Looks like the Big 10 is off to a phenomenal start this Bowl Season.  As of 8:59 pm EST, the Big 10 is 0-3 in bowl games while the SEC (the best conference in all of football) is 2-1 and leading in the Georgia-Virginia Tech game.  Iowa choked against Texas, Purdue looked god awful against bottom feeder Maryland last night (I was at the game and saw the debacle with my own eyes) and Minnesota lost the biggest lead in Bowl Game history and lost to Texas Tech, a middle of the pack Big 12 team.

For all you folks that thought Michigan should be playing for the championship, the pathetic record of the Big 10 is exposing just how weak Michigan's schedule really was.  I repeat, THE BIG 10 is 0-3!  You can pencil in a loss for Notre Dame (Michigan's big non-conference win) which will further highlight that Michigan played nobody outside of Columbus.

 
Now contrast that with the SEC that is 2-1 right now and if Georgia holds on they will be 3-1.  Also, with Florida State winning their bowl game against UCLA (remember, the same team that beat USC), Florida's opponents are 3-0 in Bowl games so far.

 Just to recap:

1) Michigan's opponents: 0-2

2) Florida's opponents: 3-0

3) Big 10: 0-3

4) SEC: 2-1

Enough said.

GO GATORS!

Boy,oh boy! You go a few days without checking your blog and when you come back, you see the longest response ever by a single person to a blog you wrote weeks ago. At first you figure "all right", someone is reading the stuff you write so you check out the posts and you realize you've been called a "dolt" and that your arguments suck. GoIrish69 says a lot of words but doesn't really make ANY coherent arguments, nor does he respond to any of my arguments.

First, a quick recap of my arguments that he did not answer:

1) Brady Quinn has NEVER had a meaningful victory as a Collegiate Quarterback. ONE victory over a top 25 team in two years? Come on. Every other quarterback that deserves recognition has at least one signature win. Brady Quinn has none.

2) Notre Dame plays a soft schedule. They have had a strength of schedule in the 50's during the Weiss reign. They get functional bye weeks when they play the service academies and Quinn still can't lead his team to victory in big games.

3) The Maxwell Club is a sham. That was the point of my original post an it wasn't meant to be an indictment of the easily indictable Brady Quinn. That point went ignored.

Now on to Go Irish69's arguments:

1) " The Maxwell Is A Sham? Here's the sham...the dolt who started this blog! If ya'll want to write something meaningful then why don't you push for real change like: voting for a playoff system, not ranking any team in the pre-seaon until the end of September, not allowing any team who graduates only half of their team from playing in the post-season (this would eliminate HALF of the 64 teams...what a joke this is)."

My Response: I don't think I'm a dolt. No need to insult me. I know you Irish fans are thin skinned, self absorbed, arrogant, pompous, pseudo-fans who believe the sun rises and sets over "beautiful" South Bend but there's no reason to name call. Also, I agree that there should be a playoff system, initial rankings should be delayed and there should be some tie between graduation rates and postseason play but I don't know why not discussing those things is an argument against what I said about the Maxwell award? The mainstream media has discussed playoffs, bowls, rankings and graduation rates ad nauseum. I thought I would take a different angle and write about something that no one else was writing about. Isn't that the purpose of a blog?

2) " I don't doubt that many in Dixie honestly believe that the best player in the SEC has to be the best player in college football."

My Response: Not true. I think many SEC fans believe that Troy Smith was the best player in football. For better or worse, many SEC fans cannibalize their own and would never give unfair props to a player from another SEC school unfairly. Do I think McFadden was the second best player in College Football this year? Absolutely. McFadden lead that Arkansas team back from the dead and was put into a position running that old school single wing offense at the end of the year that other coaches are going to employ and other tailbacks want to emulate (did you catch Marshawn Lynch in Cal's Bowl game two nights ago?) Arkansas would be dead in the water without McFadden and he will be the Heisman front runner next year.

3) "The really stunning thing is that Quinn's numbers against Southern Cal were exceptional in comparison to what others had achieved against the Trojans: Quinn put up more total offense and threw more touchdown passes against the Southern Cal defense than anyone else this year."

My Response: He may have put up some numbers but the bottom line is that HE LOST! UCLA beat USC, Oregon State beat USC but Notre Dame could not. Brady Quinn could not. BRADY QUINN CAN NOT WIN A BIG GAME. And that is the only stat that really matters.

4) "You would be hard pressed to find media criticism of Troy Smith's performance against Illinois, though it was statistically worse than the performance against Michigan that hung around Quinn's neck like a millstone."

