West Coast Bias

West Coast Bowl Wrap

It's been late in coming, but we thought we'd rank the best West Coast teams this year, based largely on the way they punctuated this season with remarkable bowl games.

1. Boise State-Fiesta Bowl.  (Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42)  Yes, even though the century is only on its eighth year, the Fiesta Bowl will forever remain the Game of the Century.  We'll even say that the 2007 Fiesta bowl was possibly the best game ever played at the college level.  The David-Goliath element cannot be emphasized enough, and the so-called "trick plays" (shouldn't every play involve some level of 'trickery'?) were amazing in their acrobatic precision, but at its core this was a battle of two great teams.  Evident in the final rankings, the AP writers and Mark Mays of the football punditry class have found ways to dismiss Boise State's Fiesta Bowl win--apparently their bold predictions of an Oklahoma blowout can now safely be flushed down the memory hole.  Boise State was certainly one of the best teams in the country, if not THE best, and who can argue that Boise State would have fared worse than Ohio State in the title game?  We think Boise State proved that they deserved a title shot.  Can a Bronco get a playoff?

2. USC-Rose Bowl. (USC 32, Michigan 18)  The lone caveat to the Trojans' slaughter of the overrated Michigan Wolverines is that Michigan was, well, overrated.  And with Ohio State's pathetic showing in the title game it's fair to say that the Big Ten wasn't exactly an elite conference this year.  That said, USC played a hell of a game.  The biggest notable improvement was the Trojan's offensive line which completely buckled in their previous trip to the Rose Bowl.  John David Booty turned in a good game, but it helps to be throwing to Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith.  National title metrics aside, a USC-Florida Rose Bowl would have been a better game than what the two Big Ten losers provided.

3. BYU-Las Vegas Bowl. (BYU 38, Oregon 8)  Beating up on Oregon was not a rare experience this year.  Cal did it, USC did it--hell, even Arizona did it.  Of course, BYU's margin of victory bested any of Oregon's Pac-10 rivals, and it could have been a lot uglier: young coach Bronco Mendenhall is loathe to kick a guy when he's down--especially when that guy set you up for your head coaching job.  Jeff Beck and Johnny Harline finish up their college careers like the offensive gods they've been all year, but the real heroes were on defense which held Oregon to a single (accidental) touchdown late in the game.  Bronco swapped his innovative but largely ineffective 3-3-5 defenses for a 3-4 defense this year and suddenly they have a great team.  It's really a shame that BYU didn't get a more high profile bowl game with a more worthy opponent in a year when they could have beat anyone in the country.

4. Cal-Holiday Bowl. (California 45, Texas A&M 10) Cal capped a seemingly wishy-washy season with a win so big we're starting to think that this may have been the best Cal football team in 50 years, even if the play-calling didn't always match the talent.  The 2004 team went 10-1 throughout the regular season, with their only loss a close one to the eventual National Champion.  However, they crapped out an embarassing loss to the 4th best team in the Big XII that year.  This year Cal shared in the Pac-10 title and blistered the 3rd best Big XII team in the widest margin of victory in any bowl game played this season.  Credit that last touchdown to 3rd string QB Steve Levy whose decision to go for a touchdown instead of taking a knee in the closing seconds of the game angered Coach Tedford.  We love Tedford and all that he has done for Cal, but what does it say about a coach who is more concerned about the feelings of a competing coach than the brief moments of glory for kids who have sat on the bench for four years?  If you were a hot high school recruit, would you want to play for a coach like that?  It ain't sportsmanship to cuss out your players for having the audacity to want to play.

5. Hawaii-Aloha Bowl. (Hawaii 41, Arizona State 24)  With both Troy Smith and Brady Quinn ending their college careers with embarassing performances in their most important games, how mad should Colt Brennan be that he lost out on all the major quarterback awards to these two washouts?  Brennan threw for five touchdowns against a pathetic Arizona State team that would have had an epic season if, say, they played in the Big Ten.  Brennan is more than just a system quarterback, but his receiving corps is probably the most talented bunch this side of USC.  This team should be knocking on the BCS door come next season.

6. TCU-Poinsettia Bowl. (Texas Christian 37, Northern Illinois 7)  TCU had a great season with only two losses, even if both of them were lopsided and embarrassing.  But a year with 11 wins and yet another Big XII notch in your bedpost is still pretty great.  The Horned Frogs tagged their Northern Illinois opponents in a beating bigger and uglier than what Ohio State managed to do to the Huskies at the start of the season.  That dominant TCU defense will mostly remain intact for next season, so expect some sparks at the top of the Mountain West.

7. Oregon State-Sun Bowl. (Oregon State 39, Missouri 38)  Credit Missouri for such a close game, but this should have been an easy win for the only other team to beat USC this year.  In the preseason publications Oregon State was picked by nearly everyone to finish dead last in the Pac-10 this year, and after two humiliating losses to Boise State and Cal these Beavers seemed hell-bent on proving everyone right.  Luckily, they pulled their season around in an astounding way.  This was never a great team, but they seemed to always do just enough to win.

8. Nevada-MPC Computer Bowl.  (Miami 21, Nevada 20)  Nevada is the only West Coast team in our listings here that lost their bowl game.  However, even the final one point margin of victory doesn't come close to showing how hard the Wolfpack fought against once-mighty Miami.  Obviously Miami is not anywhere close to what they were even a year ago, but the Hurricanes are still a team of the most highly recruited athletes in the country.  Needless to say, Nevada is not. With quarterback Jeff Rowe playing below his potential (for his true potential check out what he did in the East-West Shrine game), Nevada still came within a missed two-point conversion of winning a game in which they were clearly the better team.  This game, played on the beloved smurf-turf, was an eery foreshadowing of the Fiesta Bowl, albeit without the good guys winning.

9. San Jose State-New Mexico Bowl.  (San Jose State 20, New Mexico 12)  The victory dances were premature, and that onside kick call in the closing seconds was a little too reminiscent of the Oregon/Oklahoma officiating disaster, but Dick Tomey's ragtag team pulled together a dominant victory over a less than impressive New Mexico team.  Let's be honest, New Mexico had done nothing this season to warrant post-season play, and their last minute (literally) touchdown, their first of the game, didn't redeem that painful fact.  Dick Tomey's miracle turnaround in San Jose would have garnered him more Coach of the Year attention if not for Boise State's Chris Peterson running off a 13-0 record his first year.

