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Did you hear that huge wailing and loud cries of No, No, No shortly after Boise State snuck by Virginia Tech, 33-30.  Let me tell you where those cries were coming from.  They were coming from all of the current BCS schools presidents.  Hey guys you had better try some more quick conference realignments or readjust the current BCS formulas so it can favor your guys even more than it does.

This constant crashing or near crashing of your private party by Boise State, TCU and Utah is ugly.  You really should have put the Pac 20 together and the Big 10-50 or whatever they will be called when you had the chance.  I know you guys are all about the student athlete and care only about the fine tradition of college football.  You had this championship thing set up nicely in that only the biggest conferences could play for a National Title.  It was so sweet, all of that extra money and recognition.  You convinced everyone that those weak WAC teams and Mountain West Conference teams could not be on the same field as the real college football teams of the SEC, Pac 10 and Big 10.

Boise State beats mighty Oklahoma and most said it was a great game and Boise was lucky to beat the Sooners.  Utah beats Alabama and the tide apologists say, well, you know, Alabama really did not want to be there because there was a let down after they thought they would be in the championship game.  I cannot wait to hear the pundits crying about what may lie ahead after the Broncos beat the Hokies in their backyard.  They don’t play anyone!  They are not qualified to be in the final game.  No one would watch a game with Boise State playing for the title.  My favorite of course will be, the system is not fair!  Wha, wha, wha and ha, ha, ha.  No need for playoffs and when the system works for your conference, well everything is fine.

Non BCS teams have been on the outside looking in and maybe this year they will strike pay dirt.  Suddenly the system will not be fair.  Keep your ears open this week and listen for the cries!  Speaking of not playing anyone, VA Tech must regroup and play James Madison next week.  I knew they had a basketball team but did not realize they had a football team.

My quick run down of those weak Mountain West and WAC teams this opening weekend.  Utah beat Ptt, Fresno State beat  Cincinnati, BYU beat Pac 10 Washington, TCU beat Pac 10 Oregon State and Boise State finishes off Virginia Tech.  Speaking of the SEC how about Ole Miss getting beat by Jacksonville State.  Show me the hands of those that like me thought Jacksonsville State had to be from Florida.  Turns out they are from Alabama.  They are in the mighty Ohio Valley Conference.  Other Ohio Valley Conference winners were, Austin Peay and Tennessee State.  Southeast Missouri State did not win but they are an Ohio Valley Conference member as well.  How could an Ohio Valley Conference team even dare to step on the field with the so called Big Boys of the SEC.  I am cheering for Boise State, TCU and Fresno State this year.

Finally let me give you the California connection as I like to do in college sports.  There are 37 players on the Boise State roster that are from California.  I think that is a good reason to be a Bronco fan.  Their head coach is Chris Petersen and by all accounts he is a classy person.  He has a 50-4 record so far as the head coach and twice his team has gone undefeated.  Special note, Joe Paterno had five undefeated teams and his Penn State teams were denied three times a title because they were an independent and ” did not play anyone.”   Coach Petersen played quarterback at UC Davis and before that he played quarterback at Sacramento City College.  Austin Pettis from Orange Lutheran scored two touchdowns and Tommy Gallarda from Brea Olinda High School scored a touchdown against the Hokies.  All good reasons to cheer for the Broncos this year.

One last note on the Monday night game.  Was anyone else curious about the final Boise State drive when Pettis was hit out of bounds.  It looked like to me he was out of bounds and then kept running and the late hit came after he had already stepped out of bounds by Tech’s Bruce Taylor.  Can you have a late hit if the guy was out of bounds and the play should have been blown dead?  Just asking because that was a huge 15 yard penalty.  This season may be even better than last season.

If you go searching for the above branch of college sports you will find this header on a general listing for the NCAA, the partner to CBS College Sports Network.  NCAA.com - The Official Website of NCAA Championships The Official Website of the NCAA, partner of CBS College Sports Networks, Inc.  The most comprehensive coverage of NCAA Athletics on the web.  www.ncaa.com

Now I know many of you are going to quickly respond to the thought of, “Mark have you not watched March Madness or any other NCAA Championships?” YES I HAVE. But there is a word that bothers me here:  PARTNER: a person associated with another in some common activity, one of two or more persons who together own a business, a person playing on the same team as another, an ally, associate, colleague, or confederate.

