Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Chick-Fil-A Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

Matchup: Auburn vs. Clemson

Spread: Clemson -2.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Name was changed after too many southerners started ordering peaches from their local Chick-Fil-A.

Thoughts: Both are Ag schools, Both have the nickname Tigers, Both have orange in their uniforms, Both are coached by men named Tommy, Both are ranked too high preseason and fail to meet expectations...the similarities are endless between Clemson and Auburn. Which is what makes this game hard to pick. Clemson Quarterback Cullen Harper has improved exponentially this season but couldn't "win the big one" against Boston College earlier this year. This game has less pressure, I think Harper will prosper which is why I'm going with the Purple Tigers here.

Pick: Clemson

Confidence: 3 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Insight Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

Matchup: Indiana vs. Oklahoma State

Spread: Oklahoma State -4

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: If a coach had any kind of Insight, his team wouldn't be sent to a second-tier bowl like this.

Thoughts: Head Coach Bill Lynch got the Hoosiers to this bowl fulfilling the promise of the late Terry Hoeppner in the biggest feel good story of the college football season. Everyone knows Mike Gundy by now. You might not know Okie State WR Adarius Bowman 6'4" 220lb. Wide Receiver who could be a first round pick in the NFL Draft. Just as I like to pick against teams that aren't happy to be in mid-level bowls, i like to pick teams like Indiana who treat them as if they were on New Year's Day or later. That's why I'm going with Indiana but as the confidence tells you, I wouldn't bet my car on it.

Pick: Indiana

Confidence: 2 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Roady's Humanitarian Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl


Location: Bronco Stadium, Boise, Idaho

Matchup: Fresno State vs. Georgia Tech

Spread: Georgia Tech -6


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: How many Roady’s truck stops do you think Larry Craig did Humanitarian duties in?

Thoughts: Not only is Georgia Tech in the ACC’s “punishment bowl” for an underachieving season, they lost head coach Chan Gailey to firing and will be coached by DC Jon Tenuta who, while a great DC gives me flashbacks of Robert Loggia in “Necessary Roughness” taking over Hector Elizondo’s playbook and whistle. Can he get the Yellow Jackets motivated to play this game. Maybe but I doubt it.


Pick: Fresno State

Confidence: 12 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl


Location: LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Matchup: Kentucky vs. Florida State

Spread: Kentucky -10


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: None! The Music City Bowl is a fine tradition in a fine town! (they haven’t let me in yet)

Thoughts: I’m going and will be blogging the experience for this blog when I come back. I’d rather save my witty commentary for then. As most people know Florida State has suspended 34 players out of Academic Diselgibility after an online course cheating scandal was uncovered involving players. Kentucky Andre Woodson gets to showcase his skills in a real competitive game. FSU is coming with nothing to lose so I expect them to make a game of it for a while but they simply don’t have the manpower to compete and I’m not sure if they ever did.

Pick: Kentucky

Confidence: 29 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Brut Sun Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


Brut Sun Bowl


Location: Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, Texas

Matchup: South Florida vs. Oregon

Spread: South Florida -6.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The thought of the smell of Brut in the sun is almost enough for me to not watch this game.

Thoughts: After Dennis Dixon got hurt and quarterback Brady Leaf took over the wheels came off. Just as you can imagine they would if their running back Johnathan Stewart got hurt and Tomlinson Jana-Carter was their running back. South Florida is another team that couldn’t hold onto #2 but they played remarkably well out of conference including a win at Auburn. I expect them to impress here, easily handling the Ducks.

Pick: South Florida

Confidence: 22 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Armed Forces Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl


Location: Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas

Matchup: Air Force vs. California

Spread: California -3.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: You know, I was on the fence about what brand of helicopter to buy after Christmas but since they support college football, I’m gonna go get me a Bell! Maybe two!

Thoughts: Let’s say you played football for Cal in 2007. You started out the season with a big win over Tennessee. You were one of the 15 teams ranked #2 this season, even though like 13 other teams, you weren’t that good. You stumbled, check that, you collapsed down the stretch and are on your way to Fort Worth, not New Orleans where you thought you might be, to play in the Armed Forces Bowl, not the BCS National Championship as you thought you might be, to play a service academy with their option offense and Coach of the Year candidate Troy Calhoun. Not exactly Remember the Titans. I don’t see this season ending well for Desean Jackson and the Bears.

Pick: Air Force

Confidence: 14 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Petrosun Independence Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


PetroSun Independence Bowl


Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana

Matchup: Colorado (Big XII, No. something) vs. Alabama (SEC, No. I have to be honest I’ve been guessing this whole time)

Spread: Alabama -3.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Everyday Should be Saturday does it better than I could. The first and worst of the bad bowls.

Thoughts: I hate both these teams and neither deserves to be in any kind of bowl. Alabama finished their season shamefully and they’ll be reminded of that on their way to Shreveport. Colorado had to score eleventy billion points to beat lowly Nebraska. I’m taking Alabama slightly because I believe Nick Saban is on the verge of looking ridiculous and a man like Nick Saban can not be made to look ridiculous.




Pick: Alabama

Confidence: 1 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Valero Alamo Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!


Valero Alamo Bowl


Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

Matchup: Penn State (Big Ten No. 5) vs. Texas ATM (Big XII No. 5)

Spread: Penn State -5.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Almost as important as the Spanish-American War.

Thoughts: Some interesting pregame nuggets in the days before this game. First, Penn State Quarterback Anthony Morelli noshowed the pregame press conference, then in a Texas ATM pep rally, a cheerleader wished death upon Penn State coach Joe Paterno. The Aggies have been a disappointment for years now and are under an interim coach, you know how that usually goes.


Pick: Penn State

Confidence: 19 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Autozone Liberty Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Autozone Liberty Bowl


Location: Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee

Matchup: UCF (Conference USA No. 1) vs. Mississippi State (SEC No. 5)

Spread: UCF -3


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: If Patrick Henry were alive today, I have no doubt he’d say “Give me Liberty Bowl or give me death!”

Thoughts: A showcase game for the nation’s leading rusher Kevin Smith of UCF vs. Mississippi State’s run defense which gives up 4.25 yards per carry and 159 yards per game. Sylvester Croom pulled a miracle getting his team here, against a dynamic player like Smith. It is hard to expect them to triumph.

Pick: UCF

Confidence: 13 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Meineke Car Care Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Meineke Car Care Bowl

Location: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
Matchup: Wake Forest
Spread: TCU -2.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Its a sad day that we don't even notice when bowls are named after auto shop chains anymore.

Thoughts: A battle of two coaches who probably will not finish their careers at their respective schools after they are shown a plethora of opportunities. Both Jim Grobe and Randy Edsall have taken two schools who usually use football to warm up their fandom for March. I remember Wake taking pictures the entire time they were in Miami for last year's Orange Bowl, when they got beat by Louisville. I have a feeling they want to take care of business here while UConn may be amazed to be even in a bowl. That is why I am taking the Demon Deacs, slightly

Pick: Wake Forest
Confidence: 6 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Texas Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Texas Bowl

Location: Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Matchup: TCU (Mountain West No. 3) vs. Houston (Conference USA No. 3)
Spread: TCU -6

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: At least the bowl games aren't bigger in Texas.
Thoughts: Houston is playing without Head Coach Art Briles who left for Baylor. TCU gets Defensive End Tommy Blake for this game. Blake was supposed to be a surefire NFL Draft prospect but he's been in and out on cloudy circumstances to say the least. TCU is the better team and should win easily here.

Pick: TCU
Confidence: 18 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Emerald Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Emerald Bowl

Location: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Matchup: Oregon State (No. 6 Pac Ten) vs. Maryland (No. 6 ACC)
Spread: Oregon State -5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: What is a better December destination Em Bowl or Em City?

Thoughts: Battle of two teams who laid eggs in some highly visible Thursday night games. Oregon State vs. Cincinnati in Week 2 and Maryland vs. West Virginia the week after. I'm going with the devil I know best from the better conference, especially having already won 3 in a row.

Pick: Oregon State
Confidence: 4 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Champs Sports Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Champs Sports Bowl

Location: Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida
Matchup: Boston College (No. 5 ACC) vs. Michigan State (No. 6 Big Ten)
Spread: Boston College -4

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Do the T-Shirts say "Champs Sports Bowl Champs"?

Thoughts: Almost Top Tier program + Poor Traveling Fanbase= Low Bowl Invites= Matchups vs. Inferior Opponents= SEVEN GAME BOWL WINNING STREAK. Yeah that's how its done. Their last five bowl wins were vs. Toledo, Colorado State, North Carolina, Boise State (before Boise State was cool), and Navy. Michigan State doesn't appear to pose any more of a threat than those five schools did. Especially not with star Defensive End Jonal Saint-Dic Academically Diseligible. Matt Ryan and the Eagles should be able to take their frustrations of almost making a BCS bowl only to slip this far out on the Spartans, continuing their postseason "dominance".

Pick: Boston College
Confidence: 25 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Pacific Life Holiday Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl

Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California
Matchup: Texas (Big XII No. 3) vs. Arizona State (Pac Ten No. 2)
Spread: Texas -2.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The Bowl itself is one of the best December bowls around. The fact that the second place team in the Pac Ten goes here because the Pac Ten doesn't want their teams playing in any January bowl but the Rose Bowl is the joke.

