Ramon's Escoblog: Week 11

The it list (Reading time: 53 seconds) -- It: Saturday night between the hedges at Athens. Not it: Saturday nights between the buyouts at Notre Dame... It: Paul Johnson getting to the ACC championship game after only two seasons at Georgia Tech. Not it: Every school with a coaching vacancy two years ago that didn't hire him because their fans wanted an offense with more passing... It: Sitting on the couch waiting for updates on Golden Tate. Not it: Sitting in front of Alex at Golden Child... It: Trey's 0-5 in pursuit of the prize for last place. Not it: Trey's pursuit of Pacheco on the playground that resulted in him hitting a girl who was minding her own business jumping rope... It: Oregon's all-black Nike Pro Combat uniforms. Not it: Arkansas' all-red WAC uniforms... It: Dexter McCluster at Ole Miss. Not it: The idiot student who threw the corn dog with mustard into the Arkansas section 10 years ago at Ole Miss... It: "The Box." Not it: Any box trying to pick up CSS HD on Comcast... It: Super Dave Osborne's return to TNA. Not it: Super Nate Allen's return to the sports section but buried on page 2... It: Rutgers grad Maura B. scoring a 5-0. Not it: Rutgers fans scoring "Little Jovi."

'Little Jovi' at Rutgers

This is dedicated to the Beraneks...

Project Playoffs: Week 10 standings and seedings for 2009

Standings in realigned conferences with seedings for a 16-team playoff. Click here for a full explanation of Project Playoffs.

Southeast
1 Florida (9-0)
8 Georgia Tech (9-1)
15 Miami (7-2)
Clemson (6-3)
South Florida (6-2)
Georgia (5-4)
South Carolina (6-4)
Florida State (4-5)
Central Florida (5-4)

Southern
2 Alabama (9-0)
12 LSU (7-2)
Auburn (7-3)
Tennessee (5-4)
Ole Miss (6-3)
Mississippi State (4-5)
Southern Miss (5-4)
Vanderbilt (2-8)
Memphis (2-7)

Mid-South
3 Texas (9-0)
4 TCU (9-0)
Oklahoma State (7-2)
Oklahoma (5-4)
Texas Tech (6-3)
Arkansas (5-4)
Texas A&M (5-4)
Baylor (4-5)
UTEP (3-6)

North Central
5 Cincinnati (9-0)
9 Ohio State (8-2)
Notre Dame (6-3)
Michigan State (5-5)
Purdue (4-6)
Michigan (5-5)
Louisville (3-6)
Illinois (3-6)
Indiana (4-6)

Northwest
6 Boise State (9-0)
7 Oregon (7-2)
Oregon State (6-3)
Utah (8-1)
BYU (7-2)
Air Force (6-4)
Washington (3-6)
Colorado (3-6)
Washington State (1-8)

Southwest
10 USC (7-1)
Arizona (6-2)
Stanford (6-3)
California (6-3)
Fresno State (6-3)
UCLA (4-5)
Arizona State (4-5)
Hawaii (3-6)
New Mexico (0-9)

Northeast
11 Pittsburgh (8-1)
16 Penn State (8-2)
West Virginia (7-2)
Boston College (6-3)
Navy (7-3)
Rutgers (6-2)
Connecticut (4-5)
Syracuse (3-6)
Army (3-6)

Midwest
13 Iowa (9-1)
Wisconsin (7-2)
Nebraska (6-3)
Missouri (5-4)
Minnesota (5-5)
Kansas State (6-4)
Kansas (5-4)
Northwestern (6-4)
Iowa State (5-5)

Atlantic
14 Virginia Tech (6-3)
North Carolina (6-3)
Kentucky (5-4)
Wake Forest (4-6)
Duke (5-4)
East Carolina (5-4)
Virginia (3-6)
North Carolina State (4-5)
Maryland (2-7)

Project Playoffs: Chapter 4 –– The Playoffs

The final element of this new system of college football is that it will produce a playoff, the ultimate goal in providing an equal shot to teams deserving of competing for a national championship.

Using the new conference alignment, the top team in each conference will get an automatic spot in the postseason playoffs. The remaining seven at-large spots will be filled with the highest-rated teams.

For this web site, composite rankings put together by Kenneth Massey of mratings.com were used. A composite ranking system similar to that or the BCS formula should be used to rank teams because it gives the traditional polls a continued voice in the system and takes into account several versions of power ratings. However, we won't hand the BCS the absolute power to select the only two teams in the country that deserve the right to play for the title. Instead, the revised ranking formula will simply be used to seed the teams that make the playoffs.

Playoff games will take place at the higher-seeded team's stadium of choice with the lower seed getting 30 percent of the tickets. The site could include the higher-seeded team's regular home field or a nearby stadium that is larger. Some nearby cities may want to bid on moving playoff games to draw tourism dollars. Even though this practice could become bowl-esque, at least the game would actually mean something. Unlike now.

Click here to see an example of conference realignment and playoff seeding.

