LOVED BAMA'S DEFENSIVE EFFORT BUT C'MON THIS SELECTION PROCESS MUST CHANGE
I'm about to start ranting & raving, so you've been warned. I predicted an LSU victory, but it's not the first time I was wrong. I had no wager on the game, so what you're about to read is straight from the heart.
Here's what I took away from tonight's BCS Championship game, Alabama appears to have a great defense. I say appears because watching the LSU offense was painful. The play calling went from so-so to absolutely ridiculous. The QB play exhibited by Jordan Jefferson was so completely inept, I wonder how this team won 12-games. Oh yeah, LSU has a great defense as well. They had good special teams but after what I watched tonight it's hard to decipher exactly what happened. It was the old "chicken before the egg" question. Was the Alabama defense that great or was LSU's offensive effort unbelievably lame? Like all questions that have a wide range of answers, I'd say it landed somewhere in the middle. Bama's defense was pretty great & LSU's offensive effort(including the coaching) was pretty awful. How many downfield throws did you see Jefferson make? You're down 15-0, at what point do you start taking a few chances? Everything was wide receiver screens for 2-yards or less. The offensive play calling was as unimaginative as it could possibly be. Did you ever think LSU was going to score? Hell with that, did you ever think LSU was going to cross Bama's 40-yardline? I never got that feeling.
Honestly, did you enjoy this game? I'm not a video game player or fantasy football guy, so I don't need Alamo Bowl-like stats to enjoy a football game. By the same token, I'm not interested in watching a game that drags offensive football & most fans back to the 1950's kicking & screaming. LSU amassed 92-yards of total offense & only crossed midfield one time in the game. Five first downs, five! These two teams went over 117-minutes in two games before anyone scored a touchdown. Sorry, I'm not buying into the "greatest defense in the history of college football" spin I began to hear & read after the game. Exactly 2 weeks after the November 5th 9-6 overtime snorefest, the "greatest defense ever" surrendered 21-points & 302-yards rushing to Division 1AA Georgia Southern in Tuscaloosa. So Georgia Southern has a better offense than LSU? Come to think of it, they probably do. Georgia Southern is strictly a running team, they're truly one-dimensional. So how did the "greatest defense ever" give up 302-yards on the ground to a much smaller team with no passing attack? Did you hear about the Ga. Southern game anytime during the season or in the run-up to this game? Hell no, it kinds wrecks the narrative the BCS & media want to project.
You know what cracked me up? That Bama QB A.J. McCarron was named offensive MVP. He completed 23 of 34 for 234-yards, he didn't throw a touchdown, he didn't run for one & he didn't lead his team inside the LSU 15-yardline & for that he's the MVP? The reason he got it instead of placekicker Jeremy Shelley was obvious. The BCS doesn't want this game to be remembered for field goals, but with Shelley kicking 5, how is he not the MVP? The voting media wants to justify their month-long hype this was going to be an epic matchup, it was gonna be Godfather II. Sadly, it was more like Jurassic Park II. In the end we can't have too much attention paid to a field goal kicker, it detracts from such spin.
Question; how many bowl teams were held to less than 10-points? In 35 bowl games, two teams failed to score 10 or more points, Pitt was held to 6 by SMU(my God, they must have a fabulous defense) & LSU tonight. I guess we're supposed to feel lucky we got one dose of "Big Boy Football' as it's referred to in SEC country. I'm already hearing "well they probably would've shut out Okie State, Stanford or Oregon too." Sorry, I'm not buying it, I'd bet a lot of money they wouldn't shut out any of those teams. There are some pundits & writers who are really full of themselves right now & liable to say about anything. I'm not saying Bama couldn't beat any or all of them, they probably could, but they're not throwing a shutout, which might mean a game that would be worth watching.
Did you catch some of the player interviews after the game? I'm guessing a lot of English professors had never seen a lot of these kids in their classrooms. We should forget the charade of the "student athlete' at least in the better football schools of the SEC. With Mizzou & Texas A&M joining next season, it effectively doubles the SEC's number of Association of American Universities (a group of schools with fairly high academic standards) members to a total of four(Florida & Vanderbilt).
College hockey, basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, volleyball, golf & soccer have their champions decided by a playoff. So does Division 1AA, Division II & III football. Only Division I football & maybe ice skating, has such a ridiculous system. The reason for it is really quite simple, money. The bowl committees scare the crap out of the spineless academics running the universities. It's also the reason for conference realignment. They're scared they won't have enough money to field the women's field hockey team, so just move the whole shebang to another conference where you can squeeze another $2 million out of the football program. Rivalries & tradition be damned, the school presidents couldn't care less.
