UCLA? No, it’s OU who fell hardest

Ben Howland’s Bruins are bad.  There’s no getting around that.  For the first time ever, UCLA went winless in a tournament.  But for as bad as the Bruins have been, there’s a BCS stench that smells just a little bit worse, and it comes from Norman.

That’s because the Sooners of Oklahoma, ranked #18 to start the season, are just 3-3 and haven’t played a ranked team yet.  In fact, they haven’t even played a BCS conference team yet.

UCLA is constantly being talked about as the most disappointing team in the country.  Yes, they have been playing below expectations, but they lost four of their top five scorers from a season ago to the NBA and have just three seniors on the roster.  They’ve also lost to two ranked teams.  OU hasn’t played one.

The Sooners lost Blake Griffin, but return superb freshman Willy Warren, as well as Tony Crocker and have a good freshman class headlined by Steven Pledger.  Still three straight losses have the Sooners desperate for quality wins before Big 12 play.  Oklahoma needs to beat Gonzaga in Washington.  They need to take care of Arkansas and Arizona at home.  And in conference, they will probably have to win 10 or more.  Otherwise, losses to Virginia Commonwealth, San Diego and Houston will look bad.

No one is talking about OU’s bad start because they were hidden away in Anchorage playing in the Great Alaska Shootout.  UCLA meanwhile, was on ESPN, as was most of the 76 Classic in Anaheim.  In a conference that features the nations two best teams, Oklahoma better get it together fast, otherwise, this season may end up as disappointing as the football season.

Staff: Big Ten will finally break through

I’ll admit my staff is doing pretty well so far.  Yes, I’ve won two of the first three weeks, but I do have the worst record straight up.  This week, it appears the majority of my staff feels the Big Ten is going to win the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the first time since…ever.  This despite only one remaining undefeated Big Ten team as of Saturday.  We will see.

The case for Case

Every Heisman contender has a Heisman moment – that game where, when it’s over, you say to yourself “wow, he really deserves the Heisman trophy.” After watching Colt McCoy rip Texas A&M to shreds tonight, I sort of had that feeling. Sort of.

After all, it’s easy to make a case for McCoy. He is 12-0, and likely headed for the national championship. He now has 27 touchdown passes and nine interceptions to go along with nearly 3,500 yards. However, the nine interceptions is more than he had in 13 games last season. And in order to match his touchdown and yardage total from a year ago, he needs seven TD passes and about 400 yards in the next two games. Even if he does that, he will have needed 14 games to do what he did in 13 in 2008. To go along with those monster 2008 numbers, he had 591 rushing yards. This year he has just 368, and only because he rushed for 175 tonight. He also has nine fewer rushing touchdowns.

Here’s the question: should we compare a Heisman candidate’s numbers to those of a season ago? My answer is no. But the voters will. And McCoy’s superior 2008 season wasn’t good enough to win the Heisman. Why should this year be different?

So what about Mark Ingram? The Alabama sophomore is 11-0, likely 12-0 after the Iron Bowl, and is averaging 6.8 yards per carry and 127 yards per game. He seems to be getting most of the talk right now, but why? Is it because the Tide are #2 in the nation? Because he plays for a school with a rich tradition? Because he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated?  He only has 12 touchdowns.  We might as well throw UTEP’s Donald Buckrem in the mix as well.  He has more yards, yards per game and touchdowns than Ingram.  And he certainly doesn’t have the offensive line Ingram has.

So do you give it to Ingram, with worse numbers than a handful of running backs from non-BCS schools, because those running backs don’t have to run against SEC opponents?

Here’s another running back you may not know about – Toby Gerhart.  He plays for Stanford.  Stanford is in the Pac 10, and believe it or not, it’s the best conference in the country.  Don’t believe me?  Read this.

Gerhart plays for a school who’s playing nine teams from the best conference in football, plus bowl eligible Notre Dame.  All in all, Stanford has a schedule ranking (13)  that’s 28 places higher than Alabama (41) and 43 places higher than Texas (56).  Gerhart has rushed for 1,531 yards, second only to Buckrem, and has 23 rushing touchdowns, second to no one.  But his team is 7-4.  So I ask, should we give the Heisman to a guy with better numbers but a worse record?  Tim Tebow won the award the year he went 9-4, but finished third the year he won a national championship at 13-1.

It’s taken me a while to get to this option, but I now present you with the only one that makes sense: Case Keenum.  Say what you want about his strength of schedule or the Houston play calling.  I’m about to shut you up.

