You'll have to kill the OSU president if you want college football playoffs

I'm not surprised by Gee's comments. I wouldn't expect anything less idiotic from someone associated with Ohio State.

As for The Big Ten network, it showed up on my Dish Network package earlier this year. It's been good for a couple of games so far. Since I always watch games on mute, I have no idea (or real interest) how good or bad the announcers are.

 

Keep in mind, this is the same guy that called OSU's tie with Michigan in the early 90s "one of our greatest wins ever."

As for the Big Ten Network.... For what it's worth, a friend of mine went to OSU's opener this year. When they played a BTN commercial during a break in the action, the whole stadium booed.

 

Man, fuck Louis. I'm the pimp with the bowtie, bitches...

 

Coming from the Boston area, big-time college sports are like a foreign country to me, so forgive my naivete. But here's my question: What's to prevent the NCAA -- which rules with an iron fist and micromanages every detail of its athletes' and member institutions' lives -- from putting its foot down and saying the following:

"We're taking control of the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2013 (or whenever) and will institute a 16-team playoff system, as is the case in our other divisions. The NCAA will no longer recognize the 32 bowl games, and will not allow member institutions to play in them. Member institutions who don't wish to participate in the new system may do so, but remaining FBS teams will not be permitted to play against those schools who opt out of the new system."

Now, obviously the Big Ten will dig in its heels for a lengthy fight. But what percentage of the FBS universities would go along with the NCAA's mandate? If it's a significant majority, then the Big Ten and the other holdouts would be pretty isolated. Yeah, they'd still have their rivalries, the Rose Bowl (presumably) and their own cable network, but how many kids are you going to recruit if you're not competing for a national championship, regardless of how good you are?

I realize it's more complicated than that, but the NCAA is completely autocratic. Why can't it use that power when it comes to football?

 

Fantastic.

Just fantastic.

 

If by "autocratic" you mean "controlled by the school presidents," you are 100 percent correct.

 

As a matter of self-defense, I must point out to the playoff advocates on this board, and believe me, I'm on your side, that I am not related to Gordon Gee, the Larry Brown of academe. We met at the first Notre Dame-Colorado Orange Bowl in 1990, and ascertained this fact.

 

It's that time of year!

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_Sy5R0zQNBTqg1ZKvhND2UW_6jg?docId=5c5bc45875a1430aac0fe6a1c782114f

This despite that fact that in the Sagarin ratings, tOSU has played the 59th ranked schedule and Boise had played the 72nd ranked schedule. (And Boise will get a boost after playing Nevada this week.) Oh, and tOSU last year played Toledo, New Mexico State, and Oregon out of conference (if you count the Rose Bowl). Boise played New Mexico State and Oregon last year and Toledo this year.

 

Its this bullshit that their in-conference games are like the Bataan Death March....

These guys are of the school that if you say something long enough, like the Big 10 schedule is brutal, enough people will believe you.

 

Because the BCS schools will then tell the NCAA to go fuck themselves with their 1,700 page rulebook and form their own organization.

Then you'll have two organizations, and then you'll be seeing an epic meltdown of CART/IRL proportions.

 

You mean like the 3 in 4 game gauntlet where OSU faced Indiana, Purdue and Minnesota? What a demanding stretch.....

 

And what if the NCAA ups the ante and says, "Any school that competes against the breakaway schools in any sport is prohibited from participating in any NCAA championship, in any sport"? How many schools would turn their backs on March Madness?