Saturday, November 26, 2005

Why Sports Saturday was Good...and Bad

Well, the good news is that South Florida lost which assures West Virginia their first BCS berth. And don't buy into these headlines that say USF "handed" or "gave" WVU the Big East title. WVU earned the title...they use that phrase to try to diminish the Mountaineer accomplishment. But, anyway, I'll talk more on that later this week I'm sure. But, USF losing was also bad for the Big East and bad for WVU. The loss makes the Dec. 3rd matchup between WVU and USF a non-event as far as college football is concerned. Win or lose, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the bowl landscape. WVU will be in the Sugar Bowl most likely...and USF will probably be in the Car Bowl. No television is likely for the Dec. 3rd game...and I doubt you'll see many highlights.

Had USF won, it sets up a de facto Big East title game...which would have at least drawn some attention...and probably made its way onto TV somewhere. It would have been something to talk about anyway...but, along the same lines, that could backfire and USF could have ended up in the BCS which would be a huge embarrassment for the Big East. The reason the sports media kept talking up USF chances of winning the Big East was to embarrass the Big East. Nevermind the fact that a 7-4 Florida State could still win the ACC. And nevermind that a 7-4 Colorado could win the Big 12. What would happen then? No one wants to talk bad about those conferences so I doubt you'll hear anything about those possible scenarios...

I hate Notre Dame but I'm glad they came back to beat Stanford. As much as I would have loved to see them lose, it would have hurt the Big East. ND would have fallen to the Gator Bowl, which pushes Louisville to the Insight, Rutgers to the Car Care and leaves USF at home. I just hope Oregon...or Penn State, or Ohio State...or whoever they play just crushes them. I still don't think Notre Dame is all that great...besides the close loss to USC, they haven't done much except beat a mediocre Michigan team...only beat 3 teams with winning records. Both Ohio State and Oregon deserve the BCS bowl more than Notre Dame. Of course, WVU has only beaten two teams so far with winning records but we've only lost once...so there.

I really enjoyed watching Florida State lose their third game in a row and fourth game this season. And what makes it better is they won their division in the ACC and will play for the ACC title against Virginia Tech. I am hoping so much they beat Virginia Tech and go to the BCS for the ACC. That would just make my year so much brighter.

Georgia really struggled with Georgia Tech today. LSU struggled with Arkansas yesterday. These two teams will meet up for the SEC title and will most likely be our opponent in the Sugar Bowl. I hate to say it but I believe we can match up against either one of them...but, if I had a choice, I'd rather take on LSU.

Up last: Mountaineer basketball. 3 losses in a row...2-3 now on the season. This is what I was afraid of. They have zero inside presence...we can hit some 3's but we need to be able to get some easy shots once in a while. The inside cuts against Texas were great...I didn't see that against LSU. Luckily, we hit an easy stretch coming up...Beilein better find a way to score some layups or something...relying solely on the three point shot isn't going to make it. The losses should drop us out of the top-25...maybe that will remove some of the pressure.

No comments: