Is anyone really paying attention to the college football world as March Madness is upon us? I know I still care about college football and all it’s glory, but the college basketball tournament really helps occupy the time during this slow period. I enjoy looking for the next “Cinderella” in the March Madness tournament. I think everyone likes looking for that underdog.
I hope that with the upcoming playoffs, we are able to get an underdog here and there and it does not become the same teams over and over again. Or maybe the same teams showing up year after year will make the playoffs expand … we do have the LSU vs Alabama rematch that got us the playoffs. Well let’s get into some news and thoughts:
1) Texas has fallen! That is the only way to look at the mess left behind with them “dismissing” Mack Brown. After interviewing a few main Texas high school coaches, they found that most schools would rank Texas A&M and Baylor before putting Texas on their list. If Baylor is ranked ahead of Texas, it just goes to show how much work Charlie Strong has to do in the next season or two. Baylor used to be one of the worst programs in the history of the BIG-12.
Texas some how allowed themselves to be outdone by a school with nothing compared to them. Texas used to be able to just show up at a high school in Texas or a Texas recruits house and it was a done deal. Now Texas has to get in line when it comes to recruiting in their own state. Charlie Strong is a fierce recruiter and will get back the fire and restore Texas to it’s rightful place in the “pecking” order down in the Lone Star state.
2) We all knew the BCS was a joke. Sure it provided some great games, but in the end it had to go. Read “DEATH TO THE BCS” to understand the scam of what the BCS was running. In recent news the “CEO” of the Fiesta Bowl was sentenced to 8 months in prison for “illegal” use of funds. Just read the article and see where and how he was spending the money. What a joke!
Schools go broke when they go to a bowl game because of all the ticket sales and hotel room rules and regulations … really they are in place so these “fat cats” can keep on living the high life. Google “UCONN loses money in fiesta bowl” and you will see how teams are “rewarded” for going to a BCS bowl game.
I know the March Madness basketball tournament is successful because of how they run their model. That tournament rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars and schools are able to get a share and keep on going. The Bowl system in college football needs to rethink how they do things and the NCAA needs to help straighten out things so the bowl games are not taking schools for all they are worth. The next time you see a school such as Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl … be glad for their achievement but sad because of how much it is “breaking the bank.” On a side note, 3 bowls are going to be audited by the IRS now. I am sure they are thinking, “Thanks, Fiesta Bowl!”
3) Despite the horrible season they had compared to their high expectations, Northwestern is able to give us a little positive light during this off season outside of the “union case.” Northwestern is going to build a multi-purpose facility on the water. It looks like an amazing venue and will be another game changer in the world of recruiting for Northwestern. I would be interested in polling recruits and seeing if their main draw to a school is because of buildings like these being built or what the main reasons are.
So we have a little news coming out of the college football world but most of the country’s attention has been turned from the football fields over to the basketball courts for the next 3-4 weeks. Continue to enjoy the off season. We will have spring ball here before you know it and then we will be able to get a better feel for our favorite teams and what we might expect from them in the 2014 season. PLAYOFFS BABY!
Now here are some great Oregon football highlights to hold you over until next week:
NATIONAL NEWS:
1. Cinderella in the playoffs?
2. College football mailbag
3. Stadium needs some work
4. SEC vs PAC-12
5. The new voice
Related Articles:
Jeff Hostetler may not have won a Super Bowl with the Giants ( though his uncle of the same name did). He has been an obsessed college football fan living in Florida ever since the Gators beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl to earn the UF’s first national championship.
Ever since Jeff has immersed himself in everything possible related to college football. He enjoys watching, writing, playing, and otherwise obsessing over all things football. A graduate of the University of Florida, he brings a perspective to FishDuck free of our extreme green & yellow homerism glasses to look at the current landscape of collegiate athletics.