Regular Season Ends
Whew! Are we all glad that is over? With the end of the Michigan State-Hawaii game on Saturday night, the regular season ended. Sure, we had controversy this year. The BCS made everyone upset again, though I choose to defend it and suggest that we keep it unchanged for a few seasons. There are a number of people out there clamoring for a playoff or a plus one system which would give a more palatable champion for them. I agree that the playoff is the only way to go, but it won't happen before the next BCS contract expires. Until then, let's keep the system the same. Don't change anything (except maybe when the human polls start to be released) for once, and let's evaluate the whole thing in a few years.
This season was a wild one. While every season has upsets, this one seemed to have them around every turn, though five teams managed to get through without a blemish. Considering the final bowl match-ups, it seems likely that we will end the season with 3 teams having no losses and possibly four (I think Louisville has the inside track on Boise State). The MRI did comparable to last year and picked a little over 70% of the games correctly. Hopefully it will do just as well in the bowl games, though the match-ups look to be pretty close in many of them.
In the end, the MRI agreed with the BCS and has USC and Oklahoma facing in the title game. Auburn dropped to 6th overall after two close wins against Alabama and Tennessee where more was expected from them.
Quick Hits for the Week:
- Joe Paterno split his first place vote three ways in his final regular season poll entry. It is a shame that more coaches are not as open as Paterno when it comes to their votes. Each week, when you look at the polls, there are always teams that you have to wonder how they got so many votes. If more coaches were open with their final votes, I think we would see more consistency and fair voting across the board. I salute Paterno for putting the top three teams in the country on the first slot together. If more coaches had thought that way, it would have made for a more interesting final poll.
- Give Hawaii some credit for getting themselves bowl eligible in the final week of the season. They started 0-2, including a loss to Florida Atlantic. At the end of October, they were drubbed by conference champion Boise State and only managed barely 300 yards of offense on that night while committing 6 turnovers. Hawaii for the year averaged 430 yards of offense. At 3-4, they split their next two games, including another bad loss to Fresno State. This left them needing to win their last 3 games, including two against Big Ten opponents. They managed to do just that, including a comeback on Saturday night against Michigan State. Down 28-14 at halftime, the Warriors rallied back behind the arm of career college passing leader Timmy Chang who added to his record total with 416 yards in the game. Hawaii will be staying at home for the bowl as they do most every year. Here's hoping this one isn't marred by an ugly fight like last year's game against Houston. That is the last thing that college football needs this season after the South Carolina-Clemson game.
- USC held UCLA to 17 yards of rushing offense in their very close game. Big special teams play kept the Bruins in the game. It looked like this might be the big defensive stand of the day, until Oklahoma's defense crushed Colorado for a loss of 4 yards on the ground. It will be interesting to see what Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson will manage to do against these tough defenses in the title game. Should they be shut down, it will be a great battle in the air between Matt Leinart and Jason White.
That's all for this week. Look for a bowl prediction post on Tuesday night and a playoff scenario on Wednesday. The first bowl game is a week away. I will try to post a little before each game in a preview column, but with basketball in full swing, it may be tough. Enjoy the bowl games everyone. I am sure this will be a season to talk about.
