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For the next month, football will dominate water cooler and cocktail chatter. A lot of that talk will center around the BCS games. This year’s slate of BCS bowl games features Ohio State and Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Georgia Tech and Iowa in the Orange Bowl, Florida and Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, Boise State and TCU in the Fiesta Bowl and Alabama and Texas squaring off in the BCS National Championship Game. While Alabama and Texas will play for title, the Fiesta Bowl match-up of TCU/Boise State seems to be generating the most discussion.

Both teams enter the game undefeated and ranked in the top 10. The two teams faced each other last season in the Poinsettia Bowl, which turned out to one of the most exciting games of the 2008-2009 season. By all indications, this will be one hell of a game. However, most Fiesta Bowl talk focuses on the controversy rather than the game itself.

Both teams play in non-automatic qualifying conferences and both had much bigger aspirations heading into the BCS selection. As members of the non-automatic qualifying conferences, the knock against both TCU and Boise State is that they lack the strength of schedule of the teams from the six BCS affiliated conferences. Never mind the fact the Boise State posted a dominating victory over Oregon, who plays in BCS bowl game this season, and TCU posted three wins over three top 25 teams.

TCU and Boise argue that they are willing to play any team, any time, any where, but many traditional powers refuse to play them for fear of losing. They felt that the in the BCS they would be afforded the opportunity to play one of the traditional powers, at a neutral site, in a prime-time, made for national television environment.   TCU even had faint hopes that they could be selected to play for the national title, but at worst given a shot to play Florida, Georgia Tech or Iowa. Instead, TCU and Boise State were paired together–two non-automatic qualifiers squaring off in a meaningless game.

It reminds me of jobs where they require you to have experience before applying, but there is no way to get the experience when all the related jobs require experience. For example, in order for an actor to make a living, he or she must be a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Almost all professional theaters in the United States are Equity affiliated and you must be a member of the union in order to perform. In order to join the union, you must have performances in Equity houses under your belt. Of course, there are exceptions to these rules, just like TCU and Boise State are the exceptions in the BCS, but in most cases the rule apply.

In order for schools like TCU and Boise to prove that they are worthy of BCS bids and legitimate national title contenders they need to prove themselves against BCS schools. The BCS denied this opportunity to these two schools out of fear of the BCS affiliated schools being embarrassed by the non-automatic qualifiers.

Some experts feel that TCU and Boise State deserve each other. Colin Cowherd, one of ESPN’s generic radio personalities, made the statement on his Monday program that TCU and Boise State should be happy to just be invited to the BCS, that TCU had “cankles” and didn’t deserve a big time BCS bowl game because they didn’t sell out all of their home games.

This is obviously flawed logic. A team’s fan support is not an indicator of the quality of their program. If we extended this logic to the NFL then the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, the top two teams in the NFC, should not be allowed the right to play in the Super Bowl even if they win the NFC. Both the Saints and Vikings are small market teams and have had trouble selling out home games over the years. Indeed, the Vikings feared they would have to blackout home games this season until they signed Brett Favre.

The BCS fears schools like TCU and Boise State having success, because the more success these programs have, the more irrelevant the BCS becomes.

From now until early January, you will hear a lot about the BCS. I felt it prudent to provide a primer to the BCS system, just in time for your holiday parties & social gatherings.  I can assure you this talk will dominate the cocktail chatter.

What is the BCS?

While every other classification of college football employs some sort of playoff system to determine their champion, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)–the major classification–uses a bowl system.

For the 2009-2010 season, there are 34 bowl games, four of which–the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Orange Bowl in Miami and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA–comprise the Bowl Championship Series bowl games. Additionally, a fifth game, the BCS National Championship Game, is played at one of the sites at the completion of the bowl cycle.  Each venue hosts one title game during a four year rotation.

The conference champions from the six BCS conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10 & SEC) earn automatic bids to BCS bowl games, leaving four at large bids.