Thoughts: First a little trivia, the last National Champion to come from a non "BCS bowl", BYU in the 1984 Holiday Bowl. As for this year's version its a battle of two teams who are almost mirror images of each other. Both teams have playmakers (Limas Sweed, Mike Jones) at WR. Both schools feature picturesque females that belong on recruiting brochures. Both teams defend the run well (Texas 10th, Arizona State 13th national rankings), but not the pass (Arizona State 69th, Texas 109th). All makes for a typical Holiday Bowl, fun, high scoring, close with the ball flying in the air a lot. I like ASU here slightly because of the matchup of their Wide Receivers against that awful Texas secondary.

Pick: Arizona State
Confidence: 8 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Motor City Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Motor City Bowl

Location: Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Matchup: Purdue (Big Ten No. 5) vs. Central Michigan (MAC No. 1)
Spread: Purdue -8

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The second most significant match at Ford Field to the Vince McMahon/Donald Trump "Hair vs. Hair" Match!

Thoughts: Another rematch, this time of a Purdue drubbing of the Chippewas back in September. While a closer game is expected, Central Michigan will have to give up less than the 223 yards rushing it gave up in the last matchup or their average of 163 yards per game to avenge their loss. Purdue would come here with a "vacation attitude" if the game was played anywhere other than Detroit.

Pick: Purdue
Confidence: 27 (out of 32)

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl

Location: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Matchup: Boise State (No. 2 WAC) vs. East Carolina (No. 3 Conference USA)
Spread: Boise State -11

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Hopefully we'll see more of (Boise State Running Back) Ian Johnson's wife than (East Carolina Head Coach) Skip Holtz's dad.

Thoughts: ECU has donated thousands of tickets to military servicemen and women which is an awfully nice gesture and hopefully those who receive the tickets will cheer for the Pirates out of good faith gesture but it still may do them no good. Ian Johnson may not even have to have that good of a game. East Carolina ranks 115th nationally in passing defense.

Pick: Boise State
Confidence: 20 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Las Vegas Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl

Location: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
Matchup: Brigham Young (No. 1 Mountain West) vs. UCLA (No. 4 Pac Ten)
Spread: Brigham Young -5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Because college sports and gambling were meant for each other!

Thoughts: While this is a rematch of a 27-17 UCLA win in Week 2 few are just assuming a repeat result. For one, BYU got hot after that game winning 9 of their next 10. And two, UCLA fired Head Coach Karl Dorrell and is currently without a Head Coach for next year. Defensive Coordinator Dewayne Walker is heading the team in what may be an audition for a job some Bruin fans hope he doesn't get.

Pick: Brigham Young -5
Confidence: 9 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: New Mexico Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

New Mexico Bowl

Location: University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Matchup: Nevada (No. 4 WAC) vs. New Mexico (No. 5 Mountain West)
Spread: New Mexico -3

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: New Hampshire gets the first-in-the-nation primary, New Mexico gets the fourth-in-the-nation bowl. Sounds about right.

Thoughts: This is a glorified extra home game for New Mexico. Made even moreso by the fact that Nevada's bringing nobody to the game. Nevada Quarterback Colin Kaepernick could be getting Colt Brennan-like buzz in four years but I'm not sure how up for this "bowl" Nevada is going to be. New Mexico ranks 25th in scoring defense and is playing for their first "bowl win" in 46 years (the 1961 Aviation Bowl in Dayton, OH...yes there used to be a bowl in DAYTON, OHIO)

Pick: Nevada -3
Confidence: 7 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls: PapaJohns.com Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

PapaJohns.com Bowl

Location: Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama
Matchup: Southern Mississippi (Conference USA No. 3) vs. Cincinnati (Big East No. 4)
Spread: Cincinnati -11

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: PapaJohns.com...when dialing a phone to have your pizza delivered just isn't convenient enough!

Thoughts: One of the more lopsided matchups. Damien Fletcher and Southern Miss had a disappointing season leading to Jeff Bower's dismissal, Bower will coach this game but his team is outmanned by a Cincinnati team which averages 36.8 points per game. The Golden Eagles will play hard but will have trouble playing catchup with the 90th ranked Passing Offense in the country.

Pick: Cincinnati -11
Confidence: 32 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! brought to you by Bertuccci's...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Matchup: Memphis(Conference USA No. 4) vs. Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt Champion)
Spread: Florida Atlantic -2

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Apparently Ray Nagin's plan for the reconstruction of "Chocolate City" is to host as many bowl games as possible.

Thoughts: This used to be the easiest money a gambler could ever win, betting against the Sun Belt in the New Orleans Bowl, but this regular season the tide might be changing. This year Sun Belt teams have wins against BCS schools like Minnesota (Florida Atlantic), Oklahoma State (Troy), and Alabama (Louisiana-Monroe). Memphis ranked 99th in my TPTPI, the lowest of any team still playing. For those two reasons Howard Schnellenberger and the Owls of FAU have more than a chance here.

Pick: Florida Atlantic -2
Confidence: 5 out of 32 (When measuring confidence 32 is approaching a drunk girl at 1:45am the night after she broke up with her boyfriend, 1 is approaching Elisa Cuthbert)

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

Welcome to the Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic! First off thanks to my employer Bertuccci's for making a donation of DOUBLE what I make for writing this blog to sponsor my picks and pregame commentary for each bowl game (as long as I added an extra C so their association with me or this blog didn't turn up on any search engines)...Bertuccci's, What's not to Love!

San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California
Matchup: Utah (Mountain West No. 2) vs. Navy (Agreement to play if Bowl Eligible)
Spread: Utah -9

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Shouldn't it be the "Poinsettia Pot"?

Thoughts: While the Midshipmen are in a better position than most teams whose coach left them before a bowl game. Paul Johnson's right hand man and OC Ken Niumatalolo takes over, so don't expect the Middies to start throwing. Tom Rinaldi probably knows who Utah Running Back Darrell Mack is, But can Utah stop Navy's option offense? They've had about a month to run nothing but the "Option Drill" in practice. Have to think they'll be ready.

Pick: Utah -9
Confidence: 16 out of 32

Killing Time...Killing the System: A 16-Team Playoff

How it Would Work: Automatic bids for the champions of EVERY conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Big East, Pac Ten, SEC, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, WAC, Sun Belt) and five at-large teams would play in a 16 team tournament just like you see in Division I Football Championship Subdivision and Basketball. Games would be held at the venue of the higher seed until the Championship Game at a site of a former BCS bowl.

How it Would Play Out this Year:
16. Florida Atlantic at 1. Ohio State
15. Central Michigan at 2. LSU
14. UCF at 3. Virginia Tech
13. Brigham Young at 4. Oklahoma
12. Florida at 5. Georgia
11. Arizona State at. 6. Missouri
10. Hawai'i at 7. USC
9. West Virginia at 8. Kansas

Why it Would Work: It's December-January Madness Baby! The polls and computers would only provide a basis for at-large selection. Bowl Presidents would go homeless. Dream matchups would start in the Quarterfinals and we could all have fun speculating on that FAU-Ohio State spread. In seriousness the inclusion of the small conferences is something I really wish could be worked into any system as while it would provide for some laughers in the formative years, it could extend a parity in college football to all 119 teams and who knows we could get some REAL upsets. This is the exact formula Division I-AA has been using for years and by the way, the best team has won that tournament three years in a row (Appy State).

Why it Wouldn't Work: Some of the games, those taking place in the North could look like last Sunday in the NFL. It would be tough to fit four games in a time frame that doesn't interfere with either finals of the first semester or the beginning of the second. The players probably don't feel like playing four extra games to win a National Championship and yes, games between high seeds wouldn't be as important when you have FIVE at-large entries into the tournament. Its nice to hope the bowls could go away but they do provide a good revenue stream to the universities and to hope to see them dissolve is unrealistic where as the Plus-One and much further on down the road the 8-Team model from yesterday I could see happening in my lifetime.

With all that said, lets enjoy what we have now as it starts Thursday for if nothing else it is still college football in 32 ultimate stages with pride on the line and pageantry on display...

Killing Time...Killing the System: An 8 Team Playoff

How it Would Work: This is the playoff system desired by most fans of the sport and probably the only one that could ever happen at the Division I-A level. Six of the eight teams would be the champions of the six BCS conferences. Two at-large teams would be the two highest rated teams remaining from the BCS standings. Quarterfinals would take place on New Year's Day at the four BCS bowl sites. Semifinals would take place at two of the four BCS bowl sites and the National Championship would take place at a third BCS bowl site.

Why it Would Work: The conferences would be satisfied that they each have equal access to the National Championship. The bowl sites would be satisfied with added revenue and television coverage coming to their stadiums. The regular season would be ENHANCED because while yes rare regular season 1vs2 matchups may not have the same stakes, matchups between elite conference teams in the BCS conferences and especially the conference championships would have higher stakes. Everyone stands to benefit here except...

Why it Wouldn't Work: ...the travelling fan. The logistics of fans being able to travel to possibly two more bowl destinations is the only legitimate drawback to this plan. Schools could only do so much to get their fans to these games at an affordable price. It would be difficult even for large fanbases like Ohio State and Oklahoma, nonetheless any private school. It also seems unfair that an undefeated team would have to win three more games beyond the 12 it had already played but I hope this season has proven that college football seasons are like snowflakes, no two are comparable.

Killing Time... Killing the System: A Seeded "Plus One"

How it Would Work: To better ensure clarity in a Plus One format two of the bowls would feature the Number 1 and Number 4 teams in the BCS Standings and one of the bowls would feature the Number 2 and Number 3 teams in BCS Standings.

How it Would Play Out This Year:
Rose: Ohio State vs. Oklahoma
Orange: LSU vs. Virginia Tech
Fiesta: USC vs. West Virginia
Sugar: Georgia vs. Missouri

Why it Would Work: Its a playoff, in case you couldn't figure that out, disguised as the BCS. Only when media would call the four seeded teams the "Final Four" would anyone even figure out what is going on. The bowl season wouldn't have to be extended, each bowl would still be a big game, just two would determine the entries into the BCS National Championship.

