#FreeArnett

Tennessee Freshmen, DeAnthony Arnett, is seeking a transfer back to a school in Michigan because his father's health has deteriorated. While Tennessee will let him transfer, they won't let him go to the obvious choices, which are Michigan and Michigan State. Arnett released this statement last night:

Coach Dooley has singled two programs that I can’t get an unconditional release to and they are the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. 

He told me I can attend any Mid American Conference school I want and if I wanted to attend either The University of Michigan or Michigan State University I would have to pay for school instead of be on scholarship. I don’t know what’s next. My family can’t afford to pay for school, but my father’s

Dooley is limiting Arnett's ability to go to both a school closer to his father and a school where he can have the same opportunities that he'd have at Tennessee (playing at a BCS conference school). Tennessee has said that they will not release Arnett to any school which Tennessee will play or recruit against. I feel this is disingenuous and that Dooley just doesn't want Arnett to go to another school.

There are probably less schools that Tennesee doesn't recruit against than there are that they do recruit against. Furthermore, the likelihood of Michigan or Michigan State playing Tennessee is very small. This isn't a case where a kid is spurning Tennessee because he doesn't like the program. The fact of the matter is that Arnett needs to be with his family and vice versa.

On the whole, this is just an example of the lack of compassion in college sports. There are a lot of crooked coaches that do what they feel is better for the schools than the kids. Derek Dooley seems to be just one in the long line of soulless SEC coaches that only care about winning and not about the kids they coach.

In short, I am thoroughly disappointed by the actions and decisions of the University of Tennessee and Derek Dooley. This kid should be allowed to be closer to his family so that he can be with his ailing father, no matter what school he goes to.

***

As fans of college sports, there's not much we can do but help in spreading this story in order to have justice done. These schools always talk about family values, and when Arnett needs to be with his family, his coaches are letting him down. If you feel strongly about this, join the #FreeArnett movement on Twitter and share this story with your friends. 

Let's Make a Deal

So today the Big Ten and Pac-12 came to an agreement to schedule each other in inter-conference play in an effort to raise the profiles of their television networks. The deal is very intriguing and unique as it marks the first major effort from the big conferences to ramp up their schedules through bi-lateral conference agreements. The Big Ten-Pac-12 agreement makes sense beyond the Rose Bowl because both conferences have created their own networks in partnership with Fox. USA Today has the necessary quotes from the Conference Commissioners:

"It's sort of in lieu of what some other people are doing (with expansion)," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said. 

"Our idea is you can't stand still. You have to build in an environment where people are competing for attention, where they're competing to have the best competitive assets and to present themselves in the best way. I think both of us believe … this is the most constructive way for us to do that."

These is clearly in response to the SEC adding A&M and Missouri and Big XII, ACC, and Big East all making efforts to maintain their automatic qualification in the BCS. The Pac-12 and Big Ten started early, expanding their conferences last year and creating conference championship games. Pac-12 Commissioner, Larry Scott, added:

"This will add a tough, high-quality opponent," Scott said. "Certainly, it creates a tougher path (to the national championship game). But the benefits, we think, outweigh the fact it's far more challenging."

Now the big question from all of this is what will those match ups be? What match ups make sense? I went through the teams in both conferences and tried to find a natural fit. I'll go through the match ups I came up with (listed by profile).

Michigan-USC:
This feels like an easy choice. Michigan and USC have faced off 8 times in bowl games and are also the most successful football programs in the country, let alone these conferences. This agreement is going to be about creating a marquee match up and I believe as a result, you need Michigan playing USC or Oregon and USC playing Michigan or Ohio State. I believe, culturally, this might be the best match up for the two schools.

Ohio State-Oregon:
If you have Michigan-USC, you have to have Ohio State-Oregon. This will be a good match up because both schools have strong programs, you will have the spread versus the spread, and you'll also have the Nike versus Nike contests. It was tough to choose between this and Ohio State-USC. I just thought, culturally, Michigan-USC is the best match up you can have. The case could be made for Ohio State-USC and Michigan-Oregon since those two games have happened in recent memory.