10. Utah-Armed Forces Bowl.  (Utah 25, Tulsa 13)  Utah's slow and painful victory over a mediocre Tulsa team was symbolic of their entire 8-5 season: yeah, hooray, you won--couldn't you have done better?  I mean really....  Eric Weddle's a great player, but was he really doing things that couldn't be done by your starting backfield?  Utah's a team full of talent, especially on both sides of the frontline, so forgive us for thinking that Weddle's versatility was always too cute by half.  Let's hope Coach Kyle Whillingham can figure out a game plan that maximizes all the muscle on his roster.  When that happens, the Utes are back in the BCS fight for real.  Otherwise Whillingham's just another Gary Crowton disaster waiting to happen.

All-West Coast Team 2006

Looking at many of college football's prestigous post-season awards you'd think the best players in college football only exist in the Eastern Time zone-television block.  Funny, that.  Not a single Pac-10 player even qualified as a finalist for any of the major awards.  In fact, Hawaii's Colt Brennan was the only player West of Texas to earn an invitation to a major awards ceremony (O'Brien Award for best quarterback).*

The All-American lists, from Coaches to the AP, also leaned Easterly.  Sports Illustrated's list actually seemed a respectable bunch, but their absolutely inconceivable decision to reduce Boise State's amazing Fiesta Bowl victory to a mere paragraph betrays an overriding East Coast narcicism.

We actually think this was an amazing year for West Coast football. All of the top teams in the West Coast conferences won their bowl games, and other than about a full quarter of the Fiesta Bowl they all dominated their opponents.

In an effort to recognize the accomplishments of West Coast athletes we've compiled our own list of the best players in the Pac-10, Mountain West, and Western Atlhletic Conferences.  We decided to arrange our list as a depth chart rather than the standard 1st team, 2nd team, honorable mentions.  While we've tried to assign players to their specialties, we mostly wanted to get the best players on the field, so don't fret about the interchangability of a free safety from a strong safety or the outside versus interior linebackers--most All-America teams or All-conference teams barely separate out the secondary from the linebacking corps.  We went with a 3 WR set offense, and a 3-4 defense to maximize the overwhelming talent at receiver and linebacker this year.  We've also taken into account a player's performance in their bowl game.  We always found it strange that All-Conference honors were bestowed well before the toughest challenges of the season.  Congratulations to all of these players for an incredible football season.  Hope to see you all at the next level.

OFFENSE

QB
John Beck, Brigham Young
    Colt Brennan, Hawaii
        Jared Zabransky, Boise State

RB
Marshawn Lynch, California
    Ian Johnson, Boise State
        Curtis Brown, Brigham Young

WR
DeSean Jackson, California
    Davone Bess, Hawaii
        Sammie Stroughter, Oregon State    
WR
Dwayne Jarrett, Southern California
    Chris Williams, New Mexico State
        Jason Hill, Washington State

WR
Steve Smith, Southern California
    Jason Rivers, Hawaii
        James Jones, San Jose State

TE
Jonny Harline, Brigham Young
    Zach Miller, Arizona State
        Craig Stevens, California

OT
Tala Esera, Hawaii
    Sam Baker, Southern California
        Chase Johnson, Wyoming

OG
Jake Kuresa, Brigham Young
   Erik Robertson, California
        Palauni Ma Sun, Oregon

C
Samson Satele, Hawaii
     Ryan Kalil, Southern California
        Enoka Lucas, Oregon

OG
Jeremy Perry, Oregon State
    Chilo Rachal, Southern California
           Robert Turner, New Mexico

OT
Ryan Clady, Boise State
    Tavo Tupola, Utah
       Herb Taylor, Texas Christian

K
Justin Medlock, UCLA
    Alexis Serna, Oregon St.
        Kenny Byrd, New Mexico

DEFENSE

NT/DT
Sedrick Ellis, Southern California
    Brandon Mebane, California
        Kelly Talavou, Utah

DE
Justin Hickman, UCLA
    Tommy Blake, Texas Christian
        Antwan Applewhite, San Diego State
DE
M’kristo Bruce, Washington State
    Bruce Davis, UCLA
        J.J. Milan, Nevada

LB
Desmond Bishop, California
    Spencer Larsen, Arizona
        David Vobora, Idaho

LB
Matthew Castelo, San Jose State
    Keith Rivers, Southern California
        Joe Martin, San Diego State

LB
Korey Hall, Boise State
    Cameron Jensen, Brigham Young
        Derrick Doggett, Oregon State

LB
Brian Cushing, Southern California
    Michael Okwo, Stanford
        Drew Fowler, Air Force

S
Eric Frampton, Washington State
    Marty Tadman, Boise State
        C.J. Wallace, Washington

S
Sabby Piscitelli, Oregon State
    John Wendling, Wyoming
        Quincy Black, New Mexico

CB
Daymeion Hughes, California
    Eric Weddle, Utah
        Antoine Cason, Arizona

CB
Dwight Lowery, San Jose State
     Stanley Franks, Idaho
        Terrell Thomas, Southern California

P
Waylon Prather, San Jose State
    Kip Facer, UNLV
        Nick Folk,  Arizona

PR/KR
DeSean Jackson, California
    Sammie Stroughter, Oregon State
        Jonathan Stewart, Oregon

*Cal's Daymeion Hughes, the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, did win the Lott Award; however, Ronnie Lott's a West Coast phenomenon and unfortunately the major sports media doesn't recognize the Lott as a major award.

       
   

14th Week Rankings and Review

Regular season play comes to a crashing thud, and the AP voters pussy out to rescue the reputation of a BCS system that should have been flushed long ago.  We can understand the coaches ranking Florida ahead of Michigan: coaches are compelled to bow to the almighty status quo.  But what happened to the AP voters?  The AP poll has no bearing on the BCS formula anymore, but they were once willing to stand apart from the conservative coaching poll--in 2003 they even split the National Championship, favoring USC over the BCS-designated LSU.

