Congressional B(C)S

We have a financial crisis, a budget crisis, and international crises, but hey, let's make sure we take care of what's really important:

It may not top the list of Obama administration priorities, but Hawaii Democratic Congressman Neil Abercrombie is urging the president-elect to take on one more controversial issue — creating a new playoff system for college football.

Obama himself has already waded into the debate. In a 60 Minutes interview on CBS last month, he said he would push for a championship playoff system — adding three weeks to the current college football schedule — to replace the current Bowl Championship Series (BCS). "I'm gonna throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do," Obama said.

Critics of the current BCS model argue that it gives a competitive and financial advantage to schools in the six BCS conferences and excludes schools with equally good or better football records in the other five non- BCS college football conferences. BCS-sponsored bowl games at the end of the season generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for the schools who are selected to play in them.

Seizing on Obama's public support of a new system, Abercrombie wrote a letter to the president-elect last month urging him to have the Department of Justice investigate the issue. "With the prestige of the Presidency and vigorous pursuit by the Department of Justice in support of fairness and equity, we are certain the BCS will be persuaded to resolve the issues to the benefit of the nation's colleges and their fans."

Cripes...

Even if you ignore the fact that members of Congress should really concern themselves with things that are actually important, does anybody really believe that a BCS system implemented by Congress with DoJ recommendations is going to be anything other than a bureaucratic boondoggle?

Much like Arlen Specter, these Representatives need to get a clue, prioritize what's important, and stop trying to get their names in the paper for silly things such as this...

A Pleasant Surprise

I was a little stunned to open up Sports Illustrated's rankings of all 119 Division I-A Football Teams today and found this:

32. Maryland ACC

32? Are the Terps that much better than last year's 6-7 team?

Ranked ahead of Miami? Ahead of Florida State? Ahead of Boston College? Ahead of Michigan and Nebraska?

Well, with the hiring of James Harrison it seems like the offense is going to be revamped this year. And the slate of games this year certainly seems to tip in the Terps favor, even with their two toughest games (Clemson and Virginia Tech) coming on the road this year.

That certainly makes things interesting this year, does it not? It seems to me that an Atlantic Division championship is not out of the realm of possibility for the Terps this year.

Problems Solved

Once again, all of our problems seem to be solved at the national level:

Forget government corruption or corporate fraud. Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether college football's Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise.

Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) are introducing a resolution rejecting the oft-criticized bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games. The resolution would require Justice's antitrust division to investigate whether the system violates federal law.

Again, I am glad to see that members of Congress solved the current financial crisis, won the war, and cut the size of government enough to deal with this pressing issue...

Things that bug me about the Emerald Bowl

• It's a football game....at a baseball park. It's not like there isn't a famous football stadium in the city of San Francisco or anything...
  
  
• There is a dancing nut tube on the sideline. Seriously.
  
  
• Oregon State's uniforms....dear god.
  
  
• Of all Oregon State alumni they choose to introduce the lineups they pick.....Derek Anderson. Gee, thanks.
  

Of course, the Terps just took a 7-0 lead, so all of these things don't feel so bad right now...

Lateral Move

Just in case you didn't see the 15 or so laterals from Division III Trinity on Saturday, here it is:

Who wants to win a National Championship?

That's starting to become more and more of a valid question as the bodies continue to hit the floor.

LSU goes down. California goes down. Even (formerly) undefeated Cincinnati goes down.

The likely top three tomorrow when the first BCS poll of the year is released: Ohio State, Boston College (!) and South Florida (!!!!).

And that leaves only those three teams, Hawaii, Kansas and Arizona State as undefeated teams (and at this second, the Sun Devils are losing to Washington).

Somebody is going to have to step up and win this thing. And the longer this goes on, the higher the likelihood that one-loss teams like Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Oregon and even Southern Cal have a shot at this thing, along with the newly minted one-loss teams....

Four Days until meaningful football...

I'm not sure how many more meaningless football games I can handle, so I am glad, albeit in a muted fashion, that meaningful football starts on Thursday, at least at the collegiate level, even if the only remotely interesting game is LSU @ Mississippi State.

To get ready for the season, let's remember last year's Fiesta Bowl:

Never Mind That

Forgot the hook and lateral...how about running the Statue of Liberty on a two-point conversion in overtime right after you score a touchdown on a direct snap to the running back who runs a sweep and then throws it to the tight end?

Boise State coach Chris Peterson pretty much showed last night (actually, early this morning east coast time) that he is more creative that 99-percent of most big time football coaches...

How in the World?

When was the last time you saw the hook and lateral work?...on 4th and 18?....in the Fiesta Bowl.....with 7 seconds left...to send the game to overtime...right after your quarterback tosses an interception that puts you down 7?

Boise State just did.

Of course, Adrian Peterson just put Oklahoma up in OT by 7, so maybe Boise State's bubble just burst...

How in the World?

I am watching the Maryland-Boston College game, and Terps RB Lance Ball has twice fumbled trying to catch the ball on the option. The fumble has twice been picked up by the same BC defensive lineman, and twice run by him for a touchdown.

Well...that's a new one on me.

Rutgers Comes Back, clouds title picture

Yes, Rutgers actually did come back from a 25-7 deficit to beat # 3 Louisville 28-25 tonight. An amazing comeback at a school that does not have this kind of football tradition.

Unfortunately for Rutgers, they likely will not be getting a shot at the national championship game in January. The Scarlet Knights may finish 12-0, and would have to beat West Virginia to do it But their profile would not be better than a 1-loss Texas, Florida, or even the loser of the impending Ohio State-Michigan showdown. Rutgers could wind up an undeafeated team without a national title to show for it, just like the 1993 and 2004 Auburn teams, and the 1994 Penn State team.