Category: NCAA Football

Best line of the day, so far

See, John Parker Wilson stands at a bar at Bourbon Street, and he’s wondering what to drink. There’s a lot of beers, see. Tons of them. There’s Abita Amber, Abita Turbo Dog, Bud, Bud Lite, Corona, Coors Light, Harp, Guinness, PBR. So many options! He’s just about to decide, he’s looking, he promises he is and he’s looking….he reaches his bruised arm into his pocket to get money.

The bartender asks: “What do you want?”

And in the moment, just when John Parker Wilson is about to decide, he is tackled by three defenders wearing Utah jerseys. They take his money and mock his bangs before heading to Pat O’Brien’s to drink Hurricanes until their eyes cross.

From EDSBS (Every Day Should Be Saturday). Awesome win Utes, 13-0. The nation’s only undefeated Division 1 football team.

Football national champions

The Richmond Spiders defeated the Montana Grizzlies 24-7 Friday evening to win the national championship of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Richmond finished the season 13-3, Montana 14-2.

It’s Richmond’s first national championship in football. They defeated three-time defending national champion Appalachian State in the quarter finals. Montana has won the national championship twice; this was their fourth time as national runner-up.

Sixteen teams competed in the FCS playoffs, which began November 29th. There are 122 FCS schools.

Meanwhile back in the Bowl Championship Subdivision, Saturday will feature BYU 10-2, Navy 8-4, four teams that are 7-5, and a couple of teams that are 6-6 in four meaningless bowl games.

Richmond is the alma mater of Byron, one of the two official sons-in-law of NewMexiKen.

The best piece on the Heisman

“The lunacy of the Heisman Trophy” by Allen Barra, first published in 2003 and still right on. Key excerpt:

The Mackey, the Lombardi, the Outland, the Biletnikoff—there are more than a dozen college football awards, and all of them taken together don’t generate one-tenth of the ink given to the Heisman Trophy. Why, exactly? What is particularly puzzling is that the Walter Camp Award, presented to the “nation’s top player” by the Walter Camp Foundation, has never caught on, considering that it is named for the father of football, the man without whom none of the other awards would exist. But then, the Walter Camp Foundation is in New Haven, Conn., and the Heisman Trophy is presented by the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Which, come to think of it, probably answers the question right there….

And, by the way, why not present the Heisman sometime in mid-January, after the bowl games have been played? Why continue the pretense that the bowls aren’t part of the “season”? Since the bowl games determine the national championship and final rankings, why do the various groups and foundations that give out trophies pretend that the biggest games these kids will play don’t matter?

Every year, sportswriters wail and wail for a Heisman overhaul, and still nothing changes. So here’s a more feasible remedy. College football would gain some credibility by simply acknowledging that modern football is a division of labor among specialists. Gather up all the various year-end awards, including the Heisman, rent a ballroom, and present them all on the same night. If we can’t get the best players checked off on the Heisman ballot, maybe we can at least get them all in the same room.

Hey Coach

As NewMexiKen was leaving the restaurant this evening, newly hired New Mexico Lobos football coach Mike Locksley was walking in — Albuquerque is a small town and it’s a well-known restaurant.

Anyway, it was too sudden for this season ticket holder to react, but I wish I had.

“No damn screen passes, Coach.”

Locksley is one of just four African-American coaches among the 119 Division I-A schools. He’s more recently an assistant at Illinois and Florida.

Woof. Woof.

Best line of the day, so far

“Who knows if President-elect Barack Obama will someday blow up Iran, but the good news today is this: He wants to blow up the BCS.”

Mike Bianchi

What President-elect Obama said on 60 Minutes:

I think any sensible person would say that, if you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear, decisive winner, that we should be creating a playoff system. Eight teams, that would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would — it would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.

Not much fun (to watch)

When it got to 49-0 we left. It was halftime.

New Mexico beat San Diego State this evening 70-7; a 4-4 team over a 1-6 team. You’d think it would be fun to see, but somehow you just knew from the first touchdown it would be a blowout.

Indeed, I have witnesses to my prediction there would be 69 points just like USC over Washington State. I made my prediction when it was still only 14 to nothing early in the first quarter.

I hope the New Mexico players enjoyed themselves more than we did.

