I think we can safely say that Notre Dame wasn’t up to the task of competing for a college football national championship. The game was by some accounts “boring” and others “hilariously disastrous.” People tend to like to see these championship games be competitive affairs. What team other than the Irish do you wish played Alabama last night?
Another question: Do or should any AP voters vote Ohio State #1?
The full bowl schedule, including times and broadcast networks, is here. Some highlights, in chronological order: Continue reading
Hello, listeners! After a short(ish) layoff, ALDLAND is back with a podcast to get you ready for the college basketball season! Also included is discussion of the BCS standings and what we think will happen if there are more than two undefeated teams at the end of the season. We pinky swear that you won’t have to wait as long for the next ALDLAND podcast. Look for more exciting content in the weeks to come, as next weekend ALDLAND will bring you coverage of THE GAME, live from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Nothing is weather until it’s New York City weather, which means that, as of sometime today, we have ourselves some weather. Somehow unsurprisingly, the indomitable Clay Travis has himself a man on the scene, reporting live from the south shore of Long Island. Somewhat surprisingly, there has been a dearth of Point Break references being made, so that’s something we collectively need to work on. And while the Frankenstorm/Hurricane Sandy caused the main presidential candidates to take a break from the campaign trail, it didn’t stop sports this weekend.
Saturday was a tumultuous day in college football’s top 25, with undefeateds Ohio and Mississippi State taking their first losses of the season, Wisconsin losing to Michigan State in overtime, Oregon State losing to Washington, Florida losing to Georgia, USC losing to Arizona, Rutgers losing to Kent State, and Michigan losing to Nebraska. Although not technically an upset, Notre Dame surprised most people outside of South Bend by beating Oklahoma in convincing fashion. The Georgia win is significant because it dashes the order that was starting to distill in the highly competitive SEC East. The Arizona win is significant because 1) aren’t they really bad??, and 2) it weakens Oregon’s strength of schedule, because the Ducks were relying on a win against USC to buoy their BCS ranking that continues to fall despite an unbroken series of mathematically mind-boggling wins.
In the NFL, the Lions beat the Seahawks by scoring touchdowns in both halves of the game, and even daring to take a lead in the first half. The Falcons preserved their position as the NFL’s only undefeated team by beating the Eagles, a team where the only constant now seems to be the walrusness of Andy Reid’s mustache. (Reid fired his good friend and defensive coordinator Juan Castillo during Philadelphia’s bye week last week, and after yesterday’s game, Michael Vick said that Reid was contemplating a change at quarterback.) In a real accordion-style game, the Giants went up 23-0 on the Cowboys, then went down 24-23, before coming from behind in some technical sense to beat Dallas, 29-24. Andrew Luck led the Colts to an overtime victory against the Titans, the Broncos beat the listless Saints by twenty, and the Bears survived a scare from the visiting Panthers, beating Carolina by one.
Finally, the sad World Series came to an end last night when the Giants beat the Tigers 4-3 in the tenth inning of game four. It’s San Francisco’s second championship in three years. More on that later in the week.
Intransigence by corporate interests, media interests, and Big Ten leadership all have been the objects of blame for college football’s failure to move away from the BCS-based postseason format, and many of those same interests will continue to face blame when dissatisfaction builds with the newly proposed “plus one” system set to begin after the current BCS contract runs out in 2013. Particularly in SEC and Big XII country, Jim Delaney, commissioner of the Big 10, has played the role of lightning rod, the embodiment of resistance new college football’s new competitive order
Interestingly, though, it appears that it was from Delaney’s Big 10 that the vision of college football’s yet-unrealized future first emanated. From The Milwaukee Journal, November 1, 1966:
The Alabama Crimson Tide Elephants rolled and stomped all over LSU in the real national championship game last night, piecing together a 21-0 shutdown of the Tigers on their way to an unassailable claim to the championship. Although we were reminded innumerable times over the past week about the short distance between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LSU’s offense missed the bus ride down. From the first play, Jordan Jefferson looked shell-shocked, and he never snapped out of it. While senior Jerrett Lee may have a tendency to throw interceptions against Alabama, Jefferson was such a non factor that the decision to stick with him and keep Lee on the sidelines was indefensible. I don’t care if Bill Barnwell proves that Lee on the sidelines is worth 8.79 potential points for LSU, because the Tigers had no actual points. Having given up five scores by the third quarter, but only down by two (15-0), the game was extremely salvageable. Down 21-0 in the fourth, why not give Lee a chance to at least put some points on the board, or at the very least get some playing time in his final game? What’s the worst that could happen? Wasn’t that already happening?
In previewing this game, I predicted that LSU would win a low-scoring affair. While you might say that I was wrong on both counts (twenty-one points, including a !touchdown!, has to be considered high-scoring for this pairing), I at least was correct that LSU would post a low score.