The top two teams, as determined by the BCS rankings (see below), qualify for the BCS National Championship Game (played this year at the Rose Bowl).  Additionally, the conference champions of all BCS conferences, with the exception of the Big East, have contracts with specific bowl games, unless those conference champions finish #1 or #2 in the BCS rankings and thus in the national championship game.

The Rose Bowl matches the Big 10 champion against the Pac-10 champion. The ACC champion plays in the Orange bowl, the SEC champion in the Sugar Bowl & the Big 12 champion in the Fiesta Bowl. After these spots are filled, the bowls take turns in selecting teams to fill the four “at-large” spots. This season the Orange picks first, followed by the Fiesta & Sugar.

“At-Large” Bids

If the conference champion from a non-BCS conference is ranked in the top 12 of the BCS standings, an automatic bid must be awarded to that team. If two non-BCS conference champions finish ranked in the top 12, only the higher of the two teams receives the automatic bid.

The remaining “at-large” bids are selected by the individual bowls, in the order outlined above.  Almost always the bowls make their selection based on the top ranked team available, but in the past some selections have appeared to be “business” decisions,” with the bowls selecting a team that will generate the most revenue.

BCS Rankings

The BCS Rankings are determined by using a complex formula to analyze two human polls (one voted on by the coaches, the other voted on by the media) and six computer ranking systems. This system have been widely criticized in the past, as so much of it relies on computers. Computers the average person will never see. Imagine a HAL 9000-like system as the evil genius behind the entire BCS system.

Tomorrow, we take a look at the BCS contenders and possible controversy surrounding this season’s national championship game. Later, we will look at ways of possibly correcting this obviously flawed system.

Every college football season features a signature weekend, a weekend of upsets and statement victories that separates the serious title contenders from the rest of the pack. It appears that we just experienced this season’s signature weekend, which just so happened to proceed the release of the season’s first BCS rankings.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, allow me to explain the BCS for the college football novices in the audience. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the college football division of the largest and most widely known college football programs (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC, Pac-10, etc.), decides its national champion through the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a collection of four bowl games and a national title game. The BCS rankings, a ranking system combining several computer ranking systems and two human polls, decides the top two teams in the nation who play for the national title game. The first BCS rankings are usually released in mid-October and serve as an early indicator of which teams appear headed towards the national title game. The computer ranking systems rely heavily on strength of schedule, meaning a victory over a higher ranked opponent counts for more than a victory over a lower ranked opponent. Similarly a loss to a higher ranked opponent hurts far less in the rankings than a loss to a lower ranked opponent.

Prior to the weekend, speculation abounded about the identity of the top three teams in the BCS rankings. It appeared clear that the University of Florida and the University of Alabama would be ranked #1 and #2 respectively, but since they hail from the same conference (SEC), they will likely meet in the conference championship game with the winner eliminating the other from the national championship game. Therefore, the #3 spot was the most the eagerly anticipated ranking to be unveiled.

The University of Texas was ranked #3 in both of the human polls, but skeptics questioned their strength of schedule, with no real signature victories. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, the #4 ranked team in the human polls, continued to impress pollsters with impressive wins over quality opponents. Lurking in the background were fellow undefeated programs the University of Iowa and Boise State and with only one loss, USC, a traditional college football power, could not be omitted from the title talks.

All six teams were involved in close games over the weekend. The #1 ranked Florida Gators entered their game with the Arkansas Razorbacks as a 24 point favorite, but needed a last second field goal to escape with a victory. Similarly, Alabama needed a fourth quarter touchdown to put their game with South Carolina out of reach. Texas struggled to move the ball offensively, but managed to secure a 16-13 victory over their arch-rival Oklahoma. Iowa fell behind to Wisconsin, 10-0, before they mounted a come from behind victory. Boise State and USC had to survive 4th quarter rallies to emerge with victories. And poor Virginia Tech would have gladly traded places with any of them, as the Hokies fell to Georgia Tech 28-23, all but eliminating them from the national title hunt.

As expected, Florida and Alabama were ranked #1 and #2 respectively in the first BCS rankings, followed by Texas. It now appears that if Texas wins the remainder of their games, they will play the winner of Florida/Alabama in the BCS title game. However, if the Longhorns should lose one of their remaining games things become a little more interesting.

