2015-16 Bowl Season

I have enjoyed attending and viewing bowl games for years. This year, not so much. The bowl match-ups were dreadful. Game after game were clunkers and the few competitive games played turned out that way due to atrocious defense. I enjoyed taking my family to see Duke edge Indiana in the Bronx but I certainly would not watch the tape of that game if I wanted to learn football. Obviously there were too many games but we need a bowl selection process that will ensure better games to help the sport continue to grow. Hopefully the title game will help wipe out the memory of this dreadful bowl season.

Saturday Recap and Tonight's Pick

One of the many elements of college football that is truly wonderful is the shear number of folks who are ecstatic today because of results from this weekend. I love the NFL and am a big Giants fan, but while I would love for them to beat Dallas next Sunday night, I won't be that excited if they do as there is a long season ahead of us, including a rematch, and one game does not make or break a team. There is no way I will feel as happy Sunday night with a win as fans of Temple remain today two days after their school's historic victory over Penn State. BYU fans will always remember Saturday's incredible finish, even if the Cougars will have to continue the season without injured star QB Taysom Hill. Most of the other winners who impressed did not have victories as huge as BYU and Temple, but fans of Northwestern, Notre Dame, Auburn and Texas A&M among hundreds of others, cannot wait to continue a promising season. We may have another momentous win tonight if Virginia Tech can repeat their upset of Ohio State. The problem for the Hokies is that OSU's offense is so much better today than last September. I rally do not see the Hokies be able to hang in once the Buckeyes get rolling. Close at the half but then comfortable by game's end. Pick: OSU-14. After a good Saturday I sit at 10-6 for the season.

Here We Go

As the first ranking of teams by the final four committee approaches--the announcement comes tomorrow--the bad side effects of such a system have made themselves apparent. The only focus of the national media--when not moralizing on off-the-field issues--is on the teams still in the running for final four spots. Well not all the teams. Nobody is saying boo about teams like Utah. But the point is, they will not write about the actual games themselves nor any races for conferences championships or bowl berths. Players? You have to be a screw up. Quick, who lead the two divisions of the Big Ten? What are the two divisions of the Big Ten? ACC Coastal? Pac 12 South? Did you know Colorado State is 7-1? Georgia Southern 6-2? That Indiana RB Tevin Coleman has 1192y rushing? That Western Kentucky QB Brandon Doughty has thrown for 2871y and has a 24-4 TD-INT ratio? That Louisville S Gerod Holliman and Ole Miss CB Senquez Golson each have eight interceptions. But the only thing that matters, seemingly, is the number of SEC West teams that deserve a spot in the final four. Hours are spent trying to determine which teams will "win out" even though we are always wrong guessing eventual records of teams. Let the games play out and CELEBRATE the season as it unfolds.

College Football Conference Recap Week Two

American Athletic: Only two wins for conference members this week and both were against lower division foes. Memphis had the best performance in a close loss to UCLA but the conference's free fall into oblivion continues. ACC: This conference was undefeated yesterday and only one member, BC, lost and that was to another ACC team, Pitt. Most of these wins are not worth mentioning but Virginia Tech's beat-down of Ohio State on the road adds a great pelt to the ACC tent. While this win may have been more about how badly OSU played, this is still a we-are-back statement win for the Hokies. They do not play FSU and Notre Dame this season but do have their toughest ACC Coastal competition on the road in October versus UNC and Pitt, followed by a home game against rival Miami. Big 12: If anyone thought that this conference race was going to involve anyone else but OU and Baylor they had better revisit those thoughts. Assuming that Baylor QB Bryce Petty's back problems heal as expected, those two teams are loaded with visions of a conference title. The hope was that Texas would rejoin them as a national contender but the problems in Austin run deep. With BYU routing Texas for the second straight year--no DC fired this time--the honeymoon period with new coach Charlie Strong is officially over. Players are being dismissed every week. That situation is ready to blow. Okie State and West Virginia had impressive losses last weekend but they were still losses, while ranked Kansas State had to rally to beat lowly ISU. Big Ten: Can it get any worse? Enough has been written about the woes of this once-grand conference--and I will have more to say later--but that was not only an awful day yesterday for the Big Ten, they have very little chance to rebound from it. The perception is that the conference stinks and yesterday's play converted that perception into reality. This is beyond PR. Good luck. Conference USA: There were some near misses, but misses nonetheless. UTSA has another shot this Saturday when they travel to Stillwater. Independents: This group of four is 6-1 on the season with wins over Michigan and Texas. Not bad. While Notre Dame gained the lion share of press today for a 31-0 win over Michigan, BYU has scored 76 points this year in two wins on the road. The Cougars are very good. MAC: While beating Big Ten teams no longer has the national cache that it once did, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois are still quite happy with their wins over Purdue and Northwestern. Mountain West: Wyoming has scored only 17 points in each of its two games but that is good enough for a 2-0 record. Good luck getting to 3-0 with Oregon on deck. Nevada is the only other 2-0 team remaining in the MWC and they get to play Arizona next. Should be closer than most think. Pac 12: The Pac 12 has a whopping nine teams sitting at 2-0. Yet beyond Oregon, and maybe USC, how many of them have looked impressive? Even the Trojans are lucky to have beaten a Stanford team that continually shot itself in the foot, but a marquee win is a marquee win. As for their crosstown rivals, UCLA, will the Bruins improve their play in time? They will beat Texas this Saturday but then face ASU on the road. SEC: The SEC was off this weekend. Right? Ole Miss and Vandy did play a conference game--well, the Rebels showed up. Vandy is done. Sun Belt: I am still trying to get a handle on which teams are now in the Sun Belt, but I do now know that New Mexico State and UL-Monroe are now atop the conference with matching 2-0, 1-0 records. And that is all those two schools have in common.

