CURIOUS INDEX 1/9/08
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Plus one, minus two. In the wake of a self-esteem promoting finish to the college football season–you know, where everyone’s number one, and we all win and no one’s feelings are hurt–Pete Thamel’s piece reiterates what you already know, which is that a plus-one is as close as you can get the herd of cats to come, and even then you’ve got the mysterious powers of the Rose Bowl keeping the Big Ten and the Pac-10 in thrall. What the hell do they have? The Philosopher’s Stone? Hitler’s brain in a jar, pulling the strings behind the scenes? The Ark of the Covenant, where they invite Mike Slive, John Swofford, and Bernie Machen into a room before pulling the lid and melting off their faces and their will to have a proper championship game? Heah’s Missah Cahh-ville staying on message about the BCS. He hates the Rose Bowl. He hates the Rose Bowl. He hates the Rose Bowl. Carville, in case you did not know is an LSU grad and rabid Tiger fan. (Note: things we never hope to run into ever for any reason: a rabid Tiger.) Carville is also dangerously sexy, so if you just watched this and drove the passenger jet into the ground because you were so aroused, we’re deeply sorry. We’d apologize, but you’re dead now, and probably shouldn’t have been checking a blog while piloting a jet anyway. Ratings are down across the board for the BCS and for college football bowls in general. The lone exception is the Capital One Bowl. The strong national attention paid to Florida being set on fire only reinforces the theory that America loves to watch Florida disasters, as also evidenced by strong ratings for disasters like Hurricane Andrew, the 2000 elections, and Florida Gators’ football ratings from 2002-2004. Tom Lemming, ever the starlet to Notre Dame’s cigar-chomping producer. According to Tom Lemming, Notre Dame! (slurp) has the number one (slurp) recruiting class in the (slurp) country! According to Notre Dame officials, Lemming was young, he was innocent, and he was the best piece of ass they’ve ever had. And they’ve had ‘em all over the world!
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51
Mr Pelican Pants says:
#50
No we will play anyone anywhere, period. The nancys in the PAC-10 and the Big 10 dont want a playoff because of the frickin Rose Bowl tie in , which they fear they will lose…..The SEC bows to no one….they are saying—hey they dont want to play in the games that matters and play in that Rose Bowl pity party? Fine, let em rot in it, the rest of college football will be doing a playoff while you two conferences sit around comparing floats……….
January 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
52
Big 11 Blows says:
@ Crabapple Buck
I am immuned.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:58 am
53
DCDawg says:
Did anyone else notice that “Orson Swindle” was quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today regarding McCain’s victory in New Hampshire. Now we know where Orson was yesterday…
January 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
54
Will (the other one) says:
Prior to the bowl games, the number of out-of-conference wins against BCS conference teams by the Big Televen=zero. None, nada.
To their credit, Meatchicken actually scheduled a good OOC BCS team…and promptly found themselves down 4 TDs by halftime.
Will the Big Televen get better? Sure. They were equal or maybe even better than the SEC in the very late 90s-early 200s (think back to when Saban was at MichSt and NW and Winsconsin would flukely get to the Rose Bowl thanks to the ineptitude of OSU’s coach.) At the time Bama under Mike DuBose won the SEC, UT started their slide from Manning/98-title dominance, and SOS spent more time golfing and less time recruiting. Meanwhile, UGA was still coached by Jim Donnan, Hal Mumme was at UK, and Jackie Sherril cheated MSU to a few 9 win seasons.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
55
justanotherbuckye says:
#51
“No we will play anyone anywhere”
Such conviction, yet no proof.
A playoff takes all those southern bowl games you all love winning so much and puts them in places like Missouri, Chicago, Ann Arbor, College Station. I, for one, and all for it.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
56
gosouthgohard says:
#54
Chicago? Whose home turf is Chicago? Do you expect Northwestern to suddenly get a lot better?
January 9th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
57
bonden says:
Is the “Rose Bowl question” really that hard?
