The BCS has a never-ending campaign to justify it’s BsCS. Now, they are letting us know that the student-athletes (don’t you love their use of student) prefer the bowls over a playoff format. They sent every unsuspecting, playoff-supporting writer/blogger a press release that explains.
Inside the BCS
Ineligible Team Would be Removed and Others Below it Moved Up One Position
(July 30, 2010)– The 11 conferences that manage the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) today announced that teams that are ineligible for post-season play will be removed from computer ratings for the purposes of determining the BCS Standings.
Each of the six computer rankings providers have notified the BCS group that ineligible teams will still be included in the individual computer rankings during the regular season to ensure the integrity of the data and in fairness to opponents. But, for the purpose of determining the BCS Standings, ineligible teams will be removed from each computer ranking and all others below it moved up one position.
“Basically, we will take each computer ranking, remove the ineligible teams, and move all the teams below the open position up one spot. It’s fair, it’s consistent, it’s simple, and it’s transparent,” said Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS.
For example, if the ineligible team is ranked No. 10 in a computer ranking, the No. 11 team would move up one slot, as would all teams ranked below it, preserving the integrity of the rankings. The process would be followed for all six computer rankings. The rest of the formula would stay the same—the highest and lowest ranking for each team will be discarded and the remaining numbers averaged to create the team’s computer ranking.
Do you want another nightmare scenario for the BcS mess? Well it could happen. It looks like the winner of the SEC is on a collision course with Texas, but stranger things have happened.
In case you haven’t heard, the BCS Bowl selections came down this evening in a, almost, basketball tournament-esque type announcement on Fox. We saw the Cincinnati fans jumping up and down as if their team was sent to the East Regional as a number one seed. Not quite. It seemed as the BCS Machine wanted us to believe it was as big as the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Show, but it wasn’t. I mean, Virginia Tech, while a good team has four losses. Maybe Boise State should take their place.
In news closer to home (Fort Worth, TX), TCU has been matched up against those Boise State Broncos led
by senior (what year?) Ian Johnson and his cheerleader wife in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. I had to make sure I got that sponsorship in there as they payed me an undisclosed amount of money to mention it (not really). TCU is number 11 and Boise is 9th. This match up may be better than some of the BCS Bowl games!
The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl also made an announcement. They have decided to match up Case Keenum and the high flying Houston Cougars against the wicked option oriented Air Force Falcons in a rematch of a game played in early September when the kids from Houston were really thinking about their homes in Houston with Hurrican Ike making an appearance. Nevertheless, it was a close game. This one should be fun.
The Collegefootballtopten.com Top Ten should be out either Monday or Tuesday. I wonder who will be number one.
Whew!!!! I really just did not not know what we were going to do. I mean, Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma 
were all tied at the top of the Big 12 South with a legitimate shot at a BCS title game, but only one could go to the Big 12 Championship Game.
Of course, we look to our wise sages for answers, and they helped us make a decision. Coaches from as far away as California and New England decided that Oklahoma’s throttling of two top twelve teams two weeks in a row was worthy to put them in front of Texas and Texas Tech. Longhorn fans are fuming. What happened to 45 to 35 (Texas’ score over Oklahoma if you didn’t know)? What happened to to 39 to 33 (Tech over UT)? It’s madness I tell you! Madness! Only it is November not March.
Oh well, what’s done is done. It will be Oklahoma vs. Missouri (again) for the Big 12 title. Of course, if Chase Daniel has some magic left and Mizzou upsets Oklahoma, well, I guess Texas gets to go to the BCS title game. Who needs a playoff (tongue in cheek!), this is just fine!
BCS Standings
AP Standings
Last year I started a Top Ten Offseason Stories segment. There were two parts, and this year I will split the segment in to two posts as well. The first post will contain numbers 6 through 10 while the second post will contain numbers 1 through 5.
10. Tim Tebow Mission Trip–The Legend of Tim Tebow grows which each passing year. Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in his first year as a starter, and now, there are reports that Tebow took a mission trip during the Spring. Mission trips are nothing new for the Tebow family, his parents are missionaries. However, it seems Tebow has convinced his head coach, Urban Meyer, to take a mission trip too. Tebow just seems too good to be true.
9. Josh Jarboe dismissed from OU Scholarship–After making a dramatic decision to sign his Letter of Intent with Oklahoma, the Georgia native recruit was dismissed for a video of a freestyle rap that surfaced on YouTube. At first, the Sooners dismissed the significance, but after outcry from some in the media, decided that to remove Jarboe’s scholarship. Jarboe had been arrested in the spring for a carrying a weapon on his high school campus. Jarboe has since enrolled at Troy.
8. Plus One Playoff Considered–And was rejected by BCS officials. Nevertheless, a “plus one” was considered. Despite being considered, the system was turned down and has left many upset about the evil while others are content.
7. Coaches Visit Middle East–Five very prominent coaches including Georgia coach Mark Richt and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis paid a visit to the Middle East to visit our soldiers, and they even got to meet the Commander In Chief when they returned. The Coaches Tour was a great experience for both the coaches and the soldiers.
6. Howard Schnellenberger calls out Texas–Schnellenberger has always coached with a swagger, but he just gave Texas incentive to not overlook Florida Atlantic. Of course, he tried to back off his words, but it might be Texas who is hitting FAU in the mouth.
To do further comparison, I decided to take two football teams, in this case Florida and Idaho, and see how each magazine does its analysis. Why Florida and Idaho? Florida is ranked as preseason number one by two of the magazines (Phil Steele and Athlon) and in the top ten by the others. Florida returns Heisman Trophy winning QB Tim Tebow and WR Percy Harvin which will garner a lot of preseason press. Florida represents the BCS teams. Idaho, represents the non BCS teams. There is not much hype surrounding Idaho which is not expected to be very competitive.
