This holiday always reminds me of the story of the dependency that had an uprising against it's colonial master, fought a bloody six year guerilla-style campaign against them and only finally won it's revolution with the help of European money and the military might of one of the two superpowers in the world, who was looking to fight a proxy battle against their arch-enemy. A few years after winning the fight, the country placed their first leader into power--just shortly after even adopting a written constitution. They struggled whether or not to declare him a de-facto monarch, and named the newly formed capital city after him. And it happened in the new world. And which banana republic was this? The United States of America.

As our country celebrates it's 235th birthday, everybody have a good weekend and tell us what you'll be doing with you and yours. Happy B-day, USA! Hoo-Rah!

View the original post or comment on Fanblogs of July Patriotic Open Thread...

The Sporting News came out yesterday with an article ranking the top 10 non-conference schedules and individual games for the upcoming season. As you may recall, Georgia was last year's winner in the OOC schedule category, and not much has changed for this year:

The Schedules:

1. Georgia: at Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Tennessee Tech, at Georgia Tech
2. Virginia Tech: vs. Alabama (Atlanta), Marshall, Nebraska, at East Carolina
3. Southern Cal: San Jose State, at Ohio State, at Notre Dame
4. Florida State: Jacksonville State, at BYU, South Florida, at Florida
5. Washington: LSU, Idaho, at Notre Dame
6. Oregon: at Boise State, Purdue, Utah
7. Oklahoma: vs. BYU (Arlington, Texas), Idaho State, Tulsa, at Miami
8. Miami (Fla.): Oklahoma, Florida A&M, at UCF, at South Florida
9. Stanford: at Wake Forest, San Jose State, Notre Dame
10. Illinois: vs. Missouri (St. Louis), Illinois State, at Cincinnati, Fresno State

And the top 10 individual games:

1. Virginia Tech vs. Alabama (Atlanta)
2. Georgia at Oklahoma State
3. USC at Ohio State
4. USC at Notre Dame
5. Oregon at Boise State
6. Oklahoma at Miami
7. Georgia at Georgia Tech
8. Florida State at Florida
9. Nebraska at Virginia Tech
10. Utah at Oregon

And for the second year in a row, one of the most intriguing matchups is the Chick-Fil-A kickoff game, Virginia Tech versus Alabama. Three of the games are regularly-scheduled rivalry games--USC at Notre Dame, Georgia-GA Tech, and FSU-Florida.

As far as picking the winners? Hmmm...

1. Virginia Tech vs. Alabama (Atlanta)
2. Georgia at Oklahoma State
3. USC at Ohio State
4. USC at Notre Dame
5. Oregon at Boise State
6. Oklahoma at Miami
7. Georgia at Georgia Tech
8. Florida State at Florida
9. Nebraska at Virginia Tech
10. Utah at Oregon

h/t: RazzMaTazz

View the original post or comment on Top Non-Conference Schedules and Games...

In the news of the surreal this week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports today that the 13 year old brother of Tennessee safety/hitman Eric Berry has 'committed' to Tennessee, telling Rivals.com that he intends to become a Vol one day. For obvious reasons, a school can't offer a schollie to a player until he's a junior in high school, but this didn't stop the 8th grade Evan Berry from being the first one in line for the class of 2014.

Immediately, Scout.com declared him a half-star prospect, which coincidently, is the same rating my last hotel in Paris brought. No word yet if the younger Berry's declaration was emailed, text-messaged, or written in a Blue Horse tablet. Also unclear is whether or not Lane Kiffin ripped off his own underoos in order to influence the decision.

Both Evan and his twin brother Elliott come from a strong football pedigree. Their father, James, played running back for the Vols under Johnny Majors in the late 1970s and their older brother Eric is currently an All-American standout at safety .

Although this may have been a spontaneous incident that grew legs, is anyone else concerned at all about the type of attention this is garnishing? They start scouting basketball players around this age, so is this what we can come to expect in football now? Certainly no one could deny the allure of the kid's father's and brother's alma mater, but does it have to become a national story?