Look at the ratings again. The top two TV-audience bowls were the two that featured traditional rivalries at traditional times: Rose (B10 #1/Pac10 #1) and Citrus (B10 #2/SEC #2). The Citrus, a non-BCS bowl aired in the afternoon, outdrew the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar. The Rose dominated the ratings war despite a matchup that no one thought would be close — and a completely crappy game, to boot.
If you are the Rose, do you have any reason to listen to what the other BCS bowls have to say about making money? I would think that the better route would be to copy the Rose and Citrus — lock in traditional matchups for the long term.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
58
Beatuofa says:
Hey I’ve got an idea…since the SEC doesn’t really believe that anyone else in the country plays “real” college football anyways, why don’t they just secede from the NCAA and declare whoever wins their conference to be national champion? One great big southern circle jerk where they all tell each other how fantastic they are, while the rest of the country goes about our business. Would fit right in with the mindless provincialism they seem to be so good at anyways.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
59
D-nice says:
“Chicago? Whose home turf is Chicago? Do you expect Northwestern to suddenly get a lot better?”
Notre Dame (if they ever return to glory) would be huge in Chicago.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
60
Chg says:
58- Your post makes no sense. If you were talking to a fanbase that has obvious delusions of grandeur like Ohio State, fine. Given the SEC’s dominance in the BCS title games, people would definitely notice if they weren’t there.
FWIW, we generally believe our conference champ is the best in the country regardless. That tends to happen when your conference champ always wins when given the opportunity to prove itself the best.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
61
Chg says:
11- Lesser bowls? Screw the Rose Bowl. Kids across the South grow up dreaming of playing in the Sugar Bowl. If you’ve paid attention, you’ll notice that kids from the South are pretty decent at college football.
If the BCS dumped the Rose Bowl and ESPN/ABC won the new contract, Southern Cal/Michigan/Ohio State would eventually cave and come crawling back to the fold.
The fact that ABC/ESPN holds the contract through ‘14 is the only thing giving them any leverage whatsoever. They would follow Tyson into Bolivian if the Mouse didn’t have the financial incentive to protect their investment by pumping up whichever team is on the path to Pasadena.
The Rose Bowl put up good ratings because it was the only game on during the prime traditional Jan 1 viewing hours, and it was promoed non-stop by ESPN during every other bowl.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
62
beckett929 says:
#57 – The Rose drew the biggest ratings because the rest of the BCS games werent on that day/time… they were going up against a Gator Bowl featuring two teams that I think were 7 wins a piece (7 does get you the #2 bowl in the ACC, right?).. right after a Cotton Bowl ass-schalacking that no doubt left alot of fans ready to go out and do something with their lives, and also after a Michigan/Florida game that was surprisingly very good…. So of course it drew a big number… unoppossed, traditional time slot… Big 10 fans everywhere up north PRAYING they didnt get embarrassed again… The fact is if the rest of the games were on the same day… thatd be about the 10th most interesting matchup, plain and simple…
January 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
63
decemberist says:
If Beano Cook was still alive, he would resent Tom Lemming’s Irish-piece-of-ass status.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
64
beckett929 says:
I’d also like to point out that the BCS games on fox ended around midnight or shortly there after. Thats asking a large commitment on a short work week for alot of fans…
January 9th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
65
SpartanDan says:
Enough with the ignorant Big Ten bashing already. Yes, the conference was down this year. That’s not going to last forever.
