CFB Recap and More

So another season comes to a close in the college football world. Although the season ends with more controversy than the powers-that-be would like to have, we should still have a pretty entertaining "title" game. The other big bowls? That's another story. Here are my random memories, observations, awards, and gripes for this season.

Sports Illustrated's Pre-Season Top 10:
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. USC
4. Missouri
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. Auburn
8. Texas Tech
9. LSU
10. Wisconsin

Final Top 10 BCS Rankings:
1. Oklahoma
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State

No real point to that - just an interesting note. Yet again....get rid of pre-season polls.

Florida vs. Alabama - Great, great game. I was very impressed with Alabama's offense in this one, they hung tougher and longer than I thought they would. Alabama is certainly a well coached and talented team and they'll be around a long while, but at the end of the day, a veteran QB is a priceless commodity and Florida has it while Bama does not. Tebow made some absolutely beautiful throws in the fourth quarter, showing he can make big plays with his arm late in games. On the flip side, I also think that Tebow has to know by now that he won't be able to run the ball like he can at the next level. Ask VY how that's working out for him. The Gators did show some chinks in the armor on the defensive side of the ball which has to have the Sooners salivating, but I think a lot of the issues were simply poor tackling - I'm not sure how many flat-out misses they had, but it sure seemed like a lot. Bama running backs were insanely good which also plays into OU's favor. We'll see.

Oklahoma vs. Missouri - More on this below, but Mizzou is just awful. Furthermore, I know the pro scouts look at different things, but is it all possible that Chase Daniel has spent this football season losing himself money and pick level in next year's draft? He's had 3 and a half big games this year and has lost all of them....badly. OU was...well, just OU. I know we were all looking for an exciting game, even an upset, but at the end of the day, Missouri is just not very good and Oklahoma is. That's all I really have on that one - it is what it is.

Heisman:
I think at this point we can all safely agree (not saying it's right or wrong) that the heisman is really between Colt, Bradford and Tebow. As difficult as it is to try and distinguish between the 3, here's my attempt. It goes without saying that all 3 are pretty bad ass and very deserving - I also think you could put Crabtree (easily) into that group and frankly probably should be. 

- Tebow may be the best college football player we've seen in a long, long time. He's clearly been playing at a very high level since the Ole Miss loss including a fourth quarter comeback win against Alabama. 

- Bradford simply has sick numbers. He's got a plethora of schools records already under his belt and assuming he comes back for another year, will likely have many more. He runs one of the nation's most prolific offenses and does it quite well. 

- Colt can make plays with his arm as well as with his feet - many times doing both on a single play. He leads his team in rushing and passing. He's twice brought his team back from behind in the fourth quarter - against OU and Tech (although we know how tech ended up, they did have the lead). 

- Tebow won it last year, yet his numbers this year don't compare to last year's. 

- Over the last 3-4 games, Bradford was still in the game, throwing up numbers when the game was out of reach in the fourth quarter. 

- Colt has thrown more INTs than Tebow/Bradfor and less passing yards/TDs than Bradford. 

- Bradford's offense has thrown up 60 points in something crazy like 5 games and we all know big offense sells very well (see above note on this one).

- Tebow had one of his best games of the year in his final game against Bama - making plays with his hands and his feet. 

- I've heard a lot of "Tebow deserves it because he's such a great leader". Really? And the other two aren't? That's stupid. 

- Colt shattered the passing efficiency record - by almost 5 percentage points...that's huge. Record stood for 10 years prior this year. 

- If you're looking at "who's most important to his team" I think you can make an argument for Colt or Tebow before Bradford. Which brings me to..

- Bradford has an all-star cast around him. This is not at all a knock against him, but when you have an offensive line like that, two 1,000 yard rushers and a receiver/tight end combo like he's got - life is going to be a lot easier. He was sacked 11 times this year - half as many as Colt. 

- Tebow has pretty good cast as well now that he's got some running backs. 

- I think Colt has the "least" talent around him which sounds silly because it's Texas. But, they've had some offensive line holes/issues in past years. 3 freshman RBs and a fifth-year senior who is a third-down back only. Starting tight end went down in second game of year. 

