We’ve seen it in a variety of sports, their star player goes down and we all think that hard times are ahead for that sport. Michael Jordan left the NBA, then came back, then left again, the came back and all that time the NBA did not lose a step. Wayne Gretzky left the NHL, but hockey was just as unpopular as it was before he left. The NFL has always had a health pleothora of hall-of-famers and great players being reared in the league, so it has never had to worry about losing fan appeal. With every Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky that leaves, there is always the constant comparison of current players being the heir to the “throne.” The PGA Tour is currently experiencing that growing pain as Tiger Woods put up his clubs after winning the U.S. Open and re-aggravating his knee injury. For those that love healthy competition and the game of golf, the game has not changed. With Tiger out, other golfers are stealing the spotlight.  While the PGA Tour is no doubt worse off financially without Tiger, it is not lacking the least bit in drama.

Anthony Kim looks prepared to have a great career on the PGA Tour.

The Ryder Cup has always been a fun and exciting event to watch, the Revolutionary War of golf. International play always brings out more passion, please refer to the Olympics. What made the United States’ victory this year so sweet is that the team was expected to put up little fight against the name-worthy Europeans. For those that aren’t regular viewers of the PGA, they may have looked at the US roster and though, “who in the heck is that?” The US looked destined to lose yet again, dating their last win to 1999 when Justin Leonard sinked the Cup clinching putt. I remember that moment in golf history very distinctly, only because of what my mother said after Leonard sinked the putt and pranced around the green, “My, that guy has a shapely butt.” Further proof that you don’t have to be a hard-core golf fan to enjoy watching it. This year’s Ryder Cup was accompanied by Boo Weekley riding his driver like a bull, something I saw in “Happy Gilmore” but never thought I’d actually see on the PGA Tour. I’m still waiting for the day when people brings beach balls to a tour event. There might have been some at the Ryder Cup, but e never saw them on TV. European team member Lee Westwood did complain, along with other players, that the Kentucky crowd at Valhalla C.C. was a little ruckus and distracting. I believe Westwood was greeted in the clubhouse with a handkerchief to wipe his eyes with a big American flag on it. What made the victory just as sweet was how hard the Europeans took it, some were blaming it entirely on captain Nick Faldo (just as an FYI for those who aren’t aware, captains do not play in the Ryder Cup, they are more of a coach). I’ve never understood how a person that never took a golf shot all weekend can be blamed for the loss…

With the Ryder Cup out of the way, many PGA players focused on the the concluding tournament for the FedEx Cup. The FedEx Cup is much like NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, where points are earned throughout the year toward the Cup, and the winner is the one with the most cumulative points. The underlying drama with this one was seeing if Tiger could win it having sat out half the year (which he almost did last year without playing in a number of events), but it was Fijian Vijay Singh that ended up hoisting the Cup. For those of you looking for a reason to watch golf in the absence of Tiger, look no further then second year pro Anthony Kim. He’s going to be good, mark my words.

Two more non-BCS teams snuck their way into the top 25 after week 5. Boise State, the Sooner killers, moved up to #20 after beating Oregon in Eugene. TCU dismantled hopeless SMU to earn their #23 spot. Is it donned upon anyone else that the playing field is leveling now the 24% of the teams in the top 25 are from non-BCS school? 

Oregon State looks to make it two straight victories over USC in Corvallis.

Beavers In the Trojan Horse???

For the last two weeks we’ve heard the PAC-10 get trashed from every angle. Some have called it “USC and the PAC-9,” others have referred to the conference as the “Least-10.” Trojans QB Mark Sanchez has been elevated to be a front-runner for the Heisman after a couple wins of a lousy Virginia team and a unspirited (and perhaps overrated) Ohio State squad. With USC’s track record in the PAC-10 the last couple years I don’t know how everyone can so quickly discount every other school. If you know college football, you know that emotion sometimes will trump talent. USC has a target on it’s back and in the last two years they have been sniped in PAC-10 conference play FOUR times. In 2006 they lost to Oregon State and UCLA on the road and in 2007 they lost to Oregon on the road and Stanford at home. This week will be déjà vu of ‘06 for Trojan fans as the Beavers of Oregon State take down USC. How quickly the prideful fall, the Trojans can start saying “goodbye” to a National Championship and it’s still September. 

