The more that I think about what I believe to be the lack of progress towards changing the current way the NCAA names its FBS (Div-1A) football champion, the more depressed I feel. It is a daunting task to get a group of people to change the way they do things when they have had success at doing it their way. I don’t understand why only the SEC and ACC commissioners are vying for a change. I wonder if there is something else there.
What is the ultimate goal of the commissioners of the BCS conferences? Is it to make the most money for their respective conferences? Is it to try to widen the fan-base for NCAA football? Is it to try to excel and achieve to become the paragon of athletics for the NCAA? I can’t speak to the motives of these people, but it seems very evident that they are in no hurry to appease a very disgruntled fan-base. Why is that?
It doesn’t seem to make any business sense to not try to please your customers. That is unless your customers have no choice but to go to you for the product. That seems to be the case here, doesn’t it? Why should they care if we are happy? What can we do to change the way things are run? We are going to still show up for games. We are still going to buy the gear. There is really no reason for them to be concerned with us. Right? That fact makes me depressed.
Where is the congressional committee for us here? Is this not an election year? Can we write our representative on the hill in DC and let them know how displeased we are with the monopoly that the NCAA has on our souls in autumn? No. I know that I won't do that on my own. It sucks being depressed.
Want more college football talk? Check out my out-of-conference game schedule grades for all the teams in all the BCS conferences. ACC, Big East, Big XII, Big 10, Pac-10, and SEC.
How have the bowls shaped up from a conference standpoint?
ACC – (2-6)
Big East – (2-2)
Big 10 – (3-4)
Big 12 – (5-3)
CUSA – (1-4)
MAC – (0-1)
MWC – (4-1)
PAC 10 – (4-2)
Sun Belt – (1-0)
SEC – (6-2)
WAC – (1-3)
Right now with 3 bowls left to play the ranking (minimum 4 games) is:
MWC - 80%
SEC - 75%
PAC 10 - 67%
Big 12 – 63%
Big East – 50%
Big 10 – 43%
ACC – 25%
WAC – 25%
CUSA – 20%
I was a little surprised to see the Mountain West conference up there at the top, but you have to consider who they played. They have wins over Navy, Nevada, UCLA, and Houston. I would consider Nevada and Houston to be in the lower end of the pack of bowl teams. UCLA lost their coach, and Navy is quality but not great. I don’t want to take anything away from the MWC. I love to watch all the offense and they have some of the best stadium settings I have ever seen. My hat is off to the MWC for a great bowl season. With teams like BYU, Air Force, and TCU this conference has modestly good level of competition. Not as much as the PAC 10, but certainly more than the MAC, CUSA, or the Sun Belt. Hopefully, these teams can ride this momentum into recruiting and next season.
The SEC is 2-0 over the ACC, 1-0 over CUSA, 1-0 over the WAC 1-1 against the Big 10, and 1-1 against the Big 12. Alabama and Colorado proved that just because you are bowl eligible doesn’t mean that you should be in a bowl. Kentucky’s win over a decimated Florida State was under-appreciated. I think that if Florida State was at full capacity, then the score wouldn’t have been as close when Bowden’s boys took the loss. Unfortunately, the mismatch of Arkansas and Missouri was a finger poke in the eye for McFadden. The SEC was very impressive overall when you consider that the best any conference has done against the SEC is .500, but, that is what we have come to expect from the SEC. So there is no real surprise there. Only the Big 10 has a chance to get one over on the SEC this year.
The SEC and Big 10 have one game left, in case you forgot. The Big 10 can get to .500 with a win. The SEC can’t jump the MWC for the #1 spot with a win. The SEC’s total winning percentage would be 78%.
The Big 10 has to be disappointed with how they have performed outside of Michigan. Penn State did what they should have and Purdue just barely beat an “ok” Central Michigan team. The mismatch of USC and Illinois was pretty hard to watch, unless you are a USC or PAC 10 fan. Wisconsin held tough against the #2 team in the SEC, but Indiana got trounced by a mediocre Oklahoma State team. Ohio State has a chance to redeem the conference.
