The Pious Arm of the NCAA Must Go

It's been a scandal ridden off-season for college football, with Columbus, Ohio serving as the epicenter.

Beloved Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel basically had no choice but to resign amid a coverup that athletes received extra benefits against collegiate rules. Then, Ohio State's star quarterback Terrelle Pryor said enough is enough to the media pressure, and left school for his role in the mess.

Coupled with what's going on in Columbus, with the fact that athletic administrators in Southern California were packing up its 2004 BCS championship crystal, and the bad headlines are everywhere.

That recent news comes on the heels of a scandal-plagued season, with NCAA investigators scrambling from coast-to-coast, and completely botching the Cam Newton pay-for-play fiasco.

The NCAA is a voluntary association, whose schools agree upon the rules, but it has turned into bureaucracy run amok. The organization has so many arcane rules it cannot even remotely begin to keep track of what's going on at college campuses.

The NCAA did not uncover the Ohio State scandal, and it certainly did not light the world on fire by exposing the Reggie Bush scandal. The NCAA's investigative arm cares a lot more about the public perp walk than the nitty-gritty of catching all the criminals.

So why even waste time with the pretense of the NCAA?

The money's there for major college football to split. The Pac-12 conference just inked a $3 billion, 12-year contract with ESPN and Fox, just the newest of the mega television contracts.

It would be a complicated divorce, but doable.

If the university brass from the Ohio State's, Florida's and Texas' wanted to form an independent group, they could. And it would probably bring change to college football much faster than the NCAA is willing to adapt.

'Best damn' Legos in the land

There are some things that are just too cool not to pass along.

Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, and more people seem to hate The Ohio State Buckeyes, what Paul Janssen has created is amazing.

The associate professor in OSU's Physiology and Cell Biology Department recently finished a multi-year project building a replica of the Buckeyes' famed Ohio Stadium with Legos.

Janssen's "Horseshoe" is built at a scale of 1:120, which took him two years to build, and even more to plan. He's now getting some national press for his creation, talking to NPR's Robert Siegel on All Things Considered.

See more of the results of this project in the full photo gallery by The Columbus Dispatch.

NCAA fearless predictions: Version 2k10

I'm ready for the new season of college football. So ready in fact, I'm a week ahead of myself for when games actually kick-off.

Regardless, we can't turn the page on a new season without some fearless and bold predictions. There's a good chance come January, I won't want to look back at these...

Boiler Up! Purdue is going bowling this year especially since its playing a schedule that was a BCS-worst 67-81 in 2009.

UConn will contend for the Big East title, but will come up just short. Also, don't expect Cincinnati, who lost head coach Brian Kelly to Notre Dame, to fall off the wagon.

Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins (16-33 at CU) might just be coaching intramurals by season's end.

Hawkins failures, compounded with Dirk Koetter's snafu at Arizona State (40-34, 2-19 vs. ranked teams) means current Boise State head coach Chris Peterson will be a Bronco for life, despite a disappointing 10-3 season this year for the Smurf turfers.

The Big 12 won't be staying at 10 teams for long. Great seasons by TCU and Houston will fast track them for membership in the new Texas-centric conference.

Nevada's Colin Kaepernick is probably the quarterback you haven't heard of. You'll know about him by the end of the year.

Florida State QB Christian Ponder will pass himself into the Heisman lead by the beginning of October and won't look back.

What about last year's Heisman winner Mark Ingram? Ingram will have fewer total yards from scrimmage then Alabama backfield partner Trent Richardson.

The Crimson Tide will still win the SEC, but will be considered this year's biggest disappointment. It's all relative, because anything less than a second straight trip to the BCS title game will be considered a failure. I don't see that happening because...

A non-AQ will play for the national championship. Which brings to the rest of my predictions.

Conference Champions:

ACC: Florida State (Atlantic), Virginia Tech (Coastal)

Big 10: Ohio State

Big 12: Oklahoma (South), Nebraska (North)

Big East: Pittsburgh

Pac-10: Oregon

SEC: Alabama (West), Georgia (East)

C-USA: Houston

MAC: No. Illinois

Mt. West: TCU

Sun Belt: Middle Tennessee

WAC: Boise State, Nevada (tie)

BCS Bowl Predictions

ROSE BOWL: Oregon vs. Texas

FIESTA BOWL: Oklahoma vs. Arizona

ORANGE BOWL: Florida State vs. Pitt

SUGAR BOWL: Alabama vs. Miami

TITLE GAME: Ohio State vs. TCU

He's no Montana, not even close

If you're trying to figure out the next media crush when Florida quarterback Tim Tebow graduates, look no further than USC's Matt Barkley.