Human Must Be Eliminated (college football voters anyway)

Every time I see a college football poll I am reminded that it is impossible to get enough qualified people to decide which college football teams, playing games against different competition, should be ranked each week and, later this season, chosen to play in a final four championship-deciding playoff. Keeping the big guys up top, even with mediocre performances from Florida State and Alabama, is fine as they have earned that and you do not want to blow up the rankings for one game. But what does Ohio State have to do to lose its top ten ranking? They crashed at the end of last season and then lost QB Braxton Miller. They struggled for most of the Navy game and are not a top ten team at the moment. Why are they ranked ahead of Baylor? And why is UCLA ranked ahead of Stanford? They were outclassed by Stanford last year and then looked awful against lowly Virginia this past Saturday. And sorry fans from the Palmetto State but neither South Carolina nor Clemson should be ranked. How did North Carolina move up after struggling with Liberty (yes that Liberty). All of this is the main reason why there should not be a preseason poll as that places teams in positions that then get used during the season's voting. Louisville was pretty good last year and looked very good in week one against a better opponent, Miami, than Liberty, yet UNC, not as good as Louisville last year, remains ahead of the Cardinals. This normally corrects itself but wins over over-rated teams--think A&M over SC--greatly effect the polls and computers. Humans, or at least the bad college football voters, must go.

BCS Bowls Locked In

It has been a long season but once again college football delivered an exciting year full of big games, star players and surprising results. Thanks to the seemingly annual late November collapse of teams ranked too high, the match-up in the BCS title game features one team, Florida State, that played at championship level all season and another, Auburn, that while representing the SEC, still was not expected to compete for any kind of title as recently as October 1. But the Tigers are now on a roll, having won nine straight games including four SEC games away from home and one, against Alabama, in which they were big underdogs. Despite that run they will be big underdogs again, but the time for predictions will come at a later date. The Seminoles meanwhile have barely flinched all season, destroying one opponent after another. They do not have many weaknesses. As for the other BCS match-ups, of which more will be written at a later date, the committee did okay for themselves. Missouri and South Carolina are perhaps the biggest absences but they could not be considered as each conference can only have a maximum of two teams and Alabama was clearly number two for the SEC. In mid-season it seemed guaranteed that the Pac 12 would have two teams but the conference ended up with only one legitimate squad with Rose Bowl bound Stanford. As for that Rose Bowl, traditionalists should have their day as Michigan State and Stanford have both ridden the ability to hit hard to the top of their respective conferences. It should be a good game for the old black and white Magnavox that is taking up room in your parents' attic. The Fiesta Bowl will feature Baylor, one of the teams that squandered a late chance to reach the title game, against a Central Florida program that has had a chip on its shoulder all season. The Sugar Bowl will feature two history-swashed programs in Alabama and Oklahoma with the entire nation predicting that one of them will win. Folks have assumed OU would fade away all season and they are the one program that nobody discussed as a possible BCS team back in November despite their pedigree. We may see why in January. The Orange Bowl matches two similar teams in Ohio State and Clemson who both choked up their biggest game of the year (Clemson dropped their second biggest game for good measure). To be honest, I will be watching the Cotton Bowl being played that night between Missouri and Oklahoma State first, this game second. There will be more than enough football to watch this winter. There will also be more than enough time to discuss the match-ups--once the regular season actually ends this Saturday with the Army-Navy game.