Maybe the voters think that the only way to preserve Michigan's #2 status is to keep them out of the title match.  Ohio State skins the Gators, the Wolverines pummel USC, and the Big Ten stands astride the football world at 1 and 2.  More likely their motivations were less calculated.

So how did Florida get better than Michigan in a week? 

Before we get into that we have to understand how UCLA got better than USC in a week.  USC, the same team that beat the tar out of an Arkansas team that would go onto the SEC title game, the same team that bullied Notre Dame last week, the same team that held Cal's prolific offense to one offensive score the week before, the same team that looked like a lock for National Championship contender for a fourth straight year, fell 13-9 to a UCLA defense that had teased us all year with their potential but finally delivered.  Never underestimate those rivalry games.  In a mediocre season, at a school which before the Karl Dorrell era was expected to compete for the Rose Bowl every year, this was a huge win for the Bruins.  The Emerald Bowl never tasted so sweet.  Quarterback Pat Cowan has done a decent job of keeping his team afloat, but there really shouldn't be any quarterback controversy for when Ben Olson gets healthy.  UCLA's defense proved that they are capable of greatness, but the Bruin offense is still a few steps behind.  If not for Arizona's improbable win over Cal, Pete Carroll would be heading to the Holiday Bowl.  Maybe he should send Mike Stoops a card.

So again, how did Florida get better than Michigan in a week?  They did win the SEC title game, and maybe that surprised many voters.  Florida has slogged out a stunning 12-1 season--stunning because they were within spitting distance of a 7-5 season.  Many football pundits are now saying that Florida played the toughest schedule in the country.  Florida's non-conference schedule included the difficulty of such powerhouse programs as Southern Miss (8-5), Central Florida (4-8), and Div.1AA dynamo Western Carolina (2-9).  To believe that Florida won out the nation's toughest schedule one must also believe that the SEC's absolute dominance trumps candy apple non-conference play.  Our own rankings have 4 SEC teams in our top ten, and we stand by those rankings, but the Gator schedule can't hold a candle to what USC had to endure this year.  While Florida beat some highly ranked opponents on the road this year, they also barely farted out wins against undistinguished opponents.  We suppose the fact that Florida also lacks any identifiable superstars also clouds any championship shine for us.  But they did win out the SEC, and they finally solidly beat a solidly good opponent in Arkansas.  That doesn't make them better than Michigan.

Missing in all of this National Championship discussion is Louisville.  Their only loss this year is attributable to an offsides penalty.  The Cardinals have certainly had their ups and downs this season, but they've been plagued by injuries that would have buried lesser teams.  Now they're back in rock solid form and their struggles against Kansas State (who would later beat Texas) and Cincinnati (who would beat up Rutgers) are actually starting to look very respectable.  Louisville caps off their regular season play with a 48-17 shellacking of UConn and win their first BCS berth to the Orange Bowl.  Despite a remarkable season, Louisville won their trip to Miami with a little help from West Virginia, whose triple overtime win against Rutgers was the best game of the week.

The ACC title game was the absolute worst game of the week, possibly the worst game of the season, and conceivably the worst game ever nationally broadcast.  We love the underdog, so Wake Forest gets our passing respect, and pulling off 11 wins in a regular season is an amazing accomplishment for anyone, but that schedule of theirs helped out quite a bit.  Georgia Tech, dare we say it, is the worst team to play in any of the BCS conference title games.  Their modest success this year is due mostly to the demise of Miami and the haplessness of North Carolina, who GT barely beat in a 7-0 snorefest.  So, with these two mediocre teams, who represent how badly the ACC has slipped since their acquisition of the best of the Big East, is it any wonder that you get a game where neither team really breaches the 10 yard line, let alone the endzone?  And for a kickapalooza game none of the five field goals was particularly impressive.  If we wanted to watch a 9-6 game we'd be fucking soccer hooligans.

The Big XII title game wasn't much better.  Oklahoma bested Nebraska 21-7 in a frustrating contest which rested not so much on defense as on offensive ineptitude.  Bill Callahan has proven to be a great coach this year, but his players don't match up with their coach's ambitions.  Sadly, we didn't see the kind of daring play-calling out of Callahan in this game that he had peppered the season with.  However, like Nebraska's other 3 losses, the offense's inability to execute dragged them down in a game that they should have won.  Hats off to Bob Stoops for winning the Big XII again.  We're not quite sure how he did it, but a great offensive line and killer defense has gotta help.  What a sad year for the Big XII.  They've sent the Big XII champion to the national title game in 5 of the last 6 years, and Texas even won it last year.  This year, Texas is off to the Alamo Bowl.  Let's not underestimate the Sooners.  They'll head off to the Fiesta Bowl this year to face Boise State.  Why did the Orange Bowl choose Wake Forest over Oklahoma?  ACC tradition?  We're just old enough to remember when the Big 8 owned the Orange Bowl; what about that tradition?

Reports from the Big Game

They may not have beat the spread, they may have only scored a single offensive touchdown, they may not have given the seniors their obligatory playing time, they may have struggled against the worst team in the Pac 10 in the last 11 years*, but eventually Cal won the Big Game.  And that's all that matters.

Once upon a time a good Cal season was determined almost entirely on the result of their final game with Stanford.  Let's be honest, who wants to be a one game fan?  Thankfully those days are over.  Coach Jeff Tedford has raised the expectations of Cal fans to the point where the Big Game isn't really in doubt, the only question is how badly the Bears will chew on the Cardinal.  Yesterday, not so much.

Despite having a team of possibly the most individually talented players in Cal football history, and despite Stanford having their worst team in 23 years, this was the closest Big Game in the Tedford era.  Watching the game in person, the Bears didn't look that bad.  There were no game-changing turnovers--Marshawn Lynch fumbled on the Bears' 14 yard line, but Stanford wasn't able to move the ball and then missed the field goal.  And statistically the Cal offense was on an even keel.  Lynch didn't get much playing time after his fumble, but Justin Forsett kept the running game alive.  So why was this game so close?

