#1: Leonard Fournette (LSU)- Pete Wheeler 

Leonard Fournette wowed us all with his amazing rushing title in 2015. His speed and ability to maneuver around blockers should not and will not go unnoticed by teams this year. His 6.5 YPC is an amazing tool for teams to have. 1st down carries for chunk yardage are omni-important if a team is looking to come out on top. Well, LeonardFournette reminds me of a young man from the video game named Pete Wheeler. A dominant running back with lightning-quick speed and moves that can turn heads and break ankles, Wheeler is the best running back in the game. His legs churn and churn for every yard he can muster. He gives his team his all, and I’m all but certain Leonard Fournette will do the same.

#2: Malik Hooker (OSU)- Lisa Crockett

Easy, the top-ranked safety according to CBS.com has to be paired with the best safety in Backyard Football. With 7 interceptions (including one against Clemson in the CFP Semi-Final), Malik Hooker is a shark in the deep blue ocean

that is the Secondary. His decision-making, as well as his vision of the field, makes him a looming threat. Instinctual and hard-hitting, Hooker will make any defensive coordinator sweat a little less. As I begin to write about his comparison, my heart beats a little faster, my hair starts to stand on end, my legs begin to tremble. Lisa “show me the money” Crockett is not just a force to be reckoned with. She is THE force. Offenses have reported punting on first down. Only as to not further her already tremendous power. Every step she takes is an earthquake in the neighborhood. Every time she breathes, a tornado begins to whirl in the skies above. Malik Hooker is a great safety, but making a comparison to Lisa “dead or alive” Crockett is foolish, to say the least.

#3 C.J. Beathard (Iowa)- Tony Delvecchio

 Two guys that are all about heart and have cannon arms. C.J. and Tony are truly two guys cut from the same cloth. C.J. is an Iowa boy who just loves to play football. His 2015 campaign at Iowa was nothing short of Magical. With 17 touchdowns and only 5 INT’s, it was the best season for a quarterback in recent Iowa memory. His ability to find the open receiver well outside the pocket. 57% of the time, in fact. He is also a team leader in the locker room and on the field. Just like his counterpart, Tony. Tony is one of the better Quarterbacks in the game. His speed isn’t his greatest strength, but it is made up for in accuracy and power of his arm. Tony doesn’t take too kindly to rowdy teammates. He runs a well-disciplined team with only the coolest kids on the block.

#4 Jabrill Peppers (Michigan)- Pablo Sanchez

Jack of all trades. Swiss Army Knife. Superman. All of these descriptors can apply to Jabrill Peppers and Pablo Sanchez. Jabrill Peppers was a Wolverine who could do it all. Cover, Rush, Run, Return, Catch, Pass, Block, And much much more, he was a fiend on the field. His greatest asset is his speed. The ability to dart around the field and make plays is undoubtedly one of the best a player can have. Peppers also leaves it all on the field. The way he makes hits reminds me of Jadeveon Clowney on the Houston Texans. But Peppers has the body of a safety. Which brings me to the franchise staple of all the “Backyard” games. Pablo Sanchez. With great all-around potential, Sanchez is an essential part to any team. He can do it all. It’s just up to the player to mold him into a more refined version of himself. He needs direction. Needs a leader. Give him a path and he will follow, with all of his production following close behind.

From the Backyard to the Big Stage

These young men are about to embark on a journey very few make it on. Their skills, work ethic, and support brought them to the NFL Draft. And they all have something different to prove. Whether it is bringing your eventual team a Lombardi Trophy, or an MVP plaque in their trophy case, each person has their goals. But one thing that these players and those in our virtual world have in common is that they need guidance. They’ve had great coaching in their schools, but the coaching staffs will need to take these players to that next level. And just like in Backyard Football, the kids cannot do it themselves.

The post Comparing the 2017 NFL Draft Class to 2002 Backyard Football Players appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Dynasty” is term loosely tossed around to describe successful teams after championship runs. In most modern sports, the talent pool has proven too deep to have a classic, 20^th-century, dynasty such as the 50s Yankees, 60s Celtics or 90s Cowboys. Those squads dominated and left little question as to which team was the best in their respective eras. While that same scenario may not exist in all major United States sports, we can garner at least a debate.

In this piece we will dive into the top dynasties since the first season post-2000 started of each major sport between the college and professional levels and decide which recent squad has had dominated its respective sport the most. There are rules that will be followed.

1. There will be a qualified team picked out of each individual sport before jumping to a final debate on who is the king of kings.
2. One team must be chosen out of each major sport – college football, men’s/women’s basketball, baseball, wrestling, volleyball, MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL.
3. Seasons that are currently in progress (2014-15 college hoops, NBA, NHL) are not included. For example, Kentucky’s current undefeated record in college hoops cannot be applied to their opportunity to be considered college basketball’s top dynasty on the men’s side.
4. Dynasty is a term used far too often. Are the Seahawks a dynasty because of how great their defense is in the past two years? No, because Seattle struggled through a lot of down seasons beforehand. In this piece, a dynasty will be defined as “Dominating a respective sport, while simultaneously competing for championships to the tune of being the greatest team in the discussed era.”
5. A team must consistently be in championship contention, but in order to be a dynasty in this span – a team must have won at least a single title.
6. I cannot compare teams between sports, as that will happen in the follow up article, where I will rank the selections from each league.

Let the games begin.

NBA

The NBA has always had a lack of parity.  We may no longer be limited to just the Lakers and Celtics, but the situation is still heavily lopsided.

Starting in the 2000-01 season, just three out of 14 Western Conference champions haven’t been named either the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. The Dallas Mavericks made two Finals appearances, and the Oklahoma City Thunder briefly showed up before being ousted in five by the LeBron James-led Miami Heat.

The Eastern Conference has been more diverse, but less successful. Seven teams (Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando) have won the conference, but just three (Detroit, Miami, Boston) have managed to end the postseason with a victory.

