Do We Need a College Football Playoff?

Why do university presidents prevent a playoff in 1A football and what can be done about it?

by Bill Smith

Who's in the Smith's frying pan this week? College presidents—and forget the non-stick spray, these folks have enough fat to prevent burning.

President-elect Obama won a lot of votes from college football fans when he said that he would push for a playoff in college football during a Monday night football interview. But he is going to find that he will have more resistance from college presidents on that issue than he will face in the Congress. The question is why do the presidents refuse to allow a playoff in this single sport when playoffs and national championships have existed for years in every other sport at every level?

The excuses the powers that be claim that a playoff will cause football players to miss too much school. WHAT? In case the ivy covered presidents were not noticing, football is played once a week. A college basketball player misses 5 times the number of classes that the average football player does. And that doesn't include those teams that are included in March Madness. Sorry, but that excuse doesn't work.

Then there is the “tradition” of the bowl system. WHAT? Is that the same bowl system that is so focused on tradition that the names of the bowls every time one of the sponsoring companies folds up like paper submarine. How attached can we be to the Poulan/Weed Eater Bowl? Oh, that's right, its gone.

So what is the problem? The simple answer is politics. Not the Red State vs. Blue State politics that we are used to but inter-departmental office politics of the lowest and sleaziest kind. The simple fact is that ivy covered professors and presidents hate football. The egg heads believe that big boy football is far too powerful as it is in major colleges. A national championship in women's tiddlywinks its no big deal. The tiddlywinks coach won't be a threat for stealing attention away from self important authors of books that will never be read. But a head football coach that wins a national championship becomes a potential drain on donations. Besides the coach gets paid a lot more than a professor.

So is there anything we can do? Oh YEA! Every school has boosters. The boosters need to put the school administration in the frying pan. If you vote against at least a plus one playoff, we will take you off our Christmas card/donation list. Get it guys? No playoffs no money! I would be willing to bet that if enough key boosters made that call to enough school presidents, we would have a playoff next season.

Money talks and...well, you get the idea. Make it happen now!

That's what I think. Tell us what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He has also published several novels on http://ebooks-library.com/index.cfm and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com

The Mystery of the Mock Draft

It’s just amazing how popular the NFL Draft has become. There is even a listing in Wikipedia for Draftnik and a gentleman from the New York Observer wrote an interesting article last year named The Rise of the Mini Kipers about the subject. Last year’s NFL Draft got TV ratings better than the NBA playoffs and this year, this blog and my web site are getting better traffic than ever, in fact this blog (The NFL Draft Site) was just voted as one of the Top 100 NFL Blogs.

Inside of this marvel is another delightful fact, and that is how popular Mock Draft’s have become. There are web sites that have become very popular that are nothing more than Mock Draft Databases that only list other people’s mock drafts. By far, my 2009 Mock Draft at NFL Draft Dog is my most popular page and I even completed a 2010 Mock Draft that is starting to get a lot of traffic. I will be the first one to tell you that a Mock Draft for 2010 at this point isn’t going to be very accurate, heck we don’t even know which underclassmen are going to declare for the 2009 NFL Draft yet, but it’s fun.

So why have they become so popular, well I think it’s similar to the gaining popularity of Fantasy Football, fans can get involved, they can comment of the mock draft in hopes of influencing who their team is going to draft, it makes for good debate around the water cooler and it gives the fans of struggling teams some glimmer of hope for the future. For example, Detroit being the worst team in the NFL and having two first round picks this year, comments and posts about mock drafts on the numerous Lion’s message boards have become red hot topics.

To be honest with you, most NFL Draft Site owners and webmasters don’t really like to do the mock drafts, we got a lot of hate mail from rabid fans and they take a heck of a lot of work to keep them updated. Not only do you have to identify the top college players, but you have to identify NFL Team Needs and then speculate about where they will finish for the season as far as wins and losses.

One of the problems is that fans and general managers aren’t on the same page; I am not saying the fans are always wrong, sometimes they seem to know more about the draft than the General managers, but the bottom line is they usually have a completely different mindset. For example, at one point last year I had in my 2008 NFL Mock Draft the Steelers taking a running back, I received a lot of hate mail from Steeler fans because they said, “that was stupid they already had Fast Willy Parker” I eventually changed the pick to OT Jeff Otah, but the Steelers went on to pick RB Rashad Mendenhall.

There are a ton of examples of NFL Teams drafting players that seem illogical to the fans, sometimes the NFL is proven wrong and sometimes they are proven right, in 2007 The Bills already had RB Willis McGahee, but they drafted RB Marshawn Lynch with the 12th overall pick and don’t tell me you knew McGahee wasn’t going to be resigned, because at that point I don’t think the Bills were even sure. And in the same year the Cowboys drafted LB Anthony Spencer, which means they drafted a linebacker with their first round selection in three consecutive years. Plus in that same year the Eagles drafted QB Kevin Kolb with their first pick (#36) when they already had QB Donavan McNabb. Or take a look at the Charger’s decision to take Phillip Rivers when they already had Drew Brees. So those are just a few examples of seemingly numerous strange picks, some work out and some don’t.

