Ugh, it's bowl season...

Well, the dust has settled and it's Ohio State against LSU in the BCS National Championship game. Fine. Sure, you could have made an argument that Oklahoma or Virginia Tech could have been in there, but as it is, I'm all right with the Buckeyes taking on the Tigers in New Orleans. Beats Kansas or Missouri against West Virginia. But the rest of the bowl games are pretty suspect. Other than the BCS conference champions and Hawaii, the three other BCS at large bids were literally up for grabs. The Sugar Bowl was the only one to get it right, probably because it used its last pick to select Hawaii and kept Georgia from the SEC, leading to another David/Goliath showdown like last year's Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State. Speaking of Oklahoma, they return to Tempe as Big 12 Champions to play the Big East champions, West Virginia, who choked their season away USC-style (circa 2006). That is also fine, but this is due to the fact that the Rose Bowl chose tradition over a great game. Sure, Illinois played out of their minds this year and handed Ohio State their only loss of the season. But it was a very down year in the Big Ten, where Michigan lost to Appalachian State, Illinois was the second best team ahead of a bunch of 7-5 or 6-6 teams, and Minnesota went 1-11. The Big Ten is a joke, as out of the FBS conferences, it is the only one where either the teams don't play each other nor do they have a conference championship. What a joke. That's how you got two 11-1 teams and a 12-0 team last year, as Wisconsin lost to Michigan, who lost to Ohio State. They did not deserve two BCS bids. Screw tradition Rose Bowl. Missouri says thanks for sending them to the Cotton Bowl, which I will get to next. Georgia is stuck in a no-win situation against Hawaii. And West Virginia plays a hot Oklahoma team. Again, thanks Rose Bowl committee, though we may be crashing in Pasadena next year for home games, which is another issue. And Kansas? With this guy:











somehow made it to a BCS game. So both Illinois and Kansas get into BCS games while Missouri, who beat both on neutral fields, gets the shaft and plays against a coachless Arkansas team in the Cotton Bowl. Bullshit! I know they got blown out by Oklahoma, but still, they were #1 last week, ranked higher than Illinois and Kansas this week, and won their division in the Big 12, and were left out of the BCS. Bullshit! And they were penalized heavily for losing a game most figured (including Vegas, where gambling is legal) that they would lose. Yet LSU, who lost last week to an unranked Arkansas team at home makes the leap from #7 to #2 in the BCS for beating a subpar Tennessee team that feasted on the weaker teams in the SEC. Bullshit! If anything, the Sooners deserved to be in the national championship over LSU. But I digress. How in the world did the Orange Bowl take Kansas over Missouri? I am dumbfounded. What else is bullshit? Hawaii started the season off ranked #23 in the AP, while Kansas was not on anyone's radars. Both teams got to 11-0, the difference is that Kansas was #2 in the polls; Hawaii was #12. Bullshit! You can't say Kansas played a tougher schedule than Hawaii. In fact, here's a comparison of the teams both played:

Kansas--------------------------------Hawaii
Missouri (11-2) - LOSS----------------Boise State (10-2)
Central Michigan (8-5, MAC Champs)--Fresno State (8-4)
Texas A&M (7-5)----------------------Nevada (6-6)
Oklahoma State (6-6)------------------Louisiana Tech (5-7)
Colorado (6-6)-------------------------San Jose State (5-7)
Nebraska (5-7)------------------------Washington (4-9)
Kansas State (5-7)----------------------New Mexico State (4-9)
Toledo (5-7)----------------------------UNLV (2-10)
Iowa State (3-9)------------------------Utah State (2-10)
Baylor (3-9)----------------------------Idaho (1-11)
Florida International (1-11)------------Charleston Southern (5-6, FCS)
SE Louisiana (3-8, FCS)----------------Northern Colorado (1-11, FCS)

Kansas' schedule was better, but not by much. And they lost to the best team they played. Plus, the records of the WAC teams are lower than the Big 12 teams because a lot of the WAC teams were scheduled as cupcakes for other teams, like Utah State against Oklahoma, Idaho against USC, Louisiana Tech against LSU, and Fresno State against Kansas State (oops! forgot about the highest ranked team that Kansas beat was beat by Fresno. Sorry about that.).