Wisconsin-California:
It might seem weird to put Cal up here, but I'm anticipating a drop in Stanford's program once Andrew Luck is gone. Cal gets a lot of the top recruits in California and once they get their renovations and new Student-Athlete High Performance Center done, they should be one of the better programs in the Pac-12. Meanwhile, Wisconsin seems like they'll be one of the better programs in the Big Ten, but they don't have the tradition of winning that Michigan and Ohio State do. It seems like a potential good match up.

Nebraska-Washington:
A lot of people probably leapt to a Nebraska-Colorado match up considering both schools were rivals in the Big XII North. However, Colorado's program is a mess and I think the Big Ten will realize that Nebraska can be better used playing someone else. Washington seems to be an emerging program under Steve Sarkisian, so this seems like a better line up competitively.

Michigan State-Arizona State:
Due to the bro-y nature of both schools, I believe that this is a natural match up culturally. Michigan State tends to be the stray dog of the Big Ten in that they don't have a rival that considers them a top rival in conference. Competitively, they can challenge for the Big Ten title or be a middling team. We don't know what ASU will be under Todd Graham, but it should be something similar.

Penn State-UCLA:
It hard to gauge where Penn State will be after these Sandusky charges came out. They're sort of the untouchables right now. I could see them as high as playing Cal or Washington, but I think it's difficult. Their recruitment class is shedding players one by one, so it's not clear where their program will be in 2017. UCLA has had similar struggles and have had trouble finding a coach that will lead them to a Pac-12 title. We'll see if Jim Mora can do the job.

Northwestern-Stanford:
As I said before, I don't think Stanford will remain an elite program in the post-Andrew Luck era. They don't have a great QB coach like Harbaugh anymore, so it will be difficult to develop another great quarterback that can transform the team. I think these two schools work because they're both small private schools in major football conferences. They're going to go after the same players. They're probably attracting similar, high-caliber students. Northwestern has a solid program, though it might not be elite. This match up just works.

The Rest of the match ups:
Iowa-Utah
Illinois-Arizona
Purdue-Colorado
Indiana-Oregon State
Minnesota-Washington State

The SEC Schedules of the New Boys

When the Big Ten admitted Nebraska into the conference, they had them scheduled against the Grand Poobahs of Big Ten schools. Nebraska faced trips to Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan, and had the daunting task of hosting Ohio State and Michigan State. The funny thing is that despite this tough schedule, Nebraska was picked by quite a few to win the Big Ten.

Much of this was due to a lack of familiarity. Nebraska had enjoyed a lot of success in the Big XII and people believed that they could bring that to the Big Ten. That perception has proven to be false. While Nebraska went a respectable 3-2 against those teams, they finished third in the Big Ten Legends Division, taking two beatings from Wisconsin and Michigan.

I bring this up as a precursor to the SEC schedules as they welcome Missouri and Texas A&M to the conference.

It appears that neither is getting the murderer's row of schedules. While each will face the tough teams in their division, as every team has to, neither is facing the top teams in the other division. Texas A&M, being placed in the West Division, will have to face Arkansas, Alabama, and LSU, but it misses out on both Georgia and South Carolina. Similarly, Mizzou only has to face LSU of the three best West Division teams. Their schedules are, at worst, manageable.

Neither of these teams should be expected to win the SEC any time soon, but their transition should be a lot easier than Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten. While they adjust to their new opponents, they won't have to worry about playing the depth of competition that Nebraska has faced. This is one thing that Missouri and Texas A&M can keep a sound mind over.

Barkley's Return

A lot of people are questioning Matt Barkley's decision to return to the USC next year. As a college football fan, I can't be more happy for him and his family and for college football on the whole. The decision was great for the college game as one of the premier schools retains its best player.

The naysayers say that Barkley should come out this year because he'd be an early first round pick. Depending on which Mock Draft you were looking at, Barkley was either the second or third projected quarterback in the draft. The draft isn't going to go away next year, but Barkley is risking injury by returning to USC.

