BCS Madness: SEC once Again Represented in NCG

In the aftermath of Ohio State's 34-24 loss to Michigan State last night, I was filled with emotion. I was calling for assistants to be fired. As I checked social media, I noticed many fans claiming head coach Urban Meyer to be overpaid. And, above all else, I was left wondering how in the world could a team like the Spartans, who barely managed 14 points the week before against Minnesota, could score 34 points against the Buckeyes.

As Auburn and Florida State would go on to win their respective championship games, the rest of sports world felt validated thinking the Buckeyes were indeed overrated. Truth be told, they may very well be.

But as I woke up this morning and wrapped my head around what had just transpired in the last 24 hours, a very calming thought came over me. I realized that Ohio State may not be the second best team in the nation, but that doesn't necessarily mean they underachieved this season. Or that they didn't put forth the best effort they could have on the field last night. In fact, it could be that Michigan State was the better team. That's the thing about college football, anything can happen on any given Saturday. If you need further proof, just ask Alabama.

And so it is that just as we have March Madness at the end of basketball season, at the end of the football season we have BCS Madness. Madness not because the the SEC is once again represented in the championship game, or that the state of Alabama is vying for its fifth straight BCS National Championship. Nor is it madness because the preseason favorites to win it all, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Ohio State Buckeyes, will be reduced to mere spectators come January 7, 2014. But it is madness because anyone who honestly thought they knew FSU and Auburn would be playing for the title are simply fooling themselves.

I have a simple message to all Buckeye fans: chill out. We all knew Urban Meyer's team was going to lose eventually, and, even though you'd hope it wasn't until next season, sometimes it just happens. To be honest, many of us have been brainwashed in to believing that Ohio State should win every contest just by showing up, that somehow the Big Ten doesn't have any talent outside of Columbus, Ohio( I wonder where someone would get an idea like that).

And if it really bothers you that much the SEC once again is playing for the national title, you need to get a life. I have long been a proponent of the theory that while the SEC is a good conference, it is not head and shoulders above the rest of the college football world like mainstream media (read:ESPN) would have you believe. If you don't agree with me, well, watch the 2013 bowl season and decide for yourself.

So enjoy this last year of BCS Madness, because next year we get to debate the fairness of the newly formed playoff system. And be glad that even if we have another team from the south in the championship game, at least it isn't Nick Saban's Crimson Tide again.

NCAA Tournament, Elite Eight: Stunned

Stunned.

That is the one word I will use to describe last night's game between Ohio State and Witchita State, and I think it is fitting.

I think we've all grown tired of hearing that other word that CBS/TNT analysts have often used, especially if you happen to be an Ohio State fan like myself.

No, I'm stunned. Stunned that not only would two of the team's best players (Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas) have their worst shooting games of the season on the same night, but, for 31 minutes, it also seemed that Ohio State wanted victory less than Witchita State did.

Seriously, for about three fourths of the game, instead of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, it felt like Thad Matta's Nightmare Before Easter. The team kept missing shot after shot, taking ill-advised three after three. And, to make matters worse, whenever Witchita State would miss, there was nary an Ohio State defender around to even challenge for the rebound.

About five minutes into the second half of last night's contest, I received a text message stating that Aaron Craft was the most overrated player in the country (from a fellow OSU fan, no less). Having committed 3 fouls, 3 turnovers, and on the worst shooting performance of the night, he might have been right. The really sad part is that, despite having more turnovers than assists and steals combined at that point, Craft's on the ball defense of the Witchita State point guard was absolutely horrendous.

At the 15 minute mark, with the Buckeyes down  22, 55-33, I should have just walked away and chalked it up as another loss. Then, with about 9 minutes and 30 seconds left, things started to change. Sophomore LaQuinton Ross would come off the bench to hit some timely threes. The Buckeyes would soon clamp up on defense, hitting the glass too, chipping away at the lead. And with some key free-throw shooting, they had cut the Shockers lead to 4 with just over two minutes to play.

Would the miracle run for Ohio State continue? Unfortunately, no. But Ohio State fans shouldn't be disappointed with their finish this season, even if a loss to the West Region's no. 9 seed wasn't the way they wanted to go out. After all, they did make it deeper into the tournament (the Elite Eight) than three of the four 1 seeds, and all but one of the other 2 seeds (Duke still plays Louisville this afternoon).

And guys like LaQuinton Ross have given fans something to look forward to next season. If junior (that's right Mr. Elmore, I said junior) forward Thomas returns for another year, expectations will be even greater.

