it.

I’m cheating a little before I get to the bowls since I have to say something about the Heisman race. The award gets handed out on Saturday and I’d hate to write about it after the fact. Even though the award has one obvious winner, this could be one of the most interesting/controversial votes in a while. Lets look at the guys making the trip to NY, listed in order of probable voting.

Cam Newton (QB, Auburn) - Just based on what he has done on the field this year he is the hands down winner. Newton won the Maxwell Award (Best Player), Davey O’Brien Award (Best QB), and the Walter Camp Award (Player Of The Year)… so why is there a debate? Reggie Bush. Well, more accurately, Cecil Newton. Apparently Cecil Newton was stupid enough to try and get around $200,000 from Mississippi State to sign his son out of a JUCO, this supposedly happened without Cam’s knowledge. This is, of course, an NCAA rules violation and should result in the suspension of Cam Newton… but it hasn’t. Auburn ruled him ineligible just for shits and giggles, then asked the NCAA to reinstate him, and they did. Now back to Reggie Bush, he had something similar to this happen to him. An agent gave his parents benefits while at USC, he was later ruled ineligible, and was more or less forced to forfeit his Heisman. How Cam Newton keeps on playing is beyond me, not to mention nobody has said anything about whether Auburn came up with the cash. Auburn and Newton have been silent on this issue, which brings us back to the Heisman and a concern among voters. Bush’s Heisman forfeit was a first and shame, so with all of this swirling around less than a year later, are voters going to vote for a guy who could have to forfeit the trophy down the road? The Bush scenario is so fresh in everyone’s mind that its completely possible that Newton could lose this award out of fear, but the good news is that Cecil Newton is punishing himself by staying outside of the roof where the award ceremony is held.

LaMichael James (HB, Oregon) - Leads the nation in rushing yards (1682) and TD (21), key offensive weapon in the Oregon’s flashy offense, good national exposure, so why could he fall below Luck? James dealt with a pre-season battery charge with his (hopefully) ex-girlfriend, and its been hanging over his head all season. I was delighted to see yet another Oregon player struggling with the law, Andrew can back me up on that, but about a month ago I heard more about the whole situation. Apparently James got into an altercation with his then girlfriend, who reportedly attacked him, and he pushed her down. She pressed charges and he plead guilty to battery to get it all over with, but its been a bad press zombie and seems to be tainting his image. I’m not saying what he did was ok, but the media has been dragging out the battery charge like he punched her lights out for no reason. The bad press could sway Heisman voters away from his on field accomplishments, but then again battery might look pretty good compared to the mess Cam Newton is in.

The contenders, sadly Kevin Riley didn't make the cut.

Andrew Luck (QB, Stanfurd) - This is really close, he could be #2 by quite a bit and would be the biggest benefactor of a Heisman voter revolt. I think he steals a lot of Newton votes and has come on strong toward the end of the season. He enjoyed two consecutive complete demolitions (Cal & Oregon State) to end the season, and has been everyone’s pick for #1 overall in the NFL draft all year. Its no secret he is good, so if the voters turn sour on Newton look for Luck to finish very close to the top.

Kellen Moore (QB, Boise State) - First of all, Moore is a really good QB. The guy has been excellent since starting as a true freshman, but he plays in Idaho so few people get to see him. Sadly his entire Heisman campaign rested on the fortunes of Boise State which didn’t turn out so well. Voters will remember poor Kyle Brotzman boning two game winning FG instead of Moore’s insane 54 yard bomb to Titus Young that put the Broncos in position to win.

Bowl Schedule Highlights

Sad Trombone Bowl (MAACO Bowl Las Vegas) - Utah vs. Boise State. How the once thought to be mighty have fallen. Two teams once in the Top 5 who had decent shots at the National Title game, with some help, find themselves duking it out in a lower tier bowl. This should be a pretty good game, but I doubt either team is saying "Oh wow, we get to play in the MAACO Bowl!" after sniffing at a BCS game.

