Love America and watch Army-Navy

The choice is yours. Notre Dame or Alabama. One side represents all the false tradition and pageantry nonsense that drives college football, while the other represents the win-at-all-costs attitude that has corrupted college football. And you thought Americans were disenchanted with the election.

In theory, matching two of the winningest and most storied programs of all time (both are in the top five, without a doubt) is great for college football. Commentators will say it drives up ratings and increases interest in the sport, which is of course completely ridiculous. If you haven’t noticed, college football is doing just fine on its own. In fact, according to a January Harris poll (not THE Harris Poll), the sport will soon become America’s second-most popular behind only the NFL.

It isn’t 1980 anymore. College football plays Tuesday through Friday and all day Saturday now, with a plethora of channels and networks to choose from. That’s not even mentioning internet viewing. Regional blindness is dying because everyone can see any team they want play. College football doesn’t need Notre Dame or Alabama or USC or Texas in big games to increase viewership in 2012. Analysts need to realize this is a very different game, on and off the field, than it was 20, 10, or even five years ago.

From last weekend’s slate: Georgia gave Alabama a much closer game than anticipated, but it’s worth noting that the score was not indicative of ‘Bama’s superiority. UGA needed to turn a blocked field goal into a touchdown to really be competitive, and until the Bulldogs’ last-gasp final drive they had been outgained by 200 yards in the contest. The Crimson Tide were clearly the better team.

The rest of the conference championships were just as thrilling (Big Ten title game notwithstanding). Florida State took its sweet time putting away Georgia Tech – no surprise there – and UCLA showed that, yeah, they might have sandbagged it last week against Stanford. Oklahoma pulled out a close win over TCU, only to have it all be for naught when K-State grabbed a closer-than-the-score showed win over Texas. Then there were the mid-major title games (Note: I’m including the Big East in this group).

The Conference USA Championship was appropriately thrilling and went to overtime following one of the most bizarre plays I’ve ever seen. Tulsa prevailed 33-27 after blocking UCF’s field goal attempt. The MAC Championship on Friday was equally as exciting, as Northern Illinois pulled out a double-OT win despite nearly handing the game back to Kent State. In the process the Huskies earned themselves a BCS berth.

What both of these contests showed, though, wasn’t that there are talented mid-major teams out there. We already knew that. Rather, it demonstrated just how small the gap is between those leagues and the Big East, which will lose the equivalent of automatic-qualifying status in 2014 and desperately needed to lose it three years ago. Watching the ugly slog that was Louisville’s 20-17 win over Rutgers, could anyone honestly say that it was a major-conference game? It sure felt like a battle between lower-level schools, which is one reason why I have no problem with NIU in the Orange Bowl. More on that later.

As for the rest of the roundup: there were a few blowouts and weird surprises Saturday, from Baylor’s upset of Oklahoma State to Cincinnati forcing a four-way tie for the Big East crown and Wisconsin hammering Nebraska to return to Rose Bowl. I had a feeling Wisconsin might win and said as much, but no one predicted anything quite like that. College football is crazy sometimes. The final game of the regular season is this week in Philadelphia, where we get Army versus Navy.

Top 25

1) Alabama

Apparently no force exists in football to stop this train. If ‘Bama takes out Notre Dame – and they’ll be favored – it would go down as one of the biggest wins of new millennium. USC and Miami (FL) dropped the ball at this threshold in 2005 and 2002, respectively. A Tide win would cement the team’s place as the dynasty of the 2010’s.

2) Notre Dame

It’s nice to not belong to a conference and miss out on a conference title game. Now the Irish must wait roughly five weeks to hear all about how they have no chance against bigger, stronger, faster Alabama. The precedent has been set for an upset here; a lot will depend on the work of Brian Kelly and his staff.

3) Oregon

The Ducks will likely finish second or third with another win. Standing in their way is the team presumed to be their partner in the BCS Championship, Kansas State. Oregon will be favored, but physical defenses have stung this team in the past. It will be interesting to see how UO attacks the Wildcats defense.