So why do we bother, well they are fun to read and debate, they are gratifying when you can make some good predictions. Then being a Dallas Cowboys fan, there is the thought that maybe, just maybe, Jerry Jones might read my Mock Draft and my Dallas Cowboys Column this year and draft some offensive lineman. Ok I have got some updates to do; I have to raise Florida’s WR Percy Harvin and Alabama safety Rashad Johnson, they had fantastic weekends. Hmm…who needs a ball hawking safety?

Who Will Win the Heisman Trophy?

The Top Three Hopefuls Final Edition

The three finalists for the Heisman Trophy have been announced and they come as no real surprise but what might be more of a surprise is that Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell wasn’t invited to the ceremony. This means that he probably didn’t get enough votes to even warrant considering bringing him to New York City. The three that were chosen are well deserving of the honor and were the favorites to win the award for most of the year.

Here is one final look at the top three candidates to win college football’s top honor which will be given on Saturday December 13th.

1. Tim Tebow-QB-Florida-Tebow was phenomenal in his direction of the Gators to a win against the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. His passing stats, while not as gaudy as Bradford’s or McCoy’s (64.9% completions, 2515 yards, 28 touchdowns with an average of 193.5 yards per game. On the ground, Tebow has 154 attempts for 564 yards averaging 3.66 yards per rush and 43.38 yards per game) are good but what matters most about Tebow is his ability to lead his team to victory. This leadership quality is something that the other players can’t say they have and this may be what gives Tebow the Heisman.

2. Sam Bradford-QB-Oklahoma-Bradford showed the nation just what he can do leading his team to the Big 12 Championship as well a shot at the national title. Bradford has some great numbers (68.3% completions, 4464 yards, 48 touchdowns with an average of 343 yards per game and six interceptions) and his team is playing for the national title. This may be just enough to win him the Heisman.

3. Colt McCoy-QB-Texas-McCoy has made a choice to stay in school another year and so far could just be next year’s Heisman front runner. For this year McCoy has been impressive (77.6% completions, 3445 yards, 32 touchdowns with an average of 179.2 yards per game and just seven interceptions. Running the ball, McCoy has 128 attempts for 576 yards and ten touchdowns) and his Longhorns have been one of the best teams in the country this season but with players like Tebow and Bradford playing better, McCoy might have to wait until next year to win the award.

By: Bryan Dietzler

2008 Jim Thorpe Award Semifinalists

The 13 semi-finalists were recently named for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is annually awarded to college football’s best defensive back in the nation. The semifinalist list will be narrowed to three on November 24^th and the winner will be announced on the ESPNU’s College Football Awards Show December 11^th 2008. This is a fine list of defensive backs and you will probably see almost all of them playing in the NFL in the next few years. I am going to list (rank) them by NFL potential.

The 13 semi-finalists are as follows:

1. Eric Berry, Sophomore, Tennessee

2. Malcolm Jenkins, Senior, Ohio State

3. Vontae Davis, Junior, Illinois

4. Alphonso Smith, Senior, Wake Forest

5. William Moore, Senior, Missouri

6. Taylor Mays, Junior, Southern California

7. Asher Allen, Junior, Georgia

8. Mike Mickens, Senior, Cincinnati

9. Trimane Goddard, Senior, North Carolina

10. Trevard Lindley, Junior, Kentucky

11. D.J. Moore, Junior, Vanderbilt

12. Otis Wiley, Senior, Michigan State

13. Emanuel Cook, Junior, South Carolina

Some notable exceptions (snubs) were:

1. Darius Butler, Senior, Connecticut

2. Patrick Chung, Senior, Oregon

3. Kevin Barnes, Senior, Maryland

4. Morgan Burnett, Sophomore, Georgia Tech

5. Kevin Ellison, Senior, USC

6. Nate Allen, Junior, USF

7. Myron Rolle, Florida State

8. Courtney Greene, Senior, Rutgers

9. Derek Pegues, Senior, Mississippi State

10. Rashad Johnson, Senior, Alabama

Last year's Jim Thorpe Award trophy went to Antoine Cason of Arizona.

FYI: Here is a list of the original defensive backs (minus the 13) that were initially on the pre-season 2008 Jim Thorpe Award Watch List: Nate Allen, South Florida; Antonio Baker, Louisiana Tech; David Bruton, Notre Dame; Joe Burnett, Univ. Central Florida; Jairus Byrd, Oregon; Chris Chancellor, Clemson; Kam Chancellor, Virginia Tech; Barry Church, Toledo; Patrick Chung, Oregon; Kevin Ellison, Southern California; Londen Fryar, W. Michigan; Courtney Greene, Rutgers; Michael Hamlin, Clemson; Nic Harris, Oklahoma; Victor Harris, Virginia Tech; Stephen Hodge, TCU; Brandon Hughes, Oregon State; Rashad Johnson, Alabama; Jordan Lake, Baylor; Captain Munnerlyn, South Carolina; Troy Nolan, Arizona State; Derek Pegues; Mississippi State; Tavious Polo, Florida Atlantic; Myron Rolle, Florida State; Corey Small, Florida Atlantic;  DeAngelo Smith, Cincinnati; Walter Thurmond, Oregon; Chip Vaughn, Wake Forest; DeAndre Wright, New Mexico