Or, go with the super obvious Skins, as short for PigSkins. Years since the real 'Hogs' had any cartilage between their knees, some Skins fans still like to dress as robust swine.
Why am I now hungry for pork rinds?
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It's as clear as a fake nose on a hog's face; New name for Redskins should become Washington Skins
Monday, August 25, 2014
It's still 2.5 times better than a playoff! Only small changes to my BCS Tourney
The last time that the real-life powers of college football had a major change to their system, I contemplated, and contemplated, and thought some more. Like the real BCS, should my tournament go from eight to ten teams? Eventually, I decided to move to ten teams also, and I absolutely love it!
Now, with a playoff looming, and six games (so twelve teams) at the center of the bowl universe rather than four bowls and a title game, it took me little time to tell the dealer I was standing pat. My tournament is perfection embodied in a fantastical blogness of wonder. On with the show!
Here is what has changed, and what has not changed in the best tournament this side of the Little League World Series:
Ten is enough - When the BCS went from eight to ten teams, I felt the same pull for the same reasons that the big boys did. I wanted major conference titlists, worthy mid-major champs, winning independents, and teams at the top of the rankings that may not have won the conference. And it was getting harder and harder to do that with eight teams. The additional two teams seems to make me breathe so much easier.
Would two more help? I don't think so. In all the years I have been at ten teams, the only team I wished had made it was undefeated Boise State in 2008, when Utah grabbed the mid-major slot with an undefeated season of their own. And the Broncos lost to TCU in their bowl game anyway, and then they were an at-large team in my tourney in 2011 when they didn't make the real BCS. So things evened out. So, the fact that teams like Oregon and Oklahoma were left out of my tourney and may have made some noise last season, affects me not one inch. They just did not do enough, and the regular season matters.
To me, though it was not planned, ten teams makes the regular season games still incredibly important. In an eight team tournament, making it in matters most, and once a team is in, they are pretty much on par with the seven others. But take last season's Ohio State team. In an eight team tournament, win the Big Ten title game, and the Buckeyes are second seed, and lose it, they are seventh seed. Perhaps influences their opponent, but still three wins away from a title. In the ten team tournament, Ohio State drops to seventh seed and has to play an extra game. I really believe (said using my best Dick Vitale impression) that the desire to win that Big Ten Championship would be nearly as huge for the Buckeyes in my tournament as it was in real life. Win that game, and their path to the desired Semi-Finals in Lucas Oil was a win over Missouri in the Rose Bowl. But when they lost to the Spartans, the Ohio State path to Indy was to beat South Carolina in Cleveland First Round game (which they lost) and then go to the Sugar Bowl and beat Auburn.
The ten team tourney keeps the regular season games critical. Teams will want to be in the top two, and will really want to be in the top six to avoid a First Round game.
Locations, locations, locations - My bowl game quarterfinals have been the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange ever since Cotton was dropped for Fiesta years ago. But now, Cotton and Peach will join those four to host games. It will not be a rotation, the Rose, Sugar, and Orange will maintain their conference tie-ins, but the other three bowls will be waiting when games become available. If both the Pac-12 and Big Ten finish outside the top six, like they did five years ago, the Rose Bowl will not get to host a quarterfinal. Same with the Sugar and the SEC and Big XII.
The four quarterfinal bowl games also rotated for hosting the championship game, and that also has changed. The location for the real life championship will also be the site for my four team tourney. For instance, Arlington will host my championship this season. As rotation turned out on the Semi-Final front this season, Atlanta will host the semis, so all six cities will host during this inaugural inclusion of more bowl games.
The Semi-Finals will be rotated among eight cities. Atlanta will drop out after this season because their new stadium will be real grass, just like they love in Colorado. New Orleans is joining the rotation which now also includes: Minneapolis, Detroit. Indianapolis, Saint Louis, Syracuse, San Antonio, and Arlington.