Why it Wouldn't Work: Because its a playoff, therefore at least the Pac Ten and the Rose Bowl would be steadfast against it. A "Plus One" is much more realistic when you don't threaten the conference-bowl relationships, because even though fans don't care, the universities do. The Rose Bowl would much rather be a place for the Big Ten and Pac Ten champions to play than a national semifinal. Of course if the system were to truly blow up and six teams in six conferences ran the table, this format wouldn't help that very much at all.

Killing Time...Killing the System: The "Plus-One"

How it Would Work: Using the in place "Double Hosting Model", the number of BCS bowls would be reduced from five to four. The BCS National Championship would take place between the #1 and #2 teams AFTER the bowls which would take place January 1. Assumedly for the conference commissioners, university presidents, and bowls to go along, traditional conference tie-ins to bowls would have to be preserved.

How it Would Play Out This Year:
Sugar: LSU vs. West Virginia
Rose: Ohio State vs. USC
Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Missouri
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Georgia

Why it Would Work: Well it would certainly solve THIS YEAR'S problem (two teams we don't know are any more proven than four others) and for that reason it seems to be the next step for the BCS especially with the current commissioner of the BCS behind it. Each team in the National Championship Game would have a win against a top ten team to legitimize it.

Why it Wouldn't Work: For a scenario like this year's where it would provide a solution, there are more scenarios in which the "Plus One" would delay the controversy or create one itself. In seasons where only one team was undefeated, they would have to win two games to prove a point they may have already proven through the course of the regular season. A more valid point would be that if three teams with rightful claim to a national champion won three separate bowl games, no controversy would be settled at all. The worst case scenario would be if by result of this system we got exactly the situation 2007 presented, a conglomerate of one and two loss teams that would be ranked based more on the timing of their loss than the quality of their season.

Killing Time...Killing the System: A Seeded BCS

How it Would Work: Just as the #1 and #2 teams in the BCS Standings would go to the BCS National Championship Game, teams 3-10 would go to bowls pre-slotted to take them according to a rotation with the first bowl at the double-hosting city taking the matchup between BCS teams #9 and #10, regardless of conference affiliation.

How it Would Play Out This Year:
BCS National Championship: #1 Ohio State vs. #2 LSU
Orange: #3 Virginia Tech vs. #4 Oklahoma
Rose: #5 Georgia vs. #6 Missouri
Fiesta: #7 USC vs. #8 Kansas
Sugar: #9 West Virginia vs. #10 Hawai'i

Why it Would Work: The entire system would be centered on merit and the best teams would seemingly go to the best bowls. Factors like conference tie-ins, television ratings, fanbase traveling reputation would take their rightful secondary role in determining bowl placement to the quality of the actual football team and its season. The likelihood can be assumed to be increased that all five games would be competitive and in a year in which three teams have rightful stake to the championship, the third team could prove worthy by beating the next best team in the country and have a remote chance at a shared championship.

Why it Wouldn't Work: First off the wheels that run the system (the conferences and the bowls) would never go for it. They'd make sure each BCS conference is represented and while that happens in this year's scenario it wouldn't be a guarantee. Also there would be no assist for non-BCS teams like Hawaii and Boise State last year to make it to a BCS Bowl as Boise got in on an amendment that allowed it to be represented for a top 12 ranking and how could I be for anything that would've interfered with what happened last January 1. There is a principle that the bowls should be allowed to invite the teams they choose, otherwise what incentive do they have to be involved with a BCS. One would have to be nervous for the ratings for that 9 vs. 10 matchup also.

Killing Time, Killing the System: The Current BCS

So we have some time between the Heisman Trophy presentation and the highly anticipated San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (by the time it kicks off, if you're like me you're just happy to see college football on). So in that time rather than putting forward a computer simulated playoff. I'll take a look at every possible system that could determine a National Champion in college football and weigh its pros and cons. I'm probably wasting the same amount of energy but its mid-December and quite frankly, there's nothing else to do. So let's start with the current Bowl Championship Series

How it Works: A combination of poll and computer rankings called the "BCS Rankings" sort out the #1 and #2 teams in the country to play in the "BCS National Championship", after that four bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, and Rose) select from conference champions not in the BCS National Championship and four at-large teams of the bowls choosing. Bowls are autonomous to select what teams they want as long as each conference champion is represented.

How it plays out this year:
BCS National Championship: LSU vs. Ohio State
Fiesta: West Virginia vs. Oklahoma
Rose: USC vs. Illinois
Orange: Kansas vs. Virginia Tech
Sugar: Hawaii vs. Georgia

Why it Works: In the end, the winner of the BCS National Championship is either the consensus best team in the country all season long or just beat the consensus best team in the country all season long while other major bowls go on to keep their identity or tradition.

Why it Doesn't Work: Its arbitrary but that point's been beaten to death. The new system has diluted somewhat New Year's Day as just two of the BCS games are played on what is supposed to be college football's showcase day. While Howard's Rock, Script Ohio, and The Third Saturday in October are great traditions in college football, the conference tie-ins to bowls is draconian and detrimental to the games themselves. For example, the Rose Bowl selected three loss Illinois over two loss teams Georgia and Missouri to uphold a tradition only the Tournament of Roses committee cares about any more and for that the Rose Bowl is worst off and leaves this system to be mocked even more.

Tim Tebow wins the Heisman Trophy: Five Thoughts

1. Congratulations to Jesus Christ on his 23rd Heisman Trophy

2. Most important lesson here: Don't have an abortion, for you may have a future Heisman Trophy winner in your womb.

3. No truth to the rumor that Jon Kitna called Tim Tebow afterwards and called him a kook.

4. Would you believe, enormous boobie girl nowhere to be found? Again if anybody's seen her at ONE Gator game, let me know.

5. What card show do I get my picture of Chris Weinke, Eric Crouch, and Jason White standing next to each other signed at? What's that you say? ANY card show? How much? Really? Free? The heck you say!

A Look at the Four Heisman Finalists

Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii, Senior
Record: 11-0
Stats: 337-472, 4174 Yards, 38 Touchdowns, 14 Interceptions
Best Game: vs. Washington (12/1) 42-50, 442, 5TDs, 0INTs
Worst Game: The ones they played Northern Colorado, Charleston Southern, UNLV, Idaho, Utah State and Louisiana Tech
Thoughts: You can thank Brennan (and to a lesser extent Graham Harrell of Texas Tech) for the introduction of the phrase "System Quarterback" into the college football lexicon.

June Jones countered this this past Sunday by calling Tim Tebow a "System Quarterback". Truth is coaching is dominating college football right now and every quarterback in the country is recruited and trained to run a coaches system. All quarterbacks are "System Quarterbacks" and Brennan ran June Jones' system better than anyone has.

It doesn't help though that he played a terrible non-conference schedule and played most of his games after writers deadlines, when they are often found drunk.




Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri, Senior
Record: 11-2
Stats: 372-534, 4170 Yards, 33 Touchdowns, 11 Interceptions
Best Game: vs. Kansas (11/24) 40-49, 361, 3TDs 0INTs
Worst Game: vs. Oklahoma (12/1) 23-39, 218, 0TDs 1INT
Thoughts: While his numbers are comparable to Brennan's against what is perceived to be tougher competition. He had a two game audition for the trophy the final two weeks of the season and ended with mixed results. He did nothing to seal the trophy (which has consistently been given to the Quarterback of the best team in the country in absence of a dominant individual performance) last Saturday in the Big XII Championship Game. Its tough to win a Heisman when your worst game is your last and one of two you played on national television.



Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas, Junior
Record: 8-4
Stats: 304 Carries, 1725 Yards, 15 Touchdowns
Best Game: vs. South Carolina (11/3) 34 Car, 321 Yds, 1TD
Worst Game: vs. Auburn (10/13) 17 Car, 43 Yds, 0TDs
Thoughts: McFadden, who was the preseason favorite for this award hasn't been able to sustain any Heisman campaign momentum as when he was effective in the first five games of the season, Arkansas was only 3-2. His breakout game was against South Carolina and you may remember better that he almost single-handidly beat a team that is playing for the National Championship anyway. He is the "Anti-Daniel" as he left voters with a great closing statement but a vote for McFadden seems to be a vote for two games and Arkansas' pedestrian record even in the SEC doesn't help his cause either.



Tim Tebow QB, Florida, Sophomore
Record: 9-3
Stats: 217-317, 3132 Yards, 29TDs, 6INTs, 838 Rushing Yards, 22 Rushing TDs
Best Game: at South Carolina (11/10) 22-32, 304Yds, 2TDs, 1INT, 120 Rush Yds, 5 Rush TDs
Worst Game: vs. Georgia (10/27) 14-22, 236Yds, 1TD, 0INT, -15 Rush Yds, 2 Rush TDs
Thoughts: I think the numbers clearly tell you that Tebow had statistically the best season of anybody in the country. Two things stand between him and being a clear favorite for this award. He's only a sophomore and no sophomore has ever won the Heisman but many people who may have been able to win it as sophomores have. Those people will be casting votes and don't seem too eager to give the opportunity for this award to Tebow when they never had it as sophomores. Also, Florida's season could be labeled a disappointment. Most Heisman winners take their teams to meet or exceed expectations, Tebow even for all his statistical production, didn't.



And the winner is...

