Down To The Wire In College Football

With the college football season in its final two weeks of the season, there is still much to be determined in conference races and the BCS final standings. In fact, all we know about the standings in the six automatic qualifying BCS conferences is that the SEC championship game will feature East kingpin South Carolina versus West champs and #2 Auburn and Virginia Tech has won the ACC Coastal Division.

Let's now examine where things stand in conference races, including the non – automatic qualifying Mountain West and WAC conferences.

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC):

As previously mentioned, Virginia Tech has won the Coastal division and await either Atlantic Coast division champion Florida State or North Carolina State for the ACC title. The Hokies have been solid on offense and play their normal stifling defense.

Big East:

The University of Pittsburgh lead the Big East by one game over both Connecticut and West Virginia with two games remaining and control their own destiny. Pitt plays West Virginia at home on Friday and travels to Cincinnati to finish the conference schedule. Two wins and they're the champs.

The Mountaineers can lay claim to the title by beating the Panthers then defeating Rutgers in its finale along with a Connecticut loss.

U Conn has a shot at the title by winning its two remaining games at home versus Cincinnati and at South Florida. The Huskies need a little help and will get some as the loser of the West Virginia/Pittsburgh will fall behind Conn. It also helps that Connecticut has beaten both teams this season.

Big Ten:

The most exciting conference race remaining as three teams vie for the Big Ten title as #7 Wisconsin, #8 Ohio State, and #10 Michigan State have just one loss in conference. Wisconsin has beaten Ohio State but has lost to Michigan State while the Spartans lone defeat came at the hands of Iowa. On top of that, Ohio State and Michigan State go not meet this season.

How will the Big Ten title be determined?

In the event of a three way tie for the lead, the team with the highest BCS ranking will be crowned Big Ten champion in which Wisconsin leads for the time being.

Should Wisconsin and Ohio State tie for first, the Badgers will claim the with the aforementioned victory over Ohio State.

Should Wisconsin and Michigan State top the conference standings, the Spartans will win the crown by having beaten the Badgers.

In the event that Ohio State and Michigan State lead the pack, the squad with the higher BCS rank will prevail with the Buckeyes leading the way at the moment.

The schedule for the weekend has Wisconsin at home versus Northwestern, Ohio State staying home to play rival Michigan, and Michigan State traveling to Happy Valley to go against Penn State.

Good stuff, you think?

Big 12:

Nebraska controls its own destiny in the North Division and can claim its place in the Big 12 title game with a win against Colorado on Saturday. However, should the Cornhuskers lose and Missouri wins its game at Kansas, the Tigers will win the North.

The South Division will be decided Saturday as the Oklahoma Sooners travel to Stillwater to play the Oklahoma State Cowboys with the winner playing in the Big 12 title game.

Pacific 10:

The BCS #1 Oregon Ducks have two games remaining --- at home against #21 Arizona and at Corvallis to play arch rival Oregon State. One win will clinch the PAC 10 title and winning out will put the Ducks in the BCS title tilt.

Stanford, at #5, holds out slim hopes of being the conference champ by winning its remaining game against Oregon State and Oregon losing both of its games.

Southeastern Conference:

As previously mentioned, #2 Auburn and # 18 South Carolina will vie for the SEC title in 2 weeks.

Mountain West:

The #3 TCU Horned Frogs have already laid claim to the Mountain West title and look to finish a perfect regular season with a defeat of lowly New Mexico.

Western Athletic Conference (WAC):

The WAC title will be decided this weekend as the Boise State Broncos, ranked 4th in the current BCS standings, travel to Reno to square off against the #19 Wolfpack. Both teams have explosive offenses, but BSU has a stifling defense to boot.

This looks to be an exciting weekend for college football and the BCS standings could be jumbled. The key tilt will be #2 Auburn playing #11 Alabama with national championship implications for Auburn.

Enjoy the games!

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly II

The last few weeks have produced some wild and wacky events in our wonderful world of sports. We've seen college football changing it's structure before our very eyes, big league baseball have 2 perfect games and 1 other robbed by a blown call, a new Stanley Cup champion crowned, and FIFA World Cup soccer commencing.

I will render my thoughts on three recent events that has given us reason to give a thumbs up, a thumbs down, and something that may make you go “Hmmm”.

So here we go with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly II

The Good: Daniel Nava – Boston Red Sox

Nava was called up to the Red Sox for Saturday's game versus the Philadelphia Phillies due to the numerous injuries in the Boston outfield. Prior to the game, the 27 year-old rookie was speaking with long-time Boston radio voice Joe Castiglione. Towards the end of that conversation, Castiglione told Nava to swing at the first pitch he sees because he'll never have another first pitch to swing at.

In the bottom of the 2nd inning with the bases loaded, the left-handed hitting Nava was facing Philadelphia starter Joe Blanton. Blanton throws a pitch that was in any lefty's wheelhouse. Nava, taking the cue from Castiglione, takes a perfect swing and deposits Blanton's delivery into the Boston bullpen for a grand slam homer! As the Fenway faithful erupted, a stunned Joe Castiglione said, “I didn't know he (Nava) was listening!” Truly a great beginning to a major league career.