Florida
Phil Steele has two pages for Florida. His features include Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Receivers, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Linebackers, Defensive Backs, Special Teams and 
Coaches. Phil has his forecast for the Gators as well as his projected starting lineups. He includes a Top Newcomers box at the bottom of the fist page. His schedule box is pretty comprehensive including stats against each opponent as well as the type of turf, a place to write in the Line, the Final Score and whether it was a won or a loss. Of course the box includes a phone number for the weather in Gainesville, FL. The second page is lined with a series of stats, many of which go back 5 to 6 years including results from their games dating back t o 2003. He also includes the last five bowl games.
Sporting News also has two pages. The core is a narration based analysis of Florida which includes highlights of top players on the Florida team such as LB Brandon Spikes, RB Kestahn Moore, and Defensive Linemen Torrey Davis and Carlos Dunlap. On the first page is a small box which includes the 2008 schedule along with results against that team from 2007. There is a Power Ratings box and a Bowl Projection, a Next Big Thing. SN also offers a Recruiting Report box. The final page includes a Depth Chart along with a Returning Stat Leaders and 2007 Team Stats. Finally, SN has a nice looking little graphic which covers Florida’s 5 Year Wins Trend.
Athlon and Lindy’s must have been edited by the same guy. The format seems almost identical. Each magazine gives Florida one page. There are three small boxes on the bottom page which covers the 2008 Schedule, 2007 Results, and 2007 National Rankings. The side box to the right is the depth chart with “returning starters in bold.” Each magazine does an analysis with sections including Offense, Defense, Special Teams/Specialists, Final Analysis/Overview.
Idaho
Phil Steele repeats the exact same format for Idaho that it does for Florida (see above). There are two pages, loads of stats, features, etc. I find it interesting that Phil Steele gives the Vandals the same 
treatment that he does Florida, with a phone number for the weather in Moscow, Idaho and everything. On the other heand, Sporting News does no such favor. By the time one arrives to Idaho’s spot, he sees a half a page. There is not Depth Chart, no Recruiting Report, no Team Stats or Stat Leaders, and no graphic with the 5 Year Wins Trend. This lack of coverage does not seem to be the same with all of the non BCS teams in SN. Teams which are projected to finish at the top of the conference get more coverage. Life is tough win your program struggles to win games and is projected to finish low.
Lindy’s and Athlon uses the same format with Idaho that they do with Florida. The Vandals get the same one page format with the analysis, the Depth Chart, the schedule and results. At least Lindy’s and Athlon treat the two programs the same. Of course, Florida gets more press in other areas like preseason awards and honors.
Sitting in my favorite eating establishment this morning, The Old Neighborhood Grill in Fort Worth, I was thinking about Dan Jenkins. Dan is one of the greatest sports writers in the last 50 years, and he is a native 
of Fort Worth. He is also a big TCU fan. Peter, the owner of Old Neighborhood Grill, and I were talking about some of Dan’s books including his latest one. Dan is a reminder of just how successful the program has been in years past. And, recently, with coaching of Gary Patterson, the program has returned to prominence. It is telling when you realize that the Frogs won 8 games last year, including the Texas Bowl, and that was considered a disappointment.
For years, the Horned Frogs were a part of the old Southwest Conference. Usually, any team who was at the top of the Southwest Conference was considered relevant in the national rankings, scene. When the conference folded, the Frogs missed out on going to the Big Twelve. They spent time in the Western Athletic Conference and the Conference USA before moving the Mounatin West Conference a few years ago. They seem to have found a home. As conference strength goes, the MWC is the toughest outside of the BCS power conferences. It boasts at least two teams with national championships: TCU and BYU. TCU came close to busting the BCS “glass ceiling” in its first year in the MWC going 11-1. Its lone loss was to SMU one week after beating Oklahoma in Norman, keeping it out of the BCS bowls.
When people think of TCU, they might think of “Slingin Sammy” Baugh, Davey O’Brien, Bob Lilly and LaDainian Tomlinson. You might not realize that the Horned Frogs have two national championships. The 1930′s were very good to the Frogs as they took the 1935 and 1938 national titles. TCU has 14 conference championships in 5 different conferences (source). For a team that is not in a “power” conference, TCU has a pretty rich tradition. Recently, winning games has become an expectation again.
TCU is not afraid to play against their share of BCS conference teams. As I mentioned earlier, TCU knocked off OU in Norman in 2005. They have played Texas Tech home and away, Baylor, Stanford (who comes to Fort Worth this year) and Texas in Austin. And TCU has beaten every team mentioned but Texas in the past 3 years. What’s more, the Frogs travel to Norman again this season to take on the Sooners. The past two trips to Norman have been wins for the Frogs. Do you think the people in Norman remember?
Bowl games against BCS teams have been successful too. They started this recent success by knocking off USC in the 1998 Sun Bowl. Granted, that wasn’t a Pete Carroll coached team, but it was a win over USC. Then, the Frogs knocked off Iowa State in the 2005 Texas Bowl. They also own victories this decade over Vanderbilt, Arizona, and Northwestern. They have suffered losses to Texas A&M (2001 Bowl game) and Nebraska (2001). And, the Frogs have a future date with the SEC’s Arkansas.
If the past is any indication, especailly the recent past, the Horned Frogs look to have another succes-field season. Look for the Frogs to contend for the Mounatin West Conference Title once again.
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