College Football Recap

Week one of November has passed without too much drama. The big guys held serve and the only ranked teams to lose (Miami, Texas Tech and Michigan) did so to other ranked teams. Miami was the highest ranked team to fall but they didn't embarrass themselves too much and really need to be happy with a 7-1 mark at this point in the season with all the nonsense swirling around the program. The key for the Canes is shaking off this loss and refocusing immediately as they play a now desperate Virginia Tech and a sky high Duke the next two weeks. The Coastal Division of the ACC still needs to be secured and Miami is still the leader. Texas Tech is also a program that needs to look at this season as a quality one as long as they refocus and compete against a grueling finish of Kansas State, Baylor and Texas. The conference title hopes are gone but finishing 9-3 or even 10-2 will stamp this season as a very good one. Continuing their now two-game losing streak with one, two or god forbid three more losses will take away a lot of the good work done by this team. Michigan is in a different situation as they had high hopes for this season and now have to focus on ruining someone else's great season (we all know who that is). National title and Big Ten championship hopes are gone. Beating the Buckeyes is still available. What else? Florida State made a key statement in its quest for a spot in the BCS title game. They will now have to see what Oregon does Thursday night against Stanford. With the rest of the top teams blowing out lesser competition, the most impressive statements were made by Oklahoma State, who is still alive for the Big 12 title, and Michigan State, who is now Ohio State's biggest stumbling block to a second straight perfect regular season.

Big Ten Update

Unless something very odd happens, all of the championship intrigue in the Big Ten from now until November 30 will be centered on the Legends Division. Ohio State has and will continue to put a stranglehold on the Leaders Division. The next three opponents for the Buckeyes are Purdue, Illinois and Indiana. The games need to be played but I am not expecting miracles. Michigan State has the same 4-0 conference mark as OSU but they have a much tougher road to hoe to clinch the Legends. Sparty has a huge game Saturday hosting Michigan and then has to play at Nebraska and at Northwestern before a home game against Minnesota. Those games are all winnable but since the teams are all inconsistent it is hard to sort out the type of games remaining for MSU. Taken as a group, there is enough competition for a cumulative sense of worry. Still if they win Saturday it is hard to see anyone else making a move on them. And even if they lose to the Wolverines, they would still have an advantage over their rivals who still would have to play OSU. As for everyone else, there are some very good games remaining. Is 6-2 Minnesota, winners of two straight as they are inspired by their head coach Jerry Kill, legit? If they take care of business Saturday at Indiana and then beat Penn State next weekend, they would be playing rival Wisconsin on November 23 for a ranking and possible January bowl game. Can Nebraska turn it around? That is funny to say for a 5-2 team, but they have yet to beat a guaranteed bowl team and have a tough schedule the rest of the way. Iowa? Wisconsin? Penn State? Can anyone make a run at a nice season. Can Northwestern halt their awful slide?

College Football Turned Upside Down--Or Was It?

When I saw the lousy job pollsters did with their voting this week I remembered a conversation on ESPN Friday that centered on how bad Miami looked and that they were too high as the 10th-11th-ranked team in the country.  Then Saturday happened and voila, Miami is 6th in one poll, 7th in the other.  The lesson of course is that it is not how bad you look as long as you win.
Which leads me to how "crazy" Saturday was supposed to have been with so many top 25 and specifically top 10 teams losing.  But for me Saturday was just a correction in which overrated teams that were highly ranked because of won-loss records based more on bad opponents than quality of team in question were shown to be fakers.  But again they were frauds based on faulty evaluation.  LSU came into the season with a question mark due to the incredible amount of talent that left the program after last season.  They then open the season with wins over TCU, UAB, Kent State and Auburn.  Not bad.  More significantly the team's once pedestrian--and I am being kind--offense looked recharged and downright good.  So the pundits started to project a typically strong Tiger defense with a good offense....World Beater.  Then the team went on the road (they did beat TCU on a neutral field) and dropped two games to teams that are not even ranked at the moment.  LSU is lucky to be ranked 13th and that is based more on reputation than results.
Then again, someone has to be ranked.  UCLA?  They were undefeated and top ten but again were they worthy?  Yes they beat Nebraska on the road but that was two weeks after Wyoming scorched the Huskers for 602y.  The other Bruin wins?  Nevada, New Mexico State, Utah and Cal.  Those teams are a combined 8-20.
There is more of this and while weekends like this past one do punish programs for being over-ranked--hello Florida and Georgia--they do not come soon enough to properly affect the BCS rankings.  But there is plenty of football to be played and I will not get too upset....yet.