- Both Bradford and Tebow played an extra game....and had the stage to themselves. Hey, it matters. 

- If you're making your vote based on stats - Bradford is your guy.

- If you're making your vote based on best athlete - Tebow is your guy.

- If you're making your vote based on best football player - McCoy is your guy. 

At the end of the day I'd probably vote McCoy, Tebow, Bradford in that order, but I the differences are paper thin. When Tebow won it last year (and he should have), voters say it was his ability to carry his team and win with his arm and his feet - that's exactly what Colt did this year. That's why he gets the edge. Bradford is a ridiculously talented quarterback, but he couldn't bring his team back OR hold on to a victory when he had to against Texas - and Colt did. And like I said above - I'm very impressed with his stats because they are astonishing, but I've never been overly impressed with teams who are still throwing up big plays when the game is pretty much over. Mack has never been one to do that, but he could have - and imagine if Tebow had played the whole game against the Citadel. 

Here are my random thoughts on the year...

• The one good thing about this year is that there are no real arguments around conference superiority. Why? Because there are no real power conferences in the country this year. What we learned over the last 3 weeks of the season is that the Big 12 is a fraud conference (2 great teams, one really good team and a slew of mediocrity). Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma State - all frauds. What about the SEC you ask? Florida, Alabama, and....I'll say Ole Miss. After that, mediocrity at best. Pac 10, Big 10, Big East, ACC, etc., etc. Hell, the Mountain West may be the best conference out there if you look at straight-up head to head. Seriously, this is as good a season as any for the "get rid of conferences and just play games" argument. Imagine that - no conferences, just a 10-game season and an 8-team playoff.
  
• Best Looking BCS Bowl Game - Florida vs. OU
• Worst Looking BCS Bowl Game - Alabama vs. Utah (seriously, Sugar bowl is repeating same mistakes as last year?) Remind me again why the bowl tie-ins are a good thing?
• Best Looking Non-BCS Bowl Games - Tech vs. Ole Miss; Boise State vs. TCU; Oklahoma State vs. Oregon; BYU vs. Arizona; Miami vs. Cal
• Worst Looking Non-BCS Bowl Games - The rest of them.
• You think Charlie Weiss may regret that trip to Hawaii? I imagine so.
  
• Best game of the year - Texas vs. Texas Tech and Florida vs. Alabama
• Biggest disappointment of a team - Auburn. Not even close.
  
• Biggest pleasant surprise of a team - ties between Texas and Utah. Texas was picked third in Big 12 south and Utah was not on the radar.
• Coach of the Year - Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech. First year head coach bringing a new and seemingly "dated" system into Atlanta. Great year for Johnson and company. Paterno would be a popular pick here as well as the Lions certainly over achieved this year.
  
• Mid Majors - Yet another way to throw a wrench into the BCS madness: have all of the mid-major conferences ban together and say we're starting our own league and playoff. Let's call it the Bastard Sons of the BCS playoff. Conferences would include the Mountain West, MAC, Conference USA, WAC, and Sun Belt. Those conferences would have to ban together and stick to their guns and refuse to schedule games with the BCS schools (yes, I know, they would be leaving TONS of money on the table, but work with me). I think they could make the television work out to their benefit over time - there are good games in those conferences and good teams. I think at some point, someone is going to have to force the hand of the big dogs and this is just another way to do it. I would then tell the bowls - you can invite the guys that don't make the playoffs if you want to, but good luck filling seats. I promise you this - if there was a playoff of division 1, non-BCS schools going on during the same time as bowl games I promise you folks would watch the playoff. Without a doubt.
  
• Primary point here being this - if teams in the mid-majors can go undefeated year in and year out and not get a chance to play with the big boys for something meaningful, how in the world do these guys recruit?
• See if you can get your arms around this one - if Tech beats Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl it will be the school's first ever Cotton Bowl victory. That's crazy to me.
  