I don't think that's a big deal. Barkley has a solid family situation, so there is no need to rush his return. We've seen a few players come back in recent years. Sam Bradford decided to return after his Heisman Sophomore year, and while he did get hurt in his junior season, that did not prevent Bradford from being the first overall pick. Andrew Luck came back this year and is projected by many to be the first pick in the draft. With Bradley's skill level, I think he's in the same boat as these player. He'll be a top pick barring a very serious injury.

To continue on the draft theme, Matt Bradley will probably be the top quarterback available in next year's draft. He could be the best quarterback from USC since Carson Palmer. I don't think that next year's draft will be as deep at the quarterback position, and he might have more leverage to decide his destination as a result without relinquishing his draft position and locked in money.

Often, high first round picks are thrown into the fire with a team that doesn't have the necessary supporting cast to give them an opportunity to succeed. With all that goes to adjusting to the NFL game, having to deal with being the only guy can be troublesome. Having the leverage to decide where you go can also help get him in a location to best succeed.

There are other very important factors that I think pro-NFL people ignore.

Going to college is a once in a lifetime thing. After Barkley makes his decision to leave, he can't come back and play college football again. If he will have regrets for leaving, he shouldn't go. It appears that that is the case with Barkley. He genuinely loves being at USC and being a part of the USC community. It's where his heart is right now and that's where he should be.

Furthermore, there is the competitive aspect of it. While USC has maintained a level of success on the field, the last two years they've been ineligible for a bowl. This season, they would have been in the Pac-12 Championship. Next year, USC will be stacked. They might even have a chance at a National title, and that might be something that Barkley wants to be a part of. He has a very good chance of going to a very good bowl next year and having a very successful senior season that could see him winning the Heisman. Those are all reasons to stay.

I understand what the NFL guys are saying about the money, but the money isn't going anywhere. The dream of playing in big time college games and enjoying college life will disappear with a decision to leave. That's what he would've passed up. That's why I'm 100% behind Matt Barkley's decision to stay at USC.

The Hoke Identity

Brian at MGoBlog brought up an interesting discussion of how the Michigan offense will evolve under Brady Hoke and Al Borges:

Rodriguez was an attempt to do the latter. Hoke is an attempt to do the former, or at least he seems like it. Borges is a wildcard. Maybe he's content to ramp his offense down into Tressel/Lloydball territory once the defense is truly locked in, but maybe Michigan will morph into a team with an identity on offense, even if that identity is the amorphous, ever-shifting non-identity Boise State and Stanford have used lately.

He concludes:

The early returns here are inconclusive since Borges is biding his time with Denard while recruiting Shane Morris. But they are encouraging, both when it comes to Hoke's game theory aggression and Borges's tendency to keep the pedal depressed when it makes sense to. Buried deep in his own territory up 17 against a Nebraska team that has struggled to move the ball, he'll run-run-punt; staked to a three point lead against Ohio State second down is for moving chains.

This discussion was spurred by the SmartFootball article on recruiting the spread versus the pro-style offense and specifically LSU and Alabama:

For the truly elite-level recruiting teams, I think the agnosticism of pro-style treats them well because they basically recruit incredible players and then figure out the system and scheme later. Moreover, spread offenses, option offenses, and really any pass-first offense (including West Coast attacks of which I’d put Georgia in the category) require very good quarterback play. Alabama and LSU are basically designed to win in spite of their quarterbacks; Nick Saban does not want to return an all world defense with a bunch of five-star playmakers and lose because his QB was a junior and had some “growing pains”, which absolutely happens at every level. … 

For everyone else having an identity and being somewhat contrarian helps a lot because it allows you to focus your recruiting on guys that can help you, and in many cases it means you don’t have to compete with some other teams for those guys. … Moreover, because you have a system with specific skills required, you can develop those skills. There are many examples, but think about how those Texas Tech teams under Leach always had four guys who could contribute and were open, even against the best Big 12 teams, because they’d worked on those skills every day for two years before they got in the game and had countless reps.

