Pete Fiutak - Professional Journalist

Is Pete Fiutak the gold standard of good sports journalism or what? From his The Way-Early BCS Projections article on CFN from Friday:

"The early call, because of the experience, if a Buckeye win, but if USC wins, then put Jim Tressel and the boys here and Wisconsin in the Fiesta. Eventually the Badgers to break through and get to a BCS game again, right?"

Say what? After four or five readthroughs, I think I get his point. But what's amazing is that this counts as professional journalism. He gets paid (hopefully not much) to do this. And this isn't a jab at his insights or instincts, (a topic for another time, perhaps) mostly just his grammar. That and the copy editing at CFN.

Jeebus.

2007 College Football Season Post-Mortem

You think you know a thing.

But you don't know a thing.

Downloadable 2007 College Football Bowl Game Schedule

First, the Link: Downloadable 2007 College Football Bowl Game Schedule. (PDF)

Yet again, a selfless hero has emerged from the mists of the Interwebs and blessed my inbox with this beautiful schedule of all of the 2007-08 College Football Bowl Games and associated Bowl Game logos.

In the spirit of paying it forward and celebrating the graphic design achievement of our bored hero, I'm posting it on the Interwebs for mass downloading and distribution across all of College Footballdom.

One caveat, which you may also read on the PDF, but all listed game times are in Central (Central?). So we can pretty much be assured it wasn't a Pac-10, ACC, or Big East fan putting this schedule together. In any case, do the math and adjust accordingly for wherever you live since timing will be of the essence.

Rock Bottom

As a fan when you care a lot and spend a lot of time hoping for a satisfying season and then get disappointed, do you sometimes feel stupid for caring so much? Like you've wasted your time?

The Same Borst??

Don Borst of FoxSports.com today did a complete 180 on the Buckeyes from last week. Maybe he actually watched them play a game? He went from "Ohio State is going to get blown out" to "they deserve to play a team as good as them."

Last week:

"For the sake of the national championship game, let's all hope Ohio State loses to one of its weak sisters in the Big Ten in the next month. Because as things stand, it sure looks like we're destined to watch a repeat of last season's BCS championship game — top-ranked Ohio State getting blown out by a much more complete team."

This week:

"Most impressive about the 37-17 victory was that Penn State didn't play badly — OSU was simply a much better team. If Jim Tressel can get his team to continue to improve like this, then the Bucks will handle Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan... and might even beat the SEC or Pac-10 team that they face in New Orleans on Jan. 7.

With all of the scars that last year's BCS Championship Game loss to Florida did to their own psyche and their national image, it would actually be unfortunate for the Buckeyes to see Boston College win its way into the title game as Ohio State's opponent.

Beating the Eagles wouldn't be as satisfying as outplaying one of those fast, exciting teams like LSU, Oregon or even Arizona State. Because of that, OSU fans should be rooting against BC these days."

I personally think BC deserves to be in the game if they win out, and would enjoy seeing OSU play BC in the title game. But Don Borst again proves that sportswriters love to change with the winds of fortune. Thanks Don!

Don Borst -- Need Some Prozac?

In an article today on FoxSports.com, writer Don Borst goes on an angry anti-Big Ten tirade. It can be best summed up by this paragraph:

"[I]t sure looks like we're destined to watch a repeat of last season's BCS championship game — top-ranked Ohio State getting blown out by a much more complete team."

I will not argue that the Big Ten is having a down year (or three), but Borst goes on to utilize the unoriginal, yet still popular "soft schedule" argument to support why Ohio State would get beaten in the National Championship by "a second-ranked team like LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, or USC," at which point "we'd have another ugly title tilt along the lines of last year's 41-14 drubbing of the Buckeyes by Florida."

January 8 was a huge embarrassment. There's no doubt about that. And I could point out that Borst's main thesis is flawed by his assumption that this OSU team is the same as last year's, which is completely untrue. The OSU defense is better, faster, and more cohesive than last year's unit. And as everyone knows, "Defense Wins Championships."

But on to the real issue, how LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon and USC would all spank the Buckeyes. Because the schedule is cited as the reason OSU is where they are, let's look at the strength of schedule of these teams:

Ohio State - 40
LSU - 8
Oklahoma - 60
Oregon - 14
USC - 113

I'll admit that LSU and OSU would be a great matchup. But this doesn't make much sense:

"Those teams, as well as USC — this would be the increasingly healthy USC team, with offensive linemen returning to the lineup and the speed that created the 60-minute mismatch with Notre Dame on Saturday — are just too fast for the Buckeyes."

