B(c)S and the Eagles

Penn State was leapfrogged by Texas Tech. While I'm not completely surprised, I can't say I'm OK with it. Obviously, this week's poll is in no way indicative of how the season will eventually shake out but it does give you an idea of how the college football world is shaping up. What I consider to be disconcerting is the fact that Penn State is obviously the odd man out if 3 teams finish undefeated. Truthfully, I think this is the most unlikely outcome of them all, however, stranger things have happened. When you look at the schedules and matchups though, this just doesn't seem possible. I think Texas Tech is an incredibly exciting team to watch and it may be one of the most talented offenses I've ever seem, but they just can't possibly win what will likely be 3 more games against top ten teams (this week against OK St., then Oklahoma, then a likely Big 12 championship matchup). Texas couldn't survive a similar stretch and, despite this weekend's outcome, I would choose the Longhorns in any future matchup, even though it will not happen. As for Alabama, I think they are more likely to go undefeated, however their schedule isn't exactly a cakewalk either. Upcoming games include next week at LSU, a rivalry game with Auburn, and the SEC championship game against what looks to be Florida. While this schedule is not easy by any means, I think they have a better chance to finish undefeated because Florida is the only team that even has a realistic shot of knocking them off. While I obviously admit that I would not be surprised to see Bama lose to LSU or Auburn, Bama will be favored in these games and rightfully so.

People can guess and theorize all they want but the truth of the matter is that Penn State deserves to play in the Nat'l Championship game if they can finish the season with 3 wins. Unfortunately, much of the country will argue that a team from one of the two power conferences should sneak in ahead of them based 0n strength of schedule. To combat this ridiculous arguement, I think the Big Ten should take several steps to improve their national stature. First and foremost, Big Ten teams rarely play SEC teams in the regular season. I think the Big Ten should consider making an effort to schedule more of these teams for early season showdowns. Big Ten basketball already has the Big Ten-ACC showdown, and while its easy to argue that in recent seasons that the showdown has hurt the Big Ten's profile as a whole, such a showdown can do wonders for helping the profiles of individual teams. In college football, one game can really define your season. Imagine that, instead of following Big Ten/Pac 10 tradition and lining up against one of the Pac 10 doormats (and they all are except USC), Penn State had played and beaten a team like Auburn in the beginning of the season. I'm aware that Auburn isn't looking too good right now, but it could serve to be a measuring stick for the Lions against the SEC teams that claim supremacy despite losses, based on strength of schedule. The reason that I say we should do it against the SEC and not the Big 12 is that the SEC is traditionally a better conference. Year after year, a team from the SEC l0oks to be the strongest in the country. It was really only this year that the Big 12 has looked so good. A few years back, Texas romped through the entire conference and was far and away the best team in the conference. This rarely happens in the SEC. Next, the Big Ten should strongly consider courting Notre Dame to join the conference as a football-only member. Notre Dame would never cut ties with Big East basketball, and rightly so. Big East basketball is beginning to rival the ACC. However, attracting a high profile team like Notre Dame, a team that never seems to be considered bad even if they are, would make the conference more attractive to fans. Notre Dame already has rivalries with 5 teams in the Big Ten, so very little would be lost on their end in terms of big games. I think the only deterrent for ND would be the loss of their TV revenue from NBC and the loss of the ability to schedule the big name cupcakes that they schedule year in and year out. Stanford is pretty bad, as is Pitt. With a 12th team, the Big Ten could have a conference championship game, which seems to serve to legitimize conference champions of other leagues and would only help to do so for the Big 10 as well. An extra game per year for national title contenders from the conference against what is obviously going to be at least relatively good competition only serves to strengthen the profiles of said teams. In any case, Ohio State's troubles over the past few years has really scarred the conference, and the falls from grace of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan this year has really, really gashed the conference's image.

On to the Birds. They won today in Seattle, which Fox Sports insists is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. Not sure how much I believe that, but it was a good win nonetheless. I realize that the first quarter was terrible, but the Birds bounced back and soundly defeated a bad team as they should have. We fans are extremely tough on the Birds and, admittedly, the first quarter was excruciatingly terrible, but I really think you can't get on them for the entire body of work of this game. They bounced back from a sluggish start and really took it to the Seahawks in a physical fashion. That was the encouraging part. The discouraging parts? Donovan's horrid start coupled with Andy Reid's insistance on continuing to pass the ball. In the beginning of the game, when Donovan couldn't come within five feet of his targets, Andy kept inexplicably calling pass plays. Wouldn't conventional wisdom tell you to allow your quarterback to get into a rhythm by running the ball and calling the occasional screen? Instead, Reid treated it like Donovan was a sharpshooter who just needed to shoot his way out of a slump. I don't think quarterbacking works like that, and I know it doesn't work like that when it is obviously affecting your team negatively. Having said all that, Donovan put it together and the Eagles pulled through, so I guess that criticism will have to wait another week or to before its truly relevant. The Eagles have a huge game coming up this week with the Giants. If the Birds can pull off the upset, I really like their chances going forward. I think I may even like their chances if they lose a close one. The Eagles really just need to put together a string of victories while the city is somewhat distracted by the Phils and they'll be in good shape come December, much like my fantasy team.