As always, CocktailSports.Com offers you its talking point from the recent football weekend:

1.) Denver Broncos – Few teams experienced as much off-season turmoil as the Denver Broncos.  After the Broncos failed to make the playoffs last season, they fired their long time head coach Mike Shanahan and hired 33-year old Josh McDaniels, a former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots. McDaniels wasted no time in attempting to put his stamp on the team, beginning with former quarterback Jay Cutler. The two never saw eye to eye and the Broncos ended up trading Cutler to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton and draft picks, a move many criticized the Broncos for making.  McDaniels new style didn’t mesh with temperamental wide-receiver Brandon Marshall, who spent most of the off-season complaining about his contract and became an even bigger problem during training camp in a series of incidents that have been forever memorialized in YouTube clips. The first year in any career is always a difficult one, especially as a NFL coach, especially taking over a team in as much turmoil as the Broncos. The undefeated Broncos are the biggest surprise story in the NFL right now. Indeed, their 5-0 record already matches the season win total predicted by Sports Illustrated in their NFL preview.

2.) Terrell “T.O.” Owens – Every sport features a select few athletes that transcend the sport, names recognizable even to non-sports fans. Buffalo Bills mercurial wide receiver, Terrell “T.O.” Owens, is one of those players.  Cut by the Dallas Cowboys in the off season, the Bills brought T.O. in expecting him to be a huge weapon on the offensive side of the ball.  Currently, Owens ranks tied for 103rd in the league in receptions with 12, which is actually one more than Roy E. Williams, who replaced Owens on the Cowboys’ roster (although Williams has more receiving yardage at 214 to Owens’ 202). Fortunately, the Cowboys found another replacement for Owens in Miles Austin, who had more receiving yardage in one game, 250 yards, than Owens has on the entire season. The Bills expected more, much more, from Owens than what he has produced on the field and with the team struggling, you know every one in the organization is waiting for Owens to have one of his trademark sideline or locker room tirades.

3.) Ryan Mallett – Entering the 2009 college football season, much of the talk centered around three quarterbacks–Tim Tebow (Florida), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) and Colt McCoy (Texas). Tebow and Bradford had won the past two Heisman Trophy Awards respectfully and McCoy was the runner up for the prize in 2008. All three chose to return to school instead of entering the NFL draft early and all three were set to lead teams expected to challenge for the national championship. While none of the three have looked quite as sharp as years past, they continue to dominate the national talk at the position.

If you really want to impress your clients or colleagues, throw the name Ryan Mallett into the top college quarterback discussion. Mallett began his college career at the University of Michigan, but transferred when the school made a coaching change. This marks his first year playing at the University of Arkansas. He probably won’t get invited to the end of the year awards shows and his team won’t be playing for a national title at the end of the season, but Mallett may be the quarterback with the brightest future ahead of him. While some question the role McCoy and Tebow will play in the NFL, there’s no doubt what NFL scouts see in Mallett. His game fits perfectly into the mold of the traditional NFL drop back pocket passer. He has the size and skills to succeed on the next level.

Another week is in the books and it’s time for another edition of the Monday Morning Quarterback, where we give you 4 talking points regarding the previous weekend’s football action.

1.) Bret Favre – Over the course of the past two weeks, Minnesota Vikings’ 39-year old quarterback Bret Favre has shown he still has the ability to play professional football on an elite level. Last week, Favre engineered a last minute, come from behind touchdown drive.  Tonight, Favre faced his former team, the Green Bay Packers, for the first time and threw three touchdown passes.  If you haven’t followed the story from the beginning, Favre had a ton of success in a long career with the Packers, but prior to last season, the Packers decided Favre, at the age of 37, was too old for their system, so they cut ties. You have to think that Favre had just a little motivation to come out and show his former team exactly what they were missing.

2.) Manning Brothers – Four weeks into the NFL season and five undefeated teams remain, but the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants seem to be a step ahead of the rest of the league. While question marks surround the other three undefeated teams, the Giants and Colts seem to be pretty solid, in spite of some key injuries. The teams share more than just records; they also share a bloodline, quarterbacked by the Manning brothers (Eli with the Giants and Peyton with the Colts). Even more intriguing is the prospect of the two teams facing each other in the Super Bowl, which at this point is a very real possibility.

3.) Alabama – While the NFL has two teams separating from the pack, a triumvirate of teams head up the college football world. The national media outlets have covered the exploits of Texas and Florida extensively, mainly because of their Heisman candidate quarterbacks. Lost in the shuffle have been the Alabama Crimson Tide, currently ranked #3 in the nation.  All three teams have looked really impressive in all of their games this season, but it appears that the Crimson Tide, led by junior linebacker Rolando McClain, are a bit better defensively and as the old adage goes, “offense wins games; defense wins championships.”

4.) NFL Overtime Policy – The NFL has a vastly different way of dealing with tie ball games at the end of regulation than college or high school football. Currently, the NFL has a “sudden death” policy, where the first team that scores wins. Critics claim that this policy is unfair to the team on defense first. Additionally, if no team scores at the end of the 15 minute overtime period, the game ends in a tie. Many would like to see the NFL adopt an overtime policy similar to the NCAA. In the NCAA, each teams gets the ball at the opponents 25 yard line. The game ends when one team outscores the other in an overtime period–each team has the opportunity to score and there is no possibility for the game to end in a tie.

We have another big weekend of college football laid out before us and we’re getting to the point of the season where conference games start to heat up and consequently we see higher quality games. Here are five games to keep your eye on over the weekend:

• Oklahoma at Miami (FL.) – This is a huge game for both teams.  By beating Miami, Oklahoma would reignite their national title hopes, but they’ll have to do it without their star quarterback Sam Bradford. Miami is a lot better than most people thought at the beginning of the season, but suffered their first loss of the season last week to Virginia Tech. The Hurricanes will be looking to make a statement that they belong with the big boys once again.
• Texas A&M vs. Arkansas – These two former Southwest Conference teams reignite their rivalry at the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington. When the stadium was built, Cowboys’ owner, Jerry Jones, wanted to bring a marquee college football series to the stadium that would rival Texas/OU. He managed to get his alma mater (Arkansas) to sign a long-term deal with the Aggies to have an annual meeting at the stadium. The Aggies are off to their best start offensively in the school’s long history and they enter the game undefeated. After putting up huge offensive numbers in their first two games of the season, the Razorbacks struggled last week against Alabama and enter this game with a 1-2 record. Their schedule only gets tougher. A win over the Aggies would help stop the bleeding and give the team confidence as they enter the meat of their schedule.
• USC at California – Cal seems to always play USC tough and going into this season a lot of experts felt that the Bears had enough talent to challenge the Trojans for the Pac-10 title. However, the Bears were throttled last week by Oregon and many people are beginning to question just how good this team really is. The Trojans usually have one hiccup a year in their conference schedule. They’ve already had that hiccup this season (Washington) and another conference loss could mean a new team representing the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl come January.
• Washington vs. Notre Dame – Washington has already had one huge upset win this season over USC. If they could go into South Bend and pull off a win against the Irish, their season would be a success regardless of what happens the rest of the way. On the other hand, the Irish need this win to stay on pace for a 10 win season. Irish coach, Charlie Weiss, needs a 10 win season to keep his job.
• LSU at Georgia – After losing in Week 1, the Georgia Bulldogs have responded with three consecutive victories, but lack a true “statement” win. If they can pull off the upset at home against LSU, they’ll have that statement win. LSU is ranked # 4 in the nation and #3 in their conference. Many feel that LSU might be a little overrated, especially after struggling with Mississippi State last weekend. A strong showing “between the hedges” in Athens could prove these naysayers wrong.