The BCS Took Our Teams Bowl (Outback Bowl) - Florida vs. Penn State. How do you get two 7-5 teams having bad seasons in a nationally televised New Years Day game? You send a bunch of your teams to BCS bowl games of course. The SEC is sending Auburn (SEC Champ) and Arkansas, and the top heavy Big 10 is sending Wisconsin (Big 10 Champ) and Ohio State. Everyone slides up, and now you get teams with vanilla records that got their teeth kicked in within their conference (Both 4-4) playing each other. I can't wait.

Random Local Sponsor Bowl Game (Beef 'O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl) - Southern Miss vs. Louisville. Nothing says bowl season like C-USA vs. Big East in a baseball stadium, unless you throw in a local sponsor and make the game irrelevant.

Best On Paper (Discover Orange Bowl) - Stanfurd vs. Virginia Tech. I hate to say it, I really do, but this could be the best game. I wanted to go with the title game because it could be 77-70 at halftime, but I have a feeling this could be close. VT just seems to keep winning, and Stanfurd is the favorite, but you just don't know. I also wouldn't be surprised if Stanfurd trampled all over VT, I'll have to wait and see.

Worst On paper (New Mexico Bowl) - BYU vs. UTEP. Nothing excites me more than two teams that are just barely bowl eligible going at it. I can hardly contain the joy. I almost went with the Holiday Bowl which features a Nebraska-Washington rematch, but I'm willing to bet Bo Pelini loses his cool and the Huskers win with something similar to their 56-21 victory earlier this year.

Sanity 1 - Media 0... For Now

Sanity finally struck back this week, if only for a little while. My fears of a bogus 2010-11 season are still there, but now there may be a savior in position to save us all. I'm talking about Oregon jumping TCU and Boise State in the rankings. We now have a viable team to sneak into #1/2 if Alabama or Ohio State lose a game. I still feel like Boise State shouldn't be ranked above a 1 loss BCS conference team when the season wraps up, that's how bad I think the WAC is.

I still have nightmares that the media is going to make a mess of this. Some idiot is still giving Boise State a first place vote, and I'm willing to bet if Alabama falls to one of the many tough teams on its schedule that idiot will have alot of friends. I feel a little bad that I'm so down on Boise State's title aspirations, but since its the media making a mockery of the BCS and not the team/school my hate is running at about 95% capacity.

The Bronco homers out there have been playing up their 51-6 win over Wyoming and 59-0 stomping of New Mexico State, real non-BCS powerhouses there. They have, not surprisingly, overlooked their much slimmer wins over paper tiger Virginia Tech (33-30) and Oregon State (37-24). Virginia Tech, who was #10 to start the season, went on to lose to an FCS school. Hopefully this destroys the "We beat VT!" argument, since it doesn't seem to be all that difficult. My only hope is that Nevada wins or hangs a bunch of points on Boise State, at this rate the Broncos could blow out their entire conference.

59-0 over the worst team in the 8th best conference? Yawn.

I'm very happy about Oregon's rise for a few reasons. The first one is that they beat Stanfurd to do it, and oh do I hate Stanfurd. I would give almost anything to see Harbaugh's head explode after they were up 31-24 at halftime and let Oregon destroy them with 28 unanswered points in the second half. A win over #9 Stanfurd is much more impressive than beating the Wyomings and New Mexico States of the world. They should also get a little media-idiocy bonus because Stanfurd's QB, Andrew Luck, is the popular pick for the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft (Buffalo, here he comes!).

My second reason is I think Oregon genuinely has a chance of going 12-0, and a 12-0 Oregon is a lock over Boise State. I'm a Cal fan, and I will sadly be cheering for Oregon to whup on us so they can keep the Broncos out of the title game. I don't think Oregon is a fluke, and should beat everyone in the Pac-10. I am worried about the depth of the Pac-10, it wouldn't shock me or anyone if they lost to USC or Oregon State. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Cal beat them at home, weirder things have happened. Lets just hope LaMichael James can keep his hands on the ball and off his girlfriend's throat (too soon?), he is just tearing it up on the ground and could be in the Heisman hunt if he keeps it up.

Sporno? Probably.

Well, its still early so the media will have plenty of chances to screw things up. I'm sure if VT finishes the year 11-2 someone will revive the "We beat VT!" argument and spread some insanity. Lets just hope that Alabama and Ohio State don't slip up *cough* LSU and Michigan *cough* and leave an opening for Boise State to jump into the title game.