After one collegiate game SI.com writer Stewart Mandel set off a barrage of anger when he compared the Trojans freshman QB to All-time great Joe Montana. Things have gotten worse since USC stole a win last Saturday in Columbus.

LA Time's columnist Bill Plaschke wrote "the questions that had dogged the USC football program for several weeks were stunningly answered Saturday night with two words. Matt. Barkley."

Fanhouse's Jay Mariotti wrote "never have I seen a quarterback so young, in a game with Bowl Championship Series implications, carve out an epic 86-yard rally in an enemy setting." Others evoked images of a John Elway-esque drive.

This has been bugging me all week. Were they watching the same game I was?

I give USC lots of credit for the win. And yes, Barkley was taking snaps on the final drive but what did he really do?

Give the ball to tailback Joe McKnight. McKnight lead the Trojans down the field on that "epic" drive, circa Reggie Bush. Bush bailed out USC time-and-time again during his time in LA.

Barkley completed three throws on the final drive, though two of them were dump off passes. For the game the freshman was a pedestrian 15-of-31 passing for 195 yards, zero touchdowns and one interception (yawn).

Call me crazy, I just don't see the Montana or Elway comparisons. Barkley could develop into that type of player one day, but it's clear he's not there yet. I wouldn't even say he's as good as Mark Sanchez.

As for the game 18-15 victory, I'd say Barkley & Co. are lucky referees continue to conform to human nature, and err a lot.

NCAA Kickoff: Why does the Big 10 stink?

It's been one of the most discussed topics over the past couple years, what's wrong with the Big Ten? While it's growing stale, the question still merits a discussion.

One problem the Big Ten has is Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans. Since 2002, Southern Cal has enjoy quite the renaissance and has feasted on the Big Ten's Rose Bowl participant. Michigan fell 32-18 in 2006, Illinois, who didn't belong and proved it, got obliterated 49-17 and Penn State experienced a similar fate last year falling 38-24 in the granddaddy of all bowls.

For casual football fans the Big Ten Rose Bowl blunders look like incompetence, but the truth of the matter is give Carroll a month to prep and he'll make 116 out of 120 teams look silly. You can't blame the Big Ten on that count.

But there is a BIG bowl problem. The conference went just 1-6 in postseason games in 2008 and hasn't produced a winning bowl record since 2002. And they've gone 3-8 in the Bowl Championship Series the last six years, including big flops from Ohio State. 

Right there is another reason for the Big Ten's perception problem, America's punchline: The Ohio State University.

Where USC has carried the one-team Pac-10 conference, the one-team Big Ten has floundered with the Buckeyes in recent years. Not help, is the team from Columbus has been media purgatory ever since their supposed "best ever" coronation in 2006 and then thrashing at the hands of Florida, 41-14.

Are the Buckeyes really that terrible? Just look at who Ohio State has lost to over the past four years.

--2005: Texas (eventual national champs)

--2006: Florida (national champs)

--2007: Illinois (Rose Bowl participant), LSU (national champs)

--2008: USC (Rose Bowl winner), Penn State (Big 10 champs), Texas (arguably No. 1 or 2 in nation)

Eight Ohio State losses in four years, all to BCS teams. Compare that to USC. The Trojans have lost six games in that span: once in the title game ('05 Texas squad), once in Autzen to Oregon, then unexplainable losses to Oregon State (twice), Stanford and a terrible UCLA team. So who should be more beleaguered by the media?

As a league, the Big Ten just needs to win games, especially showcase ones. Ohio State, Michigan State and Minnesota all have early chances to help repair their conferences tattered reputation. And the Big Ten needs teams like the Gophers, Iowa and Purdue to rediscover their winning ways.

Also, I think the conference should embrace it cold roots and schedule games in December. Snowy football works for the NFL, why not the Big Ten?

Really, what else can be said for the conference that's sent more teams to the BCS than any other league.

Buckeyes loss was a win

An old football axiom held true last night, Ohio State feasted off their blitz for 59 minutes. But that same blitz betrayed the Buckeyes in the waning seconds.

Texas QB Colt McCoy read the defense and delivered a strike to wide receiver Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown putting the Horns up 24-21 with 16 seconds left in the game. The Cosby catch provided yet another dagger in hearts of Buckeyes everywhere.

Following the game McCoy had a message for the pollsters: "I don't think there's anybody in the country who can beat us at this point."

The Buckeyes nearly did, and in losing the game they won.