American Athletic Conference Update

Well here it is, apparently, the season comes down to one game tonight between Louisville and Central Florida.  A conference title and BCS berth is on the line tonight, or so the media tells us.  don't get me wrong.  These two teams are playing much better than the rest of the conference but nothing will be determined tonight because it is only October 18.  Heck the loser of this game is going to wake up in the middle of the pack in this bastard child of a conference.
Okay so I have gotten that off my chest.  Despite a ridiculously high 2-TD spread tonight's game should be a very good one.  Rutgers did a lot of good against Louisville and if they had even fair-to-good QB play could have upset the Cardinals.  Louisville can play better than they showed, and should get back key WR DeVante Parker from injury.  But UCF is confident and eager to prove to the country that they are an up-and-coming college football program.  Take the points and the over!
Houston will remained undefeated in the conference because, well, they play non-member BYU.  Houston is oddly undefeated on the season but has played an absurdly easy schedule and will need to beat BYU and a few more teams before they can make a name for themselves.  BYU's secondary is bad enough that the other Cougars do have a legit chance.
There is not much else going on the AAC but then again even if there was there would not be too much attention paid.

The Wait Is Almost Over

It is the final day before college football begins and justifiably it is raining.  I wouldn't mind getting some things done but they can wait.  My mind is focused on football and that in mere hours the season will commence.  If the weather cooperates I plan on going to Fordham's beat-down of Rhode Island, although it is tempting to stay home and watch the battle of the Carolinas.  Either way it is college football and I will be happy.
I never did pick a national champion but will do so now with Alabama.  The team has a ridiculously easy schedule and will be motivated by a desire to be undefeated national champions and to achieve everlasting glory by three-peating.

College Football 24/7

I am back from Canada, where there is very little interest in our favorite sport.  Now I am ready to throw myself into college football, even if teams are just in camp mode.  Forget those ridiculous preseason polls.  Everyone is tied at 0-0.  Forget those preseason predicted Heisman frontrunners (especially when many of them are in trouble for possibly selling autographs!) as everyone has a clean slate in August.  You would have been laughed at if you had Notre Dame going to the national title game last year and you could have won a bundle betting on what's-his-name at A&M for the 2012 Heisman (actually you would have been stuck with a middling "field" bet).  So get excited, buy some tickets (bought 2 for Rutgers-Arkansas today) and make viewing plans as the opening kickoff is 16 days away (am contemplating a trip to Columbia for the August 29 game between the Carolinas). Hooray!