Nike Drops A Deuce, Virginia Tech Ruins 2010-11

I think I threw up in my mouth a little last night, but not just because Virginia Tech failed to save college football (more on this later). Boise State and Virginia Tech trotted out wearing Nike's newest wave of Pro Combat uniforms, and they were worse than I could have imagined. The geniuses at Nike have ramped up their campaign to turn NCAA football uniforms into a very very unfunny joke.

I'm not going to go over the new wave of garbage, since I may end up grinding my teeth into dust. If you are interested in reviewing them one of my favorite blogs (Uni Watch, yes, I get it) did a good piece on them for ESPN. Read it here.

The Tron Pumpkins failed to beat the Clowns, sadly the joke is on us.

The uniforms from last night made me sick. Nike is using the tradition and interest in college football to spring a tasteless marketing campaign. Their justifications for the designs are a joke, I can't imagine many people are excited about their team looking like they were just in a coal mine (West Virginia) or part of the cast of Tron (Virginia Tech). I'm also not sure why Halloween is in this year, there are three teams (Miami, Virginia Tech, and Oregon State) that look like they should be trick-or-treating. I'm actually curious if the Great Pumpkin is going to run out with Miami this year.

Ok, enough of Nike. My hatred for their Pro Combat stuff is well documented and goes back to last year. I was upset last night, and even more so this morning, when Virginia Tech failed to restore some sanity to the world of college football. Just to be clear, I don't have anything against Boise State. They have a great coach and a very good QB, I'd trade Chris Peterson for Jeff Tedford and Kellen Moore for Kevin Riley any day. Actually, I'd trade a ham sandwich for Kevin Riley, but that's another story. My concern is that a very good team that plays in a garbage conference is now positioned to coast through the season and walk into the BCS title game.

I knew it would happen, but when I looked at the rankings this morning I was shocked to see that eight morons gave Boise State a #1 vote in the AP poll. Only four people voted Ohio State #1, luckily forty seven stuck to Alabama. My last hope is Oregon State, who travels to the blue turf, but after they choked against TCU (great game by the way) I doubt they will be able to pull it off. Boise State will face such juggernauts as Idaho, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, and San Jose State in conference play while Ohio State will have to play Miami, Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa, and Michigan. I'm calling it right now, if Boise State plays in the title game 2010-11 will be a sham of a season. God forbid they win, if they do the entire BCS system will implode into an absolute mockery of reason.

If Oregon State loses everything will depend on the computer rankings. It was nice to see the coaches weren't drinking to blue Kool-Aid to start the season, but they voted Boise State up to #3 after last night. I pray the computers can take into account the pitiful conference and weak schedule when BCS Rankings time rolls around. I don't like the current BCS system, I think we need a +1 playoff, but letting in a team based on warm feelings and "fairness" is not the way to fix it.

Dear Pete Carroll... WTF?!

So, earlier this week it was announced that Pete Carroll was leaving USC to take over, get this, the Seattle Seahawks. After a few hours of blowing this off as a rumor, I was horrified to find out that this was basically a done deal. I'm still obsessed with this on a "What are you thinking?!" level that is going to haunt me until I find out if they offered him $250 million a year and all the Starbucks he can drink. I'm even more annoyed by my reaction because I'm a Cal fan. I should be throwing a going away party for the architect of the Pac-10's most dominant team and our biggest in-state rival... right? I know Oregon and Chip Kelly are doing backflips and fist pumps right now.
In his time at USC, Carroll not only built a great program (granted he had everything he needed in place already), but he also built a stronger connection to the community. The first level of confusion comes because, from my standpoint, he has successfully built one of the greatest opportunities in college football outside of Texas/Ohio/Florida. California is a big football state, and LA doesn't have a professional football team, so the Trojans have essentially become LA's defacto professional team (insert Joe McKnight/Reggie Bush jokes here). This is huge when it comes to convincing top recruit X to join, even though top recruit Y and Z enrolled last year; they all want to be treated like stars, which comes with being LA's premier team. Plus, with the decline of Miami, LA is now the biggest city with the most to offer its budding "student" athletes. Carroll is essentially sitting on recruiting gold in LA, and I haven't even gotten to his style of coaching/recruiting and the Pac-10.
I'm most disappointed in Carroll's move mainly because of who I thought he was, and how much I admire how he built his teams. It is well known that Carroll has an enormous amount of energy and passion that rubs off on his assistants and players, which is nice to see once in a while. As much as I love Jim Tressel and his red vest, the man is an android. I looked for pictures of him doing anything but staring blankly, and I only found one.

Coach happy. Coach show emotion.

I've read plenty of quotes from players about how happy and excited they can be playing for someone like Carroll, and we always wonder how he can get the top players at the same position year after year. The way Carroll runs his practices are also a huge draw - the whole idea that every spot is open to competition drives his players to do their best. You think Matt Barkley was resigned to redshirting? You think Mitch Mustain thought he was going to be handed the starting job? Players want to compete, and I feel like Carroll knows this better than most coaches.
Add in the fact that the Pac-10, which totally skunked it up this year, is usually one of the nation's top conferences, and I'm still more confused. I'm willing to admit the SEC is the best right now, but in a good year the Pac-10 can be as good or better than the constantly overrated Big 12 and definitely the Big 10.* Winning the Pac-10 lands you a spot in the best non-BCS Title bowl, the Rose Bowl, and aside from the great Mack Brown Whining BCS conspiracy of 2004/05 the game features a traditional match-up that will never get old.
So Pete Carroll is walking away from the right place, at the right time, in the right conference, with all the respect and admiration he can handle to coach the floundering Seahawks? The only defense I've seen for his move is that he is 33-31 as an NFL head coach, which is technically not seen as a total failure. I am completely at a loss for words here. Well, not counting the ones preceding this sentence. I can only wait for more information and wonder what could have been for the Pac-10**.

*Side note : What happens if the Big 10 expands as rumored? They are already actually the Big 11, does the Big 12 sue them?
** Side note #2 : After a rant by my Optimator collaborator I am compelled to say that, as a Cal fan, I'm glad to see Carroll go. We just received a commit from a former USC verbal (Trajaun Briggs) and I'm hoping the loss of Carroll destroys the recruiting juggernaut he built. I'm also tired of getting destroyed by USC, I'm going to ignore the fact that they have Barkley for at least two more years and we are stuck with Riley, and I hope the departure of Carroll gives us a better chance at winning.

Bowl Orgy Running Diary

With the college football season wrapping up and bowl season in full swing I figured I'd write something about the bowl games. As a Pac-10/Cal fan I'm extremely excited about the Rose Bowl, but I'm trying to make it a point to shut my life down and melt into my couch for all of the bigger New Year's weekend bowl games. I was excited for the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (Yes, that is actually the name, topped only by the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl) but I didn't feel the need to damage my internal organs for Cal's 37-27 loss as Kevin Riley's "mastery" of our offense does enough on its own.

Side note : I'm going to avoid using the sponsors names since I think college football is turning into a shameless cash grab, the exception being bowls that only have a sponsor name (Outback, Capital One, etc.), and as much as I love Beef 'O'Brady's I'm not going to give them props for presenting the St. Petersburg Bowl.

Starting on December 29th and running through January 2nd I had 20 games to watch, all brilliantly scheduled so they don't overlap, and I planned to have both of my TV's (placed side by side) and computer (Dear Lord, thank you for ESPN360) fired up and eating electricity at a frightening rate. I'm going to limit this to the January 1st-2nd games, otherwise this diary would be 20,000 words. So starting at 8am on saturday I hunkered down on my couch and started with the Outback Bowl (Damn, I should have had a bloomin' onion on hand), and the orgy unfolded...