Other screwy bowls, Boise leaving the smurf turf and the Humanitarian Bowl to play in the Hawaii bowl, the highly anticipated UCLA/BYU rematch in the Vegas Bowl, and the best non-BCS game is not the Capital One Bowl between Florida and Michigan (Gators win big) but the Holiday Bowl, where the Fiesta Bowl snubbed Arizona State Sun Devils play the second best (oops, fourth best) team in the Big 12, Texas.

Also, the Pac-10 All-Conference team was named, and in the first time since before Carson Palmer, no USC QB made either team. In fact, Booty didn't even get honorable mention. But I can name at least two QBs better than Booty this year: Dennis Dixon, Oregon, Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State, Alex Brink, Washington State, Jake Locker, Washington, Tavita Prichard, Stanford (oh sorry, the QB who directed the biggest upset in college football history doesn't get any love here...). Here's the complete list of the All-Conference team:

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Dennis Dixon, Oregon
Defensive Player of the Year: DT Sedrick Ellis, USC
Freshman of the Year: QB Jake Locker, Washington
Coach of the Year: Dennis Erickson, Arizona State

First Team
QB Dennis Dixon, Oregon
RB Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
RB Justin Forsett, California
WR Mike Thomas, Arizona
WR Brandon Gibson, Washington State
TE Fred Davis, USC
OL Alex Mack, California
OL Max Unger, Oregon
OL Chilo Rachal, USC
OL Roy Schuening, Oregon State
OL Sam Baker, USC
OL Mike Pollack, Arizona State
DL Sedrick Ellis, USC
DL Lawrence Jackson, USC
DL Nick Reed, Oregon
DL Dorian Smith, Oregon State
LB Spencer Lawson, Arizona
LB Keith Rivers, USC
LB Robert James, Arizona State
LB Rey Maualuga, USC
DB Antoine Cason, Arizona
DB Patrick Chung, Oregon
DB Kevin Ellison, USC
DB Chris Horton, UCLA
PK Thomas Weber, Arizona State
P Keenyn Crier, Arizona
KR Matthew Slater, UCLA
PR Kyle Williams, Arizona State
ST Jahvid Best, California

Second Team
QB Alex Brink, Washington State
RB Yvenson Bernard, Oregon State
RB Louis Rankin, Washington
WR DeSean Jackson, California
WR Lavelle Hawkins, California
TE Jed Collins, Washington State
OL Geoff Schwartz, Oregon
OL Juan Garcia, Washington
OL Andy Levitre, Oregon State
OL Ebon Britton, Arizona
OL Alex Fletcher, Stanford
OL Fenuki Tupou, Oregon
DL Bruce Davis, UCLA
DL Dexter Davis, Arizona State
DL Lionel Dotson, Arizona
DL Jeff Van Orsow, Oregon State
LB Joey LaRocque, Oregon State
LB Alan Darlin, Oregon State
LB Derrick Doggett, Oregon State
LB Zach Follett, California
DB Terrell Thomas, USC
DB Justin Tryon, Arizona State
DB Brandon Hughes, Oregon State
DB Troy Nolan, Arizona State
PK Alexis Serna, Oregon State
P Jay Ottovegio, Stanford
KR Jonathan Stewart, Oregon
PR DeSean Jackson, California
ST Wopamo Osaisai, Stanford

Honorable Mention, USC: LB Brian Cushing, DE Everson Griffen, DB Cary Harris, DB Taylor Mays, RB/PR Joe McKnight, OL Drew Radovich, OL Matt Spanos, RB Chauncey Washington, LB Thomas Williams.

Few observations, I think that Thomas and Ellison should switch teams. Griffen was solid late, probably sealing his fate as an honorable mention. Tough for Chauncey to not make the second team, but those four RBs ahead of them were solid and were not stuck in a rotation. Nice to see Spanos and T-Will get some love as honorable mentions. Obvious picks for Dixon, Ellis, Locker, and Erickson. Ranking the coaches in order: Erickson, Riley, Bellotti, Harbaugh, Carroll, Stoops, Doba, Dorrell, Willingham, Tedford.

Oh well, maybe more ranting later. Beat the Illini!