It's been more than two weeks since I discussed sports at all. A lot has happened in that span and there are somethings that I want to address from my other blog, so I won't have to link back and forth each post. So, a bit of warning, this post may get a bit lengthy.
One thing that's happened is that the college football regular season came to an end. It went out with a bit of a whimper considering how the rest of the regular season went.
Before the season I made some predictions and depending on your perspective I was either way off or more way off.
BCS Conference Champions
ACC- Georgia Tech Actual Winner- Virginia Tech
Big East- West Virginia Actual Winners- Connecticut, West Virginia, Pittsburgh
Big Ten- Ohio State Actual Winners- Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State
Big 12- Texas Actual Winner- Oklahoma
Pac 10- Oregon State Actual Winner- Oregon
SEC- Alabama Actual Winner- Auburn
I only kind of got two right. The teams I predicted in the Big East and Big 10 are technically co-champions even if they didn't earn the BCS birth for their conference. I'm going to take that as a win considering how wrong the rest of them are.
BCS Title Game
Alabama vs. Ohio State
Just Wrong
National Champion
Alabama
Again, That's just wrong
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The NCAA/Auburn Shenanigans
That entire situation smells of orchestration and bullshit. Auburn would have no reason to declare Newton ineligible just before the SEC championship game unless they had known that the NCAA would give the all clear* shortly there after. I mean at this point even if Auburn knows that Newton will eventually be ruled ineligible, they would just ride it out and deal with the ruling once it comes.
I'm usually not one to buy into conspiracy theories, but the way this entire he's eligible then ineligible then eligible again thing went, it seems something was going on. The NCAA and SEC both ignored pretty straight-forward bylaws about parents receiving benefits. It would be one thing if the NCAA had ignored those bylaws before and accepted the 'ignorance' of the student as a defense, but the NCAA has come down hard on 'student'-athletes before for amazingly similar things to what Newton is involved in.
The only reasonable reason I can think of for all this is that the NCAA wanted to make sure TCU would not be involved in the BCS Title Game. As an institution the NCAA is corrupt and has it's head pretty far up it's own ass, so the Auburn-Oregon title game was the most attractive option. There's way more money in that game and it also protects the bowl system as it stands now. If TCU showed up and knocked off a big school in that game, a playoff is likely hastened.
I also don't understand why any of this had to happen. The NCAA is great at having super long investigations. Why did a ruling have to be made either way? I'm still convinced Newton will be ruled ineligible eventually, but only after the money has been made.
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Urban Meyer 'resigns'
I still find it hard to really believe him. I think it's totally fair to be skeptical given the entire episode we went through last year. Everyone is talking about how legit this feels, but last time it totally felt legitimate too. I have also learned to not trust head coaches, just as a general rule. There are two examples in the SEC that are good enough reasons not to believe anything a head coach says about his current job or other job openings.
I see two possibilities here. He means it and will be 'retired' for a few seasons and then return in a few years. Hell, the Notre Dame** job will probably be open in a few years. The other and slightly more hair-brained theory is that he will be named the head coach of the Denver Broncos and be reunited with his man crush, Tim Tebow***.
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Heisman Talk
It's pretty obvious that Cam Newton will win this award. If not for all the shenanigans that surround him****, I think he would win by a margin similar to Troy Smith and O.J. Simpson. It's nice to know that it's going to become a new tradition that every 5th Heisman will have to be vacated.
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Pasta's Player of the Year Rankings
4. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
3. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
2. LaMichael James, RB, Oregon
1. Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
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Pasta's Top 5
5. Stanford
4. Wisconsin
3. TCU
2. Auburn
1. Oregon
Thanks for reading and please comment.
-Michael
*Sort of
**Yea, Notre Dame refuses to accept the reality that it is an 8-4 program at best, so they will keep going through coaches.
***Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo
****He totally deserves them though.
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