The Big 12 has had a pretty good bowl season outside of the always ill-prepared Sooners. What has to be done to get a reality check on Stoops. I think he is a great coach, but there is something wrong with how he prepares his teams for the bowls. I’ll give credit where credit is due. WVU was wicked fast on offense and they proved that they deserved all the preseason hype that surrounded the program. How they lost to Pittsburg, I will never figure out. Mizzou and Kansas proved that there are, at least two, quality teams in the Big 12 North. Texas’ Holiday Bowl win over Arizona State was huge for them. After the year they had ending up the Big 12 #4, they now have something to build upon beating the PAC 10 #2 in a decisive fashion. Next year looks to be a bright one for the Big 12, especially in the North.
The PAC 10 did very well outside of Arizona State. UCLA lost to BYU, but give them some credit. They went without a head coach and BYU has had a special year this year. USC proved once again not to ever count them out. Oregon showed that even with out Dixon, they are able to score a ton of points. I was very surprised the vaunted South Florida defense didn’t put up a better fight against Oregon. Cal’s performance was a bit disappointing against and undersized Air Force team. Cal did show that they could come from behind, but they should never had been that far behind to begin with.
The Big East has emerged as a good conference. When the ACC and Big East realigned, the ACC was supposed to be made into a power conference and the Big East was supposed to fade away into oblivion with the MAC, Sun Belt, and CUSA. Well I got some news for you so called experts; you were way wrong. There is some talent and quality coaching going on in the Big East. West Virginia is a great team. Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati, and UConn are all good teams and should only be getting better. Be afraid of the Big East.
How disappointing was the ACC this year? With programs like Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech how could you not be winning (or going to) bowl games (Miami)? Virginia overcame a loss to Wyoming at the beginning of the season only to lose to Mike “the big ####” Leach’s Red Raiders after Tech spotted them two safeties. Lame. Over the last 4-5 years, it looked like Maryland was ready to make the jump to the “big time.” What happened? Georgia Tech losing to Fresno State the way they did was embarrassing. Clemson played Auburn tough, but still lost. Clemson, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, Virginia, and North Carolina State should be better teams. Boston College, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech can’t be the only ones doing well in this talent-rich conference.
The WAC had no surprises up their sleeves other than Boise State getting manhandled by the likes of ECU. They seem to do the best with what they have. Fresno State did well, but Nevada didn’t even show up and got blanked by New Mexico. What the? Nevada put together, what seemed to be, a pretty good season. Guess not. How many shut-outs have there been in bowl games recently? To be sure, not many. That is just disappointing and wrong.
Overall, I felt that most of the early games were good. Navy/Utah, Cincy/So. Miss, BYU/UCLA, ECU/Boise St, and Purdue/Central Michigan. The real mismatches happened later on with Texas/Arizona State, Mizzou/Arkansas, Penn State/TX A&M, Oklahoma State/Indiana, Georgia/Hawaii, and USC/Illinois. Then there were some real surprises to me like Michigan/Florida, Fresno State/GA Tech, WVU/OU, and Kansas/VT. It is a shame that USC and Georgia will not play, or WVU and KU. Those would have been great games. The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village #### The Village ####
free polls
I like the match-ups and the years of bad-blood between rivals in college football. I enjoy a good game no matter the national implications. Give me a 3OT game between a couple of Sun Belt teams over a 40 point blowout between a couple top 25 teams anytime. I consider myself to be a fan of the game. I will be as respectful to visitors on my blog as they are to me. Go Huskers! Go Navy! Go Jags! Go Cubbies!
The more that I think about what I believe to be the lack of progress towards changing the current way the NCAA names its FBS (Div-1A) football champion, the more depressed I feel. It is a daunting task to get a group of people to change the way they do things when they have had success at doing it their way. I don’t understand why only the SEC and ACC commissioners are vying for a change. I wonder if there is something else there. 
It doesn’t seem to make any business sense to not try to please your customers. That is unless your customers have no choice but to go to you for the product. That seems to be the case here, doesn’t it? Why should they care if we are happy? What can we do to change the way things are run? We are going to still show up for games. We are still going to buy the gear. There is really no reason for them to be concerned with us. Right? That fact makes me depressed. 
