FanNation - The Republic of Sport

 Sunday, October 21, 2007

BCS BIASES

Last week's Saturday School session brought forth an epiphany about the Fighting Illini quarterback situation.  In this blog, I'll delve into why Ohio State is so underrated despite it's perceived Charmin'(soft and fluffy, get it?) schedule, why the BCS is flawed by human bias and how Indiana's two emerging gridiron stars on the verge of fulfilling their late coaches objective. 

In traditional college football style, Thursday night, the 2nd ranked South Florida were knocked from atop their perch amongst the wide open field of national championship contenders. With a single loss on their record, voters will no longer feel obligated to practice fairness and allow the Bulls into the national championship contention. Missouri and South Florida's losses in consecutive weeks rescued college football's dictatorship from voting a peasant onto their biggest stage.

What's become surprisingly apparent to me is that I'm in the minority when it comes to non-traditional powers vying for the throne of gridiron kings. History and legacy tend to blind observers to the product on the field. After there consecutive national championship letdowns, most voters were wary of Oklahoma's deceptive victories. Now that they have one loss, I've heard on numerous occasions that the Oklahoma Sooners are superior to West Virginia, South Florida and the top 1 loss team in the nation. Huh?

The double standard is espoused by analysts every week. When a relative newcomer to the Top 10 stage loses a game to it exposes their flaws, however when a national powerhouse loses, it is often dismissed as a fluke loss and serves as a learning experience to that team.

Fans haven't realized yet that a starting quarterback clad in a USC jersey doesn't bestow him with the arm strength of Carson Palmer or the moxie and pinpoint accuracy of Matt Leinart. Donning the Longhorns orange and white, and lining up under center hasn't made Colt McCoy into Vince Young or the offense into a juggernaut. The player who most resembles Vince Young from his size, speed, accuracy, speed, big play ability, pocket presence and breakaway speed is the Oregon Ducks' senior quarterback Dennis Dixon who captains the nations most explosive offense.

Fortunately, for Dixon and the Ducks(I smell a comic book spinoff?) the national championship has been preordained Pac-10 vs. SEC since Les Miles spouted his wide mouth off.
Arizona State which currently resides at first place in the Pac-10 faces their toughest litmus test when they square off against California, Oregon and finally Southern Cal in the final three weeks.

The consensus thus far has been to bash pass happy Hawaii for competing in the WAC but long before the advent of the BCS, BYU won a national championship with the aid of Coach Lavell Edwards' pass oriented attack. Despite, a season opening win at #3, Pittsburgh, BYU's national championship selection was criticized because of what was perceived to be a weak schedule.

During the '84 season seven teams held the number 1 spot, before BYU cemented the title with a win over Michigan in a non-New Years Day Bowl. Hawaii which has been widely criticized for it's weak schedule offered to play at Michigan in the season opener however, the Wolverines declined in favor of a tiny Division I-AA(well not much longer) national championship team you might remember. (In just 9 months, Play by play announcer Thom Brennaman has become the worst nightmare for heavy favorites facing college football's neglected step children.)

In an age of increasing parity, why should Hawaii be deprived of the same championship aspirations?

The mantra that defense wins championships has been espoused since the dawn of football but lets not degrade a potent offense so hastily. LSU may field a worldbeater defense but as evidenced by Kentucky's win over LSU, the offense gets coaching too. If you want to see the best team come January, the West Virginia Mountaineers cannot be dismissed so easily. Their only loss this season came after their All-American quarterback, Pat White the straw that serves their drink played less than a half against South Florida. The defense is much improved and is not be on LSU's plane, defensively but everyone tends to ignore that their offense balances it out. Did I mention that they've won 8 out of their last 10 games versus SEC teams? How can you not be excited by the Mountaineers?

The BCS may determine the most advantageous and popular team but if college football actually wants to discern the best team from year to year, a playoff is the only option. Why exactly do fans revel in watching the same exact teams play in the national championship game every January? Am I the only one who's bothered by redundancy? Preseason predeterminations, otherwise called polls(ugghh...) basically handicap the title chase to a select few. This season, a two loss team from the SEC has a legitimate shot, while an undefeated Kansas and Hawaii team hasn't even entered the discussion. It's as if the 2007 and 2005 Fiesta Bowls never happened. A likely scenario which strangely has not been uttered yet includes the shame of yet another split championship.