The Heat have an impressive five title appearances and three championships to make a case for a potential top-NBA dynasty in the last 14 seasons. However, they fall well short of the Western Conference rivals from California and Texas.

The Spurs have a cumulative regular season record of 804-328 (.710), a postseason tally of 129-80 (.617), and four championships in five appearances since 2000. Their worst record in that span is 50-32 in 2009, and yet they still made it to the Western Conference Semifinals. Gregg Popovich has led this team to being easily the most consistent of all NBA squads in this era.

Los Angeles, albeit currently in its lowest moment in franchise history, also has an argument to be the representative for professional hoops. While their 690-442 (.610) overall regular season mark is well below San Antonio’s, their post season record of 108-66 trumps the Spurs. In six Finals appearances, the Lakers have taken home four titles – equal to the Spurs. If the 1999-2000 season and the first third of the Shaq-Kobe three-peat were included, my final decision may not have been…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, led by a long-time coach and familiar players, have (somehow quietly) been one of the most consistent teams in all of American athletics. Their YMCA-style of play may not captivate casual audiences with oohs and awes, but their record says all that is needed. The Lakers have missed the playoffs as many times (two) as the Spurs have missed the second round. The ability to avoid down years is what makes the difference. San Antonio and Los Angeles have the same highs, but the Spurs have yet to hit a low this century.

Honorable mention: Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat

NFL

Baltimore, New England, Pittsburgh and the New York Giants have all won multiple titles since Super Bowl XXXV, thus obviously deserving of recognition in this analysis. Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Green Bay and Seattle will also be included as to compare all Super Bowl victors.

Looking based simply off of this, the answer is penciled in. Let’s engrave it in stone with this next chart. I gave every team a point total for each category – the top team receiving nine points and the bottom receiving one – (regular season win percentage, total postseason wins, postseason win percentage, division titles and Super Bowls). The point total depended on where a team finished in each respective section.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: New England Patriots. New England swept the board in each measurable category. It’s hard to tell if they’re farther ahead of the pack than Tampa Bay is behind. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have created a dynasty and are two absurd catches from having six Super Bowls in this span, including the Brady-Randy Moss 2007 combination that was the best team in NFL history to not win it all.

NHL

The NHL has experienced more parity than its professional counterparts this century. Ten teams have won a Stanley Cup in the last 13 occurrences (plus the 2005 lockout season). The Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche have all taken home one championship, while the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings all have a pair of titles. To avoid confusion in the following chart, the NHL did away with ties during this span and therefore the records will be Win-Loss-Overtime Losses-Ties.

  We have seven categories (Stanley Cups, playoff appearances, playoff series victories, postseason wins, postseason win percentage and regular season win percentage and points). The best team in each category will receive 10 points and the worst will pick up just one. In order to put a stronger emphasis on advancing in the postseason, playoff series victories will count as a point for each accumulated. This should counteract disciplining teams for advancing on to tougher rounds just to be swept.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Detroit Red Wings. Outside of postseason win percentage, Detroit swept the board since 2000. Its 17 postseason series victories is even more impressive when factoring in the lockout season and the fact that no other franchise has more than a dozen. Despite parity among Stanley Cup victors, Detroit has easily been the most consistently dominant in all of professional hockey. Not much of an argument can be made for any other squad from this chart, and therefore none are honorable mention worthy.

Men’s college basketball:

After a relatively easy start, we reach what might be the most complicated of all sports we list. College basketball is about as random as they come (see odds of making a perfect bracket). Of course, Kentucky seems like an obvious choice after winning a national title in 2013-14 and going undefeated so far in 2014-15 (void). Don’t let fresh tastes discount distant memories.

Recent impressions can’t influence this decision, but the Wildcats have enough beyond that to make a pretty decisive statement. A 369-124 overall record is tough to argue with. What’s even harder? Twelve NCAA Tournament appearances, eight Sweet Sixteens, three Final Fours and a 1-1 record in the championship. Take away the two seasons Billy Gillispie coached Kentucky to a 40-27 overall record with zero NCAA Tournament victories and an NIT berth, and the Wildcats may blow the competition out of the water.

One team has been so remarkably consistent in its conference that it’s impossible to leave off this list: The Kansas Jayhawks.

After transitioning from a Hall of Fame coach, Kansas found a fate much simpler than Kentucky. Bill Self took over Roy Williams’ squad and didn’t miss a beat.

Williams’ last three seasons resulted in a 42-6 conference record that was overshadowed by a Sweet Sixteen, Final Four and a championship appearance. Since? Self has given the Jayhawks a 325-69 mark with a 151-31 stretch in the Big 12.

Self’s initial tournament resume left much to be desired with two first round exits sandwiched between a pair of Elite Eight showings. That turned around quickly with Kansas’ lone national title during this span in 2008.

Kansas boasts similar marks to Kentucky, with one extra championship loss thrown in, and its down years were first round exits over being completely left out.

So how about ex-Jayhawk coach Williams’ new squad – North Carolina? The Tar Heels have two national titles and another Final Four on their record and they may not even be the best dynasty in their own state.

Recent 1,000 game winner Mike Kryzewski’s Duke Blue Devils are.

Duke has a pair of national titles, has appeared in the tournament in each covered year, and has lost in their opening matchup just three times. Their conference dominance may not be as high as a team such as Kansas, but the competition is relatively stellar each season.

The Blue Devils hold an absurd 412-87 (.826) record in this span. So it has to be them, right?111

Let’s head over to Big Ten country where Tom Izzo is standing by for a quick lecture on postseason play. Michigan State, although missing its 1999-2000 national championship by just one season, has made nine Sweet Sixteens, five Elite Eights, four Final Fours, and has won one title. They haven’t missed the tournament a single time, and have been eliminated before the Round of 32 just four times.

