Just about two months ago I, like most other people, was imagining an Alabama-Oregon National Championship game. Auburn and Stanford, though, had other ideas. Stanford upset Oregon for the second straight year and Auburn defeated Alabama very shockingly. As crazy as college football can be at times, how many people can say honestly that when the season began they predicted an Auburn-Florida State National Championship game? I know that I didn’t…

Florida State and Auburn will be battling for this trophy come January 6th 2014 in Pasadena. By User:Nikonmadness from the English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

Florida State Seminoles: (13-0, 8-0 ACC) Beat Duke in ACC Title game

Ranked #11 to start the season, not many people saw the Seminoles jumping to the #1 ranking by year’s end. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis “Famous” Winston is the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and for good reason. He has posted 38 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 3,820 passing yards. His explosive offense ranks 14th in passing and 27th in rushing in all of college football. Florida State’s defense also ranks first in college football only allowing 10.7 points per game. People may question the level of competition that Florida State plays being in the ACC but not only does Florida State beat their opponents, they dismantle them. Two examples are a 51-14 beat-down of #3 ranked Clemson at Memorial Stadium in Clemson and a 45-7 win against Duke in the ACC Title game. The Seminoles deserve to be in the National Championship game and they will look to break the SEC streak of seven straight National Championships.

Auburn Tigers: (12-1, 7-1 SEC) Beat Missouri in SEC Title game

After going 3-9 overall (0-8 in the SEC) last season, nobody saw Auburn coming except for maybe Auburn. Being unranked normally doesn’t bode well to make the Championship Game but the last two seasons an unranked team has made it (Notre Dame and Auburn). Coach Gus Malzahn took over the Auburn program after such a disheartening season and has rebuilt them within a year to make them title contenders once again. Led by their top-ranked rushing attack, Auburn is a force to be reckoned with offensively and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Every season there seems to be a team of “destiny” in the national title mix, and Auburn is most certainly it this season.

After an incredible Hail Mary win over Georgia to keep their title hopes alive, nobody thought Auburn could pull out another miraculous win but to the disbelief of college football fans everywhere, they did. Trailing by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Auburn tied the game at 28. Alabama then drove the ball down the field only to set up what would be the game winning field goal. The field goal was wide right and was improbably returned for a touchdown by returner Chris Davis to win the game and stun the college football world. They would go on to face Missouri in the SEC Title game, beating them 59-42 to secure their place in the National Championship game. Auburn now has a chance to keep the SEC dominance alive and win the school’s second National Championship in four years.

For the past fifteen years of my life — nearly as long as I can remember — the only constant in my life other than my family has been the enjoyment from sports. In fact, most of the friends I have maintained over this time period are individuals who don’t have a problem watching Sportscenter on repeat, to the point where you memorize what Neil Everrett and Stan Verrett will say on an upcoming segment. The competitive nature of sports makes them some of the most unpredictable events in the world; there isn’t a better feeling than hearing the phrase “game 7” or waking up on the morning of a rivalry game. With that being said, when there is love, there is hate; these are the five things in sports that grind my gears the most:

5.  The NCAA’s recent actions

College sports would not be where they are in today’s society without the NCAA; however, over the last few years the NCAA has made a number of questionable decisions regarding the punishments they have given to the universities under their control. I’m not questioning whether or not these universities deserve the punishment, but rather the inconsistency regarding the terms of these punishments that are causing fans to question the integrity of the NCAA.

The sanctions against the University of Southern California handed down in 2010 were over the actions of one player from an entirely different generation of USC football. Nevertheless, these sanctions kept the Trojans out of a National Championship Game they deserved to be in and prevented Matt Barkley from winning the Heisman, both during the 2011 season. There’s no reason to punish players who had nothing to do with the actions in question Instead, the NCAA should have put restrictions on the players who committed the rule violation. The head of the NCAA’s Committee of Infractions at the time of the USC ruling, Paul Dee, was the Athletic director at the University of Miami , which committed a number of violations during his tenure (1993-2008), including the most recent Nevin Shapiro scandal. How can the NCAA appoint an individual to the head of their violations committee if he can’t even control his own school? Because the NCAA has proven they aren’t even competent enough to control their employees. Last month, the NCAA admitted to improper conduct by its own enforcement staff and their involvement regarding the Nevin Shapiro scandal, adding to the long list of problems with the enforcement staff.