4) Florida

A brilliant defense and a cover-your-eyes offense… SEC teams really have figured this thing out. What’s scary is that this team was one Georgia meltdown from going 12-0. Every time I saw the Gators I wondered how they were winning, yet they, like Notre Dame, seemed to come up with one or two plays whenever needed.

5) LSU

After seeing the SEC Championship and remembering that this is indeed the nation’s best conference, I jumped the Tigers over Ohio State. The Buckeyes would have been bounced from the SEC race early. LSU is a very talented, very flawed team (not unlike Florida), but for all their foibles they’re still superior to OSU.

6) Ohio State

The Big Ten is so bad, we’ll never really know how good this team was. The lack of a bowl matchup against another elite team is a shame, though I think most people would expect the Buckeyes to get exposed in ugly fashion. At least Urban Meyer has something to build on for the future.

7) Kansas State

It was good to see KSU get rewarded for all its hard work with a BCS berth rather than an Oklahoma team that underachieved. Missing out on the BCS again would have been painful, particularly after being relegated to the Cotton Bowl last season. Oregon is a formidable foe, though.

8) South Carolina

The rule limiting the BCS to two teams from one conference was supposed to hurt Georgia because of how great the Bulldogs allegedly are, but how about the team that spanked them? I don’t care if half the team is on injured reserve; I watched that game and UGA isn’t in the same class as Carolina.

9) Stanford

Give the Tree credit for persevering through a silly championship game they, by all rights, shouldn’t have had to play. With that said, Stanford sure was lucky to escape UCLA Friday night. The game swung on a couple of huge plays; without them, the Cardinal would have been in the kind of hole their offense isn’t designed to climb out.

10) Texas A&M

Johnny Football is headed to New York and the Aggies are headed to the Cotton Bowl to face former league foe Oklahoma. A win here would sure make the Big 12 look bad. Heisman winners aren’t known for stellar bowl performances, though. I don’t think Manziel deserves the Heisman, but he’s probably the favorite.

11) Georgia

Georgia kept the game closer than expected, so I didn’t move them down. There’s not a real argument for them to be higher, though; there’s no denying the fact the Bulldogs lucked into their only good win of the season and lost to the other top teams they played. They’ve improved from last season, but not that much.

12) Oklahoma

All the whining about Oklahoma getting jobbed by the BCS… are ESPN’s analysts huge OU homers, or do they just have bad memories? Here’s what the average fan remembers about the Sooners’ BCS history: Losing two title games, losing to Boise State, losing to West Virginia, losing another title game. We’re supposed to feel bad for this program?

13) Oregon State

No, it wasn’t the Beavers’ 77-3 pasting of poor Nicholls State that compelled me to jump them up from 20^th. It was the overall body of work, along with several upsets and awful wins above them (looking at you, Florida State). OSU got a great draw and has a fantastic opportunity against Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

14) Florida State

I kind of like this Seminoles team and they’re much better than Georgia Tech, so I was actually rooting for them to beat my beloved Yellow Jackets. That is, until the fourth quarter, when FSU’s putrid play turned me spitefully against them. THAT’S how you play with a BCS berth on the line? Ugh.

15) Clemson

The best thing the ACC could have asked for was that Clemson not play this weekend, as the other two league members who got embarrassed by SEC rivals last week did a fair job of ruining the conference’s reputation further in the ACC title game. Of course, now the Tigers get LSU, so there’s trouble on the horizon again.

16) UCLA

Well, it was fairly obvious the Bruins didn’t give a full faith effort last week. Stanford seemed as shocked as everyone that UCLA wasn’t simply folding, and to be honest was quite lucky to not be in a must-throw situation the entire second half. The outcome was nothing to be ashamed of, but UCLA is in agony knowing that they played the better game.

17) Northern Illinois

You’ll notice I have the Huskies one spot out of BCS qualifying position. Fortunately, my vote doesn’t count, though I would have let this team be a BCS-buster too. I’ll get into specifics more later, but for now it’s enough to say that if Louisville is a BCS team, nothing should be complaining about NIU.

18) Nebraska

I would have dropped the Cornhuskers farther but there was eventually a floor they had to hit above the rest of the mid-majors. Giving up 70 points – and it could have been much more – is about the most embarrassing moment in this proud school’s history. When you consider that the Rose Bowl was on the line, it’s just baffling.

19) Utah State

It hurts to see such an interesting and quality team get stuck in one of the WAC’s awful postseason destinations, but such is life as a West Coast mid-major. This could very well go down as the Aggies greatest season ever, as huge step for a perennially downtrodden program.

20) Penn State

Outside of the pair of messy losses to open the season PSU was almost flawless. Bill O’Brien has been rightfully lauded for the impossible task he took on this year. Though darker days surely loom for a team in the Nittany Lions’ position, 2012 can only be seen as promising for putting the worst scandal in sports history firmly in the past.

21) Kent State

A BCS bowl would surely have been sweet. But Kent State is still going bowling for just the second time in history (and first in 40 years). The miraculous overtime finish in the MAC title game also obscured the fact that the Golden Flashes were vastly outplayed. NIU might have a chance in the Orange Bowl; Kent wouldn’t have.

22) San Jose State

Good to see another one of the little guys get a much-deserved bowl spot. The Spartans have only played in the postseason once since 1990 and were the dregs of the NCAA just two years ago, going 1-12. This season? 10-2, with losses to only the WAC and Pac-12 champions. Not too shabby.

23) Boise State

After winning the tiebreaker atop the Mountain West Boise gets to climb back into the rankings. Nothing about this team thrills you like the Kellen Moore squads of old, but another double-digit win season is impressive, considering how much the Broncos lost. Now… can they keep Chris Peterson?

24) Northwestern

It might seem strange to have the Wildcats above a Michigan team that defeated them, but Northwestern won one more game and had no business losing to the Wolverines; the tip ball that set up overtime in that game was one of the luckiest plays of the year. However, they’ll probably go out and get embarrassed against Mississippi State, because that’s what the Big Ten does.

25) Michigan

Speaking of embarrassing yourself against the SEC, guess who South Carolina is playing in the Outback Bowl? Yes, it’s Michigan, back in the rankings for the first time since the beginning of the year. To be fair, this isn’t a bad team, but it’s not a great one either, and playing in the woeful Big Ten won’t be nearly enough of a tune-up for the Gamecocks.

Pac-12 Report

I’ve already said my piece about the Pac-12 Championship. Safe to say, UCLA could have – and probably should have – won the game. The second-quarter pick-six that wasn’t was huge for Stanford; without it, the Bruins go up 21-7 and put a ton of pressure on the Cardinal passing attack in the second half. The miraculous touchdown that tied the game at 24-all was also a killer. Just one of those days where the ball didn’t bounce UCLA’s way.

With the bowl order now set, we can look ahead to the league’s chances in the postseason. The Pac-12’s weak bowl tie-ins usually hurt the conference, but in this case they could serve to elevate its reputation going into 2013. I’ll be back with more detailed analysis in my bowl preview, but it’s probably already safe to say that the majority of the conference’s teams will be favored. In particular, both the BCS participants (Stanford and Oregon) will absolutely be favored. There’s a lot of potential for the Pac-12 with these matchups.

Heisman Watch

I firmly believe that Marqise Lee is the best player in the country and a lot of analysts still agree with me. However, going 7-5 is inexcusable to a lot of Heisman voters, and as a result we’re going to see one of the strangest and most lackluster ceremonies in the award’s history, featuring a senior, a freshman and a linebacker.

Of the three finalists, I’d most prefer to see Collin Klein win. He had exactly one less than stellar game and is unquestionably the player most valuable to his team in all of college football. I made out my case against Manziel and Te’o last week; both guys are good players but neither should seriously be getting first-place votes. They wouldn’t have a chance if the Heisman establishment wasn’t so region-weighted. Manziel will carry Texas/the South, with Te’o taking the Midwest/old voters who want like Notre Dame. Klein’s biggest crime is playing at Kansas State, a traditional lightweight with little media buzz. What a system.

