SB Nation User Blog: Kevin HD

Just Stop It

Kevin HD — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:19:45 -0000

Things have officially swung too far the other way, and it's kind of depressing. It used to be fisking was fun, but now with so many people quite literally begging for the attention and links, what's the point?

If you're interested you can watch a really long, loud commercial here.

And then see the 15 seconds of desperate attention grabbing afterwards.

If you don't want to watch, it goes like this: The worst non-BCS bowl game is, according to an expert from Rivals, none other than the Penn State-LSU Citrus Bowl. It's not Southern Methodist vs Nevada, not Iowa State vs Minnesota, but the one with the biggest payout that matches up higher ranked teams than any other available for selection.

Why? Because it's going to have "good defensive, hard-nose football," which is just awful, apparently.

And there are lies of course, things like "all season long both teams have really labored to score," which is apparently what it's called to finish second* in the Big Ten in, uh, scoring, and 19th amongst BCS schools in yards per game.

(*Behind only Wisconsin, who didn't have to play Penn State's defense, and who somehow played an easier set of OOC opponents than Penn State.)

What's probably most outrageous, and ends any believable argument that this guy is serious, is the idea that Joe Paterno, a bowl legend, and Les Miles, who hasn't lost a bowl game at LSU, don't drive a compelling story...or that the brand name of the schools alone isn't enough to make this watchable.

Because no one is even going to notices let alone care about--oh wait:

via nittanywhiteout.com

I think I'm supposed to be outraged by all of this. "WTF IS HE THINKING?!?" ect. But how can anyone even take this guy seriously?

Ridiculously under-thought "expert analysis" used to simply pass as truth, and that's how FJM and its less wide-reaching decedents starting do what they did (to some extent, I consider myself par to this crop).

But now fisking is such a big business, pageviews so clearly the #1 priority, that people are no longer doing this because they are arrogant, but because they really need the attention.

Jason King is an idiot, and the "work" he's doing is actually making people dumber, but there actually seem to be more of the Gregg Doyels around now than before FJM became a staple.

NCAA In Talks With TV Networks About Expanding Field

Kevin HD — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:25:53 -0000

NCAA In Talks With TV Networks About Expanding Field

I don't see how doing this does anything productive for the sport. From the story:

The NCAA has started meeting with broadcasters to explore the media value of expanding the men’s basketball tournament field, industry sources say.

The idea talked about with TV networks would likely take it from its current field of 65 teams to 96 teams and add another week to the competition, with the top 32 teams receiving byes. The move has been characterized as folding the NIT into the NCAA tournament.

It's Officialish: Penn State To Capital One Bowl [Now Actually Official]

Kevin HD — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:13:00 -0000

Penn State has apparently sent out some media information:

PSU just sent an email to beat writers saying "in the event psu is selected to the Cap One bowl here's the teleconference info" Its official

Update: Now it's for reals.

The BCS Selection Show is on Fox at 8 p.m., but because there are way too many parties involved to keep a secret, it ~~appears mostly~~ IS a done deal: Penn State is Capital One Bowl bound.

Just to recap a crazy day: there was no reasonable scenario in which the second Big Ten team went anywhere but the Fiesta Bowl. That was yesterday. Then semi-credible people started saying the Fiesta Bowl was "falling on the sword" for the BCS and taking two mid-majors.

If I had to guess (because we need more unsourced rumors here), this was likely a lead by the Fiesta people, and with reaction being universally bad, it looked like they changed their mind. A Big Ten team was going to the Fiesta Bowl after all.

More semi-credible people were saying Penn State was still in the mix. Then they were almost certainly Iowa, largely based on a source who told David Jones that Penn State had been told to book hotel rooms in Florida for the Capital One Bowl.

But that information is from Jones, who is the same guy who called the TCU-BSU Fiesta Bowl a fake rumor, claiming Iowa was going to Arizona after all. [Note: From the link above, which has been updated.]

Which became significant because several more people chimed back in later, including the New York Times, to say the mid-major championship is in fact happening and Iowa is headed to the Orange Bowl.

So whatever, it should be fun to see the truth at 8.

One last thing, it sounds like LSU is in fact filling the other sideline in Orlando.

The BCS Is Patient, And So We Wait

Kevin HD — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:49:58 -0000

The SBN site BCS Revolution asks the question: Is there a reason to stay up all night running the numbers? And of course and answer is no. Not one single vote or computer position matter, mostly because we've had one of the least memorable national races in years.