Know you PQs (Provisional Qualifiers) - Now, five conference champions will earn a provisional qualification for the tournament, as the AAC/Big East will lose their (formerly known as) AQ status. But despite this, the chance for seven conference champions to earn a berth is the same as it was before.
The Provisional Qualifiers are:
Winners of the five power conferences, ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, SEC
The next highest ranked conference champion in the top 25
A seventh conference champion if they finish in the top 12, or top 16 and above one of the power 5 champions
Any independent in the top eight
Any non-conference champion in the top three, and the fourth ranked team if they are not champions and the #3 team is a conference champion
If there are more than 10 PQs, the highest ranked ten will be in the tournament. If there are less than 10 PQs, the highest ranked at-large teams will fill out the remaining spots.
No Condi for me - I will not use the rankings of the new playoff committee, and will generate my own attempt at the BCS Standings, which I think have worked quite nicely. So I am the keeper of the BCS Standings, unless there are other people out there who doing it too, sorry, did not mean to step on your toes.
In fact, if college football wants to distance themselves from the name BCS, I will take it, dagnabbit! It reflects my tourney since 1984, a Bowl Championship Series, and I embrace it. I AM BCS!
So here are the preseason 2013 BCS Standings:
Projected tournament, as of now, with no games played!
FIRST ROUND:
In San Diego:
7 UCLA
10 South Carolina
In Pasadena:
8 Stanford
9 Michigan State
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):
Orange:
1 Florida State
Stanford/Michigan State winner
Sugar:
4 Oklahoma
5 Auburn
Fiesta:
2 Alabama
UCLA/South Carolina winner
Rose:
3 Oregon
6 Ohio State
SEMI-FINALS in Atlanta
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP in Arlington, Texas
Now, with a playoff looming, and six games (so twelve teams) at the center of the bowl universe rather than four bowls and a title game, it took me little time to tell the dealer I was standing pat. My tournament is perfection embodied in a fantastical blogness of wonder. On with the show!
Here is what has changed, and what has not changed in the best tournament this side of the Little League World Series:
Ten is enough - When the BCS went from eight to ten teams, I felt the same pull for the same reasons that the big boys did. I wanted major conference titlists, worthy mid-major champs, winning independents, and teams at the top of the rankings that may not have won the conference. And it was getting harder and harder to do that with eight teams. The additional two teams seems to make me breathe so much easier.
Would two more help? I don't think so. In all the years I have been at ten teams, the only team I wished had made it was undefeated Boise State in 2008, when Utah grabbed the mid-major slot with an undefeated season of their own. And the Broncos lost to TCU in their bowl game anyway, and then they were an at-large team in my tourney in 2011 when they didn't make the real BCS. So things evened out. So, the fact that teams like Oregon and Oklahoma were left out of my tourney and may have made some noise last season, affects me not one inch. They just did not do enough, and the regular season matters.
To me, though it was not planned, ten teams makes the regular season games still incredibly important. In an eight team tournament, making it in matters most, and once a team is in, they are pretty much on par with the seven others. But take last season's Ohio State team. In an eight team tournament, win the Big Ten title game, and the Buckeyes are second seed, and lose it, they are seventh seed. Perhaps influences their opponent, but still three wins away from a title. In the ten team tournament, Ohio State drops to seventh seed and has to play an extra game. I really believe (said using my best Dick Vitale impression) that the desire to win that Big Ten Championship would be nearly as huge for the Buckeyes in my tournament as it was in real life. Win that game, and their path to the desired Semi-Finals in Lucas Oil was a win over Missouri in the Rose Bowl. But when they lost to the Spartans, the Ohio State path to Indy was to beat South Carolina in Cleveland First Round game (which they lost) and then go to the Sugar Bowl and beat Auburn.
The ten team tourney keeps the regular season games critical. Teams will want to be in the top two, and will really want to be in the top six to avoid a First Round game.