View the original post or comment on Tennessee Lands Soft-Commit from 8th Grader...

Ray Melick of the Birmingham News commented Sunday on an online sports betting site that is now giving odds on who's the most likely program to get hit next with major NCAA rules violations. Relax, Alabama. You're not at the top of the list, but you did make it. And chill, Auburn. Despite being #3 all-time in major infractions, you didn't even make the top 25. Speaking on behalf of the Auburn nation, let me be the first to demand a recount.

Actually, USC tops the list at 8-1 odds. With the recent troubles with O.J. Mayo and the long-simmering Reggie Bush Incident (RBI), the Trojans are the hands-down favorites in this category. Evidently, the odds must extend to a program as a whole with any sport, not just football. The top ten:

1) USC 8-1

2) Ohio State 10-1

3) Florida 10-1

4) Memphis 10-1

5) Ole Miss 10-1

6) North Carolina 10-1

7) Conneticut 12-1

8) Michigan State 12-1

9) Florida State 12-1

10) Alabama 13-1

Somebody brave go to the website that is mentioned in the link and chase down the top 25. I'm too skerred to go to a gambling website myself. We can only assume that active investigations are already calculated into the equation.

Perhaps a good sucker's bet might be Tennessee, which has 14-1 odds, but remember, this list is for major violations only. Fortunately, Lane Kiffin seems to not only be making new friends and influencing people, but only racking up minor violations thus far.

h/t: OU-Ron

View the original post or comment on Place Your Bets: Teams Most Likely to Commit Major Rules Violations...

This article raised some interesting prospects for 2009, but the title of this thread is one that I have been pondering for some time.

Is the ACC significantly under rated?

While the SEC fans complain about the troubles of playing so many good teams week in and week out, the reality is this argument was better applied to the ACC in 2008. 11 of the 12 teams went between 5-3 and 3-5 in conference play. That is the definition of any team can beat any other team in any week.

The ACC had 8 teams in contention for their conference title with 2 weeks left in the season and placed a record 10 teams in a bowl game.

The biggest issue with the ACC last year was not their lack of strength but their over abundance of it. 2 teams went undefeated out of conference and 8 teams went 3-1 out of conference, including bottom dweller Duke. The remaining 2 split their OOC games.

They split the season 6-6 with the SEC and beat the mighty Big 12 4 out of 5. Notre Dame and Navy combined for a 1-4 record against the ACC. While the Big East did score a 4-3 lead over the ACC, one can hardly argue the ACC performed well in their out of conference by picking on smaller conference teams.

For the ACC to succeed two or three teams are going to have to raise themselves above the fray. This will require raising themselves above some of the most competitive and under rated teams in the nation.

If such a team can be found in the ACC in 2009 you are looking at the 2009 national champion. Now, is that team Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Boston College, FSU, Maryland, Clemson, Wake Forest, North Carolina or Miami(FL)?

Pick any 6 or 7 of those and add in another top 25 out of conference game or two and ask yourself, does my team's schedule really compare this year, regardless of what the other 4 games are?

View the original post or comment on What if the ACC has a monster year?...

Yet the WAC, not the MWC, is perceived as being the one team wonder, with the rest of the conference falling behind. Is this a false perception of the WAC or does this represent a real change in the makeup of this conference? I would argue both. Boise State should clearly be the favorite to win the conference and only Oregon will be close on paper, but they will not be unchallenged in the conference.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime
The WAC has a tough OOC this year, with many automatic qualifying conference members and top at-large conference teams, and that will cause significant numbers of losses along the way. An interesting note is that having Hawaii in the league allows the WAC members to play a 13th game in the years they travel to Hawaii, according to NCAA BY-LAWS 17.11.5.2. NCAA BY_LAW 17.31.2 also allows Hawaii to play a 13th game. This is why some teams have 5 OOC games and others only 4.

Two teams failed to schedule a 13th game this year, Utah State and Fresno State.