But that is still several weeks away. Last night, once again, I ran the gamut of emotions (anger, elation, and then melancholy) that has become the signature of March Madness. And, while in the heat of the moment I had decided I would not talk to anyone about the game or my brackets anymore, this morning I have calmed down. After all, it is only a game.

Want to know something else? Even though all of my brackets are busted and I don't have a dog in the fight, I may actually cheer for Big Ten rival Michigan tonight(whose gone mad now? ha ha). That is of course, as long as Duke beats Louisville.

2013 NCAA Tourney: Harvard Wins, And Chaos Reigns

Round one of the NCAA tournament is over and my bracket is busted.

Not really, but it almost happened yesterday afternoon. With Georgetown falling to previously unknown Florida Gulf Coast, at least one of my brackets is bound to lose.

You see, I filled out four different brackets before the tournament started. And while the one I feel most confident in is still in play (Louisville, Ohio State, VCU, and Miami are my final four), in another bracket I had the Hoyas going all the way to the final. And they totally blew it.

Of course, right now you are saying how much confidence can I have in any of my brackets if I completed four different ones. To be honest, I don't really know what is going to happen. Neither does anyone else. Which is why less than 5% of America correctly predicted that both Harvard and Florida Gulf Coast University would advance to the second round.

The point is that this tournament is wide open. The fact that two no. 1 seed, Kansas and Gonzaga, barely survived and advanced to the round of 32, only emphasizes this point. Which is, of course why I don't have either team in my final four.

Among the highlights of this year's first round:

Kentucky will not repeat as National Champion.

As a matter of fact, the Wildcats, not even selected to this year's tournament, will not win the NIT. They lost to Robert Morris in the first round on Wednesday.

All four no. 1 seeds still remain intact.

Although it seemed for a while that Gonzaga and Kansas might become the first top seeds to fall to a 16 seed.  For now, however, the possibility of an all chalk final four still exists. Whether that remains true after the second round is something that even Charles Barkley can't tell us.

Harvard once again proved that schools with the smartest kids can also produce athletes.

Try telling that to the New Mexico Lobos. According to one report, the Crimson's win provoked one writer to quit according to reports from Yahoo . But it'll take more than that to get rid of me, even if I lose every one of my brackets, and Ohio State gets booted on Sunday (but they're not, of course.)

Not only did Ohio State score more points than any other team, but they also provided us with the highlight of the first round:

Well, maybe not just one highlight. From Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith making diving saves that end up in Buckeye points, to Sam Thompson's high flying acrobatics, the No. 2 seed in the West dazzled the thousands of fans that made the trip from Columbus to Dayton. To go deep into the tournament this year, they will need more than just fancy plays. They must continue to play the hard-nosed defense that has help them win their last nine contests.

BCS Mess: Wisconsin's Luck, Georgia's Heartbreak

In a few hours the BCS selection committee will announce its matchups for the 2012-2013 bowl season. It is expected that Notre Dame and Alabama will meet in the BCS National Championship game in Miami, while the other known game is the Rose Bowl, where Wisconsin will meet Stanford in Pasadena, California.

Unfortunately the loser of last night's SEC championship, Georgia, won't be playing in the BCS. That spot will more than likely go to Florida, who, like Alabama last year, didn't even make it to the conference championship game.

And never mind that Wisconsin, the Big Ten's participant in the Rose Bowl the last two years, didn't even finish first in their own division. Actually at 4-4 in the Big Ten, they barely finished third in the Leaders division, a game a head of Purdue (3-5), two games behind Penn State (6-2), and three games behind Leaders division champs Ohio State (8-0).

But wait a minute, how is this possible? A team that struggled to finish with a .500 record in its own conference, has an 8-5 overall record, and has had three different starting quarterbacks during the season is going to the Rose Bowl? While undefeated Ohio State (12-0) will be watching at home?

The short answer is simple: Ohio State and Penn State were ineligible for postseason play, thus making Wisconsin the Leaders Division's representative in last night's Big Ten title game in Indianapolis. And Wisconsin went on to win the championship game by defeating a Nebraska team that believes the word defense is not in their vocabulary.

The longer answer, however, is a bit more complex. You see, Ohio State was banned from postseason play this year because its former head coach, Jim Tressel, lied to the NCAA. And the NCAA, not wanting to be embarrassed itself, decided to make an example out of Ohio State. Never mind the fact that the suit-wearing individual who levied the bowl ban more than likely doesn't watch football. Nor does he realize that the revenue of a potential OSU-ND national championship game would dwarf that of a Stanford-Wisconsin Rose Bowl. Ohio State broke the rules, so they must pay the consequences.