January 1st
Outback Bowl : Northwestern - Auburn (8am)
813 - Northwestern's heaviest back is 200?! That can't possibly be a good sign.
817 - Commentator thinks New Year = Ok to go for a 4th & 1 on the 31 down 7-0. I don't think so.
827 - Auburn's McFadden has a 100 yard TAINT (TD After INT), I can hear the air coming out of Northwestern.
836 - Painful sponsor interview with Tim McGraw, its going to be a long day.
839 - Commentator just said if Cincy beats Florida it would be the greatest upset ever. Apparently this is his first year of watching NCAA football, my apologies to Michigan fans.
906 - Quindarius?! This guy's name is Quindarius.
1009 - AWESOME one-handed INT by Northwestern, finally they show some life.
1014 - Kafka is now suffering a full media jinx, as I've been hearing about how he is the Big 10's best QB, Auburn is eating him alive.
1038 - Northwestern scores 14 straight, ties game 21-21, Iowa State fans are not shocked.
1134 - Auburn blows another big lead (15) in about 2 minutes, including a 2-point conversion, Iowa State fans are nodding right now.
1204 - Auburn thinks they have won twice, but give Northwestern a second chance with a running into the kicker penalty.
1206 - Northwestern out-chokes Auburn with a stupid fake FG attempt down 3 in OT. Great call.

Gator Bowl : Florida State - West Virginia (10am)
1030 - Awesome! I'm loving that both teams are wearing their home uniforms.
1031 - Bowden looks shockingly old, maybe its the stress of being a coaching legend.

Something something something zone blitz

1101 - FG miss followed by wide right/left montage. Like we really needed to celebrate Bowden's last game with those memories.
1104 - Gary Danielson uses a Goldilocks/Porridge analogy, Lundquist seems impressed.
1117 - Noel Devine is single-handedly killing Florida State, and he can bench 400!
1259 - Bill Stewart reminds me of someone, but I can't figure out who...
107 - 4th & 13 on FSU's 33, two score game, spread-option offense with their backup QB in the game... this sounds like a great opportunity for WVU to go for it!
116 - West Virginia's players look like one giant frown with 2:42 left in the game, a good sign for a Mountaineer comeback.

Capital One Bowl : Penn State - LSU (10am)
1110 - Apparently LSU is without their top two HB, and Jordan Jefferson is a headcase. Advantage : Penn St.
1114 - Hands down, best maintained field today.
1123 - Game has barely started and the field looks like its been plowed under for seeding. I'm secretly hoping the halftime show is Erin Andrews mud wrestling. Ok, I'm actually openly praying for it.
1127 - This is great, I think the field leads the game in tackles.
1202 - Sadly, Erin did not hit the mud.
1249 - LSU is finally showing some signs of life, game leaves "Blame It On The Field" territory.
130 - Does LSU know when the clock hits 0:00 the game is over? How do they pull this off twice in one year?

Rose Bowl : Oregon - Ohio State (130pm)
138 - Battle of the Worst & Best uniforms, sadly I'm rooting for the worst.
139 - I'm not as upset as I could be. Oregon goes with their horrible green jersey with "carbon" numbers, but at least their helmet and pants (white) match.
139 - Blount is playing?! Have we forgotten the sucker punch incident so quickly?
157 - Unbelievably pretentious "Rose" intro, just what we all needed.
233 - I think we have an heir to Tebow's media love throne; Terrelle Pryor.
257 - Pryor is killing his media love, three bad decisions in a row.
329 - I'm shocked, this is turning out to be a really good game. Oh no, I may have just reverse jinxed it.
448 - Ok Kirk, we get it. Blount = power, James = speed.
502 - Kirk drops to his knees for Pryor, why am I not shocked?
508 - A little over 5 minutes to go and Oregon has blown it. Way to go Pac-10, we suck.
518 - Brent joins Kirk on his knees. Pryor has more yards than Oregon, he is just so amazing.