Project Playoffs: Chapter 3 –– Realignment

Under this new plan, the top 81 schools in the country are selected based on average home attendance figures regardless of current division status. For the latest example, attendance figures for 2009 were used to realign teams. A four-year attendance average could be used by the NCAA if this plan were ever to turn into reality.

It is only fair that the fans are rewarded for supporting their school. The top 81 schools for the new Division 1 represent the colleges with the strongest followings. There is not a fairer method of selection.

The new conferences produce natural regional rivalries and break up the segregation — in many senses of the word if you consider the number of traditionally black colleges forced to sit on the sideline of the national picture — that larger conferences have forced on smaller ones in the past. The divisions below Division 1 will also be comprised of nine conferences with nine teams each, except for the bottom conference, which will have slightly more because of uneven numbers. All totaled, this will encompass all schools playing college football in Division I-A, I-AA, II, III, and NAIA.

Teams will continue to play 12-game regular seasons, which will include eight conference games and four meaningful non-conference games that can help improve a team's seeding in the playoffs. Teams will be allowed to schedule only two games with a team in a division below its own and two games with a team in a division above its own. Having four non-conference games allows schools to continue playing teams they have built up natural rivalries with in the past that may not be in their new conference.

Some of the bowl games — at least the sites that don't have a large enough payout to get in the rotation for the national championship game — could remain for those teams that don't make the playoffs or switch to early season "classic" games.

The new system of divisions will also have a self-correcting element that will keep the best teams in the top division in college football. Each year the team with the worst composite ranking in each division will move down a division, while the winner of the national championship in each of the lower divisions will move up.

This system produces a natural incentive to stay competitive even when fighting for last place. Games for last place now become more important and will keep fans interested in even the worst teams with this new element of drama. It provides an opportunity for teams at all levels to move up. For those schools that feel cheated for being in a lower division, the power to move up is completely in their hands. The cream will rise to the top in this system of relegation.

Another possible element to the new conference system: Every four years the conferences could be realigned based on new average attendance figures for the previous period. If a team is consistently bad yet fans are interested enough to show up for games every week, the fans deserve to be rewarded by getting their team another shot in the top conference. This provides an incentive for athletic departments to keep ticket prices low in order to maintain attendance. More importantly, it provides an incentive for fans to keep coming to games since they can now actually influence a team's destiny every five or 10 years.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, what about all the other sports? The existing conferences would remain intact for all sports except football. Schools can retain their conference affiliation while at the same time producing a fair system for the one college sport that doesn't have a system that works.

Click here to read more about Project Playoffs in part 4.

Project Playoffs: Chapter 2 –– The Need

The college football system does not work. Why? The current conference alignments serve TV dollars and greedy university administrators rather than the student-athletes they hypocritically claim as the top priority, and the fans are left at the mercy of the latest whim of these powers that be.

Under this system, the major colleges are stretched to all parts of the country just for conference play, and the so-called "mid-major" schools have virtually no shot at success in the diluted pool that was formerly known as Division I-A and I-AA.

The trend toward two-division super conferences also doesn't work, since it is impossible to produce a true conference champion as long as all conference members don't play each other every year. What the SEC and others have produced under this system would be more appropriately titled the "TV champion." These teams have played just enough conference members to call it a season and cash in on the TV title game, which is an exercise in excess. There is no reason for any conference to have as many as 14 teams, other than the current fight for the top TV markets, of course. The big conferences have formed a monopoly with far-reaching geographical influence that hurts teams in and out of these big-money conglomerates.

Most importantly for initiating this new plan is that while the Bowl Championship Series formula is a small step in the right direction, time has shown that it has resulted in more problems than solutions. It is still not a valid means to produce a national champion in the title game, and it is virtually meaningless for all other bowls since teams don’t even match up based on 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6, etc.

Why even play the season if political maneuvering by bowl sponsors, host cities, and conference commissioners is going to affect where a team lands in the postseason? Selecting a team for a bowl based on the number of tickets that school will sell is a method more suited for a preseason exhibition than the postseason. It is counter to what you play the season for.

The college football structure needs complete reform — not just in the creation of a playoff system to replace the bowls, but also in the conference structure in order to better produce an equitable playoff system. Conference realignment is the first step.

The bowl system has been an important part of college football's history, but it currently serves little purpose other than to promote the host city's convention and visitor's bureau. It victimizes the fans and whores the colleges participating. When teams look at bowls such as the Independence Bowl as punishment rather than reward, and other bowls like the Las Vegas Bowl and the Hawaii Bowl frequently serve as host to their hometown teams, it simply cheapens the entire season.

Click here to read more about Project Playoffs in part 3.

Project Playoffs: Chapter 1 –– The System

What if the NFL played its season out, and then instead of having a playoff to determine who would play in the Super Bowl, the NFL decided to let cities across the country invite teams to play in postseason games in order to increase the host city's tourism dollars and promote the game's corporate sponsor?

The selection of teams to play in these NFL postseason games would be based on how much money that team could make for the host city by selling tickets and bringing fans to town, so teams in regions close to these games would have a distinct advantage in being invited even if a team had a relatively poor season. Then when all the postseason games were over, the NFL would leave it up to sportswriters and assistants of the coaches to vote to determine the NFL champion.

Also, it would be up to the teams to decide what conference they played in regardless of geography, which would allow all the most successful teams to band together to make more TV money for each other and keep the lesser teams from ever gaining success.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Yet that's just the system college football has in place.

Project Playoffs is a solution to the BCS. Its goal is to realign college football conferences into fair and competitive divisions resulting in a sensible playoff format that produces a true national champion absent of politics.

Quick facts about this proposed system for college football:

• Colleges separated into nine nine-team divisions based on goegraphy
• The top 81 schools for the top conference are chosen based on average home attendance
• Conference winners automatically advance to 16-team postseason playoff
• The remaining seven slots in the playoffs are filled by teams with highest composite ranking
• Playoffs held at higher seed's stadium of choice until championship game

Click here to read more about Project Playoffs in part 2.

E-mail designs of the week

Vote for your favorite.

Letters to Ramon: Week 11

"How the hell do my Sooners lose 9 starters to injuries in one season? It has been a very strange year. Hopefully the rest of the OU faithful also have the ability to just shake their heads and be grateful that this is an off year rather than an every year like so many schools. Just need to keep having teams come to Norman. At least the Jackets are kicking ass with some triple option." -- Sean O.

"Not a lot of points this week. How am I suppose to catch up to Beranek?" -- Tom Van Damme

"Interesting, you think Charlie Weiss is outta there? I think Urban Meyer would leave for Notre Dame given the opportunity." -- My D.

"Thanks for the shout-out. And thanks for mentioning God's team and Golden Tate (one of the greatest names ever for a college football player). I was part of the traveling squad that visited Notre Dame last weekend (as was Marvin, Bunny, Ronnie Jennings, John Menefee, Chris Blackmon and of course.... The Vird). It was an all-Catholic High grad weekend and was wonderful, except for Charlie Weis' play-calling." -- Anonymous S.

"Will riot police knock heads when the popped collar wearing frat boys at Ole Miss find another time to chant 'The South will rise again'?" -- HogTattoo

"Tennessee – Ole miss then will come back and beat LSU next week. Cal – Bear beats a Wildcat. I think Arizona are the wildcats. I thought maybe they had quit playing football." -- Trigger Happy Jack featuring Dipes

"What? No Iowa-Ohio State? I was looking forward to picking O how I hate Ohio State over the shitty Hawkeyes. Thank you Northwestern!" -- Sir Thomas

"That was a cute prayer, which is all I can say for ND for the way they treated Willingham. Weis is about what they deserved. Not gonna get Urban, go for Spurrier! Although I do not believe he would serve the Catholics well. Get an up and comer!!!!! Say like Gus Malzahn! Just kidding... it will be an interesting weekend for the Irish faithful! I am sure that some are hoping for defeat to end this 'painful' marriage..." -- Double R D Romeo

"The pac 10 really should not be allowed in this pool." -- Dr. Aristotle Ditka

"One of the hardest weeks IMO." -- Mike P.

"I don’t want to piss off God, so I’ll rest on my previous Notre Dame comments. On second thought, maybe God hates Notre Dame – that’s why they’re losing. I noticed SI projected the Hogs to play OSU in the Cotton Bowl. Would that be in the new Cowboys stadium or still in that old dump at the fairgrounds? Our seats for the Missouri game were on the first level but way towards the top, so we couldn’t see the far end zone or the goal posts. We had to rely on the crowd to tell us if a kick was good or not. And it was cold. And we were losing. One of our group declared it a “trifecta of misery” and left at halftime." -- Jeff G.

"Give me old man Kiffin's defense against Houston 'Nut-House' anyday." -- Steve N.

"Urban will never make it to SB... the wifie doesn't like the weather, but that was a nice prayer. Heaven, help us, we're going to get creamed, but at least then, we won't have to read about Charlie's job being on the line. But, who the heck are they going to hire??" -- Team Harold

"Yes, this is humiliating, but we'll deal with it. We're recruiting middle school players as we speak, so 2015 will be our year!" -- Cory I.

"Does Oklahoma State win some sort of prize for most appearances in the 2009 pool?" -- Glenn B.

"Kinda shooting for 0-5 now to win the futility award." -- Aggie Mark

"Is it too late to change our choices, given the news today about the 3 Tennessee players being transferred to play for the Tennessee Department of Correction?" -- Moose

"I am glad to see U of AZ on the list for this week!! Everyone in Tucson is happy to see them doing so well and even happier that they made the BCS standings. It has been along time since that has taken place." -- Vivian

"Hey, you know why nobody likes to tackle players from Texas Tech? Because they have TT on their helmets! Hahahahahhaha!" -- Danny K.

Early Game Start

It was announced this week that the Razorback game in Little Rock
next weekend will Kickoff @ 11;20. A lot of tailgaters will not be happy.
Here is this weeks haiku on the subject:
An early kickoff
Tailgaters are not happy
Start drinking early.