Keenum is 9-2, and almost surely to be 11-2 following a Conference USA championship in a few weeks.  He is more than 1,000 yards ahead of the next highest passer in the country.  That’s unreal.  Forget the schedule.  He’s a machine.  1,000 yards?  Are you kidding?  He doesn’t have a Jordan Shipley on his team.  There’s no Mark Ingram or Toby Gerhart to balance the offense.  This is a one man show.  Defenses know exactly what’s coming and still can’t stop it.  That’s impressive.  His 36 touchdowns leads the nation going away.  He’s the only player in the country throwing for more than 400 yards per game.  And for those of you saying that his pass attempts are inflated, try wrapping this number around your head: six interceptions.  Six.  in 553 pass attempts.  McCoy has three more in 161 fewer attempts.  And McCoy has a line that doesn’t let anyone touch him.

Keenum, unlike McCoy, will best his 2008 numbers, blow away all 2009 QBs in every statistical category, and, sadly, probably won’t even be invited to New York.  But he should be.  And he should win it.  This is a very interesting race, and the other contenders have too many question marks surrounding their legitimacy.  For once, give it to the little guy, on the little team.

My Heisman ballot:

1)  Case Keenum
2)  Colt McCoy
3)  Toby Gerhart

Dear BCS – your system is just fine

Guest columnist Kyle Goeke

Non BCS conferences are here to stay.  Over the past five years, it has become apparent that these conferences want two things: to be recognized with the big boys and (more importantly) to be paid like the big boys.  A berth in a BCS bowl game is worth $18 million to each conference that gets a bid (which gets split evenly to the schools).  That’s right…in 2007, the terrible 1-11 Idaho Vandals received about $2 million because their conference brethren Hawaii got a BCS bid.  So no wonder these non-BCS conferences want their piece of the pie.

Every decision these commissioners and college presidents make is about money.  Why do you think college football hasn’t switched to a playoff format?  Because they’ll make more money pushing a “win or go home” regular season.  Think about it: a 32 team playoff would include Temple, a 16 team playoff would have three-loss Virginia Tech, and an eight team playoff has two loss LSU.  Some people out there even want a four team (Plus One) playoff.  A four team playoff makes sense…only, who are you going to leave out?  Boise State? Cincinnati?  TCU?  Those three teams can all make the case for the fourth spot.  A four team playoff would create just as much chaos as the system that’s in place now.

Anyways…I hate to ramble.  I’m new to this blog thing.  Here is my suggestion: keep the system the way it is.  It has worked thus far (with the exception of the 2004 Auburn Tigers).  Also, these non BCS schools keep complaining that their team is the best, and yet they can’t play for a title.  I asked Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel about this dilemma a few weeks ago at Tiger Talk (Buffalo Wild Wings 40 cent boneless Monday’s!!!).  He has actually experienced this situation from both perspectives.  He was the head coach at Toledo in 2000 when they failed to make a bowl appearance after a 10-1 regular season (Chester Taylor destroyed the MAC that year).  Pinkel believes that it takes a lot of emotion and preparation to beat a top ranked conference foe.  It takes even more to beat that top ranked team and then come out the next week ready for the next tough team.  Could Boise St. beat Florida?  I think so.  Could Boise St. beat Florida and then come out the next week ready to take on Alabama?  No way.  Kentucky had a two game stretch like that earlier in the season.  Boise St. beat Oregon at home in the first game of the season.  That is literally all they have to show for this season (other than nail biters with Tulsa and Louisiana Tech).  TCU has had a tougher schedule.  It’s not their fault that Clemson lost to Maryland or that Virginia is god-awful.  But Texas State?  Get that game off your schedule if you want to be taken seriously.  They have beaten BYU and Utah badly…but they have not had a two game stretch of good teams yet.

To my suggestion: the winner of the WAC and the MWC should meet during Championship weekend.  The winner of this game should get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl so they can get in on the $$$ action.  Enough of Boise St./Hawaii fans and TCU/Utah fans angry that their team doesn’t get a chance.  Let the winner of that game have a chance at the BCS title game…if they are in the top two of course.  This way they can make the claim that they’ve actually played someone.  I’m sure I went way too long with this blog.  Thanks for reading.

UConn, Duke set for showdown

Want some excitement in college basketball this week?

Too bad.

Only one non-tournament game features ranked teams, and it’s Minnesota  Butler.  Yuck.

Duke is on a path to play UConn for the NIT Tip Off title in the Garden Friday night.  Two days before that, Arizona State and LSU will put up respective tests before falling in the semis.

