Goodbye to Kinnick North

Way to finish the season, Hawkeyes. 55 - 0 to close out the Metrodome.

Nuff Said

Bad BCS Moon Rising

There is a nasty controversy on the horizon in college football. But that's nothing new for the BCS!

Thanks to the 6 conference monopoly that begrudging allowed this system, the 6 conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the top bowls, no matter how bad those conferences are. This means that that whoever stumbles their way to the top of the Big East, Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, gets in. And despite their best efforts, someone will eventually win the chaotic ACC. So that will result in two teams lower than #18 playing in the BCS.

It gets worse.

The Pac-10 is not helping. It is so top heavy- a couple of good teams and a lot of really bad teams, that Oregon State can run the table and win their first Rose Bowl bid since the mid 1960's. That puts a third low-ranked team (likely around #20) into the BCS. Ouch.

Then, there are the BCS busters. One team between Utah, Boise State, and, possibly, BYU will finish in the top 12 and get an automatic bid to one of the four BCS bowls. This minor break with the monopoly is well deserved and past due, but it does lock up one more precious spot.

So what's the problem?

Look at this week's top 10 in the BCS:

1.Alabama

2.Texas Tech

3. Texas

4. Florida

5. Oklahoma

6. USC

7. Utah

8. Penn St.

9. Boise St.

10. Ohio St.

If the season were to end with these standings (with Utah and Boise State both undefeated):

A. Alabama and Texas Tech would play for the championship (I think it will be Florida and Oklahoma, but we'll ignore that for now)

B. Penn State would play in the Rose Bowl

C. Utah would get an at-large berth

D. There would only be 3 at-large spots left between Texas, Florida, USC, Oklahoma, Boise State, and Ohio State.

Look at that list again.

Only 3 teams between Texas, Florida, USC, Oklahoma, Boise State, and Ohio State get to play in the BCS.

Wow.

The Bronco's undefeated season would go unrewarded.

The Buckeyes can forget about yet another Fiesta Bowl.

If the Gators are a lock, then someone between the Longhorns, Trojans, and Sooners is going to be awfully disappointed.

And this does not begin to address the possibility of a non-conference-champion playing in the BCS title game. Oh yes- it could happen. We could even see two non-conference-champions in the title game. I won't spin your head further with those scenarios.

Fight On,

Hans

PS: Bad Moon Rising was originally released on the Green River album by CCR (1969). If you already knew that, then you must be living somewhere in the Sacramento Delta . . .

Hans

Hope For Change in the BCS

It’s November, and you know what that means: Pete Carroll will be trying to keep his No-Loss-November streak alive, the Minnesota Gophers will start to wonder if their open air new stadium is such a good idea, the tundra will begin to freeze in Green Bay, and we’ll all start bitching about the BCS. Proponents of a playoff system got a huge boost last week from our newly crowned president-elect (for a complete review of Iowa’s experience with the election, check out Sophie’s blog at http://www.blogger.com/www.sophiehouse.blogspot.com) . On Monday night football, on the eve of election day, Barack Obama was asked what the one thing he would change about sports and said that it was about time that college football decided its champion with a playoff, suggesting an eight team field. Without plagiarizing Dan Weztel’s outstanding 11/5/08 Yahoo column too much, Obama reflects the mood of the nation with this opinion on vital policy (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-obamabcs110508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns) .

The debate over the need for a playoff is so pervasive that we all need to ask the critical question: who exactly is against the idea? As near as I can figure it, the people against it do not number more than 23: the commissioners and presidents of the Pac 10 and Big 10 conferences. And that’s about it. 23 people holding up the wishes of 300 million? That’s not very democratic. In the spirit of hope and change ushered in by the remarkable events of Election Day 2008, it is time to move the BCS into its next logical step: the “plus one” game. The infrastructure is in place for this four team playoff- now all four major bowls play a game near New Year’s day and one venue hosts the “BCS Championship” a week later.

The race for this year’s BCS became slightly clearer last weekend. Thanks to the leg of Iowa City native Daniel Murray, Penn State was effectively eliminated from the national championship race. Now, JoPa will have to “settle” for a Rose Bowl date with USC, assuming they can beat Michigan State (which is not a done deal by any means). Murray, on the other hand, gave up a full ride playing soccer at Kentucky to walk on for his hometown Hawkeyes. What seemed like a crazy choice last year has now yielded him everlasting fame and fortune. He will never have to pay a bar tab in Iowa City . . . ever.

Florida’s impressive play of late has moved them up in the rankings and landed them in the SEC championship game. Assuming the Gators and Tide stay perfect until then (again hardly a done deal- see “2007 season” for more details), we will have a national semi-final for the BCS in the SEC Championship. So says Brad Edwards of ESPN, and he is usually right. The SEC champion’s opponent is a little more murky but it is a safe assumption that they will come from the Big 12. Texas Tech controls their own destiny for now, but they face their stiffest test of the year Saturday when they travel to Norman and take on the Oklahoma Sooners. An Oklahoma win will result in a three way tie atop the Big 12 south, with each team having beat the other (OU beat Tech who beat Texas who beat OU- ouch). The Big 12 tiebreaking procedures for a three way tie read as follows:

1.The records of the three teams will be compared against each other
2. The records of the three teams will be compared within their division
3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5 and 6)
4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents;
5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall be the representative
6. The team with the best overall winning percentage [excluding exempted games shall be the representative
7. The representative will be chosen by draw.

Since Tech, OU, and Texas can finish with only one loss each (to each other), methods 1- 4 are bypassed. That leaves #5, and the fate of the Big 12 champ in the hands of the BCS voters. Since pollsters usually punish teams that lose late, in the aforementioned scenario, Texas Tech would probably get the short end of the stick and Texas has the edge at this point. But we’re getting way ahead of ourselves- let’s see what happens Saturday.

Fight On,
Hans

PS: An Oregon State- Penn State rematch in the Rose Bowl? It is not as ridiculous as it may sound. Although folks in State College cringe at the thought of it, if the Beavers win out they still are the Pac-10 champs over USC. And looking back at their season, they only have one bad loss- the opening day stumble to Stanford. Since then, they have only lost to two teams, both of whom happen to be in the top 10 (Penn State and Utah). If they can get by Cal (unlikely) and Arizona (impossible) in the next two weeks, the Civil War would decide the Rose Bowl. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing USC being “forced” to accept an at-large BCS berth and play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl or Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. We’ll see . . . .

Ghouls, Goblins, and Transvestites

Saturday saw the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonsville, Florida. Except that, since 2006, the SEC has asked TV networks to stop using that nickname becuase it glorifies the binge drinking that tends to occur. But tradition is hard to stop, and two years later, everyone still knows the Florida - Georgia game as the Cocktail Party. Memo to the NCAA: changing the title of the game will not suddenly end binge drinking associated with this or any other football game. You should see the number and complexity of beer bongs here at the Hawkeye games!

Similarly, the Texas-Oklahoma classic at the Texas State fair was known as the Red River Shootout for 100 years until 2005. I suppose the stuffed shirts of the NCAA found "shootout" to be a little too violent. To heck with 100 years of tradition. But on Saturday night, sprayed across national television, were the mascot, fans, and even coach of Texas Tech with their hands in a gun shape, proudly waving on their gun slinging Red Raiders on to victory over Texas. This "Guns Up" hand sign was developed in 1961 to counter the very common "Hook em Horns" sign, flashed throughout Texas all year long. Will the NCAA crack down on this one too? (interesting side note: the gorgeous black stallion rode by the "Masked Rider" of Texas Tech is probably the oldest of the current live horse mascots in the NCAA, dating back to 1954. Others include Chief Osceola of Florida State, the mounted Cavalier of Virginia, and, of course, college football's greatest mascot: Traveler, the Trojan Horse.)

Political Correctness is the principle of public relations that avoids offending anyone. This, of course, can easily become an exercise in futility. In an attempt to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Think of elevator music or the color beige.

Halloween is one night of the year that PC takes a back seat to libido. Sure, there is still plenty of innocent fun among children dressing up and begging for candy (Sophie wore an adorable penguin costume). But Halloween has become a predominantly adult holiday, especially on college campuses where risque apparel is now the norm. Downtown Iowa City, blessed with record high temperatures this weekend, was packed with superheroes, pirates, and nurses, all trying to outdo each other for outrageousness and offense to Midwestern sensibilities.

We made it out on Halloween night for a treat: a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the local art house theatre. This is a film that revels in shocking sensibilities, purposely challenging conventional social mores. The point of the movie, I think, is that everyone can be corrupted by giving in to their natural sexual insticts. Either that or its just a silly sexy romp in drag with some good songs but a patheticly bad plot.

As a veteran of the Rialto in Pasadena, Balboa in Newport, and the Nuart in West LA, I am pleased to report that the Rocky Horror fans in Iowa are sophisticated, enthusastic, and knew all the classic shout out lines. And they added a few more audience jokes I had not heard before. The best costume by far was a spitting image of Tim Curry's Frank N Furter, right down to the garter belt and nylons. It was a glorious 100 minute bachnalia before we all returned to our quiet, unassuming corn and pig farmer lives to watch some great football.

Fight On,

Hans