You know why I love the BCS system?  Because of this.

Six teams, all 7-7, all realistically in the playoff race with two weeks to go. 

If you're one of the people that complains about the bowl system and how it let's .500 teams play in the postseason, then you can't possibly be a fan of this at the same time.  If 6-6 teams in college football don't "deserve" to be playing in a bowl, then these mediocre NFL teams don't deserve to be in the playoff race either. 

The good thing about the bowl system is that these teams can't compete for the national championship.

And I know, I know, if there were a college playoff, they wouldn't anyway.  But 2 and 3 loss teams would, and though they might not be as flawed as a .500 team, they still have their problems, and would only make the title game because they got hot at the right time.

Pardon me for loving a system that allows us to skip right to two undefeated teams,  who've played consistently well all season long, playing for the championship.

Maybe the bowl system isn't perfect.  Every now and then you get a scenario like this year where three undefeated teams got the shaft.  It happens.  But the bowl system, at the very least, is unique, and rather than bemoan it's flaws, I'm going to continue to celebrate it.

...we played a basketball game today.

And we won.

For the Glory of Old State
For her founders strong and great.
For the future that we wait,
Raise the song, raise the song.

Sing our love and loyalty,
Sing our hopes that bright and free
Rest, O Mother, dear with thee
All with thee, all with thee.

When we stood at childhood’s gate,
Shapeless in the hands of fate,
Thou didst mold us dear old State
Dear Old State, dear old State.

May no act of ours bring shame
To one heart that loves thy name,
May our lives but swell they fame,
Dear old State, dear old State.

Found a couple of interesting articles over at the Pitt Blather as they pertain to Big Ten Expansion.


The first is brief commentary on the Big Ten expansion.

The Big 11 is doing this because it has to. All for money. It wants more money for a championship game. It wants to be able to push more adoption of the Big 11 network. It has seen the SEC blow them out of the water with money and the more fertile recruiting — which means more money in the bowls and BCS.

It has to worry about the ACC ever getting its football house in order and actually becoming another major factor to the East. Especially as the ACC is only checked on the B-ball side by the Big East. Again, eating into money.

Interesting.

The second article is the one I'm more intrigued by.

I really, really, really don’t look forward to 18+ months of mindless speculation over Big 11 expansion. The amusing thing is that it doesn’t seem my fellow bloggers from Rutgers or Syracuse are that enthusiastic about the matter either.

I’m a cynic and money always trumps all. And no doubt the money of being part of the Big 11 would be too great for any to turn down.

That said, I like the Big East. Yes, it is not a powerhouse football conference, but it is a better fit for Pitt. That said, if the Big East wants to survive it has to act. Sean at Troy Nunes is right, the Big East has to “Grow a F***ing Pair.” They have to stop acting like a b-ball conference and the whole Providence thing is over.

My feelings on this are much the same as when it went down in 2003. If the Big East is to make it and Pitt be a part of it, then the Big East needs to stop the hybrid crap and commit to being a real frickin’ conference. That means jettisoning the b-ball only schools and get to the magic number of 12 teams that compete in the major sports.

He then goes on to talk about what Big East expansion might look like, and proposes adding Villanova, Central Florida, East Carolina, and Charlotte for football.

If that's the best the Big East could counter with, I'm beginning to wonder if it's really such a far-fetched idea for the Big 10 to go for broke and add all three of the Big East teams in hopes of wrecking the Big East football conference to take clear control of the northeast.  I know the idea of a 14 team league was quickly shot down here yesterday, but let's think for a second.

Football wise, the Big East is dead.  No way it holds on to its BCS status.  The Big 10 dominates straight from the midwest to the heart of the eastern metropolis.

Basketball wise, you add two powers in Syracuse and Pitt while taking two away from the Big East.  You'd have to think at the very least, the Big 10 jumps onto the Big East/ACC tier.

Sure, there'd be a lot of issues to sort out, but would any of them outweigh taking firm control of the Eastern TV markets and knocking out what's left of the competition on your eastern boarder?

Probably mindless day dreaming but something to think about.

 Jamie Dixon doesn't want Pitt to go anywhere:

With the Big Ten evaluating conference expansion, Pitt men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon made it clear Thursday that his preference is for the Panthers to remain in the Big East.

Calling it the "best conference in college basketball history," Dixon wondered aloud why any of the Big East's eight football and 16 basketball members would want to leave for the 11-member Big Ten.

"We don't have to change, because things are heading in the right direction," Dixon said. "Other conferences may have to look to do things to gain momentum, but our momentum has been consistent since the expansion itself. It's great talk, it's exciting to hear about it and talk about it, but who's really going to improve their position from our conference? Nobody."

Mr. Dixon, you have a call from an S. Party on line one.

And let's not forget this glorious moment in Pitt history, which ESPN won't let me embed.

Basically, even if this were about Jamie Dixon's "OMG BST CONFRANCE EVAAAARRRR," he could kindly kiss my ass.  But it's not.

I'd say that's plenty to improve on coach.

What would compel Dixon to say something so ignorant?  You'd think the Pitt suits would at least be competent enough to make a phone call to Dixon to say "Hey, lips sealed on this Big 10 shiznit," but the fact that they weren't tells me that A) Pitt isn't serious about a move, and B) We shouldn't be serious about them.

Pitt was 4th place before all of this, and backhanded insults like these should just eliminate them altogether.