What about UConn’s three title runs? Florida’s star-studded squads? Kentucky’s heated-rival Louisville? We need a way to rank these teams accordingly as to put all bias aside and assign an overall score. Postseason play in college basketball has always taken precedence over any other measurement of success. Here is the scoring chart to decide the top NCAA Tournament team since 2001’s tournament when solely considering those whom have a title to their name in this span:

Round of 64 loss: 0 points
Round of 32 loss: 1 point
Sweet 16 loss: 2 points
Elite Eight loss: 4 points
Final Four Loss: 8 points
Championship loss: 12 points
Championship: 16 points

NCAA Tournament champions results since 2000-01 March Madness: Kansas 68, UConn 67, Duke 59, North Carolina 56, Florida 55, Kentucky 55, Michigan State 51, Louisville 44, Syracuse 37, Maryland 30.

Shockingly, outside of its three titles runs, UConn only scored 19 points on this scale. The Huskies fell just a point shy of claiming this all important statistic in pushing forward to choosing men’s college hoops’ most dominant dynasty of the 21^st century. Despite just one title, consistency overcame roller coaster levels of postseason success and your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Kansas Jayhawks. Not only has Kansas (almost surprisingly) performed as the top overall team in March Madness, but it also has the most eye-popping accomplishment. I’m going to type this out to make it even more drastic: Kansas has won at least a share of (ahem) back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back regular season Big 12 championships. That’s 10. Read that out loud and you’re likely to need to catch your breath. This isn’t Kansas playing in the Summit League or intramural athletics – this is a major conference with a tough road to the top every season. Ten?! In a row? And just for the record, it’s also 12 of 13, but who’s counting? The Huskies have a legitimate argument when it comes to this discussion due to three incredible runs to the championship, but Kansas has been a more consistently feared team. Welcome to a new postseason tournament, Jayhawks. Let’s see who else is joining you.

Honorable mention: Duke, UConn

Women’s College Basketball

I went from one of the more difficult sports to choose to what might be the easiest. UConn women’s hoops is out of this world. Seven championships since the turn of the century. Average margin of victory in those title-winning contests? 15.4 points. That’s 15 points better than the second best team in the country. Talk about a talent gap. I can’t put into words how unbelievably incredible the Huskies’ overall record has been, so I’ll leave two simple numbers on its own.

486-38.

That’s a .927 winning percentage.

I could play myself in checkers and not win 93 percent of the time.

Connecticut has missed out on the Sweet Sixteen in this span only…well, they haven’t. And just once were they limited to that. On top of the Sweet Sixteen and seven titles, the Huskies have made two Elite Eight appearances along with four Final Fours. Therefore, your clear cut winner without any hesitation is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Connecticut Huskies.

College Wrestling

If the 70s, 80s and 90s were included, this wouldn’t even be a competition. The Iowa Hawkeyes took home 20 titles from 1975-2000. Despite those all being out of the picture, Iowa is still in contention for the 21^st century title post-Dan Gable. The Hawkeyes have three titles to their name, which comes shy of Penn State and Oklahoma State, who put together four each. With the overall team title competition so close, our answer comes from individual championships. The Nittany Lions have nine, Hawkeyes 13 and Cowboys 18.

Oklahoma State’s 2005 season was the best of the era, fielding five individual champions in 10 weight classes, and scoring 153 points – best since the 1997 Hawkeyes scored 170. Therefore the winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys are tied for the lead in titles, have the best overall team of the era and can claim having the most individual titles. They may be fortunate to wrestle outside the Big Ten, but national titles don’t lie.

Honorable Mention: Iowa Hawkeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions

MLB

Four teams have won multiple titles since 2000 – the Red Sox (three), Giants (three), Yankees (two) and Cardinals (two) – to give a clear starting point when trying to declare the top 21^st century dynasty of professional baseball.

It’s clearly visible that this is a dead heat. You know the drill. In order to decide, I assigned a point total to each stat category. The top finisher in each category – World Series victories, division titles, regular season winning percentage, playoff appearances, total playoff wins and postseason playoff winning percentage – receives four points, followed by three for second place and so on. I also gave teams an extra point for each playoff series they won. The final tally came out as followed:

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: St. Louis Cardinals. Any fan of one the final four teams can state a statistic on how their team deserved to be the one represented. New York dominated the AL East. Boston and San Francisco won a third World Series and were more efficient in the postseason when they did make it. None of that jumped out the way this did:

The Cardinals took the cake with 16 postseason series victories.

That’s out of this world consistent. The Yankees came close, carried by consistently owning the division crown, whereas the two teams that take advantage of playoff appearances the most, Boston and San Francisco, found themselves looking up.

Honorable Mention: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants

College Volleyball

Some of these don’t take much time. Penn State has six championships, including two 38-0 seasons. USC, Stanford, Nebraska, Texas and UCLA have had strong programs, but none have approached the dominance by the Nittany Lions. Let’s just get to the point. Without a hint of doubt, your winner is…

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Penn State Nittany Lions.

College Baseball

Unlike most of the other sports in the discussion, the full 2000 season is included since it began post-millennium. Texas, South Carolina and Oregon State all have a pair of titles, with nobody else claiming more than one. Naturally, only those three are in consideration. However, the Beavers have only made four CWS appearances compared to six for South Carolina and eight for Texas. Typically that would lead one to believe that the answer is obviously the Longhorns.

Take a look at overall winning percentage: Texas is 661-294 (.664) in this millennium, lagging considerably behind the Gamecocks at 713-289 (.712). So what do we value? Winning more regular season games against what is typically stronger competition, or taking overall postseason play? The latter carries more weight. Here is how each team fared in NCAA Tournament play with its overall statistics tallied at the bottom.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: Texas Longhorns. In what ended up being the closest contest of any sport so far, Texas prevailed because of one statistic: CWS appearances. South Carolina may hold a relatively significant advantage in regular season record and have a slim lead in postseason record, but they couldn’t get the job done in enough Super Regionals. One could argue that Texas’ lows were below South Carolina’s, but they consistently made the trip to Omaha and that familiarity with getting to the final eight put them over the edge.