Too fast for the buckeyes? With one of the 6 weakest schedules in the country and a loss to STANFORD? Okay.........

As far as Oregon goes, they are a "last-play-fumble-at-the-goal line from being unbeaten," according to Borst. If only football was measured by almosts. Also, Oregon's loss to Cal looks even worse now that Cal dropped two in a row and is out of contention.

No discussion of why Oklahoma is a better team, or mention of Oklahoma's loss to unranked Colorado.

Like I said before, OSU vs. LSU would be a great matchup. The others, I'm not so sure. There is also that whole "winning every game you play" issue.

Borst's argument seems flawed to me, and I'm not sure how he arrives at his conclusions. But if Fox Sports was paying me to write about college football, I'd at least try to write columns that made sense.

Ty Willingham: Back in the Game

A strange thing is happening in college football this week. People are showing genuine admiration for Ty Willingham. After at first criticizing Willingham's lack of progress at Notre Dame, the media then shifted to deploring Willingham's firing from Notre Dame and resurgence at Washington as a racist move by the Irish. Today, as it turns out, it's completely different. Ty Willingham was just waiting for his chance to do something better. As one headline reads, "Turns out Notre Dame wasn’t good enough for Willingham."

Look, I have no problem with Notre Dame bashing, but we are now classifying Washington's 2-0 start and new, fast QB Jake Locker (Bruce Feldman calls him "a fast version of Tebow") as the second coming. Here is what I will give to U Dub: TW's recruits are coming of age, they're coming off a good win against Boise State, and it looks like the program is back in order. And it's a feel good story, for sure.

But today I'm wondering if some of the praise is the media is trying to make up for the fact that they all screwed up in the first place and blamed his firing at Notre Dame on him? Columnists are now having a field day with the Weis vs. Willingham stories, because the contrast is striking (although there are some Willingham players still on Weis' squad). But this week's game against Ohio State is providing columnists across the nation to talk about the coaching prowess that Washington has heading into this big game.

In fact, Scouts (which does game breakdowns for ESPN.com) gave the Coaching advantage to Willingham in this game. As far as coaching in Division 1 football games, Willingham is 72-67 as a head coach and Tressel is 64–14.

Tressel has one National Championship and Willingham has none.

I'm not saying Willingham is not a quality coach, and the capriciousness of the media is not at all surprising, but let's at least let him win ONE big game. That's all I'm asking.

The Michigan Line on Oregon

Right now on the InterWeb's best sports betting site, SportsBetting.com (and they only pay me in gambling earnings that I actually win to say this), Michigan, despite all their evident foibles, is an 8 point favorite going into the game against Oregon.

Sacre bleu, you say. How can this be? Isn't Oregon with their Dennis Dixon to Amanti Edwards something like Appalachian State on I-A 'roids? In other words, isn't Oregon the prefect weapon to take down Michigan? Kryptonite to Michigan's superman? Something like that.

That's what we're lead to believe, but the wise guys in Vegas and the beat reporters at Le Detroit News (whose hard work I've simply stolen in the above graphic) have other suspicions that I'm wont to believe. Michigan's good when they're disrespected.

Interestingly, and I can't find the link at the moment, but this line actually started closer to 6 and that tells us that the savvy gambler agrees. Typically the early movement in the line occurs as the more professional gamblers place their bets early in the week. As hard as it is to believe after last weekend, Michigan by a touchdown looks good to many gamblers.

So good that the line moved to 8 and 8 is a world different than 6 or 7. So the question is, do I believe?

One More Sign of the Apocalypse

OSU fans scoop up Mountaineers gear

As Colin Cowherd said on his radio show the other day: careful Buckeyes. If you think about it it's in your best interested to stay quiet about this fiasco in the waning hopes that Lloyd Carr gets to keep his job. After all, John Cooper's biggest supporters were always Wolverines...

Big Ten Network Comes Through

The long holiday weekend gave me plenty of time to think about my first post today (Michigan Preview 2008 was the best thing I came up with). But I have to say, the real winner this weekend was the Big Ten Network. After all of my complaining about it, and even the calling out of the BTN schill who commented on our blog, I'm going to reverse my decision.

I have officially joined the club of flip-floppers.

I turned off College Gameday at 8:59 a.m. PT and switched to channel 223 on my DirecTV HD receiver, and after a moment of Deep Purple background music and the DirecTV logo, I was in the booth with Roger Twibell and Mike Tomczak in Columbus, ready to watch my Buckeyes take on the Penguins of Youngstown State.

