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January 1st

New Year's Day bowl games truly put the rest of the post-season to shame, which is the way it should be. Let the MySpace bowl continue placing the fourth place team from the Sunbelt conference against the loser of Harvard-Yale, it won't cheapen the intrigue and entertainment value of marquee Jan.1 bowls.

In that sense, one has to be somewhat disappointed that a majority of the BCS games are yet to be played, regulated to stand-alone prime time sports events instead of juicy additions to the schedule of the day for college football.

Good for FOX, bad for everyone else.

The Fiesta Bowl at 8:00 PM on Jan. 2, a Wednesday night? Is this the MAC championship game? Particularly in a year when the glamorous Rose Bowl is allowed it's traditional trappings, everything after the first of the year seems like a forgotten coda to the college football season.

It's also a real shame that the Michigan- Florida game wasn't played in a BCS location, because it was certainly the quality game that BCS officials are striving for. Other than a marathon viewing of HBO's The Wire, season one, this was the most entertaining 3 hours of couch time all (extended) weekend.

Like David Simon's razor sharp sociological mind-fuck (*ahem*entering it's fifth and final season on Sunday *ahem*), the Capital One Bowl was a multi-layered drama without a discernible heroes or villains. One one side there's the outspoken Mike Hart, jawing at Florida DT's four times his size and clearly involved in some kind of point shaving scheme, evidenced by his pair of goal line fumbles. Though across from the Wolverines stood an even less likable character, Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer's charismatic errand boy who has the best PR rep in the business. CBS's Gary Danielson ought to be furious with the way ABC was flattering Tebow, on whom Danielson has a well-vocalized man crush.

Yet, from the standpoint of an OSU fan, it wasn't too difficult to pick a side. As is the case every year, any animosity between Ohio St. and Michigan is rightfully put to rest for the small window of time when each team is representing the Big Ten. And, considering his record against Tressel, who doesn't love Lloyd Carr, the man who coached his last game at the school he loves? His team certainly does.

Between Hart making OSU's defense look like a brick wall and waiting for Rich Rod to mistakenly call maize "yellow" in the announcer's booth, this game was a great way to kick off the new year. A statement game for the Big Ten.

...Amidst a day of other conferences "stating" that the Big Ten isn't so great.

Illinois and Wisconsin both fell, the latter in a much more admirable fashion. The Illini lacked any fight and the Rose Bowl quickly began to resemble last year's Championship Game.



Illinois was outmatched from “go” and made things difficult on Herbstreit and Musburger, who were calling the game. When I changed the channel at 21-0 Kirk was listing all USC's Heisman winners while the camera lazily found them in the stadium. Hours later, in the fourth quarter, I stumbled upon the game again to find an info graphic of Pete Carroll’s successes on the screen, most likely recycled from the first half. Bad, bad television.

Thirty-eight Colt Brennan pass attempts and zero Colt Brennan touchdowns later, Georgia players were presenting their argument for #1. Not surprisingly, plenty of others have already written off the up-coming OSU-LSU game after the newly crowned best teams in the country, USC and Georgia, beat up on lesser opponents.

The Sugar Bowl, in which Georgia ruined Hawaii’s vacation without offering to refund their plane tickets, somehow managed to out-suck the Rose Bowl. At best it was a chance to see superstar in-the-making Knowshon Moreno, at worst an unforgiving exposure of Brennan and his system offense. The Rainbow Warriors were one season too late to be a non-BCS Cinderella story so now they are just the team that took Missouri’s place in the Sugar Bowl (and that’s going easy on Kansas.)

The bowl records after today:

1. SEC (6-2)
2. Big-12 (4-2)
3. Pac-10 (4-2)
4. Big Ten (3-4)
5. Big East (1-2)
6. ACC (2-4)

The Weekend Read

Three down, five to go

The great thing about bowl season is, in these remaining contests, five teams can take a huge step towards re-solidifying the Big Ten as a respectable, if not top conference in the increasingly level college football landscape. And they ("they" including me) say the college football post-season is meaningless.

Consider that Purdue and Penn State have already done their part and once-hapless Michigan State was a Brian Hoyer interception away from a major upset of Boston College.

