SB Nation User Blog: pcrawttu

Utah Attorney General bringing anti-trust case against BCS

pcrawttu — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:34:54 -0000

Utah Attorney General bringing anti-trust case against BCS

I just saw this story and think it's interesting. I'm no lawyer or anything, but it makes sense to me that there's a monopoly of the big schools in college football, especially since so much money is involved. We'll see if it really goes anywhere, but it does make a good point.

Davey O'Brien Finalists

pcrawttu — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:29:40 -0000

The Davey O'Brien finalists have been announced. The three are...

...drumroll...

Colt "Gritty Texas Kid 'snubbed by BCS'" McCoy - Anybody surprised?

Sam Bradford - Anybody surprised?

And...not Tim Tebow. What?? NOT Tim Tebow??

Nope, the other finalist is Texas Tech's own Graham Harrell! Now, don't get too excited, Red Raider fans, I'm sure they just needed someone else to go to the dinner next to the two "real" finalists. And I don't know how much the "fan" vote counts, but McCoy finished with 67% of that. Guess the fans are taking into account all the "lack of talent" that UT throws onto the field. Harrell and Bradford split the rest of the votes.

But how can that be. Surely to be included in the Heisman, as the best player in the country, you should be considered one of the TOP 3 at YOUR OWN POSITION. Except for the rare case that you play another position, but I don't see Tebow out making killer kick returns or drilling anybody as a linebacker. He does run the ball some, but he's still a QB, and in his system, one of the roles of the position of QB is to run the ball some. So how do you get considered the greatest player, but not one of the greatest players at the position in which you play on the field?

It kind of reminds of all the questions people have about letting a team play for the National Championship even if they don't win their own conference. How can a team be considered the Nation's best team if they technically aren't their conference's best team?

The Davey O'Brien award gets voted by a bunch of media elite and former O'Brien winners, just like the Heisman (and I assume the fan vote is very small, if even used at all, I don't know). So I don't understand the discrepancy. You would think that since the Heisman finalists all happened to be QB's, that it would just translate over to the QB award, right? Plus, Tebow won the award last year, so that should only help him, right?

Or maybe, somehow, people actually voted for one of the best at his position, since this isn't quite the popularity contest as the Heisman. Maybe somebody actually looked at the stats and how much he has done for his own team (record setting wins) including putting together an outrageously impossibe drive in 68 seconds and outshining the current frontrunner in the most memorable game of the year.

I'll let the media pick their darling, but we all know who is the best QB in the country. And he wears a sparkly black helmet on the plains of West Texas.

I finally understand the BCS

pcrawttu — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:45:13 -0000

The BCS is like the clique of “cool” kids at school. Most of these kids are cool because they have the newest, coolest things, and probably have more money than the other kids at school. Even though they are the “cool” kids and are popular (with everyone knowing who they are i.e. the quarterback, cheerleaders, etc.), the other normal kids secretly don’t like them very much and are really just envious of them. The cool kids are the “haves” of the school and everyone else is the “have-nots”. This is the larger, top schools compared to the smaller schools in college football.

The cool kids start a club, and it is anointed officially cool, just by virtue of having the cool kids in it already. Only certain people can actually be in it, but they will sometimes make exceptions to anyone else can prove their coolness. The new “cool club” is called the BCS. Some of the leaders of the club are USC, Florida, UT, OU, and Ohio State.

Some kids in the cool club are only there because the cool kids feel like they should be. The cool kids let them in because they have known them since first grade and are on the same socio-economic scale. They definitely aren’t as cool as the others, but they will talk trash about the less-cool kids. They might even just be a toady of another cooler kid. They’re in the club none the less, and will never get kicked out for some reason. They have been accepted but are not really threatening to the super cool kids, maybe coming in 4th place for the voting of prom queen. This kid is the winner of the Big East or ACC conference. They are in the BCS, but don’t really deserve it that much.