People, I have worked in an industry for years who has cried about the type of association above, be it SAG, AFTRA, WGA or the DGA. For years, in the film industry, you have had producers who have also been writers, directors, actors or all of the above. When the time came to renegotiate labor agreements between management (producers) and the worker (actors, writers, directors) people have screamed conflict of interest. How can you have the board of any major union negotiate with the producers who work hand in hand with that union when you, the actor, are sitting across from the very production companies you own, Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Pierce Bronson?

So, someone explain to me how the two-faced NCAA is partnered up with a major network and looks out for the best interest of ALL the colleges, not just the major ones it supposedly represents. There is no way when you are sitting across from your BUSINESS PARTNER that you play hard ball and properly represent the third party, the colleges. Maybe that is the point, maybe they help produce revenue for the colleges in general, but do they truly represent the colleges?

If they represent the colleges, then why do they not try to better protect the colleges? When the Reggie Bush incident surfaced at USC and we the public were informed about it, I cannot believe that the NCAA did not hear about it before us. If we suppose they did, then why would they not step in and TELL the UNIVERSITY, the COACHES, the PUBLIC, the PARENTS and the PLAYERS that as of this day you are on NOTICE and THIS PLAYER shall stop X, Y and Z as of today if not…then words would spell it out. The NCAA is like the doctor who makes a public statement about drinking, smoking, sugar, and fats, but when you are present ignores the fact that you may be abusing all of them, and when you DIE says “Well, we suspected this all along and now we can prove it.” How idiotic is that?

The NCAA is an entity of big business sports television and there are those who find much more glamour, attention and overall recognition in pulling down top programs rather than trying to prevent top programs from tumbling. Plus, is there not that attitude in big business to pick and choose who can win and who can lose. We have seen that in the Bowl Championship Series, the picking of the regional’s in the NCAA baseball and softball tournaments. Yes, the NCAA is nothing more than an extension of getting into bed with outside of college big businesses. Sort of like the student athlete accepting an apartment from a local businessman not really associated with the college. I guess that is why the NCAA stands for No Crud Accepted Anytime!!!

YEAH RIGHT.

I am feeling somewhat blue now that the college football season is over.  No I do not count the various All Star games.  What a let down that Colt McCoy got hurt and missed most of the game.  He deserved better, we all deserved better.  I do not know if Texas would have won the game or not but it would have been fun to see.  Mark Ingram definitely impressed and proved he was a deserving winner of the Heisman Trophy.  It was good to see this Alabama team was motivated to play this year.  Since the BCS likes to play the game on paper I have decided to crown on paper Boise State as Co-National-Champions.  I guess that is what I will have to do for the next four years at least.

Three teams have ever finished the season 14-0.  Two of them were crowned BCS National Champions.  That would be Ohio State when they beat Miami and now this years Alabama team.  One team finished 14-0 and never even had a chance to play for the championship.  Boise State beat the Pac-10 Champs Oregon and then beat TCU.  TCU was favored and ranked higher in the BCS than the Broncos.  Most of the experts thought TCU would win and most thought they could play with the Tide and the Longhorns.  Somehow Boise overcame all of that and finished 14-0.  There was not much outcry because the system wins and most of the public accepts that you can not fight city hall.  So I will have my own individual protest and congradulate the Boise State team on being Co-Champs.  I counted 35 players on their roster from California so that is great representation for the National Champions.

I am not sure if you saw it or not but there is a new BCS executive director named Bill Hancock.  Bill has worked with the BCS for some time and no surprise here, he sees no reason to change.  They have a new four year contract with ESPN and so the playoffs will have to wait.  Bill says they will not go to a playoff system for some of the same great reasons you have heard before.  Come to think of it they are some of the same reasons I have heard from ESPN guys.  Playoffs lead to more injuries; conflicts with final exams; they would kill the bowl system; and it would diminish the importance of the regular season.  I am not sure but I heard that Mark McGwire had a hand in these reasons.  He and Bill both seem to have trouble with coming clean.