None of e games were on the staff’s schedule, because we didn’t know what the results would be.

Belichick: the coach I love to hate

Let me preface what I’m about to say by saying this: Bill Belichick is a good football coach.  Not great.  But certainly very good.

With that out of the way, it’s time to unload on the egotistic, heartless New England coach, who proved Sunday night that once again, he doesn’t care about looking like a jerk.

By now we all know about fourth and two.  But that’s not why I’m upset.  Sure, it was a bad decision, but would anyone have said that if the Patriots had converted?  Probably not.  What I’m upset about is what happened after the game.  Or, more specifically, what didn’t happen.

Several Indianapolis Colts assistant coaches and players were seeking out Belichick to congratulate him following Sunday night’s 35-34 hard-fought Colts victory.  But Belichick was nowhere to be found.  Unless you checked the tunnel.  Belichick bolted for the locker room faster than a school kid after the final bell following the game.  He nonchalantly shook Colts coach Jim Caldwell’s hand, but didn’t make eye contact or say a word.  Following the mock shake, Belichick stormed off like a child, not wanting to seek out any Indy players or coaches to congratulate them.

We’ve seen this act of immaturity before.  Following the Super Bowl XLIII loss to the Giants, Belichick shook head coach Tom Coughlin’s hand in the same way he shook Caldwell’s, then stormed off the field when there was still one second left in the game.  No other member of the Giants team or staff got a sniff of congratulations.

Then again, Coughlin should feel lucky.  Following New England’s overtime loss to Denver earlier this year, Belichick didn’t even shake the hand of Broncos head coach and former New England coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Throw in videogate, running up the score, dressing down for game days, being snotty with the media and being arrogant enough to go for it on fourth and two against an unbeaten team, and you’ve got yourself a model of what you want your kids not to be.  I already knew that everyone outside the city of Boston hated the man.  After last night, everyone in Boston may hate him too.

USC loss creates chaos for BCS

When the smoke had cleared in the Coliseum Saturday, all that remained was the remnants of a 55-21 thrashing USC took at the hands of upstart Stanford.  Two years ago, Stanford pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time with a 24-23 win that spoiled USC’s national title hopes.  This time, Stanford’s win spoiled the Trojans’BCS hopes.

And who gains as a result of USC’s loss?  That would be the Big East.  More importantly the loser of the Dec. 5 showdown between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.  Now that USC has lost again, the loser of that game could still make it to a BCS bowl, especially if that loser is the Bearcats.

Cincinnati is in a position where even a loss to Pitt won’t mean exclusion from the BCS.  They would still be 11-1 and likely in the top 10 in the BCS rankings.  As we learned in 2007, the BCS bowl committee favors one loss teams over strength of schedule, so Penn State and Iowa won’t have much of an argument even if both schools finish 10-2.

If the Panthers lose to the Bearcats, things really get interesting.  The Panthers, as well as a trio of Big Ten non-conference champions (Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin) and Oklahoma State would all be 10-2.  That’s five teams fighting for one spot.

- First, the committee should determine the best of the Big Ten schools.  Iowa should get the nod because they beat both Penn State and Wisconsin, and took Ohio State to overtime in the Shoe without their starting quarterback.  That leaves Iowa, Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh.

- From here, strength of schedule plays a role, but the committee will also look at which teams’fans travel the best and which are most marketable.  Iowa probably has the advantage in terms of being marketable and traveling well, followed by Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh.  However, Pittsburgh would likely end up playing the most difficult schedule by season’s end.  Their schedule is ranked 57 by the computers right now, but will go up after games against West Virginia and Cincinnati to close the year.  Oklahoma State has the weakest SOS at 60.  Iowa is 33, but with a game against Minnesota remaining, which will deflate the ranking

It will be tough for the committee to call this one.  I can see them taking Iowa because they have been historically kind to the Big Ten.  Iowa has been arguably the surprise team of the year, and they do have quality wins over Penn State, Wisconsin and Arizona.  However, Pittsburgh, again, will probably have the toughest strength of schedule, and more than half of their conference contains teams with three or fewer losses.  That’s quite an argument as well.  Here’s how I see it playing out:

Sugar Bowl:  Alabama vs Cincinnati – The SEC runner-up playing the Big East runner-up.  Both teams will be in the top 10 despite losing their respective final games.

Orange Bowl:  Georgia Tech vs Pittsburgh - The ACC champion against the Big East champion.

Fiesta Bowl:  TCU vs Boise State – Both teams will be automatic qualifiers because they will be in the top eight.  The BCS…and the nation…wants to see this game.