Some exceptions that the cool kids might consider are that renegade loner kid who rides motorcycles. He also might be seen sitting by a bonfire away from the crowd flawlessly picking at his acoustic guitar. He is kind of like the James Dean of the school. Everyone knows who he is. All the guys respect him and all the girls think he’s hot. He could easily be popular and join the club, he just won’t because he thinks he is too cool for all that. But when he sees the benefits, like a hot piece-of-ass cheerleader he can take to the prom, he goes for it. He’ll use the benefits of the club, but still won’t join the club. And sometimes he is too busy fixing his bike and doesn’t have time to be popular. Or he gets popular for negative reasons like his dad beating him and leaving cigarette burns on his forearm. This kid is Notre Dame.

Every once in a while, some “nobody” breaks out for a while and is almost deemed cool. They used to be invisible, but somehow get noticed. They are not officially able to join the cool kid club, but they have a lot of friends that are cool and are themselves popular for a while. It could be that girl who has never been considered all that hot until she lets her hair down and takes off her glasses. Wow, she IS hot. Where did she come from? She gets popular for a while as everybody notices her. But if she says one thing to piss off a cheerleader, she gets slapped and goes back to having a slumber party with her 5 closest stuffed-animal friends on Friday night. The cool kid club actually made rules to make sure "they didn't have room for her". This chick is Texas Tech. She got noticed for a while, but those popular bitches UT and OU got pissed and made sure she stayed home in her Cotton Bowl since there was only room for 2 Big 12 teams.

Next, there are the “popular” kids from the band or drama club. They are popular and cool by band standards, but don’t compare to the overall coolness of the top cool kids. Sometimes they want to prove their coolness by running against the quarterback for Homecoming King, but are brought back down to earth when they only get 7% of the student votes. This kid gets relegated back to practicing his trumpet on Friday nights. He was top dog in his own comfortable place, but got served a dose of reality when he tried to compete with the big dogs. This is the Hawaii who smacked up WAC competition and then was shown who his daddy was in the Sugar Bowl.

There are other kids, like the smart kid who inexplicably was going out with a hot girl for a few weeks and started getting popular, but then she realized how uncool he really was when he got too involved with his calculus and World of Warcraft. This kid spent the rest of his Friday nights at home with a calculator in one hand and a bottle of Jergens in the other. He is Vanderbilt. Started out really well but then tanked.

There’s the kid who wears black all the time, is flunking all his classes, doesn’t have any friends, doesn't talk to anyone, and doesn't do anything outside of listen to Kurt Cobain in his bedroom. You’re scared he’s going to bring a trenchcoat full of small arms to school and shoot up the place. Hello Washington. Nobody likes 0-12.

Last, there’s the rich kid who should be popular and could get hot girls, but inexplicably will not. He used to have some good-looking girlfriends, but not anymore. Apparently he just likes tagging fat, ugly girls. Then he talks a lot of smack to everyone bragging about the good ol’ days and saying that his current pig of a girlfriend will be hot when she loses 60 pounds and gets the quarter-sized mole removed from her cheek. This dude is A&M. Still talks about the good ol’ days and seems to transform the ingredients of some tasty cookies into a big fat turd.

The moral of the story is that we’re not supposed to mess with the cool kids, Tech! We should know our place in the school and just accept it. Let the big boys be big boys and we’ll watch them have their fun from the sidelines.

BCS (Big Contracts = Shafting)

pcrawttu — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:20:53 -0000

I'm getting over the fact that UT and OU are going to Bcs bowls, while Tech is being left out in the cold. If Tech had the opportunity of losing earlier in the year and beating UT and OSU at the very end of the season, we might be singing a different tune. Who knows? But that doesn't matter and the season cannot be changed. What does bother me is something that can be changed, and is restricted by a bunch of administrators, businessmen, and t.v. networks. Oh, and money.

