Monday Afternoon Long Snapper (5/5/08)
I just heard the first single by the reunited New Kids on the Block and am thoroughly disturbed. I’m not sure if I can make it through the rest of the day, but I’ll do my best.
There are a million Tuesday morning quarterback’s out there. From the column on ESPN, to various blogs, to just a bunch of guys talking around the water cooler; they are everywhere. But there is a problem – well a couple really. First, they all revolve around professional football and more specifically, the NFL. Those of you that know me – and are on the right side of the argument – know that the entire college football experience is much, MUCH better than anything the NFL has to offer. Second, they typically only pop up during football season. These columns and discussion cease to exist between February and August – only surfacing briefly around the draft in April. Third, what’s so special about the morning? Mornings are for sleeping, getting over hangovers, or trying to get as much work done as possible so your afternoon isn’t slammed. And finally, they glorify a position – quarterback – that is already praised and highlighted more than enough.
So with Monday Afternoon Long Snapper, I hope to solve all of those problems. This will be a college football column, will appear every Monday regardless of the time of year, will be posted in the afternoon, and will be named after a position that receives little if no praise at all despite its importance.
With that, here are my thoughts…
• The current BCS format will remain in effect for at least a few more years. It’s hard to say how I feel about this. On one hand, I love the bowl season the way it is (even if there are way too many bowls these days). But on the other, there are probably a few ways it could be improved.
I propose we start with the conferences. The Big 10, Big East, and Pac-10 need to follow the lead of the ACC, Big 12, and SEC. They need to get 12 teams and have a conference championship game. Once that is done, create an 8-team playoff. The 6 conference champions get in, followed by 2 at-large teams. If you are going to stick to a poll system, then in my mind it should be the 2 highest ranked teams not already in. Enough of this “undefeated teams from non-BCS conferences” should get a shot. Yes Utah and Boise State had great bowl showings, but what happened to Hawaii? If they are really that good, then they will play tougher out-of-conference schedules and be ranked in a position to get in anyway. From there, seed the teams based on their rankings and you add at most 3 more games to the schedule. Cut the regular season back to 11 games, and the 2 teams in the national championship play 15 games. The past 2 national title teams – Florida and LSU – played 14, so 15 isn’t that bad. That and the 30, 40, even 50 day period between a team’s last regular game and their bowl game is ridiculous. It’s not perfect – and I don’t claim it to be – but it’s a thought.
• It’s official, the St. Pete Bowl is a go. I’m sure it will end up with a catchy name like the Red Lobster Garlic and Butter Fried Shrimp Poppers.com Bowl, but either way, it will happen. The bowl will most likely take place around December 20th-23rd and pit the Big East against Conference USA. The good news is there is an outside chance USF could get to it from time to time. The bad news is that would mean the Bulls didn’t have a very good season since it will probably get 6thth choice from the Big East. or 7 Due to this, the PapaJohns.com Bowl will drop its affiliation with CUSA and pick up the SEC – a very nice upgrade. I’ve been to Arena games at Tropicana Field, but I just can’t picture a college football game there. Football in a dome…in Florida…in December. Does anyone else see something wrong?
• Ryan Mallett has been denied the chance to play immediately at Arkansas. I think in situations like this, the NCAA is wrong. The transfer rule is there to stop athletes from jumping ship the second something doesn’t go their way. But in Mallett’s case, there was more to it. The coach he was recruited by and went to play for was fired. (So Lloyd Carr actually resigned, but let’s be honest, Michigan let him go out with grace. If he hadn’t, they would’ve shown him the door when the season was over.) Now in comes a new coach who plans to implement an entirely different offense. If coaches are allowed to leave for better offers at anytime, the NCAA should at least take a little more consideration into certain cases when it comes to the players. In the end, it might work out for Mallett though. Starter Casey Dick will be a senior this year, meaning Mallett has a clearer path to playing time in 2009.
• The NCAA denied Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk another year of eligibility. He applied because he claims that during his redshirt year at Wake Forest, he was actually hurt. Well then Ben, why didn’t you ask the school to apply for a medical redshirt back then? Or at least when you only played in the first game of the 2006 season? I know there are a million weird rules surrounding redshirting, but it seems like Mauk could’ve looked into applying much earlier than now.
• LSU has kicked Ryan Perrilloux off the team. Welcome to the Arena league Ryan. If you do get a shot in the NFL, take some advice from Adrian McPherson – watch out for mascots driving golf carts.
• Don’t think Aaron Murray has a clear path to be the next Georgia starting QB once Matthew Stafford leaves. Zach Mettenberger is also committed to the Bulldogs and although unranked by most of the major recruiting sites, he just won the quarterback MVP at the most recent NIKE Camp.
• Preston Parker had one charge dropped, but not from his most recent arrest. I wasn’t aware of this, but in 2006, Parker was charged with petty theft. That charge has been now been dropped, but the weapons charge is still active.
• Good for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have canceled a 6-game series with Notre Dame because the Fighting Irish wanted the 3 Rutgers “home” games to be played at the new NFL stadium being built at the Meadowlands. Rutgers wants real home games and since ND wasn’t willing to comply, Rutgers dropped the whole deal.
• And finally, a sign that the end is near: Rich Rodriquez and Nick Saban have been paired up in a celebrity golf event.