Fantasy, Letter to Mizzou fans, Playoffs

"Dreaming is a passive state. We talk here all the time with our players, 'You can dream or you can pursue.' This is the product of our players and our coaches pursuing this goal and working hard to obtain it." – KU Head Coach Mark Mangino (Dallas Morning News)

First, a quick look at the standings:

Old Kids Record Week 13 result
Winckler 8-4 Loss v Inoculators
Pollard 7-5 Needs 9 pts from McGahee to beat Smurfs
Inoculators 7-5 Win v Winckler
Smurfs 4-8 Up 8 and out of players v Pollard
JQ’s 4-8 Two left down 4 v Wannabees

Young Kids Record Week 13 result
MHC 8-4 Needs 29 to beat Zou
BFTB 8-4 Down 5 with Moss/Pats D v Outlaws
Wannabees 5-7 One left up 4 v JQ’s
Outlaws 5-7 Up 5 with Welker left v BFTB
Zou 4-8 Up 28 on MHC

"We have to put this one in the mix and look at it. If you go to a plus-one, you’re going to have years in which it is just very, very appropriate. You’re going to have years where it may not be so appropriate. ... The only way to solve that is to have a flexible format and just make sure that we look at the standings and then decide how to finish the year." - BCS chief and Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive (Boston Herald)

Second, projected standings after tonight’s game:

Old Kids Record Week 13 result
Winkler 8-5 Loss to Inoculators
Inoculators 8-5 Win vs Winckler
Pollard 7-6 Loss to Smurfs
Smurfs 5-8 Win vs Pollard
JQ’s 5-8 Win vs Wannabees

Young Kids Record Week 13 result
MHC 9-4 Win vs Zou
BFTB 9-4 Win vs Outlaws
Wannabees 5-8 Loss to JQ’s
Outlaws 5-8 Loss to BFTB
Zou 4-9 Loss to MHC

"I think that's one of the things that made this such a fascinating year. The brass ring was there for a lot of different people to grab, and sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't." – Mike Slive (Dallas Morning News)

Finally, projected playoff picture:
One Seed: BFTB
Two Seed: Winckler
Three Seed: MHC
Four Seed: Pollard

"A two-loss team compared to a one-loss team was probably the most pressing thing that we looked at." - Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms (Associated Press)

A Letter to Missouri fans

Dear Mizzou fans,

You seem mad and I don’t understand why. What is Kansas playing for that Missouri is not? It’s not like Kansas made the playoffs. It’s not like Kansas is making millions of dollars off this game (Keep in mind, all the money Oklahoma and Kansas makes off of their games goes to the Big XII to be distributed to all the schools). Kansas favorite place to recruit is Texas – the Orange Bowl is in Florida. What is it that Kansas is playing for?

“There is a prestige with going to a BCS bowl,” you say. No there is not. I’m not hearing a clamoring from fans begging to keep the BCS and its bowl system. I did hear at the beginning of the season fans getting excited to watch the Orange Bowl in January. Rivals.com has the Cotton Bowl ranked as the sixth best bowl to watch – three spots ahead of the Orange bowl. No cares about the Orange Bowl. No one would have cared about the Orange Bowl if Missouri made it. Heck, there are many people who don’t care about the BCS National Championship game and that game is the only game left that matters! And don’t you think that more people will want to watch a game featuring your offense and Darren McFadden on New Years Day than tuning in two days later (a Thursday no less) to watch Virginia Tech and Kansas?

Some of you say, “Kansas gets the edge in recruiting.” Mark Mangino and his staff lives and dies in Texas. The Orange Bowl is in Florida. Missouri loves recruiting in Texas and will be playing in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Even if Kansas does have an edge here, Missouri OWNS Kansas in every other recruiting category. This “exhibition game” will not cripple your program’s future.

The reality is KU and MU fans should both be mad about one thing: We don’t get to play for a National Championship. Kansas is 11-1 and wasn’t even close to playing for a championship. Missouri was 10-0 against all other teams not named Oklahoma and doesn’t get to play for anything.

There is no reason to be made about playing in the Cotton Bowl and there is no advantage to playing in the Orange Bowl. Get over it, win your bowl game, add a few more kids to your Top 25 recruiting class and go win the Big XII next year. If you do that, you’ll end up in a BCS game and, unless it’s the National Championship game, you’ll realize that playing in the Fiesta Bowl means crap.

