You know, I have been thinking about the BCS for a couple of years. (I have to admit that I feel odd posting about College Football during BASEBALL season, but that will have to pass.) Ages ago, okay about a decade, I was on the “We need to know who really is #1″ bandwagon, but now I am not. I could care less if the “real” #1 plays the real #2 to determine the “real” National Champion.

What changed? I attended USC and felt the joy of “real” college football. I can still remember my first game in Olympic Stadium. I was awestruck. I was a grad student who went to The University of Nevada Reno as an undergrad. I had been to college games before, but I had never been to an event like football at SC.

I remember listening to ABC Sports broadcasts as a kid, “This is Keith Jackson and we are watching the Men of Troy blowing down from the San Gabriels to vanquish the Fighting Irish of Notrah Dahm.” The Jackson broadcasts, ’til this year still a part of Pac-10 football, had an undeniable impact on my enjoyment of college football. He made football, like baseball, about the long term rivalries. I had some sense of what that meant from Jackson, but when I finally saw my first USC vs. Notre Dame game from the stands…Sweet Jesus! There is nothing like it, except maybe Yankees vs. Red Sox for a Sox fan. I was filled with Thumos and I still sing Fight On! at random moments.

Then I encountered the “post-season.” I had heard about classic Rose Bowl games, but the BCS has made one out of four Rose Bowl’s essentially meaningless as anything but a money maker. Gone are the long rivalries. Pac-10 vs. Big 10? “Nah,” says the BCS, “Who cares?” I do. I want a return to the old conference rivalry system. I don’t care if we get an official national champion. These are college atheletes, supposedly student-atheletes. The more we treat them like professionals, in systems and profiteering, the less we should be surprised by things like the current Reggie Bush family fiasco.

Comment by Christian Johnson — Tuesday, April 25, 2024 @ 2:31 pm

In my (not so) humble opinion, the main problem with the BCS and college football is that roughly a third of the football teams are eliminated from contention for the championship before the season even starts. If your alma mater is part of the MAC or the MWC, its awfully hard to be a college football fan - knowing that your team can go undefeated in any given season and will still not be given the chance to play for a championship. Unlike college basketball, there are no cinderellas in college football. To me, that’s the very definition of a system that sucks.

Comment by LaurenceB — Wednesday, April 26, 2024 @ 9:55 am

In other news…..the University of Texas was voted “the best place to find homosexual males”
http://www.planetout.com/people/features/2001/01/colleges/south.html

Comment by Jimmy — Tuesday, January 31, 2024 @ 9:49 am

Whatever spot he gets taken, it will be a bargain. He starts from day 1 with any team.

Comment by Steven L. — Wednesday, January 11, 2024 @ 9:07 pm

Yup. He be good.

I could easily see him going to the Jets or Packers in the 4 and 5 slots respectively.

Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Thursday, January 12, 2024 @ 11:56 am

Yep all around. Goose and others think Young would be a better player a year from now if he stayed in school. Maybe so. But I’d rather do my learning on an NFL superstar’s paycheck.

Speculation that he would go to the Titans and be under Steve McNair’s wing for a year also sounds promising.

Comment by James Joyner — Monday, January 9, 2024 @ 3:35 pm

I’m glad to hear things went well.

I felt certain you would HAVE to blog about the game last night, quite a nail-biter.

Comment by Jan — Thursday, January 5, 2024 @ 11:07 pm

There was a game?

Comment by Steven L. — Friday, January 6, 2024 @ 8:36 am

Well, the coverage in Austin was probably near non-existent, so it’s no shock you didn’t hear about it.

Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, January 6, 2024 @ 10:33 pm

People here are absolutely freaking out because local boy Mitch Mustain (the top rated QB on that list) has rescinded his oral committment to Arkansas and may be headed for Notre Dame.

Comment by Matt — Tuesday, December 13, 2024 @ 10:01 pm

Actually…Tebow was not at the Auburn Game since Auburn was not recruiting him to play for them thus he was an Alabama recruit. Further compound the pressure to be a hometown hero when they only have one scholarshipped qb after the backup transfers in January. It was a no-brainer to pick FLorida for him. Still, we will survive.

Comment by Clint — Wednesday, December 14, 2024 @ 12:49 pm

Since the outcome was about as obvious as a typical Texas-Baylor game, I really don’t see how it could be anything BUT boring.

Comment by Mark L — Saturday, December 10, 2024 @ 10:07 pm