College Football

Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, and Florida all have multiple FBS championships to their names, while Appalachian State and North Dakota State have dominated the FCS level well enough to be included in the discussion. USC vacated one of its two national championships and will not be considered. As we’ve come to find out, tables can be really useful when measuring statistics of multiple teams. Unfortunately, college football has more variables than most so let’s compare like it is 2000 (and we’re using WordPad).

Alabama: The Crimson Tide are the only team in this span with three FBS national title victories. Their overall record takes a hit because of 21 vacated wins, but stands at 116-57, including a 6-5 bowl mark – which is also hindered by one vacated victory and two seasons in which ‘Bama was ineligible for the postseason. They have garnered three SEC titles and five SEC West crowns – most of which have come under Nick Saban. The pre-Saban era was somewhat dark for Alabama, which had a (now shocking) 3-8 season in 2000. The loss of 21 victories could really come back to bite the team that is likely the first one on everybody’s college football power shortlist.

Florida: Florida boasts two national titles (thanks, Tebow) complemented by a 137-56 overall record. If Alabama had kept its wins, Florida would be one game ahead in the loss column and tied with the Tide for overall victories. In bowl play, Florida has a lackadaisical 7-6 mark. They have picked up three SEC Titles and have headed the SEC East four times.

LSU: Consistency in a more than tough conference is what could separate LSU from the group. Like every team on this list besides Alabama, the Tigers have a pair of national championships. Their overall record of 151-45 is only topped by Ohio State. They’ve won nine bowl games compared to six losses and have not missed out on the postseason. They’ve picked up four conference titles and five SEC West titles along the way to top both Florida and Alabama in those areas.

Ohio State: Surprised to see a Big Ten team here? You shouldn’t be. Despite a negative stigma built around the conference in recent years, Ohio State has been among the most dominant teams lately. The Buckeyes’ 157-36 overall record is hard to argue with. An 8-7 bowl record with a few postseason embarrassments could be improved on. What really couldn’t be is a sensational seven conference titles – which reasonably would be eight if not for a postseason ban on a 12-0 squad in 2012. The Buckeyes may not have the numbers to claim best of this century now, but with Urban Meyer pulling the strings, it might not be too long until they do.

North Dakota State: If we were only talking about the last four years, the Bison would breeze through the competition. Their 63-3 record with four national titles is, well, absurd. Before that? North Dakota State swiftly comes back to Earth with a more reasonable, but still strong, 74-40 mark. Did you already do the math? That’s an overall record of 137-43

…and I should probably mention they have a 20-2 postseason record.

20 wins. Two losses.

The Bison made the move from Division II to FCS in this time period and were ineligible for postseason play in multiple 10-1 seasons, otherwise they very well could have added to that title total. Which, quite frankly, is a little scary. One thing that isn’t as scary is this game. And this one in the same season. Sometimes you find things while researching that you wish you never did. Those qualify.

Appalachian State: While the Bison were fiddling around with moving up from Division II, another squad was busy winning national championships and knocking off the winningest-program in FBS history. That was the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. Their record of 131-52 is a modest amount below North Dakota State’s. It isn’t the regular season that separates these two FCS programs. The Mountaineers postseason mark, despite a three-peat from 2005-2007, is 19-8, considerably worse than the Bison’s…let me say it again…20-2.

Top Dynasty of the 21^st century: North Dakota State Bison. I get it. Strength of schedule for the Bison isn’t anywhere near what Ohio State, let alone Alabama, Florida and LSU, face on a week-to-week basis. Their national titles are much less publicized and viewed. They don’t have NFL prospects filling up the first round. They weren’t even in the FCS for part of this era. There are a lot of reasons not to pick them.

Go ahead, write an article on why LSU’s consistency in the SEC makes them the best dynasty of this century, or why Alabama’s three titles set it apart, or how Ohio State’s conference dominance make them the frontrunner. They all have strong cases to disprove my choice.

To me, these issues have to be made relative, not directly compared. Of course North Dakota State doesn’t have to play the LSU defense, the Tim Tebow offense or Nick Saban’s game plan on an annual basis, but they ought to be held to the standards of their competition, not of a league above them. North Dakota State has simply dominated about as much as a modern college football team can in this span. 137-43 in the regular season? Incredible – just as incredible as the others on this list, especially considering transition seasons. That doesn’t set them apart.

A .909 winning percentage in the postseason will. When the Bison play the best competition, they don’t just compete – they absolutely own everyone. Alabama doesn’t. Florida doesn’t. LSU and Ohio State don’t. They’re all tremendous teams, but have not set themselves apart at any part this century the way the Bison have.

Conclusion

The aforementioned follow-up article will now include the St. Louis Cardinals, San Antonio Spurs, New England Patriots, Detroit Red Wings, Kansas Jayhawks men’s hoops, UConn Huskies women’s basketball, Oklahoma State wrestling, Penn State volleyball, Texas baseball and North Dakota State football. Those ten dominant teams will be ranked to determine an ultimate “dynasty of the 21^st century.”

Be sure to check out Night Stuff on KRUI at the stroke of midnight Wednesday mornings as we discuss topics such as this, other sporting news and a few outrageous topics mixed in with a phone always ready to hear your takes. Did you like the article or happen to disagree with some of the choices? Tweet @TheMainStevent or @KRUISports to share your opinion.

The post The 21st Century’s Best Dynasty appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Bowl Championship Series has received as much scrutiny over the past few years as the war in Iraq, Occupy Wall Street, and Guantanamo Bay combined, but is it really that bad? Is the BCS terrible in its selection process, and does it constantly pick the wrong teams for the Bowl Championship Series each year? Even more than that question lies the real question. Since the BCS is just going to be picking the National Championship Game from here on out, is it fair?