Michigan Gets Badgered at Home

Question-How long has it been since Wisconsin has won at Michigan? 14 YEARS!! This road trip for the Badgers couldn’t have been planned more perfectly, this will be almost as easy as taking candy from a baby with an identity crisis. While Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez has tried so desperately to implement his new offense, it’s just not catching on. To give an example, it’s catching on as fast as those bunless burgers did during the low-carb craze a few years ago. I’m sure the Michigan offensive players have that same “So the burger is wrapped in a piece of lettuce??” look on their faces while going through the offensive game plan every week. Wisconsin has been rolling so far this year, they notably knocked of Fresno State on the road before having a bye week. Just like LSU broke a 10-year drought against Auburn last week, Wisconsin will break a much longer and more astounding streak. After this game the Wisconsin-Ohio State might have a little more hype to it than USC-Ohio State did. 

This photo speaks a 1,000 words about UCLA's season thus far.

Bulldogs Pick Good Time to Visit Rose Bowl

UCLA had all the makings for a team on the rise and did little to dissuade anyone after opening the season in fashion with an overtime thriller over then #18 Tennessee (who now doesn’t look too grand themselves). Then after a nice bye week to bask in the media limelight, UCLA was victim of a 59-0 drubbing at the hands of #11 BYU. They followed their worst loss in 79 years with another loss to PAC-10 gutter ball Arizona at home. All of a sudden the Bruins are looking like a project, a 5-year project. You want to think that this game against Fresno State is just what the Bruins need to lift them up. Another win at home against a ranked opponent, that would be nice. Fresno State, however, has different plans to kick the Bruins while they are down. With 9 turnovers in their first 3 games, the Bruins are kicking themselves when they are down. Fresno State will avenge their 2000 loss to UCLA, but don’t expect a lot of celebration from Bulldog players. Expect the Bulldogs to have the expression of a person being thrown a surprise party that already knows. 

NC State Doesn’t Strike Twice

East Carolina, the darlings of ‘08, were shocked by NC State last week in overtime. While East Carolina tried to shrug it off like it was another game, you know it devastated them. At the other end was NC State, just as excited as East Carolina was devastated (even though East Carolina is a non-BCS school,  meaning NC State should have won, right?). NC State will face a much tougher ranked team this week as they try to knock off two ranked teams in as many weeks. The Wolfpack with find this week a little tougher with the absence of their starting quarterback, now having to start third-string Nebraska transfer Harrison Beck. South Florida looked bad last week after beating then #13 Kansas at home two weeks ago, but the Bulls will find their swagger and tenacity again this week. It helps that the Wolfpack will be in their red jerseys. Get it? Bull + red = ticked off bull..I’m sorry, that was lame… 

Wisconsin will battle Ohio State for the Big 10 Conference Title.

JIB Picks

Week 4: 16-2 / Overall: 74-7

Week 5: #1 USC – Oregon State / #2 Oklahoma – #23 TCU / #3 Georgia – #10 Alabama / #4 Florida – Ole Miss / #5 Missouri (Bye) / #6 LSU – Mississippi State / #7 Texas – Arkansas / #8 Wisconsin – Michigan / #9 Texas Tech (Bye) / #11 BYU (Bye) / #12 Penn State – #21 Illinois / #13 Ohio State – Minnesota / #14 South Florida – NC State / #15 Wake Forest – Navy / #16 Auburn – Tennessee / #17 Utah – Weber State / #18 Kansas (Bye) / #19 Clemson – Maryland / #20 Boise State (Bye) / #22 Oregon (Bye) / #24 Fresno State – UCLA / #25 Vanderbilt (Bye)

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While  a few teams started digging their way out of holes, a couple more just kept digging deeper hoping they’ll come out on the other end. While week 2 was bliss for the New England Patriots as life after Brady began, week 3 was a slap back to reality. Picture a dolphin winding up and smacking you across the face with it’s flipper, it was that kind of slap for the Patriots. Quarterbacks continued to be replaced as often as those cheap light bulbs you pay for at the thrift store thinking you’ll get more out of four crappy ones than one good one. Marc Bulger, Tarvaris Jackson, Jeff Garcia, and soon Derek Anderson will all be riding the pine. At least they have the luxury of fans when it’s hot, coats when it’s cold, no dirty laundry (those grass stains are a pain to get out), and a teenager making minimum wage to squeeze a bottle of gatorade in their mouth when they become hydrated. Now that’s the life! I’d taking a million dollar paycheck to do that every Sunday, don’t feel bad for them, they are as happy as an elementary kid that’s “sick” and can’t go to school. Heading into week 4, keep the following three thoughts in your mind:

Eli Manning is on the positive side of comparisons with his brother this year.

