Football post

The last time you have to hear me bitch about people angling for a playoff system, and other thoughts below...

What if there were a playoff?
I've heard just about enough about how great it would be if Boise State could play for the national championship in some sort of playoff game. It seems extremely odd after watching one of the best games ever to advocate for a system that would have made that game impossible. But let's play along for a bit.

The BCS teams were:

Ohio St. (#1)
Florida (#2)
Michigan(#3)
LSU(#4)
Louisville(#5)
Oklahoma(#7)
USC(#8)
Boise State(#9)
Notre Dame (#11)
Wake Forest (#15)

A 10 team tournament wouldn't work out mathematically -- it would have to be 4 or 8 teams. (And a "one-plus" system would have to be seeded as well -- it would be unfair to make a team like Ohio St. play the second best team, and then the team deemed most worthy).

Boise St. doesn't make a four team tournament. Even if we limit it to conference champions, there are still five ranked head of Boise St. So that doesn't solve anything.

Let's look and an 8 team tournament. If we drop the bottom 2 teams, then Boise St. would be matched up against Ohio St. in the first round. Now, Oklahoma was a good team, but also one that lost to Oregon and Texas, who were nowhere near the national title picture. And Boise St. needed overtime and every gadget play in their playbook to beat them. Also, Ohio St. would be playing with more urgency than Oklahoma was, since they would need the game to keep their title hopes alive. So I wouldn't like their chances there.

Maybe we limit it to conference champions. Then, Michigan and LSU drop out, and Boise St. becomes the sixth seed, matched up with Louisville in the first round. They probably have a better chance there than against Ohio St., but I'm still not loving their chances. If they won that one, they would go on to face the winner of Florida-Notre Dame.

Again, I don't see this ending in a better way for Boise St. than what we saw. Can we just enjoy the game and the season Boise St. had without trying to puff ourselves up with this playoff talk?

Prediction for tonight
I think Ohio St. rolls.
(Got around to posting this at halftime with the Gators up by three touchdowns. Ooops.)

NFL thoughts

• It seems somewhat typical of how the Eagles manage their team that they would have gone out and signed their old holder to position themselves for success.
  
• I still like Tony Romo, and I think he’s going to be a great QB for a number of years.
  
• Two great match-ups in the AFC next week – four truly great teams.
  
• Quick picks – Pats, Eagles, Seahawks, Ravens. I just don’t trust Grossman.