100th Rose Bowl Delivers

Now that was worth waiting for. The Rose Bowl was once the be all and end all of the college football post-season and while that is no longer the case it was fitting that the 100th edition of this glorious game delivered a compelling match-up that returns luster to the game. Michigan State also returned a great deal of respect to the ragged Big Ten, which needs as many big wins and big programs as possible. The Spartans have a very favorable conference schedule for 2014 and should remain a highly-ranked team. A September road trip to Eugene may put them behind the eight ball early but they'll be more competitive in that game than others who have made that trip. After all, Stanford created the template for beating the Ducks.

What Is Next For Nebraska?

That was a nice little win for Nebraska today--and the Big Ten would love to go 2-1 today against the SEC--but the program definitely needs some consistently good play beginning next September. They need to refine the team's image (hit hard on both sides of the ball, run the ball as well as they did this year and get good game management from QB) and then get highly ranked and stay there. If this win today can be a jump start then they have the schedule next year to make some noise. After two tune-ups they head to the West Coast to play a Fresno State team with a first-year QB. Next up, Miami at home. Who knows what to expect from Miami next year but the Huskers should be able to win that one. Then we have the Big Ten sched and the Huskers avoid both Ohio State and Michigan. Unfortunately they have to go on the road to Iowa, Wisconsin, MSU and Northwestern. Split those four and sweep the rest--they should be favored in all of the others--and ten wins and a shot at the Big Ten title game are possible. Hopefully for their sake star IB Ameer Abdullah will not declare for the draft.

January 1 Is Finally Here

Have you had enough of clunker bowl games? Yeah sure A&M rallied but most of the rest of the games have been lousy. January 1 is here and while that does not promise great football--who plans on watching the Heart of Dallas Bowl this afternoon?--we at least do get the Rose Bowl plus some mediocre matchups of the Big Ten and the SEC. Hopefully some of these games will deliver competitive, thrilling football. The problem with the bowl lineup is the relationship with conferences that lock certain teams into certain bowls depending on the final standings of each conference. So today we have mediocre Big Ten teams littering the schedule thanks to the sheer number of television sets the conference delivers and of course a phalanx of SEC teams thanks to the PR effort their conference does to ensure that everyone thinks SEC teams are the best. Would you rather see LSU-Iowa or LSU-Louisville? Nebraska-Georgia or Notre Dame-Georgia? Or, what the heck, Louisville-Notre Dame? You know the group being gathered to choose the four teams who will fight for the NCAA title next winter? Select another group of ADs, writers, public relations and television execs and choose games that will get fans excited. The bowls will get pissed but if the matchup makes sense the fans will come. The premise that Nebraska fans, let's say, will travel no matter what (and they are awesome fans) is being disproved today as there are empty seats at the Gator Bowl. The team had a mediocre season, why should they play in January? Eliminate some lesser bowls, eliminate the conference tie-ins and give us fans better games. The fans will come and tune in.

Auburn and FSU Prove That It Pays to Schedule Down

Finally after many years of crap out-of-conference scheduling by a majority of major conference powers there began to be some backlash against the practice earlier this year. Even in the mighty SEC we had writers knock the lesser opponents that litter SEC schedules while fans began to rumble about paying top dollar for tickets against opponents that leave something to be desired. Of course the schools attacked for doing this practice were chosen without consistency--Louisville and Ohio State for example received the lion's share of abuse--and we ended up in the national title games with two programs that refuse to play a challenging schedule. But instead of anger against those two there is more of a sense of "well at least Ohio State did not make it" and that is awful. Florida State, which cannot even claim to play a strong in-conference schedule, played Nevada, Idaho, FCS member Bethune-Cookman and Florida. Now some would say that playing Florida is brave but that is only true when the Gators are good and scheduling three guaranteed wins and at worst a 50-50 game is ridiculous. This is especially so when you also play the programs in the ACC that are regional squads at best and should not pose a problem to a national program like FSU. Miami and Clemson are the only programs with aspirations to compete for major bowls every year and Miami is currently in a strange place due to the NCAA investigation. How could FSU not go undefeated? Auburn played Washington State, Arkansas State, FCS member Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic. You could argue that if they played a tougher schedule they would not have made the title game since they barely beat WSU at home in game one. SEC teams always get a pass because of how tough it is to play in the conference but wins over Arkansas, Mississippi State and Tennessee were not impressive and the Tigers barely beat the good but not great Mississippi, Georgia and Texas A&M squads. The outlier is Alabama but that is a rivalry game. Auburn did have to beat Missouri in the conference title game but again they were rewarded for not playing anyone early in the season. What's ironic is that these teams once played each other during a time period, not long ago, when major conference teams played tough schedules. I'll break down the former Auburn-FSU rivalry, one that was sacrificed 20 years ago once Florida state joined the ACC.

Saban Sticks Around

Saban stays...and gets more money. What a surprise. Tide fans breathe asigh of relief. Teas fans? Not sure how they feel. If Texas could have pulled Saban away from Alabama then what would that say about the future of the sport where the Longhorns could outbid anyone even the Tide? I also found it funny that folks were talking about the notion that Saban is a builder and would have been attracted to rebuilding Texas. Ummm, it's not Indiana or Kansas or Colorado. The Longhorns did nearly reach a BCS game this season. Meanwhile who is next for Texas?

National Football Foundation Awards Press Conference

As usual it was an outstanding morning spent at the Waldorf at the NFF press conference for award winners, incoming Hall of Famers and honored players. The number of people who were honored is long so I will stick to my impressions. Roger Goodell won the Gold Medal and while he may or may not be a worthy winner his presence dominated the Q and A session that followed as all of the questions focused on the NFL. This is a college event and I want the focus solely on the college game. There was also a military feel to the awards as General Ray Odierno and former Green Beret and current Texas long snapper Nate Boyer were both honored. As for the players it is always bittersweet to see some players who I grew up watching now aged and a little less nimble. Still it is outstanding to see that these outstanding players and coaches are universally humbled by becoming members of the Hall. As an historian my favorite moment was when former Navy and Temple coach Wayne Hardin made reference to his former coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. That he could be honored at the same time as the current players who were born 60+ years after Hardin and 130 years after Stagg shows the true reach of the NFF. What else? I joked with new Hall of Famers Percy Snow and Orlando Pace about the recent Big Ten championship game. Snow was quite proud while Pace admitted he had his bags packed for the BCS title game. I also enjoyed talking Florida football with Danny Wuerffel and the old days with Steve Meilinger, who mentioned that football in his days (50s and 60s) was more gentlemanly that today's game. The current players who finished the event did not prove Meilinger's point as they were, al usual, an outstanding collection of young men who combine football skill with academic success. Penn State lineman John Urschel, who is working on his second masters, won the Campbell Trophy that night. Head over to the NFF site for more quotes and information.

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.