Eli is at the Top of Manning Mountain

The time has come that Eli has dreamed about every night since becoming a starting quarterback in the NFL, he is better than his brother. The little guy who I believe has never used a comb in his life and wasn’t seen as an average quarterback until he won last year’s Super Bowl is now considered by many to be the superior Manning. Right about now, the only things Peyton has on his resume that Eli doesn’t is a few better commercials, a league MVP trophy, and couple hundred more touchdown passes, a few thousand more passing yard, and he hosted Saturday Night Live. Okay, so Peyton has a lot over Eli, but this year him and his Colts are staggering to start the season while Eli and his Giants are looking very capable of defending their Super Bowl title. You have to believe that ever since Brett Favre landed in New York that a lot of stress and media attention have been diverted away from Eli and allowed him to be more confident. Eli also has the luxury of talented targets around him on offense and a steady running game while Peyton is struggling with a depleted offensive line, an aging Marvin Harrison, and a pathetic running game. Colts running back Joseph Addai has looked very uninterested and has been very ineffective running the ball for the Colts, putting all the weight on Peyton. Maybe the Colts newly opened Lucas Oil Stadium is the source of their misfortunes. Maybe the Colts are receiving bad karma from the oil companies ruining all of our lives, ah, yet another travesty related to high oil prices.

Gus Frerotte will be fine as long as he doesn't score a running touchdown.

Gus Frerotte Could be the Next Randall Cunningham

The Vikings love to bring in oldies and hope they are still goodies. With the exception of Daunte Culpepper (who is now retired from the NFL at the ripe age of 31), most of the Vikings exceptional quarterbacks have been ones nearing the end of their careers. There was Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, and Randall Cunningham. Cunningham had the most success though. After retiring in 1995, Cunningham restarted his playing career again with the Vikings in 1997 and led the 1998 Vikings to a 15-1 record. Vikings coach Brad Childress is hoping to find that same success with Gus Frerotte, who surprised many when they heard he would be the starting quarterback in favor of Tarvaris Jackson. I’m sure the thought going through many people’s heads was “Gus Frerotte? That guy hasn’t retired or been cut from a team yet?” While Frerotte didn’t do anything to lose the game, he did enough to keep the running game healthy and help the Vikings win. Every time I think about Frerotte though, I equate him with “bone-head.” Does anybody else remember in 1997 when he had the most awkward and painful touchdown celebrations in NFL History? After scoring a touchdown on a 1-yard run, Frerotte starting running toward the walls surrounding the field. Thinking that the stands were a little too high to successfully attempt a “Lambeau Leap,” Frerotte head-butted the wall. He ended up going to the hospital with a sprained neck…

Randy Moss heads for the endzone in a Madden '08 screen shot. If only it was that easy for the Patriots on Sunday.

Madden Video Games are Practical

For all of you who have ever played Madden video games on the game consul of your choice, you have your “bread and butter” play. It’s the play that you go to when you are in a pinch, your never fail. As wonderful as it was to always call that play and have success, we all know that it is not like that in the NFL, right? Wrong! Well, at least for Sunday’s game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots it couldn’t have been more wrong. The Dolphins’ never fail play was the direct snap to running back Ronnie Brown, they ran the play five times and were successful in every try. The Dolphins made the Patriots look downright silly and even invoked some moaning and complaining from the cocky and arrogant Belichick defense. Rodney Harrison, renowned aroung the league as the “dirtiest player” as voted by the coaches and players for the last few years was calling the Dolphins dirty. That’s as ludicrous as Michael Vick calling out a dog owner for using a shock collar. Whatever positive affirmations Patriots fans were reciting to themselves daily to mask their insecurities about not being able to win without Brady were replaced with profanity and despair. Here’s to hoping the Red Sox do something in the post season so that the greater Boston area doesn’t crack the top ten of “Most Depressing Cities in America.” 

Before there were steroids in baseball, there were always curses. Sports fans have always been a superstitious bunch, especially baseball fans. Who else would think that if they all collectively turned their baseball caps inside out it would be good luck? Babe Ruth left the Boston Red Sox and fortune followed his new team, the Yankees. Instead of Red Sox fans saying, “Gees, we traded away perhaps the best player in baseball history, and that’s why we didn’t win after he left,” they start saying, “WE’RE CURSED! IT’S THE CURSE OF BABE RUTH!” The Chicago Cubs are also being followed by a curse, a curse of not winning the World Series in nearly a century (there is apparently a connection with a goat, which is too ludicrous to mention). That’s all Cubs fans talk about, their team is cursed, and perhaps this is the year it is broken. They have come so close so many times, but that darn curse has gotten the best of them. With such a loose definition of “curse,” it’s safe to say that just about half of the teams in Major League Baseball are cursed because they have not won a World Series. Manny Ramirez is cursed with being a jerk, Roger Clemens is cursed with not being able to tell the truth, and Cleveland Indians are cursed because of the “Major League” movies (don’t know what they are cursed with, but definitely cursed)