Tebow, those numbers are insane, his worst game was due to a shoulder injury in a game he probably shouldn't have played in and he still accounted for 3TDs. In the last four games he was a dominant player in blowout wins he was for the most part responsible for. He has the numbers, the visibility, and the closeout of a season worthy of this award regardless of class or team expectations.

Heisman Voting by Electoral College

An ESPN Poll asked readers to pick their Heisman trophy winner between the four finalists. Hawai'i Quarterback Colt Brennan, Missouri Quarterback Chase Daniel, Arkansas Runningback Darren McFadden, and Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow and broke down the results by state. Unlike most of these polls, the results proved to be quite interesting. Here are the results as of 9:00pm Wednesday night.

 

 

If you can't read it that gives:

Brennan: Hawai'i, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Maine, Washington, Delaware

 

Daniel: Missouri

 

McFadden: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Kansas

 

Tebow: Oregon, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virgiinai, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire

 

Too Close to Call: Alaska, New Mexico

 

If the Heisman were decided by the Electoral College this poll would give Electoral votes in the following:

Brennan 94

Daniel 11

McFadden 160

Tebow 255

Too Close to Call 8

 

While the Heisman Trophy is not decided by Electoral College, it is decided regionally which should be interesting in the closest race in a long time

College Bowl Mania

With the upcoming Bowl Season approaching, my competitive itch needs to be scratched.

Therefore I have started a group in ESPN's College Bowl Mania

Click Here to see the group I started called "Pride and Pageantry".

If the link doesn't work (and chances are it won't), just type Pride and Pageantry in the search bar, this is a public group.

Whether you are a friend, regular reader, casual reader, or Google sent you here in your search for Song Girl Pics, consider yourself welcome to play along.

Brennan WAC Offensive Player of the Year

Colt Brennan was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

This was no surprise as in addition to winning WAC Offensive Player of the Year last year, Brennan won several WAC Offensive Player of the Week awards.

Boise State Running Back Ian Johnson was second in voting for WAC Offensive Player of the Year.

In addition, Hawaii's Wide Recievers won a new award given for WAC Offensive Unit of the Year.

Fresno State linebacker Marcus Riley won WAC Defensive Player of the Year in an announcement that did not receive a giggling response.

Bowl Matchups: Quick and Initial Thoughts

There will be plenty of time to talk about these games, the snubs, the system, Plus One's, playoffs, etc. Here are my thoughts on each matchup in one sentence or less...

Allstate BCS Championship Game
LSU vs. Ohio State
It would kill Michigan fans if Les Miles game plan beats the Buckeyes as bad as Urban Meyer's did.

FedEx Orange
Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
I'll spend four weeks getting the image of Mark Mangino in South Beach out of my head.

Tostitos Fiesta
Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
If you can't score more than 9 points on PITT, I have to wonder if you even belong here.

Rose Bowl presented by Citi
Illinois vs. USC
It may be a three touchdown romp but at the least the rest of the year can go on with me knowing the Pac Ten AND Big Ten were represented, carrying on one of college football's more arcane traditions.

Allstate Sugar
Hawaii vs. Georgia
There are some vague similarities between this year's Georgia team and last year's Oklahoma team.

Capital One
Michigan vs. Florida
Lloyd Carr goes out with a reminder of what did him in at Michigan, the spread offense.

AT&T Cotton
Missouri vs. Arkansas
Missouri got jobbed not because it lost the Big XII Championship game, but rather because their fans went.

Gator
Texas Tech vs. Virginia
Just remember "The chicken's involved, but the pig's committed".

Outback
Wisconsin vs. Tennessee
If Tennessee does that Orange jerseys, Orange pants thing again, that won't be good for my hangover headache.

Chick-fil-A
Clemson vs. Auburn
Same mascot, same colors, same perennial underachievement.

Pacific Life Holiday
Arizona State vs. Texas
Always a fun one and this should be no different as the points should go up pinball style.

Valero Alamo
Penn State vs. Texas A&M
San Antonio, where underachievers go to finish out the string, has its ideal matchup.

AutoZone Liberty
UCF vs. Mississippi State
Can Sylvester Croom hold Kevin Smith to under 250 yards rushing?

Brut Sun
South Florida vs. Oregon
Matchup of the two ugliest uniforms in football.

PetroSun Independence
Alabama vs. Colorado
Nick Saban will probably call this a "war" just to prove he has no perspective.

Gaylord Hotels Music City
Kentucky vs. Florida State
Cha-Ching!

Champs Sports
Boston College vs. Michigan State
In a way, BC can credit their notoriously bad traveling fanbase for their seven game bowl win streak.

Insight
Indiana vs. Oklahoma State
Indiana's a feel good story but it'll be tough to root against "I'm 40!"

Meineke Car Care
UConn vs. Wake Forest
Chris Paul's a real talent but UConn's got too much on the frontcourt.

Emerald
Maryland vs. Oregon State
Wouldn't a nut company want their bowl BEFORE Christmas, the only time most people eat nuts?

Pioneer Las Vegas
UCLA vs. BYU
Since this is their third year in a row in this game, the BYU in Las Vegas jokes still don't violate the "Rule of Threes".

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia
Utah vs. Navy
As long as Navy is bowl-eligible they will play in this game for the next three years.

Motor City
Purdue vs. Central Michigan
Rematch of a 45-22 Purdue win on September 15.

Papajohns.com Bowl
Southern Miss vs. Cincinnati
Unless Brian Kelly leaves before this game, the Golden Eagles have no chance.

Sheraton Hawai'i
Boise State vs. East Carolina
Hopefully we'll see more Chrissy Johnson than the last time she was in Hawai'i.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic
FAU gets to play in a bowl against a team ranked 99th in my computer rankings.

Texas
TCU vs. Houston
Appropriately named but I'd give anything to bring back the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
California vs. Air Force
So how many hippies you think are going to make the trip to Fort Worth for this?

International
Rutgers vs. Ball State
A chance to bet against an "Unhappy to be here team".

Roady's Humanitarian
Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State
A chance to bet against an "Interim Coach Team" and an "Unhappy to be here team" at the same time.

GMAC
Bowling Green vs. Tulsa
One day before the National Championship which is too much anticipation for me.

New Mexico
Nevada vs. New Mexico
Its difficult to take this "bowl" seriously when the only Mountain West team it invites to play in it is New Mexico.

Pumpin' for Thursday: Week 14

This is the final PFT for the 2007 season, but worry not problem gamblers, "Bertuci's Bowling for Bowls" begins Thursday, December 20. I don't know what I'm missing here but it looks like the oddsmakers are giving us a Holiday present for this the final edition of a pick segment that has had mediocre results at best...

Rutgers (+2.5) at Louisville, Over/Under 60

Vegas Algebra says: Louisville 31.25 , Rutgers 28.75

Thoughts: Rutgers is undefeated midweek and having already accepted a bid to the International Bowl (below preseason expectations) is looking for a statement conference win to the end the year, its Pitino season in Louisville and the team isn't healthy and Steve Kragthorpe has been shooting down coaching rumors the past two weeks.

Suggestion: I like Rutgers, Ray Rice, and Ray Rice's mom huge over a Louisville team which may mail it in. Rutgers likes to run first and throw when necessary so I can't expect them to light up the Louisville secondary the way others have, which is why I like the Under

Hello...still...Greg Robinson

In news that comes as little surprise to those who know Syracuse football but turns some heads nationally, Greg Robinson will be back as Syracuse's Head Coach in 2008.

The move has less to do with anybody's pleasure with Robinson's performance in his three years at Syracuse (at 7-28, 2-19 in the Big East, how can it be?) but rather a reluctance to buyout Robinson's contract (a buyout was projected at $3 million, a little steep for a private school but it could've been done) and a greater reluctance to give Athletic Director Daryl Gross the autonomy to head another football coaching search.

There is also a sentiment that Robinson has been a victim of timing from the day he was hired and that his young team should improve in 2008.

Still, the empty seats in the Carrier Dome and the emergence of football powers throughout the Big East are making Robinson's Pollyanna act at Syracuse wear thin and another losing season will seal his fate undoubtedly in 2008.