The NCAA is an association that answers to no one; either that needs to change, or their policies need to, I’d personally be happy to see both change.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame needs to make some adjustments. By Beyond My Ken (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

4. Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame voting

2013 marked the first time since 1996 the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted zero members to the Baseball Hall of Fame; subsequently, this has become one of the most fiercely discussed topics of the New Year.  After the results of this year’s voting, most of the reactions were the same; a new policy clearly needs to be adopted, specifically the 15 year limit on candidacy. There is no reason for a player who deserves membership right away, to be forced to wait 14 years before the BBWA feels the urgency to vote them in during their 15^th year, which hopefully turns out to be the case with Jack Morris. Baseball has gone through major changes over the last 20 years—the addition of the designated hitter, the wild card playoff spot and game, and the addition of multiple teams—there is absolutely no reason for the Baseball Writers to refuse changes to their voting policy and criteria.

If the Hall of Fame is a place that claims to house the history of the best players and moments the game has ever seen, then something must be done in regards to the voting problems surfacing with the steroid era players. There is absolutely no reason to keep an entire generation of players out of the eternal sanctuary for baseball lore. Other than the original ballot in 1936—with names such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, and Honus Wagner—there has never been another group of players of similar importance on the same ballot. This is an era in Major League Baseball that will never be forgotten. We shouldn’t act like it didn’t exist.

3. Conference Realignment

The landscape of college sports has seen dramatic changes over the last decade because of the constant movement between conferences by schools who are influenced by the goal of landing the largest television contract possible. I have never thought of myself as a traditionalist and I’m generally open to change, just not in this case. Conference realignment has occurred for all of the wrong reasons, and it has destroyed a handful of rivalries that have been around for over 100 years. The Missouri vs. Kansas and Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalries combined for over 225 years of competition, but abruptly ended when Missouri and Texas A&M decided to bolt for the Southeastern Conference in 2012.

Then there’s my personal favorite conference, the Pac-12, which expanded from the Pac-10 with the additions of Utah and Colorado in 2011; teams were ultimately split into two divisions as a result. Subsequently, my Oregon State Beavers have been forced to leave USC off the schedule for the past two seasons. After growing up in Southern California, there has been nothing more fun than talking smack to my friends about how the Beavers put a smack down on the Trojans or Bruins.

However, the effects of these changes don’t stop with football. The Big East conference, historically dominant in basketball, has been the primary victim of these changes with the loss of schools such as Georgetown, Connecticut, Syracuse and Villanova, just to name a few. This is a conference that sent a record 11 schools to the NCAA tournament in 2011, had a six-overtime game in the conference tournament in 2009, and most recently had a four overtime game a few weeks ago; the loss of this conference’s original core is one of the biggest travesties the sports modern era. Nevertheless, it is nice to see the Basketball dominant Catholic schools from the Big East take a stand for themselves in declaring their independence before the conference they helped create is torn apart from the outside because of football’s monetary interests.

2. The Media

Three things I would love to never hear discussed on television again: Brett Favre coming back to football; ‘Tebowmania;’ the next person in line to sue Lance Armstrong. I’m sure most people who tune into ESPN or any other sports media network on a daily basis would agree with me when I say enough with the repeated material.  Please do not flood my television with useless stories that lead to the same conversations every day. Focus on stories that are worth mentioning—this does not include Tim Tebow running through the rain with his shirt off.

I could really care less about the personal situations or problems that various athletes manage to get themselves into; does a sports fan really care how many times Pac-Man Jones manages to land in prison? If we want these individuals to act as role models for the youth, then the media needs to highlight the dozens of things athletes do every day to help people in need, rather than the things they do wrong. I see more ‘top stories’ about Gronkowski getting drunk than I do about the 350+ established charitable foundations started by sports figures.  ESPN’s “Make A Wish” series is a perfect example of athletes doing charitable work; albeit, the episodes may be a bit scripted and romanticized, but they are still working with professional athletes in all sports to make a difference in an individual’s life. With Social Media playing a huge role in today’s society, popular sports media needs to understand how much they influence the younger generations.

