A Mid-Majors BCS Championship Dream

We're officially one week away from the kick-off of the College Football season and ESPN is already calling it a "September to Remember."   The NCAA has graced us with a non-conference slate that includes 12 games between pre-season Top 25 teams in the first four weeks alone.  And if you aren't salivating yet, 5 of those 12 games feature a Top 5 program.

But what we'll remember up here in the Bleachers is not how many elite games we had the privilege of watching while Bama's Roll Tiding over the Buckeyes in the BCS Championship, if you prefer to listen to the pundits.  No, we'll remember the little guy catching a break for once.

As it stands right now, the five best teams in college football, according to the AP Top 25, are Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State, Florida and Texas in that order.  For those of you that just did a double take there's no need to adjust your screen, you read it right, Boise State is ranked number 3 in the nation.  The same Bronco football team that is best known for playing on "Smurf Turf", the hook and ladder and that running back who proposed to a cheerleader after beating Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

I'll be the first to say it, seeing the WAC's finest near the top of college footballs biggest poll seems a little odd, and I've been singing the praises of Little Brother U for quite some time.  No more than a decade ago the thought of a mid-major earning pre-season recognition was still considered laughable, hell, prior to this year no mid-major had even started a season higher than number 14.

Here we are however, theoretically just one Bama/Buckeye loss away from witnessing our first small school playing for a National Championship in the modern era.  And that's the beauty of it, with just that one loss the Bronco's are in complete and total control over their future.  Some might argue that an undefeated Florida or Texas would leap frog an undefeated BSU, but Boise's athletic department did one hell of a job setting up a schedule to help steer off the naysayers.

The Broncos start off the season at a not so neutral site against 10th ranked Virginia Tech and then host 24th ranked Oregon State two weeks later with a breather game against Wyoming between them.  Assuming Boise enters October with a 3-0 record, their chances of running the table are better than excellent.

As for that one loss needed from Alabama or Ohio State, the Tide face a beast of a schedule that includes 5 games against the preseason Top 25 and a trip to the SEC Championship en route to an undefeated season.  Ohio State must face 4 ranked opponents (all in the Top 20) and a potentially dangerous rivalry game to the end season.  Although I am very confident Alabama can run the table, I just don't see Ohio St. making it through a schedule that features Miami, Wisconsin, Iowa and Penn State with a clean record, they normally have trouble if they have to face two ranked teams.

This leaves one lose end that could make things a little unsettling for Bronco fans come bowl season, the teams just behind Boise in the rankings.  Florida can't leap frog BSU without beating Alabama, and if Florida beats Alabama, the Gators would just assume the position they knocked the Tide out of.  Then there's the Big XII.  Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska are all in the Top 10.  In order for Texas to leap frog Boise they will have to beat Oklahoma and Nebraska in consecutive weeks plus win the conference championship while replacing their record setting quarterback and five other picks taken in the first four rounds of this years draft.

Oklahoma will have to beat Florida State, Texas and win the Big XII championship game with a still inexperienced QB, a new LT and defense that lost a vast majority of its starters from 2010.  Nebraska will have to go undefeated and possibly beat Texas twice in the same year without Ndamukong Suh to make up for a lack luster offense.  At best, one team will make it through the Big XII undefeated, and that is a tall feat considering no other conference lost so many key difference makers to the NFL.

Now, this isn't a guarantee that we'll be watching Boise play for the Sears trophy come January, but don't be surprised to see it happen either.  In the end, an undefeated BSU will probably do just enough to earn a shot at the title should Alabama and Ohio State not go a combined 25-0.  And if Boise does end up losing a game this year the dream of a mid-major champion isn't completely dead, after all, TCU is ranked number 6.

Is this Heaven? No, it's College Football

On a glorious fall afternoon on September 13, 2009, the Football gods decided to bless us with an amazing gift, NFL Red Zone. 

The intro rolled and there stood Scott Hanson, the face that would forever change Sunday afternoons.  One man offering football fans "Every Touchdown From Every Game."  It was to be a station like none other; no commercials, every score and live look-ins decided entirely by what games are the most intriguing at that moment.  No longer were football fans throughout the midwest forced to watch the St. Louis Rams get the business when they would have much rather been watching the Texans and Titans dual it out in an offensive slobber knocker.

And as myself and a few of my friends sat down on that glorious September afternoon with our jaws dropped in awe, you could just hear John Kinsella ask his son Ray, "Is this Heaven?"

We weren't in Iowa nor did we go have a catch, but for once, the corn field in Central Illinois this writer calls home seemed a little more tolerable. 

Now, with a new season under way and the Red Zone just a week away from it's triumphant return, everything seems right in the world.  But what about the NFL's younger brother, the NCAA.  The college game goes hand in hand with its professional version, after all, you can't have a football weekend with out college Saturday.

Games are being aired all day on the ESPN family of networks, Fox Sports has it's Big 12 and Pac 10 games of the week, the SEC and BigTen networks air every game the conference plays that week while the major networks show the weeks premiere match ups and, for some reason beyond me, still shows Notre Dame.

As a college purist, I find myself spending my entire Saturday glued in front of my television.  From the second College Gameday starts until the final whistle blows on the last west coast game I am riveted.  But what if the NCAA were to take a page from the NFL's book and start its own Red Zonesque station(s).

Imagine the possibilities. The NCAA "College Ticket," every college game as it's happening.   One second you could be watching Terrelle Pryor roll out in a naked boot for another Buckeye touchdown and then instantly be sent down to North Carolina where Robert Quinn and the bruising Tar Heel defense slam the door on a goal line stand.  Most importantly, you'll never again have to miss a stunning upset because you figured there was no reason to waste your time watching Michigan vs. Appalachian State.

And if that all seems to overwhelming to watch at one time, it can be easily broken down as well.  Break the games up and show them on regional stations.  Could conference sponsorships bar separation of certain teams in different regions?  Possibly, but that can be over worked by simply breaking the games up into a BCS Station and a Mid-Major Station.
 
As far as this writer is concerned, the only problem facing the college game is that it's just too big.  There's entirely way too much to watch without devoting your entire day to the game.  And trust me, you are still left catching up on everything you just weren't able to watch.  Imagine knowing who Ndamukong Suh was prior to the Big 12 championship game or being able to catch the rise of UCLA and Oregon State without having to see them play USC.
 
It's a problem the NFL realized and did an amazing job fixing and it would serve the NCAA well to figure out how to harness in the potential of a "College Ticket"