The Pride and The Pageantry Index: November 28, 2007

Rank Team Conf W L OW OL OOW OOL TPTPI
1 West Virginia Big East 10 1 69 61 799 732 0.623127624
2 Missouri Big XII 11 1 73 70 834 733 0.617468218
3 LSU SEC 10 2 78 65 888 798 0.612733204
4 Georgia SEC 10 2 75 67 852 699 0.609748595
5 Florida SEC 9 3 80 61 819 724 0.60388399
6 Virginia Tech ACC 10 2 76 67 803 769 0.601771161
7 Ohio State Big Ten 11 1 67 76 816 747 0.593950635
8 Tennessee SEC 9 3 79 64 867 814 0.592664883
9 Boston College ACC 10 2 72 70 807 745 0.591848017
10 Arizona State Pac Ten 9 2 63 62 755 677 0.588354114
11 Oregon Pac Ten 8 3 70 55 724 708 0.58821483
12 Oklahoma Big XII 10 2 71 72 875 819 0.585717313
13 Illinois Big Ten 9 3 77 66 793 774 0.583246404
14 South Florida Big East 9 3 74 64 757 733 0.582629365
15 Clemson ACC 9 3 74 69 812 750 0.576202846
16 Kansas Big XII 11 1 59 83 837 716 0.57165236
17 Brigham Young Mountain West 9 2 63 66 667 703 0.57044683
18 Auburn SEC 8 4 77 66 830 725 0.56933795
19 Texas Big XII 9 3 71 72 874 820 0.5647364
20 Southern California Pac Ten 9 2 56 70 781 648 0.563401687
21 Cincinnati Big East 9 3 67 70 769 715 0.561574065
22 Texas A&M Big XII 7 5 82 60 780 768 0.56053472
23 Virginia ACC 9 3 69 74 876 808 0.558806247
24 Penn State Big Ten 8 4 76 67 853 846 0.557915941
25 Michigan Big Ten 8 4 74 68 803 746 0.556829789
26 Kentucky SEC 7 5 79 62 801 738 0.556092136
27 Connecticut Big East 9 3 65 74 789 711 0.55281295
28 Wisconsin Big Ten 9 3 67 76 806 754 0.550932401
29 Oregon State Pac Ten 7 4 65 60 673 624 0.548813345
30 Florida State ACC 7 5 77 67 926 782 0.548733086
31 Wake Forest ACC 8 4 71 71 889 794 0.548722519
32 California Pac Ten 6 5 70 55 747 685 0.546775648
33 Michigan State Big Ten 7 5 79 64 843 854 0.546246856
34 Oklahoma State Big XII 6 6 83 58 770 770 0.544326241
35 South Carolina SEC 6 6 82 61 820 740 0.543123543
36 Mississippi State SEC 7 5 74 68 838 715 0.541296907
37 Rutgers Big East 7 4 65 62 683 670 0.541197456
38 Arkansas SEC 8 4 67 73 824 703 0.540857424
39 Alabama SEC 6 6 82 61 803 760 0.540152186
40 UCF Conference USA 9 3 66 78 833 882 0.538095238
41 UCLA Pac Ten 6 5 67 58 763 665 0.537942068
42 Nebraska Big XII 5 7 87 55 848 830 0.536845577
43 Hawaii WAC 11 0 43 84 564 643 0.536109897
44 Colorado Big XII 6 6 81 62 856 837 0.534619618
45 Texas Tech Big XII 8 4 67 76 820 748 0.531672197
46 Utah Mountain West 8 4 67 72 803 816 0.531670155
47 Maryland ACC 6 6 77 63 793 735 0.529744764
48 Boise State WAC 10 2 57 82 686 789 0.529640491
49 Georgia Tech ACC 7 5 71 71 826 726 0.528887457
50 Tulsa Conference USA 9 3 62 80 807 887 0.524906671
51 East Carolina Conference USA 7 5 73 70 818 894 0.520529023
52 Air Force Mountain West 9 3 57 81 746 741 0.519442048
53 Troy Sun Belt 8 3 55 74 679 698 0.518271712
54 Purdue Big Ten 7 5 70 73 798 769 0.517901916
55 Indiana Big Ten 7 5 70 73 794 776 0.517021699
56 Fresno State WAC 7 4 60 67 633 704 0.513673386
57 North Carolina State ACC 5 7 80 62 795 761 0.51358817
58 Louisville Big East 5 6 69 60 715 657 0.511362481
59 Washington Pac Ten 4 8 81 55 800 757 0.509579603
60 Arizona Pac Ten 5 6 66 58 669 622 0.509316132
61 New Mexico Mountain West 8 4 61 79 736 768 0.506864235
62 Vanderbilt SEC 5 7 77 66 836 730 0.506858483
63 Kansas State Big XII 5 7 75 67 809 737 0.499072648
64 Washington State Pac Ten 5 7 71 64 797 739 0.496849682
65 TCU Mountain West 7 5 64 77 818 831 0.496798242
66 Mississippi SEC 3 9 87 55 793 758 0.496658789
67 Iowa Big Ten 6 6 69 75 881 828 0.493459869
68 Miami (Fla.) ACC 5 7 73 70 911 800 0.492520715
69 Northwestern Big Ten 6 6 67 75 792 765 0.488083123
70 Pittsburgh Big East 4 7 69 59 683 683 0.485440341
71 Wyoming Mountain West 5 7 74 67 781 871 0.484768087
72 Ball State MAC 7 5 63 79 724 830 0.484137936
73 Bowling Green MAC 8 4 56 87 754 816 0.482534557
74 Notre Dame Independent 3 9 82 58 819 821 0.480204704
75 Central Michigan MAC 7 5 61 81 737 818 0.479110812
76 Southern Mississippi Conference USA 7 5 61 82 745 831 0.477298981
77 North Carolina ACC 4 8 74 69 830 732 0.474917102
78 Houston Conference USA 8 4 51 91 781 779 0.471404388
79 Navy Independent 7 4 48 80 676 696 0.469768752
80 Louisiana Tech WAC 5 6 60 68 648 699 0.468278624
81 Florida Atlantic Sun Belt 6 5 53 77 774 742 0.467848313
82 Iowa State Big XII 3 9 80 63 789 782 0.46777725
83 San Diego State Mountain West 4 7 66 64 673 703 0.467029954
84 Louisiana-Monroe Sun Belt 6 6 61 78 721 782 0.464351273
85 Syracuse Big East 2 10 83 57 826 812 0.464163614
86 Western Michigan MAC 5 7 68 74 737 819 0.462015883
87 Stanford Pac Ten 3 8 65 60 750 678 0.459484339
88 Toledo MAC 5 7 69 74 700 867 0.457103774
89 Miami (Ohio) MAC 6 6 60 84 837 867 0.456132629
90 Akron MAC 4 8 74 69 769 928 0.455362748
91 Army Independent 3 8 70 60 661 741 0.45527992
92 Baylor Big XII 3 9 75 67 780 775 0.451986436
93 San Jose State WAC 5 7 63 74 667 782 0.449173039
94 Marshall Conference USA 3 9 84 70 773 923 0.449171848
95 Ohio MAC 6 6 58 85 730 836 0.444336156
96 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 5 7 62 76 686 806 0.443750729
97 UNLV Mountain West 2 10 80 60 753 885 0.442307692
98 Nevada WAC 5 6 54 75 647 714 0.441785126
99 Memphis Conference USA 7 5 50 93 762 811 0.441764675
100 Duke ACC 1 11 84 59 847 845 0.439687381
101 Buffalo MAC 5 7 61 82 816 881 0.437665519
102 Texas-El Paso Conference USA 4 8 69 74 698 865 0.436236348
103 Minnesota Big Ten 1 11 84 58 730 830 0.433595161
104 Colorado State Mountain West 3 9 69 71 754 767 0.432860195
105 Temple MAC 4 8 66 76 762 921 0.42891843
106 Arkansas State Sun Belt 5 7 57 82 766 872 0.426113505
107 Eastern Michigan MAC 4 8 64 78 721 831 0.42482591
108 UAB Conference USA 2 10 76 67 739 843 0.424183486
109 Tulane Conference USA 4 8 62 80 737 819 0.420055789
110 New Mexico State WAC 4 8 61 78 613 741 0.415940955
111 Kent State MAC 3 9 67 76 722 847 0.411807162
112 La.-Lafayette Sun Belt 3 9 63 76 704 802 0.405984575
113 Rice Conference USA 3 9 64 79 722 857 0.40058908
114 Utah State WAC 2 10 68 73 759 871 0.399212461
115 North Texas Sun Belt 2 9 60 68 607 760 0.390839055
116 Florida International Sun Belt 0 11 71 59 703 819 0.388549985
117 Southern Methodist Conference USA 1 11 70 72 735 947 0.376557153
118 Idaho WAC 1 11 61 66 598 743 0.372474781
119 Northern Illinois MAC 2 10 59 83 703 835 0.363684927
Football Champ Sub 0.1 1 10

Hello...Art Briles, Goodbye...Art Briles

Art Briles has left the University of Houston to take the opening at Baylor

Briles was 34-28 with Houston, leading the Cougars to a 8-4 record and berth in the Texas Bowl in 2007.

Briles contract at Baylor is for 7 years at a salary of $1.2 million a year.

He will attempt to post the first winning season at the Big XII's only private university since 1995 and take the Bears to their first bowl since 1994.

Goodbye...Bill Doba

This happened last night but I missed it in my coaching carousel coverage..

Bill Doba (30-29 over 5 seasons) gets to move out of Pullman, Washington.

Hello...Houston Nutt

A day after resigning as head coach at Arkansas, Houston Nutt has agreed to become the head coach at Mississippi

Nutt is now the fourth coach in the SEC West to have coached at two schools in the division.

Tommy Tuberville (Mississippi, Auburn)
Sylvester Croom (Alabama as an Assistant, Mississippi State)
Nick Satan (LSU, Alabama)

The coaching carousel in the SEC West has become...dare I say...incestuous!

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The Firings

As the regular season has ended for many teams, so has the coaching tenures for many coaches. Whether they were fired, resigned, retired or bought out, the truth is they used to coach at universities that if they wanted them would have retained them, so for simplification let's just call of these partings "firings" and comment on them as so...

Dennis Franchione 32-28...Nobody didn't see this coming. The perennial mediocrity at Texas' second largest university and an e-mail fundraising scandal sealed Coach Fran's fate.

Bill Callahan 27-22...Your school hiring a predecessor you once called a "crusty old fuck" as your boss to replace your old boss because of a performance by your defense, is as good of a sign as it seems. Reportedly the meeting between Tom Osborne and Bill Callahan was 15 minutes. 15 minutes? What was talked about in the 14 and a half minutes after the words "You know why I brought you in here".

Ed Orgeron 10-25...This was the first surprise of the coach firing season. When a coach recruits as well as Coach O did (and I'll be able to read about how he did so this Christmas, hopefully), schools usually give you the rope needed to see that recruiting through. Ole Miss didn't win an SEC game however and blew a fourth quarter lead to rival and once on the hot seat Mississippi State and Sylvester Croom. That embarrassment must've been the nail in Coach O's coffin.