The BCS is the sum of 8 parts, 6 computer rankings, the Harris interactive poll & the USA Today Coaches Poll. You know the coaches poll where the coaches don't even vote? Yes, most coaches don't even fill out their own ballots Sunday morning. Their administrative assistant, a team manager or someone from the sports information office does it. How many games other than their own does a college football coach watch? I'm going to point out just how ridiculous these polls are. The final USA Today Coaches Poll is already in, LSU is #2 in the final poll. The team that was shutout, couldn't manage more than 100-yards of total offense & just 5 first downs, is the #2 team in the country. Of course they're a member of the SEC, which makes it alright. There are so many things wrong with these polls I don't know where to start. Four-loss Clemson finished the season at #22, hot off their 70-33 Orange Bowl humiliation. Of course Clemson ripped Virginia Tech not once, but twice, by a combined score of 61-13. Va Tech finished #17 after also losing their BCS Bowl game.
Eleven conference commissioners will meet on Tuesday in New Orleans to discuss possibly changing the BCS system. My money is on nothing changing, it's just too easy to stay with the status quo even if it's wildly unfair. Even if they're presented with a possible playoff scenario that could increase everyone's football revenues by 30%. They like the bowls, there's no risk, they like the bowl trips, like the red carpet treatment, like the guaranteed money.
O.K. I'm done, I had to get it off my chest. Sandy K. of Camdenton won tonight's "Predict the Score Contest' from the radio show. Her prediction of Bama 17 LSU 9 was closest to the actual score. Congrats Sandy, it does pay off to keep calling. We'll talk to you next Monday night.
Here's what I took away from tonight's BCS Championship game, Alabama appears to have a great defense. I say appears because watching the LSU offense was painful. The play calling went from so-so to absolutely ridiculous. The QB play exhibited by Jordan Jefferson was so completely inept, I wonder how this team won 12-games. Oh yeah, LSU has a great defense as well. They had good special teams but after what I watched tonight it's hard to decipher exactly what happened. It was the old "chicken before the egg" question. Was the Alabama defense that great or was LSU's offensive effort unbelievably lame? Like all questions that have a wide range of answers, I'd say it landed somewhere in the middle. Bama's defense was pretty great & LSU's offensive effort(including the coaching) was pretty awful. How many downfield throws did you see Jefferson make? You're down 15-0, at what point do you start taking a few chances? Everything was wide receiver screens for 2-yards or less. The offensive play calling was as unimaginative as it could possibly be. Did you ever think LSU was going to score? Hell with that, did you ever think LSU was going to cross Bama's 40-yardline? I never got that feeling.
Honestly, did you enjoy this game? I'm not a video game player or fantasy football guy, so I don't need Alamo Bowl-like stats to enjoy a football game. By the same token, I'm not interested in watching a game that drags offensive football & most fans back to the 1950's kicking & screaming. LSU amassed 92-yards of total offense & only crossed midfield one time in the game. Five first downs, five! These two teams went over 117-minutes in two games before anyone scored a touchdown. Sorry, I'm not buying into the "greatest defense in the history of college football" spin I began to hear & read after the game. Exactly 2 weeks after the November 5th 9-6 overtime snorefest, the "greatest defense ever" surrendered 21-points & 302-yards rushing to Division 1AA Georgia Southern in Tuscaloosa. So Georgia Southern has a better offense than LSU? Come to think of it, they probably do. Georgia Southern is strictly a running team, they're truly one-dimensional. So how did the "greatest defense ever" give up 302-yards on the ground to a much smaller team with no passing attack? Did you hear about the Ga. Southern game anytime during the season or in the run-up to this game? Hell no, it kinds wrecks the narrative the BCS & media want to project.
You know what cracked me up? That Bama QB A.J. McCarron was named offensive MVP. He completed 23 of 34 for 234-yards, he didn't throw a touchdown, he didn't run for one & he didn't lead his team inside the LSU 15-yardline & for that he's the MVP? The reason he got it instead of placekicker Jeremy Shelley was obvious. The BCS doesn't want this game to be remembered for field goals, but with Shelley kicking 5, how is he not the MVP? The voting media wants to justify their month-long hype this was going to be an epic matchup, it was gonna be Godfather II. Sadly, it was more like Jurassic Park II. In the end we can't have too much attention paid to a field goal kicker, it detracts from such spin.
Question; how many bowl teams were held to less than 10-points? In 35 bowl games, two teams failed to score 10 or more points, Pitt was held to 6 by SMU(my God, they must have a fabulous defense) & LSU tonight. I guess we're supposed to feel lucky we got one dose of "Big Boy Football' as it's referred to in SEC country. I'm already hearing "well they probably would've shut out Okie State, Stanford or Oregon too." Sorry, I'm not buying it, I'd bet a lot of money they wouldn't shut out any of those teams. There are some pundits & writers who are really full of themselves right now & liable to say about anything. I'm not saying Bama couldn't beat any or all of them, they probably could, but they're not throwing a shutout, which might mean a game that would be worth watching.