Sadly, Cal's defense didn't quite match up with Stanford's rare precision until the final quarter of the game.  While Daymeion Hughes has had a spectacular career at Cal, and is undoubtedly one of the best DB's to ever play in Berkeley, he is not a "lockdown corner".  Many teams this year have been afraid to throw against Hughes, but Stanford showed no hesitation and it paid off handsomely.  Hughes surrendered one touchdown to the Cardinal in sloppy coverage and even had his own junior teammates saying 'WTF?'  Hughes has been burned by deep routes for most of the season, but to watch him relinquish the short game has undoubtedly damaged his draft prospects.

And what did this game say about Stanford?  The way their offense was able to execute throughout much of the game suggests that the spectacularly bad season which they endured this year is over.  Walt Harris lost almost his entire coaching staff since last season and then lost his star quarterback and receiving corps to injuries.  It's almost inconceivable that Stanford could be this bad next year.  T.C. Ostrander proved that he can be an effective quarterback sometimes.  Cheer up Stanford fans, you have nowhere to go but up. 

We loved the win, but the play on the field suggests that this may be the last victory for Tedford's team this year.  Cal heads down to San Diego to face Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl on a bit of a 3 game skid.  After a humiliating defeat at Tennessee to start the season, Cal turned around and knocked off a string of impressive wins.  It's hard to pinpoint, but we think Cal started to deteriorate somewhere in the middle of that Washington State game and they haven't really been the same since.  But still, after USC's fall to UCLA, Cal is now Pac-10 co-champions for the first time since 1975.  Had they been able to score a single touchdown against Arizona in the second half the Bears would be Rose Bowl-bound.

And that's why this Big Game summarizes the entire season for Cal.  Yeah, they won, but it coulda been, and shoulda been, so much better.

*Washington's 2004 team went 1-10 and was gawd-awful, and Cal's 2001 team got a single win out of Rutgers, but Oregon State's 1995 1-10 team... that's gotta be the worst Pac-10 team in our lifetime.  However, Stanford's 11 losses this year is almost unprecedented.

Cool Link:  Over at Tightwad Hill, the very best Cal blog, they have a must-read analysis of the Cal/Stanford rivalry.

13th Week Rankings and Review

So, is USC the #2 team to play Ohio State in the National Championship game?  Probably, but Michigan still has a case to be made.  We know, nobody really wants to see a game they already saw, and didn't Michigan blow their opportunity?  Probably, but isn't Michigan a better team than USC?

This is a very strange year.  We don't remember a year when there were so few really dominant programs that commanded a sense of inevitable victory.

USC is a compelling case study.  For the previous three seasons, with Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, and friends, USC dominated the game.  Not only did they win week after week, they won big, and against good teams.  And more importantly, all that good winning led to the notion that they were unbeatable.  But this year's team, with Dwayne Jarrett as the only verifiable superstar, looks beatable every time they suit up.  If it wasn't Washington State, it was Washington making the Trojans sweat.  And then the same Oregon State team that got throttled by Boise State goes and proves USC's beatability by beating them.  Since the Beavers slipped the Trojans out of title contention, USC has made marked improvements.  Beating Cal by two touchdowns was impressive, but holding them to 9 points was the play of champions.  And although many have been saying that the game was closer than the score (44-24), we don't think USC's performance against Notre Dame this weekend did as much to bolster the Trojan's claim on the national title game as it debunked any lingering hopes that Notre Dame was a legitimate BCS contender.

Case study: Oklahoma.  In 2003 Oklahoma was considered one of the best college football teams ever.  Week after week they thumped everyone in their wake, until Kansas State returned the favor in the Big XII title game.  The Sooners had been so revered the entire season that losing big to K-State wasn't an obstacle to them getting an invite into the National Championship game, where they lost, of course.  This year, coming off an unacceptable 4 loss season, they have managed to finish up with only 2 losses--1 if you ask any whiny oakie.  But still, is anybody really afraid of Oklahoma?  They escaped Oklahoma State by a touchdown, and obviously have an offensive line that can make anyone the top rusher in the conference.  But are they even very good?

Case study: LSU.  The team that beat Oklahoma for the '03 National Championship has also managed a 2 loss season without knocking anyone's socks off.  They haven't beaten anyone decisively since Arizona.  Squeaking out another big win, this time against Arkansas 31-26, gives Tiger fans some hope.  In truth, their two losses could have just as easily been wins, but several of their wins could have easily been losses.  It's tough to point at LSU and find a powerhouse.

Case study: Texas.  Last year's National Champion has followed through on our early prediction that without Vince Young Mack Brown will field the third or fourth best team in the Big XII--looks like 4th.  And worse, this isn't even a good Big XII--the highest ranked Big XII team this year is only ranked at #12! And that probably won't even survive next weekend.  Watching Texas lose to Kansas State in a high scoring shootout was somewhat satisfying, but watching them fold in a low scoring grunt and squabble rivalry game to Texas A&M 12-7 was quite pitiable.  Does this send them to the Alamo Bowl?

Nebraska's probably the best team in the Big XII, but they keep chugging along almost entirely on the potency of Coach Bill Callahan's balls.  In beating Colorado with his brains, where his team's execution can waver, at times erratically, Callahan deserves Big XII Coach of the Year honors.  With some decent talent on that team Nebraska could be back in the national title hunt sometime in 2009.

And finally we should note that West Virginia's loss to South Florida effectively eliminates the Mountaineers from any BCS consideration in a year when many football pundits thought it lazy to rank them in the top 5 just by looking at their schedule.  Teams scouting Rich Rodriguez to fill any of the many coaching jobs which opened up this weekend may want to take note of how often and how massively he can deliver disappointment.

Again we wail: Where have the titans gone?  Is Ohio State the only giant left standing?

Miracle in the Holy War

Hopefully we've all seen it by now.  John Beck's masterful toss to Jonny Harline in the endzone to win the game with time expired may be the only footage that the nation has seen of the Mountain West all year.