The Alabama-Florida game was a good one, Cinci toyed with hearts in Pittsburgh in an entertainingly ugly win, Nebraska fell short in their attempt to screw the whole thing up in the most heartbreaking of ways, but in the end it comes down to this: Media and coaching voters simply aren't going to bump a national and historic power from the #2 spot, and we're getting the MNC everyone has expected for months now.

The only real drama today is the football vs. money debate between Penn State and Iowa. One school will play Monday, January 4th against what looks like Boise State, the other on New Year's Day at 1 p.m. against LSU.

The BCS selection show is tonight at 8 p.m. on Fox. May the most lucrative school win.

Update: Interesting sourceless-rumor from Tim Brando:

More form twitter. Every single bowl projection out there has Iowa as the BCS pick, although anyone adding commentary seem to immediately qualify the prediction as a toss up. Mandel:

[3:00 p.m. update -- After a morning of badly sourced rumors indicating that the Fiesta might pair up two small-conference undefeateds, signs now point toward Iowa in the Fiesta and Penn State in the Capital One vs. LSU. -- RUTS]

Let's do this one more time for kicks. In a sign that there is truly no accurate information out there, from the NYT:

No matter what ends up actually happening in two hours, the one thing we know for sure is that everyone was wrong about everything at one point today.

Championship Saturday Open Thread Part Big East

Kevin HD — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:36:43 -0000

The main event is at noon, where thousands of Notre Dame fans who had to buy this game as part of a ticket package fill up Heinz Field for a battle between Cinci and Pitt, the winner having the pleasure of being the auto-BSC bid that will be picked last as the kid at the playground nobody wants on their team.

All of the early events:

12:00 PM ET    No. 5 Cincinnati at No. 15 Pittsburgh - ABC
12:00 PM ET    No. 21 Houston at East Carolina - ESPN2
12:00 PM ET    No. 23 West Virginia at Rutgers - ESPN
12:30 PM ET    Fresno State at Illinois - Big 10 Network

More threads at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Nitt Picks And The Fiesta Grew Up Together

Kevin HD — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:53:40 -0000

I'll take those odds. We really are looking at a coin flip for the Fiesta. Rittenberg has some good quotes from those who run things:

"We've got a long and storied history with Penn State," Alba said. "They've been here six times and are 6-0. We kind of grew up together, in a lot of ways. They were very instrumental in our growth and our development. ... On the other hand, you look at Iowa, and we've never had them. We have no history with them, but they have been on our wish list for many, many years. We've always tried to get them, and for whatever reason, it just never was able to work out. "You look at both universities, and there's appeal on both sides for different reasons."

It all seems very interesting but isn't, and the theme is that Alba is totally uncommitted to anything and wants people to know it. Iowa isn't taking this quietly (TFJ: BHGP):

As far as our football team, I'm not here to pit us against anyone else, but I think a couple things really stand out. If you look at our team, the way they've competed on the field, the head to head results that we've had, we did beat six Bowl eligible teams. Two of them were non conference games. So we're proud of that certainly. And I thought our guys did a great job taking a very challenging road schedule, and they embraced that with four victories and an overtime defeat at a very, very tough opponent's home field.

So they're sticking with the head-to-head thing, although I'm not sure the Fiesta Bowl people actually care about that. It at least sets up for a nice "we've been robbed" moment if Iowa is passed on.

And of course all of this is a wash if Nebraska can somehow do the impossible this weekend against Texas. A Husker win puts the Big Ten decision with the Orange Bowl, ~~in which case I really like our chances~~ or maybe it's all a wash in the OB taking Texas.

Blame games are for losers. WWAHT launched a strangely timed attack on the Big Ten for not standing up and taking some of the blame that has sent the conference's reputation off a cliff.

His main purpose is refuting this: Ohio State's twin title beatdowns are the sole source of the conference's current woes vis-a-vis national reputation.

But the entire fallout started during the 2006-2007 bowl season. That was ground zero for this stuff. And the reason for the quickly launched backlash has a lot to do with the self-importance Ohio State and Michigan displayed during the whole rematch debate.

And you know what else happened that year, the same year Big Ten Hate 1.0 was launched? Wisconsin and Penn State both won their bowls against SEC schools. It seems practical to blame everyone for the reputation, and everyone is in fact losing OOC games, but the reality is that reputations are built at the very top, and 2006-2007 is a good example of that.

The OMG CCG, coming Fall 2030. So Notre Dame is in a tough spot right now, with the whole Weis thing and the realization that the school's football coaching job seems to be more of a nightmare than a dream job. That discussion led to a lot of talk about a Fighting Irish decline, which will eventually lead to a 12-team Big Ten conference.