Some more quick notes on the season:  How bout my old guys Bobby and Joe coming through in the bowl games.  Guess the head coaches on the other side must have had the game pass them by.  Bowden finishes 7-6 and they run him out of town.  Lane Kiffin goes 7-6 and gets to be the head coach at USC.  Go figure, I guess Lane must be a bright new mind in the game.  Good choice bringing along his old man, Monte.

Back up quarterback Aaron Corp from USC is transferring to Richmond University.  Good luck to the former Orange Lutheran High School standout.

The Pac 10 went 2-5 in bowl games and the mighty SEC went 6-4.  By the way did you know that the mighty SEC Champs, Alabama played powerhouse teams like Florida International, North Texas and Tennessee-Chattanooga?  Here is another fact you won’t care about.  There have been twelve BCS Championship games and eight were decided by 10 or more points.  What incredible drama that is right?  In my opinion there are only two that really are memorable.  Ohio State over Miami and Texas over USC.  I did enjoy the tradition of having the game played on Thursday night.  Why I remember when I was a boy and all of my relatives would come over to celebrate New Year’s day on Thursday January 7th.  I have a tear in my eye right now thinking about how important tradition is in college football.  Thank you BCS supporters.

Let’s end on a positive note.  I suggest that every high school coach record the interview with Colt after the Championship game was over.  That should be shown to every high school and college team across America.  That was as classy as you can get.  The guy was so disappointed and yet he gave credit to his opponent, his team, his backup and said he had given his all.  I do not know if he and Tim Tebow will be great pros or not.  I want to thank them both for being great athletes and for being two great things about college football.

I was going to write about Jason Bay and his new four-year deal guaranteed for $66 million. Gosh and I say this with a straight face that is just a steal. Gosh the second coming of the Bambino hit .267 last year and a career high 36 home runs.  A penny below $66 million would be a sin.  Baseball owners continue to prove they are the dumbest of all sports owners.  I was going to rant about this contract but then I did an Urban Meyer. You know what an Urban Meyer is, a changing of the mind. I got soft and decided to go a different direction. I know American sports fans detest someone who changes their mind. I learned that earlier when BF or if you prefer, the despised Brett Favre changed his mind and was vilified for it. How great is it that Favre and Rodgers made the Pro Bowl? Where is all of the outrage about how terrible Urban Meyer is for changing his mind?  There was no outrage.

Having said all of this I still have not stated what I wanted to share with you. I have mentioned here many times about my strong desire for a college football playoff system. I took some heat for it and because of this I have my first New Years resolution. I have seen the light and the error of my misguided ways. I do not know what I was thinking. How could I have been so wrong, so stubborn and so far off base? Thanks to all of you that have convinced me that a college football playoff system just cannot be. There is no money to be made and no one would care if there was a playoff. I see now that it would be too hard on these put upon student athletes and their studies. I have heard conference commissioners wail about the logistics would be a nightmare.  I heard one commissioner talk of the fear he had that the poor athletes would be ground down by a playoff system.  Ignore the fact that there used to be an eight game schedule, a ten game schedule and now it is twelve or thirteen games. 

No, they are right, forget a shorter regular season because that is not a grind, just a playoff schedule. A playoff system could not work.  Please ignore the fact that the lower divisions have them and their kids seem to be fine.  Besides, I really enjoy the fact that there is over a month between the last regular season and the BCS Championship Game.  I did not realize before how many magnificent teams with a 6-6 record there are!  With a playoff, teams may have to have winning records and mercy, is that really what we should reward?  I say I now understand that the NCAA is just trying to make sure all 120 teams get into the post season.  How could I have been so foolish?

As a part of my new resolution for 2010 I am determined to find the most ridiculous sounding sponsors and I will not rest until even winless teams are rewarded with post season play that does not include a playoff system.  I have heard people say well look at teams in college basketball that are upset because they are not chosen.  Again, I was crazy and stand corrected. I was thoughtless and cruel to not understand that 65 teams make the NCAA basketball tournament.  Another 32 teams make the NIT but how could I not feel for that 98th team that did not quite make it in either tournament.  The old me would have said one word, Intramural!  But the new me says yes, there must not be anyone omitted.

