Florid Beats Ohio State - 86-60

Nope, this is not a BCS game yet. This is just a basketball game. And yes Florida took the first blow and would like to second that in the BCS National Title game. It is speculated that Thad Matta, coach of Ohio State, might have wrote something like "We're gonna beat your $$s in the BCS game" that might motivated the Florida Gators to work even harder. Well, if this is a good indication that they are going to beat Ohio State, then the Buckeyes might work even harder to get their basketball counterparts a good revenge. But can they beat them by 26 points (that's 3 touchdowns and two field goals).

The long lay-off can make or break a team. You have to remember that the Buckeyes will have at least 51 days in between their last game and the BCS game. It's good because you can rest and recover from injuries. It's bad because you can be a lot rustier and might have lost some of the momentum that they were carrying before. Anyways, it is still predicted that Ohio State will beat Florida but anything can happen. They predicted USC to beat Texas last year and Oklahoma to beat USC the other year and you know what happens!

Troy Smith Wins AP Player of the Year

Troy Smith has added another award to his collection. After winning the Heisman Trophy last week, Smith won the AP Player of the Year. If Ohio State wins the National Title, then Smith will join a few players that have won the Heisman, AP, and the National Championships.
Below are the list of the previous AP Player of the year winners:


2005 -- Reggie Bush, RB, Southern California
2004 -- Matt Leinart, QB, Southern California
2003 -- Jason White, QB, Oklahoma
2002 -- Brad Banks, QB, Iowa
2001 -- Rex Grossman, QB, Florida
2000 -- Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma
1999 -- Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin
1998 -- Ricky Williams, RB, Texas

Stanford hired former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh

After going 1-11, Stanford fired their old coach, Walt Harris, and hired former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh, who coached the University of San Diego. Can he return Stanford back into the winning glory the way Ty Willingham did a few years ago?

"Stanford has won just 16 games in the past five seasons under Harris and Buddy Teevens, and have to struggled to compete in the Pac-10 since Tyrone Willingham left for Notre Dame following the 2001 season.
The first challenge for Harbaugh will be recruiting talented players who can meet Stanford's stringent academic requirements. Harris and Teevens both struggled in that aspect of the job.
Harbaugh was a star in college at Michigan, finishing third in the voting for the 1986 Heisman Trophy award. But he does have ties to Stanford, where his father, Jack, served as defensive coordinator in 1980-81. Harbaugh spent his final two years as a prep player at Palo Alto High School before going to Michigan.
Harbaugh worked as a volunteer assistant for his father at Western Kentucky during his NFL career. He was an assistant with the Oakland Raiders before taking the job at San Diego. "
Read More from espn.com

AP TOP 25 (Basketball) - week of Dec 11-17

Well, it's been really quite with football since the first bowl games will probably start next week. In the meantime, I am switching gears and looking at the AP top 25 in college basketball. Ben Howland, coach of UCLA, must have really smiling as the top two teams in the poll is his own, UCLA, and the team that he used to coach, Pittsburgh. He probably still have some of the players he recruited and the fact that his former assistant is taking the school into a new level.

AP Top 25
1. UCLA (58)
2. Pittsburgh (11)
3. North Carolina (1)
4. Ohio St. (2)
5. Florida
6. Duke
7. Wisconsin
8. Wichita St.
9. Alabama
10. Arizona
11. Kansas
12. LSU
13. Texas A&M
14. Connecticut
15. Oklahoma St.
16. Gonzaga
17. Washington
18. Butler
19. Memphis
20. Marquette
21. Notre Dame
22. Oregon
23. Syracuse
24. Air Force
25. Nevada

from yahoo.com - sports section

Troy Smith Wins Heisman

As expected, Troy Smith was awarded the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding college football in the US.
"Just two years after nearly derailing his career by taking money from a booster, Smith received 801 first-place votes and won the Heisman by 1,662 points -- both the second-best marks in the 71-year history of the award.
Arkansas running back Darren McFadden (878) finished second, Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn (782) was third and West Virginia running back Steve Slaton (214) was fourth. "


Smith locks down Heisman Trophy ahead of McFadden, Quinn from CBS Sporting News.

Heisman Finalist Announce

Just like last year, there are only three players (two quarterbacks and a running back) invited as the finalist in the 2006 Heisman Trophy presentation. The players selected are quarterback Troy Smith of Ohio St., quarterback Brady Quinn of Notre Dame, and runningback Darren McFadden of Arkansas. Last year's finalist were Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush of USC, and Vince Young of Texas. Leinart and Young were both quarterbacks while Bush was a runnningback.