I believe Michigan is developing an identity. While Michigan is going to switch from the spread to the pro-style offense, I don't think the plays are the obstacle. Brian brings up the fact that Hoke is an aggressive play caller when it comes to game theory. Hoke has a penchant for going for it on fourth down and is not afraid to trust his defense. That's where the identity is coming from on a macro-level.

The style of play also reflects this aggression. Hoke has made it an emphasis to dominate the line play. He has also talked about running Power and playing Manball. This isn't necessarily about the play-calling so much as the style of play. Even with a mobile quarterback whose runs are more predicated on his speed and elusiveness, Hoke has talked about running with power and aggression. In reality, Power and Manball are symbolic of that aggressive style.

Michigan is going to win games by being stronger and more aggressive and by winning the battle of wills. That is what Hoke is trying to get his team to do. That's why Michigan is recruiting the players its recruiting. That's why Hoke is trying to bring in all of these large offensive and defensive linemen. These players reflect the style of play that Hoke wants Michigan to play. He wants players who are not only physically strong, but also players with mean streaks. A player like Erik Magnuson perfectly fits the Hoke idea of Michigan football.

As the defense gets stronger and better, I don't think Hoke will play a conservative football style similar to LSU and Alabama. I don't think he's afraid to try to score points. In fact, his strategy might be at the opposite end of the spectrum. Rather than having a restricted offense that relies on his defense to win games, he might be more aggressive with his offense because the defense can win games by shutting down the opponent.

As Brian mentions, Hoke will need the talent to make this happen. Right now, it's too early to project how Michigan will be, even with promising recruiting classes on the way. In an early verdict, I would say that Hoke is developing an identity at Michigan. As he brings in players that fit his system, we will see more of that. Even in the time being though, we're seeing the macro influence of Hoke's aggressive style.

That will be Michigan football.

The Bowl Game Problem

The initial idea of having a bowl game was to have an end of the season match up between teams with winning records. There were plenty of side benefits to this as these bowls typically took place in destination cities in warmer climates. This would allow fans of different teams to head down to these cities and get a small vacation while watching their team compete in the bowl game. There were benefits for everyone.

The current bowl system is crooked.

This is without even discussing the BCS or a playoff system. This is about how teams are chosen as well as the ticket distribution and pricing. Currently, tickets are too expensive and the onus of selling tickets is too great, especially when you factor in the secondary market supply.

In the current system, the teams are allotted a certain number of tickets. It made sense in the beginning when the cities and bowls wanted to guarantee a certain number of people traveling into town and the schools wanted to ensure that they had a baseline number of people supporting them. Motivated by money, the system is now failing everyone.

Ticket prices are too high, and as a result, the schools are having trouble selling their allotment of tickets. If a school doesn't sell its allotment, it has to eat the costs. For smaller schools like UConn with less support for the football program, making a bowl can be a costly endeavor. The initial idea was to use the games to get people to come down. While the people may still come down, the schools pay the price.

One of the biggest emergences of recent years is the secondary ticket market. In many of these games, there is a surplus of tickets. This drives down prices. The fans are aware of this, so there is less incentive to buy from the school when ticket prices in the secondary market are cheaper. The incentives are now misaligned. The city doesn't suffer, the bowl might not suffer, but the schools do. That's not the way it should be.

Bowls should be to give these football programs a spotlight to shine. There can be some benefits for the city and the bowl, but they shouldn't be raking the schools over the coals in the meantime. The NCAA needs to take a deeper look at this and find a way to better protect the schools from this disadvantageous system. A bowl should be beneficial for everyone. Let's get back to the principle of the game.

Urban Meyer: Master or Myth

A lot has been made of Urban Meyer's arrival at Ohio State. The man has won two national championships, so it's easy to see why. However, is he a guarantee for success?

Why do I ask that?

Meyer came from a talent rich state of Florida, which supports three big name schools. Ohio, too, is a talent rich state, but he will face strong competition for every single prospect. There was more to go around in Florida where all three teams could end up with top 10 recruiting classes. In Ohio, he'll go head to head for many of the top prospects.