Finally, having already expounded upon Brad Paisley’s new retrospective, “Old Alabama,” and what it means for the national status of country music, I offer the following classic anthem with which to observe the Tide’s BCS championship:
Nick Saban* and Les Miles
The New Orleans Superdome has hosted a series of big football games over the past few days, including the Sugar Bowl, a Saints playoff game, and now the BCS national championship game tonight.
We’ve followed the Clemson Tigers this season, from their 8-0 start, through their late-season slippage, their return to their winning ways in the ACC championship, and now their embarrassing defeat last night in the Orange Bowl at the hands of West Virginia. The Tigers’ victories have come almost exclusively on the back of their high-flying offense. Like Grinnell “system” basketball, Clemson doesn’t much care how many points you score because they’re just going to score more. It’s a great approach as long as it lasts, and it definitely is thrilling to watch, but when it unravels, things can get ugly in a hurry. Keep reading…
College football turned in a wild day of action on Saturday, when Iowa State topped then-#2 and presumptive national championship contender Oklahoma State, Southern Cal beat then-#4 Oregon, Baylor beat then-#5 Oklahoma, and North Carolina State destroyed then-#7 Clemson. Nebraska’s first visit to the Big House did not go well for the ‘Huskers (more on that game later), and Michigan’s 45-17 win, together with Michigan State’s 55-3 pounding of Indiana paved the way for the Spartans’ appearance in the first-ever Big Ten championship game, where they’ll face either Wisconsin or Penn State. In the SEC, Georgia hung on to beat Kentucky and ensure the Dawgs’ place in the SEC championship game against LSU, and Tennessee beat Vanderbilt in a controversial, overtime finish in Neeyland Stadium on Saturday night. The result of all of this is that LSU and Houston are the only undefeated teams, and the scenario that would’ve sent three SEC teams to BCS bowls now looks like it could balloon to four, with Alabama and Arkansas in the second and third BCS slots, respectively, and Georgia still set to play for the SEC championship.
As predicted, the Lions beat the Panthers, overcoming the offensive force that is Cam Newton in a shootout. Stafford (28-36, 335 yds, 5 tds) outplayed Newton (22-38, 280 yds, 1 td), and the Lions seem to have rediscovered a running game in the form of Kevin Smith’s mohawk, but a concern going forward is the apparent decreased effectiveness of their defense. In Chicago, Philip Rivers continued his free fall, but the concern for the Bears, who weren’t going away this season, is that Jay Cutler’s broken thumb may knock him out for the rest of the season. And I didn’t forget about the Colts, who lost to the Bye Week and are holding steady at 0-10.
Finally, in one of the most exciting NASCAR races in memory, Tony Stewart held off Carl Edwards to win the race and the championship on Sunday night. Stewart and Edwards, who finished 1-2, technically were tied in points, but Stewart held the tie-breaker: most wins on the season. Stewart won five times this year, and each win came during the Chase– the season-ending ten-race playoff. This marks Stewart’s third championship, something only eight other drivers have accomplished, and it’s his first as an owner.
This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Champaign to see the Michigan Wolverines take on the Illinois Fighting Illini. Those of you who know me are probably surprised that I even left the house this weekend, given that I had to save the world from both terrorists and dragons. But $65 tickets can’t be passed up, and luckily both the terrorists and dragons were there when I got back.
I got into Champaign with my friend about two hours before game time. My suggestion to any ALDLAND readers contemplating attending a game at Illinois is to get there earlier, because finding parking can sometimes be tough. By the time we parked, there was maybe an hour and a half to get our tickets from will call and head into downtown Champaign for lunch at Giovanti’s before the game. If you hit up Giovanti’s, get the chicken tenders, which are pretty awesome. The curly fries are not to be missed either.
Another reason to get to the game as early as possible is the tailgating scene. While we did not get a chance to tailgate, we did walk by various parking lots on our way to lunch, and from what I saw, I could tell that Illinois fans know how to tailgate. Most of the tailgates we passed by seemed to have ample food, drink and fun games to play like bean bag toss or that other game where you throw the little balls that are connected by a rope onto a ladder-like thing. You know what I’m talking about.
After lunch, we walked back to Memorial Stadium, getting into our seats in the very last row of the upper deck just before kickoff. They were not the best seats for someone like me who is not thrilled with heights, but that’s what I get for ordering them a week before the game. Memorial Stadium is a nice venue, holding about 60,000 fans and offering an unobstructed view to every one of them (unless you are looking at the scoreboard, because from our seats some sort of tower-like structure partially blocked our view of the scoreboard).
The game started with Michigan receiving the ball. Illinois’ run defense, which before the game was listed as one of their strengths, promptly let Michigan tailback Fitzgerald Toussaint bounce outside for a 60+ yard gain. A couple plays later, and Denard was in the end zone for Michigan’s first touchdown. Keep reading…
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