Now that I have switched over to the anti-playoffs side, I think we should keep going. I say no playoffs for everyone!!!!  To you who may be getting excited about the upcoming NFL playoffs, I say, forget it! There should be no deciding a championship on the field.  Let’s just pick out two teams now to be in the Super Bowl.  Then let’s not even play that game.  Let’s just pick a winner on paper.  No World Series on the field again.  Think about how bad a seven game series between the same two teams is.  Forget a 162 game schedule on the field.  We can all just pick the winners and never even have to play a game.  Imagine how much time and energy could be saved.  We would not have to read the paper or check our computers for scores.  No Saturdays or Sundays watching TV!  More time for more important matters.  Student/athletes would not have to practice.  They could just study more.  We could just use video games to simulate what the action would be and the results would be.

In keeping with that thought, no conferences outside the BCS conferences would be allowed to participate in the simulated games.  I heard some people say that poor old Alabama last year was just not motivated when they played Utah in the Sugar Bowl.  They almost were in the BCS Championship Game and had to settle for a game against lowly Utah.  Poor Nick Saban makes four million a year and my goodness he could not get his players motivated.  There are five undefeated teams left in college football this year and only two have a chance at being the Champion.  Imagine the old me said that something was wrong with that.  The new me says, no worries.

I am just getting warmed up here but I will do you a favor and stop.  Last thing, are you with me?  What do you say?  No playoffs for everyone in 2010!  With this attitude I just may become president or a conference commissioner at a BCS school.  Thanks to all of you who made me see the light and be sure to watch the Insight Bowl as it will be outstanding.

As this year ends and I look forward to the New Year, I just hope that some of my holiday wishes come true.  Maybe the BCS will really understand that no matter what you (the BCS) do there is going to be many of us that will argue that your system is flawed and you should have left well enough alone. No playoff system, no computers judging teams, no strength of schedule, no more ranking all off the who, what, where of football. Let us go back to 7 to 8 traditional bowl games on New Year day and let us the FAN argue who should be number ONE (#1).

HEY NFL-the SUPER BOWL is about FOOTBALL, not the so-called build up that lets us the fan down because the hype is bigger than the game.  For all us hockey fans, I think all games should be played outside, it would shorten the season and hockey would only be played where hockey should be played, where it is freezing.

Not Below Average, I am sorry that is what I thought the N.B.A. initials stood for but I guess not, as this will be another year of sub par teams having a chance to call themselves WORLD CHAMPIONS. So may we have two divisions, those who can and those who cannot and the cannots are the NON-WORLD CHAMPIONS.

And let us call March Madness what it is: the madness of coaches and fans whose teams are left out of the elite group that is selected to play for an NCAA Championship.  Another tournament where we the fan can see a non-deserving team being crowned the best in the NCAA. HYPE-HYPE-HYPE. Plus if we are going to call it MARCH MADNESS let us put an equal sense of MADNESS for the MEN and the WOMEN, because some of us are FANS of both. EQUALITY!

Please someone shorten the season, Mike is eating too many post-game meals. Just how much baseball can we watch in sub zero winter gear? Mike looks horrible in a down filled jacket (he looks like an apple that should be dipped in caramel). Baseball is the game of spring, summer, and autumn, not the game of “it was a Cold Day at Lambeau field”.  Before I let you go baseball, how many bad teams do we have to watch? I feel as if you are taking on the NBA’s business plan. “psssst…hockey tried it and it does not work”.  Dump some clubs. Less teams, fewer games, more interest, and hey the season is shortened.

Watch out for that can, step over that person I think he is sleeping, for the rest of you NASCAR yahoos, please realize that there are other drivers out there that are not called “Junior”, I understand that fans love their heroes but NASCAR exist outside of the Confederate south. Wake up, you’re going to have an educated female driver on Junior’s teams, so understand that it is 2009 and fixing a flat is not done with bubble gum and you blowing on the tire stem  (The previous statement was not aimed at any NASCAR fans associated with SportsNetUSA.net).