The football factory in Columbus has been much maligned after a string of high profile losses. Ohio State was crushed in consecutive national championship games first by Florida (41-14) after the media had coronated them champs before kick off. Same story second verse as they fell to LSU (38-24) last year and then in a September game at USC the Buckeyes looked overmatched in another lopsided loss (35-3).

Last night was a different story. Ohio State's defense that quit in other big games limited Texas' potent offense to three first half points. In the third quarter, with fans and announcers waiting for the kill, the Buckeyes "D" was stout coming up with a pair of stops.

Coach Jim Tressel responded by tossing his standard offensive Big Ten playbook, opting for a variey of formations using both freshman QB Terrelle Pryor and senior sub Todd Boeckman. And Tressel was rewarded when Boeckman tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Pryor.

In the end a missed tackle was all that separated national championship-caliber Texas and the "undeserving" Buckeyes.

This year's Fiesta Bowl was an instant classic and a sign that Ohio State is still a relevant football program.

Major Impact: Defining games in 2008

FPS COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW

Hard to believe but the college football season is already upon us.

Last year was one of the most topsy-turvy seasons from start to finish in recent memory. It was a season that witnessed Kansas (yes the Jayhawks!?!) not only play in a BCS game but win. A season in which South Florida achieved a No. 2 ranking only to be one of six teams ranked in that spot victimized by unranked opponents. And of course, it was another year with championship melodrama.

So while the pundits didn’t expect the Stanford-USC or Appalachian State-Michigan games to have any meaning, here’s a quick look at five (or so) games that will impact the 2008 season…

5) BYU at Utah, Nov. 22 – The “Holy War,” as its nicknamed, may have no higher stakes than this year. Both teams have BCS-busting aspirations, as the Cougars are 22-4 over the past two seasons and the Utes were red hot winning eight of their last nine games a year ago. This should be the non-BCS conference game of the year.

4) Florida vs. Georgia, Nov. 1 – When the Dawgs challenge the Gators it’s one giant cocktail party. This year, the national hype surrounding the game will probably be off the charts. While Florida has won 15 of the past 18 years, someone’s national championship hopes will be gashed.

3) SEC “Armageddon” Day, Sept. 20 – Can Georgia survive a trip to Arizona (State) and the desert heat? What happens when Florida and Tennessee clash again in a battle of orange? And you can’t forget about the Tiger-Tiger match up? It’s the biggest day of reckoning for the SEC. LSU at Auburn is probably the most important conference game, the winner of that match up has gone on to claim the West Division title in six of the past eight seasons.

2) Oklahoma vs. Texas, Oct. 11 – The Red River Shootout should live up to the name this year, although the game probably means more to Oklahoma and their title-race ambitions. Whoever wins will have the inside track to another Big 12 championship (as five of the past six crowns have been split by ‘Horns and Sooners).

1) Ohio State at USC, Sept. 13 – Some think this game could be a preview of the national title bout. But it’s safer to say the game is about credibility. USC wants to show the nation it’s the preeminent power in college football, while the Buckeyes want to show they belong after being run off the field in big games. No matter who wins we’ll see a lot of those players again, on Sundays.

"The" Ohio State: America's Punching Bag

Senior ESPN.com writer Pat Forde has concocted a plan for the 2008 college football season. Make sure the Ohio State Buckeyes aren’t invited to the BCS National Championship Game.

Forde writes “if you've ever seen lions maul a water buffalo, you've seen the last two title games.” A pair of superior SEC teams blew out the vulnerable Buckeyes. Forde and the rest of the country are already pouring the hate Ohio State’s direction.

As the article continues Forde says “...when an SEC team shows up on the other sideline it should be ‘O-H-N-O.’ And “they're also fond of calling their school The Ohio State University. It might also now be called The Overmatched State University of the BCS.”

This backlash really stems from the disappointment after the media’s coronation ceremony leading up to the 2006 season finale.

Honestly, the cumulative performance of the Buckeyes in the last two BCS Championships has been poor. But for those thinking they shouldn’t bring that weak Big Ten stuff back to the national stage, you have selective memory.

Ohio State is 4-2 overall in BCS bowl games, which more than respectable. While LSU has a better record at 4-0 in BCS games, the Tigers haven’t been as consistent and haven’t played a BCS bowl outside their backyard in New Orleans.

I’m not going to try to defend the Big Ten and say this was a great year for them, it wasn't. The conference went just 3-5 in bowl games. In its last four BCS game Big Ten teams have lost by 14 points (Michigan at USC), 27 points (Ohio State to Florida), 32 points (Illinois at USC) and 14 points (Ohio State at LSU).

Before the slamming of Ohio State and the Big Ten gets out of control, step back and consider looking at the bigger picture. There may be a little more than first meets the eye.