SINCE WE LAST SPOKE: 12-11-14
THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A GOOD GATOR: With apologies to TaxSlayer it will always be the Gator Bowl to me and I’m delighted to be in it regardless of what they call it. Tennessee could not have hoped for a more prestigious event at a better site against as beatable yet name-brand opponent than they received from the SEC. In my 50 years of Tennessee fandom some of our most memorable post season contests have been played in Jacksonville. The 1966 Vols beat a Syracuse team that had not only Larry Csonka in the backfield but the great Floyd Little as well. The 1969 game versus our hated rivals -that share the bowl’s name- will forever be remembered for the fact that
our coach that day was actually
their coach a secret that Doug Dickey shortly thereafter let the world in on. The 1973 game saw Condredge Holloway suffer the only bowl loss of his brilliant career and of course the 1994 victory over Virginia Tech engineered by then-Freshman Peyton Manning signaled an upgraded continuance of arguably the greatest sustained period of success in Tennessee Football History. We can only hope that the Vols return to the site of so many historic contests is an omen that a reversal of fortunes is straight ahead for our proud program
WHAT WE LEARNED IN WEEK 15:
NATION:
PATTERSON HAS CLASS: I’ve never seen it before; probably won’t see it again; but glad I saw it once in big-time college football. With everything at stake in the style points era Gary Patterson was the epitome of class late in TCU’s game with outmanned Iowa State. Leading 55-3 and sitting at the Cyclones doorstep with just under 5 minutes remaining Patterson instructed his squad to take not one, but two knees eschewing yet another score that for all he knew at the time could be the difference between playing in the CFB Playoff or not. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the Horned Frogs omission but even if it had I would still praise his sportsmanship in an age that could use a lot more of it.
BRILES HAS FIRE On the other hand while Art Briles probably wasn’t the embodiment of sportsmanship he was admirable in defense of his Baylor Bears and lacked no clarity is expressing his disdain for the lack of support he felt they received from the Big-12 Conference in general and Commissioner Bob Bowlsby in particular.
"You know, if you're going to slogan around and say there's 'One True Champion,' all the sudden you're gonna go out the back door instead of going out the front?" Briles said. "Don't say one thing and do another."
He continued his impassioned defense of his Bears and Baylor University with this:
"I'm not obligated to [Bowlsby]. I'm obligated to Baylor University and our football team," Briles said. "And we just happen to be a part of the Big 12. And we happen to be the champion two years in a row. So they need to be obligated to us, because we're helping the Big 12's image in the nation".
He’s exactly right. The Big-12’s marketing slogan was
One True Champion Big-12 espousing the conferences true round robin format yet when it came time to live by it the Big-12 Powers That Be wilted in the face of favoring one of their members over another. I know this if Tennessee is ever in a similar position I hope we have a guy like Art Briles in our corner.
INDY WITHOUT WISCONSIN: Somehow Wisconsin has found a way to participate in three of the first four Big-10 Championship Games at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. If the last two are an indicator of Badger appearances to come the fine folks in Indy will pass. After an exciting 42-39 win over Michigan State in the inaugural B-10 CG Wisconsin has been involved in two totally non-competitive events. Though finishing third in the then Leader’s Division in 2012 they backed into the game due to both Ohio State and Penn State being ruled ineligible for post-season play due to NCAA sanctions. They still were more than Nebraska could handle in a 70-31 Badger bashing. Last Saturday night came the payback. Ohio State seemed to blame Whisky for both taking their place in 2012 and for the 10 point loss they suffered to Michigan State in the same spot last season. It’s bad enough that seemingly every time Bucky Badger shows up it helps ruin Championship Week this year they decided to spread the misery nationally. The lay-down they executed last weekend played a large part in advancing Ohio State into the CFB Playoff bracket. As we’ve seen so many times recently that can only mean another throttling in the future of college football fans everywhere at the most critical juncture of the season when we will have no other game to turn to once it gets ugly.