Chan Gailey 44-32...now starts the parade of coaches fired because of failure to meet expectations whether they be high...

Ted Roof 6-45...low...

Jeff Bower 119-82-1... or somewhere in-between Anyway, this is by far the most surprising firing of the past week. Technically a forced resignation, Southern Miss I guess expected a Hawaii-like season from Bower this year, unless Coach O feels like contending for Conference USA titles, Southern Miss will end up regretting this decision as East Carolina did in the years after firing Steve Logan.

Sonny Lubick 108-74...Lubick has reportedly been offered an Assistant AD job which may be more of an olive branch than anything else. Lubick has been contemplating retirement all year but if you can get a buyout after what you decided was going to be your last season anyway, wouldn't you?

Houston Nutt 75-48...Nutt was reportedly offered a 2-year extension but turned it down as he had seen the writing on the wall. Off-the-field issues and the Mitch Mustain fiasco had more to do with Nutt's leaving than anything on the field, Nutt and Arkansas can only benefit from this parting which is sure to not be the last of what is turning out to be an offseason heavy in coaching turnover.

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The National Championship Picture

As we thought it would, the National Championship game picture is a lot clearer than it was last week and thanks to Arkansas, and Missouri, some teams previously left for dead are now very much alive. This weekend two games will ultimately decide which two teams play in the BCS National Championship game in New Orleans:

Pittsburgh at West Virginia and Oklahoma vs. Missouri in Kansas City in the Big XII Championship Game. West Virginia and Missouri being the teams in line to play for the National Championship. But this season the theme has been that as soon as a team warrants our attention they quickly are proven to be an afterthought. That said here are the scenarios:

1) If West Virginia and Missouri win: West Virginia vs. Missouri (I know sounds too easy)

2) If West Virginia wins and Missouri loses: West Virginia vs. Ohio State (and this game is as much of a laugher as last year's and NOT in the Buckeyes favor)

3) If West Virginia loses and Missouri wins: Missouri vs. Ohio State (I'll get back to ya)

4) If West Virginia and Missouri lose: Breathe...take a deep breath. Ohio State would be in, that much is certain. Then you take your pick from this pool: Kansas (only one loss but recent with as poor a non-conference schedule as you'll find) West Virginia (having just lost to an unranked opponent, not likely), Missouri (would have the same record as Oklahoma having lost to them twice so not over Bob Stoops' dead body), Oklahoma (would have to leap a lot of teams but if they dominated Missouri it wouldn't be impossible), and either Georgia or LSU (If LSU won the SEC Championship, they could get to New Orleans after all)

One would think West Virginia has an easy road to New Orleans at home vs. Pittsburgh. But the "Backyard Brawl" is tricky, and you don't need me to tell you that stranger things have happened.

Tuesday Morning Superhangover: The Games

Thanksgiving is known for three "vices", Overeating, Overdrinking, and Overfootballwatching. I did all three but my fourth vice, blogging had to be neglected as when you're entertaining and visiting family its tough to get away to a computer even on what was the most important college football weekend of the year. But now that the weekend is over I should probably give some thoughts on the weekends events, this being a college football blog and all. Let's start with whats most important; the games, or at least the ones I was able to watch...

USC 44, Arizona State 24- There may come a year that these two are battling for Pac Ten titles year after year. Arizona State wasn't quite "Ready for Prime Time" but this was fun game to watch for reasons other than the hot tail on the sidelines.



Colorado 65, Nebraska 51 Its sad what has happened to this rivalry, once an Orange Bowl playoff game. Now we need gimmicks like Eric Cartman introducing Colorado to get people to watch. And when did the Big XII become the WAC?



Arkansas 50, LSU 48 Of course Les Miles is getting second guessed for some of his play calls in this one. That's what happens when your Les Miles. Its just too bad Glenn Dorsey couldn't be at 100% to add to this matchup vs. Darren McFadden. As it was Run DMC almost single-handedly beat the #1 team in the country. Simply an amazing performance.

Hawaii 39, Boise State 27 If you're seeing more "Vili the Warrior" and less Chrissy Johnson, that ain't good if you're a Bronco fan or a heterosexual male. Boise State needed more tackling practice but this was an impressive win for a team that I rarely watched sober and played two Division I-AA teams, Idaho, and Utah State. This win and a win over Washington should be enough to get Hawai'i into a BCS Bowl.



West Virginia 66, Connecticut 21 Ladies and Gentlemen you now need to start paying attention to the 'eers. A brutal matchup for any lucky DC that should have to play them. But of course now that you're paying attention they are twice as likely to lose.

Tennessee 52, Kentucky 50 Another SEC classic. Even as a Yankee I have always loved this conference and the games seem to get better each year. Now is it politically incorrect to expect Andre Woodson to run those last three yards into the endzone?

Missouri 36, Kansas 28 This was a fun one even if Mizzou seemed in control throughout. Chase Daniel is making the "Best player on a winning team" argument for the Heisman Trophy which will be discussed much more next week.

The Pride and The Pageantry Index November 20, 2007

Rank Team Conf W L OW OL OOW OOL TPTPI
1 LSU SEC 10 1 66 56 703 622 0.63040604
2 Georgia SEC 9 2 65 55 661 540 0.61297246
3 Oregon Pac Ten 8 2 60 47 588 561 0.608311169
4 Florida SEC 8 3 69 50 634 560 0.604481217
5 Ohio State Big Ten 11 1 67 72 777 695 0.602137176
6 West Virginia Big East 9 1 53 57 651 551 0.601308425
7 Missouri Big XII 10 1 58 65 689 566 0.600296081
8 Arizona State Pac Ten 9 1 50 56 622 512 0.597974277
9 Virginia Tech ACC 9 2 62 58 618 588 0.590988241
10 Boston College ACC 9 2 61 59 628 580 0.588679009
11 Tennessee SEC 8 3 67 54 668 642 0.586158602
12 Illinois Big Ten 9 3 75 64 751 728 0.584228054
13 Texas Big XII 9 2 61 61 683 659 0.581780924
14 South Florida Big East 8 3 64 54 604 573 0.581296891
15 Oklahoma Big XII 9 2 59 64 700 655 0.573534144
16 Cincinnati Big East 8 3 62 55 593 579 0.573268621
17 Kansas Big XII 11 0 45 76 671 556 0.57266598
18 Clemson ACC 8 3 62 58 620 582 0.569103262
19 Virginia ACC 9 2 56 65 691 627 0.567020216
20 Auburn SEC 7 4 66 55 643 564 0.564999623
21 Kentucky SEC 7 4 65 54 625 565 0.563502674
22 Connecticut Big East 9 2 53 66 635 557 0.56041406
23 Penn State Big Ten 8 4 74 65 812 782 0.560206289
24 Michigan Big Ten 8 4 73 66 771 703 0.560023216
25 Wisconsin Big Ten 9 3 66 73 765 705 0.555012113
26 Nebraska Big XII 5 6 76 44 655 669 0.553981278
27 Brigham Young Mountain West 8 2 50 59 529 539 0.553187386
28 Oregon State Pac Ten 7 4 61 55 589 539 0.552562724
29 Florida State ACC 7 4 62 59 723 602 0.551704351
30 Oklahoma State Big XII 6 5 70 51 612 607 0.55113255
31 Southern California Pac Ten 8 2 45 63 650 494 0.550378788
32 Wake Forest ACC 7 4 62 59 706 616 0.54879909
33 South Carolina SEC 6 5 67 53 637 560 0.548571239
34 Alabama SEC 6 5 68 52 618 582 0.54844697
35 Mississippi State SEC 6 5 67 52 622 570 0.548329262
36 Michigan State Big Ten 7 5 77 62 799 793 0.548282856
37 Texas A&M Big XII 6 5 69 52 603 612 0.545561677
38 California Pac Ten 6 5 65 52 654 597 0.544836858
39 Rutgers Big East 7 4 60 58 594 583 0.539496422
40 UCF Conference USA 8 3 56 65 652 678 0.535779531
41 Washington Pac Ten 4 7 74 43 636 624 0.533338883
42 Colorado Big XII 5 6 73 50 656 697 0.531596452
43 Texas Tech Big XII 8 4 62 70 698 653 0.530678734
44 Utah Mountain West 8 3 53 67 660 637 0.529868169
45 Boise State WAC 10 1 42 77 573 589 0.527022145
46 Maryland ACC 5 6 67 51 601 582 0.524542276
47 North Carolina State ACC 5 6 68 52 612 591 0.524151742
48 Georgia Tech ACC 7 4 55 65 652 554 0.523415121
49 Tulsa Conference USA 8 3 53 67 633 692 0.522085477
50 UCLA Pac Ten 5 5 56 51 613 532 0.520525038
51 Air Force Mountain West 9 3 53 75 648 640 0.520307648
52 Arkansas SEC 7 4 53 65 641 540 0.519357273
53 Louisville Big East 5 6 66 53 606 577 0.519011531
54 Purdue Big Ten 7 5 68 71 760 720 0.518816028
55 Indiana Big Ten 7 5 68 71 757 723 0.518309272
56 Vanderbilt SEC 5 6 65 56 649 565 0.515880499
57 Troy Sun Belt 8 3 50 69 583 599 0.515210168
58 East Carolina Conference USA 6 5 61 59 643 682 0.511851058
59 New Mexico Mountain West 7 4 56 64 566 624 0.511331805
60 Hawaii WAC 10 0 30 77 448 477 0.511267997
61 Wyoming Mountain West 5 6 67 52 599 696 0.510786034
62 Arizona Pac Ten 5 6 61 54 590 532 0.510315431
63 Kansas State Big XII 5 6 64 58 652 580 0.50823664
64 Fresno State WAC 6 4 51 55 475 551 0.506306778
65 Mississippi SEC 3 8 74 46 611 593 0.503383922
66 Washington State Pac Ten 4 7 65 51 631 605 0.498710955
67 TCU Mountain West 6 5 57 64 653 659 0.49632918
68 Northwestern Big Ten 6 6 67 72 758 717 0.494481771
69 Iowa Big Ten 6 6 67 73 831 769 0.494129464
70 Ball State MAC 6 5 58 65 595 665 0.49019155
71 Pittsburgh Big East 4 6 59 52 548 557 0.489747666
72 Miami (Fla.) ACC 5 6 58 62 710 620 0.488761677
73 Stanford Pac Ten 3 7 58 47 582 536 0.481333589
74 North Carolina ACC 3 8 68 52 620 578 0.480897455
75 San Diego State Mountain West 4 6 55 54 532 532 0.477293578
76 Iowa State Big XII 3 9 77 56 678 691 0.475786686
77 Notre Dame Independent 2 9 76 48 682 698 0.475456883
78 Bowling Green MAC 7 4 48 75 611 650 0.475346881
79 Houston Conference USA 7 4 46 74 655 666 0.474716698
80 Central Michigan MAC 6 5 54 68 581 663 0.474435562
81 Florida Atlantic Sun Belt 5 5 49 62 614 593 0.472895534
82 Navy Independent 7 4 44 75 607 595 0.470212779
83 Louisiana Tech WAC 5 6 56 63 556 607 0.468448968
84 Southern Mississippi Conference USA 6 5 51 69 574 643 0.466776537
85 Syracuse Big East 2 9 71 50 675 661 0.465152855
86 Miami (Ohio) MAC 6 5 49 73 693 662 0.465043087
87 Akron MAC 4 7 63 60 631 741 0.461984786
88 Louisiana-Monroe Sun Belt 5 6 53 65 572 607 0.459501863
89 Army Independent 3 8 66 55 570 644 0.458289651
90 Baylor Big XII 3 9 71 60 664 675 0.457465481
91 Duke ACC 1 10 76 46 657 687 0.456412504
92 Nevada WAC 5 5 46 63 506 559 0.454788517
93 Toledo MAC 5 6 55 67 571 678 0.453337633
94 Western Michigan MAC 4 7 60 62 585 672 0.453159179
95 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 5 7 58 70 600 689 0.447098445
96 Memphis Conference USA 6 5 45 76 587 633 0.442600935
97 UNLV Mountain West 2 9 67 52 599 701 0.442159458
98 Temple MAC 4 7 58 64 609 745 0.441058618
99 San Jose State WAC 4 7 55 62 524 615 0.440964995
100 Marshall Conference USA 2 9 73 57 587 724 0.438161229
101 Minnesota Big Ten 1 11 82 56 697 772 0.43655289
102 Buffalo MAC 4 7 55 68 662 704 0.435642988
103 UAB Conference USA 2 9 66 55 569 652 0.434684685
104 Ohio MAC 5 6 49 72 577 646 0.434063372
105 Arkansas State Sun Belt 5 6 46 72 619 675 0.428142035
106 Texas-El Paso Conference USA 4 7 55 67 545 677 0.427816472
107 Kent State MAC 3 8 58 63 576 661 0.424261911
108 Eastern Michigan MAC 4 8 59 73 638 728 0.423582457
109 Tulane Conference USA 4 7 51 69 573 635 0.421993528
110 Colorado State Mountain West 2 9 59 60 591 604 0.416993872
111 New Mexico State WAC 4 8 56 72 523 638 0.414701766
112 La.-Lafayette Sun Belt 3 8 52 66 559 622 0.406852723
113 Utah State WAC 1 10 63 57 594 706 0.399458042
114 Rice Conference USA 3 8 51 71 573 665 0.392909036
115 Florida International Sun Belt 0 10 62 50 556 661 0.391000998
116 North Texas Sun Belt 1 9 55 55 522 670 0.384479866
117 Idaho WAC 1 10 54 53 450 593 0.382925658
118 Southern Methodist Conference USA 1 10 58 62 581 733 0.374934274
119 Northern Illinois MAC 2 9 50 73 575 671 0.364075759

