The Penn State Football Show

I may be alone, but I like Alabama in this one. Everyone loves Florida and it has just been widely accepted that they would take down the unbeaten and #1 Tide in the SEC Championship, but in the words of Lee Corso, "not so fast my friend."

I understand why everyone is so high on Florida. They look unstoppable, scoring about 50 points per game while only surrendering 13 or so. They just as much talent and speed as anyone in the country, and a great leader in Tebow. But they are only 1-1 against teams that are in the current AP top 25 (beat #17 Georgia and lost to #22 Mississippi), so it is easy to ovverrate their performance so far.

People have underrated and doubted this Alabama team all year. They are #1 and undefeated and they are A TEN POINT UNDERDOG in this game. Trust me, they are a great team, and they play their best in the big games when they are doubted. They will come to play. They do things the right way: run the ball, control the clock, play great defense.

In my opinion, if this game is close at the half, Alabama will win. They need to hold Florida's high powered offense down, which is easier said than done, but I thikn they can do it. The key is if they can get off to a good start. If they can force Florida to punt on their first few posessions and maybe get a score in there, even if it just a field goal, they can set the tone for the rest of the game. If they get down early, they are in trouble, because they will have to abandon their running game which is their strength. I think we will have a pretty good idea of how this game is going to go after the first quarter. If it's close and low scoring, Bama will win. If it looks like a shootout, Bama can't keep up with Florida.

None of the other championship games really excite me. I wouldn't mind seeing Missouri take down Oklahoma, but I don't see it happening.

One final note: I am loving how arrogant USC fans are about playing Penn State. It is almost a foregone conclusion even among the media that USC is going to easily win the Rose Bowl and its a shame they are not in the National Championship Game. Penn State is in a great position to shock some people, and that is when Joe is at his best.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08337/932100-143.stm





What is the world comming to?

The BCS may be on its last legs after this season. The Big 12 has provided a difficult task for the system to unravel, but it is very faulty due to its heavy reliance on games that happen later in the season. Texas has one of the most difficult string of games I have ever seen a team play, and they came out of it all with one loss to Texas Tech, but more importantly, wins over Oklahoma, Missouri, and Oklahoma State, all ranked in the top 10 when they were played. But now because Oklahoma beat Texas Tech and Oklahoma State later in the season, they jump Texas in the BCS standings and will be representing the Big 12 in the championship game despite losing the head to head matchup. In my opinion, Texas is the #2 team in the country right now and Texas Tech should not be ahead of PSU. I don't care who you lose to, if you lose by 40 points to anyone, you don't deserve to be ahead of a team that has one loss and that loss being by one point.

Of course none of this really matters, since there is no hope left for a national championship, but it just shows the flaws that are present in the system. And for Texas fans, this must be truly aggravating, similar to the Auburn undefeated team a few years ago. Before this year I never really believed in a playoff system because it really takes away some of the validity of the regular season games and the prestige of the bowl games, but now I feel that a 4 team playoff is the best approach. This is really very unfair to Texas who lost one game at the last second, although they could have sealed the victory in that last possession when a sure interception went through the arms of a Texas defender. Regardless of that, at the end of the season there will be at most one legitimate undefeated team in the country, and after that what should be done with the one loss teams? I don't think that PSU should be considered since their loss was to an unranked (although very tough) team, and the fact that the conference is not very difficult this year, but how are people putting Florida above Texas and Oklahoma? Florida lost to an unranked team and their only victory over an AP top 25 team was Georgia who is in a tailspin. Wow, they win by lots of points! Who cares how you win. A win is a win is a win. I don't buy that. Why do teams have records that show wins and losses? Because that's the most important statistic. Not how many points you score.