And no, Will, the number of other-BCS-conference wins prior to bowl season was not zero. Not even close, as a matter of fact – OSU beat Washington, Illinois and Iowa beat Syracuse, Wisconsin beat Wazzu, four teams beat Notre Dame [I know, not technically a BCS conference team, and they sucked this year ... but 4 for 4 is a hell of a lot better than the Pac-10's 1 for 3 against them], MSU beat Pitt. That’s five wins not even counting Notre Dame.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
66
Thundersnatch says:
#64, I’d also like to point out that the BCS games were on fucking FOX. I actually turned down the audio with 8 minutes left in the 1st quarter.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
67
beckett929 says:
Thundersnatch (very kickass name by the way)
I have to agree with ya on that on… OMG I was almost ready to check ESPN Radio in hopes Pam Ward was doing the simulcast
January 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
68
Edsall is God says:
The Big Ten & Pac-10 would make more money from sending their champions (only their champions, no Illinois) to the Rose Bowl every year because ESPN/ABC would pay millions to air it and they’d almost always have one of the top two teams. And big name teams too. You don’t think ESPN/ABC would have liked these matchups…
2003: Michigan/USC
2004: Michigan/USC
2005: Penn State/USC
2006: Ohio State/USC
2007: Ohio State/USC
That’s why the Rose Bowl and the conferences ain’t giving it up. More $$$$ to be made. The Rose Bowl already gets the highest, non-title game ratings and would get higher (see 2003 season) ratings if even a split-title is on the line.
That’s why the only plus-one model that will work is the traditional tie-ins with a game afterwards. And I would like that better than what we have now or a playoff.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
69
Edsall is God says:
65- The Big Ten has been, and will be, Ohio State, Michigan and everyone else. So if those two teams struggle (and you can’t say Michigan didn’t struggle this year) the league is bad.
It’s just like the Pac-10…if it weren’t for USC ruling the world, they’d get bashed too. It’s not like the Pac-10 is all that great but USC is so damn good, everyone gives them a pass. Much like the Big East getting a pass this year because West Virginia killed OU.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
70
Lawrence Ross says:
Has anyone thought that we might have misinterpreted Charlie Weis? When he was talking about a “schematic advantage”, I think he was really talking about the Nutrasystem “glycemic advantage”. Either way, neither worked well for him.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
71
bonden says:
The “Rose Bowl question” has nothing to do with the Mouse or with midnight games (which don’t seem to be an issue for Monday Night Football, after all). It’s the highest-rated game every year because the most people want to watch it. If other bowls thought that they could draw better ratings in the early evening on January 1, they would broadcast then. They don’t think that, and never have.
The Rose has the most consistent, and largest, crowds, ratings and (in the old days, at least) purses. It’s kind of hard to fault them for their reluctance to give up a formula that works on the advice of others whose formulas haven’t worked nearly as well.
The more interesting thing this year is that the Citrus out-rated all of the prime-time bowls. The Citrus has an unusually favorable matchup, of course, but it tells me something about the national market for college football when two traditional 9-4 teams outdraw 11-2 teams playing in bigger venues at more prestigous times.
Go for the tradition, college football. +1 or +3 after that.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
72
Andy says:
Apparently Scout.com (slurp!) and Rivals.com (slurp!) agree with Lemming.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
73
PorTrojan says:
A plus one would be great, even if one or two teams get left out every other year. If you do an 8 team playoff, the first round would have to be at the higher seed’s home. The only issue I have with an 8 team playoff is that it will make so much money that it will be expanded to a 16 team playoff thus truly diluting the regular season.
I’ve been to five Rose Bowls and I love it, but fuck’em if they don’t want to join the 21st century.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
74
Edsall is God says:
73 – If that Illinois WR doesn’t fumble and the Illini make it 21-17…none of this Rose Bowl bashing happens.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
75
beckett929 says:
If ‘ifs’ and ‘but’ were candy and nuts….
Look man, Illinois wouldve just found another way to blow it… I hate that shit.. ‘If we did THIS on one play’… its part of the game that everything doesnt go according to plan..