Fore, or in the case of playing golf with any of us at SportsNetUSA.net, it is seven or eight. I will be the first to say-Michelle you may be on your way and that is good for the LPGA and that the shortened season will be good for women’s golf because then everyone will play. But please ladies stop hugging after you lose or play rotten, be like the rest of us ACT like YOU want to WIN. As a fan of the LPGA it drives me crazy that you just accept defeat as ho hum. As for the men, who cares? There are just too many mediocre millionaires, MEN SHOULD HAVE TO CUT THEIR GOLF PURSES SO THEY WORK FOR A LIVING.

Last but not least, could just once, or maybe even more than once, could a team WE broadcast for WIN an OVERTIME GAME, yes we are not just broadcasters we are FANS.

That’s it- Happy holidays from SPORTSNETUSA.NET and thank you all for listening to High School football, Fullerton College Football, Golden West Football, Sacramento City College Football, Anaheim Jr. Ducks Ice Hockey, Vanguard University Basketball and of course High School Sports Zone, Friday Night Mics and (New Notes! on 90.1 FM KBPK) have a great sports NEW YEAR

It has been a great year for college football and the end is near for this season.  Despite surprises and ups and downs this season looks to be headed for a pretty simple ending.  Here is how it looks to be shaking out as I see it.  The BCS final will have Florida as the number one team taking on the number two team, the Texas Longhorns.  Yes, both teams have not looked as strong as some expected but they both have continued to win.  Do you want to pick against Tim Tebow or would you prefer to pick against Colt McCoy?  I am leaning towards Texas to win it at this point.  Of course I would prefer to see a playoff and wouldn’t it be great to see a tournament with TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State and Oregon in the mix?

 Would someone please explain to me why we do not have a playoff, and come on, convince me.  No lame, it can not be done because of time away from their studies.  No lame, a playoff would take away from the regular season.  Give me a break.  This BCS system has made teams with two losses irrelevant as well as the bowl games.  We all know that the only bowl game that matters is the BCS final game and this year in keeping with “tradition”, it will be played January 7th at 5pm.  Is that really a Thursday night at the Rose Bowl?  That is just great tradition.  The only interest in the other bowl games will be alumni and fans of a particular school and the school getting paid to be in those bowl games. 

Watch the games and see how many empty seats there are.  How many empty seats would there be in a playoff system?  Tell me how many of these bowl games will you leave work early to see:  Meineke Car Care Bowl, Motor City Bowl, Insight Bowl, Brut Sun Bowl or the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl.  You had better soup up your Tivo or DVR. I counted 34 bowl games and if I am off my a game or two, well forgive me.  That means there are 68 teams playing in bowl games, over half of the 120 teams in FBS.  When did the term FBS come into play?  I hope the other schools that do not make it at least get nice participation ribbons.

The Heisman race looks to be a simple call as well.  The top four candidates come down to Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Mark Ingram and a late push for Toby Gerhart.  I think Ingram will finish fourth.  He has had a great year 1,429 yards, 12 touchdowns and a 6.5 yards per carry and his team is undefeated.  He is a great player but they will lose to Florida and he will lose his chance, plus he is only a sophomore.  Something I learned this week is this storied program of the Bear, Joe Willie Namath and Kenny Stabler has never had a Heisman Trophy Winner.  I was stunned!!  Toby Gerhart of Stanford came on strong late, 1,736 yards rushing with 26 touchdowns and a 5.6 average.  His team is 8-4 and they will not give it to a team ranked that low.  So in my book it comes down to Tebow and McCoy.  They have both had very good years but McCoy’s year is not as good as last years and Tebow’s is not as good as his Heisman winning season two years ago.  It is a  toss up.