The Chicago Cubs brought themselves one step closer to the World Series this past weekend when they won the N.L. Central Division and clinched a spot in the Playoffs. Any team clinching their division, league, or winning the World Series has turned into a champagne bath for everyone, even the fans. As if it wasn’t a silly tradition to begin with, this year the players seemed to have been handed a pair of swimming goggles with their bottle of champagne to protect their eyes. It was quite the scene on Wrigley Field, the fans had hope in their eyes, the players were excited, I think I even saw a couple of players having a tickle fight on the pitcher’s mound. Amongst all the happy jives, I think they all forgot that they will have to go through the almost automatic American League Champion Los Angeles (of Anaheim) Angels. That team has got supernatural powers on their side, they have actual angels on their team helping them, I know because I saw the movie “Angels in the Outfield.”

Heading into week 4 of college football we know for sure that Ohio State is not #1, in fact, they aren’t even in the top 10. After being exposed and embarrassed by USC at The Coliseum, the Buckeyes head back to resume their usual non-conference cupcake schedule. In the meantime, USC will take the week off before heading up to Corvallis to face giant-killer Oregon State, the Beavers took the Trojans down on their last trip up north  Here’s a few headlines you shouldn’t be surprised to see in your Sunday sports section: 

The countenance on Sun Devil players won't be so gloom this week.

Sun Devils Take Frustrations Out on Bulldogs

Last week Arizona State was shocked by UNLV. The Sun Devils loss downplayed what could have been a more highly anticipated game. This game will be the first time that Georgia has played in the west in a non-conference game in nearly 50 years! Expect the Sun Devils to come into this game with a chip on their shoulders (a very big chip as a matter of fact) and the Bulldogs to look like lost pups. The PAC-10 took a beating last week, they were 0-4 against the Mountain West Conference, but they will have a nice stat after this game, 1-0 against the SEC. Georgia has slipped every week, from #1 to #2 to #3, and this week will dip down into the teens. Don’t count the Bulldogs out of a chance to play in the National Championship Game though, they do play in the “tough” SEC, a conference that has 5 teams currently in the top 10.

 Pirates Abandon BCS Ship

East Carolina spring-boarded from being unranked to #14 in the polls after knocking off then #8 West Virginia. The Pirates followed that performance up by going into Tulane and almost being engulfed by the Green Wave. Perhaps we expected too much too soon from the Pirates, donning them the surprise success story of 2008 and heir to a BCS Bowl. The Pirates have knocked off two straight ranked BCS opponents, but lowly unranked 1-2 NC State is going to put an end to their party. True, the Wolfpack have had their heads handed to them by Clemson and South Carolina. True, the Wolfpack barely beat William & Mary (not civilians, but the college). True, the Wolfpack look just as mediocre as the other sad pathetic programs on Tobacco Road (except Wake Forest), but, the Wolfpack is due for a credible win…and the Pirates are due for a exposing loss. 

Bobby Bowden and Seminoles Still on Life Support

It's not often a school erects a statue for a coach not retired or dead, but Bobby Bowden already has one.

It’s been a solemn feeling in Tallahassee since the turn of the century. The Florida State Seminoles and their coach Bobby Bowden have been on life support as they have struggled to stay competitive in a weak ACC  that they once  dominated. Wake Forest has been a team on the rise, the last time the Deacons visited Tallahassee they shut out the Seminoles 33-0, which hadn’t happened to the Seminoles in about 70 years at home. The Seminoles have won their first two games against inferior school 115-7, and Seminole fans are excited about what licking they are going to lay on the Deacons. The one thing they are forgetting is that Wake Forest is a real football program with players on scholarship, one of which Florida State has not played this year.   

LSU Breaks 10 Year Drought

Auburn and LSU have always played each other tough. All of their games lately have been decided by less than a touchdown, which isn’t surprising because usually no one team scores more than one touchdown. If you are looking for touchdowns in the handfuls, look further than this game and you will find it. Last week Auburn defeated Mississippi State in a yawner, the final score was 3-2 (yes, I’m talking about the football score, not the women’s softball game). It wasn’t that either team had tremendous defenses, I was more in the opinion that their offenses were atrocious. Late in the game all Auburn had to do was run the clock out, but they fumbled. The Bulldogs then turned the ball over on downs only for the Tigers to fumble again. The Bulldogs then turned the ball over again, the Tigers then took the safe approach and kneed the ball. The LSU Tigers will not be so offensively inept, they will break their 10 year losing streak at Auburn.

QB Colt McCoy and the #7 Texas Longhorns are flying under the radar so far this year.