Today’s e-mail comes from  Ann in Denver:

At a recent staff development lunch, I sat next to a couple of guys who spent the majority of the lunch discussing the nuances of football. The talk turned to the NFL’s decision to crack down on the use of Twitter by NFL player during games, which led to a discussion of the attempts of the league to control so much of its players lives from character clauses in contracts to very strict rules regarding the players uniform, including a rule stating that uniform numbers be assigned by position. I won’t ask for a full explaination of the NFL’s decorum policies, but I am curious, does the league really dictate what number a player can wear based on the position he plays? 

Thanks Ann.

In short, yes, the NFL does set forth a list of numbers for each position. However, this practice is not limited to the NFL. Indeed, this practice, while not as strict, extends down into the college and high school game.

In order to understand why, you must first  understand a basic rule in the game of football. Of the 11 guys on the offensive side of the football, five players are eligible to be receivers at any one time. In an attempt at fairness, to prevent the defense from guessing which five guys are being designated as receivers, a certain set of numbers are designated for players most likely to be receivers. A player with a number not designated for a receiver, can check in with the official prior to setting formation, letting the official now they will be an eligible receiver.

In the NFL, the numbers 1-19 are reserved for quarterbacks, kickers, punters and receivers. The numbers 20-49 are reserved for running backs, cornerbacks, safeties and tight ends, in special situations. The numbers 50-59 are designated for offensive linemen and linebackers, 60-79 for offensive and defensive linemen, 80-89 for receivers and tight ends, and 90-99 for defensive linemen and linebackers.

In college and high school, there is more freedom with the numbers, but 50-79 are still considered “linemen numbers” and are not worn by eligible receivers, quarterbacks, kickers or punters. Again, a player with an uneligible number can check in with the officials as an eligible receiver, prior to the snap, and become an eligible receiver.

If you have a question you would like answered, please e-mail me at jhellis978@gmail.com.

Here’s your late edition of the Monday Morning Quarterback for September 21, 2009–those key talking points for your Monday afternoon business meeting or cocktail hour.

• New Orleans Saints & Drew Brees- After two weeks of the NFL season, the New Orleans Saints have established themselves as one of the early favorites to win the NFC and as one of the top teams in the NFL. On Sunday, the Saints traveled to Philadelphia and beat the Eagles, a team thought by many to have the most talented roster in the NFL, 48-22.  In the game, Saints quarterback, Drew Brees three for over 311 yards and 3 touchdowns. In just two games, Brees has thrown for 669 yards and 9 TD’s.
• Green Bay/Cincinnati- The most surprising result of the  NFL weekend came at Lambeau Field in Green Bay where the lowly Cincinnati Bengals came in and defeated the Packers, a team many predicted to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Lambeau Field has the reputation of being one of the most difficult places to win in the NFL, especially for the underdog. In short, upsets like this just don’t occur in Green Bay.
• Washington/USC- The Washington  Huskies pulled an equally shocking upset in college football on Saturday, defeating the #3 ranked USC Trojans with a field goal in the final seconds. Both teams playing the Pac 10 Conference, which as the name implies consists of 10 universities. College football analysts generally view USC as the top program in this conference and generally view Washington at the very bottom of the conference.
• Florida/Texas – Elsewhere in the world of college football, the University of Florida and the University of Texas continued heading towards what seems like an inevitable January date to face each other for the national title. While many of the other top teams have shown signs of weakness (see USC), the Gators and Longhorns have handled their victims with relative ease. Both teams played conference rivals on Saturday, both teams struggled in the first half of their games, but both emerged with big second half performances to start their seasons 3-0 and as the clear top two teams in the nation. The only question is which team is #1 and which team is #2?
• Dallas Cowboys stadium- If you were busy watching HBO’s Sunday night lineup or the Emmy’s and missed last night’s Dallas Cowboys/New York Giants game, you missed the most watch prime-time televised NFL game in over a decade. However, the more impressive record set in this game was the attendance figure. 105,121 people walked through the gates at the new Cowboys Stadium, breaking the attendance record for an NFL game. This astonishing record comes as many NFL teams struggle to sell out their home games. Consider the fact that only 46,520 people attended the Jacksonville Jaguars home opener against the Arizona Cardinals, almost 20,000 tickets shy of a sell-out. Unfortunately, many of the 105,121 fans left disappointed as the Giants won the game on a last second field goal.

