Category: NCAA Football

Truest but too bad line of the day

“Both New Mexico and New Mexico State hired a new coach prior to last season: I don’t think N.M.S.U. struck gold in Walker, but the university certainly could have done worse. Could have done far worse, in fact — it could have hired Mike Locksley, the U.N.M. coach rapidly making a claim to be the worst coach in the country.”

Pre-Snap Read, which has the gory details.

Another:

“Congratulations are in order for Locksley: just when we think you can’t lead this program any lower, you surprise us with a performance like the one we saw on Saturday.”

Alas

In the preseason the New Mexico Lobos were ranked 116th by Pre-Snap Read.

After three losses they’ve slipped to 119th.

Out of 120.

(As we say around here, thank God for North Texas State.)

Arizona on the other hand has gone from 46th to 13th.

New Mexico State has moved up, too — from 115th to 113th.

Best line of the day

Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press begins his column:

Among the University of Notre Dame’s many purposes — inspiring movies, polarizing college football fans, and, like, educating people and stuff — is measuring our local teams every September.

In the next two weeks, we will get a feel for how good Michigan and Michigan State are. U-M visits South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, and Notre Dame goes to East Lansing the week after that.

The two state programs have some similarities. (I know, I know: It kills you to think your school has ANYTHING in common with the other one. Michigan fans don’t think Michigan State should be allowed to have the words “Michigan” or “University” in its name; Michigan State fans don’t think Michigan fans should be allowed to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. But let’s play nice for a few minutes, OK?)

Rivalry, as in so many states.

It pained me for decades when asked where I went to school and answered, “The University of Arizona.”

And the yahoo would respond, “Oh, Arizona State.”

“No. The University of Arizona. That other school is Tempe Normal to me.”

Arizona State was founded in 1885 as the Tempe Normal School for the Arizona Territory. (A normal school trained high school graduates to be teachers, setting teaching standards or norms, hence normal school.)

Only in 1945 did it become Arizona State College. It became Arizona State University in 1958. (Sun Devils is a cool name, though.)

The University of Arizona was established as The University of Arizona in 1885.

Not good

Oregon is defeating New Mexico 59-0.

At the half.

Lobos Coach Mike Locksley should remember to tell his team, in the immortal words of USC Coach John McKay after a particularly lopsided loss, “If you think you need it, take a shower.”

UPDATE:

The final score, Oregon 72 New Mexico 0

And it wasn’t that close. Total offense: Oregon 721 yards, New Mexico 105 (with 5 turnovers).

So who’s first and second?

Since May Pre-Snap Read has been reviewing the 120 Bowl Championship Division football teams. (New Mexico was 116 and New Mexico State 115.) With Nebraska Saturday, Oklahoma early today and Ohio State just now, he’s down to the top two (play begins Thursday).

Looks like 1 and 2 are Alabama and —

wait for it

— Boise State.

Or maybe 1 and 2 are Boise State and Alabama.

Click the link above for the list. Here’s the rest of the Pre-Snap Read top 10.

3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Nebraska
6. T.C.U.
7. Virginia Tech
8. Oregon
9. Iowa
10. Florida

Boise State and Virginia Tech play Monday at FedEx Field.

Best line of the day

“I’m a Nebraska native, and when I first heard rumblings of a conference switch, I thought, well, it’s only a number; in my youth, the Big 12 was only the Big Eight. And it’s all about money, anyway.

“But this realignment disrupts rivalries that are central to the pleasure sports give to fans—especially Nebraska fans, who are inoculated with an unusually pure strain of fandom. As far as high-profile sports go, the Cornhusker football team is literally the only game in town. At school on Mondays after a Saturday loss, everyone was still a bit depressed. And I’m talking about elementary school. …”

Kelly Bare : The New Yorker

The Quad Countdown

For the second straight year, Paul Myerberg is counting down all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in preparation for the college football season. We know, we know. Baseball hasn’t reached the All-Star break, the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. are making their way through the playoffs, college lacrosse hasn’t even reached its Final Four. But there’s never a bad time to start getting ready for the football season. So why not begin here? Paul will be back every day with a new team, providing some gridiron knowledge to help you make it through the days until the season kicks off.

The Quad Countdown starts with No. 120, Western Kentucky.

The Quad Countdown: No. 119 Idaho.

The Quad Countdown: No. 118 New Mexico State.

First time

Oklahoma and Florida have never played each other in football before.

On the other hand:

It means nothing because the BCS has no credibility. Florida? Oklahoma? Who cares? Utah is the national champion.

The End. Roll credits.

Argue with this, please. I beg you. Find me anybody else that went undefeated. Thirteen-and-zero. Beat four ranked teams. Went to the Deep South and seal-clubbed Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The same Alabama that was ranked No. 1 for five weeks. The same Alabama that went undefeated in the regular season. The same Alabama that Florida beat in order to get INTO the BCS Championship game in the first place.