JIB Picks

Week 3: 15-3 / Overall: 58-5 

Week 4: #1 USC (Bye) / #2 Oklahoma (Bye) / #3 Georgia – #24 Arizona State / #4 Florida – Tennessee / #5 Missouri – Buffalo  / #6 LSU – #9 Auburn / #7 Texas – Rice / #8 Wisconsin (Bye) / #10 Texas Tech – UMass / #11 BYU – Wyoming / #12 Oregon – Boise State / #13 Alabama – Arkansas / #14 Ohio State – Troy / #15 Penn State – Temple / #16 South Florida – Florida-International / #17 East Carolina – NC State / #18 Wake Forest – #25 Florida State / #19 Kansas – Sam Houston State / #20 Utah – Air Force / #21 Clemson – SC State / #22 West Virginia – Colorado / #23 Illinois (Bye)

ESPN Game Previews

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In week 2, the NFL could very well have stolen the slogan for TNT and gotten away with it, “We Know Drama.” Week 2 included seven come from behind wins in the waning moments of each game. Week 2 also included an interesting shift in power as the NFC emerged as perhaps the stronger conference. There has been an interesting parody in the NFL and NBA in the past two seasons and that is their champion at the end of year was not the representative from the “tougher” conference. In the NBA we all gabbed about how tough the competition in the Western Conference was, but it was the Eastern Conference Boston Celtics that took home the Title. In the NFL last year we saw the New England Patriots represent the tough AFC (no surprise really, but the AFC was the tougher of the two conferences) but the NFC representative New York Giants were the ones that hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. It’s a little early to be talking about the Super Bowl, but I’m going to side with whoever comes out of the AFC. Think about these three revelations heading into week 3:

A healthy McNabb has the Eagles flying again. The Super Bowl is not out of sight.

So a Healthy Donovan McNabb WAS the Eagles Problem

Since 2005, when they went to the Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles have went through quite an identity crisis. QB Jeff Garcia backed up an injured Donovan McNabb and filled in well, leading the Eagles to the playoffs in 2006. In 2007 though, nobody filled those shoes and the Eagles struggled with McNabb on the sideline dedicating his time to rehabbing and making Campbell’s Chunky Soup commercials with his mother. All that time however; next to nobody supposed the reason for the Eagles struggles was an unhealthy McNabb. Although the Eagles lost to the Dallas Cowboys in a back and forth game on Monday Night Football, I think we are all in agreeance that the Eagles are back. The NFC East (Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, Giants) is looking to be the toughest division in the NFL and will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Just about everyone is jumping on the Cowboys bandwagon, reminiscent of other recent fads like Hannah Montana and brightly colored patches of hair. I, on the other hand, will stick with the either the Eagles or Giants, whom have actually won a playoff game the past 10 years (keep in mind you have to win multiple playoff games to get to the Super Bowl).

Ed Hochuli sporting his tight shirt in sunny Miami.

The Chargers Start Slow

For the second year in a row, San Diego has started 0-2. The Chargers ended last season pretty well, playing in the AFC Championship Game, so I’m not too concerned for them. The one thing that is concerning about this year’s start is that it should have never happened, the Chargers got screwed in Denver last week. The Chargers were up 7 in the last minute of the fourth quarter. The Broncos were driving and were almost in the end zone when quarterback Jay Cutler fumbled. Head official Ed Hochuli blew his whistle, making the play dead and non-reviewable. Upon review it was confirmed that Cutler did fumble the ball but because Hochuli blew his whistle, Denver was awarded the ball. It’s not often that you can really say a team lost on a bad call from the official, but this is one of them. Hochuli really blew it(the call, and the whistle as a matter of fact), haven’t the officials learned to always assume it was a fumble? You can always review and overturn a fumble that in fact was not; however; when the whistle blows the discussion is over. I think if Hochuli focused more on the game than showboating how good he looks in a tight shirt then bad calls like that wouldn’t happen. I swear Hochuli sees what size of shirt fits and then puts on one two sizes smaller. If you look at him closely while he signals holding calls, you might see him flex his pectoral muscles.

Are the Panthers really better without Steve Smith?

The Punkless Panthers are Pretty…Good

In training camp, Pro Bowl wide receiver Steve Smith got into a playground scuffle with teammate Ken Lucas. The scuffle ended with Lucas’ nose being misshaped (or broken, however you look at it) and Steve Smith being dealt a two game suspension. John Fox looked like a suicide assassin suspending his best player, it was almost guaranteeing a 0-2 start. However; things couldn’t be more opposite, the Panthers are 2-0 and looking like the team that went to the Super Bowl, which seems like forever ago. In both victories the Panthers had to come from behind, first at San Diego and the next at home against a confident Bears team that had just knocked off the Colts in Indianapolis. John Fox is beginning to look like a genius. Could it be the absence of Steve Smith is actually helping? If I were a cornerback or defensive back for the Panthers I’d be practicing my “yo’ mama” jokes so that Steve Smith will break my nose in practice this week and pray John Fox will suspend him for the rest of the season. I don’t think any other team has a better or easier formula for success at this time. Then again, maybe Steve Smith will make them that much more better. Let’s hold off on the “yo’ mama” jokes until next week.