So What's Alabama getting for that 3.87 Million?

Interesting note from the weekend. Not only did Louisiana-Monroe upset Alabama.

The lowest paid head coach in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Charlie Weatherbie ($130,000/year) beat the highest paid coach Nick Saban ($4,000,000/year).

Coach salaries courtesy of Wreck Ramblin'

Lloyd Carr Retires, but then again We Knew He Would a Week Ago

Lloyd Carr announced his retirement today during a 10am Press Conference during which he was expected to.

As passed along here last Monday, the first reports of this impending announcement came not from a Detroit, Ann-Arbor, or University of Michigan newspaper or television station but from a Michigan fan blog called MGoBlog.com.

How this report was treated is an interesting study in journalism in 2007 and beyond.

The New York Times and close friend of mine Pete Thamel credited MGoBlog but not without taking a pot shot at the blogs other more fan-oriented content.

ESPN treated the report as a rumor and never mentioned MGoBlog in any of the speculative stories it ran last week, that I had read at least and on Saturday when it became more apparent that Monday was going to be the announcement that Carr was retiring ran the following sentence on its ticker "Lloyd Carr expected to announce retirement Monday, ESPN.com has learned".

My question is since MGoBlog's information turned out to be dead on, shouldn't it have been credited as the source of these reports? Or does news have to come from Institutionalized (what is "Mainstream" nowadays?) Media in order to be credited?

I have a feeling in journalism schools all over the country, students are being told that blogs are a fad and will be obsolete in three years and that the access they are paying $100,000 and taking classes for four years for will be theirs and theirs alone once they graduate, but in today's media climate, is that necessarily the truth? Or is the truth that news told from outside Institutionalized Media will be treated as conjecture until someone inside Institutionalized Media reports it as fact?

I have no doubt Lloyd Carr's retirement will not be the last major sports story to be broken by someone in the "blogosphere", I do wonder when that person will first get credit.

Ohio State beats Michigan: Five Thoughts

Ohio State beat Michigan 14-3 in the 104th edition of College Football's greatest rivarly. Here are my first five thoughts.

1. This was the complete antithesis of last year's supposed classic. As sloppy of a game as you will see all season. Fumbles, drops, tackling and 60% of Chad Henne's passes intended for Yao Ming. If you watched that fantastic HBO documentary and tuned in for the first time to see College Football's greatest rivalry expecting either an offensive display like last year or a physical fundamentally sound war like Woody and Bo coached in during the 70's you were disappointed. But then you remembered in 1950 these two teams combined for 45 punts and you figured this game was at least better than THAT.

2. We often hear about how rivalry games bring out the best in players, but rarely hear about how they bring out the worst. To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park "Your people spent so much time wondering whether or not they could they never stopped to think whether or not they SHOULD". Mike Hart and Chad Henne should've sat this game. But of course as seniors in their last Ohio State-Michigan game after being 0-3, we knew there was no way they weren't going to play. Their complete ineffectiveness (Hart 2.4 yards per carry, Henne 32% completion percentage) is not how they wanted to go out, I'm sure.

3. All the NFL players and other famous people that went to Ohio State and LeBron James announces their lineups? For this game couldn't ABC get someone that actually went to the school for something other than an exhibition high school game?

4. I haven't heard any quotes from Mike Hart. Did he say "There's nothing special about our offense?"

5. Of course this was the last edition of this game for Lloyd Carr, but then again we already knew it would be (more on this later).

Pumpin' for Thursday: Week 12

Oregon (-12.5) at Arizona, Over/Under 67

Vegas Algebra says: Oregon 39.75, Arizona 27.25

Thoughts: I think 11 weeks of picking Thursday games has taught me that a road favorite in the top 5 has no chance of beating anyone by two touchdowns or more. Also you have to look at each school's contribution to post-graduate athletics. Oregon has given us...



Meanwhile Arizona has given us...



and...



Suggestion: I like Arizona spread Under the Covers. Or Arizona to cover the spread and the under. Actually I like both.