Throughout the season, Smith has been the favorite to win the Heisman race. I don't see any potential upset from either of the other finalist. However, come NFL draft time, I can see Quinn and McFadden being drafted ahead of Smith.

A Look At the Other BCS Dilemma

Every year, the BCS formula is tweaked to fix the previous dilemma. The problem is that a new dilemma is created. And there goes a new cycle again. Teams, coaches, players, fans and the media will be rallying again to put a play-off system. BCS officials are saying that the sports are taking up too much time from the student if they extend the season. In addition, they contend that it makes the regular season more interesting. The play-off system doesn't seem to be a problem with basketball, or with non-Division I-A football leagues.

A look at the BCS dilemmas:
2001: Oregon was left out of title game eventhough the team was ranked no. 2 in both polls.
2003: USC was ranked No. 1 in both polls but was left out of the BCS championships resulting in two national champions - USC and LSU. Isn't the BCS created to prevent this in the first place?
2004: 12-0 Auburn left out of title game allowing Oklahoma and USC to play for the championships
2006: 11-1 Michigan left out of title game although the team lost by only three points in a game against the No. 1 team on its own turf. I'd loved to see that game again in a neutral site.

2007 BCS BOWL MATCH-UPS from espn.com

BCS Championships (Fiesta Bowl) : Ohio State vs. Florida - Jan 8
Rose Bowl by Citi : Michigan vs. USC - Jan 1
Orange Bowl by Fed-EX : Louisville vs Wake Forest - Jan 2
Fiesta Bowl by Tostitos : Oklahoma Vs. Boise State - Jan 1
Sugar Bowl by All State : Notre Dame vs. LSU - Jan 3

Quick Facts:
Rose Bowl kept its traditional match-up of Big Ten vs. Pac-10
The Sugar Bowl is going back to the New Orleans Dome giving LSU, somewhat, a home field advantage over Notre Dame.
There are three newcomers in the BCS match-ups: Louisville, Wake Forest and Boise State.
Notre Dame gets to keep all of the $14.5 million purse.
Oklahoma is wondering what could have been had it not for the bogus replay call when they played the Oreogn Ducks.
This year, the BCS added another Bowl Game to give two additional at large berth.
Boise State is the second school from the non-BCS conference to make it in BCS, Utah was the first.

BCS Standings Week 15 from espn.com

Team Record Avg.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes 12-0 .999
2. Florida Gators 12-1 .944
3. Michigan Wolverines 11-1 .934
4. L-S-U Tigers 10-2 .832
5. U-S-C Trojans 10-2 .795
6. Louisville Cardinals 11-1 .794
7. Wisconsin Badgers 11-1 .748
8. Boise State Broncos 12-0 .709
9. Auburn Tigers 10-2 .648
10. Oklahoma Sooners 11-2 .629
11. Notre Dame 10-2 .628
12. Arkansas Razorbacks 10-3 .516
13. West Virginia 10-2 .507
14. Wake Forest 11-2 .431
15. Virginia Tech 10-2 .428
16. Rutgers 10-2 .409
17. Tennessee 9-3 .385
18. California 9-3 .360
19. Texas 9-3 .287
20. B-Y-U 10-2 .208
21. Texas A&M 9-3 .146
22. Oregon State 9-4 .143
23. Nebraska 9-4 .093
24. Boston College 9-3 .088
25. U-C-L-A 7-5 .064

Final BCS Standings, Another Controversy

The BCS final tally ends in another controversy. With Florida beating Michigan by a mere .01, Ohio State finally found a date in its dance in the BCS National Championship in Glendale, AZ on Jan. 8. I just really hate to see teams beating other teams not on the field but by the votes and complex calculations of the computers. It seems that a lot of voters didn't really want to see an Ohio State-Michigan re-match as Florida jumps ahead of Michigan in both the people's polls. The two teams seem pretty even in the computer rankings. Does it really matter if we see a re-match in the championships? In NCAA basketball, if we see UCLA plays Arizona or North Carolina plays Duke for the 4th time for the national championships, people will seem to accept that. Also, the whole BCS hoopla seem to devalue the other major bowls. Back in the days, Pac 10 and Big Ten representative get really excited when their teams are reaching the Rose Bowl. Now, I've never seen two teams who seem so disapointed in reaching the Rose Bowl. To both teams, it seems that the Rose Bowl is just a consolation prize. How can teams not be happy on the granddaddy of them all!! Enough said, the BCS officials need to start implementing a play-off format and let those players decide it on the field. No more of those teams getting left out but deserve the chance.