Additionally, there is more information about the players that he turns out. Players not only choose a program for its success on the field, but also for a chance to play at the next level. As a coach, Urban Meyer is clearly one of the best leaders in NCAA football. He has those championships and he has a track record of winning. When you bring in a guy like him, players are instantly going to be interested. We've seen that happen with many top prospects who are all of a sudden interested in visiting Ohio State. That's the Urban factor.

To understand Urban's impact, we can look at his Florida teams. We can look at his recruiting and see if those players went on to the NFL.

Going by Scout.com's rankings, prior to Meyer, Florida's recruiting wasn't great compared to instate rivals Florida State and Miami. In two of the three years before Meyer's arrival, they finished behind their rivals. In Meyer's six years at Florida, he had three classes that were the best in Florida, and only finished last once. He had two number one ranked recruiting classes and one number two ranked class. While his affect on recruiting wasn't huge, it was certainly significant enough where Florida gained an advantage.

When you look at the numbers, you cannot help but be impressed. In his six years at Florida, Meyer recruited thirty-one five-star players and sixty-four four-star players. It is notable that he did not get a single commit in Ohio, but he did manage to make connections at East Coast powerhouses like Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey and Our Lady Good Counsel in Maryland. As a fan of the current rival, it is definitely disconcerting.

As soon as Urban Meyer was hired, the recruitment of several top players heated up, and it appears that Michigan and Ohio State will battle it out for many of the remaining top players in the Midwest. One of those top players happens to be five-star Ohio State commit Bri'onte Dunn. Dunn has been waiting for the verdict on NCAA sanctions, and up until the Meyer hire, it looked like he was leaning towards decommiting and going to Michigan. Now, that seems much more up in the air.

However, one of the big things to come out of the competition for his services is this fact about Meyer:

But Dunn needs to look at the football side of things, too. He is a running back. A big running back at 6-foot-1 1/2 and 221 pounds with 4.5 40-yard speed. What Dunn probably is looking at is the fact that Meyer has never produced a 1,000-yard running back and, particularly, quarterbacks are the focal point of Meyer's spread offenses.

*** 

There isn't a 1,000-yard running back in there, and further, there isn't a guy that Meyer developed into an NFL running back, either. Percy Harvin played RB at Florida, but he was mostly used as a receiver and that's where he was drafted in the NFL.

The more years Urban Meyer coaches, the more information others have about how his players have turned out. While his college teams have been good, players aren't just looking for college success; many of them want to have successful professional careers.

That got me curious about Urban Meyer as a producer of NFL talent. Clearly, he is getting great high school athletes. However, he runs the spread, and he's never struck me as a strong defensive coach despite the fact that he has had some good defenses. He has benefited from surrounding himself with good coaches like Greg Mattison and Charlie Strong. The question is: is Meyer converting the talent he is getting from these recruiting classes into NFL ready prospects? Is this something that other schools can use against him or boast over him?

Well, over his six years, Urban Meyer produced thirty players who were drafted by an NFL team. Some of the players were recruited by his predecessor, Ron Zook, including the nine player 2007 NFL Draft, but they also played under Meyer. Since the 2006 NFL Draft, Florida has had eight first rounders, five second rounders, and three third rounders. Clearly, NFL franchises have evaluated the talent at Florida to be worthy of high round draft picks.

The problem is that most of these players have not panned out. Only two of those thirty players, Percy Harvin and Maurkice Pouncey, have made the Pro Bowl. There are several other players who look like they will have productive NFL careers like Aaron Hernandez, Joe Haden, Reggie Nelson, Marcus Gilbert, and Mike Pouncey. There are a few others who might stick on teams for a while. There are a lot of players, though, that have not made it.

For a guy who had a few of the top recruiting classes in the country, this seems like a low production of top level NFL talent. While he had the Pouncey brothers, there weren't many other offensive linemen who have translated to the NFL. Most of his defensive linemen and linebackers haven't had success either. The lack of quarterbacks and running backs has long been noted, with the exception of Tebow. There have been decent wide receivers and good secondary players though. On the whole, despite Florida's success, most of those players have not had successful NFL careers.