Boise State 12-1 (8-0 WAC)
OOC: Oregon, Miami(OH), @Bowling Green, UC Davis, @Tulsa

Except for UC Davis these should all be respectable games. They open the season with top 15 Oregon, by far their stiffest test. Having 2 top MAC teams (at least Miami was when they were added to the schedule) plus a potential C-USA champion on the road could give them a decent schedule strength, for an at-large conference member.

Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada and Hawaii will not be intimidated by the Broncos, despite the odds against them.

San Jose State 8-4 (6-2 WAC)
OOC: @USC, Utah, @Stanford, Cal Poly

San Jose State might be the best 0-2 team to start the season. I don't know of a team that starts the season with a tougher one-two punch. They might ambush Utah if they are caught looking ahead to their Oregon game a week later. They are my dark horse candidate to take the WAC this year. The Stanford game should be a good test for both teams and I think San Jose State has a slight edge in this one.

Fresno State 9-3 (6-2 WAC)
OOC: UC Davis, @Wisconsin, @Cincinnati, @Illinois

Ok, maybe I can see why they didn't load on another team after that. Based on the home game with Wisconsin last year, where a couple of bad calls went against the Badgers and they still won, I don't think Fresno State is going to get this one on the road this year either. The games against Cincinnati and Illinois look to be very interesting barometers for the season.

Didn't we see UC Davis before? Are they planning on moving up to FBS and joining the WAC?

Nevada 7-5 (5-3 WAC)
OOC: @Notre Dame, @CSU, Missouri, UNLV

All four games should be fun. The two games with MWC teams should help feed the feud between these Siamese twin conferences. I think Nevada should get some bragging rights here for the WAC, but will cost them some points against the BCS folks. Then again, they could easily prove that I am wrong to think Notre Dame has turned a corner and will be greatly improved this year.

Hawaii 7-6 (4-4 WAC)
OOC: Central Arkansas, @WSU, @UNLV, Navy, Wisconsin

Well, they play Wisconsin. Isn't this the kind of schedule that got them to the 2008 Sugar Bowl? I don't think the teams above will simultaneously be down like they did in 2007. Navy should be a great game. The two road games should be wins but could be hard fought. [edited to fix years]

New Mexico State 5-8 (3-5 WAC)
OOC: Prairie View, UTEP, @New Mexico, @SDSU, @Ohio State

The games against UTEP and SDSU will be competitive, if not stellar. New Mexico should continue to dominate the in-state rivalry and Ohio State should get a solid showing for their die hard fans who will watch them play anyone.

Louisiana Tech 3-9 (2-6 WAC)
OOC: @Auburn, @Navy, Nichols State, @LSU

The Navy game might be competitive. The Auburn game will be interesting because I think Auburn may not have bought completely into their new coach yet and it is early in the year. Auburn is not going to be the Auburn of old (Unless you go back to before they became prominent).

Idaho 3-9 (1-7 WAC)
OOC: @Washington, SDSU, @N. Illinois, CSU

N. Illinois should be in the running for the MAC and too much for the Vandals. SDSU and CSU should give a good measure to the strength of the bottoms of these two conference. My how CSU has fallen. Speaking of fallen, I am expecting Idaho to beat Washington.

Utah State 2-10 (1-7 WAC)

OOC: @Utah, @Texas A&M, S. Utah, @BYU

Bet you didn't know Utah had 4 division 1 football programs did you? Good thing for Utah State because it gives them one they can beat. Texas A&M might be closer to them than with either of the two premier instate rivals.

WAC OOC
BCS: 15 games. Many of these games should be competitive. I could see anywhere from 6 to 9 wins for the WAC this year.

MWC: 10 games. Again the WAC has done a great job of getting games at a similar competition level. This could swing from 3 to 5 wins.

Total: 39 games. With a few games against the MAC and Navy thrown in, Most of the rest are against FBS teams and should be wins. 21 wins should be expected and 23 wins is not unreasonable.

Conclusion
Boise State might lose one in conference, but the next 4 in conference should beat each other up to where that still give Boise State at least a share of the title.

Boise State, San Jose State, Fresno State, Louisiana Tech and Nevada certainly have a schedule that can get them to the BCS, possibly even into the top 14 need for consideration with a loss. Other than Boise State none of these teams look to be at a level to pull that off.

The remaining teams should be looking at bowl eligibility as, other than Hawaii, that would be a great year for where their program is today.

Until someone else steps up, or they find a greener pasture (please yes, we are all sick of blue pastures!), Boise State has taken a solid lead in the WAC.

View the original post or comment on Does Boise State have an in conference challenger?...

This is mostly a visceral reaction. I am sure the thoughts in the comments will be much more thorough.

1) Florida. Urban Meyer does great in even years. This is an odd year. I don't see them doing worst than 9-3, even in a bad year. They certainly belong in the top 5. Let them be #1 until someone beats them. That's what I say.
2) Texas. I dunno. #2? I think that might be a bit much. I think they are only ahead of Oklahoma because people are fixated on the win last year.
3) Oklahoma. I would put them over Texas.
4) USC. So far the rankings look pretty good. I would not be upset if USC loses a few and proves they don't belong here though.

The top 4 look like they will all be top 15 teams even if they have a bad year. Here is where things get interesting.

5) Alabama. Really? Are they really that improved from when I last saw them?
6) Virginia Tech. I don't know that the ACC can get a team this high. Too much parity in the conference to do so.
7) Oklahoma State? I could see Texas Tech here, maybe. Oklahoma State? I am sure someone will tell me why.
8) Ohio State. I might swap them with Penn State. They are not too far off.
9) Ole Miss. Last year I compared Utah to the teams of the SEC. In talent, work ethic and personality Ole Miss is the team that looked the most like Utah to me. That has not changed since then. I see both of these teams as equal, and near Boise State. I would tend towards TCU here.
10) LSU. I dunno. Punt. They look like a team I would tend to bump up into some of the holes I left above.
11) Penn State. I think this is a little low.
12) Georgia Tech. An ACC team might make it here, but which one of the 8 contenders?
13) Oregon. Wait... What? I'll believe it when I see it. Utah and Boise State this year should be very telling games one way or another. I'll admit bias against Oregon.
14) Boise State. Meh.
15) California. Meh.
16) Georgia. Meh.
17) FSU. I could see several ACC teams bunched up here.
18) North Carolina. Maybe I would go Maryland or Miami(FL). It's getting close to an ACC pick'em here.
19) TCU. All I am going to say is ... look out.
20) Utah. This is what the longest regular season and bowl winning streaks get you?
21) Iowa. Ok they did beat Penn State, but really?
22) Kansas. Meh.
23) Nebraska. Sorry, don't believe you all anymore.
24) Notre Dame. I strongly agree with this spot.
25) Texas Tech. Lower then Oklahoma State why?
Others:
Pittsburgh, Miami(FL), Oregon State, Cincinnati, West Virginia, BYU, East Carolina, South Florida, Clemson, Michigan State, NC State, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Auburn, Boston College, Minnesota, Arkansas, Houston

Big East: Before it is all said and done I think a Big East team will show up on the scene.

To excel in the rankings a conference needs 3-4 teams who consistently beat the rest of the conference and a solid middle of the conference that win OOC games. The Big 12 and SEC fit this recently and we can see the results. The MWC does to, but without the solid middle and the results their are visible as well. The ACC and Big East have 6-8 teams that kill each other, only the Big East is not as good OOC. If you only have 1 or 2 contenders, like the PAC 10, and WAC, you are out of the race if your champion goes down.

When it comes to parity in a conference you need to have a little, but not too much.

My top 25:
1) Florida
2) Oklahoma
3) Texas
4) USC
5) Penn State
6) LSU
7) Texas Tech
8) Ohio State
9) TCU
10) Alabama
11) Virginia Tech
12) Utah
13) Ole Miss
14) Boise State
15) Georgia
16) California
17) Georgia Tech
18) Oregon
19) FSU
20) Maryland
21) Kansas
22) Oklahoma State
23) Notre Dame
24) West Virginia
25) BYU

Ok, now for the real experts:

View the original post or comment on Who is the most overrated team this pre-season?...

ATLANTA (June 18, 2009) – The University of Tennessee Volunteers will face the N.C. State University Wolfpack in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to open the 2012 season in the Georgia Dome Chick-fil-A Bowl and ESPN officials announced today.

Tennessee and N.C. State are a mere 296 miles apart, but the two programs have met only twice and have not played since 1939. The teams are 1-1 in their two previous meetings.

“This match-up will continue the tradition of creating the Daytona 500 of College Football,� said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. “I fully expect that in 2012 both of these rising programs will be ranked in the top 20.�

This regional rivalry game will feature an ACC program with one of the conference’s brightest futures under a proven Tom O’Brien against a traditional SEC power led by new head coach Lane Kiffin. The game is expected to air nationally on ESPN Sept. 1, 2012.

“We’re very pleased that two great programs in Tennessee and N.C. State will participate in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game,� said Dave Brown, ESPN vice president, programming and acquisitions. “Atlanta is the perfect spot to host the first meeting between the teams in over 70 years. A match-up of this caliber is another great way for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to usher in the first week of college football.�

Tickets will be split evenly between N.C. State and Tennessee and the game and its surrounding events will be managed by the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

“The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game gives us an excellent chance to showcase the Wolfpack football program against a great team and in front of a national audience,� O’Brien said. “N.C. State is proud to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference as we compete against a powerhouse SEC team like Tennessee.�

“We are excited to be a part of what should be a great environment to kick off the 2012 season,� Kiffin said. “Atlanta is a great sports town and the Georgia Dome has been great for college football. SEC versus ACC match-ups are always intense, and we know Tennessee fans will be there in force to see this one.�

Billed as the “Daytona 500 of college football,� the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game matches top-tier programs in a BCS-type game on the first Saturday of every season.

The 2009 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game featuring projected pre-season top-10 powers Alabama and Virginia Tech will be played Sept. 5 and will air nationally in prime time on ABC.

Alabama defeated Clemson 34-10 in the 2008 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, drawing a sold-out crowd of 70,097, and was viewed in more than four million households nationwide. The pre-game fan activities were attended by more than 22,000 fans and the event created an economic impact of $29.1 million for Atlanta and Georgia including $1.2 million in direct tax revenues.

View the original post or comment on Tennessee to face N.C. State in 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game...

Got any good tailgate recipes?

Is there something worth discussing that has not been brought up in a thread by us?

Now is your opportunity!

View the original post or comment on Fanblogs open thread...

Top 10 Football Revenue Schools for 2007-2008

1. Texas $72.95 million
2. Georgia $67.05 million
3. Florida $66.1 million
4. Ohio State University $65.16 million
5. Notre Dame $59.77 million
6. Auburn $59.67 million
7. Michigan $57.46 million
8. Alabama $57.37 million
9. Penn State $53.76 million
10. Louisiana State University $52.68 million

For comparison sake, the Longhorns were also number one for football revenue in 2003... with "just" $47.55 million. Missing since the 2003 top ten? Tennessee. I'm also a little surprised that Oklahoma wasn't into the top ten.

So... who's making the most for all sports?

Texas was the overall top sports earner -- shock! -- with $120.28 million, followed by Ohio State with $117.95 million and Florida with $106.03 million. The biggest surprise in the top ten for all sports? Oklahoma State at #10 with $88.6 million.

Note to new Auburn coach Gene Chizik - you got screwed on the contract, dude. Just sayin.

View the original post or comment on Cha-ching: Top 10 football revenue schools...

The current system is near dead last, just above whatever mess congress could create that would not fix anything and lose money.

Premise
If the current system is valuable because it maintains the value nd intensity of the regular season and the rich tradition of the bowls, why not maximize the value of both?