Sugar Bowl : Florida - Cincinnati (530pm)
500 - Game starts in 30 minutes, start the Tebow farewell tour!
521 - FOX divulges that Tebow admits disappointment in not playing for National Title, because that was a huge secret.
540 - President David Palmer is doing the coin flip! My hatred for sponsors is briefly subdued.
545 - I was afraid Florida would come out in their hideous Pro Combat uniforms, but they are going with the classic blue jersey and white pants. Cincy is wearing an all white uniform, including helmet, with a helmet stripe drawn on with a sharpie.
606 - HOLY SHIT! Why does FOX freeze frame a replay of Demps twisting the hell out of his arm?!
614 - Tebow's eyeblack; Ephesians 2:8-10. I'm sure we will see a feature on this at the half, and on live Tebow Cam (I'm not making that up, they really had it). Shouldn't he just jump straight to broadcasting instead of the NFL? Like FOX wouldn't hire him?
709 - Cincy looks like a dead program walking down 30-3 before the half and their coach leaving for Notre Dame.
753 - 1000th time they analyze Tebow's shitty throwing motion, but he is a great guy!
817 - Cincy is DOA. 43-10 with no signs of life.
918 - Big East takes a 51-24 gut punch, so much for the whole greatest upset ever thing.

January 2nd
International Bowl : USF - Northern Illinois (9am)
900 - I am really going to watch this game, no really. Stop laughing, I am. Seriously.
902 - Nothing quite like American college football in a Canadian baseball park. It should have a higher attendance than a Blue Jays game, right?
953 - Major downside of ESPN360; same four ads get shown 100,000 times.
959 - This game is amazing, how often do you get to see a Madden-esque 40 yard sack?
1104 - I am slowly boring to death here, as unbelievable as that sounds with a 6-3 score.
1114 - Yawn... hey a TD!
1124 - Oh, I get it. This game is just two shitty offenses fumbling around. I'm glad I got up to watch it.
1134 - Whoa, another TD. Looks like USF got their heads out of their asses first.

Cotton Bowl : Oklahoma State - Ole Miss (11am)
1105 - Two teams that completely collapsed under pre-season expectations, awesome.
1106 - YES! YES! Fuck YES! Daryl Johnston and Pat Summerall are calling this game, I think I just messed my pants.
1124 - AT&T must be a sponsor, the 15 yard wide giant orange AT&T ads on the field should be bigger. I almost missed them.
1200 - Jevan Snead just saw his life flash before his eyes, as if getting picked wasn't bad enough.
1209 - Ok, McCluster is fast. 86 yards in about two seconds.
1233 - So the game, field, and first down line are being brought to us by AT&T? Are they sponsoring this game or something?
1239 - Zac Robinson is trying the Tebow eyeblack look, too bad he isn't trying the lead-your-team-to-victory thing.
111 - So we have a bunch of INTs, fumbles, Snead getting his bell rung, a goal line stand at the 1 yard line, and now a FG off the post... this is going to be a long second half.
132 - This entry brought to you by AT&T.
139 - Really? Back-to-back reviews of the same play?
142 - John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as terrorist stopping action heroes? Horrible.
144 - Yet another failed attempt from the 1. Awesome.
148 - The phrase "This is (insert player name)" needs to go away.
205 - Is this a joke? Ole Miss inside the 5, penalty, sack, sack? Can someone score?
206 - Anyone who took the over in this game is pissed.
231 - Penalty for "calling attention to oneself", followed by Moose praising the call.
239 - Holy hell, the 104th turnover.
246 - Fitting, a INT ends the game, its 12th total turnover.

Papajohns.com Bowl : Connecticut - South Carolina (11am)
1100 - Papajohns.com? Why not just Papa Johns? Are you going to tell me Papa John's website gets a bowl, but uber-wealthy Google doesn't have one yet? Maybe we will have a FreeCreditReport.com bowl and those guys from the ad will be the halftime show. Before you blow that off I'm sure people said the same thing about Beef 'O' Grady's and look where they are now, St. Petersburg.
1105 - I'm expecting UConn to win this, the death of Jasper Howard has been motivation for them all season.
1125 - I was about to dog this game but a CRAZY one-handed TD catch just changed my mind.
1218 - After all that excitement this game is trying to be more tepid than the International Bowl. At least both teams have a guy with Predator dreads.
140 - I can't tell if South Carolina sucks, or if they never showed up, maybe both.
602 - Just found out that Spurrier publicly apologized for sucking. I forgive you Steve.