Many would submit that a playoff system is a better system, and that could be the case, but many also believe that the BCS is a decent system if tweaked slightly.
Numbers tend not to lie, so let’s check it out.

Below are the BCS Championship games by year, with the teams that could have a case for being snubbed from participating in the championship game.  Keep in mind that each team would have to make a case that they could beat the ultimate champ and/or deserve to be in the championship game more than the ultimate champ and the other contender to count as a snub due to the simple fact that hypothetical arguments don’t actually hold any weight.  By using “realistic” hypotheticals we can get somewhere, but by reaching into the clouds with extreme situations, we are just running in circles, and will not accomplish anything.  

BCS Championship Game History broken down by year, teams that played, champion, and teams that were on the cusp of playing:

Disclaimer: I am basing all decisions as to whether the BCS was correct or incorrect on what trasnpired that season, hindsight on that season (team gets snubbed for another team, but that other team wins the title and snubbed team loses), Strength of schedule, and who beat who.

1998-1999:
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:
Teams that played: #1 Tennesse 12-0 defeated #2 Florida State

Teams that might have a case that they got snubbed:
1. #3 Wisconsin (11-1): Key wins: #14 Penn State at Home
Loss was to #15 Michigan at Michigan Stadium (The Big House) with 2 weeks remaining in the season Beat #6 UCLA in Rose Bowl 38-31.
Why they didn’t make it: Florida State’s regular season loss came in week 2 on the road to NC State, who finished 7-5 in 39th overall in the nation. Wisconsin’s loss was a much better one that FSU’s, but FSU’s was early in the year, and they beat quality opponents in #14 Texas A & M and #24 Georgia Tech on the road, with wins over #4 Florida in the final week of the year, #18 USC, and #12 Virginia at home. With 5 quality wins, Florida State clearly deserved to be in the title game over Wisconsin.
2. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes:
Key wins: At #11 WVU in season opener, #21 Missouri, #7 Penn State, #11 Michigan
Loss: Michigan State on November 7th, week 10
Why they didn’t make it: Ohio State maintained a #1 ranking for 9 weeks leading up to the devastating loss at home to Michigan State. After that they jumped down to #7 with one week left in the year against rival Michigan, and nobody in their right mind would b able to argue that after choking in week 10 Ohio State still deserves to play in the BCS title game over Florida State or undefeated Tennessee
#5 Arizona:
Didn’t win their conference after losing to UCLA on October 10 52-28.
#7 Tulane: Didn’t have the strength of Schedule over FSU, Tennessee, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Arizona,  or even Florida to be considered, even though they went undefeated
BCS 1-0

1999-2000
Sugar Bowl:
#1 Florida State (11-0) defeated #2 Virginia Tech 11-0 46-29
Teams with a possible case:
#2 Nebraska
Loss: At #18 Texas in week 7 dropped them from #3 to #8
Key wins: #21 Texas A & M, #5 Kansas State (moved them back up to #3), Big 12 Championship game beat #12 Texas kept them at #3, which they had regained behind Florida State and Virginia Tech
Case against: Nebraska needed one of the two teams ahead of them to lose and neither Florida State nor Virginia Tech did that until the Championship game. Nebraska played well at the end of the year and got the redemption against Texas, but making a case for a team with 1 loss to get in over 2 undefeateds is implausible.
BCS 2-0

2000-2001
Orange Bowl:
#1 Oklahoma (12-0) defeated #2 Florida State (11-1) 13-2

Snubbed?
#3 Miami (FL) (11-1)
Loss: #6 Washington
Key Wins: Florida State: Here is the first definite case for a snub. The Miami Hurricanes beat the Florida State Seminoles in the regular season. Miami was ranked #7 when they beat Florida state. Miami moved ahead of them with FSU only dropping to 7th. The score was 24-27, but because the vistory over Virginia Tech 2 weeks later wasn’t enough to jump Miami up in the polls, Florida State was able to leap them. Florida State won at #20 NC State and at home against #4 Florida, and @Clemson who finished #19th in the rankings so they were able to jump Miami. Here, ladies and gentlemen is our first, plausible snub of the BCS system. The BCS is 2-1 at this point. The best argument against this is that FSU lost very convincingly by a score of 13-2 for OU to remain the only AQ team undefeated.
BCS 2-1

2001-2002
Rose Bowl
#1 Miami(FL) defeated #2 Nebraska (11-1) 37-14
Snubs: This is the second straight year that the BCS seemed to have put a team that wasn’t necessarily qualified to play in the title game. The reason that Nebraska got into the title game was because the BCS formula did not take into consideration, time of loss. Usually a late season loss is associated with a team not being allowed to play in the title game, but this was not the case as Colorado defeated Nebraska, and then went on to win the Big 12 and was not allowed to play in the title game.
Team 1. Oregon Ducks (11-1) Oregon was the team that got snubbed the most here because they should have been propelled to the title game with the Nebraska loss. Florida had the inside track until they lost to Tennessee in Gainesville, not putting them in the SEC title game. After UF lost, with a win against Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game, Texas would play, but Colorado defeated Texas. Many fans and pollsters believed that (team 2) Colorado should have been in the title game, but in reality, they had two early season losses that kept them out.
The reason that Nebraska got into the title game ultimately came down to the teams with their own fate losing. Florida and Texas each had its own inside track and let down. This has become a trend in the BCS over the years (including this season).
For the case of this blog and sake of argument we will say the BCS is 2-2

2002-2003
2003 Fiesta Bowl
#2 Ohio State (12-0) defeated #1 Miami (FL) 31-24
This game showcased one of the most talent heavy National Title games of all time with many pro prospects and incredible players. The famous video from this game is Willis McGahee’s injury that ended his season and still is one of the most gruesome sports injury videos of all-time.
Snubbed: This game was played between the only 2 undefeated teams in College Football from AQ conferences and no other team has a real case to be made that they deserved to play in this game.
BCS 3-2