The basic idea is to maintain the traditional conferences but allow the top teams to represent their conferences in regional elite leagues. This would involve 10 round-robin matches 5 home and 5 away, and allow participants to maintain 2 traditional rivalries. The leagues would thus have 11 members each.

Post season
The top 2 western teams would meet for the Fiesta Bowl, the top 2 eastern teams would meet for the Sugar Bowl and the winners would advance to the Rose Bowl. All other elite teams would host a regional bowl against the top teams from their regions in the remaining bowls, with elite status on the line. These would be seeded with the top outsiders playing the lowest record elite team. This would require 40 other bowl games and 12 new bowl slots. The fact that roughly 16 elite teams would have a losing record would fill these spots.

Tie Breakers:

1) Head to head
(Only 3 or 5 way ties can pass here in a league playing a full round robin schedule)
2) MOV between participating teams
(A beat B, B beat C and C beat A all by the same amount)
3) The team with the longest tenure as an elite team is selected

Initial membership
The elite conferences would need to be seeded. In order of initial seeded tenure we get the following four conferences:

North: Ohio State, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Boston College, Penn State, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Michigan State, Connecticut

South: Florida, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Louisville, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Clemson, South Florida

Midwest: Oklahoma, LSU, Texas, Missouri, Texas Tech, Kansas, TCU, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas A&M

West: USC, Boise State, BYU, Utah, Hawaii, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, California, UCLA, Arizona

Conclusion
With these four conferences all playing round robin schedules the regular season would be GREATLY enhanced. You get to a bowl game and win you WILL BE in contention for the title next year. You don't cut it as an elite team and lose your bowl game you WILL LOSE your elite status. The bowls would have real value.

The only question is who would the other 2 Big East teams play? The other 3 PAC 10 teams or the other 4 Big 12 teams maybe? The 5 SEC teams and 6 ACC teams left would obviously play each other, as neither one likes to travel very far.

[Author puts down the pipe and walks away]

View the original post or comment on The thought that won't go away....

This means the MWC, WAC, C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt will be re-evaluated after 2011 and all conferences will be examined after 2013 based on a four year window.

The criteria used are:
(1) the ranking of the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings each year
(2) the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year
(3) the number of teams in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each year

[Note the complete lack of any measure that incorporates bowl results of any kind. I guess bowl results really do mean nothing.]

Previously the BCS has set the precedent that if a team moves from one conference to another the conference they played in the last year of evaluation is where their numbers count for the evaluation.

If a conference is considering a team in a weaker conference they will get the most benefit in the BCS automatic qualification criteria by getting the most years with the team in question in the weaker conference as possible to count for their numbers. It also must be noted that it takes a full year to get out of a conference once an announcement is made.

To start in 2011 an announcement must be made in 2010. For 2013 the announcements would be 2012.

If the MWC is looking to poach Boise State while maximizing their post 2011 BCS numbers they are better off allowing Boise State to play the WAC in 2010. If the BCS is looking to eliminate the MWC by taking a few of their top teams 2010 would be the year to do so. Though I may be partial to BCS conspiracy theories, even in the worst case this would provide the final evidence needed to instigate an anti-trust investigation with teeth.

If the PAC 10, Big 10 or Big East are waiting to maximize the BCS value of teams from weaker conferences they would best wait until 2012 to announce their expansion plans.

This indicates that a conference realignment spurred by MWC expansion might be on the horizon next year and one triggered by the PAC 10 or Big East might be being developed for 2012.

So the contracts align themselves and my prediction from last year remains:

The MWC will earn a BCS automatic qualification for 2012, only to have the Mayan's calender proven right and never have the opportunity to use it due to world changing events.

Then again, for some of those visiting this site in the middle of June the MWC earning a spot in a BCS bowl due to an automatic qualification might constitute a world changing event.

View the original post or comment on Will 2010, 2012 be the years of mass realignment announcments?...

For whatever reason, Fanblogs has been invaded by women. We've been fortunate enough to have several football-savvy fems dropping in on comments over the years, but now -- with this whole Fanblogs on Facebook thing -- we're picking up lady friends left & right.

There are at least 10 ladies who are fans of Fanblogs on Facebook. (And, if I can say this without getting sued or divorced, these ladies are good looking!)

All this has me thinking... is it a *good* thing that we're attracting more women to Fanblogs?

PS - Become a fan of Fanblogs on Facebook!

PSS - Sabbatical to continue until the new coding is finished and/or I return from Africa.

View the original post or comment on The Invasion of the Women...

Here are a few of the highlights:

There is considerable irony in the fact that in the highest temple of political correctness, American higher education, the BCS worships the false idols of monopoly, inequity and greed at the expense of the virtues of fairness, access and competition.

The BCS is a fundamentally flawed system that is unfair in its access, governance and revenue distribution.

There is no question that parity among college football teams is greater than ever before in its modern history.

So you would think that when Boise State opens its football season against the University of Oregon on September 3, the dream of a national championship would beat in the heart of every player, coach, alumnus and fan. Instead, there will only be a faint pulse thanks to the constraints placed upon us by the BCS. An estimated 6,000 student-athletes play for football teams that have no realistic chance of competing in a BCS bowl, given the hurdles placed in the path of the non-BCS conferences and teams.

This so-called championship has fallen into the hands of the commissioners of the six BCS automatic qualifying conferences. They wrote the exclusionary BCS rule that created six automatic qualifying conferences -- Atlantic Coast, Southeastern, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-10 -- and gives to the six conference commissioners the authority to send their respective champions to a BCS bowl regardless of how their won/loss records stack up against the champions of the non-automatic qualifying conferences -- Conference USA, Mid-American, Western Athletic, Sun Belt, and Mountain West.

In 2008, the University of Utah made the most convincing case for BCS reform when the Mountain West Conference school completed a 12-0 regular season, but was not given the opportunity to compete for the national championship. Utah was eliminated by a system -- not a team -- and further proved its championship status in a convincing BCS bowl victory over Alabama.

George Orwell, aiming at the hypocrisy of those who claim equality for all, but reserve power for a small elite, is famous for his Animal Farm quote, "All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.�

If there is a bottom line to the current BCS position, it is the monopolistic control the BCS has over the millions of dollars earmarked for the chosen few.

The time has come for the Football Bowl Subdivision to go the way of the other three divisions of NCAA football, basketball and its other sports and base its national championship on actual play rather than opinion polls and computers. A playoff system that is organized by the NCAA and fairly addresses access, governance and revenue distribution is the next step. Even the President of the United States has publicly endorsed a playoff system. Only then will there be alignment between the values of fairness and access so often invoked in higher education and the policies and practices of the BCS and the NCAA.

Well said indeed!

Here is to the next Tulane!

View the original post or comment on Bob Kustra, President, Boise State University vs. the BCS...

After being leaked yesterday, the findings of the NCAA investigation into the University of Alabama's self-reported textbook scandal are finally in. There are no scholarship losses or post-season ban in any of the 16 sports involved in the investigation, which centered around 200 different athletes. Instead, Alabama will be forced to vacate victories in select sports where ineligible athletes participated, including some football games from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons.

As a repeat offender, the University will remain on probation for an additional three years. Of all the athletes investigated, 125 were found to have unintentionally violated the textbooks policy, which generally meant that the value in each case was under $100. Only 22 athletes were found to be intentional wrongdoers, with 14 coming from the track team, 7 from football and 1 from tennis. The monetary amount of the violations ranged from $32 on the low end to almost $4000 on the high end. Alabama will also have to pay a fine to the NCAA of almost $44,000.

Although the NCAA considered heavier sanctions against Alabama, they praised the school for coming forth on their own. It is entirely possible that the penalties would have been much more severe had the violations occurred in a single sport as opposed to be spread out in all sports across the board.

View the original post or comment on Alabama Sanctions Finally In...