It is a truth universally acknowledged 'round these parts that I am by all accounts a big ole' poopy head who hates everything.

Only mostly true! I hate everything except hip hop. And hip hop as well, if you're Rishi and your definition of hip hop is "Kanye, Jay-Z, and Ludacris" but otherwise just anything else.

Anyway.

As it happens the genre's been putting out a ridiculous amount of primo shit over the last year, and most of it is free from the artists themselves, so I thought I would hammer out a makeshift Best Of list. Cool? Cool.

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Thanks to Seattle Seahawks blog 17power by way of Field Gulls I came across a nifty bit of football reference in the form of a transcript of a Pete Carroll seminar in which he elaborates the roles of each position in his 4-3 Under defense.   

Reading through his descriptions of the roles within the front seven, I with the idea that what I was looking at seemed an awful lot like my idea of Cal's base defense. Four man line, three down linemen with a standing end on the weak (no tight end) side and three true linebackers behind the line. This gave me the idea that I could use the description of the Carroll 4-3 to fill out help divine the makeup of our future front seven.

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It's that time of the year. Coy Athletic Directors are getting frisky, losing coaches are getting antsy, and unspeakable sins cry out for retribution. The college football season is nearly over and it's time to can some coaches!

Let's review some of the higher profile sackings to come, shall we?

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It doesn't seem like Tedford's ever been terribly big on firing his assistants, but Marshall has faceplanted so spectacularly this year that he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. But that opens up a whole new question of who Cal should hire to replace him. I don't think that's a question anyone here can necessarily answer, but I'd like to see it discussed anyway.

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Numbers carefully and lovingly culled to be submitted without comment. Topic is self explanatory:

Maryland, first half: 126 yards on 44 plays
Maryland, second half: 142 yards on 31 plays

Eastern Washington, first half: 169 yards on 42 plays
Eastern Washington, second half: 65 yards on 24 plays

Minnesota, first half: 91 yards on 22 plays
Minnesota, second half: 163 yards on 30 plays

Oregon, first half: 299 yards on 41 plays
Oregon, second half: 225 yards on 53 plays

USC, first half: 261 yards on 41 plays
USC, second half: 170 yards on 33 plays

UCLA, first half: 299 yards on 30 plays
UCLA, second half: 166 yards on 35 plays

Wazzu, first half: 290 yards on 40 plays
Wazzu, second half: 131 yards on 33 plays.

Numbers are slightly, but not emphatically SIC. Best way I could figure out to come up with the data was to just trawl the espn play by play, but they are treacherous and sometimes lie. But I think the general point, whatever that is, still comes across.

[Note: May only contain negligible amounts of critical comparison and/or analysis.]

Long story short I'm bored and want to see precisely how the Pac-10 bowls stack up against the slates of other conferences. I'll put the biggest emphasis on exposure (TV ratings, which I think are determined more by time slot than anything else, though it's an arguable point) followed by payout and trailed distantly by prestige. (Which I basically view as bullshit punditspeak of no actual value. The Sun Bowl has prestige, unfortunately nobody watches it.)

So basically what I mean to find out is: how many people are watching Pac-10 Bowls, how many people are watching other BCS conference tie-in bowls, how the Pac-10 is being remunerated for its tie ins, and how everybody else is getting paid. Comparison might get a little scattershot, since I'm going only on last year's bowls and tie ins, so I'll tend towards comparing tie ins at the top of the various ladders. One particular note is that I'll be treating the Poinsettia Bowl as a Pac-10 tie in, because its ratings indicate that it should be.

(Ratings from volunteertv.com, bowl payouts from Wikipedia.)

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So here's the setup. After ending the Cal Rose Bowl drought following the 2009 season, with the SAHCP construction nearing completion and the stadium retrofit in the offing, Tedford looks upon his program and decides that it is good, and furthermore decides that it's time to move on from the Golden Bears to new challenges and opportunities. Fond farewells are exchanged and etc. and the Cal Athletic Department gets down to the business of finding Tedford's successor.

The question: with Coach Tedford gone, who would be on your short list to succeed him?

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