I said at the beginning of the year that I was for McCoy and I will stand by that.  His touchdowns to interceptions is 27-9, 3,328 yards passing and he has a 71.8 percentage completion.  He ran for two touchdowns and 368 yards on the ground.  Tebow has 17 touchdown throws with 4 picks and a 66.4% completion rate.  He has thrown for 2166 yards, rushed for 796 yards and 13 touchdowns.  That is a great year for anyone but Tebow.  His sophomore year he was ridiculous.  He threw for 32 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions and he ran for 895 yards and 23 touchdowns.  Remember these two players should not have to be judged by their previous seasons.  They are competing only against other players and only for this season.  You can not go wrong with either one but I think McCoy wins a close one.

I said at the start of the season that I love college football and only a playoff would improve the game.  The athletes are great, there are great fans all over the country and there are many amazing coaches at so many schools.  If we could just get the big mucky mucks and this is a nice term for them, to see how great a playoff system would be.  Other college sports have playoffs and so do other divisions in football.  Pigheadedness, power and money are the only things stopping it from reality. 

Locally congrats to Marshall Sperbeck at Sacramento State as the Hornets finished 5-6 and beat rival UC Davis for the second straight year.  Sperbeck has the program headed in the right direction as he is getting more local recruits to stay home.  The UC Davis game at Sac State was the third largest home attendance mark.  The fans here are starved for a winner and I believe he will provide that soon.  Kudos to Dannie Walker the head coach at Sacramento City College who in his first season as the head coach guided his team to a 6-5 season and a bowl victory.  Coach Walker and his staff have a solid foundation on which to build for next season and also down the road.  Finally, speaking of coaches, my next entry will be about two old guys that have taken heat and deserve better.  So be ready to tell me why Paterno and Bowden must go.

I need to say this right up front, I am only joking about firing these guys.  These guys are all excellent coaches and Joe Paterno is an all time great.  I am not the type of fan that calls for guys losing their jobs very often.  Anyone that chooses to go into coaching gets the utmost respect from me.  Think about what is involved with being a college coach and only the most successful get credit.  Even the most successful coaches of all time like Paterno and Bobby Bowden are not immune to ridiculous criticism.

To begin with the college football coach is dealing with young athletes that are usually 18-24 years old.  He must recruit and coach athletes that are supremely talented and they know it.  He also must do the same with athletes that are not supremely talented and they do not know it.  He must follow all of the crazy rules that the NCAA has on the books, including do not visit with Deion Sanders.  He must organize a coaching staff that consists of coaches with varied talents, experience and motivations.  Some of these assistants may be eying his job.  He must answer to an athletic director, school president,  board of trustees, the media and alumni.  Then he goes out and puts his product on display in front of thousands and in the case of a top bowl game, before millions counting tv viewers.

How would you like people watching you at your office and yelling each time you made a move or having it taped and played later that day over and over.  Work highlights or low lights and let’s run it over and over and check out different angles as you type on your keyboard.  Remember the Peyton Manning commercial, Cut that meat, cut that meat.  Then, not only are you trying to have your team accomplish its goal, there are other guys trying to stop you from getting there.  Again imagine you need to call a client by one but you must first get past eleven people surrounding your phone.  Whew, I am tired just thinking about it.  I know, some of you will respond, well that is what they chose to do and what they get paid for.  With that said let’s check out what the above guys got paid for.

Pete Carroll and his Trojans come back after losing to Oregon with a resounding victory over ASU 14-9.  Kirk Ferentz and his undefeated team lose Ricky Stanzi and lose to power Northwestern.  With Stanzi out, I am afraid the Hawks will lose this week to Ohio State.  Big Game Bob Stoops loses 10-3 to Nebraska.  The old Sooners under Stoops used to score more than three points before the anthem had ended.  The great Joe Paterno (many of you think Joe is too old to get it done) his Lions lost to Ohio State.  Then there is new head coach Chip Kelly that was headed for the genius status after pasting USC, the Ducks lost to power house Stanford.  Stanford had not been bowl eligible since 2001.  The Sports Dr. loudly proclaimed last week that Oregon could play with any team in the country.  Sports Dr., they can play with any team except a team from a conference that is not part of the BCS and another team whose mascot is a menacing tree!  The Pac 10
has many good teams but no BCS quality team this year.  They will probably do well overall in bowl games but there is not standout team.  So good luck to the aforementioned coaches in the what have you done for us lately world of college football.

