Big Football Weekend

This past weekend put football in the center spotlight. Bowl games at stake. Playoffs at stake. At all levels, there was lots of action, even where idle.

It all started out the Lions making the trip to Minnesota. I gotta say, I underestimated the score a bit. My original prediction of 38-17 was a little off the 42-10 mark. Still, it regardless of the score, the game had significant implications.

The Lions announced today that top WR Roy Williams will miss the remainder of the season with a sprained knee. Williams had been trying to become more involved in the offense. Perhaps now Furry or Johnson can pick up the slack. The Lions slipped to 6-6 with the loss, and are now tied for 2nd place with Chicago and Minnesota. It is likely they will miss the playoffs.

Speakinig of playoffs, or something close to it, the BCS took an ugly turn Saturday night when both (2) West Virigina and (1) Missouri lost. That immediately bumped Ohio State to 1 and LSU made a jump to 2 with their SEC title victory. My initial thoughts were "Great, the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl then."

Wrong.

Michigan's lack of rank couldn't protect them. They were #2 in the Big Ten, but still the ranked Illinios got the Rose Bowl invitation. Is it right? No. None of this is right. Ohio State's only win to a ranked team was Michigan. Arguments could be made that since they are no longer ranked, they did not beat a single ranked team.

The BCS needs to go. The original design was to have the Top 10 get BCS bids. But then you factor in automatic bids for certain conference winners, and you get a mess. (9) Florida will now play Michigan in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on January 1. I don't personally care about Florida getting a BCS bowl, but come on. Ranked #9 and you have to play an unranked team? Regardless, it has the potential to be a great bowl game.

Speaking of another great bowl game, how does Central Michigan vs Michigan State sound? That's the kind of Michigan match up that would make the Motor City Bowl matter this year. It could sell tickets, spark some holiday passion, and make for some very good football.

Too bad it isn't happening.

Michigan State accepted a bid into Champs Sports Bowl against Boston College. This will be quite a game for the Spartans. My first thoughts are to say they cannot win. Then I remember that maybe Boston College can't either.

So what of Central Michigan?

CMU won their second straight MAC Championship this past weekend over Miami Ohio. CMU will play in the Motor City Bowl against Purdue. I'm predicting a CMU upset over Purdue. Or is it an upset?

The 2007 College footbal season was a mystery. The BCS imploded, and no one could truly figure out who was #1. Every week a small stack of top 10 teams lost. Perhaps the BCS will go away now. I doubt it.

Miles Extended

Les Miles will remain at LSU. I haven't seen any numbers released, but I am positive his contract extension is quite lucrative. Even if it isn't, he has a good situation in a fun conference. Why leave. I was crushed, but have decided to move on. Perhaps now I'll lobby for Brian Kelly. Something I think would be great for the job, but probably not on the candidate list.