As you’ve read our football game summaries over the last three seasons, you’ve probably noticed I like to close each wrap-up with a few “random thoughts”. It may be a tidbit of info, a wacky stat or just an observation. Well, here in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, December 2nd, the adrenaline is just too much so I’ve got to hit the keyboard and pound out a few thoughts-
REDEMPTION- The official announcement won’t come until later this evening, but if the talking heads and gurus are to be believed, the Buckeyes will be eyeball-to-eyeball with LSU on Monday night, January 7th in New Orleans for the national championship. Ohio State’s inclusion is pretty clear, but if the Tigers come out of this God-awful BCS mess and get the other invite to the dance, the Bucks will have the rare opportunity to make amends for the Debacle in the Desert from a year ago. From hearing some of the players’ quotes, bowl preparations are already taking on a decidedly more serious tone than at this time last season. Nothing would get the taste of that Florida game out of Buckeye Nation’s mouths more than beating up on ol’ Les in his own backyard. It sure would be nice to give Miles an idea of what he’d be facing every November if he comes to Ann Arbor. Apparently, LSU wants to keep him, but until he signs something I’m still not convinced that he won’t be on the Michigan Stadium sideline in 2008.
BACK FROM THE LEDGE - While I personally have enjoyed some fresh new stories on the college football scene this year (Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky…and even Illinois to a degree), the rest of the media was going to cry to their momma if some of the sport’s traditional powers were left out of a chance at the title. Don’t tell me that Fox executives wouldn’t have been ready to jump off a cliff if the championship game had matched West Virginia and Missouri. While I’m fired up at the Buckeyes getting a shot at beating down the Gator demons, a WVU/Missouri matchup would’ve served the BCS right.
LET’S GET REAL - If we’re not going to have a playoff anytime soon to settle things on the field, then it’s become pretty evident from this season that it’s time to implement my idea of a “Super Conference” in college football. The current BCS system only includes six conferences for the most part, but as Kansas and Missouri proved, even that doesn’t matter to the media. Again, there would have been zero hype about the title game if the Mountaineers and Tigers had taken care of business, but what little talk there may have been would’ve centered around how undeserving they were and how all these other teams (who would’ve had more losses than either Mo. or WVU) are playing better right now. It’s a thinly veiled whine to see the powerhouse teams play each other, so I propose a “Super Conference” with the following -
Ohio State Michigan Penn State Southern Cal
Texas Oklahoma Notre Dame Nebraska
Miami, FL Florida State LSU Florida
Auburn Georgia Tennessee Virginia Tech
The two title game entrants will ONLY come from this group every year. You can keep everything else the way it is now as far as filling the other bowl games. But the highest ranked pair of squads from this select list will meet for the crystal football every year. Sure, it might sound unfair, but why does this make any less sense than the current BCS formula? And yes, there are more SEC teams than any other conference. Why? Because they’re the greatest league on earth, haven’t you heard? We have to listen to golf analysts cry if Tiger Woods isn’t around on Sunday, and God forbid if Jim Nantz and Billy Packer have to call a Final Four without Duke. This “Super Conference” would save the gnashing of teeth over imposters working their way into the BCS title game. It’s sort of like the radio business- Why give a new artist’s music a chance when we can play the same old Pink Floyd until your brain goes numb?
A PLEA TO HEACOCK - Jim Heacock and Luke Fickell, I’m begging you. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t play the chickens**t defensive scheme you used against Florida and against Illinois this year. LSU hasn’t run the spread as much as those teams, but with all this time before the game, they just might have it completely implemented by January 7th. Jim and Luke- You have great athletes on your defense. You have speed on that defense. For crying out loud, be the aggressor and come after the quarterback. Take some chances and have confidence in your players. If Vernon Gholston and James Laurinaitis’ comments after the Illinois game were any indication, they thought the defensive approach was for crap too, no matter how hard they tried to disguise their true feelings. There is absolutely no doubt that the offense will put up points on this LSU defense, so don’t sit back. No one will expect you to keep up with the “obvious” superior speed and athleticism of Les’ crew, so turn the defense loose. PLEASE!
THROW HIM A BONE - With their precious Gators out of the championship race, the media has done all they could to hand Tim Tebow the Heisman. He’s quarterbacked three losses, but he’s the best player in the country. Hmmmm…Well, a check of Heisman history shows several winners in the past 40 years whose team lost at least 3 games- Ricky Williams, Ty Detmer, Tim Brown, Bo Jackson, Marcus Allen, George Rogers, Jim Plunkett and Steve Owens. I suppose there’s precedent there, so since everyone’s darling Gators won’t be in New Orleans, give Timmy some sugar, and let’s hope the win over Michigan last month will be Chris Wells’ springboard to Heisman consideration next year. With the Bucks on the verge of winning it all, you hate to sound greedy, but what would C-Dub have done if he had been 100% this season?
HART AND HENNE REVISITED - Do Pat White and Steve Slaton come back to Morgantown and make another run at the crown next year? Lou Holtz pointed out after the WVU/Pitt game tonight that West Virginia has the most wins of any school that has never claimed a national title. Speaking of NFL decisions-
SHOULD I STAY….- Will January 7th be the last time we see Vernon Gholston, Malcolm Jenkins and James Laurinaitis in Scarlet and Gray? Can you imagine what 2008 would bring if those gentlemen all stuck around? The trip to Southern Cal on September 13th might be the FIFTH #1 vs. #2 game OSU has played in two years time.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the above rants. Feel free to send me a note to Joe-S-U@buckeye50.com.
Editorial: 2007 Regular Season Ends
By Joe-S-U
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December 2nd, 2007