 

Hardy & Lewis: Solving The Mystery Of Indiana's Football Irrelevancy


Just another early morning wakeup for the Big 10 conference. Two weeks ago, the nation got acquainted with Juice Williams, Rashard Mendenhall and freshman phenom Arrellious Benn! The nation now needs to familiarize itself with Indiana's elusive dual threat quarterback, Kellen Lewis and his towering target receiver James Hardy. With names straight out of a best-selling detectives novel, Lewis and Hardy have invigorated frenzy around a historically apathetic football fanbase. Behind the hoopla of South Florida's undefeated season, Indiana's Quest To Play 13 has been the most inspirational under the radar story of the season.

This season has been dedicated to former coach Terry Hoeppner, who passed away this summer after a long, arduous bout with brain cancer, had a mission of getting Indiana six wins and bowl eligibility. Thus the "Play 13" slogan. The Hoosiers haven't been to a bowl game since 1993, haven't won one since 1991 and stood at 5-2 heading into last Saturday's game.

Following a productive first half against Penn State, Lewis and Hardy turned it up a notch and turned on the burners against Penn State's vaunted defense. Despite their defense's costly lapses, Lewis and Hardy rallied Indiana for up until the final minute. Hardy the 6-7 former basketball player has become common fodder to NFL scouts raised his profile on the national stage by catching 14 passes for 142 yards. On the season, Hardy has recorded 45 receptions and 748 yards.

His most awe inspiring catch was a high arching throw to Hardy in the corner of the endzone, as he was covered by Justin King, arguably the nation's best junior cornerbacks.) loss which he leapt towards and brought down with relative ease.

However, the brightest star in Bloomington, IN is just a blossoming sophomore.  Natural inclination is to compare Kellen Lewis to former Indiana quarterback and current Redskins receiver Antwaan Randle-El, however, Lewis compares more favorably to Dennis Dixon because of his combination of supreme athleticism, lightning quickness and ability to throw accurately on the run. Lewis put his skills on display in front of a national ESPN audience by threading the needle in the air against Penn State to the tune of 318 yards, 3 touchdowns. On the ground, Lewis shred Penn State's linebacking corp for an incredibly deceitful 8 yards rushing.

His highlight was a 56 yard sprint to the end zone after weaving threw multiple defenders to bring the Hoosiers to within one possession of the lead. This season, Lewis has thrown for 244 yards per game, 19 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Statistics will say that Lewis has rushed for 476 yards, however, because of an offensive line that couldn't keep the Sears Tower upright, Lewis has lost 168 yards on 21 sacks.

Despite the loss, Saturday's showed that Indiana's Quest For 13 will be achieved this season and next year the stakes will raise tenfold as the Quest For a Big Ten title. 

 

Buckeye Flashbacks: Tressel's Morphing Buckeye Schemes 

The BCS is all about perception so I came to an interesting conclusion about the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. 9 months ago Jim Tressel was being touted as the preeminent head coach of the 21st century with a six-year record of 62-13, as the clamoring for an all-Big 10 affair in the natinal championship game reached a deafening pitch. 10 months later, after a series of degrading losses by Big 10 powerhouse's Ohio State faces faces the realm of possibility where a perfect season is not satisfactory enough to merit a pilgrimage to Louisiana for the national championship game.

The offense was decimated following the graduation of their Heisman Trophy winning midget Troy Smith, in addition to the early departure of receivers Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez, a rebuilding label was stamped on the 2007 Buckeyes.

In response, Tressel dusted off the game tapes from his 2002 national championship troupe and applied the formula this season.   The 5 receiver sets the Buckeyes trtted out against Michigan defied the smashmouth brand of Big-10 football, is no more. Todd Boeckman has assumed the role Craig Krenzel occupied in '02 as phenom Chris Wells and occasionally freshman speedster Brandon Saine propel the running game in the backfield Maurice Clarett once roamed. (LSU should be counting their lucky stripes after their 22 yard strike which mirrored the Ohio State "Luckeyes" legendary 4th down gamble against Purdue in 2002 which was the impetus to their magical title run. )

What nobody saw coming the defense's ascension to the ranks of college football's upper crust. On defense Vernon Gholston has been a disruptive pass rusher from defensive end, and while linebacker James Laurinatis isn't quite double suplex power bombing his opponents like his dad, has been plugging up holes in the defense for the Ohio State defense and cornerback Malcolm Jenkins has been the secondary's fighter pilot-- shooting down or intercepting any foreign objects in his his no-fly-zone.

In the transition to Troy Smith, Ohio State morphed from a conservative, run-based offense to a wide-open spread attack that played to the strengths of QB Troy Smith and his deep receiving corps.

Unfortunately, this team led by it's impenetrable defense and ball control offense is not nearly as snazzy or aesthetically pleasing as their swashbuckling predecessor. The towering shadow of Troy Smith still looms over Ohio State....

--D.J. Dunson