Did you catch some of the player interviews after the game? I'm guessing a lot of English professors had never seen a lot of these kids in their classrooms. We should forget the charade of the "student athlete' at least in the better football schools of the SEC. With Mizzou & Texas A&M joining next season, it effectively doubles the SEC's number of Association of American Universities (a group of schools with fairly high academic standards) members to a total of four(Florida & Vanderbilt).
College hockey, basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, volleyball, golf & soccer have their champions decided by a playoff. So does Division 1AA, Division II & III football. Only Division I football & maybe ice skating, has such a ridiculous system. The reason for it is really quite simple, money. The bowl committees scare the crap out of the spineless academics running the universities. It's also the reason for conference realignment. They're scared they won't have enough money to field the women's field hockey team, so just move the whole shebang to another conference where you can squeeze another $2 million out of the football program. Rivalries & tradition be damned, the school presidents couldn't care less.
The BCS is the sum of 8 parts, 6 computer rankings, the Harris interactive poll & the USA Today Coaches Poll. You know the coaches poll where the coaches don't even vote? Yes, most coaches don't even fill out their own ballots Sunday morning. Their administrative assistant, a team manager or someone from the sports information office does it. How many games other than their own does a college football coach watch? I'm going to point out just how ridiculous these polls are. The final USA Today Coaches Poll is already in, LSU is #2 in the final poll. The team that was shutout, couldn't manage more than 100-yards of total offense & just 5 first downs, is the #2 team in the country. Of course they're a member of the SEC, which makes it alright. There are so many things wrong with these polls I don't know where to start. Four-loss Clemson finished the season at #22, hot off their 70-33 Orange Bowl humiliation. Of course Clemson ripped Virginia Tech not once, but twice, by a combined score of 61-13. Va Tech finished #17 after also losing their BCS Bowl game.
Eleven conference commissioners will meet on Tuesday in New Orleans to discuss possibly changing the BCS system. My money is on nothing changing, it's just too easy to stay with the status quo even if it's wildly unfair. Even if they're presented with a possible playoff scenario that could increase everyone's football revenues by 30%. They like the bowls, there's no risk, they like the bowl trips, like the red carpet treatment, like the guaranteed money.
O.K. I'm done, I had to get it off my chest. Sandy K. of Camdenton won tonight's "Predict the Score Contest' from the radio show. Her prediction of Bama 17 LSU 9 was closest to the actual score. Congrats Sandy, it does pay off to keep calling. We'll talk to you next Monday night.
Sorry man I couldn't disagree with you more. You say last nights game dragged offensive football back to the 50s and you don't need video game like play to keep your interest. Well here's a new flash, the video game generation that also plays fantasy football is the generation advertisers target. You can't deny that.
That game last night was unwatchable for me and millions like me. Better get used to it, the type of boring-ass football the SEC plays will eventually die. The Big-12 and PAC-12 will have a leg up on the next 20-years of college football.
Reply to this
There could very well be a lot of truth in what you just said.
Reply to this
Rich,
There's something to Jake's comment. I thought the game was horrible, I never doze off watching a big game but my girlfriend kept nudging me awake the entire 2nd half. It plain sucked and maybe some of us who really love football, love it because of games like the Alamo, Fiesta and Rose Bowls. Not every game had to have 60-80 points scored to be exciting, but there was nothing exciting about that game last night. Unless of course you're one of those Bama goobers who can't take much visual or intellectual stimulation.
Reply to this
I just got hooked up with this blog & I was liking it until you dissed me & my people, gamers. I can assure you I know my congressman, senators, mayor & all about alot of topics. \Being a gamer doesn't make me a stupid slacker with A.D.D.
Because of the multi-tasking many of us are capable of, we like a lot of stimulation, that game last night was not it. Surely that's the normal reaction & not just from gamers.
Reply to this
Dokie,
If you'll reread my post, you'll see I wasn't "dissing" gamers, I was acknowledging the fact gamers & fantasy players prefer more stimulating games. That's not to mean you're stupid, it means you're wanting more. Nothing wrong with that. I'm just an old guy who watches 5-games at once, talk about stimulating.
Reply to this
Rich, I agree with every word you wrote! My chin hit the floor when McCarron was announced MVP rather than Shelley. At less than 70% completions, less than 7 yards per attempt and no touchdowns, it was a mediocre game for McCarron. Shelley on the other hand accounted for all 15 points until the last 5 minutes of last night's game, and 21 of the 27 points scored against LSU this year. Maybe missing the PAT cost him the MVP. I also agree with your point regarding a playoff system for Div 1. If every other division and the NFL can do it, so can NCAA D-1.
Reply to this