Random Thoughts and Observations

The move to 12 and 14-team conferences has been dizzying and strange. But imagine the difficulty in adjusting a schedule to account for 13 teams. That’s just what the MAC has had to do recently. It took me forever to work out, but this is how the league devised an eight-game schedule with uneven divisions: all six members of the six-team division (East) played the other five members of the East and three teams from the West. The seven-team division (West) had three members play the other six teams in the West and two inter-divisional games, while the other four members played five divisional games and three cross-division games with the East. What madman would want a 13-team league?

Speaking of the MAC, there was a lot of surprise and in some cases outrage when Northern Illinois was selected to the Orange Bowl. The usually (relatively) unbiased ESPN analysts tore the decision apart during the selection show, saying it was a crime that other quality teams like Georgia, Oklahoma and LSU were being left behind by this scourge of humanity that is the 2012 NIU Huskies. Well, they didn’t go quite that far, but it was close.

I found these arguments laughable and will now proceed to dismantle every one of them. Listen closely:

First, NIU was slammed for bumping out another “great” team. Well, everyone signed up to play by the same rules, and those rules say that only two teams from any conference can play in the BCS. Alabama and Florida are in. Sorry, rest of the SEC. You knew what you had to do, and you didn’t get it done. This was going to happen anyway. Who exactly are the Huskies cheating here? Oklahoma? Clemson? The Sooners have won one BCS game in the last decade, and it was a game nobody wanted to see against 8-4 Big East champ Connecticut. America is sick of seeing the OU flop on the big stage. As for Clemson, I think the last two weeks proved pretty conclusively that the ACC shouldn’t be getting more than one team in the BCS.

The second argument is that Northern Illinois, with its weak conference, didn’t play enough good opponents to earn a BCS berth. This argument is threefold. First, it says that playing in the MAC should be reason enough to bar the Huskies. Well, this might come as a shock to some people, but the MAC is the best mid-major conference in the country. The only league with an argument is the Mountain West, but while the top of the MWC is great, it lacks the depth of the MAC. Both of those conferences, by the way, are ranked ahead of the AQ-status Big East, which gets an automatic bid to the BCS. If Louisville is getting in, NIU should get in.

The second part of the strength-of-schedule argument says that the previous BCS busters were more worthy because they all went undefeated. Yes, the Huskies have a loss, but the fact that they still made the BCS speaks much more to the declining quality of college football this season than anything else. Previous BCS busters HAD to go undefeated to stand a chance. Because of their work, people have become more accepting of mid-majors, boosting those schools’ poll positioning. If the Big East, ACC and Big Ten weren’t so terrible, NIU wouldn’t have gotten a shot.

Finally, there’s the notion that all the previous BCS busting-teams not only went undefeated, but also had quality wins out-of-conference that made them worthy. ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit (who is normally very good) claimed as much during his indignant rant during the selection show. I’m sure he believed what he was saying was true; unfortunately, this is a subject where it’s not good to challenge me: college football history. That’s why I have to offer an equally indignant “Au contraire” to Herbstreit.

Several of the BCS busters played absolutely nobody during the regular season. That’s why it was controversial they were selected. In fact, it happened as recently as 2010: TCU’s Rose Bowl Champion team beat exactly one good team before that game (fellow mid-major Utah, who went 10-3). What’s impressive about that? The 2004 Utah squad’s (the original BCS busters) best win was over a 7-5 Texas A&M team. Are we to believe THAT got the Utes to the Fiesta Bowl? How about that legendary Boise State team of 2006? Their best win was over a four-loss Oregon State team. What about 2007 Hawai’i? Their only impressive victory was over 10-3 Boise State. Shall I continue?

In truth, only the 2008 Utah and 2009 TCU teams really faced a gauntlet of good opponents, and in both cases it wasn’t because the programs had scheduled aggressively. There just happened to be other quality teams in the Mountain West in those years. Northern Illinois is worthy of the BCS because the downturns in major conferences allowed the Huskies a foot in the door and they took advantage. Don’t blame them for getting a small break in a system that so blatantly favors the major conferences it’s been subject to antitrust lawsuits. Be happy that the little guys get a chance once more.

The bowl preview is next week. Go Huskies.