Already played:

*T5= Tied for 5th

Motor City Bowl

Purdue 51, Central Michigan 48
(Big Ten #T5 v. MAC #1)
Not to dwell on the negatives, but the saddest part about Purdue blowing a huge lead and nearly embarrassing the Big Ten out of the gate is that Joe Tiller would still have a job if his team lost. As his spread offense become less and less of a novelty, one wonders how many 5 loss seasons Joe Till can afford.

Champs Sports Bowl

#14 Boston College 24, MSU 21
(ACC #T2 v. Big Ten #T5)
This would have been the bowl season’s first big upset and, realistically, the first interesting game unless you honestly enjoyed that Boise St. Eastern Carolina nail-biter. Sparty deserves some serious recognition for nearly beating the one-time BCS prize horse from the Big East. On the other hand, almost-wins still fall in the L column and no one in East Lansing can be happy about falling short in another big game.

Alamo Bowl

PSU 24, Texas A&M 17
(Big Ten #T4 v. Big 12 South #T3)
The win would have been better if it was against a Big 12 team that wasn’t scrutinized four underachieving all year. An Indiana victory over Oklahoma State on Dec. 31 would compliment this one nicely.

As you begin to see, it’s not a stretch to imagine the lowly Big Ten winning ESPN’s conference bowl trophy pseudo-award statuette-like object. Obviously an Ohio St. win by itself would throw a huge monkey off the back of the entire conference but a majority of the leg work is being done by the Big Ten’s enigmatic chewy middle (four teams with 3 wins, two with 4 wins.)

The remaining games:

Insight Bowl, Dec. 31

Indiana v. Oklahoma St.
(Big Ten #T5 v. Big 12 South #T3)
Despsite being Indiana, the Hoosiers seem to have the edge here. Playing in that coveted 13th game that eluded Terry Hoeppner, IU should be riding high on emotion and will look no further for motivation. Okie State, on the other hand, might be so fed up with these second-tier bowl cameo’s that Crazy Mike Gundy can harness their energy and turn it into the first complete game the Cowboys have played since beating Kansas State in October.
Prediction: Indiana in a close one

Outback Bowl, Jan. 1

#18 Wisconsin v. #16 Tennessee
(Big Ten #3 v. SEC East #1)
Two teams that failed to live up to expectations this year but certainly didn’t keel over and die midway through the season. If you believe that LSU is the best team in the country then Tennessee should be somewhere in the top ten after playing the Tigers close for three quarters in the SEC Championship game. Although, using that logic, which most people do, three loss Florida, four loss Alabama and Arkansas and five loss Kentucky should all be at the top of everyone’s ballot as well. Returning to Wisconsin though, who actually does well against SEC teams in bowl games. The Badgers are more physical and a better coached team who has a talented young defense, all of which adds up to:
Prediction: Wisconsin, also close. Tyler Donovan is, in my opinion, one of the worst quarterbacks in the Big Ten whose final outing was a horrendous 6/13 passing day against Minnesota.

Capital One Bowl, Jan. 1

Michigan v. #12 Florida
(Big Ten #T2 v. SEC East #2)
This could get ugly. Though it’s taken a year longer than most, I’m beginning to believe Tim Tebow is as good as advertised, which is like saying I think the iPhone is really as sexy as those commercials make it look. And believe me, it is. Like Indiana, Michigan will be playing for their coach and only for their coach because all that “returning to beat Ohio State and win a National Championship” fodder went to shit in September. At the same time, The Weasels are a talented group of veterans who are playing a Florida team that doesn’t really have a lot more to prove after a comparatively mediocre season.
Prediction: SEC faithful are dismissing Florida as the “3rd or 4th” best team in their conference, and until playing OSU, Michigan was in line to be the Big Ten’s BCS rep. Considering each team’s perceived position in their respective conferences, this is a must-win for the Big Ten. Unfortunately, a victory is unlikely. Florida, let’s say 34-17.