2003-2004
2004 Sugar Bowl
#2 LSU (12-1) defeated #1 Oklahoma (12-1) 21-14
snubs?
The season ended with six 1 loss teams: #1 OU, #2 LSU, #3 USC, #9 Miami (OH), #17 Boise State, and #18 TCU. This was the first time that the BCS saw potential mid-major controversy that has become a huge staple of the last decade in BCS controversy discussion.
1. #3 USC: USC has the best case to argue that they deserved to play in the title game. USC’s only loss came at California in an overtime classic 34-31, when USC was ranked #3. They dropped to #10 overall and with only one quality win over #6 Washington State after the loss they were unable to jump LSU. USC’s overall strength of schedule was 37th, LSU’s was 29th and OU’s was 11th. By that criteria LSU and OU were more qualified to play in the title game. None of these teams played each other in the regular season, so it is hard to qualify any of them based on that, so it appears as if the BCS got it right based on its criteria.
BCS: 4-2

2004-2005
Orange Bowl:
#1 USC (12-0) defeated #2 Oklahoma (12-0) 55-19
snubbed:
This is the year that most people talk about with a team truly getting snubbed for the National Championship.
The Auburn Tigers went undefeated through the regular season, finishing 12-0, the exact same record as Oklahoma and USC. Auburn’s strength of schedule was the lowest at 46th, compared to USC’s at 25, and Oklahoma’s at 6th, but Auburn won the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech on the legs of Caddillac Williams and Ronnie Brown, one of the greatest runningback tandems the league has ever seen. Auburn finished the season with an undefeated 13-0 mark, the exact same as USC. Many credit Auburn as the co-champions, but at the end of the day they didn’t have the trophy.

In 2010 it was announced that the USC Trojans had violated NCAA regulations and have vacated the title and trophy, as well as Reggie Bush (Heisman Winner, RB) vacating his award.
This raises many questions about whether Auburn should have been awarded the National Championship, or Oklahoma should have been given the trophy.
Many mid-major advocates also dispute that Boise State and Utah should be considered for the title as well, both teams being undefeated through the regular season with Utah coming away victorious in the Fiesta bowl over #20 Pit and finishing the season ranked #6. Boise State lost to #7 Louisville in the Liberty bowl.
This was a true BCS fiasco.
BCS: 4-3

2005-2006
Rose Bowl
#2 Texas (12-0) defeated #1 USC (12-0) 41-38
Snubs?
This season only had two undefeated teams, both coming from BCS conferences in the Big 12 and the Pac-10. This was a breather for the BCS officials after the debacle that occurred in 2004.  In one of the most incredibly heroic games by any individual player Texas QB Vince Young put his team on his back with 467 all purpose yards, 200 of those rushing and 3 rushing TD’s.
BCS: 5-3

2006-2007
BCS Championship Game (First Ever)
#Florida (12-1) defeated #1 Ohio State (12-0) 41-14
Snubs?
#3 Michigan: The Wolverines could have a case to play in the title game over Florida because a re-match of #1 vs. #2 would have been an incredible match-up, especially the way that the first game ended 42-39, but in this case the system dubbed the Florida Gators, a better fit for the championship game. Florida’s only loss came mid-season to #11 Auburn at the time, and that loss alone was enough to keep them out of the #1 ranked spot going in, but obviously they were qualified to play in the title game.
#8 Boise State: Against Boise went undefeated, but their strength of schedule hindered them from getting into the big game. Boise went into the Fiesta Bowl and upset #7 Oklahoma and Adrian Peterson who came back from an injury, with the trickery that we now associate with the Broncos.
All-in-all The BCS got it right. Michigan vs. Ohio State would have been a great rematch between the two most storied programs in the sport, but they got it right to keep Michigan out after it’s late season loss
BCS: 6-3

2007-2008
BCS Championship Game
#LSU (11-2) defeated #1 Ohio State (11-1) 38-24
Ohio State was the clear-cut National Title contender sitting at the #1 ranked position with only 1 loss, coming to Illinois (who went on to be ranked #13 and play in the Rose Bowl) in week 11. Even though the Buckeyes dropped back to #7 in the polls, the win over #23 Michigan in the final week was enough to jump them back up due to all of the upsets and losses that occurred in the championship games and final weeks.
This year was dubbed as the year of the upset because so many high profile, highly ranked teams lost to unranked opponents.
#3 Virginia Tech: Would have a case to play, with only losses coming to #2 LSU and #2 Boston College, but LSU was clearly the better team, routing Va Tech 48-7, so LSU clearly gets in over them.
#4 Oklahoma: Lost at Colorado and at Texas Tech, neither team was ranked at the time. Ended up losing in the Fiesta Bowl to #9 West Virginia
#5 Georgia: Lost to South Carolina and Tennessee, neither good losses
The BCS got it right, even though there was some incredible madness before we actually got there. Remember Appalachian State beating #5 Michigan at “The Big House” in week 1?
BCS: 7-3

2008-2009
FedEx BCS National Championship game
#2 Florida (12-1) defeated #1 Oklahoma (12-1) 24-14
This season saw one of the most intriguing match-ups int he BCS Championship game between Heisman Trophy Winner, QB Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow who received 1,575 votes to Bradford’s 1,726 for the Heisman.

