Five Thoughts:
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Michigan is
number two. That's where it should stay.
By
Pete
Fiutak
1.
Why,
exactly, is everyone so sure Michigan is the number two team in
the nation? I think it is, but that defense was beyond awful and while
this certainly didn’t look like the second best team in the
country. If you’re going to dog USC for an “average” performance, even
though it shut down the high-powered Cal offense in the second half and
only gave up one touchdown while winning the biggest game of the Pac 10
season by 14 points, then you have to blast the Michigan defense for
getting pantsed in the latest Game of the Century.
Are you willing to bet the house, farm and kids that the Wolverine
defense could stop USC and its fantastic receiving corps? How about
Steve Slaton, Pat White and West Virginia? Are you 100% sold that
Michigan would beat Florida, Arkansas, Louisville, LSU or Boise State?
Maybe you are (I am too), and maybe Mike Hart is right and the
Wolverines would win a rematch … too bad.
We know what happened when Michigan got its shot against the number one
team in the nation; it lost. Now it’s time for someone else to get its
chance. You might think Michigan is the number two team in the nation,
but one thing’s for sure; it’s not number one.
Bo didn't lose on
Saturday.
By
Pete
Fiutak
2.
If you want
to throw the theoretical argument out there that you want to see what
Michigan and Ohio State would do on a neutral field, I’ll listen. If
home field advantage is supposed to count for three points, then yes,
this was a dead even game. However, don’t dare use Bo Schembechler’s
death as any sort of a reason for why Michigan lost. If Bo were alive, the
Michigan defensive back seven wouldn’t have tackled better. Troy Smith
wouldn’t have been any less brilliant. Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells
wouldn’t have been any slower on their breathtaking touchdown runs. If
anything, Michigan was more inspired to win the game for Bo. It’s not
fair to the man’s legend, or to Ohio State’s win, to suggest anything
different.
Go bowling matters.
By
Richard Cirminiello
3.
There are 32 bowl games this year.
32. That’s 64 of the 119 I-A programs with a chance to bask in the glow
of the bowl season. Kind of goofy, right? For teams, such as Florida
State and Iowa that are hovering around the .500 mark, absolutely. Who
really needs or wants to see the Seminoles or the Hawkeyes closing out
an unimpressive season with an uninspired effort in a game that has all
the intrigue and drama of the TomKat wedding? However, that only tells
half the story.
For every Alabama that considers six wins a catastrophe that might cost
a coach his job, there is a Rice that celebrates win No. 6 as if it’s
Y2K all over again. The Owls are bowl eligible, which means they might
be playing in December for the first time since 1961. That’s big news.
So are SMU, Kent State and Ohio, schools that haven’t bowled in decades,
but sure would like an opportunity to get an invite one year. How about
Arizona, which desperately needs the exposure and 15 extra practices
that come with a bid in order to break through to a new level under head
coach Mike Stoops? Or Kentucky, whose validation that things truly are
getting better under Rich Brooks comes in the form of bowl committees
sniffing around Commonwealth Stadium when the Wildcats have a home
game?
The point is that, yes, a glut of bowl games does reward mediocrity in
some cases, but it also creates tremendous opportunities for smaller and
perennial losing teams that can literally use one high-visibility game
as a program launching pad. Just ask Rutgers, which got on the tarmac
last December, when it faced Arizona State in a competitive and highly
entertaining Insight Bowl. Keep that in mind the next time you snicker
when learning that a school has become eligible. You may find it
ridiculous, but for the East Carolinas and the Cincinnatis of the
college football world, the money and the attention that comes with a
bowl game is no laughing matter.
Not sold on Quinn.
By
Matthew
Zemek
4.
There's a lot to
be said about media manipulation and unfairness in broadcasting, which
are particularly injurious and damning in matters of hard-news coverage
that affect lives to a much greater degree than college football does.
But a word, for now, is in order with respect to
the Heisman Trophy edition of "media manipulation": it's not politics,
war or peace, but within the college football industry, it merits
attention.
