So it appears that the college football powers that be have finally decided to move towards a playoff instead of having the BCS as we currently know it. About a decade ago, I would have actually crushed the college football powers that be for not going far enough by only deigning to create a system where there is a four team playoff.

I was a hardcore zealot, even going as far as to try and create a playoff system featuring 12 teams. I had numbers, charts and graphs and I was crafting a plan involving the sites of many of the current bowl games to be involved. I was 23 turning 24 and had more idle time on my hands than I expected.

Today, though, I look at the system and realize that it is a baby step in the direction of having a more robust playoff system that will eventually come into place. Of course, many of the decisions in intercollegiate athletics today in 2012 are driven by television money even more so than they were a decade ago.

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(Author's Note: I know dcrockett17 normally does the postgame postmortem, but I needed to write about this game. Not trying to step on his toes, as I hope he has his own thoughts to add later.)

As I sit and write this, it’s been about two hours since Phil Pressey’s desperation three pointer clanged off the back of the rim and the Tigers fell to the Spartans, 86-84.

No, not the Michigan State Spartans but rather the Norfolk State Spartans.

Not exactly the Spartans I think most Tigers fans expected to be defeated by.

I’m numb. There really isn’t any way to describe the feeling. Simply numb as I sit here at home, trying to eat dinner and process exactly where everything went wrong.

When Missouri shoots 53 percent from the field, 45 percent from three and makes 13 three pointers, I just expect them to win. At least, I expect this team to win.

But when the other team plays out of its mind, making twice as many three pointers in this game than they averaged during the regular season, shoots 54 percent from the field and over 50 percent from three, it’s hard.

I kept waiting for Mizzou to make a run in the second half, one of those 12-0 or 17-2 knockdowns that would allow the Tigers to assert control.

But the run never came.

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One of the good things that the NCAA does is that they make available, for free, the official rule book for their sports. This link will take you to the NCAA rule book for basketball (men's and women's) for the next two seasons. Any updates to rules from the previous book is indicated in the body of the book in blue.

So, I thought it would be instructive to look through the rule book last night and pull out the sections that refer to blocks and charges.

Let's start with the definitions of a block and a charge, shall we?

Rule 4, Section 9, Article 1 defines a block as follows:

Blocking is illegal personal contact that impedes the progress of an opponent.

Rule 4, Section 12, Article 1 defines a charge as:

Charging is illegal personal contact by pushing or moving into an opponent’s torso.

Now, the question regarding block/charge has to deal with establishing position. Let's look at the definition of the term guarding, since that is part of the key to understanding who gets to establish position.

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One of the reasons I am proud to be a member of this internet community here at Rock M Nation is that we are, for the most part, level headed about most matters. We can recognize the flaws that our teams possess, and can be critical in our assessment of those flaws.

We also are fiercely proud of our teams when they do well. And I think it is natural for us to become defensive of our teams when they are doing well, yet we perceive that they are being harangued and knocked down by outsiders. I get that. I really do.

However, I would like to offer up a suggestion that will make things easier for everyone by keeping our mouths and fingers in check, keep our blood pressure low, and make the next 4-6 weeks a completely pleasureable experience.

It will be hard. It will be one of the hardest things I am asking the community to do:

Ignore Doug Gottlieb.

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Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Please tell me that we won't see most of those guys on defense in October. Please. Pretty, pretty please.

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Championship weekend. The question: If Georgia can pull off the upset (currently somewhere between +10 and +11.5), does LSU still go to the BCS Title game? Discuss

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The title for this quick slant is not wholly appropriate, now that I think about it.

I was trying to think of some break up songs and I immediately flashed back to the early nineties. I went to an all male, Jesuit high school, and every month during the school year (or almost every month) the school would sponsor dances/mixers. I think it was to help us overcome the social awkwardness from being 13-17 year old boys cut off from females during the regular course of our high school lives.

Anyway, the tensest parts of the dances for me was when the slow dance songs came on. Chubby, nerdy kid who has a crush on a pretty girl trying to ask her to dance? Not good.

