Football's wild, wild ride
Before switching gears to college basketball, permit me this brain dump on what was truly a mind-blowing college football season.
• The theorists are out this week as everyone tries to fix what most sane Americans consider a flawed BCS system. Whether it's an eight-team playoff, a 16-team playoff, a four-team playoff, a "plus one" or a 119-team round robin, every idea has been tossed out.
The reality is the BCS won't change any time soon, at least until the current TV contract runs out in 2011. BCS coordinator Mike Slive seemed open to a "plus one" format, but that is likely the extent of the system's flexibility.
Though an eight-team playoff seems ideal, the plus one is a more realistic hope. It wouldn't disrupt the sacred bowl structure and would keep the regular season meaningful. The plus one might be unproductive this season, when it's difficult to separate Ohio State and LSU from USC and Georgia, but most years it would work.
• The exclusion of Missouri from the BCS pool is indefensible, but please stop claiming Illinois took the Tigers' spot. Kansas did. No more than two teams from a league can end up in BCS bowls. Oklahoma was a lock, and Mizzou should have been the other Big 12 representative.
Kansas played a cupcake schedule and crumbled the first time it faced a quality team (Missouri). That's Cotton Bowl stuff.
There's a valid argument that the Rose Bowl should have tabled tradition, selected Georgia and set up a sexier bowl matchup. That could have pushed Illinois into the Capital One Bowl. But the Illini BCS selection shouldn't rankle folks as much as that of Kansas. Illinois beat three ranked teams, including No. 1 Ohio State. Kansas beat nobody.
• The Big Ten should never, ever hold a championship game, no matter the financial upside.
• Sometimes, you just can't ignore the numbers, and that's why Florida quarterback Tim Tebow deserves the Heisman Trophy. Tebow is the first FBS player to throw and run for 20 or more touchdowns in a season. He ranks second nationally in quarterback rating (177.9) and threw 3 or more TD passes in six games.
Arkansas running back Darren McFadden is the nation's most talented player, and Oregon QB Dennis Dixon is the most valuable. But Tebow's performance is once-in-a-generation stuff.
Forget Florida's 3-loss record and the absurd belief that sophomores don't deserve the award. Tebow should strike a pose tonight.
• I'll miss Joe Novak, whose candor and classiness set him apart from paranoid college football coaches. Novak deserved a MAC title and a better sendoff, but his legacy at Northern Illinois is undeniable. Athletic director Jim Phillips faces a key decision in naming a successor. Phillips raised eyebrows when he hired men's basketball coach Ricardo Patton and would be wise to pick someone with NIU or Novak ties (Doug Mallory, Scott Shafer, Mark Hagen).
• Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald makes his first important coaching hire when he names a new defensive coordinator. If Fitzgerald doesn't promote linebackers coach Randy Bates, expect him to look at his own past. Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, the former NU defensive coordinator, could get a close look.
• Just for the record, I ended up 39-17 in regular-season picks. I'll have a rundown of predictions for New Year's Day bowls and BCS games in three weeks.
arittenberg@dailyherald.com