Yeah, that’s how it is now in the shameful, money-grubbing world of college football. If you’re Florida and you beat Alabama, you get a seat in the title game. If you’re Utah, you get a seat on your sofa.

Rick Reilly – ESPN The Magazine

Reilly’s rant continues.

This isn’t a national championship—it’s a big-money waltz

Bill James urges his colleagues to boycott the BCS. An excerpt from a piece that really requires you to read it all:

It is inherent in the nature of sports to seek a clear resolution of the competition. You have two football conferences, two basketball conferences, two baseball leagues—you want to know who the best team really is. That doesn’t come from anywhere; it’s integral to the sport. It’s like a movie; either the boy gets the girl, or he doesn’t. Either the cop catches the killer, or he doesn’t. Either the hero wins the battle, or he dies on the battlefield. That’s just the way it is, whether it’s Shakespeare or schlock. Leaving the situation unresolved is unpopular because it’s unnatural.

As Title Game Approaches, What About Utah?

But in an open letter to the 72 members of the media who choose the Associated Press No. 1, the Washington Post’s John Feinstein makes a strong case for them to place undefeated Utah at the top of their ballot.

“The reason to vote for Utah is simple: This is the one and only way you can stand up to the BCS bullies — the university presidents, commissioners, athletic directors and the TV networks who enable them — and, to renew a catch phrase, just say no,” Feinstein argues. “Say no to this horrible, hypocritical, feed-the-big-boys system. Say no to the idea that fair competition doesn’t matter. Say no to all the hype surrounding the power conferences and power teams. To co-opt yet another catch phrase, say yes to change.”

The Daily Fix

Does BCS violate anti-trust laws?

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s attorney general is investigating the Bowl Championship Series for a possible violation of federal antitrust laws after an undefeated Utes team was left out of the national title game for the second time in five years.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff contends the BCS unfairly puts schools like Utah, which is a member of a conference without an automatic bid to the lucrative bowl games, at a competitive and financial disadvantage.

Shurtleff said Tuesday that his office is still in the initial stages of reviewing the Sherman Antitrust Act to see if a lawsuit can be filed. To succeed in a lawsuit, Shurtleff would have to prove a conspiracy exists that creates a monopoly.

SI.com

Big Ten’s play not worthy of BCS

“There are a lot of little things that go on in there,” Paterno said following the loss. “I think in all fairness without, again, being a crybaby, I think in all fairness when you play Southern Cal, they’re home and they practice where they normally practice. It’s a lot easier for them to get ready.”

If the traveling parameters are too much for the conference, then perhaps the Big Ten should pull out of the BCS altogether and commit its conference champion to the Motor City Bowl.

Drew Sharp — Detroit Free Press

I say the BCS should be like European futbol — realign after each season and throw out next year’s automatic bid for the conference that performs worst. Out with the Big East, in with the Mountain West. Out with the Big 10, in with the WAC.

• The Big Ten is winless in six Rose Bowls this decade, losing by almost a two-to-one margin in those defeats — 219-121.

• It’s now lost its last five BCS games by more than a two-to-one margin — 198-97.

• The Big Ten’s BCS record of 4-10 this decade is the second-worst winning percentage of the six major conferences.

Anybody think Ohio State is going to improve upon that against Texas tonight?

In B.C.S., Dollars Are the Only Relevant Numbers

. . . Under the rules, the championship teams of the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pacific-10 and Southeastern Conferences go to the B.C.S. automatically. This season, the first team in each conference to qualify receives $18 million — win, lose or draw — and that money is distributed in that team’s conference. If a second team from a conference qualifies, the conference shares an additional $4.5 million.

But the rules for the other five conferences are different. One champion from one of the non-B.C.S. conferences gets in if it is ranked in the top 12 or ranked in the top 16 but higher than a B.C.S. conference champion. That is how Utah, ranked sixth, found its way to the Sugar Bowl against Alabama and an $18 million payday, to be shared among the five smaller conferences.

But no other small-conference team made it. Boise State went 12-0, won the Western Athletic Conference and finished the regular season ranked ninth in the B.C.S. For this, the Broncos earned a trip to the inventively named San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and collected $750,000 — a set of steak knives compared with the Cadillac that is a B.C.S. berth, even after sharing the revenue. Boise State lost that game to Texas Christian, another non-B.C.S. program. The Horned Frogs finished second to Utah in the Mountain West and ranked 11th in the final B.C.S. standings.

Boise State and T.C.U. ranked higher in the B.C.S. than the Orange Bowl participants: No. 12 Cincinnati, winner of the Big East, and No. 19 Virginia Tech, winner of the Atlantic Coast. For their efforts, the Bearcats and Hokies came away with $18 million each for their leagues to share. Strange? It becomes even stranger.

Notre Dame, an independent, goes to the B.C.S. if it ranks eighth or higher in the standings — not a consideration this year because the team made no one’s top 25. But no matter: Notre Dame gets an automatic $1.3 million payout whether it makes it to the championship series or not.

Keeping Score – NYTimes.com