We've certainly fallen off our Mountain West Conference coverage this year, largely due to the fact that we haven't been able to watch any of their games since MWC commissioner Craig Thompson signed away all broadcasting rights to CSTV.  This bold move has effectively created a blackout for MWC games the entire season.  No wonder John Beck isn't one of the Heisman frontrunners.

But the Holy War was special this year.  BYU has fallen to those secular Utes for the last four years and was due the big turnaround.

Bronco Mendenhall is very much the Mountain West Coach of the Year, and should be somewhere between Greg Schiano of Rutgers and Chris Peterson of Boise State for national Coach of the Year honors.  We love how Bronco has grown in the past two seasons.  The offense can now march down the field at will, but more importantly, they score.  John Beck's offensive dominance was never in doubt, but until this year his ability to actually put points on the board was lacking.  And Bronco's defense is one of the best we've ever seen in Provo.  Yeah, that probably doesn't say a lot in an offense-only school, but improvements in the secondary now complement the Mountain West's best linebacking corps.

And John Beck.  What more can we say about this guy?  His patented ear-flick passes with dead-on accuracy, the ability to read complex defenses like a cheap paperback... give this guy a Heisman already, or at least a plane ticket to New York.  Of the many great BYU quarterbacks we've seen over the years, John Beck is the best pure passer.  We know that Ty Detmer is supposed to be the greatest BYU quarterback, but we think there are some very good reasons why he's been such a washout in the pros.  It's easy to point to Steve Young as the greatest BYU quarterback ever, but only because he's got a head statue in Canton.  Oh, and because he actually was the greatest BYU quarterback ever.  But Beck has a leg-up on Young with that throwing arm.  He may not have Young's athleticism, but his accuracy and his smarts should serve him well at the next level.   Brady Quinn has the East Coast media circus behind him, but Beck should be the monster quarterback in the upcoming NFL draft.

So now, after a great season, the best since 2001--and probably even better than that--BYU is now rewarded to go slumming in the Las Vegas Bowl.  Will they face a coachless Arizona State team, or will they go up against their old coach Gary Crowton with the Oregon Ducks?  Hey, if UCLA pulls out the miracle win against USC it's possible that John Beck could be going toe-to-toe with his would-be backup Ben Olson. 

Whoever they face, and however they win, the Las Vegas Bowl is still an insult to a team, and a conference, deserving of so much more.  And once again we ask, why isn't there a playoff system?

A Modest BCS Proposal

Division 1A college football needs a playoff system.  Why this is the only sport in the known world without a means of determining champions through direct competition is a mystery.  Yeah, yeah, tradition and all that.  And college administrators are mostly worried about those large donations that can flow in with a bowl victory, even a small bowl victory against a small opponent. 

Is Division 1A football simply a farm league for the NFL and side show/cash cow for the universities, or is it sport?

We have the BCS system, which seems to always struggle to justify itself.  Rules are adjusted every year, and they still won't please everyone, or even anyone.  Last year's championship matchup between the only two unbeaten teams in the country was a fluke, and most likely will not be repeated very often.

Therefore, if we are to endure this wretched BCS system, we propose a simple and modest standard for BCS qualifying teams:

To enter the National Championship game, or to win an at-large BCS bowl bid, no team may play a sub Div. 1A team.

Currently, this proposed rule of ours would exempt the following teams in the BCS top 25 (of the last month) from National Championship consideration or any BCS appearance without winning their conference outright:

Florida (Western Carolina)
Arkansas (Southeast Missouri State)
Rutgers (Howard)
West Virginia (Eastern Washington)
Texas (Sam Houston State)
Wisconsin (Western Illinois)
Boise State (Sacramento State)
Wake Forest (Liberty)
Georgia Tech (Samford)
Cal (Portland State)
Boston College (Maine)
Maryland (William & Mary)
Virginia Tech (Northeastern)
Nebraska (Nicholls State)
Texas A&M (The Citadel)
Penn State (Youngstown State)
Oregon (Portland State)

What is the difference between, say, a good Portland State team (who played three Div.1A teams this year and actually beat one of them) and Buffalo, or Temple?  That's for the NCAA to decide.  Often the Division designation has more to do with attendance and stadium size than quality of play; but the sports budget of a school does have a huge impact on the quality of coaches and players it can attract.

There is something to said for Div.1AA schools getting a shot at the big money of playing a BCS conference team.  Some of these payouts are as big as a minor bowl game for these schools.  It can be argued that playing patsy to a big BCS team is the only way for these schools to climb out of Div. 1AA obscurity.

However, all other things being equal, even the computer rankings cannot account for how sub Div.1A play amounts to little better than a practice scrimmage.  Let the Div.1AA creampuffs get served to the teams that need it, like Stanford and Utah State.  Let those teams blight the schedules of those who don't stand any chance of winding up in the top 25.

This whole scheme might devastate certain conferences who feast on sub-par opponents to boost their overall rankings.  SEC, we're talking about you.  And Tom Osborne's legendary Nebraska teams were fond of those early Pippy Longstockings and Goliath matches to stay atop everyone's early season rankings.

We know that Athletic Directors are fond of saying how tough it is to schedule games with non-conference opponents, but c'mon, it's no accident that Florida is playing Western Carolina at the end of a tough SEC season.

Let's keep the big boys honest and maintain real competition throughout a season where every game counts.

12th Week Rankings and Review

**Note to readers: this post was written several days ago, but in the holiday hubbub was never posted; therefore, some of the rankings do not account for games which have been played since.  Apologies.**

The Game of the Century (of the season), sure lived up to its hype and straightend out the issue of #1.  Despite the close score of 42-39 we really don't think that Ohio State and Michigan were as evenly matched as the score would indicate.  While Ohio State has been averaging about 36 points a game before their meeting, Michigan had only been averaging about 29 points per game. Mind you, these are Big Ten teams whose non-conference schedule always includes practice scrimmages against MAC patsies.  But both teams found a way to score big on each other.  The Buckeyes coughed up two costly fumbles in the third quarter which kept the Wolverines in the game.  Ohio State center Doug Datish botched two unforgiveable snaps which fell into Michigan's hands.  Datish wears a soft cast on his hand, under orders from the offensive line coach, to help his snapping.  Time to lose the cast, dude.  The first fumble led to a Michigan touchdown and ended a potential scoring drive.  And with the way that Ohio State was able to rip through the Michigan defense, the second fumble also theoretically cost the Buckeyes a potential score.  Without those two fumbles you have a probable 56-32 rout.  But that's what the game is all about; the difference between winning and losing is as much about defeating your opponent as it is about not defeating youself.  Ohio State has indisputably proven itself the best team in the country this year.  And Michigan has settled many of the doubts that an overachieving Ball State raised a few weeks ago. Both are great teams, but any questions about the better team were settled on the field.

About a month ago we bemoaned the apparent demise of the Big Ten, which suddenly became the Big Two and Little Nine.  Although Iowa, Minnesota, and Northwestern have definitely dropped off the map this year, and Michigan State hasn't been worth a sneeze in the John L. Smith era, perhaps we have underestimated the quality of both Wisconsin and Penn State.  The Badgers have finished up their season with a single loss, to Michigan.  And Penn State sits with four losses, but all four came at the hands of top ten teams.  Not bad for a JoePa beset by nagging diarrhea and sideline injuries.  Sure, that Notre Dame loss was ugly, but the Nittany Lions played all three of their Big Ten-top ten rivals very close.  The Big Ten now finishes the season with 7 bowl-eligible teams, 3 of them top ten teams.  Even Purdue has pulled off 8 wins this season--although they managed to avoid playing either Michigan or Ohio State for the second year in a row!  Is Purdue even in the Big Ten?

The curse of our controversial #2 picks continues to guarantee disaster.  Now, we're not sure what the policy of other pollsters may be, but we regard our rankings as a kind of reward for performance on the field.  We are generally unmoved by traditions, history, and conference affiliation, but we obviously love the underdog.  Teams move up and down our rankings based on how they play, and even who they play--hence, when Rutgers beats an insanely good Louisville team, our optimism soars and we start thinking that they can actually avoid getting crushed by a team like Cincinnati.  Wrong-o.  So, dear readers, continue to watch our #2 ranked team, they will never be undeserving, but they are almost certainly doomed to failure at the most inopportune time.  You wouldn't want us to just mimic everyone else, would you?

While Arkansas is still our pick to win out the SEC this year, they struggled to a 28-14 win over Mississippi State.  The Razorbacks did not in any way dominate the game the way they had against an infinitely better Tennessee the week before.  But so long as Darren McFadden keeps the backfield hot, Mitch Mustain's absence at quarterback will continue to be minimal.  Just the same, let's hope Coach Nutt doesn't get too enamored with his seniority theory in starting quarterbacks.

And we shouldn't let another week pass without mentioning how Auburn really sucks.  Sure, they beat Alabama (22-15) for the fifth time in a row, but who hasn't this year?  It was yet another close win from an ugly team against an even uglier team.  We can't wait to see Tommy Tuberville pantsed in their bowl game.

Former BYU head coach and current Oregon Offensive Coordinator Gary Crowton fell victim to Arizona coach Mike Stooops' mission to plague the ranks of prominent Mormons in college football by beating up the Oregon Ducks 37-10.  Arizona is actually pulling off a somewhat remarkable season.  In beating BYU, Cal, Washington State, and Oregon, they have knocked off nearly every prominent team on the West Coast.  If they can pull off a win against their eternal rivals Arizona State, they can seal a spot in the Las Vegas Bowl to face... wait for it... BYU.  The Mike Stoops crusade continues.

And we should mention that the other Stoops, brother Bob, is actually doing well without his star player.  We thought that Oklahoma would collapse without the dismissed Brett Bomar, and then when they lost Adrian Peterson it looked like the Sooners' season would go down in flames.  But credit quarterback Paul Thompson for injecting some leadership and stability to a team that might otherwise be floundering about now.  Of course, it also helps that the Big XII sucks this year.  And with the way Texas is playing right now, its entirely possible that Oklahoma could end up in the Big XII title game.

Keep Chumping! The Call of "Timber" Before Rutgers is Buried by Falling Wood

We admit we were swooned by the Jersey boys of Rutgers.  They dreamed the impossible dream against Louisville, and then snored their way through a rout to Cincinnati.  That ain't chopping wood.

That KEEP CHOPPIN' slogan has been the principle motivator behind Coach Greg Schiano's success this season.  Rutgers players and fans have adopted its simple message as their battle cry.   

Schiano's poignant metaphor, which he has repeated ad nauseum in interviews and press conferences most of the season, can be paraphrased thusly:

If you were alone in the woods, and all you could see were trees, and all you had was an axe, then the only thing you can do is keep chopping.

Such an abysmal performance against Cincinnati clearly indicates that Schiano's "Keep Chopping" metaphor has at last run its course; its power to capture the imagination and inspire both player and fan alike to reach inside themselves and pull out a tasty nugget of hope has, after 9 improbable wins, expired.

Here, in no particular order, is an incomplete list of competing slogans and their underlying metaphors which Coach Schiano is reportedly contemplating for future use in Spring drills, halftime locker room speeches, and a forthcoming autobiographical self-help book he is co-authoring with James Frey:

• Keep Shoppin'
  If you were alone in Costco, and all you could see were 3 gallon jars of Thousand Island dressing, and all you had was a valid Discover Card, the only thing you can do is KEEP SHOPPING.

• Keep Moppin'
  If you were in a middle school cafeteria, and all you could see was fragments of half-chewed salisbury steak strewn in a manifestation of prepubescent hysterics, and the only thing you had was a secure low-wage city job, the only thing you can do is KEEP MOPPING.

• Keep Krumpin'
  If you were alone on a street corner in Compton, and all you could hear was street poetry pulsing through your soul, and all you had were some mad hooks, the only thing you can do is KEEP KRUMPING.

• Keep Chuggin'
  If you were at a frat party, and all you could feel was the omnipresent homosexual tension, and all you had was a keg of Jagermeister, the only thing you can do is KEEP CHUGGING.

• Keep Chimpin'
  If you were alone in Tanzania, and all you wanted was a sweet hot piece of Jane Goodall, and all you had was a banana daqueri, the only thing you can do is KEEP CHIMPING.