BUTTS IN FRONT OF TVs MATTER IN ANY SYSTEM: As delighted as I am with the playoff era finally being upon us it is once again sobering to know that politics and dollar signs still drive decisions. There is little doubt that the determining factor in Ohio State’s last second entry into College Football’s brand new Final Four had little to do with strength-of-schedule, conference championships or quality losses and everything to do with how many butts can you put in front of TV sets and in stadiums on New Year’s Day and beyond. If TCU or Baylor had longhorns on their helmets we would not be having this debate today regardless of the thrashing that Ohio State put on Wisconsin in Indianapolis. This was about power, influence and money and not putting the best 4 teams in the bracket.
FREDDY’S 8 TEAMER: One of the biggest disappointments concerning Ohio State’s inclusion into the Final Four is it will delay the needed expansion of the playoffs to 8 teams. It goes right back to what we discussed above TCU and Baylor have no real pop nationally; Ohio State in that regard is a monster. Had the Buckeyes been excluded as a 1-loss Big Ten Champ the outcry would have been so deafening that the playoff expansion may have occurred in time for next season’s committee meetings. Now I believe we will have to wait at least another three years before the proposal is considered. Freddy sent me what the 8-team playoff would look like using the final CFB Playoff Rankings:
1-Bama vs 8-Mich St
4-Ohio St vs 5-Baylor
3-FSU vs 6-TCU
2-Oregon vs 7-Miss St
He further explains that this would include every major conference team that finished with 2 losses or less with 2 SEC; 2 Big-12; 2 Big-10; 1 PAC-12 and 1 ACC representative giving it the geographical significance so important to the sport and its followers. I guess that just makes too much sense for a sport that has been killing its own postseason for well over a quarter of a century.
SEC
PLEASE BE THROUGH MIZZOU Kudos to Missouri; they have vastly exceeded most fans expectations as an SEC neophyte. They have won every SEC road game for the last two seasons and edged out South Carolina and Georgia to win the East the last two seasons. In doing so however they have afforded the West winner with a walkover opponent and turned the SEC Championship Game into a boring one half affair at best. The Tigers have lost by a combined score of 101-55; been outgained 1181 yds to 857; outrushed 787 to 282 and outscored in the 2nd half of the two games 52-25. Congratulations Missouri the run has been impressive. Now get out of the way and let’s see if we can provide our Western Division brethren with a worthy opponent.
WHAT WE WILL LEARN IN WEEK 16:
BLOGGER’S NOTE I posted this last season leading up to the historic Army-Navy matchup so I apologize to regular readers for the repeat. The beauty of the game merits all the honor we can give it, I still believe what I wrote last year and I’m certainly no smarter so I doubt I could write it any better. With that being said here goes:
PROPER PRIORITIES: As anyone who takes the time to read this blog –I appreciate you greatly by the way- knows I love big-time college football regardless of when and where it’s played. Like most CFB junkies I am enthralled by the best collections of NFL caliber players; the speed and physicality of the game that their talent creates and the glaring spotlight under which they perform. The truth is however that because of the money that all of the above generates the game at the highest level has lost most if not all of its innocence and purity. Saturday at 3PM if you so desire you can turn the clock back and watch the game as it was meant to be played. The 115th edition of the Army-Navy classic may lack the future Sunday mega-stars and championship implications but it takes a backseat to none in effort, tradition, pageantry, honor and wholesomeness. Few if any of the participants will appear on our TVs in an NFL uniform; the one they will wear –regardless of the lack of attention we normally pay to it- is much more important. I believe most college football players embrace their opportunity to play but my guess is very few would endure the rigors or make the type sacrifices to participate that the Black Knights and Midshipmen do. They are playing for the absolute love of the game and little else. Navy leads the series 58-49-7, has won 12 straight versus Army and are two touchdown favorites to make it 13. The outcome of the game -though immensely important to a large number of servicemen and veterans everywhere- is not that critical for me. I simply appreciate what I see on the field in what has become the traditional curtain closer for CFB’s regular season. It is my desire to more greatly appreciate who I am watching for what they will mean to all of us in the future. For my Father and Brother Freddy who combined to proudly served this country in three wars let me say GO ARMY but God Bless both teams.
IN A PERFECT WORLD: Army would not lose 13 straight games to Navy