The BTN delivered everything that it promised: every game was carried over, and in addition to checking in on the Michigan vs. ASU game, I was able to watch Northeastern @ Northwestern, and Florida International @ Penn State. Although I couldn't take my eyes off of the train wreck on Channel 220 (Michigan vs. ASU), I got a great first-time experience watching my Buckeyes on the BTN.

But now knowing that there might be a BTN person reading this blog, I do have a few observations:

• Green Announcers For those who might not know, Mike Tomczak (one of the announcers) was the Ohio State quarterback from 1982-1984 (and led the Buckeyes to 2 Big Ten championships). I'm assuming he'll do more OSU games, which is fine with me, but he is obviously a beginner in that profession. My experience was similar with all the games.

• Ridiculous Advertising One thing is for sure: the advertising on the BTN has not yet matched ESPN's level. I saw some of the cheapest, most ridiculous advertising on the BTN...but luckily they have carried on the Big Ten commercials. Those commercials that only Big Ten fans like or care about.

• Halftime Show? For halftime of the OSU game, they went back to the janky BTN studio for an update of other BTN games in progress. First of all, I can check the other games with a switch of the remote. But secondly (and most importantly), because it's only OSU fans watching the channel anyway, why not show the halftime show? I would have tuned in to watch this week's lucky sousaphone player dot the "i." Maybe they can show some halftime shows this year, then we'll really feel like we're in Columbus, without the couch burning.
  

Week 1: Scratching My Head

With the first week under our belts it's time to take a step back on reflect on the key takeaways from an eventful weekend in College Football:

* The Michigan Loss is a Really Big Deal - Sports Illustrated says: "Appalachian State's win at Michigan Stadium marked the first time a Football Championship Subdivision team -- formerly I-AA -- beat a team ranked in The Associated Press Top 25."

True dat, the magnitude of this loss will be felt and discussed throughout this season. Whether Michigan salvages a decent season or goes on to fail completely, this game will be seen as the catalyst for whatever befalls the Wolverines from here on out. Repercussions set to amplify should things go bad.

Days later we're still talking about it and getting unique color commentary such as this tidbit also from the SI article linked above:

"Indianapolis Colts defensive back Marlin Jackson, a former Michigan standout, said he was embarrassed by the result.

'We lost to a I-AA program, and we were a top-five team,' he said. 'To go out and be the first team in history to lose to a I-AA team, it hurts.'

Jackson said the loss has been an almost nonstop topic of conversation for him.

'That's all I've been getting the last couple of days. Every text message I get just says `Appalachian State.' That's all it says,' he said.

'The Ohio State guys have been all right. It's everybody else around here. Even coach (Tony) Dungy said something to me about it.'"

* Notre Dame Sucks Worse Without Brady Quinn - Charlie Weis wasn't being coy (as Stewart Mandel lamely suggested) when refusing to name a starter at Notre Dame before the season opened. He just couldn't pick the lesser of three evils since they all flat out suck and so, apparently, do the Fighting Irish. God help them in the upcoming pillow fight at Michigan. Is that game like a consolation prize now that it's the two high-prestige programs who've been brought down to new, humbling lows?

* Cal Had it's 'Coming-Out' Game in the Victory over Tennessee - For a few years now in the Tedford era Cal has been flirting with greatness. I think the Saturday win over Tennessee, nevermind redemption for last year's setback, was Cal's coming-out party. As long as that offense keeps clicking this will be a great team and that date with USC is looming ever larger with National Title implications.

* Washington/Boise State Will Be a Fireworks Display - Both the Dawgs and the Broncos appear loaded with speed aplenty on offense. Washington surprised and delighted as new starting QB Jake Locker scampered all over the Carrier Dome and Syracuse D. Back in Boise, with Tyler Tharp at the helm, things were going as usual with Ian Johnson taking care of 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns before halftime. This equates to a big time match up this weekend in Seattle. Unfortunately nobody that you or I know is televising this except maybe the local Northwest affiliates or a pirate cable access feed in Seattle.

Michigan: Aftermath

It starts....

DREW SHARP: Blame Lloyd Carr; Michigan needs fresh voice soon

The discussion is heating up on SackCarr.com and UMGoBlue's Fan Forum, while MGoBlog has seemingly given up forever. Michigan's fan base is in a state of crisis and the pandemonium will not be settled until Michigan takes the field and puts together a convincing win.

I think the question of whether to fire Carr is still premature. He is skating on incredibly thin ice, but has a chance to revive his team and bring them through a successful remaining 11 (12?) games of the season. That will be the true test of his mettle as a coach.

Oregon looks like a stiff challenge this coming Saturday and it is suddenly the marquee match-up of the weekend as all eyes will want to see how Michigan responds and if Carr has any grip on this team.

Michigan

Well. It hurts to be a Michigan fan today. So much for big expectations. So much for the sacrifices of Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long. So much for the grand exit of Lloyd Carr.

This is the single most embarrassing loss in Michigan football history. It hurts Michigan's image as an 'elite' team, damages national respect for the Big Ten and officially sunsets any National Championship aspirations while simultaneously raising serious red flags on anything else Michigan hoped to do this season.

Beat Oregon next weekend? Beat Notre Dame? Ohio State? Big Ten Championship? Forget it all if this team can't handle it's home opener against a 1-AA team. None of it seems likely, or even appropriate, to think about anymore after the fact that Michigan got outclassed by Appalachian State in every facet of the game.

How quickly the tables have turned. It's officially crisis-management time at Michigan.

Now, unless Carr shows us something Phoenician in terms of resurrecting his team by next week, I'd say it's going to be a mighty long season for the Wolverines. Whether they have the talent or not, it's going to come down to the spirit of this team and whether its already broken.

Documenting My Addiction

I've quietly placed two more bets:

UW -3 at Syracuse
Notre Dame -1.5 home vs. Georgia Tech

Am I crazy? Nobody knows shit about the Dawgs and only Charlie Weis knows who the starting QB will be at Notre Dame. How could I have any confidence in these wagers?

I'm glad you asked. I do know that both of these gold-helmeted teams represent tarnished, talented traditions that need these wins very badly and I'm willing to risk it on that alone for more glory!

However, I think that'll do it for this weekend, win or lose tonight. Reason being that I've been placing too many faith-based bets and I've got to watch a few games before throwing down any more bones.

Thursday Night Vindication

Big ups to Andy Gresh in yesterday's ESPN U College Football Insider Podcast for calling out the disrespect to Boise State after their coming-out season last year.

Quoth Gresh: "... and finally in the Top 25, Weber State at #24 Boise State. I hope Boise crushes, I wanna see them win a ton of games this year because I think it's disrespectul that Boise State, off of last year's finish, is #24 in the country.... Maybe I'm honking out for the small conferences, but I don't care: HOW can Boise State only be ranked 24th!!?!?! How can that happen? It's embarrassing!!"

And 'crush' they did. In fitting style last night they pummeled (admittedly I-AA) Weber State to the tune of 28 first quarter points en route to a 49-0 tally at half time, before calling off the dogs big time and crusing to a 56-7 victory. In any case they lived up to Gresh's call and made a fine statement going into next weekend's contest up in Seattle.

But signs of vindication were everywhere last night. Rutgers and LSU also lived up to the hype making their opponents look inept in convincing, cruise-control victories that also happened to safely cover the enormous spreads set in both games.

It was an auspicious evening for me, if not the Vegas bookies, and a great way to set the tone for this weekend's gambling picks which will be forthcoming later in the day.

Mainly, I'm torn on the Cal/Tennessee game. I bought into the West Coast hype last year and am still feeling the burn. Switters ran into the UT Vols in an Oakland hotel last night and confirmed that they are big and wear a lot of orange. So they're going to show up. Stil Ainge has a broken pinkie finger in his throwing hand. A sign of the apocalypse for the Vols? Thoughts? Advice? I'm ruminating.

The Season is ON!

Well, we've officially made it through the desert of the off-season as four of the top 25 teams in the country take the field tonight to kickoff the 2007 season.

LSU @ Miss. State
Buffalo @ Rutgers
Weber State @ Boise State
Murray State @ Louisville

As it's the first flight of games of the first week of the season my sense on betting these games is a little underdeveloped. But oth I-A only games have seemingly tempting lines and it's been so long my need for a fix is overwhelming, so here's my initial inkling:

*Earlier this week when the spread was 21.5 I was thinking 'LSU's a defensive team this year since I can't name their starting QB or RB off the top of my head and a defensive end is hogging the pre-season hype.' Given that double-digit home underdogs are generally good bets against the spread and it's crunch time for Sylvester Croom, I was liking Miss State to beat the initial spread in a valiant home loss against the Tigers. But something magical happens when a spread slips under the three-touchdown barrier and the #2 team in the land is involved. I'm taking the Tigers to cover 19.5

*Buffalo is the worst team in 1-A and facing off against a Rutgers team ready to prove that last year was no fluke. Ray Rice rocks and rolls tonight and Rutgers covers the enormous -31.5 riding on their head.

Going large on big spreads, here goes nothing...