But it makes me absolutely sick that Wisconsin is going back to the Rose Bowl for a third straight season. And it doesn't even matter that Ohio State will be watching from home this January. Look I get it, the last two seasons, like it or not, the Badgers deserved to be there. In 2010, they tied Ohio State for the Big Ten Title, but, because they had already beaten them head to head, they went to the Rose Bowl. Then, last season, not only were they clearly Big Ten Champions at 11-1 but they were one Kirk Cousins hail mary away from playing LSU in the BCS National Championship.

Watching last night's conference championship between the Badgers and Huskers, however, made my stomach turn. Not only did Bret Bielema's team finish third in their division, but they backed their way into the title game, losing two of their last three games. Not to mention if you asked over 70% of college football fans in the nation to name Wisconsin's starting quarterback they probably wouldn't get it right. That's because during the course of the season they had started three different guys at the position, and the guy who played last night, Curt Phillips (a fifth-year senior), was starting in only the fourth game of his college career.

All of this happened only a few hours after Georgia, who would probably knock the tar out of both Nebraska and Wisconsin (and will more than likely face Nebraska on New Year's Day), lost their only chance to play in the BCS when they fell 32-28 to Alabama in the SEC championship. And though it should be known I don't particularly care for teams from the SEC, I do have respect for teams that play well.

So while fans argue if Alabama and Notre Dame should be in the BCS Championship, if an undefeated Ohio State squad deserves consideration for the AP National Title, or if Ohio State could beat either Alabama or Notre Dame, I have another question for my readers. Does a Wisconsin squad that didn't even finish above .500 in its conference deserve a BCS bid over an 11 win Georgia team that quite possibly gave No. 2 ranked Alabama its toughest game all season?

It's going to be very hard for me to watch any of the Big Ten bowl games this season, but not because Ohio State won't be there. There is a definite possibility that the Big Ten only wins one or two bowl games this season and even that is in doubt. And there might be a few things worse than sending the conference's fifth best squad to the Rose Bowl, but you won't hear me mention them here.

Why Ohio State Fans Should Root For Notre Dame

So it is with a heavy hand that I write this. Okay, so not really, but I had debated about writing on the Duke men's basketball team or the NFL's resident blowhard, Rex Ryan, before settling on this topic.

However, seeing as the Ohio State football team's season is coming to a close, in it's annual renewal of 'The Game' versus their hated rivals from That School Up North, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to comment on what has been on everyone's mind the last few days.

Make no bones about it, I don't like that team up north. Of course, I wouldn't go as far as ex-Buckeye Roy Hall, whom, if you listened to local Columbus radio 97.1  The Fan this afternoon, took his hatred for everything Maize and Blue to a whole other level. It was kind of comical. In case you missed it, you might want to go to youtube and type in 'Roy Hall T-Bone Michigan Week interview."

But I digress. The point being is that despite my dislike for Ohio State's opponent this week, I have to respect the ability they possess on the field, both offensively and defensively. It will be a challenge for this defense to stop a better than average passing quarterback in Devin Gardner, and Denard Robinson, if healthy, may be more of a threat in the Wolverines backfield than Fitzgerald Toussaint would have ever been. Needless to say, it won't be easy for the Bucks when they try to become only the sixth team in school history to finish a season undefeated.

What is interesting is that I actually admitted to one of my closest friends that if Ohio State had lost to Wisconsin last week I would have no reason to watch OSU vs. Michigan this weekend. To which he looked at me like I had gone mad. Of course I was going to watch the game, and root for the Buckeyes nonetheless, but the point was that without the potential to go to a bowl game or go undefeated, a victory over the Wolverines would seem somewhat hollow. I guess I have reached the point where beating U of M just isn't good enough; only perfection will do.

Which brings me to the ultimate point of this article. Many fans have wondered what Ohio State's fate would be had they self-imposed a bowl ban last season. Would the NCAA allow them to compete in postseason play this year? Well, hindsight is 20/20, and we can only deal with current realities. So OSU's bowl game is this Saturday, and I while I expect the first season of the Urban Meyer to end just as it began, with a victory, I am taking nothing for granted. Nor should any other OSU fan.