But enough of my therapy. The first song that popped into my head when thinking about this game: The End of the Road by Boyz II Men.

But a reading of the lyrics just didn't strike the right chord with me. I think there is one song that might sum up the sentiments better.

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I wasn't joking about wanting to watch the world burn.

And it has become chaotic thanks to the recent spate of upsets. Now we get to play the fun game of who is number two.

Attention this week on our soon to be new conference: Friday's game at Baton Rouge between Arkansas and LSU and Saturday between Auburn and Alabama.

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via SBnation.com

Ever since I became affiliated with Mizzou, I've always had a soft spot for Texas Tech. I never had to explain it, and I've never been able to actually verbalize it, but for a school I've never been to in a state I've only visited three times, I found myself drawn to them.

And then when Tech hired Mike Leach and we got to know more about their iconoclastic coach and the pass first (and second) offense they ran, my affection grew.

Oh, and I have Double T Nation to thank for leading me here to Rock M Nation.

But watching what has become of them over the last couple of seasons since the termination of Mike Leach has been sad.

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As usual, in the 24 hour sports media cycle a lot of noise and attention is focused on speculation and thinking about the what if's.

Well, things have cleared up quite a bit from last month when there were all of those undefeated teams, right?

Now the path appears to be clear for LSU and Oklahoma State. Win out and you're in the BCS Title Game.

If either or both lose...be ready to watch the world burn.

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I couldn't believe my eyes last season. I was stunned, flabbergasted and completely baffled.

Texas went 5-7?

The University of Texas football program went 5-7 and missed a bowl game?

Blowout losses to UCLA, Kansas State and Oklahoma State?

A Texas team that didn't score more than 24 points against BCS competition last season?

Inconceivable!

But sometimes, you have to hit bottom before you can start to come back up.

Out went Greg Davis and the horizontal passing game. (And yes, as much as some folks bitch about our bubble screen package, I think the complaints from UT fans were totally valid last season. That was one of the most unimaginatively designed offensive schemes I've witnessed in 15 years of watching college football.)

In came Bryan Harsin from Boise State to serve as co-offensive coordinator.

Of course that's not the only change that happened.

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STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Ignore the deltas. This ballot was filed from scratch with zero regard for last week's ballot. Thus, the "you dropped X team Y spots for beating team Z [score] to [score]???" argument does not stand.

This week we went back to ground zero and tried to truly reassess the top 25 ballot. Again, this is one man's opinion from someone who watches about 15 hours of football each Saturday and has seen all or part of at least one game from every team this season.

Although after thinking hard about it, I did bring Wisconsin back in this week. Not because they curbstomped Purdue, but because after looking at the entire body of work, they deserve to be back in.

Game of the week is at "The Farm" as Stanford hosts Oregon to decide who is in the catbird seat in the Pac-12 North.

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I've tried to avoid most of what had transpired regarding Expansionapalooza over the last few months. I was tired. My body was weary, and I was more than ready to simply focus on the games being played on the field.

After yesterday's disappointing loss to Baylor, I was looking up some game scores on ESPN when I saw a note that the announcement of Missouri to the SEC was going to come this week. Again, given the false reports and false starts over the last few months, I didn't give this more than a passing glance.

And then the document that I was waiting for crossed the wire today.

it's really happening.

Granted, the nitty gritty details and issues probably still need to be worked out (thanks, Big East!). But at some point soon, the move will take place.

The great question, with any transition, is: Now what?

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(Yes, it is normally a "quick slant", but I wound up running a bit long and so a longer pattern name was needed.)

Before I started writing about college football, I actually wrote about college basketball.

In basketball, because there are fewer players on the court, it is easier for one great player to take over a team and raise them to another level.

In football it doesn't happen that often, in part, because there are more moving parts at play. It's hard for one great player to dominate and change the face of a program and a franchise.

On November 28, 2007 Baylor named Art Briles, then coaching at Houston, head coach and awarded him a seven year deal. Briles, who had one Conference USA title to his name at the time was taking over a program that had struggled for a long, long time by moving to Waco. He left behind Case Keenum as the quarterback of the future.