Lessons From The Draft Part 2

When I was a kid there was a lot less college football on television but a lot more coverage in the press.  There was also more in-depth discussion of the sport with college football as a whole being a topic followed by the major programs and coaches and then the top players.  Don't get me wrong, the blocking schemes at Syracuse were never a topic of discussion, but fans knew who the top players were in the country.
Now?  College football's television ratings are through the roof.  We fans can watch our fair share of games on TV even if we go to games on Saturday afternoon.  We think we have a good grasp of the sport and the players who lead the best teams.
But then the draft rolls around in the spring, like Christmas the anticipation and coverage begins earlier and earlier every year.  But coverage of the draft uncovers a problem.  Why are the draft experts talking about a player that we barely know as if he is the second coming?  If ESPN and other media outlets did their jobs from May until March, why is it that we are now being introduced to key players from major college programs?
Part of the problem of course is that they are over-hyping these guys prior to the draft.  And some guys project to be better pros than college players.  Take Shariff Floyd of Florida who may go as high as number three tonight.  A huge recruit out of Philadelphia Floyd has had a solid but underwhelming career in Gainesville.  He did make All American teams this past year but he is being drafted on his size and speed combination and not his production (31 tackles in 2012 including 8.5 for a loss).
But the player who really sticks out for me is Oregon defender Dion Jordan who is being compared to Jason Taylor and Aldon Smith.  How does a guy who has been recognized as an All Pac 12 performer and praised by scouts for his physical skills and play on the field go virtually unknown while playing for a school that is usually ranked in the top ten?  That would not have been possible in any other time in American sport.
Who is to blame?  The American sports public cannot be taken off the hook.  They demand coverage of celebrity and a guy who was excellent at dropping back into coverage was never going to become one of those.  ESPN is a major factor here, which is ironic as it then over reacts to anyone who is a draft prospect.  So Dion Jordan gets ignored until this spring then gets covered as future star and then goes to the pros while Collin Klein gets press while KSU is undefeated but then gets ignored now as he is not expected to be drafted too high if at all and then hopefully goes to the pros.  Sadly guys who are very good college players but not pro prospects tend to get ignored all the time unless they are, like Klein, the QB for a top team.
ESPN is to blame because they have adopted a policy that it is better to talk non-stop about one player, say Johnny Manziel or Manti Te'o, than to mention anyone else.  I guess this began with Michael Jordan and some meeting in Bristol, Connecticut at which a producer was dressed down for a piece on Mitch Richmond that was done before the network had reached its 100-per-week segments quota on MJ.  While that is a really bad way to cover the NBA and its dozens of stars it is an impossible way to cover college football and its hundreds of major players.  ESPN is also to blame because they break sports coverage down to quick hits.  Once they establish a story line it is easier to just run with that than delve deeper.  Oregon is know for a speedy offense.  So why bother mentioning Jordan?
And major newspapers fall into the same stupid trap based on laziness. They will over-cover the stars and provide coverage of their area of interest but do not even bother with the nation as a whole.  If you polled 100 college football fans from throughout the country, how many members of the 2012 AP All America first team could they name?  Sure Manziel and Te'o would be easy.  So too Marqise Lee and some of the many Alabama players that earned the recognition.  But Terrance Williams, Will Sutton or Phillip Thomas? How about a first team AA RB who topped 1,900 yards?  Of the 100 fans polled how many know Ka'Deem Carey of Arizona?  But how many of those polled could rattle off the names of the first team AA RBs from earlier generations?  When did rushing for that many yards in a major conference not earn you some press?
So do not be surprised when your favorite pro team drafts guys you never heard of even if they are from big-time programs.  It is not that they are not good players.  They were just not as good a story as Johnny Football.

What We Learned Yesterday

Once again--and it has been going on for years now--the Florida State Seminoles were over-rated.  What a surprise.  Like the Dallas Cowboys, who get picked to win the NFC East every year, the experts see a lot of talent and a weak ACC and proclaim the Noles as contenders for a national title and, like the current lot of cowboys, FSU disappoints.  Please let them sniff a conference title one year before showering them with praise the next.
The SEC is still getting too much respect.  There has been more buzz about the conference being weaker this season--and it is--but we still see three conference teams in the AP top four and LSU at number nine.  Florida is not yet the fourth-best team in the country and LSU has had one good effort on the season and that was a home blowout of a team (Washington) that has lost six of its last seven road games.  The conference has plenty of chances to get more press so we will see how this all shakes out.
It must be tough being the PR folks for the Big East conference.  With three programs undefeated and ranked in the top 25 you would think the job would be easy.  But no, there is absolutely no love for the conference.  Fortunately for the BE, those three teams are all expected (hey you never know) back next year and all will be heavy favorites for the next two weeks.
The Big Ten, meanwhile, is having its worst fears realized as Ohio State and Penn State are red hot and ineligible for the conference championship game.  Fortunately, having both of those programs look strong for the future is a great thing.  What happened to all those folks who had PSU down for years?
At least Louisiana Tech is finally ranked.  They have Texas A&M this Saturday night so let's see if they are still ranked come Sunday.