What a job Jim Harbaugh is doing at Stanford.  His first head coaching job at San Diego University he went 29-6.  You have to love his attitude and enthusiasm.  Did you know he went to Palo Alto High School?  Some more facts about Harbaugh I was not aware of.  He played 15 years in the NFL and ranks 35th all time in completions, 39th in pass attempts and 48th in passing yardage.  His redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck is the son of Oliver Luck.  Oliver Luck for those of us old enough to remember was a back up quarterback for the Houston Oilers.  His tailback is Toby Gerhart from Norco High School and last week rushed for a record 223 yards.  We will find out if they are for real this week as they play the Trojans.

Other games to watch for are undefeated TCU colliding with 8-1 Utah.  These teams are led by two great coaches in Gary Patterson and Kyle Whittingham.  Two more great coaches have their teams squaring off: Pat Hill of Fresno State and Chris Ault of Nevada.  I have great concern for Jahvid Best and his health and future.  Last point, I  said it earlier and I will say it again now.  When is the last time Charlie Weis was called a genius?

All football coaches know that for them the past is truly only history and ancient history at that.  They must answer the question of what have you done for us lately.  So Pete, what you have done lately is lose two games in one season and last week your team was throttled by Oregon 47-20.  In keeping with the BCS standards (that is where the games are played on paper and on computers) let us take a hard look.  The Trojans lost to Oregon by 27 and the Ducks were defeated by Boise State 19-8 so on paper a Boise State-USC game would have the Broncos winning by 38 points or so.  That will not get it done Pete.  USC has higher standards than that for crying out loud.  The patient alumni will not stand for it.  I can hear the cries for Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett now.  What is John Robinson doing these days?  I know coach McKay is gone but maybe we could get anyone with the last name of McKay be it Bob or Steve.

So Pete do you have anything to say in your defense?  Do not bring up that you have a higher winning percentage than Bobby Bowden and everyone’s favorite Pa, Joe.  What have they done lately?  Those guys are old and should have left a long time ago.  Do you really want to be like Joe Paterno, Pete?  Do you really want to represent all that is good in college football; have kids graduate, have a winning program and numerous players in the NFL? Is that what it has come down to? 

The good people at USC deserve BCS Championships and even when they do not win they deserve to think they should have won it.  If your team loses another game even they cannot say they were the best team at the end of the year.  I know you have won 7 Pac Ten titles in a row and have played in 7 consecutive BCS Bowl games.  Yes you have gone 6-1 in those games and only one of the greatest performances ever by Vince Young stopped you from being 7-0.  Okay, I will give you the 3 Heisman Trophy winners you have coached and possibly another one in a year or two. 

You have gone 16-2 against Notre Dame and UCLA in your eight plus years as the head coach.  Probably should have left this last one out because really how good are those two schools.  Let’s move on, in November you are 27-0 and you had an 86% winning percentage coming into the season.  You have also had 53 players drafted by the NFL, however if the Raiders drafted them they really shouldn’t count.  Hmmm, I guess you have had some success and maybe I have been too harsh in my initial assessment of your job.  So let’s leave it at this.  Pete if you win out the rest of your games and can somehow salvage the season at 10-2 along with a bowl victory then you can stay.  Should you lose three games we will have to talk.

For fans of football played in the state of California I have an interesting cap per to the USC-Oregon game.  You have heard all of the stories about people in Oregon hating Californians for a variety of reasons, right?  I counted 63 players on the Oregon roster from our fine state of California and did not find one player from Oregon on the USC roster.  So the people of Oregon may hate us for whatever reasons but they like our football players.  Imagine if those kids stayed home.

Big games this week are LSU at Alabama, Oregon at Stanford and Penn State at Ohio State.  I know that the national media wants to believe that they only real football is played in the SEC.  Is anyone else rooting for Iowa, Cincinnati, Boise State and TCU?  Wouldn’t a playoff this year be great?  Wouldn’t a playoff next year be great?  Wouldn’t a playoff before I am dead be great?  I will keep dreaming.