Rose Bowl, Jan. 1

#13 Illinois v. #7 USC
(Big Ten #T2 v. Pac Ten #1)
USC scheduled to tear off about 400 rushing yards and 48 points on J. Leman and Illinois. And, despite a few glaring flaws with USC predictions this season, I can’t imagine a scenario where Illinois pulls off the upset. Prove me wrong.
Prediction: USC pulls away in the second half. At some point in the fourth quarter Brent Musberger will wistfully reflect on someone’s career while mispronouncing the player’s last name.

Better days-- Little Animal knocks a younger, less slippery Juice Williams out of the 2006 game. You can bet USC has studied and learned from OSU's recent mistakes against Williams' Illini.

BCS National Championship, Jan. 7

#1 OSU v. #2 LSU
(Big Ten #1 v. SEC #1)
See this ('Buckeyes get motivation').
Prediction: OSU. Trev Alberts agrees.

Splitting the games won’t prove anything and hoping for perfection is not only unrealistic, it's now mathematically impossible. But, if the conference can pull together and come away with a 6-2 bowl record, there’s going to be a lot of media head-scratching accompanied by a sizable shift in perceived power going into next season.

Silver Bullet Points

And the second longest sports-related list released today...

Another bare cupboard for the Bucks?

In typical fashion, Tressel has been nothing but frank about his early-departure policy. Says Brian Robiskie: "Just talking with coach Tressel and a lot of the other coaches, they just said that by you doing this it's not going to take away from anything." Let's hope so, because this "new approach" to the National Championship we've been hearing so much about is starting to sound a lot like last year's model. Of the 13 players who filed out the paperwork

• UPDATE (12/14)One player who almost certainly didn't submit paperwork, is backup QB Robbie Schoenhoft. Take it for what it's worth, but a headline on Buckeye Grove insinuates that Schoenhoft might be considering a change of position. Keep in mind this could be something out of less than nothing but it's worth considering the impact this could have on the continuing courtship of Terrelle Pryor.
  

• With the help of SI, Trojans can lay claim to (another) unearned national title.

• In spite of the hundreds and thousands of expert fans who voted USC to the top of the this fantasy dream-land ballot, one writer says, in the end, the Pac-1o blows and the Big Ten ain't so bad after all.
  

• One of the more impressive All-America presentations, but no Malcolm Jenkins...anywhere...

• Biggest upsets of the year. Sounds about right.

• Watching TV as I write this: is it just me, or is Total Recall a colorful cocktail of every sci-fi movie ever made?
  

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Silver Bullet Points

No surprises here:

The AP All-American teams were released yesterday (this is one that 'actually matters'). After a quiet start to the season, Gholston continues to receive his due recognition as one of the top DE's in the country.

• CFN unveiled their end-of-the year Big Ten recognitions. Lots of OSU love; Buckeyes account for nearly 25% of their top 30 Big Ten players. Despite all this flattery, one can't help but notice the omission of Marcus Freeman from this list and those like it. Dan Conner, Laurinaitis and J Leman were arguably the top three LB's in the nation, yes, but it's a shame their talent overshadowed the conference's 4th or 5th best linebacker--boasting 21 more solo tackles than Laurinaitis--who would shine almost anywhere else.

• I'm not one to jump on bandwagons long after they've passed by, but this one is too good to continue ignoring. (Note: Chris from Eleven Warriors and I are thinking alike today) So, at the expense of seeming behind the times in the blog metaverse:

According to his interview with SI, Tim "thinks people just Photoshopped [the jorts] in."
Photo c/o www.loserswithsocks.com

• Even though the increasing popularity of the Tebow/jorts approximation has left me without an original post for today's 'Eye Candy section, I couldn't be happier that that "Tebow Wears Jorts" has vaulted into the fan-friendly lexicon of college football along with "O-H...I-O!," "Roll Tide!," that cat sound they play at Beaver Stadium, and, to a much lamer extent, "Geaux Tigers!" Losers With Socks, a particularly nasty Tennessee blog, seems to have declared ownership of the phrase, but I suspect there's a clever second-year on UGA's campus who thought of it first. Either way, the mutual disdain for Tebow amongst SEC and Big Ten fans is a welcome reminder of the holiday spirit.