Snubs?
#3 Texas: Even though Texas gave Oklahoma it’s only loss, Texas had the National Title in it’s grasp against #5 Texas Tech on November 1st. Michael Crabtree reeled in a pass on the sideline in the waning moments of that game from Graham Harrell and Tech came away with the victory 39-33 essentially keeping Texas out of the title game. This wouldn’t be a big deal and Texas might have got into the title game, had OU not routed Tech 65-21 in Week 12. Oklahoma beat 5 ranked teams, 3 straight to conclude the year and get into the title game
# Alabama: Alabama was the #1 ranked team going into the SEC Championship with a very convincing season, but in the SEC championship game #2 Florida was able to come away with the win 31-20 and seal a spot in the title game.
# 6 Utah: Utah was undefeated going into the BCS Sugar Bowl against Alabama. They ended up winning the game, ultimately giving more argument for the mid-major advocates, but at the same time, with Utah’s strength of schedule, beating only #24 Michigan, #11 TCU, and #14 BYU compared to the juggernaut victories of OU and UF, Utah didn’t deserve a spot.
The BCS got this one right.
BCS 8-3

2009-2010
Citi BCS National Championship
#1 Alabama (13-0) defeated #2 Texas (13-0) 37-21
The 2009-2010 season saw a lot of controversy in the BCS selection due to the number of undefeated teams. Before bowl season there were 5 undefeateds including #1 Alabama, #2 Texas, #3 Cincinnati, #4 Texas Cristian, and #6 Boise State.
All of these teams played in BCS games, with the other BCS teams being #7 Oregon against #8 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, #5 Florida in the Sugar Bowl against Cincy, and #10 Iowa vs. #9 Georgia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl.
Snubs?
#3 Cincinnati: Head Coach Brian Kelly led his Bearcats to an undefeated season with 4 wins over ranked opponents, 3 of those coming on the road at #24 Oregon State, #21 South Carolina, #15 Pittsburgh in the Big East Conference Championship. The other ranked opponent that they beat was #23 West Virginia. This team had a case to be in the title game because they are in an automatic qualifying conference, won it, and didn’t get in. In hindsight, the Tim Tebow-led Florida Gators destroyed the Brian Kellyless Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl. Kelly had left the team after the regular season to pursue his “dream job” at Notre Dame (another topic for another day). The question of strength of schedule for the Bearcats was always in the minds of everyone all season. Snubbed, maybe. Deserving to play in the title game, probably not over Bama and Texas
#4 TCU: Strength of schedule was very poor with the only wins over a ranked opponent coming on October 24th against #16 BYU in Provo, and Utah at home on November 14. Strength of schedule and the fact that they were not in an automatic qualifying conference hurt them. Hindsight: lost to Boise State in Fiesta Bowl
#6 Boise State: If any team has an argument to play in the title game it is Boise this season. They got not respect even though they beat Oregon in the opening week of the year 19-8 in the Legarette Blount punching fiasco
watch?v=R_3299v-A1o
Boise didn’t have a marquee win all season after that, even though Oregon proved to be a huge win. Boise was known for beating opponents heavily, but the strength of schedule kept them ranked #6 in the BCS.
Overall the BCS got this right, because it seemed to not be in question that Alabama and Texas were clearly the best two teams in the country in 2009, but there is something to be said about the mid-major, non-aq teams not being recognized. The age-old argument is that if these teams want to be taken seriously, they will need to realign into automatic qualifying conferences. Boise State, TCU, and Utah have all managed to arrange that for the future.
For the sake of argument I will consider this one unfair, even though by most accounts it is fair because the best two teams in college football played for the title in most peoples unbiased opinion
BCS: 8-4

2010-2011
Tostitos BCS National Championship Game
#1 Auburn (13-0) defeated #2 Oregon (12-0) 22-19

Snubs?
#3 TCU: TCU had a great season, going 12-0 with wins over #24 Oregon State and at #6 Utah, but didn’t have the strength of schedule that Oregon and Auburn had with the same degree of talent (not a criteria, but plays a significant role in pollsters) with Heisman winner Cam Newton, Oregon RB Lamichael James, Doak Walker award winner. Oregon’s coach Chip Kelly was awarded coach of the year by the AP. Oregon won 3 games against ranked opponents, and Auburn beat #12 South Carolina, #12 Arkansas, #6 LSU, #9 Alabama in one of the best 24 point comebacks in the history of the sport, and again over #18 South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game. There was no question that these two teams, in automatic qualifying conferences deserved the title game over TCU.
BCS: 9-4

2011-2012
BCS Championship
#1 LSU (13-0) vs. #2 Alabama (11-1) Score to Be Determine January 9th, 2012

Snubs?
It seems to be perposterous to call any team a real snub this season because of one simple fact. Not a single other team other than the Alabama Crimson Tide, with one loss to LSU in Overtime, and the Louisiana State Tigers, who were the only undefeated team in College Football this year proved to be worth it. Let’s break it down by all the teams that “could” be considered snubs.
#3 Oklahoma State (11-1): Oklahoma State has one of the best arguments, only because of the fact that nobody outside of the SEC wants to see an SEC re-match, and that is a decent argument, but who did OSU lose to? Iowa State. I think that statement speaks for itself. Sorry Oklahoma State, but you are the first example of my main point here: When you take yourself out of the race, you can’t expect to play in the title game.
#4 Stanford (11-1): Stanford has a decent case because losing to Oregon is a good loss, but by the same token, they didn’t even win the Pac-12 because of it. The best team in the Pac-12 this year isn’t even bowl eligible and that is hurting this conference. USC could have been the Pac-12 Champion and could have had the clout to get in over Alabama, but that isn’t the case, thanks to NCAA sanctions
#5 Oregon (11-2): Oregon could make a case, but they lost twice, one of those losses coming to USC in a tough match-up and the other coming to LSU. Oregon got beat 40-27 against LSU, Alabama only lost 9-6 in OT. Oregon has another loss. Sorry Ducks.
#7 Boise State (11-1): Please. They lost to TCU at home, and didn’t even win the Mountain West. Don’t get me wrong here, TCU is a good team with its only real blemish coming against SMU, because the Baylor loss has looked better and better after RG3 locked up the 2011 Heisman Trophy.
Right, wrong, or indifferent from what we all might want, LSU and Alabama are the two best teams in 2011, and both deserve a shot at the title game. Why do re-matches get such a stigma in the first place? Remember the B1G Championship Game this year? That game was fantastic between Michigan State and Wisconsin. It came down to one of the best defenses in the country getting redemption by stopping one of the best offenses, and then a penalty keeping them from being set up to win.
BCS 10-4