• Memo to Texas fans: don't worry about "who you should route for to try and split a championship with the AP" - that's ghetto. Just rout for Texas to destroy OSU. Don't worry about AP titles - that's crap anyway. I never bought into the whole USC winning AP title when LSU won BCS. The system we got is all about BCS and nothing else matters. 
• Memo to OU fans: when you say that Stoops hasn't had to "politic" this year, think about this. Do you think he WASN'T trying to throw up 60+ in every single game? That's how he politic-ed for his team. All coaches politic for their teams - because they have to.
• So Colt is officially coming back next year - thank God! Maybe he can talk Kindle into coming back...although I would doubt it, I can always hope.
• Seriously, what's so hard about this? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/ncaa/12/10/ultimateplayoff.firstround/index.html?eref=T1

NFL Updates:

• So I made plans to be able to watch last week's Pittsburgh/Dallas game and pretty much watched the whole game - except for the last 7 minutes when daddy duties took me away from the tv. I came back and Pittsburgh had won! What the hell? I spend 3 hours of my life watching that crazy game (which Dallas dominated by the way) and I still don't know how Pittsburgh pulled it out. I don't want to take anything away from the Steelers, but how does Dallas lose that game? That will get you fired Mr. Phillips.
• Common sense would tell you that Dallas needs this win on Sunday (at home against Giants) far more than the Giants do, but I disagree. Giants absolutely cannot start to lose their mojo - not now. If Dallas sneaks into the playoffs I have no illusions about their ability to win a road game at Tampa or Carolina.
  
• Dallas cannot afford to have Barber out for too much longer - of course their third string guy (who's name is escaping me now) played a pretty darn good game, but still, you NEED Barber healthy to have any shot at all of making the playoffs.
• One more thing on the Boys - I know there are a lot of Romo-sexuals out there (Seiders) who love this guy and he's certainly had a pretty good career, but does anyone else get the sense that he is and always will be a notch or two below the premier QBs. He just doesn't seem to have the same drive and fire of a Tom Brady, Jeff Garcia, Peyton Manning, or Jake Delhomme. Certainly not suggesting he doesn't care, but I just wonder if he can rally the troops. Not only that, but he has an owner who likes to play GM and who doesn't now, nor has ever understood the importance of team chemistry and leadership. And on top of all of that, Romo is 28 - he's not a young guy "still trying to figure out the system" as I've heard some say. I don't know, I've always been skeptical of him and I know he can put up some good stats on an all-star team, but when it comes down to winning the biggest games, I've got no faith in him.
  
• You think Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook have been taking the recent negative talk about their team personally? Damn, what a game by those guys. If I'm the Giants' staff, I'm raising an eyebrow and putting in a few more extra hours at the office this week.
  
• Is there a player in any sport, at any level who is more important to their team than Brian Westbrook is to the Eagles? I swear, if he were healthy 100% of the time, you could take any number of lesser QBs to fill the role with little drop off. Tough, great player.
  
• Seriously, if you haven't been paying much attention to the NFL this year, start watching any game between teams in the AFC East and NFC South - you will not be disappointed. Those are two log-jam conferences right now. I really want to say the Dolphins can come out of the East, but they close the season at the Jets (January at the Meadowlans doesn't bode well for a team from South Beach) and I just can't see them winning that one. Favre loves cold weather. Loves it.
  
• Carolina was uber impressive on Monday night. Made me start to believe in them just a bit more than I have been.
  
• Memo to Green Bay fans: your disappointing season has nothing to to with Aaron Rogers and everything to do with your defense. What the hell happened on the D?
• I would bet a silver dollar that the Eagles will miss the playoffs by a single digit in that third column of their record - that tie against Cincy will kill their chances I think.
  
• I wonder how many steak dinners the Pittsburgh O-line will have to buy Roethlisberger to make it up to him - he has been abused this year. Chalk him up as the toughest guy in the league right now. He has to be.
  
• Say what you will about him, but I don't think there's a better receiver than Steve Smith (the Carolina one) in the NFL right now.
  

That's what I got for you gang - all NFL and College Basketball for a couple of weeks. We've got the Heisman awards show this Saturday, but watching that is like watching paint dry. Go play.