But Briles took with him to Baylor the fourth best dual threat quarterback prospect in the nation, and the 42nd best prospect in the state of Texas for the 2008 class (according to Rivals). This young man was also a track phenom.

He also knows how to get down:

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So here is how you can tell I was sick as a dog last week. The ballot I filed for the BlogPoll was incredibly wack.

Wisconsin being left off for a last second Hail Mary loss?

SMU moving up on the ballot after losing?

Yeah. Mistakes all around.

What can I say? NyQuil is a helluva drug. 

But this week's ballot should be less out of whack and more in line with what I actually think.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when there was a lot of chatter about all of these undefeated teams and how BCS Armageddon was on the horizon?

Yeah, not so much at this point. Maybe folks should wait until Armageddon actually happens and then talk about what it means.

Game of the week: LSU at Alabama on Saturday night. Appointment viewing. I'll also be attending Boise State at UNLV to see if the Rebels can keep it under 50.

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I've been to College Station two times in my life.

One was for the game in 1998 (damn you, Randy Potter!), where I was the coldest and the wettest I've ever been in my life. I was in and out of town in 24 hours.

Flash forward about a decade, and I find myself spending a couple of days in College Station again as a finalist for a job in Student Activities at Texas A&M. I didn't get the job, but I had a wonderful time again.

Texas A&M is a special place. Yeah, it is easy to make fun of them and their traditions, as many here have done. It's not my m.o. but to each their own.

One of the more well known aspects of Texas A&M is the concept of the 12th man, and the fervor for football. For as much passion as Texas A&M has for their team, I would have assumed that A&M was claiming many national titles. Not as many as Alabama, maybe, but surely there are lots of titles.

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In Friday's Quick Slant I mentioned that the Bedlam game was one of the games that most professional (and some amateur) college football prognosticators and pundits thought would be critical to determining who would play for the BCS Championship.

Well, there is still a chance it might determine who plays for the crystal football in January, but some of the shine may have been taken off of the game with Oklahoma's stunning loss to Texas Tech at home on Saturday night.

Wisconsin also spit the bit, losing on an Hail Mary pass to the Michigan State Spartans.

Key games to watch: Michigan State at Nebraska, Oklahoma at Kansas State, Stanford at USC and Clemson at Georgia Tech.

Here's where the season starts to get crazy. I'm rooting for chaos.

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Our leader and SBN's chief nerd touched a little bit on this topic in the BTBS preview, but I wanted to offer my thoughts on this topic.

When the season started, there were a handful of games that I believe most college football fans were looking at from a national perspective as being critical to the determine who would play for the BCS Championship.

One of those games was Bedlam. 

The Cowboys, to this point, have passed two of the four perceived preseason tests, scoring close victories over Texas A&M in College Station (30-29) and over Texas in Austin (38-26). Coming to Mizzou was the third road test, and then Bedlam at home was the final exam hurdle for the Cowboys.

If we continue to think of the season like we would a class, there is a pop quiz that was added to the syllabus late in the semester that might be more daunting than anyone would have predicted before the season started: the November 5 game against Kansas State.

Obviously, Mizzou can give Oklahoma State some headaches, since we can run the ball pretty well. But that is K-State's M.O. If the Cowboys want to come close to those preseason expectations, and truly make Bedlam a national semifinal as it is setting up to be, they have to stop the run these next few weeks. Can they? 

We'll get a glimpse tomorrow.

 STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Ignore the deltas. This ballot was filed from scratch with zero regard for last week's ballot. Thus, the "you dropped X team Y spots for beating team Z [score] to [score]???" argument does not stand.

I think I fall into the camp of believing in a stratification effect in college football this year.

I would say that of my top eleven teams, the top four are probably, right now, playing the best football around and are clearly head and shoulders above everyone else.

Of the other four unbeatens in the top eleven, Boise has done what they can and needs a lot of help to reach the BCS title game, but as long as they don't lose late or struggle down the stretch, they should earn a trip to a BCS bowl again.