I was a little surprised to see the Mountain West conference up there at the top, but you have to consider who they played. They have wins over Navy, Nevada, UCLA, and Houston. I would consider Nevada and Houston to be in the lower end of the pack of bowl teams. UCLA lost their coach, and Navy is quality but not great. I don’t want to take anything away from the MWC. I love to watch all the offense and they have some of the best stadium settings I have ever seen. My hat is off to the MWC for a great bowl season. With teams like BYU, Air Force, and TCU this conference has modestly good level of competition. Not as much as the PAC 10, but certainly more than the MAC, CUSA, or the Sun Belt. Hopefully, these teams can ride this momentum into recruiting and next season. 
The SEC is 2-0 over the ACC, 1-0 over CUSA, 1-0 over the WAC 1-1 against the Big 10, and 1-1 against the Big 12. Alabama and Colorado proved that just because you are bowl eligible doesn’t mean that you should be in a bowl. Kentucky’s win over a decimated Florida State was under-appreciated. I think that if Florida State was at full capacity, then the score wouldn’t have been as close when Bowden’s boys took the loss. Unfortunately, the mismatch of Arkansas and Missouri was a finger poke in the eye for McFadden. The SEC was very impressive overall when you consider that the best any conference has done against the SEC is .500, but, that is what we have come to expect from the SEC. So there is no real surprise there. Only the Big 10 has a chance to get one over on the SEC this year. 
The Big 10 has to be disappointed with how they have performed outside of Michigan. Penn State did what they should have and Purdue just barely beat an “ok” Central Michigan team. The mismatch of USC and Illinois was pretty hard to watch, unless you are a USC or PAC 10 fan. Wisconsin held tough against the #2 team in the SEC, but Indiana got trounced by a mediocre Oklahoma State team. Ohio State has a chance to redeem the conference. 
The Big 12 has had a pretty good bowl season outside of the always ill-prepared Sooners. What has to be done to get a reality check on Stoops. I think he is a great coach, but there is something wrong with how he prepares his teams for the bowls. I’ll give credit where credit is due. WVU was wicked fast on offense and they proved that they deserved all the preseason hype that surrounded the program. How they lost to Pittsburg, I will never figure out. Mizzou and Kansas proved that there are, at least two, quality teams in the Big 12 North. Texas’ Holiday Bowl win over Arizona State was huge for them. After the year they had ending up the Big 12 #4, they now have something to build upon beating the PAC 10 #2 in a decisive fashion. Next year looks to be a bright one for the Big 12, especially in the North. 
The PAC 10 did very well outside of Arizona State. UCLA lost to BYU, but give them some credit. They went without a head coach and BYU has had a special year this year. USC proved once again not to ever count them out. Oregon showed that even with out Dixon, they are able to score a ton of points. I was very surprised the vaunted South Florida defense didn’t put up a better fight against Oregon. Cal’s performance was a bit disappointing against and undersized Air Force team. Cal did show that they could come from behind, but they should never had been that far behind to begin with. 
The Big East has emerged as a good conference. When the ACC and Big East realigned, the ACC was supposed to be made into a power conference and the Big East was supposed to fade away into oblivion with the MAC, Sun Belt, and CUSA. Well I got some news for you so called experts; you were way wrong. There is some talent and quality coaching going on in the Big East. West Virginia is a great team. Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati, and UConn are all good teams and should only be getting better. Be afraid of the Big East. 
How disappointing was the ACC this year? With programs like Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech how could you not be winning (or going to) bowl games (Miami)? Virginia overcame a loss to Wyoming at the beginning of the season only to lose to Mike “the big 
The WAC had no surprises up their sleeves other than Boise State getting manhandled by the likes of ECU. They seem to do the best with what they have. Fresno State did well, but Nevada didn’t even show up and got blanked by New Mexico. What the? Nevada put together, what seemed to be, a pretty good season. Guess not. How many shut-outs have there been in bowl games recently? To be sure, not many. That is just disappointing and wrong.