Stupidest, least self-aware, line of the day

“We had guys out of position. It has to do with our structure and getting our kids prepared. I think our coaches have to take some of the responsibility for that.”

Arizona football coach Mike Stoops.

Yes coach, structure and getting the kids prepared is pretty much up to the coaches. Are you just figuring that out after going 21-31 over 4-1/2 seasons?

The second least competent person in Tucson is Coach Stoops. The least competent person is Tucson is the guy that didn’t fire Coach Stoops last November.

Tough schedule

Number 5 Texas plays #1 Oklahoma, #2 Missouri, #17 Oklahoma State and #7 Texas Tech in the next four weeks. I’m wondering if anyone has ever played four ranked teams in four weeks before (and three of them top 7 teams).

Rankings from USA Today poll. Texas also plays #15 Kansas later in the season.

Even the lobo has stopped howling

In my 10th year in Albuquerque, NewMexiKen buys season tickets to University of New Mexico football. And what happens? Two of the six home games have been played already and the Lobos are 0-2. And not that good.

First, a 26-3 loss to TCU, then yesterday a 28-22 defeat by a mediocre Texas A&M team. And two of yesterday’s New Mexico scores came in the last six minutes when the game was likely out of reach. Earlier two interceptions led to two A&M TDs; a fumble lead to another. Ugly.

And the crowds have been small (70% of capacity yesterday) and listless (as one might expect in games where the home team is down 16-0 and 14-0 early. Some dental group sponsors shots of fans flashing their smiles during breaks in the action. Any UNM fans smiling yesterday should have been tossed from University Stadium.

This Saturday a third home game, this time against NewMexiKen’s very own alma mater, The University of Arizona, off to its best start in years. I’ll be wearing red again this week, but it’ll have an A on it, not a NM.

(A little boy about 5 or 6 sat in front of me yesterday with his dad. The kid watched the action on the large TV on the end zone scoreboard. To my knowledge he didn’t look at the field once. A few more games like the first two and that may be true for all of us.)

The Quad Countdown

The Quad, The New York Times college sports blog, is counting down the 120 bowl division college football teams.

The season begins on Aug. 28 and to get you ready for that momentous date, The Quad is ranking all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams. We’ll begin today with No. 120 and reveal one each day until we get to No. 1. In addition to ranking the teams, we’ll provide plenty of relevant on-the-field facts as well as some fun off-the-field tidbits that you can use to impress your friends. Feel free to disagree with our rankings. As we all know, the great thing about college football is that it all gets settled on the field. Oh, wait …

Alas, they’re only to number 76, and there’s my alma mater, The University of Arizona.

Toughest quote: “Entering his third year as the starter, Tuitama is in position to set all of Arizona’s meaningful quarterback records. Except victories, of course.”

And it’s not even 10, it’s 11

What would be truly incredible is if voters and computers finally realize that the Big Ten, whose teams have won two national titles in 38 years, is no longer a football conference.

What would be absolutely fair is voters and computers treating the Big Ten the way they treat the Western Athletic Conference of Boise State and Hawaii.

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times

Here’s the final AP Top 10:

1. LSU (60) 12-2 1,620
2. Georgia (3) 11-2 1,515
3. USC (1) 11-2 1,500
4. Missouri 12-2 1,347
5. Ohio State 11-2 1,346
6. West Virginia 11-2 1,342
7. Kansas (1) 12-1 1,303
8. Oklahoma 11-3 1,139
9. Virginia Tech 11-3 1,096
10. Texas 10-3 962

Good for him

Last night’s Fiesta Bowl was tough for Oklahoma fans but it turns out it was a great job interview for West Virginia interim coach Bill Stewart. The 48-28 win got him the job.

Oh, and go read this ODE TO OWEN SCHMITT.

The guy is weeping and the silly reporter still asks him “What does this mean to you?” A great moment anyway.

“Bill Stewart’s crying, everyone’s hugging, and Owen Schmitt starts to talk about his team, his state, and his home and just completely and gloriously loses his shit.” (Every Day Should Be Saturday)

Best college football line of the year, so far

“The two showcase games on the sport’s grandest day were absolute dogs.”