• Tennessee vs. Florida – Lane Kiffin ramped up the intensity of this already fierce rivalry when he made false accusations regarding recruiting violations at the University of Florida. The Vols appear to be down this season and must travel into “The Swamp” to take on the Gators. However, this is Tennessee/Florida and it is “must see TV” every time these two teams play.
• Texas Tech vs. Texas – Last season, the Texas Tech Red Raiders ruined the University of Texas’ dreams of a national title, beating the Longhorns on a last second touchdown pass in Lubbock. This year the Red Raiders must travel down to Austin for a made-for-TV prime time game. The Longhorns return Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley who both played huge roles in last year’s game, while the Red Raiders must look to replace Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree who led the Red Raiders to victory.
• Georgia vs. Arkansas – Second year coach Bobby Petrino is still trying to get his system installed at the University of Arkansas. Transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett seems to be picking up Petrino’s spread offense and the Razorbacks rolled to huge win against Missouri State in their first game of the season. The Bulldogs will be looking to build off the momentum from last week’s victory over South Carolina and avoid their second road loss of the young season.
• Nebraska vs. Virginia Tech – For decades, Nebraska was a major player in the world of college football. For much of this decade, the Cornhuskers have struggled with mediocrity. Mediocrity might work at some schools, but not Nebraska. Their fans expect much more. The Cornhuskers have a chance to return to national prominence in a big way on Saturday as they travel to Blacksburg to take on the Hokies. Virginia Tech already has one loss on the season and another one would certainly destroy any national title hopes.
• Florida State vs. Brigham Young & Utah vs. Oregon – I placed these two games together because it is important to watch their collective results. Utah and Brigham Young both played in the Mountain West Conference. Unlike some of the major conferences (e.g. Big 12, Big 10, Southeastern) the Mountain West Conference winner does not get an automatic bid to a Bowl Championship Series bowl game. They can earn an at-large bid, which Utah did last season, but no non-BCS team has ever earned a spot in the BCS National Title game. Usually strength of schedule hurts the non-BCS schools. However, BYU has already beaten Oklahoma this season. A win against Florida State would further strengthen their resume. Utah will earn strength of schedule points by beating Oregon. BYU and Utah face each other in their regular season finale on November 28. If Utah and BYU both win on Saturday and either one of them or TCU can go through the season undefeated, there is a great chance that a Mountain West Conference school could be selected to play for the national title this season.

We intend for this blog to be interactive and welcome all readers to submit questions.

Stephanie in University Park, Texas writes:

I recently started watching football and noticed that in addition to numbers, some of the referees have different letters on their shirts. Additionally, some of the referees wear white hats, while most wear black hats. Why is this? Why were the officials in the New England game wearing orange and white uniforms?
Well Stephanie, let’s begin with some semantics. Though the term referee is often used to refer to any official on the football field, this usage is incorrect. NFL and collegiate officiating staffs consist of seven officials, including the referee, umpire, head linesman, line judge, field judge, side judge, and back judge. The letters you see on the jerseys correspond to each of these official titles. The referee serves as the head of the officiating crew and wears a white hat to distinguish himself from his compatriots. Each official has a particular part of the field and game they are responsible for watching and officiating.

From 1960 through 1969, the AFL (American Football League) existed as a rival league to the NFL (National Football League). In 1970, a merger between the two leagues was finalized and ten teams joined the NFL: Boston Patriots (now New England Patriots), San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans), Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. In observance of the 50th Anniversary of the AFL, the NFL will honor the league all season long. When teams from the former AFL face one another, the teams will wear their old AFL uniforms and the officiating crews will wear the traditional, orange and white stripped, AFL officials uniform. Since Buffalo and New England both were AFL teams, the officials wore the orange and white uniforms tonight.

If you have a question you would like answered, feel free to e-mail me anytime at jhellis978@gmail.com.