• Keep Floppin'
  If you were Tom Cruise, and all you could see were Body Thetans, and all you had was an E-meter, the only thing your career can do is KEEP FLOPPING.

• Keep Slummin'
  If you were Britney Spears, and all you had were self-esteem issues and a Southern heritage...

The list is pretty much downhill from there.  Schiano's Coach of the Year status may be in doubt.

Cal Screws the Pooch, Again.

So this is what it was like to be a Red Sox fan.

Pete Carroll goes home with the prom queen, Jeff Tedford has to dance with his sister.  And we're starting to see a pattern here.

We hate to say it, but at 3 losses this season with Nate Longshore at quarterback is only one loss better than what Joe Ayoob was able to deliver last year.  Granted, the Pac 10 is much improved this year--so evenly matched they've driven prognosticators and bookies nuts all season.  And Cal's non-conference Div. 1A opponents Tennessee and Minnesota are a step above the New Mexico State and Illinois commitments of the non-Tedford era.  But then again, the margin of victory in those four losses last year were much narrower than this year's humiliating defeats.

But the difference wasn't really at quarterback.  Longshore has struggled in three of the last four games, but otherwise he has stretched the field in a way that Joe Ayoob never could.  His erratic accuracy is nowhere near as devastating as was Ayoob's, and he's still more prone to killing drives than creating game-losing turnovers (there was really just that one against Arizona).

Last year's defense had Tim Mixon to compliment Daymeion Hughes on the corners, and the great Donnie McCleskey to seal up an awesome secondary.  This year Syd'Quan Thompson got burned again and again at Tennessee, but has since grown into a respectable corner.  He's no Mixon, and he has missed his share of easy tackles, but his youth hasn't been a factor in these last two losses.  Daymeion Hughes, who is every bit worthy of his Thorpe Trophy hype, has given up more big plays than Thompson in the last four games.  Anybody else notice that whenever Cal's defense coughs up a big play it's usually Hughes' assignment.  The guy can cover the short game better than anyone at the college level, but he gets beat on those deep routes again and again and again.  But he hasn't lost a game for Cal.

No, this year's losses came at the hands of the offensive line.  The line has been consistently good against the pass rush and has protected Longshore effectively.  However, they just aren't built for the running game.  Marshawn Lynch may lead the Pac 10 in rushing yards, but for every superhuman run he breaks, he gets stuffed behind the line another four.  That weak line also accounts for how impotent Justin Forsett has been this year.  Ultimately, the Bears' inability to convert short yardage into either 1st downs or TD's is the difference between the BCS and the Holiday Bowl.

And that Spreadford is questionable.  It's nice that Tedford is trying to evolve his offense, but he isn't matching his onfield talent with his new spread formations.  Cal's receivers are fast, but they're also small.  They provide no extra dimension to a running play out of the spread other than as a diversion.  In fact, Lavelle Hawkins' inept blocking has cost at least one Cal touchdown that could have prevented a loss.  And with an immobile quarterback like Longshore, there is no running quarterback threat.  Why doesn't Tedford send in Ayoob for a couple of option plays just to unnerve the defenses--just make sure he doesn't try to pass.

As much as Tedford has improved a languishing Cal football program, he clearly isn't ready yet to take them to the next level.  The Rose Bowl will continue to elude the Golden Bears until their coach is able to adjust to the opponents he is playing and the players he is fielding.

Also, it's worth mentioning that instant replay has killed Cal in their last two losses.  That DeSean Jackson tip-toe touchdown against Arizona was not called back by the onfield zebras.  Against USC, Marshawn Lynch ran 50 yards for a touchdown after the onfield officials didn't see his knee go down.  But the game started out with Mickey Pimentel picking up a fumble and running for a TD, until those booth killjoys called it back as an incomplete pass.  Think Pete Carroll really wants to eliminate the instant replay?

Mike Stoops: A Menace to Mormons. Avenging Angel or Devil's Minion?

If Arizona coach Mike Stoops has accomplished anything this year, he has made himself the most identifiable enemy of Mormons in college football.

Consider the actions and probable motivations of his Arizona Wildcats just this season:

• On a last second field goal Arizona defeats Brigham Young University in their opening game.  This loss eliminates the Cougars from BCS contention in a year where they stand head and shoulders above any other team in their conference.  As if to rub salt in the wound, Arizona follows up this win by losing to LSU 45-3, thus making BYU's loss seem even more pathetic.  John Beck's Heisman campaign is scuttled early.

• Ben Olson, quarterback, anticipated savior of a floundering UCLA program (Southpaw Jesus to the Bruins Nation), returned Mormon Missionary, golden boy... injured by Arizona defender and forced to sit out most, if not all, of the remaining season.

• When the California Golden Bears rolled into Tuscon last week, they were led by an emerging college superstar by the name of Nate Longshore.  Longshore has publicly wrestled with the conflict between his football career and his intended Mormon mission.  Arizona intercepts Nate three times, returning one for the game-winning touchdown against a team many were predicting was good enough to land in the National Championship game.

• Spencer Larsen returns from his Mormon mission to find a new coach at Arizona: a blond man with a rage-red face and no volume knob.  Although Larsen becomes a starting linebacker, Mike Stoops singles him out for three-a-days and assigns him to fold the coaching staff's laundry.

Are all of these pointed misfortunes which have befallen Latter Day Saints in the presence of Mike Stoops mere coincidence?  We think not.

With an 11-21 record in 3 years, Stoops hasn't exactly distinguished himself as a football genius.  Not everyone, or even much of anyone, falls victim to the cunning and prowess of Mike Stoops.  And on those rare occasions when he does win, its improbability can only be explained through supernatural intervention. 

Which raises the question: is Mike Stoops an anointed and ritually-sworn tool of bedevilment to Mormons?

The demon seed theory is easy enough to grasp.  In a year where Mormon football players seem poised to monopolize the game from both within and without the lord's university, the Stoops effect has muted their potential influence on football culture and American culture.  John Beck will not bear his testimony to the world at a Heisman ceremony. 