At this point, it's important to note that Ohio State has been one of the best producers of NFL talent over the last ten years. This is both due to recruiting, since Ohio State has consistently had top 25 classes, and due to the pro-style system that they ran under Jim Tressel. That system has helped players excel both at the college level and in the NFL.

The offense is going to change under Urban Meyer. The spread is his system. As a result, their production of NFL level offensive linemen, of NFL level running backs, and of NFL level quarterbacks should decrease. It's still a mystery what the defense will look. Often times, there is an emphasis of speed in conditioning for teams that run the spread. If the Ohio State defense begins to focus on speed instead of power, it might spell trouble in the Big Ten.

While Urban Meyer is Urban Meyer and Ohio State is Ohio State, there are still obstacles he will face that he didn't have to at Florida. There are less top athletes in the main recruiting bases of Ohio State, so he will face stronger competition for those players than what he faced at Florida. His teams might not have the same depth of athletes that he had at Florida. Furthermore, his track record for producing NFL players might deter future prospects from going to Ohio State over other schools that run the pro-style system. These are all important things that I believe will come into effect.

In all likelihood, Urban Meyer will be a success at Ohio State. It will just be harder for him than everyone else is anticipating.

The Heisman Debate

The Heisman Trophy will be awarded to the most outstanding player in College Football on Saturday Night. The finalists for the trophy are Montee Ball, Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Tyrann Mathieu, and Trent Richardson. I'd like to go through each candidate's case (alphabetical order).

Montee Ball had a historic year as Wisconsin fought its way back to win the first Big Ten Championship Game. Over 13 games, he has 38 touchdowns, one shy of Barry Sanders's NCAA season record. He should pass Sanders in the Rose Bowl against Oregon. Furthermore, he led the nation in rushing with 1,759 yards. Ball had 2,015 all-purpose yards. His overall numbers are fantastic.

Besides the historic touchdown numbers, the main case for Ball is his performance down the stretch. After Wisconsin's two losses, Wisconsin needed to win out to get into the Big Ten Championship Game. In those last four games, he scored 13 touchdowns averaging 192.25 yards in those games. He scored 4 touchdowns and rushed for 156 yards against Penn State in the de facto Leaders Division title game. Ball followed that up by scoring 4 more touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship Game against Michigan State.

When Wisconsin needed someone to turn to, they turned to Montee Ball.

Robert Griffin III simply had a fantastic year and is probably the front runner to win this trophy. He threw for 3,998 yards at a 72.4% completion percentage for 10.84 yards per attempt. He had a rating for 192.3 QB Rating and a stellar 36-6 TD-INT ratio. He also rushed for 644 yards and 9 TDs. Griffin was one of the most electrifying players all season long.

RG3 was Baylor's team. Baylor had one of the worst defenses in the NCAA and needed the offense to win them games. Griffin did that for them. He threw for 3 or more touchdowns in 8 of Baylor's games and threw for over 300 yards in 9 games.

Although they were not selected, RG3 put Baylor in a position to be selected for a BCS bowl.

Andrew Luck was the Heisman favorite from the first week of the season, and for many, it was his to lose. Luck did have a fantastic year and Stanford probably wouldn't have been the same without him. The Heisman is for the most outstanding player though,  not the MVP.

Luck led Stanford to an 11-1 record throwing for 3,170 yards at a 70% completion percentage. He had a 35-9 TD-INT ratio and a QB Rating of 167.5.

Luck had a great season and is very likely the top pick in the draft. I know a lot of people in the media want to send him to the NFL with a Heisman on his resume too.

Tyrann Mathieu, also known as the Honey Badger, had a very interesting Sophomore season. He was the best player on the best team in the country. He was the player that energized them. He led LSU with 74 tackles, 54 of them solo. He forced 5 fumbles, recovering four of them. He had 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions. He had 4 TDs on the season.