Pete Thamel – The Quad

Thamel goes on to add:

U.S.C. blew out Illinois in the Rose Bowl, setting all kinds of records in the process. Georgia is doing the same to Hawaii here. Wouldn’t it be novel to, say, have the best teams play each other. It would have been nice to see this: A Rose Bowl of U.S.C. vs. Georgia, an Orange Bowl of Oklahoma vs. Virginia Tech, a Fiesta Bowl of Missouri vs. West Virginia, and then Hawaii vs. Arizona State in the Sugar Bowl. Instead, the B.C.S. has yet again managed to deliver a watered-down, unwatchable product. And it’s the fans that suffer.

So, take note Fox and Fox’s advertisers, I gave up on the Sugar Bowl midway through the first quarter. I imagine millions of others did the same. (Georgia eventually won 41-10.)

Me, it’s all about me

Hollywood, college football, Major League Baseball — it’s all just show business folks and the same considerations apply to stars everywhere.

Rodriguez had a graduate assistant hand in his official letter of resignation. When West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong read the letter, it said that Rodriguez is resigning “effective Jan. 3.”

West Virginia’s contract with Rodriguez has a $4 million buyout clause. The resignation date is Coach Rod’s way of telling the school that they either let him coach through the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 or they let him walk — in which case the buyout clause could be voided.

And all this time we thought college basketball coaches were the slick ones.

Wendell Barnhouse

Good points

The BCS did not choke away a national title berth against a four-touchdown underdog the last night of the season. The BCS did not lose to Oklahoma, rise all the way up to No. 1 — then lose to the Sooners again.

The BCS did not lose on its own home field to Stanford. Or Arkansas. Or South Carolina. Or Illinois.

The BCS did not lose 48-7 in its showcase non-conference game.

The BCS did not win its first 11 games against a bunch of nobodies, rise to No. 1 in the country, then lose in its first and only marquee game.

The BCS did not soar to No. 2 in the standings, then implode upon losing its starting quarterback. The BCS did not give up 473 yards to Texas Tech — then blame it on losing its starting quarterback.

Stewart Mandel

Mandel does blame the BCS for the unappealing match-ups that resulted, however.

Just for fun

Jeff Sagarin’s computer says the top 10 today are:

1 Oklahoma (11-2)
2 Ohio State (11-1)
3 Kansas (11-1)
4 Florida (9-3)
5 Virginia Tech (11-2)
6 LSU (11-2)
7 West Virginia (10-2)
8 Southern California (10-2)
9 Missouri (11-2)
10 Georgia (10-2)

However, the Sagarin ranking the BCS uses (which is part of Sagarin’s larger set) ranks the teams:

1 Virginia Tech
2 LSU
3 Oklahoma
4 Ohio State
5 Kansas
6 Missouri
7 Georgia
8 Hawaii
9 USC
10 Boston College

BCS

My heart says the only undefeated eligible team should go to the national championship game, otherwise why have a regular season?

But no one is going to “vote” Hawaii into the championship, so who’s left?

Ohio State I suppose. They’ll lose once there, and it’s always fun to laugh at the Big 10 in bowl games, so there is the sentimental factor.

And Louisiana State. LSU would be undefeated (11-0-2) if this season had been played as in old without a tie-breaker. Furthermore, LSU won its conference championship with its starting quarterback hurt. That’s quite an achievement — just ask USC, Oregon, Oklahoma and West Virginia what can happen when the starting QB can’t play.

Ohio State vs. LSU — and LSU will win by at least ten.

By the way, a generation ago college teams played ten regular season games and a few played an eleventh game in a bowl. Now teams play 12 regular season games, some play in a conference championship, and many (too many) play in a bowl game. The season is more than a quarter longer than it used to be. I never hear this mentioned when so-and-so breaks some old record for rushing or TD passes completed in a season. Where’s the Roger Maris asterisk?

And, if you’ve been watching you may have seen the run down of the 25 Greatest Players In College Football. All but the last two spots have been announced — they’re being saved for broadcast during the Rose Bowl. By process of elimination we figured the best players who haven’t made made it to the top 25 so far are Red Grange and Barry Sanders.

Unless you think O.J. Simpson would be number one or two.

[At the time this was posted, ESPN hadn’t posted the names of all-time players numbers 3, 4 and 5. They are Herschel Walker (Georgia), Doak Walker (SMU) and Sammy Baugh (TCU).]