And then, championship game! Just think of the money! Wait, what's that Salty Because I Have To Play In The Cold Jim Leavitt?

"How many were [in Tampa for the ACC Championship] last year? Was there a reason it left the Gator Bowl? They lost millions of dollars. How many millions have we lost on it here?"

Leavitt is the last guy I'd want quoting me dollar figures, but it brings up an interesting point: where would the Big Ten play the CCG? The logical answer is either Chicago or Indianapolis, depending on dome preference, but I'm not sure that's an awesome deal for Penn State. Every Big Ten school sends thousands of people to Chicago after graduation as the only true metropolis in the region. Penn State is no Midwest school and therefore does not do this.

(TFJ: DocSat)

In Scores of Other Games. Thomas thinks, when push comes to shove, the Fiesta has to take Penn State...Orson gets real with the Bowden thing...JayPa picks up his pen as well...and if all this mid-major lobby money serves its purpose, the BCS would just add a seventh AQ rather than give the boot to a current conference...

No Ohio State, You Don't Get To Take Credit For This

Kevin HD — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:15:18 -0000

Ohio State had the last game on the last day of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge last night. And when they won their favorable matchup, predictability ensued:

Threebler Leads OSU, Big Ten to Challege Victory

After 10 years of heartburn, the Big Ten finally broke through in the ACC/BigTen Challenge thanks largely to Jon Diebler's sniper skills as the Buckeyes defeated Florida State 77-64 tonight in the Schott giving the conference a 6-5 series win.

I understand that, yes, the Buckeyes win meant the Big Ten won the fake challenge. But winning a game at home in which you were seven-point favorites does not make you the hero, even if you are Ohio State.

The credit here goes to Wisconsin. Unranked but at home, they jumped to an energetic early lead on #5 Duke and never looked back.

The Big Ten-ACC thing has always been difficult because Duke and North Carolina are usually major trump cards for the other side. Add in up-and-down schools like Maryland and Clemson, and it's hard to win the majority of the games starting in what is effectively an 0-4 hole. Wisconsin helped change that and it seems to have made the difference.

So we can all move on now, with the losing streak over, in a challenge that draws ratings but I don't agree really matters:

This is not some company shill. Sure, ESPN's family of networks has been a major player in the event over the past 10 years, helping coordinate matchups with the respective conferences.

But the concept dominates the sport early this week because it creates interest at every school in two high-profile conferences.

So yes, it was watched, but does that mean it matters? When Notre Dame and Michigan faced off in last year's LOL Bowl, everyone watched. But you'd be hard pressed to argue it mattered.

In fact, historically the Challenge might have been doing way more harm than good.

"So I think too much emphasis is placed on who wins the Challenge," Carmody said. "But I think it's a great opportunity to show off the strength of our leagues. It's a great barometer for your team, but at the same time it's only as significant as us beating Iowa State or Notre Dame."

So if anything, at least this thing allows us to make more backhanded comments at Notre Dame.

Update: And Rambler has your game-by-game review, complete with [redacted] photoshops and this map:

"Bobby has been a tough competitor. He has meant an awful lot to the universities he coached and to...

Kevin HD — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:33:20 -0000

"Bobby has been a tough competitor. He has meant an awful lot to the universities he coached and to the game of football overall. He and his wife, Ann, have dedicated their lives with untold hours to better the teams and universities they cared so much about. They will be missed by the coaching profession and college football. Sue and I wish them well."

Joe Paterno on Bobby Bowden

Bowden Will Announce Coaching Plans Tomorrow

Kevin HD — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:08:17 -0000

Bowden Will Announce Coaching Plans Tomorrow

I thought this would be more fun.

Update: And here come the sources...

Bowden to retire...According to sources, Bowden was given two options: return to FSU in 2010 as an ambassador to the program, in which he would have little input in the day-to-day operations of the program, or retire after the Seminoles' upcoming bowl game.

What Would Caesar Do? Or, The Great Debate Part One

Kevin HD — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:21:25 -0000

There's not much action to watch right now, but to get this long wait off on the right foot I sat down with your friend and mine, Hawkeye State from BHGP, to talk about, well, I'll give you three guesses. The second half, linked at the bottom, is over at their place:

Hawkeye State: So I'm assuming we're going to be discussing the reasons Ceasar was so successful in his campaign against the Gallic tribes in the First Century B.C., right? I mean, there's nothing going on between our schools right now...

Kevin HD: That's a great place to start. You know the Gallic Wars never would have happened had Ceasar not been in so much gluttonous debt back in Rome. Oh, speaking of glutton and money, the BCS.