This year, more so than any year previous, there has been a lot of jockeying in the polls. The times when all you had to do was win to stay or move up in the polls is long gone. In 2005 Michigan was leap-frogged by Florida in the final polls to play in the BCS Championship, but Michigan was idle that week. Just this past week we saw Auburn beat an atrocious Mississippi State team 3-2, East Carolina defeat Tulane, and Oregon squeak past Purdue but they all fell a spot in the polls. Meanwhile, BYU went from #15 in week 1 to #18 in week 2 and then back up to #14 after their 59-0 beat down at the hands of the UCLA Bruins. Although highly entertaining, aren’t these polls just one more thing that proves the inconsistency with the media deciding who the best teams in the nation are?

Not even Hurricane Ike could stop TCU in their quest to crash the BCS party. BYU, East Carolina, and Utah also are making a run to do the same.

We hear it every year, “get rid of the BCS,” “Take out the ‘C’ and that’s what it is,” and “WE NEED A PLAYOFF!!” It is becoming very apparent with the amount of “Mid-major”(the most disrespectful term in college football) teams in the top 25 that the playing field is being leveled. It wasn’t until 2004-05 that a non-BCS school made it to a BCS Bowl game when Utah played in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, but since then Boise State and Hawaii have also crashed the party. There are few things as exciting as these schools from conferences that don’t belong on the big stage to bust through and crash the party. Just this past week, the mid-major Mountain West Conference was 4-0 against PAC-10 schools. UCLA, Stanford, Arizona and Arizona State fell to the hands of BYU, TCU, New Mexico, and UNLV. If it was one game in which the MWC prevailed it would have been normal, two to three and it would have been irregular, but it was four and it was a statement. You know it gets bad when teams like BYU beat two BCS caliber schools two weeks in a row and still get guff from the media for scheduling “bottom of the barrel BCS schools.” If bottom of the barrel schools from BCS conferences get a shot year in and year out for the National Championship then why don’t the cream of the crop from non-BCS schools get the same right? This is one of the most glaring and immoral problems with college football that I am surprised nobody has intervened with. People have tried, but the BCS is just too powerful. They have become a money machine and I’m sure just payoff anyone who tries to upheave them. 

Let’s all reflect on March Madness for a moment, they thrive on small schools upsetting the Goliaths. Think about George Mason( a school, not a player) in 2006, they went all the way to the Final Four! No doubt more people tuned in to see if an inferior George Mason could run the tables than see a regular North Carolina or Duke. The simple matter of the fact when it comes to college football is that it is not going to change for a long time. The BCS signed a 4 year $320 million TV deal with Fox until 2013, and they are here to stay for a while. As much as they preach that it’s about the student athletes, it’s not. We all know it’s not, it’s about the money, and the BCS is making a lot of conferences and schools rich. College football has turned into a communistic society, keeping the poor poor and the rich rich. And we thought the 2008 Beijing Olympics were bad…

Coach Jim Leavitt and QB Matt Grothe are getting serious.

Don’t get too excited for week 3 of college football you might get a celebration penalty. In week 2 we witnessed East Carolina take down yet another ranked opponent and bust their way all the way up to 14th in the nation. Here are a few headlines you might see in your Sunday sports section:

Bulls Gore Jayhawks

Now here’s a game that we all would have looked at two years ago and yawned over. South Florida who? The Kansas Jayhawks have a football team? Both teams made a splash last year but if it’s one team that has an edge in the contender cattegory it’s South Florida. Kansas won the FedEx Orange Bowl last year but did not play Oklahoma or Texas (both of which are on the schedule this year).  Bulls QB Matt Grothe will put a damper note on the Jayhawks season early so that their losses later in the year to OU, Texas, and Missouri (all currently in the top 10) won’t sting as bad. This trip to sunny Florida just won’t be the same for the Jayhawks. Expect the people in Lawrence to be talking Jayhawk basketball after this one, not Jayhawk football (so in other words, things are back to normal in Lawrence).

USC Solidifies It’s #1 Position

Trojans linebacker Rey Maualuga and the rest of the defense is going to make Chris “Beanie Baby” Wells and the Ohio State offense look silly. It took three quarters for the Buckeyes to wake up and start playing last week against an extremely inferior Ohio Wildcats team, they can’t afford to do that this week. The one thing that Ohio State does intelligently is that they schedule their difficult games early so that if they lose they have enough time to make their way back into contention for the BCS Championship Game. The one thing they don’t do intelligently is that when they get to the title game they roll over and play dead. A whole generation will grow up knowing Ohio State as the #1 loser every year.

