The Bowl Championship Series was created 13 years ago to end the dispute of what truly is the best team in college football.
But rather than solve the puzzle, the answers seem more complex.
They didn’t get any clearer when the season’s first BCS standings were released Sunday.
Oklahoma, which has been in the BCS top 10 more than any other school, came in at No. 1 after starting 6-0. Oregon, which is ranked No. 1 by the human polls for the first time in its history, is No. 2 with BCS buster Boise State, which hasn’t lost since the 2008 season, at No. 3.
Therein lies the argument, which seems to always be divided into two camps – the haves (BCS conference teams) and have-nots (non-BCS conference teams).
No matter how many games Boise State continues to win, there’s going to be an element that never will cast a vote for the Smurfs as the top team.

Continue reading “This week’s column….” »

Alabama won’t be celebrating like this in January

Here’ my column for this week, where I say adios to Alabama

Bye, bye Alabama.

That
appears to be the repercussion of Saturday’s 35-21 upset by South
Carolina over the previous No. 1 Crimson Tide, seeking to repeat a Bowl
Championship Series title.

I went to bed Saturday night thinking ‘Bama wouldn’t get
hurt too badly, forecasting a drop to No. 5 behind Ohio State and
Oregon and BCS busters Boise State and Texas Christian.

I awoke Sunday to find out the voters had more of a Judge
Roy Bean mentality, giving the Tide a near death penalty sentence in
reference to their BCS hopes. Alabama, after losing for the first time
since the 2009 Sugar Bowl, dropped seven spots to No. 8 in all three
human polls, including the USA Today coaches’ and Harris Interactive
Top 25 polls, which count for two-thirds of the BCS formula.

Continue reading “Adios, Alabama” »

ABOVE: Mike Stoops is gaining some believers at Arizona. (AP Photo)

It was a slip of the tongue, but in another way it wasn’t.
ESPN announcer Mark Jones, who covered the University of Arizona’s home game against then-No. 9 Iowa on Saturday, mistakenly called Wildcats coach Mike Stoops “Bob,” his brother who is coach at Oklahoma.
That’s how most view Mike Stoops, playing second fiddle to Bob Stoops, who has won one Bowl Championship Series title and annually has the Sooners in the hunt in the BCS race.
But Mike Stoops is slowly gaining.
He’s building a budding program at Arizona, which defeated the highly touted Hawkeyes 34-27 Saturday and is playing its way into contention in the Pac-10 race and the BCS title quest.
The Wildcats, with quarterback Nick Foles and California High School product Nic Grigsby at running back, are picking up believers. They moved from No. 24 to No. 14 in this week’s USA Today coaches’ poll and it looks like things can only get better.
Continue reading “This week’s column” »

Mascots at Ohio University and Ohio State took their regional rivalry a bit too far over the weekend.
Here’s a video showing OU’s Bobcat tackling OSU’s Brutus as the Buckeyes take the field prior to the team’s nonconference game on Saturday.
Jason Corriher, Ohio University athletic director for media relations, apologized for the incident, and the student who was dressed in the Bobcat costume has been banned from any further affiliation with Ohio athletics.

Here’s some early observations for week 3:

Top Two Continue to Roll: Alabama and Ohio State, our picks to make it to the BCS title game, keep showing they can pound the teams they are supposed to beat.
The Crimson Tide, who opened with easy victories over San Jose State and Penn State, put Duke away early on Saturday before rolling to a 62-13 win. Their first major test of the season comes next week when they travel to No. 12 Arkansas, which behind QB Ryan Mallett beat Georgia. Ohio State, which proved to be too much for then No. 12 Miami, routed intra-state foe Ohio, 43-7. The Buckeyes still have an easy road, with games against Eastern Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, before an Oct. 16 date with No. 11 Wisconsin. Of course, the Badgers haven’t exactly lived up to their ranking, struggling against San Jose State last week before slipping by what appears to a sub-par Arizona State team on Saturday.
Living Up to Expectations?: Back in June, after USC received its two-year bowl ban for the Reggie Bush scandal, the Trojans, and their followers believed their only recourse was go undefeated and secure the AP national title. USC may have a clean slate after three weeks, but if anything the Trojans’ title hopes keep slip, slip, sliding away. The latest was a 32-14 victory over Minnesota in which the Gophers led 14-13 at one point. Not exactly No. 1 material.

Alabama, led by Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, looks capable of another run to the Bowl Championship Series championship.

The Associated Press released its preseason Top 25 poll over the weekend, and the top five looked very familiar to our Top Five, which I posted here earlier this summer.

Here’s the AP Top 25:

1. Alabama (54);14-0;1,491;1;6-0;93-57;Last;No.;1;preseason;1978
2. Ohio St. (3);11-2;1,400;5;3-1;90-62;22nd;consec.;preseason;rank
3. Boise St. (1);14-0;1,336;4;2-0;78-73;Highest;preseason;rank
4. Florida;13-1;1,237;3;2-1;95-57;Lost;Tebow;and;4;assistants
5. Texas (1);13-1;1,223;2;3-1;86-65;Gilbert;replaces;Colt;McCoy
6. TCU;12-1;1,160;6;2-1;82-59;Highest;preseason;rank
7. Oklahoma (1);8-5;1,104;_;3-3;90-57;Record:;799-302-53;(.715)
8. Nebraska;10-4;1,033;14;3-2;92-70;19;starters;returning
9. Iowa;11-2;1,007;7;2-1;89-53;The;tough;games;are;at;home
10. Virginia Tech;10-3;973;10;2-2;96-60;6;straight;10-win;seasons
11. Oregon;10-3;870;11;4-2;95-58;Defending;Pac-10;champions
12. Wisconsin;10-3;822;16;1-2;83-59;Only;13;seniors;on;roster
13. Miami;9-4;785;19;3-2;88-55;Bosher;is;nation’s;best;PK
14. Southern Cal;9-4;590;22;2-2;82-69;Just;70;scholarship;players
15. Pittsburgh;10-3;516;15;0-1;85-55;Tough;non-conference;games
16. Georgia Tech;11-3;511;13;1-2;88-65;Defending;ACC;champions
17. Arkansas;8-5;496;_;1-4;93-51;Mallett;&;WR;crew;are;back
18. North Carolina;8-5;397;_;2-1;81-48;21;returning;starters
19. Penn St.;11-2;382;9;1-1;77-62;45th;year;for;Paterno
20. Florida St.;7-6;379;_;2-2;92-47;Fisher;replaces;Bowden
21. LSU;9-4;300;17;1-3;91-60;6;senior;starters;;2-O,;4-D
22. Auburn;8-5;296;_;1-3;85-56;Entire;coach;staff;returned
23. Georgia;8-5;206;_;1-3;86-57;Frosh;QB;Murray;will;lead
24. Oregon St.;8-5;198;_;1-4;83-56;Rodgers;brothers;are;lethal
25. West Virginia;9-4;184;25;1-1;86-56;Five;major;NCAA;violations
Others receiving votes: Cincinnati 108, Stanford 81, Utah 80, South Carolina 71, Houston 66,
Connecticut 32, Notre Dame 31, Missouri 27, BYU 19, Arizona 15, Clemson 15, Texas Tech 14, Navy 12, Washington 8, Texas A&M 7, Mississippi 6, Oklahoma St. 3, Cent. Michigan 2, Middle Tennessee 2, Temple 2, Boston College 1, SMU 1, UCF 1.

Steve’s take:. Both the AP voters and myself, see an Alabama team that lost some key players from the top defense in the country. But the plus for the Tide is the return of 10 starters on offense, which will need to be more productive as the defense gets up to speed. Ohio State and Boise State, based on their schedule, have a very good chance at running the table, while Florida could challenge the top three. AP has Texas at No. 5, based on the play of Garrett Gilbert, who shined in the BCS title game loss to Alabama. I want to see how they how the sophomore will do without Jordan Shipley as a target. But the Longhorns will have a good shot at the top 10 by year’s end. I like Oregon at No. 5, again they have the schedule to make a BCS run after returning most of the key figures from last year’s 10-3 squad that lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The question mark is at QB, where Jeremiah Masoli was kicked off the team, leaving Nate Costa and Darron Thomas to fill the void. I’m banking they can.

Above: UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel at Pac-10 Media day last month.

One of the best things why I’m looking forward to covering UCLA on Saturday’s at the Rose Bowl this year is coach Rick Neuheisel, who is always good for a good quote, and had a great one today.
As you know, UCLA is adapting some principles of Nevada’s Pistol offense into his attacking scheme this season. Neuheisel addressed the reason for the change today, saying it’s being used to help jump-start the team’s running game, which has been somewhat stagnant his first two years in Westwood.
But his words are much better:
“We look at it like that guy who looks at himself in the mirror and tells himself he’s skinny, when he’s not. You have to face reality and realize that you need to go on a diet.
“That’s how we are with our running game. We haven’t been successful, and we feel this (scheme) will help us. You have to look to ways that will help you run the football. If not the traditional way, then why not look at keeping up with some of the trends (in college football).”
The Pistol, which Neuheisel compared to a veer attack with a shot gun, is expected to give UCLA a chance to be effective running the ball. This is nothing new to Neuheisel, who switched to a veer attack to jump-start the running game while at Washington in 2002. UCLA gets its first test Sept. 4 at Kansas State.

Notre Dame and Texas, two of the nation’s marquee programs, have signed a four-game contract and will meet four times between 2015-2020. The series will begin Sept. 5, 2015 in South Bend, Ind, with the Irish visiting Austin, Texas in 2016. The series will conclude at Austin in 2019 and in South Bend in 2020.
The teams have met 10 times previous, the last in 1996.

Here’s is a link to the story of Notre Dame agreeing to face Texas

Steve’s take: How could you be against this? It’s always great when two of the country’s traditional powers meet, especially when they don’t have a long history of facing off. My best memory of Notre Dame vs. Texas goes back to the 1977, when No. 1 Notre Dame saw its chances go up in smoke to Texas and Earl Campbell, giving the No. 1 slot to the Longhorns.

Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, left,
has taken his act to Ole Miss and the Southeastern Conference.

Jeremiah Masoli, who was kicked off the Oregon football team by coach Chip Kelly after the former City College of San Francisco quarterback was involved in two separate illegal transgressions, will attend the University of Mississippi after Rebel coach Houston Nutt offered him a roster spot as a walk on over the weekend. He will be eligible immediately because, due to NCAA rules, he earned an undergraduate degree at Oregon and was accepted to graduate school at Ole Miss.
Here’s the Associated Press story on Masoli flying south.

Continue reading “Masoli touches down at Ole Miss” »

Running Back LaMichael James will have Ducks in contention to fly South to Pasadena for the second consecutive season.

The unofficial opening for the Pac-10 football chase begins today, when the Rose Bowl plays host to the conference’s football coaches, along with 10 of its top players, including gunslingers Jake Locker of Washington, Matt Barkley of USC and Andrew Luck of Stanford.
The season officially kicks off in a little more than a month, so what better time to look into the crystal ball and come up with what I think will be the shape of the conference standings come December.
Continue reading “Pac-10 Forecast: Ducks to fly high again” »