In that vein, OSU fans should stop wondering 'what if' Ohio State were to play Notre Dame in the BCS championship, and, instead, start rooting for the Blue and Gold to actually win it all. For starters, there is the distinct possibility that OSU could lose such a matchup, and the end result might not be pretty. Notre Dame has played an ostensibly better schedule than Ohio State, and held its two toughest opponents, Stanford and Oklahoma, to a combined total of 26 points. On the flip side, Ohio State has given up a combined total of 77 points to Inidana and Cal, two teams whose combined record is 7-16.

So, unlike some overzealous fans on Facebook, I do not think the Buckeyes would roll over the Irish. And I will admit I have been somewhat harder on the Irish than the pollsters. A part of me thinks that, despite playing the toughest schedule in the nation, they just don't measure up when it comes to the 'eye test.' And the other part of my assessment of Notre Dame lies on my preconceived notion that the media builds this program up year after year, only to see them let everyone down in the end. But could they actually be legit?

Well, seeing as how I have been burned horribly the last two weeks, I will not predict the outcome of this Saturday's clash between the Irish and the Trojans. I will, however, urge all Buckeye fans, after they have cheered the home team to victory, to root for Notre Dame to win out. Forget about your hatred of Notre Dame and Lou Holtz. The Irish may have the best chance to stop the SEC's BCS run at six. Which I believe is more important anyway.

What has been almost a nonissue this season is the mediocre play of the SEC. Alabama isn't the juggernaut it has been in the past. Not only did they lose to the Aggies, but they should have lost to LSU as well. An LSU team whose offense is boring as a Jim Tressel coached team. Seriously. Watch more than two minutes of LSU play, and I dare you to tell me that Les Miles isn't Jim Tressel Lite. No imagination on offense, and the only reason he is able to compete with the big boys is that, unlike Tressel, he is able to recruit speed on defense.

Even Florida has had issues moving the ball this season. Just ask Louisiana-Lafayette(whom I'm not even sure is a NCAA Division IA school), who almost upset the Gators. In Gainesville.

So, while it goes against almost every instinct that I have, I will be rooting for the football team from South Bend, Indiana, to win their next two games. Because, in the end, in order for the myth of SEC superiority to die, someone has to beat them in a meaningful contest.

College Basketball Tip-Off: Is Louisville No. 1?

Tonight the 2012-2013 NCAA Division I men's college basketball season tips off, headlined by the Carrier Classic (featuring Ohio State vs Marquette off the deck of the USS Yorktown docked in Charleston, SC) and Maryland versus Kentucky, among others.

So I figured it would be fitting to provide my overview on how I think this season might play out. It seems everyone and their mother has Indiana at No. 1, and, while I can see their point, I don't necessarily agree. They are talented, and Cody Zeller might be the best player in the nation, but they seemed a bit streaky last season. Plus, Zeller's 6.6 rebounds per game isn't very impressive, either. As a matter of fact, I think on the whole Indiana wasn't very good rebounding the ball last season, another reason I can't put them at No. 1.

Kentucky is fairly young, but loaded with freshman talent.  Center Nerlens Noel might be even better than Anthony Davis was offensively for the Wildcats last season. If he can be half as good as Davis on the other side of the ball, UK may make another deep tournament run. Right now, however, I think it is too early and the team is too young to be called No. 1 in the nation.

Ohio State and Michigan are both loaded with potential but are very inexperienced. The Buckeyes have some big shoes to fill in Jared Sullinger and William Buford. If they can get help from sophomores Laquinton Ross and Amir Williams, among others, they could do some damage come tourney time.

The Wolverines are in a similar situation to the Buckeyes, as they must replace the loss of veterans Evan Smotrycz (transfer) and Zack Novak (graduated). Returning for Michigan are freshman of the year point guard Trey Burke and guard Tim Hardaway junior, both of whom will be hard to stop. It will be interesting to see how these guys mesh with incoming freshman Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary.

But, when it comes down to it, who ultimately is No. 1 then? Well, Wildcat fans may not like to hear this, but I believe that Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals are the best team in the nation right now. Guards Petyon Siva and Russ Smith return to lead one of the nation's best backcourts this season. Center Gorgui Deng's 9.1 rebounds per games were among the top in the Big East last year. Could this be the year Pitino's squad finally cuts down the nets? Quite Possibly.

Of course, this is just my opinion, and like everyone else, it is highly subjective. Especially when you consider the fact that I haven't seen any of these teams play yet this year. But I figure hey, if the other guys can do it (and not that well I might add) I can't be any worse.