BYU HB Harvey Unga will be a load for UCLA to take down.

No Celebration Penalty Needed as BYU Rolls

For the first time in years BYU finally got mentioned on College Gameday and it wasn’t even for something they did. Let’s set a few things straight, for starters Jake Locker clearly threw the ball high in the air, it was within the rules for the PAC-10 officiating crew to throw the flag. Also worth noting, up to that point in the game the refs had flagged Washington only twice for five yards, sounds like they were trying desparately to even things out so it did not look skewed. I’m sure they thought that a PAC-10 caliber kicker could have made a 35-yard extra point. That leads into my last point, BYU blocked the kick! Throw out all the controversey and “what ifs,” BYU blocked the kick, now lets move on to BYU-UCLA.

Norm Chow, offensive coordinator for UCLA, knows BYU well. Before winning national championships at USC and calling plays for the Tennessee Titans, Norm Chow coached at BYU…for 27 years!!! You better believe that Chow is going to bring out the big guns and exploit BYUs weak secondary and linebackers that were exposed against Washington. The problem facing Chow and his playbook is a young quarterback and an offense he only wishes was as talented as BYUs. Last time BYU and UCLA met was in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl, BYU won by a blocked chip shot field goal(shorter than the one blocked at Washington last week), don’t expect this one to be that close.  

Purdue Boils Ducks

There is so much intrigue around Oregon’s football team every single year. It’s not that they are all that entertaining to watch, it’s that every year we wonder what horrid uniforms Nike will dress them up in. The Ducks’ offense this year is ranked in the top 5, it helps when you get the chance to lay 60+ points on a Utah State team that is going through “growing pains.” This game against the Boilermakers will be Oregon’s first road game of the year and don’t expect them to put points up on the scoreboard in bunches like they have at home. QB Joey Elliot and the Purdue offense are going to be the ones scoring points “Oregon style” while Oregon will falter on the road “West Virginia style.”

Expect #1 USC and QB Mark Sanchez to stay atop the polls for a little while.

JIB Picks

Week 2: 21-0 / Overall: 43-2

Week 3: #1 USC – #5 Ohio State / #2 Georgia – South Carolina / #3 Oklahoma – Washington / #4 Florida (Bye) / #6 Missouri – Nevada / #7 LSU – North Texas / #8 Texas – Arkansas / #9 Auburn – Mississippi State / #10 Wisconsin – #21 Fresno State / #11 Alabama – Western Kentucky / #12 Texas Tech – Southern Methodist / #13 Kansas – #19 South Florida / #14 East Carolina – Tulane / #15 Arizona State – UNLV / #16 Oregon – Purdue / #17 Penn State – Syracuse / #18 BYU - UCLA / #20 Wake Forest (Bye) / #22 Utah – Utah State / #23 Cal – Maryland / #24 Illinois – Louisiana-Lafayette / #25 West Virginia (Bye)

ESPN Game Previews

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The first weekend of NFL action seemed oddly familiar to when I went and saw “Get Smart” this past summer. Going to see that movie I knew exactly what it was going to be like, another stupid Steve Carell movie with Anne Hathaway playing the ugly girl that gets a makeover. (Refer to “The Princess Diaries,” and “The Devil Wears Prada”) Coming out it was not what I expected at all, it was completely opposite in fact, but was still thoroughly entertaining. “Peyton Manning will be just fine, the Colts offense will not lose a step.” “The Bengals are going to shut down rookie QB Joe Flacco.” “The Patriots are going to prove they can make it back to the Super Bowl again.” “The Chargers are going to prove they are contenders as well.” All of these phrases were uttered more often than not in some form, but none of them were even close to what happened. Whatever predictions you had for this year, throw them out and consider these revelations:

Peyton Manning's usual audibles at the line fell upon deaf ears on Sunday.

The Colts Aren’t the Same Without…Jeff Saturday ???

