College Football Rant...

So, I've been following college football this year, and a lot more lately, and I must say I have some issues to raise here.

First is the BCS. It is still crap. Now, I don't have a problem with who is in the Nat'l Championship game. The BCS did exactly as it was intended to. But Cal got screwed. How can Cal be 4th in both polls and get passed by Texas who is 5th in one poll and 6th in another? Cal got screwed out of the Rose Bowl, a bowl they DESERVE to be in. It's not just the BCS's fault. Some voters had to drop Cal in their rankings to make the switch. It's amazing how political the whole system is. Texas' coach encouraged a move to bombard voters with e-mails, harassing them to change their vote. How else do you explain Cal dropping in the BCS after winning their last game and Texas being idle. One voter actually moved Texas up to 4th from 9th...after their idle week. How is that humanly possible? I'm sorry, but the only possible solution to all of this is an 8-team playoff system. Div. 1-AA, II, and III all do it, so why can't Div. I-A? They have two weeks of nothingness between the end of the regular season and the BCS bowls. Take the top 8 and run a playoff bracket through those two weeks, and kick out the two remaining teams into a championship bowl game under the current BCS format (i.e. rotating among the bowls). Let the other 6 teams go to the other bowls (maybe even a 3rd place game, 5th place game, and 7th place game...but not necessarily). Now, is that really that hard? And the schools would make even more money, and I know they like money.

On the topic of Cal though, Cal got NO respect this year. Not only did they get passed over in the BCS for not running up scores and only losing to the #1 team, barely. The best player in the country, who plays for Cal, has gotten no publicity at all. J.J. Arrington, RB for Cal, is the best player in the country. He's the best running back, better than Adrian Peterson, Cedric Benson, and Reggie Bush. Arrington is the only RB in the nation to rush for over 100 yards in EVERY SINGLE GAME this year. He averaged over 150 yard/game, over 5 yards/carry (highest average in the nation), and had more TDs that anyone in football. And yet, there was no talk about him in the Heisman race, at all, and he is not a finalist. He carried Cal through the end of their season when their top 3 recievers went down with injury. He still rushed for over 100 yards per game without much of a passing game towards the end of the seaosn. He's been one of the best, most consistent, and most durable backs in college football recent history, and he's getting no respect. It's absolutely ridiculous. I, for one, hope he gets drafted by the NFL and totally owns the league. That'll show everyone what kind of back he is.

Finally, of the 5 finalists for the heisman (since I can't pick Arrington), my choice is Alex Smith of Utah. Leinart and White, while having good seasons, had a great running game to open things up for them. Smith carried his team to an undefeated season and the first BSC bowl bid for a non-BCS league team. I can't vote for Peterson or Bush since I don't even see them as the best RBs in the nation. Leinart is better than White, but Leinart also had Reggie Bush to help him out. I know he won't win, but if Arrington isnt the heisman winner, Smith should be.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on this subject.