Rose Bowl:  Oregon vs Ohio State – The traditional Big Ten champion against Pac 10 champion game.

BCS National Championship:  Florida vs Texas – The BCS #1 against the BCS #2.

Staff favors Heels over Bucks

The first big showdown of the season takes place Thursday when the defending champion Tar Heels head to New York for a showdown with the Buckeyes.  And while most of my staff took North Carolina, I’m going with Ohio State.  More specifically, I’m going with Evan Turner.  In two games, Turner has 38 points, 34 rebounds and 14 assists.  Keep in mind this is a guy who is switching to point guard this year.  When your point guard is averaging 17 rebounds per game, you know you have a unique player.  Turner has sparkled so far.  North Carolina is still rebuilding from the losses of Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson.  It should be a great game in the Garden.

Top NFL wideout? Why not Wayne?

How would you answer the question ‘Who is the best receiver in the NFL?’  Larry Fitzgerald?  Andre Johnson?  Some might even argue that Chad Ochocinco is still the most talented.  Sure, Fitzgerald can jump.  Johnson can outmuscle anyone.  Ochocinco has flare.  But what about Reggie Wayne?  His name is almost never brought up when talking about the best receivers, yet he just might be.

Wayne is the only NFL player in the top five in receptions, yards, yards per game and touchdowns.  He has zero fumbles too.

Wayne has played in every game for the Colts since 2002, including 104 consecutive regular season starts.  He is well on his way to his sixth consecutive 1,000 yard season, and has at least five touchdowns in seven straight seasons now.  Let’s not forget that he was the number two option behind Marvin Harrison in this offense up through last season.  He also has a Super Bowl ring.  Johnson doesn’t.  Neither does Fitzgerald.  Or Ochocinco.  Or Terrell Owens.  Or Vincent Jackson.

You may want to take Reggie Wayne as your number one receiver in your next fantasy draft.  He stays healthy, puts up big numbers quietly, and has a future hall of famer throwing him the ball.

Is the reason nobody talks about Wayne because everyone is talking about Peyton manning when the Colts are brought up?  Maybe.  Or maybe it’s because Wayne isn’t a hothead.  He doesn’t celebrate when he scores.  He does all the right things off the field.  Guys like that don’t get noticed.

And if I had to guess, Reggie Wayne is okay with not getting noticed.

Football rankings and bowl projections

There goes Iowa.  One week after I touted the Big Ten cinderella story, they lose their trap game to Northwestern.  The Hawkeyes can’t play for a national championship now, and will likely lose out on a BCS game after Ohio State punishes them this week.  Hawkeye fans can say it was because Ricky Stanzi got hurt.  I can fire back by saying he’s played mediocre at best this year.  Northwestern was able to stop an offense not known for its quarterback play, so how big a loss was Stanzi?  The point is, Iowa is now in a must-win situation against Ohio State in Columbus if they want a BCS game.  Otherwise it’s likely back to the Outback Bowl for the Hawkeyes.

Speaking of bowls, it’s time for me to make my first BCS bowl projections, so that will follow my rankings.

1)  Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0) – Every week they seem like they play a big game, and every week they win.  The schedule has been brutal, yet they are unbeaten.  They outgained LSU by 199 yards and had 11 more first downs.

2)  Florida Gators (9-0) – It’s official.  With their wins this weekend, the Gators and Tide have secured trips to the SEC championship game.  Florida did it with their usual defense, holding Vanderbilt to under 200 yards of total offense.

3)  Texas Longhorns (9-0) – The past few weeks, the Longhorns have looked more like themselves, holding their past three opponents to a combined 17 points.  The offense is revamped, and Jordan Shipley was simply amazing against UCF.

4)  Cincinnati Bearcats (9-0) – Is there a quarterback controversy in Cincinnati?  Because there should be.  Since Tony Pike’s injury, backup Zach Corallos is 79-89 with 1,100 and eight touchdown passes.  West Virginia is next.

5)  Boise State Broncos (9-0) - The Broncos aren’t impressing the BCS with their margins of victory, and it happened to them again Tuesday.  With the rise of TCU, Ohio State, Georgia Tech and USC, Boise may not see a BCS game without help.

6)  TCU Horned Frogs (9-0) – Here’s another team with a lot to prove over the past few weeks, and boy have they stepped up.  They’ve won their past four games by scores of 38, 31, 41 and 43 points.  They are getting closer to Boise every week.