The Indianapolis Colts opened their season in a brand new stadium that they could fit their old shoe box of stadium RCA Dome inside of. All night long the announcers kept saying, “That’s the first catch in Lucas Oil Stadium,” and “That’s the first touchdown in Lucas Oil Stadium,” and in the end it was “That’s the first loss for the Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium.” (I promise I am in no way plugging Lucas Oil…) Everybody was concerned with Peyton Manning not taking a snap all preseason and rightfully so the offense was stagnant at best. But I wouldn’t put the blame on Peyton; it was the absence of Peyton’s only bud that will allow him to touch his rear in a fashion other then a bum slap, and that’s his center Jeff Saturday. Saturday, who has snapped the ball to Manning since 1999, is out 6-8 weeks with a injured knee. When you take time to reflect on the center, it’s an integral part of anything. Take an Oreo without the white stuff in the middle, then it’s just two crappy pieces of chocolate cardboard stacked on each other. Or you can compare it to a Twinkie without the creme filling, take that out and it’s just another sponge. Saturday was the main interpreter to the line of Peyton’s infamous audibles, which he calls in droves on every play. I can only imagine what was going through that center’s head, “What the heck is he saying? Seriously man! Just say “HIKE!””

In one split second the Patriots season may have turned for the worse.

The Patriots are in Deep Sludge 

No other team has had more talk around them since last year than the New England Patriots. They took a chance on Randy Moss and put him in the record books for most touchdown receptions in a season, they skirted the integrity of their franchise with the New York Jets’ accusations of them taping their defensive signals and then “Spygate,” and they almost matched the ’72 Dolphins as the second team to go undefeated in a season until they blew it in the Super Bowl. However; it’s a new season and the Patriots  were out to prove they could make another Super Bowl run until Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard awkwardly bumped Tom Brady’s knee and put him out for the year. Some fans are calling the hit dirty, while the more realistic ones are calling it like it was, a clean hit and a fluke injury. Just to suppress the livid Patriot fans, we’ll call the injury “Chiefsgate” and start a petition for the NFL to investigate. In an instant we were all introduced to Matt Cassel (no relation to Sam Cassell, but close).  Cassel was at USC behind Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, he never started a game in college. That will mean absolutely nothing come Sunday when he starts his first NFL game. After the Colts lost and the Patriots lost Brady, the Pittsburgh Steelers started licking their chops. Even more crazy is the talks of Brett Favre and the J! E! T! S! JETS JETS JETS now being a contender. Tom Brady has single-handedly (or single-kneedly) sent the AFC into a whirlwind.  

Frank Gore and the 49ers are looking their normal selves in '08.

Yes, the Raiders and 49ers Had Their Gatorade Spiked With ‘Suck’ Again

Let’s all just get one thing straight, the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers are awful. There is no point in getting excited about the chance of them improving because they will inevitably fail and disappoint us all. Until they start winning, there is absolutely zero reason for us to suppose they will get better. It seems the one thing that both teams have been desperately looking for is a quarterback and a leader. The argument can be made that neither team has been worth a lick since Rich Gannon and Jeff Garcia (or Steve Young if you want to go that far back into history). As I was listening to ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd, he mentioned that the problems in the Bay run deeper than the players and the coaches, it’s correlated with the owners. Head Coaches Mike Nolan of the 49ers and Lane Kiffin of the Raiders are hoping that sound byte will make it’s way to their respective front offices, it might help them avoid the firing talk for another couple of weeks. A couple wins might help them as well.

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There is only one league to coin a phrase that appeals to ALL sports fans. Whether you are a die-hard MLB baseball fan or you loathe baseball, both will be asking in September, “Is it October Yet?” You have to wonder why baseball carries over this far into the year anyway. The simple answer to this question is “money,” but wouldn’t it profit MLB to have fewer regular season games and more playoff games? With a month to go it is already clear cut who the two top teams in MLB are. The Wild Card races in both the American and National Leagues are still up in the air, but these races that have been going on since mid-season. Within the first 50 games or so it is pretty apparent who will contend and who won’t. For those who won’t contend, their attendance suffers the rest of the year. Last week the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves, both with no chance to make the post-season, played in front of a little over 500 fans. More people show up to little league games than that!

In the league’s current playoff format has 12 teams, the three division champions and one Wild Card team  comprise a 6-team playoff in each league. The separation between #1 to the Wild Card is so slim almost every year, which makes the playoffs all the more exciting. It really is anyone’s game to win, or lose. MLB has about the same amount of teams as the NBA, which has 16 teams in it’s playoff format, so why does MLB only have a 12-team playoff? Take the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA last year for example; they were essentially the #16 team in the playoffs yet they sold out every home playoff game. If the issue is money, seems to me that MLB would profit more from attendance and TV ratings perspectives to add two more teams to it’s playoff format and shorten it’s regular season if needs be. There are a lot of people that won’t watch a sport unless it’s in the post-season. I’m not saying that MLB needs to drag their post-season out for three months like the NBA, but extending it by an extra week to accommodate two more teams would be more than worth their while. Minnesota Twins fans everywhere would be thrilled, since their team always seems to find a way to back themselves out of the playoffs every year.