1. The University of Oregon

The University of Oregon’s sudden rise as one of the elite programs in College Football would not have been possible if their athletic program was not funded and utilized by Nike’s popular culture marketing campaign. Through the hundred million dollar donations of Uncle Knight, the Oregon Ducks football team started their ‘build and they will come’ recruitment strategy last decade and haven’t looked back since. Through this strategy, building and promoting revolutionary facilities is at the center of Oregon’s sales pitch to recruits; this has led to four straight BCS bowl game appearances. Some of the more recent ‘donations’ include an atrocious basketball court and a football training facility that will cost an estimated $60 million-plus. The Oregon athletic department is one of a handful of athletic departments in the country that is self-sufficient in operating without university help, I wonder why?

It’s easy to say I am merely jealous of the support the Ducks receive from Nike, but that could not be farther from the truth—in fact the school I support receives a substantial amount from this corporate behemoth as well. What grinds my gears is the pompous attitude from the bandwagoning fans who think the Ducks belong on the Mount Rushmore of College Football. Most of the recently-turned Duck fans have never even attended the University of Oregon or gone to a game there, but popular culture has told them to become infatuated with the ‘swag’ that pulses from their obnoxious jerseys every week. It has been a lot of fun watching their Heisman hopefuls and National title intentions crash and burn the last few years through memorable loses.

I guess it would be worth mentioning my status as a fourth-year student at Oregon State University is likely the source for every ounce of self-centered hatred inside of me that gets directed towards those hippies down south. But at the end of the day, being at the epicenter of one of the longest standing rivalries in college sports has been the single greatest experience of my life.

Go Beavers.

Chip Kelly will still be wearing green in 2013. By Abdoozy (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

After 14 years in Philadelphia, the Andy Reid era is finally over. During the offseason, the Eagles worked to find a “big name” coach for a replacement. Former Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly seemed to fit perfectly as the coach of this team, which had an awful season last year due to a mixture of injuries and poor performance. The spread offense system that he incorporated into the Ducks made them one of the nation’s top offensive teams, would now be brought into the NFL. Under Kelly, the Ducks ranked second in points per game (49.6) and third in rushing (315.2 yards per game) while the Eagles ranked 13^th in the NFL with 117.1 rushing yards per game.

But college is much different than the NFL. I realize that but rushing for over 300 yards per game in the NCAA is almost equivalent to being in the top five rushing teams in the NFL. What Kelly was able to accomplish at Oregon was astonishing and he will try to duplicate that success in Philadelphia. The Eagles addressed the first question — that of which quarterback will run Kelly’s offense — by re-signing quarterback Michael Vick.

Vick had a down year compared to his previous two in Philadelphia but that was due to injuries I believe. Many people questioned whether he would even be back in Philly since rookie Nick Foles showed some promise for the Eagles in Vick’s absence last season. But Vick is better suited to run Kelly’s run-n-gun style of offense so management decided to restructure Vick’s contract and give him a one-year deal worth about $10 million. In my opinion this was a very smart move by Eagles management. They gave Vick one more shot to prove he should be the quarterback of this team after four uneventful seasons. He has a new coach and a new offensive system so what better way to prove himself? If he were to fail in Kelly’s system then the Eagles still have Kelly inked for four additional years and could build a whole new team around his offense schemes. Plus, the Eagles have the fourth overall pick in this April’s upcoming draft so that isn’t too shabby either.

If Vick and the rest of the Eagles team can stay healthy then I believe that they can be very deadly on the offensive side of the ball. With some improvements on defense, the Eagles could easily be back on top as a title contender. Kelly’s spread offense may find some difficulty gaining traction in the NFL, but Kelly is a smart coach and I hope it does work out for him. The Eagles hope to have Kelly repeat the same type of success that he had coaching college football and if all the pieces can fit together then maybe this team can finally show us some of that “dream team”, that Vince Young was blabbering about a few years ago.

The best conferences in the sport are packed with potential champions, and even though there is no organized post-season bracket, it doesn’t mean the regular season can’t serve as a form of a week to week ‘win or go home’ from national title contention. The best of the best are so head and shoulders above the rest that the regular season clashes between the uber-dominant can be viewed as a playoff system. Try it, you’ll like it.

Teams like LSU and Alabama are so elite within their own conference that the only possible game they could lose during the regular season is the one in which they face off against each other. This in itself makes this Saturday’s clash the first round of the de facto (there’s that word again) playoff system. To say the winner of this contest is in the driver’s seat for the national championship game would be an understatement. It’s almost down-right guaranteed the winner will be there in the end.