Perhaps his inclusion as a Heisman finalist has a lot to do with his performance in the SEC Championship game. The Honey Badger had a punt return for TD, a fumble recovery, and another long punt return that set up a TD. LSU looked somewhat lackluster early and needed a spark, and as he has done almost all season, Mathieu delivered that spark.

Mathieu was the best player on the best team and could be the second primary defensive player to win the Heisman.

Trent Richardson is one of my favorite players in college football. He runs hard, he works hard, and he seems to have a great head on his shoulders. Richardson had a very good season for the country's second best team. He rushed for 1,583 yards with 20 TD. He added 327 yards and 3 TD receiving. He had some great highlight runs and should be a high pick in the NFL draft, should he decide to enter.

Richardson seems to be the media's favorite running back.

Conclusion:
For me, this is between Montee Ball and Robert Griffin III.

While Richardson is a fantastic back, you cannot ignore the disparity between his and Ball's numbers. Ball was a TD machine all season and he performed well in big games. Richardson struggled against LSU in the biggest game of the season. While I understand that LSU's defense is fantastic against the run, Heisman candidates perform big in big games. Richardson did not do that to the extent of Ball.

Luck had a great season, but his numbers pale in comparison to RG3. RG3 had better passing stats, he has rushing stats, and he took better care of the ball. Furthermore, Luck failed in the biggest game of the season, one which might have landed them in the National Championship game, against Oregon. He threw two interceptions and Stanford was blown out. Furthermore, Stanford barely beat USC, in part due to an interception thrown by Luck. In two of the biggest games of the season, Luck didn't perform to Heisman standards.

Mathieu was the best player on the best team in the country. The benchmark for a defensive player getting voted the Heisman is Charles Woodson, who also was the best player on the best team back in 1997. Looking at their numbers, they're pretty comparable. The two things that I think hold Mathieu back are the suspension and his performance against Alabama. Voters aren't going to ignore the suspension. That's going to hurt him. Furthermore, he didn't do much against Alabama in the biggest game of the season. Woodson dominated the big rivalry games for Michigan, which is what got him the Heisman over Peyton Manning. Mathieu did not and I think that will keep him from winning the trophy.

Between Ball and Griffin, I believe it's what you make of their losses. Both were outstanding players all season long. The way I look at things, a QB has the ball in his hands every single play, so he has much more influence on whether a team wins or loses. A RB can only do so much with the carries and receptions that he gets. This is the criteria I would use to evaluate their worthiness.

Baylor lost three times. In those three games, RG3 threw for 9 TDs and 4 interceptions. Furthermore, Baylor's points per game fell from 43.5 for the season to 32.33 points per game in those three losses. That's a significant drop off. I really do think that this hurts RG3's case. While you can argue that the losses can be attributed to the defense, there was a clear drop off in his performances.

On the other hand, I don't think you can really fault Ball for the two Wisconsin losses. In the two losses, he had only 35 carries and 5 receptions. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry against Michigan State and 5 yards per carry against Ohio State. Furthermore, he had two touchdowns in both of those games. He was effective in those games. If anything, you could say that they lost because they didn't give it to Ball enough.

That's why I have to give Montee Ball the edge in the Heisman. However, I don't think that other will view it the same way. I think RG3 will win and Richardson and Luck will get more votes than they should. The Heisman was no slam dunk this year.

Bowling: The Gripes and The Triumphs

It's long been established that the Bowl Championship Series is not a perfect system. Every year, we seem to have an argument about who should be in the bowls and what to do with teams like Boise State that play a vastly inferior schedule yet find themselves with superb records at the end of the season. This year is no exception.

There are legitimate complaints about the majority of the teams playing in the BCS. I haven't heard anything about the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl, since all four of those teams seem to deserve a place in the BCS.

