Nice Article from Rivals aka Yahoo Sports on the BCS

and the synopsis was “nobody big is playing anybody for weeks”. I almost posted weekly a “thank you” to the top 10 schools that played nobody. An opening game against a patsy is one thing, but three weeks of it is insane – and it was even four weeks for some schools. Being in Kansas, everyone was touting the 5-0 start of the Jayhawks, and loving them some Big 12. And then I looked at their schedule, I mean seriously, check this out:

Northern Colorado
UTEP
Duke
Southern Miss
Iowa State

Southern Miss gave them hell by the way. And when they made it undefeated to their first real opponent – unranked Colorado, they lost. Hell, I have no doubt even this year’s UGA would be undefeated with an opening 5 like that. How on earth do you even get UTEP and Duke back to back? That aint even right.

And its like that for so many schools this year. Florida was ranked #1 and all the hype but it was week 5 before they got to LSU after playing Charleston Southern and Troy to open up. As it turns out, Florida isnt the offensive power house everyone thought they would be against serious competition.

I am not a fan at all of the super conference concept – but I am thinking that Div II A schools should not be allowed to play Div I schools (I know the counter arguments here with history and giving other schools a chance to step up, but this system is broke) and probably about 20 schools or so need to be out of Div I football. This would impact those BSC standings in a more realistic way.

…which is saying something because I wouldn’t ordinarily link to anything by Wetzel. I agree with his premise in general, but I don’t think it applies to every school.

Bear with me.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories (although the refereeing issues are trying my skepticism), but I think that the only schools that don’t get penalized for playing cupcakes are the schools that have national prestige (the ESPN favored schools, if you will): Florida, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama (whose prestige is suddenly shining again after a single good season), Tennessee (although their prestige has waned in recent years), Penn State, LSU, and there are probably a couple of others I’m not thinking of right now. I don’t see this as a conspiracy; it’s just an unconscious reaction by those who vote in the polls.

Why do I think this? Let me put it you this way. If you think Georgia (or Auburn, or Ole Miss, etc.) played the schedule Florida is facing this year and had one loss that they would go to the national championship game? You may disagree, but I don’t think so, not even with no undefeated teams ahead of them. For Florida this year, however, I’ve not only not heard sportswriters calling their schedule a weakness; it’s actually being called a strength because it’s a schedule full of “winnable” games (not cupcakes).

By the way, let me be clear about this. I don’t blame Florida for scheduling the way they do. They already have national prestige from winning two championships recently. They would be fools to beef up their schedule because what they are doing is working for them. I just don’t think it works for everyone.

if the NCAA isn’t really run by the Teamsters? It would certainly explain a few things.