And most MNF games are over by 11:30, and theyre once a week… secondly I mentioned that it was a short *work week*… so asking a professional, who had monday and tuesday off, to show up and try to cram a week’s worth of work into 3 days while also staying up late to watch 2 non-contests and a game with two teams that dont exactly spark a tingle in your naughty football parts, is a bit much…
January 9th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
76
Futbawl Fan says:
let me just remind you what you end up with when you open the pandora’s box called “playoffs”
make it a “+1″ system and at least 4 teams protest they “was screwed”
make it a “4 team” contest and you get 8 teams saying they should have been there because they beat one of the teams that made it
make it an “8 team” playoff, and the next thing you know we will all be kissing words like “SEC” and “Big Televen” goodbye forever… and hello “Southeast Region”, “Northeast”, “Southwest” and “Northwest”… some ass clown may make up creative names(like ‘Microsoft Conference” and “Walmart Conference”), but we will all join in an NFL-like bracketing scheme.
Then comes regional playoffs and a final game rotating into a stadium willing to pay the most… as it should be… and when the Alaska Malamutes go to play the Havana Jefes in the national championship game there will STILL be at least 2-4 teams sayin “we wuz robbed” for some reason or another… only NCAA wins, they put kleenex boxes filled with 20’s in the bathroom to wipe their keisters with because when you make big money like they do it just don’t mean the same as it used to
Amen
January 9th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
77
Last Dragon says:
#76 – I’ll take my chances considering the clusterfuck we had this year. Seed the 4 BCS games. Take the winners and move on. You’ll still have people arguing over who was left out. But how many times is #8 going to win anyways? I’d rather be bitching about who was #8 than who was #3.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
78
Edsall is God says:
77 – Appartently you don’t follow college basketball when the teams left out (66th and worse) throw hissy fits and Dick Vitale’s head explodes. Multiply that by a billion if there’s a four-team playoff.
I mean, you think the talk is bad now? Imagine a four-team playoff without USC, Georgia and West Virginia, as would have happened this year? I could see riots, I could see ESPN imploding, it just would not be good.
I just have to ask: how did college football exist for a century with just a mythical national champion? Is it a split championship REALLY the end of the world? Why can’t we just enjoy the games anymore?
January 9th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
79
beckett929 says:
I dont see any credence to a split championship if we move to a +1 and USC/Big Ten decide not to play… I mean really… I can start a magazine and give out a national title too, does it count for shit, no! I never understood the split title concept, especially when LSU got robbed a couple years ago. The NCAA put their horses in the BCS race… and THAT champion is the true national champion, no matter how its decided.
Fuck I hate the AP poll…
January 9th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
80
beckett929 says:
And is an ‘NFL’ bracket system with conference and divisional winners playing for a championship really worse than what we have! I mean holy hell, at least then theres absolutely no subjectivity to it… you win or you dont… noone gives a shit that the Vikings were playing great down the stretch, they still didnt make the playoffs, because, OMG, september actually matters!
January 9th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
81
You Are Tebows' Lunch says:
#78
I’m with you…
Everyone relax…and if there is a split champion that’ll give an extra fan base braggin rights for a year.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
82
Last Dragon says:
#78 – I do follow college hoops. And every year when teams bitch about getting left out, most people don’t care. Because none of those teams were going to win it all anyways. That was my point. I’d rather be arguing over who’s #8 than who’s #3. #8 isn’t going to end up champion regardless.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
83
John says:
Even with the potential controversies that might arise with a four team playoff, it would make sure that an Auburn-2004 situation would never happen again. Unless you were to have five undefeated major conference teams.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
84
Mr Pelican Pants says:
Let Vegas seed the teams….should be done by point spreads anyway…..no more layoffs, just keep playing, like a tough man contest….the team with the most depth and talent will win out
January 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
85
Mr Pelican Pants says:
Oh and Cah-ville goin off on Corso is a classic……is it me or did Lee Corso have plastic surgery to look MORE like a Cabbage Patch kid? I swear , looks like they purposely are trying to draw his eyes in ever closer together while making his cheeks larger and flatter…..
Plus, Carville looks like he should be some sort of half man/half reptile/fish/alien guy off of Star Trek or Deep Space Nine
January 10th, 2008 at 11:05 am
86
Georgia Dept. of Ed. says:
SpartanDan,
Those out-of-conference victories you cite are merely disputed theories, much like evolution.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm