Posts Tagged ‘ncaa’

Thoughts after Week 2

Some random thoughts about week after having a day to digest everything.

- Washington got screwed. I understand that the excessive celebration penalty was called as it is stated in the NCAA rule book, but I think the spirit of the rule was not upheld.  Did Locker toss the football in the air?  Yes.  Did he do it to taunt BYU or excessively celebrate?  No.  He was charged up from scoring in the final seconds of the game to seemingly send the game to OT and give his team a chance to win.  There is a lot of emotion in college football and as long as Locker wasn’t doing it in an unsportsman like manner (and he wasn’t), then it shouldn’t be called.  The game should have been decided on the field and not by a poor call by a referee.

- Why were Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno still playing late during their blowout of Central Michigan?  My guess is that it had something to do with padding their stats for thier Heisman campaigns.  But doesn’t Richt know what can happen when a coach foolishly leaves in his best player late in a blowout?  That was a dangerous move to keep those two in the game, especially when UGA is trying to make a title run.

- Notre Dame looked BAD (3-12 on 3rd down, 4 turnovers) against San Diego State. Jimmy Clausen didn’t look very good and they didn’t run the ball very well (3.1/carry).  And I LOVE it!!!!!  I HATE Notre Dame.  They won 3 games all of last year and they got more coverage than teams like BYU and Cincinnati, that actually had winning seasons.  This year, its more of the same.  They are undeserving of all the hype and media attention they get.  And I hope they fall on their faces again.  HARD!

- Miami is on its way back to being a dominant program.  They played Florida tough, but just ran out of gas at the end.  That is attributed to their lack of quality depth, but that will be solved with a few more recruiting classes like this past one.  Randy Shannon is going to turn them around.

- How about East Carolina?!?! They knock of their 3rd consecutive ranked opponent (going back to the bowl game last year) and their first top 10 team since 1999.  And they didn’t just squeak by West Virginia – they DOMINATED them.  Looks like Skip Holtz could be on his way to a Conference USA title and giving BYU a run at being this years BCS buster.  Keep your eye on ECU.

- If Alabama is going to be taken seriously, then they’ll need to have more games like the Clemson game and less like the Tulane game.  They didn’t score a single offensive TD and only had 172 total yards.  Sure, they were missing some O-Linemen, but they need to execute better to be able to beat the heavy weights in the SEC.

- The ACC didn’t do much to redeemed itself after being beat up in week 1.  Maryland was whipped by Midde Tennessee State, Duke lost to Northwestern in the Turd Bowl, Virginia managed to only put up 16 points against FCS team Richmond and Miami was beaten by Florida.  When they added BC, VT and Miami back in 2004, they expected to beocome the new superpower in college football.  We are still patiently awaiting that moment.

- Sam Bradford continues to put up better numbers than Matthew Stafford agasint similar (if not better) competition.  Why does he still not get as much Heisman love?

Filed under: Weekly Thoughts

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NCAA finally gets something right

Looks like the NCAA may finally get something right for once.  150 teams are facing the potential loss of scholarships and another 26 may be banned from postseason play for poor academic performance.

This is one thing the NCAA is actually getting correct.  Athletes, while providing the school with income and fans with entertainment, are at these universities first and foremost to get an education.  Most of these kids won’t play professional ball in the sports they participate in, so they need to have an education that will carry them far in life after their playing days are over.  All too often, schools use these kids for their athletic abilities and spit them out after 4 or 5 years unarmed to face the challenges of the real world.  And the NCAA is finally cracking down on these schools.

The NCAA is supposed to lookout for the student athlete.  By punishing those schools and teams that are doing their athletes a disservice, the NCAA is finally doing their job.

Filed under: Preseason news

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Do we really need more bowls?

Today, the NCAA approved two new bowl games.  One in St. Petersburgh, FL and one in Washington, D.C.  The addition of these two games begs the question, “Do we really need more bowl games?”  And the answer is “HELL NO!”

There are already too many bowl games now.  Bowls used to be rewards for teams that had good seasons.  Now bowl games have lost their luster, with teams that are 6-6 facing off in bowl games that are watched by hardly anyone.  Like last years Independence Bowl between 6-6 Alabama and 6-6 Colorado.  These were two teams who had mediocre seasons and were rewarded with a post season game that hardly anyone outside of Boulder or Tuscaloosa cared about.  How is that good for college football (other than bringing in revenue – FYI…Bama made more from it’s neutral site game with FSU than it did in the Independence Bowl)?  How does this add to the allure to the bowl season?

It doesn’t.  We need to get rid of a lot of these small time bowl games that feature crappy teams year after year.  These mediocre match-ups are ruining the college football postseason.

Filed under: Bowls

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Georgia Lawmakers Strike Again

This makes me sick.

Congress is calling for the Justice Department to look into whether the BCS is an illegal enterprise. Is this really all Congress has to do these days? This and the baseball steroids investigations are monumental wastes of taxpayer dollars. With the other problems in this country that need to be solved (Social Security, illegal immigration, pork barrel spending, etc), you’d think that Congress could find something else to do with their time ad not waste my money on investigating the BCS and steroids in baseball.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the BCS is crap and needs to bew scrapped for a play-off system (which I’ll outline one of these days). But I think that is a change that should (and eventually will be) brought about by the demand from fans and the realization from college presidents that more money can be made from a play-off. It is not a change that should be legislated. Nothing good can come from the government interfering with the NCAA operations (no matter how flawed they may be).

The thing that really angers me about this is the timing of it. This was not the first year of the BCS. It’s year 10. Why the need to investigate now? I’ll tell you why: sour grapes. Check out who one of the bills sponsors: Lynn Westmoreland, Republican-Georgia. That’s right, a Georgia guy sponsors the bill the season after Georgia fans felt they were unjustly left out of the BCS championship game (which they weren’t). And this isn’t the first time lawmakers from Georgia have wasted my money to try and change the BCS. (Here’s the actual bill). The elected officials of Georgia need to cut this kind of crap out before they embarrass themselves any further. This kind of stuff only makes them look petty and childish. GET OVER IT! NEXT TIME WIN YOUR DIVISION!

Bottom line: the BCS needs to change, but involving the federal government is not the way to do it.

Filed under: Preseason news

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