The championship game is riddled with controversy. LSU already beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa this year. A lot of people wanted to see Oklahoma State in the Championship game. It would have been an interesting contest, but more importantly, it would have been new. The rematch just opens up the conversation for more controversy in the future. What's worse is that the USA Today Coaches Poll voting was released today. We can see that not only did coaches have Oklahoma State below Alabama, but also some had them below Stanford as well. I won't rehash the Oklahoma State versus Alabama debate because that's all over the internet. I will say that Oklahoma State versus Stanford should be a little more clear. Oklahoma State played 7 bowl bound teams, defeating 6. Stanford, including USC who is bowl banned, beat 6 bowl bound teams, defeating 5. The Big XII is a much harder conference than the Pac 12 to boot. I guess we'll see which team is better in the Fiesta Bowl anyway.

The Sugar Bowl has also taken a lot of heat. I believe Michigan deserves to be there. They finished 10-2 with a schedule that featured 10 bowl bound opponents. I also feel that the Big Ten Conference as a whole has not received the positive public perception that it should. There were 5 teams from the Big Ten that finished in the top 25. Not enough people are pointing this out. A lot of the complaints are coming from Michigan State because they won the Legends Division and played in the Big Ten Conference Game. Well, Michigan State had a chance to go out and defeat Wisconsin for the right to play in a better bowl. They did not. It's an imperfect system, but I don't think you can complain about Michigan going to the BCS bowl. Michigan's ranking makes them look worse than they are, but as long as the Big Ten had teams with a good enough record, they were going to get a second BCS bid. Michigan had a good enough record as well as other tangible qualities (see ticket sales).

I believe there are legitimate gripes about Virginia Tech. The ACC is not a strong conference. VT had a chance to show that their only loss was an anomaly, and they were stomped again. Their schedule itself was extremely weak. They faced 6 teams that were bowl eligible including Miami, who is passing on a bowl and the two games against Clemson, and won 4 of them. There were a lot of conference runner ups that had the same record, but with tougher schedules. You could look at a Kansas State, Baylor, or TCU here. It's unfortunate, but what can you do? It's more an exhibition game than a serious competition. It's the money that's the difference. These two teams sell.

The Orange Bowl is kind of a joke. With how bad the Big East teams did this year, they really don't deserve a team in the BCS. Additionally, none of those teams are really competitive with the other major conferences. They're taking a spot from a more deserving team like a Kansas State, Boise State, Baylor, or TCU. West Virginia does not belong. Clemson suffered in the latter part of their year partially because of injury, but they won their conference championship to get in. The Big East didn't even have one of those. I think the system is going to change soon. As far as undeserving schools, West Virginia is at the top of the list, not Michigan, not Virginia Tech, not Clemson.

I really haven't had a good look at the rest of the bowls, but one of the bigger stories should be the fall of Penn State. Rather than playing Oklahoma in the Insight Bowl, Penn State dropped all the way down to facing Houston in the Ticket City Bowl. Clearly, the whole scandal has made them untouchable. This reflects poorly on the Big Ten Conference because Oklahoma should beat Iowa handily, denying the Conference a chance to prove its worth.

I don't have any other thoughts at the moment. It looks like I will be heading to the Sugar Bowl barring any changes. I still have to make travel arrangements, but I bought my ticket to the game. I'll talk more about that when the time comes. The other post I really want to make this week is to talk about the Heisman race. A lot of people are keying in on certain players, but I'm sort of leaning a different way. I'd like to talk more about that.

Championship Week

I was going to write about The Game and the Iron Bowl last week, two rivalries that probably deserved posts, but you really can't do them justice. For any people associated with those schools, it means so much. All the aspects of the rivalry, the competition, the hatred, the tradition, you can't easily put in words, especially before the game.

This week is championship week. We have conference championships galore. We have the MAC Championship tonight. We have several other championship games tomorrow, including the ACC, Big Ten, and the SEC. We also have the Bedlam Football Game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, which will serve to decide the Big Twelve Champion. It should be an exciting day of games.

I don't know what exactly I'll be doing, but I'm thinking of heading to the Baseball Tavern. They host several of the schools that will be participating in games tomorrow so it seems like the perfect place to set up shop.