The fact that Tech cannot go to a Bcs bowl is ridiculous. Or any team in the top 10 for that matter. The Bcs has their own ranking system, so they should use it. The top 5 bowls should feature the top 10 teams. Since college football is unexplicably against a playoff system and letting teams prove their worth on the field, at least letting the top 10 teams play each other would be the next closest and best thing. But I guess the Bcs has never really pursued credibility.

One common argument is that College Football uses the regular season as a playoffs. If that is the case, the teams in the top 10 should at least get the courtesy to play each other. The system is so adamant about pairing #1 vs. #2, why not extend that to all the teams involved in the top 10? At least that would provide some semi-closure to the season instead of leaving so many questions unanswered.

Penalizing a conference for being too good makes no sense at all, while rewarding sub-par conferences promotes mediocrity. There needs to be a provision in the rules that says conference champs must be in the top 10 or even 15, otherwise they lose their guaranteed place and allow bowls to pick top 10 at-large teams. All the current system has done is turn the Orange Bowl into a glorified second-tier game with big money and overhype featuring 2 teams that nobody outside of those conferences really cares about. Two teams at #13 (Cincinnati) and #18 (Boston College) playing in one of the top 5 bowls in the country? I'm not a mathematician, but that does not add up. So much for the spriit of truly fair competition.

The only people that should have any beef with this are those that get the most benefit for being the least deserving, i.e. the Big East and ACC conferences this year. Besides the money and contractual issues, do they really have a good logical argument? Any rational person in the country would agree that a #7 (or 8-12 for that matter) team clearly deserves to go to a better bowl than the #13 or #18 teams. This also leads to the rich getting richer while those trying to break out get held down. And I don't remember ever reading anywhere that the Big East, ACC, or any conference for that matter would definitely feature one of the top teams in the country. If they were making that assumption when they wrote the Bcs rules, I can comfortably say they were wrong.

Meanwhile, the #7 team in the country at 11-1 (and co-champion of the toughest division in the country) will be left out to play in the Cotton Bowl against an unranked 8-4 Ole' Miss team. I know conferences have tie-ins to certain bowls, but it diminishes their importance and intrigue when these restrictions create obvious mis-matchups. I'm not saying Ole Miss is not good, but their record does not compare to Tech's record. Tech deserves to prove themselves to another team that has proven itself with a great record this year, at least someone like Ohio State, TCU, or even Boise State.

There is controversy every year regarding this, yet the Bcs ignores it and even continues to extend contracts and force us rational folk to endure their screwy system year in and out. There just seems to be at least 1 or 2 teams every year that face this same situation.

My point is that the BCS needs to its name to what it really is...BSC (Bull Schnit via Contracts).

need college gameday info

pcrawttu — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:04:19 -0000

Can someone who has gone to College Gameday before let me know how it all works. We want to go tomorrow and take a couple signs, but don't know the whole procedure. Can they be on sticks to be taller? (I read somewhere they won't let you in if they're on sticks, but i swear i've seen them before on the show.) What time should we arrive? (2 hours early??) Do they censor "inappropriate" signs? Any other things I might forget to take into account....

Oh, and any sign ideas are greatly appreciated.

Questions about Tech...

pcrawttu — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:41:42 -0000

Captain Incredulous asks some questions....

1. How does one team have 38 first downs and only 9 3rd down opportunities??

2. 516 yards passing, and not one receiver goes over 100???

3. How do you hold Kendal Hunter to 112 yards??

4. How do you put in a backup QB against a top 10 opponent??

5. Tech scored on 8 of 10 possessions? and fumbled away the other 2??

6. Walk on Matt Williams, 21/21 extra points this season?

7. 21 touchdowns in 3 games over ranked opponents??

8. Only 55,000 people were that loud? I could barely hear Brent Musberger spewing his usual crap de jour.

9. 3 penalties? 2 fumbles? Come on guys, I thought you were perfect. I guess you have something to work on this week.

10. What the hell is Lyle Setencich doing these days? Better yet, what is Bobby Reid doing these days? I wonder if his mom still feeds him fried chicken?