Saban on No Huddle

I'll make it easy for you.  He does not care for it one bit.  And what Nick does not like he will tell you about.  The problem, of course, is that coaches are going to offenses like these to allow them entry into a level once reserved for power programs--think Baylor and before that Houston under Art Briles--and to, well, sell tickets.  Oregon was once a solid Pac 10 program.  Now?  One of the best and most popular football schools in the country.
My problem with what Saban said--besides the fact that I find most of what he says self serving--is that he brings up two reasons for why we should alter rules to discourage the use of the no huddle.  For one, he finds it dangerous for defensive players who, once they are winded and stuck on the field, are more prone to injury.  That is true but is player safety being considered when Alabama scheduled Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic and Western Carolina this year?  The other reality about player safety is that no huddles breed small, fast offensive players who must be in expert physical conditioning.  To stop that defenses must become smaller, quicker and better conditioned.  Overall, the game will become safer with players who look more like real people then the huge players of today who must be substituted for or they'll pass out.  Yes the game will look different, but do we really need guys weighing 350 lbs?  I know Nick likes them and does not want to adjust his game to defensive tackles who can see their feet when they look down.
The other part of his argument was over whether we, as football fans, want the game to look like the one played between Baylor and West Virginia. And I agree with him that those shoot-outs do the sport a disservice.  But, on the other hand, the two games played between Alabama and LSU last year were not much better and actually hurt the sport more in that they were watched by more people and the casual fan left those contests without an appreciation for college football.
One of the many things I love about college football is the great variety.  So keep quiet Nick and focus on a relaxing off week.

Notes From Week Two

USC has a pair of dynamic receivers.  That is really the best thing I can say about them from Saturday's game.  Barkley is good but the offense is oddly conservative so I am not sure he deserves too much credit.  Stanford this Saturday will be a much better test of course.
Gene Chizik is 21-31 as a head coach without Cam Newton.
Firing a coach after two weeks is crazy.  I hope the Wisconsin situation gets straightened out before conference play.
Has anyone located Louisiana Monroe on a map yet?  I am happy for head coach Todd Berry, who took his lumps as the head man at Army earlier last decade.  And while everyone is blaming the Arkansas loss on new head coach John L. Smith, the blame should not only be shared by Bobby Petrino but on those administrators who hired him in the first place.
There have been plenty of nice wins from supposedly lesser conferences throughout the early season.  I will start spreading the love soon.
Those who think Notre Dame will never return to the top ten are crazy.  They have a lot of young talent (at one point three true freshmen were in the defensive lineup in the second half against Purdue) and another great recruiting class building.  Teams had better beat them now.
Although I love that Jim Grobe remains at Wake Forest, I cannot for the life of me understand why a bigger program has not come calling.

View From Bennett Avenue

This is always a weird time of the season for college football fans. There is plenty of withdrawal after weeks of non-stop action amidst the craziness of the last few weeks of recruiting. New staffs are being formed, players are deciding on pro careers and next season's schedule is being poured over for opponents to feast on. Alabama won again, which does not make a lot of people happy, and Heisman winner Robert Griffin announced that he was going pro after a stellar career in Waco.
Griffin, of course, had to come out. He has accomplished as much as could be expected as a college player both athletically and academically and has already been injured. No need risking that again. Plus it looks like a top ten pick awaits him. Good luck to him and to the wave of new players that will accept the mantle from stars like Griffin, Luck, Richardson, Blackmon and James.

View From Bennett Avenue

I picked SMU today, I swear! Who did the folks at the Big East root for today, current member Pitt or future member SMU? I assume the Mustangs and they certainly looked impressive. The conference has a bright future, even if most people cannot see it.
I thougt it was funny that PSU folks expected a big-time coach to come their way. The mess has to be cleaned up first. Meanwhile, did you see how much money O'Brien will make? Crazy.

View From Bennett Avenue

I am back from my trip and while not recharged at all--in fact I am exhausted--I am still an unabashed believer in college football. Part of the reason is that I was able to witness a fun college football atmosphere while seeing the sport as a part of a larger whole. I think what was best for me was to show some friends the Notre Dame campus, where the game is certainly important but not the be all and end all. There is no mention of football at the basilica or grotto, or in the administration building (topped by the golden dome), etc. And the folks in Boston College regalia looked a lot like the ones sporting the green (or more correctly the blue and gold). The game itself had its moments and was certainly the loudest for one without much national intrigue that I have ever witnessed.
Would I be so relieved if they had lost? Probably not. Does it eliminate all of my misgivings about the nature of the sport and the type of individual it attracts? Certainly not. But the sport is definitely worth fighting for.

View From Bennett Avenue

The Sandusky b.s. is really killing my enthusiasm for college football. Perhaps I have put too much time into the sport, or I have grown tired of constantly having to evaluate cheaters, greedy bastards and now molesters that I am tired. Maybe it is because I am constantly at National Football Foundation functions where the line is basically that college football is great for you.
Anyway, I am heading out to Notre Dame Saturday to see how much enthusiasm I have left. I'll report back soon.