The Pride and The Pageantry Index: November 12, 2007

Rank Team Conf W L OW OL OOW OOL TPTPI
1 LSU SEC 9 1 60 44 541 486 0.645155794
2 Oregon Pac Ten 8 1 53 38 465 443 0.641459648
3 Florida SEC 8 3 60 41 502 429 0.613649174
4 Georgia SEC 8 2 55 47 513 414 0.607957358
5 Arizona State Pac Ten 9 1 48 51 546 440 0.605862376
6 Missouri Big XII 9 1 50 55 537 449 0.599251425
7 Ohio State Big Ten 10 1 55 61 596 520 0.597854238
8 Virginia Tech ACC 8 2 53 48 483 443 0.592775806
9 Kansas Big XII 10 0 41 61 527 424 0.589518773
10 West Virginia Big East 8 1 42 49 493 417 0.588431013
11 Oklahoma Big XII 9 1 48 56 556 501 0.587273488
12 Texas Big XII 9 2 57 56 593 561 0.585224048
13 Illinois Big Ten 8 3 64 52 570 552 0.584685598
14 Tennessee SEC 7 3 57 45 523 486 0.583995511
15 South Florida Big East 7 3 55 43 452 439 0.582436038
16 Virginia ACC 9 2 53 57 585 520 0.577807487
17 Cincinnati Big East 8 2 48 49 458 426 0.576947567
18 Kentucky SEC 7 3 54 46 479 429 0.57688326
19 Connecticut Big East 8 2 48 51 481 419 0.576035354
20 Clemson ACC 8 2 48 51 482 421 0.575868318
21 Penn State Big Ten 8 3 61 55 630 587 0.574165814
22 Auburn SEC 7 4 62 49 548 472 0.572683914
23 Wisconsin Big Ten 8 3 61 55 565 549 0.571544548
24 Boston College ACC 8 2 47 52 483 428 0.569920389
25 Alabama SEC 6 4 57 42 481 431 0.569731858
26 Mississippi State SEC 6 4 56 44 491 426 0.563860414
27 California Pac Ten 6 4 56 43 511 475 0.562392177
28 Michigan Big Ten 8 3 57 59 603 515 0.562346835
29 Oklahoma State Big XII 5 5 63 39 466 483 0.55658433
30 Nebraska Big XII 5 6 71 41 567 583 0.553861519
31 South Carolina SEC 6 5 62 48 547 466 0.553176882
32 Florida State ACC 6 4 54 47 552 466 0.552886654
33 Oregon State Pac Ten 6 4 54 45 453 437 0.549974464
34 Southern California Pac Ten 8 2 41 59 571 419 0.549191919
35 Texas A&M Big XII 6 5 64 48 525 522 0.547436088
36 Wake Forest ACC 6 4 54 48 541 480 0.547174051
37 UCF Conference USA 7 3 50 52 513 518 0.544491832
38 North Carolina State ACC 5 5 58 43 467 454 0.538893099
39 Rutgers Big East 6 4 52 46 436 448 0.53860929
40 Brigham Young Mountain West 7 2 40 50 391 411 0.53854946
41 Purdue Big Ten 7 4 58 58 581 541 0.538547237
42 Michigan State Big Ten 6 5 64 52 610 606 0.53763689
43 Boise State WAC 9 1 37 62 444 449 0.536168799
44 Maryland ACC 5 5 55 43 457 436 0.533551775
45 Colorado Big XII 5 6 67 46 567 591 0.532505867
46 Louisville Big East 5 5 55 43 440 447 0.529625774
47 Georgia Tech ACC 6 4 49 51 492 423 0.52942623
48 Vanderbilt SEC 5 5 54 49 501 436 0.520807214
49 Washington Pac Ten 3 7 64 36 499 500 0.519874875
50 Tulsa Conference USA 7 3 45 54 469 535 0.519055596
51 Iowa Big Ten 6 5 59 60 648 594 0.514697579
52 Texas Tech Big XII 7 4 51 63 563 510 0.513949397
53 New Mexico Mountain West 7 3 43 56 435 461 0.513544485
54 UCLA Pac Ten 5 5 50 49 534 453 0.512783611
55 Arkansas SEC 6 4 45 54 489 414 0.512654787
56 Air Force Mountain West 8 3 44 63 488 492 0.511915454
57 Wyoming Mountain West 5 5 55 46 458 541 0.511891842
58 East Carolina Conference USA 6 5 55 54 542 568 0.510729286
59 Washington State Pac Ten 4 6 56 43 500 478 0.510640144
60 Utah Mountain West 7 3 41 59 515 476 0.509919273
61 Kansas State Big XII 5 5 52 53 535 443 0.509377739
62 Fresno State WAC 6 4 47 50 402 466 0.508051451
63 Indiana Big Ten 6 5 56 60 578 542 0.506760804
64 Hawaii WAC 9 0 23 66 344 343 0.504395434
65 Troy Sun Belt 7 3 39 59 455 428 0.502801789
66 Central Michigan MAC 6 4 47 53 430 497 0.50096548
67 TCU Mountain West 5 5 51 51 496 523 0.496687929
68 Northwestern Big Ten 6 5 54 62 569 550 0.496244688
69 Pittsburgh Big East 4 5 48 44 410 419 0.49562362
70 Mississippi SEC 3 7 59 42 470 450 0.494796599
71 Miami (Fla.) ACC 5 5 47 54 566 467 0.494652938
72 North Carolina ACC 3 7 58 44 492 438 0.49157179
73 Stanford Pac Ten 3 7 55 43 507 466 0.48587946
74 Arizona Pac Ten 4 6 50 48 459 424 0.485056741
75 San Diego State Mountain West 4 5 44 45 399 394 0.484090269
76 Duke ACC 1 9 68 34 496 531 0.479073353
77 Houston Conference USA 6 4 41 59 493 508 0.478126873
78 Notre Dame Independent 1 9 70 35 507 560 0.477124336
79 Iowa State Big XII 3 8 64 50 552 538 0.475489077
80 Ball State MAC 5 5 47 56 460 498 0.473197093
81 Baylor Big XII 3 8 63 49 512 545 0.470529264
82 Navy Independent 6 4 36 62 479 422 0.46658135
83 Louisiana Tech WAC 4 6 48 51 430 453 0.464168297
84 Florida Atlantic Sun Belt 5 4 36 55 463 446 0.46402882
85 Akron MAC 4 6 51 52 489 562 0.463890608
86 Toledo MAC 5 5 46 57 440 517 0.4632435
87 Bowling Green MAC 6 4 39 64 468 492 0.461195388
88 Syracuse Big East 2 8 56 44 526 491 0.459301868
89 Southern Mississippi Conference USA 5 5 43 57 438 486 0.458506494
90 Miami (Ohio) MAC 5 5 42 60 526 515 0.457203198
91 San Jose State WAC 4 6 47 52 410 471 0.4537188
92 Army Independent 3 7 51 49 439 471 0.450604396
93 Nevada WAC 5 4 34 58 411 405 0.449590615
94 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 5 6 45 62 475 508 0.4447204
95 New Mexico State WAC 4 7 52 55 381 498 0.44226152
96 Louisiana-Monroe Sun Belt 4 6 44 54 417 470 0.442020799
97 Buffalo MAC 4 6 45 58 516 533 0.441420863
98 Kent State MAC 3 7 51 51 438 511 0.440384615
99 UNLV Mountain West 2 8 54 44 450 532 0.440072322
100 Marshall Conference USA 2 8 60 49 455 547 0.438752312
101 Memphis Conference USA 5 5 39 62 440 488 0.43660379
102 Minnesota Big Ten 1 10 68 47 520 591 0.435391148
103 Temple MAC 3 7 51 51 456 580 0.43503861
104 Western Michigan MAC 3 7 49 51 428 506 0.434561028
105 UAB Conference USA 2 8 53 48 452 474 0.434406475
106 Texas-El Paso Conference USA 4 6 45 57 418 510 0.433195994
107 Ohio MAC 5 6 44 66 489 540 0.432441028
108 Arkansas State Sun Belt 4 6 41 58 473 522 0.425914928
109 Colorado State Mountain West 1 9 54 46 490 514 0.417011952
110 Tulane Conference USA 3 7 44 55 434 472 0.416979397
111 Florida International Sun Belt 0 9 54 38 418 500 0.407312684
112 Eastern Michigan MAC 3 8 50 61 477 571 0.407195211
113 La.-Lafayette Sun Belt 2 8 48 52 419 490 0.405236524
114 Rice Conference USA 3 7 43 59 443 507 0.402363261
115 Utah State WAC 0 10 54 44 441 538 0.388125117
116 North Texas Sun Belt 1 8 45 45 385 509 0.38543997
117 Idaho WAC 1 9 42 47 353 439 0.372381824
118 Northern Illinois MAC 2 8 39 63 456 486 0.362195579
119 Southern Methodist Conference USA 1 9 44 55 442 552 0.358389224
Football Champ Sub 0.1 1 8

BREAKING NEWS (or Internet Rumor, time will tell)

MGoBlog is reporting that Lloyd Carr will announce his retirement following Saturday's Ohio State game.

TPTPPPCS Rankings

This week:

I unveiled the second week of my TPTPI computer rankings.

and unveiled a poll based on won-loss record and quality of losses I called the Paul Poll after my friend and BCS proponent Paul.

If you combined The Pride and The Pageantry Index with the Paul Poll. You would get "The Pride and The Pageantry Paul Poll Championship Series" Rankings which sounds ridiculous, of course. Awarding 25 points for a 1 ranking, 24 for a 2 and so on... here is how the two polls combined would look.

Team PP TPTPI TPTPPPCS
1. Ohio State 25 21 46
2. Oregon 22 24 46
3. LSU 20 25 45
4.. Arizona State 21 22 43
5. Kansas 24 13 37
6. Oklahoma 19 16 35
7. Boston College 15 18 33
8. Missouri 18 14 32
9. Virginia Tech 13 19 32
10. Georgia 12 20 32
11. Connecticut 17 9 26
12. West Virginia 16 8 24
13. Hawaii 23 0 23
14. Florida 0 23 23
15. Texas 11 6 17
16. Virginia 7 10 17
17. Alabama 0 17 17
18. South Florida 0 15 15
19. Boise State 14 0 14
20. Penn State 3 11 14
21. Auburn 0 12 12
22. Clemson 10 0 10
23. Cincinnati 9 0 9
24. BYU 8 0 8
25. Michigan 5 3 8
26. Tennessee 0 7 7
27. USC 6 0 6
28. Kentucky 0 5 5
29. Illinois 4 0 4
30. Florida State 0 4 4
31.. Purdue 2 0 2
32. California 0 2 2
33 South Florida 1 0 1
34. Colorado 0 1 1