Ok, I'm all questioned out. If you have any rational answers, let me know.

Great News...

pcrawttu — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:36:49 -0000

Penn State just lost to Iowa, which is excellent for the Big 12 in general. Let me tell you why.

There was some talk of the Big12 only getting one representative in the bcs. If Penn St. went to the championship game against an sec team, that would leave another big 10 team in the bcs, probably ohio st. in the rose bowl. And if Oregon St., wins out and wins the pac 10 (with tie breaker over usc), that would only leave a few spots in at-large in the bcs. Usc would be attractive for the bcs, which could leave out some deserving Big12 teams. In this scenario, 4 bcs spots would be taken up by two weaker conferences in the Big10 and Pac10! Throw in a bcs buster of Utah and/or Boise St., in addition to the champions of the ACC and Big East. Do the math and that would leave the Big12 with ONE representative. That would be ridiculous, considering the Big12 South's strength this year.

Anyhow, Penn St. has lost and America should all be Iowa fans right now. No National Championship for them. And no controversy of letting in a sub-par Big10 team to play and get stomped by an SEC or Big12 team. They had the easiest route of the unbeatens, but couldn't hold on. This SHOULD leave the Big10 with only one bcs berth (although I wouldn't put it past a bowl to select ohio st., for some insane reason). For insurance, we should hope Oregon St. loses sometime also.

Of course all this is all moot if the Red Raiders just keep winning.

Go Tech! Stomp some Cowpokes!

Congrats Charbonnet! National DEFENSIVE Player of the Week!

pcrawttu — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:03:57 -0000

Isn't it ironic that over the course of the season, our offense has gotten all the attention and this week Tech features the NATIONAL DEFENSIVE Player of the Week? That's right, it's Daniel Charbonnet. Not only Conference Player of the Week, but also National! Great Job! And you could even argue he wasn't even the MVP of the Defense this week, with the way Whitlock and the D-Line played! Way to step up on all sides of the ball, Red Raiders!

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/big12/0-4-42/Charbonnet-named-national-defensive-player-of-the-week.html

Let's go bowling...

pcrawttu — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:11:18 -0000

I'm trying to figure out all the scenarios for Tech and which bowls we could possibly end up in. I was looking at the flowchart from last week, but I want to just look at Tech instead of all Big 12 possibilities. There are so many possibilities and unfortunately, politics and popularity will definitely play into the whole situation.

Tech has 3 regular season games remaining... vs. OkSt., @OU, vs. Baylor. I'm assuming we beat Baylor (unless God IS Baptist and lets Griffin run wild over us). That means we will be 10-2 at worst before being selected to a bowl. But here are the scenarios with the possibilities that go with each.

If Tech wins out...easy. Big 12 Championship game. If we win that, there is no way a 13-0 Big12 Champion is not in the National Championship game.

If we were to lose that Big12 Champ. game, that would create some fuzziness. I'll assume Mizzou (11-2 at that time) is the winner, and would automatically go to a BCS bowl. That would leave one BCS berth for the rest of the Big12. Who receives the bid? Tech (12-1) or UT (11-1)? (OU/OSU would each have 2 or 3 losses under this scenario)

· Looking at head to head, Tech should go.

· But if it’s a popularity contest, who has the edge?

· Texas could top TT in the BCS rankings with that loss.

· The bowl committees would ask themselves questions…Who will fill more seats and be of more national interest? After this past week, Tech maybe. In a month, will the novelty wear off for Tech? We are talking about "THE" University of Texas, though.

· Last year the Orange Bowl chose Kansas, but there’s no guarantee who the Orange/Fiesta/Sugar would be take this year.

· That would leave Tech in either a BCS bowl or the Cotton Bowl.