Locations, locations, locations - My bowl game quarterfinals have been the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange ever since Cotton was dropped for Fiesta years ago. But now, Cotton and Peach will join those four to host games. It will not be a rotation, the Rose, Sugar, and Orange will maintain their conference tie-ins, but the other three bowls will be waiting when games become available. If both the Pac-12 and Big Ten finish outside the top six, like they did five years ago, the Rose Bowl will not get to host a quarterfinal. Same with the Sugar and the SEC and Big XII.
The four quarterfinal bowl games also rotated for hosting the championship game, and that also has changed. The location for the real life championship will also be the site for my four team tourney. For instance, Arlington will host my championship this season. As rotation turned out on the Semi-Final front this season, Atlanta will host the semis, so all six cities will host during this inaugural inclusion of more bowl games.
The Semi-Finals will be rotated among eight cities. Atlanta will drop out after this season because their new stadium will be real grass, just like they love in Colorado. New Orleans is joining the rotation which now also includes: Minneapolis, Detroit. Indianapolis, Saint Louis, Syracuse, San Antonio, and Arlington.
Know you PQs (Provisional Qualifiers) - Now, five conference champions will earn a provisional qualification for the tournament, as the AAC/Big East will lose their (formerly known as) AQ status. But despite this, the chance for seven conference champions to earn a berth is the same as it was before.
The Provisional Qualifiers are:
Winners of the five power conferences, ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, SEC
The next highest ranked conference champion in the top 25
A seventh conference champion if they finish in the top 12, or top 16 and above one of the power 5 champions
Any independent in the top eight
Any non-conference champion in the top three, and the fourth ranked team if they are not champions and the #3 team is a conference champion
If there are more than 10 PQs, the highest ranked ten will be in the tournament. If there are less than 10 PQs, the highest ranked at-large teams will fill out the remaining spots.
No Condi for me - I will not use the rankings of the new playoff committee, and will generate my own attempt at the BCS Standings, which I think have worked quite nicely. So I am the keeper of the BCS Standings, unless there are other people out there who doing it too, sorry, did not mean to step on your toes.
In fact, if college football wants to distance themselves from the name BCS, I will take it, dagnabbit! It reflects my tourney since 1984, a Bowl Championship Series, and I embrace it. I AM BCS!
So here are the preseason 2013 BCS Standings:
| 1 | Florida State | 0.9976 | ACC |
| 2 | Alabama | 0.9353 | SEC |
| 3 | Oregon | 0.8990 | Pac-12 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 0.8848 | Big XII |
| 5 | Auburn | 0.8062 | at-large |
| 6 | Ohio State | 0.7540 | Big Ten |
| 7 | UCLA | 0.7324 | at-large |
| 8 | Stanford | 0.6820 | at-large |
| 9 | Michigan State | 0.6791 | at-large |
| 10 | South Carolina | 0.6292 | at-large |
| 11 | Baylor | 0.6222 | |
| 12 | Georgia | 0.5553 | |
| 13 | LSU | 0.5516 | |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 0.4289 | |
| 15 | USC | 0.4073 | |
| 16 | Clemson | 0.3675 | |
| 17 | Notre Dame | 0.2084 | |
| 18 | Ole Miss | 0.1953 | |
| 19 | Washington | 0.1661 | |
| 20 | Kansas State | 0.1624 | |
| 21 | Arizona State | 0.1563 | |
| 22 | Texas A&M | 0.1501 | |
| 23 | Nebraska | 0.0993 | |
| 24 | Texas | 0.0974 | |
| 25 | Oklahoma St | 0.0933 |
Projected tournament, as of now, with no games played!
FIRST ROUND:
In San Diego:
7 UCLA
10 South Carolina
In Pasadena:
8 Stanford
9 Michigan State
BCS BOWLS (Quarterfinals):
Orange:
1 Florida State
Stanford/Michigan State winner
Sugar:
4 Oklahoma
5 Auburn
Fiesta:
2 Alabama
UCLA/South Carolina winner
Rose:
3 Oregon
6 Ohio State
SEMI-FINALS in Atlanta
BCS CHAMPIONSHIP in Arlington, Texas
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