From,
Ben Nielsen

A Workable Playoff System

What is the difference between Ohio State and Kansas? Really? Both are 11-1 and benefited from weak schedules. What’s the difference? “Well, Ohio State won the Big XII,” you may say. Big deal. The Big Ten was terrible this year. One poll has the Big Ten ranked last out of the six BCS conferences. And Ohio State didn’t go undefeated in their conference and didn’t play a conference championship game. Neither Kansas or Ohio State had big wins. Each beat traditional powerhouse schools that had down seasons (Michigan and Nebraska). If anything, you could argue Kansas is a better team because their loss (Missouri on a neutral site) was better than Ohio State’s (Illinios at home).

“The” Ohio State does not deserve to be in the championship game. Then again, no one does. This is why we need a playoff.

To help with this model, let’s take a look at the other NCAA football divisions do:

NCAA Division I-AA: 16 Team Playoff
Playoff lasts four weeks. Maximum games (regular season plus full playoff schedule) a team could play is 15. I could not determine how teams were chosen. No bye weeks, high seed is host institution. Championship game is on neutral field. Championship game scheduled for December 14.

NCAA Division II: 24 Team Playoff
Playoffs last a total of five weeks. Maximum games a team could play is 16. Schools are divided into four regions. Essentially, top six teams from each region make the playoffs. Top two ranked team in each region gets first round bye. Higher seed in the match-up hosts the game. Championship game played on neutral field. Championship game scheduled for December 15.

NCAA Division III: 32 Team Playoff
Playoffs last five weeks. Maximum games a team could play is 16. Schools are divided into four regions. Essentially, top eight teams from each region make the playoffs. No byes. Higher seed hosts the game. Championship game played on a neutral field. Championship game scheduled for December 15.

These three systems tell me the following:
1) It is possible to have an 11 game season, a conference championship game and a four week playoff and be done before January.
2) Having the playoffs coinciding finals week doesn’t seem to bother the other divisions.
3) It is feasible to have a system that doesn’t end in February.
4) All teams could have a legitimate at winning the National Championship.

My playoff would work like this:
Sixteen teams total. The 11 conference winners make the playoffs. The BCS determines the five at-large teams and the playoff seeding. Additionally, no more than three teams from a conference can make the playoffs.

Under this system, the seeding would look like this:

Top half of bracket
16 Florida Atlantic vs 1 Ohio State
9 West Virginia vs 8 Kansas
13 BYU vs 4 Oklahoma
12 Florida vs 5 Georgia

Bottom half of bracket
15 Central Michigan vs 2 LSU
10 Hawaii vs 7 USC
14 Central Florida vs 3 Virginia Tech
11 Arizona State vs 6 Missouri

Preferably, the USA Today Coaches Poll would be eliminated from the BCS formula. The Harris Poll and computer polls would make up the BCS formula with each carrying equal weight. This would obviously effect the results above.

Why USA Today poll would be eliminated is the subject of tomorrow’s blog.

Teams eliminated from the playoffs prior to the championship game would be eligible for – but not required to be in - the “major” bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Capital One and Gator).

Games would start as early as this weekend. If that were so, you could actually have a bye week between the semi-finals and the championship game and still be done by January 5.

The four “big” bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta) would rotate between being on Championship game day. The rotation would be two years on, two days off.

Example:
Saturday, December 8
16 Florida Atlantic vs 1 Ohio State
9 West Virginia vs 8 Kansas
13 BYU vs 4 Oklahoma
12 Florida vs 5 Georgia
15 Central Michigan vs 2 LSU
10 Hawaii vs 7 USC
14 Central Florida vs 3 Virginia Tech
11 Arizona State vs 6 Missouri

Saturday, December 15
Kansas vs Ohio State
Georgia vs Oklahoma
USC vs LSU
Missouri vs Virginia Tech

Saturday, December 22
Oklahoma vs Ohio State (neutral site)
Virginia Tech vs LSU (neutral site)

Monday, December 31
Gator Bowl
Capitol One Bowl

Tuesday, January 1
Cotton Bowl

Wednesday, January 2
Sugar Bowl

Friday, January 4
Orange Bowl

Saturday, January 5
11 a.m. CDT – Fiesta Bowl
3 p.m. CDT – Rose Bowl
7:30 p.m. CDT – LSU vs Ohio State (neutral site)

There it is. I solved the world’s problems.