The BCS is a broken system, but how broken is it really? Looking back at the history of the BCS, there have only been 4 cases that a team can make to be playing in the BCS Championship and even with all of those cases, there is still a determining factor that keeps them out.
Below is a list of what is keeping teams out and a simple fix:
1. Strength of Schedule: Only once did this actually hinder a team, Auburn in 2005, who went undefeated in an AQ conference. The simple solution to this. Well, there isn’t one. One time out of 13 is 7%. Nothing to really write home about, and in hindsight that season was practically an anomaly anyway because of all the scandal hitting USC and Reggie Bush.
2. Non-AQ teams not getting a shot: The answer here is simple as well and many of these teams are realizing this. Get into an AQ conference, or schedule pre-conference schedule games with big name opponents. Boise State continues to make the argument that nobody will schedule them before the year, but they are neglecting to mention that the amount of money to be lost by Alabama, Florida, or Texas by taking a 2-1 (2 games in Boise and 1 away) deal is astounding. Hence, Boise, TCU, and Utah are all realigning to be in AQ conferences
3: Not winning the games you are supposed to. I am looking at you Oklahoma State (2011). All you have to do it beat Iowa State. You didn’t. You don’t deserve any charity.

Now after I have written an essay longer than any school assignment I have had this year, I leave you with this final thought.
Before you start jumping to conclusions about how much “better” of a system a playoff would be, please look at these numbers. If you still believe a playoff system would work better, then be my guest, but there will always be somebody complaining that they didn’t get a chance. That is just the cold hard truth of College Football.  Through all of this I have learned that each individual season is unique and that is where the biggest problem lies, but would a playoff fix that? Maybe. That is for us to speculate at and the “professionals” to decide…

(BCS Photo Courtesy of Sportige.com)

The post The BCS: Right or Wrong 2011? (Commentary) appeared first on KRUI Radio.

This is a two-part series by KRUI Sports Staffer Cody Goodwin.  The second part is entitled, “What We All Want: Part 2” and is available on the sports page.

Having to put my BCS rant aside, it’s time I come to terms and grips with the fact that the BCS will always be a broken machine. But I must also acknowledge that it’s the perfect motor for some of the best writers in the business.  Looking past that, it’s time we get to what we really want. And a national consensus, and Facebook, tells us that we really want a playoff.

But how do we go about this? How will it be constructed? Who will be in it?

Luckily for you, I’ve answered all of these questions in five consecutive years of schooling. It’s called a research paper. And it’s only been expanded upon since I first wrote the thesis in eighth grade.

And with my layout, we’d have a 16-man, single-elimination playoff for the national championship. Check it out.

What we would first need to determine is who would be invited to the big dance. According to my paper, we’d invite the top two teams in the country; letting the BCS keep it’s main job of establishing number one and two. They would receive byes.

Next, we’d fill in the remaining seeds that fall in by the following criteria.

1. Conference Champs receive seeds three through eight, with the conference champions coming first, in order by the BCS Rankings.

2. Those teams that met the at-large criteria for a BCS Bowl game would file in the remaining seeds. With this factor in place, we would be excluding those teams from mid-majors (Boise State, Houston, TCU, etc.). We would also aim to include two teams from each conference in the BCS playoffs. Instead of receiving the BCS death-sentence, those who qualified for their respective conference title game, and lost, will earn a bid, as well as others who may not have won their division, but still met BCS at-large requirements (Stanford, Alabama).

3. Assuming there’s at least one spot remaining for an at-large bid, we would give it to the highest ranked mid-major, assuming they met the BCS rules for their at-large appearances.

With these rules in place (and a tad hard to follow, I admit), the field of 14 would be set and ready to go. Since we couldn’t plan this better before the BCS, and Alabama, screwed things up, we’ll play it off of what we have to work with. Here are the teams and their seeds:

1. LSU (BCS #1 – SEC Champions) – will receive a first round bye.

2. Alabama (BCS #2 – SEC at-large) – will receive a first round bye.

3. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Champs)

4. Oregon (Pac-12 Champs)

5. Wisconsin (Big Ten Champs)

6. Clemson (ACC Champs)

7. West Virginia (Big East Champs)

8. Stanford (Pac-12 at-large)

9. Kansas State (Big 12 at-large)

10. Virginia Tech (ACC at-large)

11. Georgia (SEC finalist)

12. Michigan State (Big Ten at-large)

13. Cincinnati (Big East at-large)

14. UCLA (Pac-12 finalist)

So you see, under this format, Boise is indeed robbed of a BCS appearance, simply because other teams made the given criteria, but only they come last. And again, Alabama comes in to screw everything up.

But Boise isn’t the only team that gets hosed under this format. Note that Michigan, Arkansas, South Carolina, Baylor, Oklahoma, and even TCU are all left out. But due to these rules, it’s fair that way. Arkansas and South Carolina are left out simply because the SEC spots were filled with the better teams. The same goes for Baylor and Sooner nation, and the Wolverines out of the Big Ten. TCU falls under the same rules as Boise State.

Hosed? Probably. But fair? Absolutely. In a more perfect world, there’d be four super conferences, that would hold 16 teams, with 8-teams in each of the conferences two divisions. Under this format, each division would send their top two teams to the big dance, with the conference title game to decide the seeding for the first two of each conference, and the others thrown in at a blind draw.

It would create a full 16-man football playoff to decide the best team in the nation.

Continued on…”What We All Want: Part 2″

The post What We All Want: The 2011-2012 BCS Playoff Scenario appeared first on KRUI Radio.