My Response: That's because Troy Smith BEAT Illinois. Troy Smith WINS big games. Brady Quinn LOST to Michigan (again). Brady Quinn LOSES big games.

5) "His numbers were written off as inflated, coming against a spate of cupcakes including -- gasp -- all three service academies! Nevermind the fact that one academy actually went 9-3, or that Quinn's lowest outputs in passes and yardage came against Army and Air Force, respectively. If you bothered to look at it, ND's strength of schedule (19th in the country) was of a magnitude tougher than Ohio State's (40th)."

My Response: Are you serious? Are you really telling me that Notre Dame plays a tougher schedule than what Ohio State played this year? Come on. Notre Dame feasts on cupcakes. Look at this schedule:

1) Army - Joke

2) Navy - Joke

3) Air Force - Joke

4) Georgia Tech - Inconsistent team at best

5) Penn State - Rebuilding team

6) Purdue - Weakest 8-4 team in the country. Check their schedule. They were the only Big 10 team that did not have to play Ohio State OR Michigan this year and they still sucked. PLUS, I went to the Pudue-Maryland Champs Sports Bowl last night and the Purdue team I saw was freaking awful. Slowest Wide Receivers EVER and a terrible run defense

7) Stanford - 1-10 record with losses to Navy and San Jose State. Absolutely pathetic and worse than any team in the Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big East or Big 12

8) UCLA - 6-5 record; under .500 in Pac-10 play. Would make for a better basketball game than football game. Sure they upset USC but did you catch their game against Florida State? They were exposed for being the weak ass team that they are.

9) North Carolina - See basketball comment above

6) " C'mon, be honest. You chuckled when you heard Notre Dame got beat by Michigan one cajillion billion to seven, didn't you? You laughed. You giggled and burped. You frolicked around the house like you were being tickled on the feet by a supermodel in her skivvies. You spit mustard and bratwurst all over your shirt when you saw Brady Quinn's face planted in the turf and throwing sloppy interceptions like Kerry Collins. I can tell you loved it. I still see the smirk cemented on your face."

My Response: You're right on this one!

7) " During his time under the microscope at ND, especially during a rough and tumble two years where he was repeatedly thrown to the lions, Quinn never faltered or pouted. Whether he was taking his lumps under Willingham or besting Peyton Manning's marks under Weis, Quinn always carried himself with aplomb. In the volumes of quotes the media extracted from Quinn, you won't find a single damning word. He was never in trouble off the field. He was a good student."

My Response: If we were giving citizenship awards or naming soneone an Eagle Scout than THIS WOULD MATTER. But we're not, so it doesn't. Brady Quinn has no heart as a football player even if he is a really nice guy.

8) "Notre Dame will beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl."

My Response: Are you REALLY serious? Notre Dame does not have even the most remotest of chances. They will lose another embarrassing lop-sided bowl game. Remember Oregon State in the Fiesta Bowl a few year back?

9) " By the way, Frank, here are some additional thoughts for you to contemplate. How come you failed to mention that Quinn won the Unitas Award? I guess you'll need to cook up some horse manure about the group who voted Quinn the winner here as well. Also, how come you didn't mention that only three players (Wuerffel in '96, Williams in '98 and Dayne in '99) in the past eleven years have won the both the Maxwell and Heisman awards in the same season? I guess you can call: Peyton Mannning, Drew Brees, Ken Dorsey, Eli Manning, Jason White and Vince Young shams as well! Right!

My Response: The fact that the Heisman and Maxwell awards have only had the same winner in 3 of the past 11 years proves my point entirely. The Maxwell award is a sham and doesn't recognize anything other than who a group of people in Pennsylvania think is the best player in College Football. You never even answered my argument that the same Maxwell Club voted Paul Posluszny the best Defensive player in College Football which is an absolute joke.

As for the Unitas Award, I don't know how it's decided but they've made some bad calls in their history as well. Let's look at some previous winners and I'll tell you who SHOULD HAVE won the award that year:

1987: Don McPherson - Should have given it to Tom Tupa, Chris Chandler or Kerwin Bell.

1988: Rodney Peete - Should have given it to Troy Aikman.

1989: Tony Rice - Should have given it to Jeff George or Andre Ware.

1990: Scott Erickson - Should have given it to Brett Favre.

1991: Casey Weldon - Should have given it to Tommy Maddox.

1992: Gino Toretta - Should have given it to Drew Bledsoe.

1994: Jay Barker - Should have given it to Steve McNair.

1998: Cade McNown - Should have given it to Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb, or Daunte Culpepper)

1999: Chris Redman - Should have given it to Chad Pennington or Tom Brady.

2000: Chris Weinke - Should have given it to Mike Vick or Drew Brees.

2003: Eli Manning - Should have given it to RIvers or Roethlisberger.

2004: Jason White - Should have given it to Alex Smith or Aaron Rodgers.

2005: Matt Leinart - Should have given it to Vince Young.

2006: Brady Quinn - Should have given it to Troy Smith.

I guess the Unitas Award is about as accurate, relevant and meaningful as the Maxwell Award. Of course almost every Quarterback on this list had at least one thing Brady Quinn will never have...a big win or a Bowl Win!

He may look like the boy next door.  He may play Quarterback for Notre Dame.  He may be the guy that other guys want to be and girls want to be with.  But the bottom line is that Brady Quinn should NOT have won the Maxwell award as the "College Football Player of the year" and I believe the Maxwell Football club is a sham that should at best be disbanded and at worst, should not have the right to present any award at the CFA awards banquet.

Here's my argument:

1) It's all about stats and hype.  Brady Quinn benefits from playing Quarterback at Notre Dame.  Brady Quinn benefits from having Charlie Weiss as his coach (where in some alternate universe scenario, Weiss and Notre Dame supporters fancy him their version of Tom Brady.  Brady Quinn is NO Tom Brady!).  Brady Quinn has beaten ONE top 25 opponent in his last two years as a starter (a squeaker over Georgia Tech to start the year).  Outside of that victory he has feasted on the likes of Michigan State, Purdue, Army, Air Force, Navy, the Coast Guard Academy, the Merchant Marines, Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina, and a weakened Penn State team.  He has played no one.  He has beaten no one.  Lets look at his career "best performances" according to the Notre Dame athletic website:

Completions - 33 (Michigan State, 2005)
Attempts - 60 (Michigan State, 2005)
Yards - 487 (Michigan State, 2005)
Touchdowns - 6 (BYU, 2005)
Completion Percentage - 80.5 (at Purdue, 2005)

News flash: Michigan State, BYU and Purdue DON'T PLAY DEFENSE.  It's no wonder his career highs for completions, attempts and yards came against Michigan State, home of the "worst defensive coordinator ever!" (listen to this link if you haven't already.  It's the best 15 minutes you will have all day, I promise) 

Brady Quinn is all about inflated stats.  If that's the criteria for awarding the Player of the Year, then why didn't Colt Brennan from Hawaii get the nod.  His inflated stats are much more impressive than Quinn's. 

2) The Maxwell Club is a sham.  After the awards show, I wanted to find out more about the Maxwell club and I was stunned at what I found.  The Maxwell Club was founded in 1937 as a civic organization in eastern Pennsylvania.  It was used primarily to recognize local players and coaches until they decided to award the first College Football Player of the year in 1937.  This sounds nice and all but my question is who actually composes the voting body for the Maxwell club.  Is it players, coaches, university administrators, university presidents, conference commissioners, sportswriters.....who exactly votes on the Maxwell award?

Well, the answer is anyone willing to pay the $35 fee to join the Maxwell club gets to vote for the Maxwell award!

I guess Brady Quinn had more of his fans pony up the $35 than Troy Smith's fans.  I can not believe that the CFA and NCAA recognize the Maxwell award as a legitimate award when there are absolutely no standards to be a voter. 

If you think think the Maxwell award is rather dubious, check out the other college player award that they give out, the Bednarik Award for the College Football Defensive Player of the year.  This years award recipient was none other than Paul Posluszny, LB, Penn State.  This is actually the second year that PP has won the award.  Last year he may have been deserving (although AJ Hawk probably would have had something to say about that) but this year, there is no way he was the best defensive player in college football.  He wasn't even a first team all-american this year.  Check out SI.com's All-American team.  I can't imagine anyone believing Posluszny was the best Linebacker in the nation, let alone the best defensive player.  Here are a few Linebackers that should have been considered over PP:

LB: H.B. Blades
Sr., Pittsburgh
Ranked third nationally with 147 tackles; blocked two kicks.

LB: James Laurinaitis
Soph., Ohio State
Buckeyes' star defender had 100 tackles, eight takeaways.

LB: Patrick Willis
Sr., Ole Miss
Tackling machine, he had 137 of them, including 87 solo stops.

