B ig C ontroversy S hortage

So here is my long-awaited (by Bob and iii) post on the state of college football this year. Things have gotten a little crazy this year, and I wanted to write about some of it. The most important fact, as Bob and I were discussing earlier today at school, is that this year's secret word is parity.

Parity! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

The college football world seems to be filled with a number of competing, confusing storylines. Along with that, there are still many HUH-YUGE games waiting to be played that will help to clear up the picture. With that in mind, I'd like to take a look at a couple stories in detail (taking order from my weekly seven over on Bob's blog).

• Well, there's always an exception to every rule. If parity is the rule, Ohio State is the exception. Please Ohio State, don't lose! It's always nice to have one certain thing on which to fall back.

• Who knew that the Big East would live up to its name? Three undefeated teams looks good right now. Then again, all three will be playing each other. I say it's likely to pan out with an undefeated, a one-loss, and a two-loss team in the Beast. I would REALLY love to keep riding my Louisville pick, but I'm starting to be swayed by all that coal. WVU is looking a lot better than Louisville right now. Their rushing attack is outstanding. They each have a long week here, not playing until Thursday, Nov. 2. Long week, fresh legs, offensive explosions. If that's how it turns out, I'm thinking Louisville can't keep up. After that, WVU can coast until their final game against Rutgers at home. Those pundits may be right. WVU to go undefeated. Louisville hanging tough the following week at Rutgers as the one-loss team. Rutgers finishing a respectable 10-2.

• I'm still saying USC will lose one. Probably the ND game at the end of the year, which will screw everything up, unless if you are a WVU fan. I'm backing off my Louisville prediction, but I'm sticking with ND. Bob disagrees with me on this, but ND beat a really good UCLA team. They will coast through their next four games (Navy, UNC, Air Force, Army), pad their stats, and then beat the Trojans. That being said, I'd like to go ahead and give the Trojans some credit. The big names are gone, but these guys are still good. Good athletes go a long way in college football, and Pete Caroll has a ton playing for him. That said, check out their last four games (Oregon, Cal, ND, and UCLA). Not going to make it. That'll be nice for a change.

• I'll skip talking about Michigan. Say whatever you want, they'll lose to Ohio State and be the best one-loss team in the country. They'll go to a BCS game, probably against USC. Rose Bowl maybe? The real topic of discussion here, and the source of much of the messiness is the SEC. To appease iii, I'm an Auburn homer. There you go. Let's get that on the table. But here's the deal, Arkansas beat AU. So, they're going to the SEC Championship game, unless they lose two. Well, there are two games for them to lose: Tennessee and LSU. Potentially, they could lose both and Auburn would be in Atlanta again. But I don't know if that will happen. Even if they lose to UT2, I can't see them losing the last game of the year to LSU on which all of their hopes ride. Then again, there are a bunch of young guns on that team, and the choke factor could come into play. I wish, right? So, let's say that Arkansas escapes with one loss and goes to the SEC Championship. Who will they play? Likely, Florida. I think UT2 will lose to LSU or Arkansas. From that game, I have to think that Florida wins. So now you have one loss Florida looking at a BCS game, PLUS one-loss Auburn (not in the Championship game), and two loss Arkansas (USC, and Florida). Who goes to the BCS? Arkansas did win head-to-head, but AU has only one loss, and did beat Florida, which Arkansas could not do. The confusion begins. The lobbying starts, and the controversy continues.

• I don't even want to think about Texas. They should have lost to Nebraska. Clemson will also be talked about, as they are likely to end up with only one-loss.

• Where does that leave us? Here's what I am looking for at the end of the year:

Ohio State - no loss
WVU - no loss
USC - one loss (possibly undefeated)
Michigan - one loss
Texas - one loss
Louisville - one loss
Clemson - one loss
Auburn - one loss (fine, MAYBE two)
Florida - one loss (maybe two)
Arkansas - one loss (maybe two)
Notre Dame - one loss (maybe two)
Boise State - no loss??
Cal - one loss (probably two)
Tennessee - two loss (MAYBE one)

What in the world do you do with that? Here's my crazy thoughts. I think that with all these crazy potentials, the BCS will actually work this year. The only way we have three undefeateds is if USC wins out, and I don't see that happening. (Boise State doesn't count, but they will be undefeated). With all those one loss teams, how do you decide? I think that the BCS might actually be prepared to handle this. Call me crazy, but with all this parity, in the end, we might just see everything work out.


In the coming weeks, I anticipate giving you my BCS bowl predictions, teams and bowl games. I'm also thinking heisman candidates. Until then...