The Bad: The Apparent Restructuring of Major College Football

It appears that major college football is undergoing earth shattering changes, and I'm not sure it's for the betterment of the game. What we do know is that The Big 12 is now down to 10 teams with Colorado bolting for the PAC 10 and Nebraska heads to the Big Ten for the 2011 season. Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech will stay with the Big 12 for the time being, with the Longhorns being involved in a television deal to prevent them from leaving.

It also seems that there will be four “super conferences” which may lead to the playoff system many are clamoring for. But what about non-BCS schools such as Boise State? Sounds like the courts may be involved and the U.S. Congress will stick it's nose in this thing. Stay tuned for the next year or so as this event I termed as bad may become very, very ugly.

The Ugly: University of Southern California Football

The USC football program has been dominant forever it seems, especially under Pete Carroll's reign. However, under Carroll's control, the program was found to have given improper benefits to star running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. With that finding by the NCAA, the USC football program will lose 30 scholarships over the next three years,vacate 14 wins in which Bush played from December 2004 through the entire 2005 season, Reggie's Heisman year, a ban from bowl games for two years, and a four year probation. One of those victories to be vacated is the BCS title game on January 4, 2005 when the Trojans beat Oklahoma in which the NCAA will probably strip USC of that National Championship, as I understand it.

The question here is how long after the sanctions will USC be able to rise to the top of college football. I believe we are looking at a time frame of five to seven years before the Trojans will be vying for a major bowl bid. I'll bet current head coach Lane Kiffin isn't sleeping very well.

Those are my thoughts...yours are?

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

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An Easy Explanation for the BCS --- Take Out the”C”

If you are a fan of major college football, you know that there is one method determining the two teams playing for the national championship within the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). It is a system that weighs 2 polls, computer rankings, and has a unique formula to determine standings or rankings. It also is a source of frustration for most college football fans due to 2 reasons --- its complexity and some of the qualifications. I will give a synopsis of the system that some say is BS.

Welcome to the Bowl Championship Series, better known as the BCS.

There is only one question to ask … How are teams selected for BCS games?

To answer that, there are teams that automatically qualify for a BCS game, namely the champions of the following conferences: Atlantic Coast (ACC), Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern (SEC) throughout the 2013 regular season.

Easy enough, right? Now there are provisions for non-Automatic Qualifiers.

The conference champions of Conference-USA, Mid-American (MAC), Mountain West, Sun Belt, and Western Athletic (WAC) will earn a berth at a BCS game if one of two events occur:

One of these teams is in the top 12 in the final BCS standings OR
One of these teams is a top 16 BCS team and is ranked higher than a conference champion of an automatic qualifier.

Okay, that may not be so confusing --- but then there's this little piece of information that must be considered:

Notre Dame will earn a BCS berth should it finish in the top 8 in the final BCS standings.

But what happens if 2 or more non Automatic Qualifying teams fulfill these provisions? Well, only one team can go to a BCS game and that will be the higher ranked team in the final BCS standings while the other team(s) may earn a BCS bid should it meet the previously mentioned criteria.

There are other provisions too, but it becomes complicated so I won't elaborate.

Such an easy concept --- yeah, right!

The next provision is that of at-large eligibility. If there are not 10 teams that automatically qualify for BCS berths then the following criteria must be met to get an At-Large bid.

Teams must have 9 regular season victories, AND
Is in the top 14 in the final BCS standings.

There are other provisions should there not be enough eligible teams, but yet again, it is complicated and not worth my breath.

For most college football fans, there are obvious facts. One is the top 2 teams in the final BCS standings play for the National Championship and that certain conferences are contractually committed to host bowl games. Those being the ACC for the Orange Bowl, the SEC for the Sugar Bowl, the Big 12 for the Fiesta Bowl, and the Big Ten and Pac-10 hosting the Rose Bowl.

Should a bowl game lose a host because that team is in the National Championship game, it shall be replaced by either an Automatic Qualifier or an At-Large team. And yes, there are other provisions should certain events occur.

A pain in the neck about now!

Now to the BCS standings and how they are compiled. More fun!!!

The BCS standings are comprised of the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll, and computer rankings (SIX of those!) of which each has an equal third of weight. To get the percentages of each, all teams get an inverse point total, such as 25 points for #1, 24 points for #2, and so on.

The percentages of the two polls are calculated by dividing each team's point total by a maximum 2850 possible points for the Harris Poll and a maximum of 1525 points from the USA Coaches Poll. The computer rankings percentage is calculated by dropping the highest and lowest ranking for each team and then the remaining total is divided by one hundred. Included in the six computer rankings are strength of schedule, of which I haven't a clue on how that's determined. I'm guessing that each provider has it's own formula to derive that.

Finally, the BCS Average is formed by averaging the percentages of the Harris and USA Coaches Polls and the computer rankings. These averages are ranked to get the BCS Standings.

Let's see, all of that to determine the BCS National Championship Game participants, determining any other Automatic Qualifiers, and establishing the pool for At-Large teams.

Go at it you math majors!

Now we all know the workings of the BCS...well, some of it. It's complicated and it's made major college football a sham to some. Of course, you can get more information on the BCS at the official BCS site within the links provided. It's a lousy read --- really it is.

Now that I'm finished, I need some Advil for my headache, sore neck, and sore fingers. Perhaps I may need a hospital stay to go into traction.

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

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