Monday, December 25, 2006
Tennessee Basketball
Wow -- I know everyone is rightfully focused on the upcoming bowls -- especially the National Championship game (Florida v. Ohio State).
But, I had to point out the heroics in Knoxville as both the Lady Vols and Men are racking up some big early season wins. The men in the past month have defeated Memphis, Oklahoma State and now -- Texas. Looks like last year wasn't a fluke after all. And the Lady Vols -- well they are doing what they always do -- win. Over the past month, the Lady Vols have wins against Louisiana Tech, Texas and Old Dominion.
So, no matter what happens in the Outback Bowl -- UT fans are looking forward to moving on to B-ball season. I know I am.
But, back to football for another week.
But, I had to point out the heroics in Knoxville as both the Lady Vols and Men are racking up some big early season wins. The men in the past month have defeated Memphis, Oklahoma State and now -- Texas. Looks like last year wasn't a fluke after all. And the Lady Vols -- well they are doing what they always do -- win. Over the past month, the Lady Vols have wins against Louisiana Tech, Texas and Old Dominion.
So, no matter what happens in the Outback Bowl -- UT fans are looking forward to moving on to B-ball season. I know I am.
But, back to football for another week.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Ohio State v. Florida: The BCS Got it Right!
Much of the country is in the midst of the first real cold snap of the season. But you’d never know it from the hot air coming out of Michigan. Lots of upset people blowing a lot of steam over nothing.
The final computer and human rankings were thrown into the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) cauldron and low and behold a live Gator was pulled out. By the way, it was the human voters who saved the day because the BCS computers had the Gators and Wolverines dead even.
I don’t know what the computers were thinking, but anyone who saw Florida come from behind to beat Arkansas 38-28 Saturday night to win the SEC Championship knows what I’m talking about. What a thrilling game? Florida showed its tremendous team speed, talent, and ability to make big plays when it needed to. Talk about going for it? How about that 4th and 10 fake punt -- from its own 15 yard line while trailing in the 3rd quarter? That takes guts! That was the play that earned the Gators a trip to the National Championship game to face the Buckeyes on January 8th in Glendale, Arizona.
Florida is a conference champion with a 12-1 record. Michigan is the runner-up in its conference with an 11-1 record. It’s difficult to understand how anyone could possibly think a second place team (with one less victory) should go to the National Championship game over all the other conference champions.
And we are not talking about a dominating conference in the Big-10. I mean, nothing against the Big 10, it’s a fine conference. But it is clearly no SEC. Just take a gander at the BCS final top 20. 5 teams from the SEC; 3 from the Big-10. How about bowl bids? SEC – 9 bowl bids (most of any conference). Big-10 – 7 bowl bids.
How about non-conference schedule? The SEC was an amazing 41-7 versus non-conference opponents in 2006. This .854 winning percentage blows away any other conference. (Check out www.secsportsfan.com/sec-football.html for more information on SEC football). So, Florida is the Champion of the toughest conference in the nation.
Florida had the toughest schedule in the nation (opponents winning percentage of .643). The gators had 4 quality wins over Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, and Arkansas. Michigan only had 2 quality wins – Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
How boring it would have been to see Ohio State and Michigan for a second time this season (104th time overall). Instead we have two great conference champions from different regions of the country. Florida and Ohio State will be playing against each other for the first time in history. I can hardly wait.
Certainly the BCS system is flawed. College football needs a playoff. No doubt. With the current system there are always more than two teams at the end of the year that can make a strong case they should be in the National Championship game. Someone always feels jilted.
But, if you have to pick only two teams to play for the National Championship – this year those teams have to be Ohio State and Florida. The only thing I don’t understand is why there is even a controversy. It would have been a disgrace to pick Michigan over Florida. So, at least for this year, the BCS got it right. It was easy choice.
Mo Johnson, a long-time SEC sports fan, is the author of this article. He is publisher of www.secsportsfan.com.
The final computer and human rankings were thrown into the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) cauldron and low and behold a live Gator was pulled out. By the way, it was the human voters who saved the day because the BCS computers had the Gators and Wolverines dead even.
I don’t know what the computers were thinking, but anyone who saw Florida come from behind to beat Arkansas 38-28 Saturday night to win the SEC Championship knows what I’m talking about. What a thrilling game? Florida showed its tremendous team speed, talent, and ability to make big plays when it needed to. Talk about going for it? How about that 4th and 10 fake punt -- from its own 15 yard line while trailing in the 3rd quarter? That takes guts! That was the play that earned the Gators a trip to the National Championship game to face the Buckeyes on January 8th in Glendale, Arizona.
Florida is a conference champion with a 12-1 record. Michigan is the runner-up in its conference with an 11-1 record. It’s difficult to understand how anyone could possibly think a second place team (with one less victory) should go to the National Championship game over all the other conference champions.
And we are not talking about a dominating conference in the Big-10. I mean, nothing against the Big 10, it’s a fine conference. But it is clearly no SEC. Just take a gander at the BCS final top 20. 5 teams from the SEC; 3 from the Big-10. How about bowl bids? SEC – 9 bowl bids (most of any conference). Big-10 – 7 bowl bids.
How about non-conference schedule? The SEC was an amazing 41-7 versus non-conference opponents in 2006. This .854 winning percentage blows away any other conference. (Check out www.secsportsfan.com/sec-football.html for more information on SEC football). So, Florida is the Champion of the toughest conference in the nation.
Florida had the toughest schedule in the nation (opponents winning percentage of .643). The gators had 4 quality wins over Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, and Arkansas. Michigan only had 2 quality wins – Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
How boring it would have been to see Ohio State and Michigan for a second time this season (104th time overall). Instead we have two great conference champions from different regions of the country. Florida and Ohio State will be playing against each other for the first time in history. I can hardly wait.
Certainly the BCS system is flawed. College football needs a playoff. No doubt. With the current system there are always more than two teams at the end of the year that can make a strong case they should be in the National Championship game. Someone always feels jilted.
But, if you have to pick only two teams to play for the National Championship – this year those teams have to be Ohio State and Florida. The only thing I don’t understand is why there is even a controversy. It would have been a disgrace to pick Michigan over Florida. So, at least for this year, the BCS got it right. It was easy choice.
Mo Johnson, a long-time SEC sports fan, is the author of this article. He is publisher of www.secsportsfan.com.