7)  Iowa Hawkeyes (9-1) – The Northwestern loss was bad, but this team still has nine wins with two games to go and can earn a Rose Bowl date against Oregon with a win over the Buckeyes in Columbus.  But the last time that happened?  1959.

8)  Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (9-1) – Surprisingly, it’s Georgia Tech, not Miami or Virginia Tech, that has taken control of a competitive Coastal division.  The Jackets needed overtime to knock off Wake Forest despite 412 rushing yards.

9)  Pittsburgh Panthers (8-1) – This may be the quietest team in the nation.  But Pitt is 8-1, 5-0 in the Big East and have their eyes on an Orange Bowl berth.  Two tough games stand between them and the showdown with Cincinnati on Dec. 5.

10)  Houston Cougars (8-1) – It’s hard to talk about the Cougars without bringing up Case Keenum.  He already has more than 3,800 yards to go with his 28 touchdown passes.  And his team is 8-1.  He’s got my vote for Heisman.

11)  LSU Tigers (7-2) – LSU’s two losses are to Florida and Alabama, so how far can they really drop?  They put up a good fight against both teams, but didn’t have the offense to make the plays at the end to win either game.

12)  Oregon Ducks (7-2) – Well on their way to the Rose Bowl, Oregon stumbled back into the Pac 10.  We’ve seen this before.  A team beats USC, then stumbles, allowing the Trojans to win the conference.  See 2008.  Or 2007.

13)  Miami Hurricanes (7-2) – The ‘Canes are this high because of the wins against Oklahoma and Georgia Tech, even if the Virginia Tech loss looks worse now.  A contending Virginia team came into Coral Gables and got embarrassed by 35.

14)  USC Trojans (7-2) – Pete Carroll’s defense gave up 27 against Notre Dame, 36 against Oregon State and 47 against Oregon.  When the defense does play well, as it did against Arizona State the offense doesn’t show up.  They’re inconsistent.

15)  Ohio State Buckeyes (7-2) – Amazingly, this team is once again in the driver’s seat for a conference title.  The Iowa loss didn’t matter, but a huge win in Happy Valley sure did.  The Buckeyes racked up 228 rushing yards in the win.

16)  Penn State Nittany Lions (7-2) – Penn State’s two losses have come to Ohio State and Iowa, and they didn’t play Wisconsin this year.  That means their best win is at Northwestern.  Their offense looks lost when they play good defenses.

17)  Utah Utes (8-1) – After an early season loss to Oregon, Utah has battled their way back by beating up on the bottom of the Mountain West.  Now they take their 5-0 conference record to Fort Worth, where an upset gives them the conference.

18)  Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-2) - I can’t get behind a team that gave up 45 and 41 points to the only two ranked teams they’ve played all season.  It’s pretty sad that Dez Bryant is still the second leading receiver on this team.

19)  Arizona Wildcats (6-2) – Guess who can go to the Rose Bowl by winning its next four games? Yep. Arizona is a half game back in the Pac 10. To win four straight though, the ‘Cats need wins at Cal, against Oregon, at Arizona State and at USC.

20)  Wisconsin Badgers (7-2) – Living on the edge is working this year for Wisconsin.  Five of their seven wins have come by one possession, and their two losses came to the teams playing for the conference championship Saturday.

21)  South Florida Bulls (6-2) - The Bulls have two losses – to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.  Other than that they are 6-0.  B.J. Daniels and Moise Plancher are combining to average more than five yards per carry.  They go to Rutgers Thursday.

22)  West Virginia Mountaineers (7-2) - West Virginia has shown signs that they are a good team, but haven’t played consistent enough.  To win the Big East they’ll need November wins over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, starting Friday in Ohio.

23)  BYU Cougars (7-2) – BYU bounced back from a tough loss to TCU with a 52-0 smacking of Wyoming.  Max Hall threw four touchdown passes for the Cougars, who now need a win over Utah and some help to claim the Mountain West.

24)  Auburn Tigers (7-3) – Give credit to Gene Chizik for coming in and turning this program around.  In his first year, he has knocked off West Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee.  Two tough games remain with Georgia and Alabama left.

25)  Stanford Cardinal (6-3) – Stanford had a great win over a red-hot Oregon team Saturday.  They racked up more than 500 yards of offense and put up 51 on the Ducks.  They go to USC Saturday, and we all remember how the last trip there went.

BCS Bowl Projections

Rose Bowl – Oregon vs Ohio State
Fiesta Bowl – Boise State vs TCU
Orange Bowl – Georgia Tech vs Pittsburgh
Sugar Bowl – Alabama vs USC
National Championship – Florida vs Texas