Signs of the Season: Feldman's Back

Back in June we reported on the dire condition of ESPN's Bruce Feldman with the now evident theory that his strength (physical, mental and emotional) waxes and wanes with the proximity of college football. As it turns out college football is both Feldman's life force and mana and he struggles through a hellish, self-destructive depression through most of the offseason.

Said Switters at the time of the June 6 pic: "His picture definitely didn't look as bad during the season, maybe he just gets more and more fucked up until the next season comes around and his life changes for the better. Practically the same thing happens to me."

I agreed and wrote: "By August he will be twice the man he is today and we will hardly recognize his refound glory."

Well, judging by the picture posted now on ESPN we were right. Feldman is back at about 85% and looking fit here on Game Week 1, the veritable eve of college football. By Thursday at 7pm EST as Rutgers and Buffalo take the field and commence the season proper, we may even see a toothy smile on Feldman's face as his strength returns to full.

SEC's "Real Men of Genius"

Bud Light Presents, "Real Men of Genius" (Reaaaaal Men Of Genius)

Today we salute you, Mr. Delusional SEC Homer (Mr. Delusional SEC Hooooommmer!) Year after year, you say that your teams are the baddest in the land (Baddest rednecks around!) Ignoring stats, facts, bowl records, and out of conference results, you push on (Facts are for Yankees!) Because when you're drunk on Bourbon and your family tree is a straight line, those seven to three games look like quality football (Barn burners!!!) So here's to you, Mr. Delusional SEC Homer... keep fighting the good fight. (Logic is for wimps!)

Big Ten Network: Answer my Question!

After last week's post about the Big Ten Network, we received a comment that could be nothing other than a Big Ten Network schill (nothing against schills, by the way):

Anonymous said...

All split feeds are offered to cable and satellite providers. DirecTV has already said that it will carry all of the split feeds on its overflow channels so if your carrier gets the BTN you should be able to choose the game you want to watch or channel surf among all of them, just like ESPN GamePlan except for much lower cost.

If the BTN takes that much interest in what's said on this blog, then I at least invite this person to give me a link, a document, some sort of proof of this. I just can't imagine an average person reading this blog to use language like "just like ESPN GamePlan except for much lower cost."

If the claims made by this person are true, I pretty much withdraw all of my criticism of this new BTN plan......

My Pre-Season Top 25

Now that we've been snubbed for inclusion in MGodBlog's Blogpoll, I'm continuing my petition for inclusion (not letting our pride get in the way) here in public by creating and posting my own derivative and aribitrary pre-season Top 25 ranking, what I would have submitted to MGodBlog, with the Lutheran statement that I personally believe that pre-season polls, no matter what their origin, are a complete waste of time.

Now that I've nailed my dissenting view on the Church door, I'll lay out my entire plan for a Reformation of sorts from within the college football blogosphere. The plan, as it were, was to effect change from the inside, by infiltrating the blogpoll and convincing its members that we could one-up traditional media schills with their 'pre-season polls' through a righteous refusal to rank teams until a sufficient set of data from the field was collected.

Ideally, I would push for the end of the non-conference schedule, 4 weeks into the season, to bide our time, watching inter-sectional games and slurping beer in stony, scientific silence while we made our observations backed by actual on-field play and not plagued by the moronic conjecture of Mark May and the lisping geriatricity of Lou Holtz.

And this poll, issued in the 4th week would be a good poll. It would be better informed by fact than by East Coast bias and anybodies-guessing as to whether Michigan's secondary might emerge, when by then we might actually know.

Of course we have some idea, now. But is it fair? No. We don't have all the facts. We have old news. We have history. But does it matter in the end? Yes, but only insofar as it serves to screw a great team out of a fair shot (Auburn 2004?) And is that what we really want?

We have a unique opportunity here in the blog ranks to do things different and better than the traditional media. Yes we make it better by turning the news into a conversation, but even then we're following their lead. What about starting our own conversation?

On the other hand, had I been admitted into the exclusive ranks fo the MGodBlog Blogpoll, I might not be whining right now. I might have played ball and submitted a pre-season poll. Hypothetically, it would have looked something like this:

My 2007 Pre-Season Top 25

1. USC
2. LSU
3. Michigan
4. Texas
5. West Virginia
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Louisville
10. Virginia Tech
11. Ohio State
12. UCLA
13. Georgia
14. Penn State
15. Nebraska
16. Auburn
17. California
18. Boise State
19. Arkansas
20. South Carolina
21. Oregon
22. Rutgers
23. Hawaii
24. Texas A&M
25. Tennessee