But surely, the victims of the Stoops crusade are not wholly innocent.  In this light Mike Stoops is neither demon oppressor nor secular spoiler, but rather a tool of god to remind the chosen people of Zion--that is, god's new and improved chosen people of Zion--that they must hold fast to the iron rod, lest they start thinking they're all that.

We can only speculate on what misdeeds might warrant divine retribution at the hands of a visor-wearing angel of justice:

• Living in Berkeley, Nate Longshore may be a lamb in Babylon, but Cal's starting quarterback has confessed his hunger for pop tart Jessica Simpson on national television.  Indeed, the sweaty intonation of her name bespoke the tsunami of lust and guilt which is the hallmark of all Mormon youth.  Is it wild speculation to suggest that the difference between a 20 of 24 performance against UCLA and a 17 of 36 (with 3 picks) disaster against Arizona could be a 19 year old Mormon boy left alone in his dorm room with a copy of Dukes of Hazard?  Perhaps the lack of eligible Mormon girls in Berkeley is to blame, but clearly Nate is burdened by distractions in the pocket.   As Nate's bishop will surely tell him: you can't make touchdown passes with a hand that has been violated.

• And Ben Olson.  What kind of 23 year old returned missionary isn't married already.  At least once.  The sinning kind, that's who.  Not to mention his broken commitment to BYU, where he would be safely backing up John Beck and impregnating his Mormon wife with their third child by now.

• And speaking of unmarried 23 year old Mormons... the marrying age amongst young Mormons is rising, even at BYU, where the average engagement lasts about three dates and rounding second base.  Even though BYU's second year coach Bronco Mendenhall has reinforced the BYU honor code (no drinkie, no smoke doobie, no touchie--yourself or others, except in fellowship) which former coach Gary Crowton torched (with losing and legal consequences), the overall trend of young adult Mormons to prolong their non-breeding years cannot sit well in a theology which views familial obligation as welcome mental castration.

• Spencer Larsen's specific failings are not obvious, except that he's a good Mormon linebacker, and he's not playing at BYU.  Vengeance is mine, thus sayeth Stoops.

So is Mike Stoops doing the lord's work or the devil's?  Is he a punisher, or just cock-blocking the Mormon dominance of West Coast football out of spite?

Mike Stoops works in mysterious ways.

Boise State's BCS dreams validated by SJSU

Dick Tomey's San Jose Spartans kept their bowl dreams alive by handing Boise State a big win.  Yes, now that the Broncos have jumped to #12 in the BCS rankings they are eligible for the automatic BCS bid handed to the mid-major conferences.  With Boise State leaving the pool of WAC teams to compete for the three WAC affiliated bowl games, SJSU now has a better chance of landing one of those bowl bids.

But let's talk about the actual game and what a remarkable team Dick Tomey has created in only his second season at San Jose State.  Boise State kicked a field goal in the final seconds to win the game 23-20.  That was the first time they were ahead in a game almost entirely controlled by the Spartans.

We really think that any honest observer would have to say that the Spartans were the better team on the field Saturday night. So how did they lose?

SJSU quarterback Adam Trafalis personally handed the game to the Broncos when on a 3rd and short, and under 3 minutes left in the game, he threw away the ball when two steps and a walloping hit would have earned him the first down and a game-winning possession.  Trafalis had an open angle on the sideline and could even have avoided a hit by just finishing his gallop by two strides into the Bronco bench.  Two strides and you knock off a top twenty team!

Instead, the Spartans punted, the Broncos returned it for 43 yards, SJSU punter Waylon Prather was the last man to make the tackle--nasty hit for a punter too.  Boise State inches closer to within field goal range and calls their last time out with 4 seconds on the clock.  Now, the Spartans had actually deflected the Broncos' first field goal attempt, and although the ball would awkwardly bounce into the uprights for the ugliest score ever, so the game was still in doubt.

But Trafalis going pussy at the wrong moment wasn't the only Spartan miscue, just the most obvious and ill-timed.

In the 2nd quarter James Jones dropped a perfectly thrown pass with no defenders between him and the endzone, blowing an almost certain touchdown as the Spartans had to punt away.

And did you know that Yonus Davis ran a gorgeous 70 yard streak for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter?  Really, it was a thing of beauty--and we've been watching Marshawn Lynch and DeSean Jackson all year.  Oh yeah, that touchdown was called back by the refs because of an illegal block.  These "block in the back" calls are getting to be the ultimate game killers.

That doesn't in any way diminish Boise State.  They are still a great team, with a great offensive line, and will deserve their BCS bowl.  Let's hope Ian Johnson recovers from some of those nasty licks the Spartans laid on him.  As of now Johnson still resides in a local hospital.  Best of luck to him.

The way the WAC is shaping up, Hawaii will stay home for the Hawaii Bowl and will probably play whichever Arizona team can beat the other.  And the MPC Computer Bowl in Boise will most likely go to Nevada.  That leaves San Jose State a near lock on the New Mexico Bowl.  Yeah, yeah, what the fuck is a New Mexico Bowl?  It's where Utah is likely to land.

We knew that SJSU was an improved team and that they would give Boise a hard time.  What we weren't ready for was a San Jose State fan base.  Jesus, where did all these people come from?  Spartan stadium was about 3/4 full, and only about a quarter of that wore smurf blue. And what's all that hubbub in the parking lot?  Fucking tailgaters!  Ah man, it was like San Jose State was a real college and not just choice D on the California State University application--the school for those who can't cut it in Chico. 

From our perspective, most of these newly christened Spartan faithful were not the usual crowd of college students, would-be college students, and cranky alumni.  No, this was much more of a working class crowd: erstwhile Raiders fans looking for any team in the Bay Area they could afford to cheer.  It's been forever since we saw anyone smoking at a college game, so we were just kinda awed by the fumes.  With this new crowd there's bound to be more fights in the stands--another SJSU tradition borrowed from the Raiders; but hell, they now have something to get riled about.  Thank god working class frustration can be appropriately channeled into sports; we wouldn't want the rabble getting political, or dealing with problems that could actually affect their lives.  Go team, and fuck that other team.