Wisconsin, Clemson, Stanford and K-State still have chances to make a move, but will also need a lot of help.

Of course, the nuclear scenario is still in play and it will be interesting to see if that plays out. We are just past the halfway point (hence the release of the BCS Standings on Sunday) and so we can now start to look ahead and see who will project where.

And it's funny: I'd actually rather talk BCS than expansion. I never thought I'd write those words.

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Allow me to be self-indulgent for a little bit.

In 1911, Chester Brewer called for all the alumni to come home for a game against Kansas.

In 1999, I had the distinct pleasure of serving on the Homecoming Steering Committee.

The opponent for that game? Iowa State.

Obviously, the game did not end well, with Kirk Farmer breaking his leg midway through the second quarter. I remember it was at that point in the game because steering committee was called out of our seats to make our way down to the field for halftime.

We were herded from our seats on the west side of the stadium and into the south endzone, and, sadly, we got to see Farmer as he was wheeled off the field. The Tigers were up 14-0 at that point, but the Cyclones rallied to win the game, 24-21.

So it was at the end a bittersweet experience. The rest of the time I was on Homecoming Steering Committee it was a wonderful experience, and it served as an excellent capper for me on my senior year at a place that I love with all of my heart.

Of course, I like to think that the karmic balance for that was, well, last year.

So, question for the crowd: What are your best homecoming memories (not including last year, of course)?

Short shrift has been given to the critical game this weekend that has forced the suspension of the Unholy Alliance for this week.

(Then again, given the events of this week, the Alliance may be permanently suspended. But that's another show.)

I would say that every football program in the country has a coach that is legendary. Some schools may have multiple coaches.

But there are few programs where said legendary coach is still active.

Kansas State is one of them. 

I think about the vast, fetid wasteland that Mizzou football was from the mid 1980s until the mid 2000s. It was bad.

Okay, so take that time frame of 20 years. Double it and add another 10 years.

That was Kansas State football from the late 1930s until Bill Snyder showed up in 1989.

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This week I was initially going to write about revenge and the carryover effect of a gut punch and some other stuff relating to our road trip to the gallows  Norman this week, if for no other reason (since we are apparently still living off of this game) than to post this:

But Bill C. kind of stole my thunder in the preview yesterday (thanks, boss!) so we're turning this brief quick slant into an option route of sorts.

The first time I saw Oklahoma play Mizzou in person was in 1998, and Missouri beat the Sooners at Faurot Field 20-6. The head coach at the time was John Blake (aka the guy who just got North Carolina into a whole helluva lot of trouble).

Missouri managed to finish that season 8-4, including a bowl victory over West Virginia. It would be the last .500 record for the Tigers until 2003. It was also the last year that Missouri beat Oklahoma before 2010.

After the 1998 season, Oklahoma hired Bob Stoops, and while they have not won nearly as many BCS titles as they should've won, it has been one of the best hires of the last 15 years.

A couple of years after Missouri had that 8-4 season, it was time for us to make a change. Missouri hired Gary Pinkel away from Toldeo, and while we have not won a BCS title, and while it was extremely rocky at first, I believe that we, too, found the right coach for us at the right time.

Some men do just want to watch the world burn.

And we have seen a lot of burning over the last few days, until the news dropped late Tuesday night that the Pac-12 presidents said that they were not expanding. Also, the remaining Big East football schools met Tuesday night and pledged their loyalty to one another.

So that means that after all of the words that were spilt over the interwebs and Twitter the last few days...nothing has changed.

Again.

I blame myself, partially, for allowing myself to get caught up in the drama like a fool, chasing the vapors and specters of rumors and innuendo. I've allowed myself to go down the rabbit hole way too many times over the last year and a half or so that Expansionapalooza™ has taken place. Each time I promise myself to not get swept away, and yet as a sports blogger/writer, I feel obligated to comment on it.

And each time rumor has us tantalizingly close to leaving this conference for (perceived) greener pastures, the football gets pulled away time and time again:

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