Why was it that, on Saturday's broadcast of the
Ohio State-Michigan game, ABC/ESPN production graphics pertaining to the
Heisman Trophy were reserved for only two people, Troy Smith and Brady
Quinn?
Where were the graphics, stats and other bells or
whistles for Darren McFadden, Mike Hart, Colt Brennan, Pat White, and a
few other people who deserve to be mentioned in the chase for the award?
Let's not insult anyone's intelligence here:
while, as a matter of political analysis of the real situation, Brady
Quinn is indeed second to Smith in the Heisman race, it is also true
that in a non-political assessment of raw football merits, Quinn hasn't
done a fraction of what other Heisman contenders have done in 2006...
not yet, anyway. Quinn got punked by Michigan in the money game of Notre
Dame's season to date. He struggled mightily before leading one very
impressive drive in the final minutes against UCLA, a decent but hardly
spectacular team. He played horribly at Michigan State and got his bacon
saved only by a few interceptions--one of them a pick-six--by his
defense against a Spartan team that completely crumbled.
Quinn couldn't even light up the scoreboard in a
really big way against Stanford, and the Irish scored just 13 points in
the first 27 minutes of their game against Army on Saturday.
Pat White lit up Louisville on the road at night
without a healthy Steve Slaton.
Darren McFadden has overwhelmed most of the SEC
defenses that have come his way.
Colt Brennan has posted numbers, if numbers mean a
darn in this game.
Mike Hart--whose Wolverines crushed Quinn's
Irish--proved to be sensational against Ohio State. How come the
ABC/ESPN hype machine (and graphics production truck) has its limits in
weird places?
It's really quite simple: the media--in all
aspects of human life--controls what we see. If it puts up some graphics
and not others, promoting some teams and not others, promoting some
players and not others, pimping some conferences and not others, the
masses will be influenced. However, I'd be morally bankrupt and
ethically impoverished if I didn't keep trying to fight the good fight.
If anyone has a soul or any shred of integrity
left in the media-industrial complex of college football, how about
deciding football awards on who the players have beaten and what they've
done against the top teams and not because of the schools (and TV
ratings) connected to certain players' names?
Let the season play out.
By
John
Harris
5. The one prevailing thought for this weekend isn’t really a
thought; it’s more of a plea. If you are a voter in the either the
Harris Poll (aptly named, of course) or a coach voting in the Top 25,
please, PLEASE let this season play all the way through before
convincing yourself that Michigan is rightly placed at number two. Now,
that isn’t meant to be a knock on Michigan. Not at all in the
slightest, but with all the talk that led up to this game and all the
rematch talk that came out of that game, it’s easy to look at those two
teams and determine, right now, that Ohio State and Michigan are numbers
one and two in the country, no questions asked. But, USC, Florida,
Arkansas and Notre Dame still have games left to show either it belongs
as the Two or it doesn’t, so don’t make your mind up, just yet.
Michigan did have a big
win at Notre Dame, but nearly had to go to overtime with, ahem, Ball
State. Other than that, how overwhelmingly dominant were the Wolverines
this year? I loved the guts and courage they showed in Columbus, but
can you honestly say that they’re definitely, no questions asked the
number Two this morning? I’m not ready to do that. Three years ago, we
all anointed Oklahoma as the second coming and they got waxed in the Big
12 Championship game by Kansas State, who exploited the Sooner defense
with the big play. Michigan’s defense finally got exposed yesterday by
Ohio State’s big play capabilities. But, they hung with Ohio State,
clearly the number one team in the country on its slippery turf, so
there’s got to be a rematch, right?
Don’t buy that bill of
goods, just yet. Let USC, Florida, Arkansas and Notre Dame
finish out the season and complete each one’s candidacy. Then, see if
you’re convinced that Michigan is the only team close to Ohio State. If
the rest of the teams fall by the wayside, cue the rematch, but let
those others make a final plea for your vote. Your final vote.