So with all that we know to this point in the college football season, what scenarios are available to decide the possible national championship opponent that will end up facing the LSU/Alabama winner?

Oklahoma State is ranked 3rd in the BCS standings currently behind LSU and Alabama. They tangle this Saturday with the 14th ranked and previously unbeaten Kansas State Wildcats in Stillwater. Most see the Cowboys getting by the ‘Powercats’ at home without much resistance, but the real test for Okie State will be the annual Bedlam game on the final week of the regular season versus Oklahoma. If OSU gets by KSU, the Bedlam Game will undoubtedly serve as another de facto (and again!) playoff game.

If the ‘Pokes win the penultimate face-off with their in-state rival, they will get their shot at the crystal ball against the LSU/Alabama winner. However, what if the Sooners play spoiler and ruin Okie State’s run to the title game? This would be more than just possible, maybe even probable, due to Oklahoma’s big-game experience advantage over the up-and-coming Cowboys. If Boomer Sooner gets over, who then would be next down the totem pole to step into the National Championship game?

If Oklahoma State loses and 4th ranked Stanford wins out, they would be the next program to step into the big game versus the Alabama/LSU winner. There is one roadblock however to that possibility. The Cardinal face the 6th ranked Oregon Ducks next weekend, albeit in the friendly confines of the Farm in Palo Alto.

Oregon’s only loss was a kickoff weekend defeat at the hands of the top team in the land, LSU. This game was played at what was considered to be at a neutral site – the Jerry Jones compound in Dallas – but let’s be quite frank, Baton Rouge is a hop, skip and a jump from Dallas when compared to the distance from Eugene, Oregon. This was basically an LSU home game, and if it weren’t for turnovers due to opening night jitters, the Ducks might have very well knocked off LSU.

Oregon is no slouch and is extremely high powered. Their track-meet style of offense and scoring ability could cause major problems for Andrew Luck and Stanford. So what if Stanford falls at the hands of Oregon and has their national title hopes dashed as well?

If all the series of events described above were to unfold, who would then be next on the list to step into the national championship top-contender role? The simple answer are two words most BCS detractors have wanted to utter in the national championship discussion for quite some time – Boise State.

It would be a very long time coming, as over nearly the past decade the Broncos have had numerous undefeated seasons and has come out victorious when pitted against every big opponent that has been put in front of them. The argument for keeping them out has always been their weak schedule due to them competing in the WAC and Mountain West conferences. A valid point, however Boise has done everything possible in its power to schedule the very toughest of out of conference road trips. In recent years past they have gone on the road in September to both Virginia Tech and Georgia, and both times came away with a victory.

I am of the opinion that if Okie State and Stanford were to both lose and Boise ends up going undefeated, they would undoubtedly deserve a shot at winning it all. The Broncos going undefeated however is no guarantee. Boise has to get by a formidable TCU team a week from this Saturday on the blue turf.

Let’s get crazy. What if Oklahoma State, Stanford and Boise State all lose? You then get into the bizzare world of ‘one-loss’ and might as well let the real mind-boggling begin!

Oregon’s only loss would be to LSU and if LSU beats Alabama, who would want to see an Oregon/LSU rematch? Not many. There is even talk of an LSU/Alabama rematch if there is a garble of one-loss teams in the end. The argument behind that premise is that the loser of this Saturday’s game will have the ‘best loss’ of all one-loss teams.

The only problem with rematches? Where would things stand if the team who lost the first matchup won the second? Yes, they won the “bigger” game, but the fact would still remain that overall, the two teams would end up 1-1 against each other. The vast majority of fans don’t want to see a rematch, they want to see newer and more intriguing matchups in the end.

The day the transparent gestapo of greed that is the BCS finally gets taken down will be a great day, quite possibly the best day in the history of college athletics. But until that time the current unfortunate circumstance can in fact be shoved aside. Forget about the injustice of the BCS and slam that pig back into the trough for the time being.

Go ahead and feel free to appreciate and celebrate the de facto. What did you do as a kid when you wanted the real thing but couldn’t have it? You made the best of it. Instead of getting that motorcycle you wanted but couldn’t have, you simply stuck a playing card in the spokes, remember?

Vroom! Vroom!