Let's do this backwards: Why does Penn State absolutely deserve a bid over Iowa? And remember: Godfather Paterno is watching you.

Don't stare directly into the eyes.

HS: Penn State absolutely deserves a bid over Iowa because I don't want to die. I'm half expecting the Iowa football offices to receive a package containing a fish wearing Ken O'Keefe's windbreaker.

There is little doubt that, when you're allowed to consider margin of victory, Penn State's performance against the soft underbelly of the Big Ten was considerably more impressive than Iowa's. Penn State smashed Michigan and Northwestern on the road; Iowa squeaked by Big Blue and lost to jNWU at home. That's to say nothing for the recent results against Indiana and Michigan State, both more impressive than Iowa's. Throw in the fact that PSU has won seven of their last eight (one more than my Hawkeyes), and that the allegedly hideous group of cupcakes the Nittany Lions played in out-of-conference turning out slightly better than expected, and Penn State's resume matches up favorably with Iowa's. It's so bad that Cedar Rapids AP voter (and friend of the BHGP) Mike Hlas put Penn State above Iowa in his poll this week.

Of course, all of this means nothing. If Penn State gets a BCS bid over Iowa, it's because they put 110,000 butts in the seats every week, have a larger national alumni network, and are a bigger draw on television. It looks like both of the two BCS bowls in play (Orange and Fiesta) are going to have at least one "small-market" team (one of TCU, Boise State, and Cincinnati). Under those circumstances, both bowl committees have to be terrified of their prestigious bowl looking like the ACC Championship Game to the 15 people watching at home. Iowa is a good draw for this reason; Penn State is even better.

Now shower us with praise, or Adrian Clayborn will block your face and return it for a touchdown.

KHD: Well, as they once famously said in Texas:

Sure there is more gray than that, but Penn State fans can't mock the patheticness that is Ohio State's claim to "five straight conference championships" and deny the importance of head-to-head.

Iowa is also getting hurt by the humans for timing, which is dumb. Rearrange the losses and Iowa is sitting ahead of Penn State in every single human and computer poll out there.

And really, while the Northwestern loss is a disappointment, the Wildcats are tied for fourth in the conference standings with Wisconsin, who they just beat. Penn State lacks a loss outside the top 15, but jNW isn't exactly jEastern Illinois.

Penn State will almost certainly make a bowl more money, but you could argue it's marginal in Arizona and outweighed by the 5% of football the bowls actually care about.

Is that right, 5%? Will football actually have anything to do with this decision, and should it?

HS: You're right on Northwestern being better than many considered, but -- and I'm not doing this as a dig to Northwestern fans -- the voters generally see them as just Northwestern. To them, regardless of what happens afterwards, a BCS team doesn't lose to Northwestern under any circumstance (in fact, Northwestern has never beaten a team to get a BCS berth). So while jNWU finished a respectable fourth in the conference, it doesn't really matter to the perceptions of those who make the decisions.

You're also right with your 5% estimate: A scintilla of what goes into bowl selection is actually football-based and, given the current scheme, that's probably the way it should be. If we were actually attempting to crown a national champion rather than make money for the Big Six conferences, we would have a selection committee and playoff. As it is, the conferences make money when the bowls make money, and the more the bowls make, the more there is for everyone. It's why bowl reps spend all their time in the parking lots and luxury boxes, rather than actually watching the game. And for the record, Iowa is probably the school that can least complain about the bowls ignoring the on-field results; twice in the last 4 years (Michigan in 2005, Northwestern last year), the Outback Bowl jumped Iowa ahead of teams who had equal records and beat them in head-to-head competition because Iowa fans travel better. This might be a case of payback as the proverbial bitch.

I don't know enough about Penn State's fan base to comment intelligently on who would bring more money to Tempe, but Iowa is a state full of landowners, and Arizona is now a state full of former Iowa landowners who like the dry heat. There's a lot of old money backing the Hawkeyes in the desert. It might be our only trump card if it becomes an Iowa vs. Penn State Fiesta Bowl Throwdown.

I'm not nearly as worked up about this as most, I think. As a lifelong Iowa fan, I've always had that traditional mentality of Rose Bowl or Bust (I don't know if that mentality exists at PSU, what with their relatively recent induction into the BXI). If we're not playing for a national championship or on January 1 in Pasadena, I'm not that interested in which January game gets us. It's not like the Fiesta Bowl is steeped in tradition and majesty, after all, and I'd just as soon smack down the SEC again on a day where I don't have to be at work and in a game not televised on Fox. I guess the question is, when the BCS lucre is distributed evenly throughout the conference, does it really matter which game we play?

You want more over at BHGP...read the second half.