The BCS Still Sucks and Will Cause The Zombie Apocalypse

For years, we’ve been told that the BCS was the “best system available” to determine college football’s national champion.

Never mind that the lower divisions of college football have playoffs with great success. Never mind that the idea is pounded home that these are amateur athletes on the playing fields of a sport dominated by big money.

These are the last desperate arguments of a group barely hanging on to the cash cow that is the BCS.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports published an article Wednesday detailing what the BCS actually is.

Five of the six computer polls used in the BCS don’t make their formulas public, so not even BCS officials know what goes into it.

We do know that two thirds of the BCS are wildly subjective human polls, known to be riddled with political bias and straight up homerism.

Ultimately, this season puts to rest the nonsense argument that the BCS puts an emphasis on the regular season. “Every game matters!” ESPN is fond of spouting, but clearly, that isn’t true.

In the past, we’ve been told teams can lose early in the season and still recover to make the championship game. Now, even that vague guideline seems to have gone out the window.

Alabama already lost to LSU once, and failed to qualify for the SEC Championship game as a result, yet they remain No. 2 in the BCS.

That’s better than Oklahoma State. The Cowboys lost just last week to an unimpressive 6-5 Iowa State team, but they remain third in the BCS.

But the untimely loss by OSU has been glossed over, and if they defeat Oklahoma to end the season they’ll be first in line of the teams that got “jobbed” by the system.

What the Hell is a computer?

Now it doesn't even seem to matter if LSU wins against Georgia this weekend. It's a foregone conclusion that they'll be in the BCS championship game if the entire squad comes down with the old Louisiana two-step (note: Cajun' food burns coming out too).

Frankly, I hate the BCS and every year I come up with a different angle from which to criticize it.

A playoff might not be better, but it would be infinitely more satisfying. The basic concept that the top teams in college football are determined by a complicated formula fully understood by no one is upsetting.

Even now my blood boils as Jesse Palmer and the strangely still employed Craig James gasbag about quality losses.

I'm gonna kill y'all

There's no such thing as a quality loss! Vince Lombardi is spinning in his grave! Bear Bryant will soon reanimate and punch you in the face if you even use the phrase, and rightfully so.

And that ultimately is the biggest problem, great coaches of the past will turn into zombies and storm ESPN, CBS and the individual homes of all BCS proponents if we don't do something to end this nonsense.

Is that really what we want? Waves of the undead fixing a problem that living humans could easily remedy?

No! We must take a stand and defend what little sanctity is left in college football. We must end the BCS any way possible, even if it means a little bloodshed.

That's food for thought. Zombie food.

Week 5 Recap

Well I'm 5-2 this week and just an impressive finish by LSU away from 6-1. That was one of the most boring 20-14 games I've ever seen. Really brutal, physical football.

I didn't have a good feeling about the UVA-UNC pick. Virginia was poised to get out of their own way at some point. Carolina's offense is truly miserable. They won't win many more games without some production. Not more production mind you, any production. Hopefully that victory will help keep Al Groh around another season.

So my overall record now sits at 18-17. Still not very good but I think we can get on a roll now.

On a side note, The Notre Dame-Washington game was absolutely crazy, but the end of the broadcast really bothered me. Of course as we all know Jake Locker's (side note: I love me some Jake Locker) pass intended for D'Andre Goodwin at the last second was broken up by a sandwich-style hit from two Irish defenders. The hits were legal, I have no issue with that. It was just incredibly unfortunate that poor D'Andre was literally knocked stiff and the announcers barely made mention, instead choosing to focus on the Irish post game celebration. Granted Tom Hammond and Pat Haden are miserable announcers, I just thought that was a pretty inconsiderate move. Also, I don't think Jimmy Clausen really knows the words to his alma mater.

End rant.

College Football Quick Picks: Week 5

So we need a big week this time around and there's a very solid slate of games starting with an interesting Thursday night match up. I will give fairly careful consideration this time around. I'll at least take more than the thirty-seconds per game I took last week.


Colorado @ West Virginia

This sounds like a cool match up when you read it, but these two teams are certainly falling short of their collective reputations. I watched Colorado look completely incompetent against Toledo a few weeks ago and while they seem to have righted the ship a bit, there's bad trouble in Boulder. By the same token, the Mountaineers are reeling a bit after a tough loss at Auburn in their last outing. I think they've found a solid QB in Jarrett Brown and they'll really dig deep in the playbook tonight.

West Virginia Wins


Virginia @ North Carolina

This one worries me. Neither team has any sort of offense whatsoever. the Cavaliers rank 113th in total yards while North Carolina is 106th. The final score in this one will probably be 10-6, and Carolina has a much better defense than the 'Hoos. What worries me is UVA considers UNC to be their "true" rival, probably because it's the only rival they can consistently beat. Since I was born in 1985 UVA is 18-5 against Carolina. With that said, this UVA team is really, really bad. This one will be close, no thanks to Al Groh.

North Carolina Wins


No. 4 LSU @ No. 18 Georgia

This is a very interesting match up. LSU is ranked a little too highly for my tastes. They have an excellent defense but I think their offense has some room for improvement. Georgia is flying under the radar somewhat as quarterback Joe Cox and wideout A.J. Green have developed a nice little rhythm. Home field is crucial and I like the hedges in this one by just a little bit.

Georgia Wins


No. 7 USC @ No. 24 California

After Cal thoroughly embarrassed themselves (and me for picking them) last week, I have a hard time justifying picking them again. Is that reason enough to pick against them? No, not really. I like Cal a lot. They have a classic stadium from 1923 that is still standing despite being built directly on top of the Hayward Fault (the fault line runs almost exactly from goalpost to goalpost). A 1998 seismic study considered the building and "appreciable life hazard" in the event of an earthquake. There's also a fine view of Strawberry Canyon from the stadium, which is just an awesome name. Man I like Cal.

USC Wins


No. 8 Oklahoma @ No. 18 Miami

After being thoroughly dressed down last weekend in Blacksburg, the media lovefest for Miami has died down to a whisper. The thing is, they're still good, they simply ran into a buzzsaw last time out. Oklahoma will still be without Sam Bradford, and while Landry Jones has played terrific for a freshman, he hasn't done it against any opponents of note. I like Miami to rebound at home in south Florida.

Miami Wins


Auburn @ Tennessee

Auburn has been impressive on offense and Tennessee has not. I actually like Lane Kiffin for some reason, but I don't think this first season is going to go particularly well. It hasn't hurt his recruiting though.

Auburn Wins


UCLA @ Stanford

This should be a good game. I like both of these teams, but I think Stanford has a few more weapons to work with (first time I've ever said that). It's shaping up to be a big season for the Cardinal.

Stanford Wins