Liberty Bowl : Arkansas - East Carolina (230pm)
241 - A turnover already? Not another Cotton Bowl...
311 - Cotton Bowl-itis is spreading; missed FG, sacks all over, semi-blocked punts.
350 - Arkansas needs to rethink their uniforms, nameplates for names longer than eight letters look like they were ironed on in the lockeroom before the game.
410 - I'm worried, of the four games played so far the losing teams have combined for a whopping 17 points.
420 - How the mighty have fallen, Eddie Money is lip-synching the halftime show.
439 - I was thinking, I haven't seen a TAINT since the Cotton Bowl, feels like forever.
544 - Cotton Bowl 2.0! FG off the post, maybe this game will go into an OT better than the Northwestern-Auburn game.
555 - I always wanted to see a game full of wasted opportunities and missed FG attempts.
557 - WTF?! An eCoin toss, I guess people just can't wait the extra two seconds to hear the result from the officials.
601 - Yet another missed FG!
606 - Finally, someone makes a FG. I thought this would never end.

Alamo Bowl : Texas Tech - Michigan State (6pm)
605 - Game hasn't even started and I'm already tired of the Mike Leach storyline. At least Texas Tech will score some points, right?
639 - Things are looking up. A pass heavy team vs. a horrible pass defense, and a running team vs. a team with almost no defense. We already have three TDs and over three quarters left to play.
641 - Holy shit! Let the Leach thing go, focus on the game.
734 - 1) I'm sick of missed and blocked FGs today. 2) The Red Raiders' gun fingers thing annoys the hell out of me.
743 - Yes, they are still harping about the Leach firing. They keep showing graphics with damning evidence that he was fired for a good reason, and then cut away to "I Love Leach" signs in the crowd.
820 - This game is getting good, I was afraid Tech would blow out the Spartans, but a TD just gave them a 21-20 lead.
858 - Some of Michigan States passes are making Texas Tech look like the lesser passing team, plus the Spartans are without 14 players including their best receivers.
1003 - Disappointing for Spartan fans, but Tech hits the gas and puts this one away with Taylor Potts on the sidelines.

Well that does it for the orgy. I think my liver is filing a restraining order, but it gets Sunday off before Monday's much anticipated We-Were-Scared-Of-A-Utah/Alabama-Debacle-Again Bowl most are calling the Fiesta Bowl. This is will finally decide the debate about which team that doesn't deserve to be in the National Title game can keep complaining that it should be.

Cal Enjoys Being Wildly Overrated For Next 12-24 Hours

The fact that Cal is currently ranked, or was ever ranked, is shocking to me. Cal has managed to go from a dark horse Pac-10 contender to a trendy Rose Bowl pick, and then drop a whopping 18 places (depending on what poll you read) to unranked for week 6. I would love to do some research and figure out if any team in history that shouldn't have been ranked in the first place managed to be so overrated.

The media needs to form some kind of common sense panel to review the rankings each week. I am convinced this is necessary because all of the articles I've read about Cal seem to boil down to "They have all the talent to win the Pac-10 or make a BCS title run... if Kevin Riley plays well." If Cal's receivers were made up of 12" high and 7'-0" tall players Kevin Riley would be the best QB in all of football, but sadly they are unable to catch balls at their feet or 3' over their heads. The "BCS Buster" era has also encouraged wild rankings swings based on pre-season rankings (see; Houston, Boise St.), I'll delve into that later especially if we are in for a repeat of the Alabama-Utah debacle.

Each week has exposed all of the issues people managed to gloss over in the pre-season; Average-at-best QB, average WR corp prone to dropped passes with no deep threat, and a young (confused, poor tackling, and poor pass coverage) LB unit in a system that relies on their "depth" to make plays on defense. In the past two weeks Cal has been torched by skilled TE's, quick hitch routes, and off tackle runs that are surprisingly effective when you rely on tackling by the ankles.



I am not looking forward to being proven right over the rest of the season. I may actually throw up on the poor people sitting in front of me if we go from #6 to losing to stanfurd, making me 0-3 this year against insufferable fans (stay classy Eugene) and 0-3 against horrible bands if/when we lose to fUCLA. I have a bad feeling the above image (ill-advised pass to a offensive lineman resulting in a penalty and wild cheering) will sum up the Cal season, and be its most memorable moment.