Does anyone else find it disturbing that an organization based out of Eastern Pennsylvania gets to vote on the Offensive and Defensive player's of the year?  Judging by their picks, it's obvious that they were 0 for 2 this year.

Just another example of where the Notre Dame machine, Brady Quinn and Charlie Weiss benefit from being who they are and not what they do.  This is a travesty.

SI.com is reporting this morning that Kyle Keown, a punter on the Vanderbilt Football team was charged with domestic assault and aggravated assault after beating up his girlfriend, Sara Treichel (a senior on the Vanderbilt Women's Swimming Team) and threatening to stab Richard Kovalchek, a backup QB at Vanderbilt and Keown's roommate. Keown is a Junior from Jessup, GA and is majoring in Human and Organizational Development (sounds like he could use a bit more "development" himself).

Now this is normally the type of story you'd expect to hear about squads at places like Miami, Florida State, Oklahoma or Nebraska.  This is normally not the type of thing you'd expect to hear about Vanderbilt.  Up until now, the most shameful thing about Vanderbilt was the fact that they granted a degree to Skip Bayless.

 In addition to this being a football incident at Vanderbilt of all places, what is it with college punters this year?  If you remember Mitch Kozad, the Northern Colorado punter that stabbed the starting punter a while back (an attack reminiscent of the Kerrigan-Harding feud).

What is it with these punters?  What is it with Vanderbilt?  Why is Skip Bayless on television?  Some how, I think all of these things are related and are signs of the Apocalypse being upon us.

Just finished watching USC and Notre Dame and all I can say is that I truly believe Notre Dame is the most overrated team in College Football. How they were ranked #5 in the BCS is absolutely beyond me. Notre Dame backers like to spew their "myths" concerning ND football but for the most part, the arguments always boil down to one master myth.

The Notre Dame Myth: "Notre Dame plays the toughest schedule in the country"

Fact: Notre Dame usually plays a tough schedule but in the past two years the schedule has been fairly soft. Last year they finished the season with the 52nd toughest schedule in the country and I don't suspect it will be much better this year. In the past two seasons, Notre Dame has played a few tough games...and they have lost them all. They have beaten ONLY one top-25 team in TWO YEARS (opening game against #16 Georgia Tech by a whopping 14-10 score). They lost to a dreadful 5-6 Michigan State team last year (at home no less) and the only teams worth a damn that they have played this year have been Michigan and USC. They were blown out in both games.

Let's see who else is on this "tough" Notre Dame schedule:

1) Service Academies (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Merchant Marines, Coast Guard Academy, etc...) - Okay, so they really only play Army, Navy and Air Force. While I have nothing but respect for our men and women in the military, none of these three programs are what I would consider strong Football programs. Check out their records. They are barely 1-AA caliber.

2) Georgia Tech - Close win. Sloppy game. Don't think they'd beat the Yellow Jackets today.

3) Penn State - No Michael Robinson, no top-25 ranking, no chance.

4) Purdue - Weakest 8-4 team in the country. Check their schedule. They were the only Big 10 team that did not have to play Ohio State OR Michigan this year and they still sucked.

5) Stanford - 1-10 record with losses to Navy and San Jose State. Absolutely pathetic and worse than any team in the Big 10, ACC, SEC or Big 12

6) UCLA - 6-5 record; under .500 in Pac-10 play. Would make for a better basketball game than football game.

7) North Carolina - See basketball comment above

So if you're a Notre Dame fan, please tell me who you've beaten this year to justify a #5 ranking and even a sniff of consideration for a spot in the BCS Championship game?

Sure ND fans want to tout the great Brady Quinn (one win over a top 25 team in two seasons) or the great Charlie Weiss and what a phenomenal coach he is (at least Bob Davie could beat USC and Ty Willingham was 10-3 in his first season and had a strength of schedule that was rated #17 in the country that year). The bottom line is that it is a travesty for a has been and functionally irrelevent program like Notre Dame to command the same respect that it did in the 70's and 80's. It is an absolute joke that they are allowed to negotiate with the BCS as if they were a conference and I can't believe they still have their National TV deal with NBC.

Touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome, America's team, Charlie Weiss, Brady Quinn, Rudy.....I'm sick of it all and I am sick of Notre Dame. How about we wait until they can actually field a team that would be competitive with upper echelon teams by 2006 standards instead of 1986 standards (is there a slower team in the Top 15 then Notre Dame?) before we annoint them as a serious national championship contender?

"What do you mean you're flagging us for Unnecessary Sucking?!"