Now, if Tech loses to OSU or OU, that would most certainly leave a 3 way tie for first place. For this argument, we’ll say Tech beats OSU and loses to OU. Tied for first would be Tech, UT, and OU, all with a win and loss to each. The highest ranked according to BCS rankings would be deemed champion of the South. Tech would all be eliminated because of the late season loss and easiest SOS. We’ll assume Texas wins because of their head to head with OU (although it could go the other way.) Texas would go to the Big12 CG. The winner of that goes on with a BCS berth secured, but again leaves the Big 12 with 2 more one-loss teams and only one BCS berth remaining. In that case, see the previous bullet points, but OU would substitute UT’s position. Would they rather choose Tech or OU? You tell me. Possibly Tech because of OU’s recent bowl failures? Possibly OU because of the historically bigger name? OU would probably be higher ranked and have a recent win against TT. So again, one will go to a BCS bowl while the other will drop to the Cotton Bowl.

Which brings me to my next point…the dreaded losses to both OU and OSU. (And remember that OU/OSU play against each other also, I choose OU to win for the sake of this argument). Texas wins the Big 12 CG and OU also goes to BCS as only other one-loss team. Mizzou loses in Big12 CG, so they have 3 losses. That means Tech and OSU will be fighting for the Cotton Bowl spot. The other downgrades to the Holiday Bowl, who would have the liberty to look at Mizzou if they so choose (seeing as how 2 losses came to the same team and they were North Div. champs). That would leave a possible downgrade to the Alamo Bowl, but not likely in this scenario.

And to make it even worse, Mizzou wins the Big12 CG in the previous scenario, BCS chooses one-loss OU, and Cotton chooses between 2-loss teams UT, Tech, and OSU. That would mean one would go to the Holiday Bowl and one 2-loss Big12 team would get downgraded all the way to the Alamo Bowl. How horrible and disgraceful. That is the same bowl that a 7-6 a&m team played last year. Isn't it amazing what happens when everyone plays up to expectations and doesn't have any of the "bad losses" that have affected teams in recent years.

Anyway, my whole point in writing this is there is just as awesome as Tech has been playing, there is still the chance that Tech can land in its typical mediocre-tier bowl as landing in a top tier bowl. We control our own destiny, so all we can do is focus on one day at a time if we want to really call this season a success. We are already almost guaranteed a 10 win season, but it is up to our team to stay focused and continue on to really get that monkey off our back and prove to America what this team and our school is made of.

What does anyone else think? More specifically, how do you think Tech matches up in the popularity contests when bowls are choosing between teams with equal records?

Fulmer officially out...

pcrawttu — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:42:25 -0000

With Fulmer officially leaving Tennessee at the end of the season, are we going to start hearing Leach as his replacement?

Before Saturday, I might have said no. But after the mountains of positive press and notoriety from the big win, is it possible for his name to be a serious consideration for this position? Overnight, it seems, Leach's offense has gone from a gimmick to a credible system, almost revolutionary. People are finally giving him credit for spreading this offensive philosophy to other "greater" schools.

Back to Tennessee...It's a huge program with huge expectations, tons of money and respect (when they're doing well), and it's in the SEC. Would Leach be up for it, if Tennessee were willing to go for him? Also, contract-wise, Leach is currently not tied to Tech long term with his contract due to end in only two years and only the sixth highest paid coach in the conference. I read somewhere, also, that all the good coaches have at least a five year cushion on their contract. I know they decided to wait until season's end to talk contract, but that won't stop other jobs from opening up and the speculation from swirling. Will Tech be able to match what a place like Tennessee could offer, if they were very interested? Graham is awesome, but what if Leach had the next Peyton Manning?

I know spread offenses haven't been electrifying that conference this year and might not seem like the right fit, but Leach already had a stop at Kentucky, so it is possible. I just want to know what other people are thinking right now. Should we be concerned, or confident that Myers and the boosters will be able to come up with a package attractive enough to tie down Leach for a long time? I know Leach has lived many places and loves challenges, that is why I am a bit scared right now that someone will lure him away from us!

What does everyone else think?