Injustice For All

I usually don't re-read posts. But I was pretty upset to notice that last year during the college football season I failed to portray the final battles between Texas, OU, and Texas Tech. It's clear where my loyalties lie, however, so no need to rehash (stupid Sooners).

However, as Big 12 Media Day approaches this coming Monday, the preseason all Big 12 selections have been released. Noticeably missing? Texas WR Jordan Shipley. I'm not sure if you recall (as clearly the media doesn't) but this is an All American honoree from last year's team coming back. I don't agree with the call for Bradford as QB, but I can hardly argue - right or wrong the dude won the Heisman last year. But slighting Shipley seems silly to me.

On a side note - how funny was it that Steve Spurrier didn't pick Florida's Tim Tebow as the best QB in the SEC in the preseason selections. I was only disappointed that The Old Ball Coach didn't stick to his guns and instead blamed his Sports Information Director for making the pick for him. Personally, I think Tebow is an above average QB at best, surrounded by the best talent in the country at Florida. Put him at Mississippi, and he'd be no better than, say, Jevan Snead.

Speaking of Sports Information Directors, ESPN's Pat Forde brought up a good point - if Spurrier isn't checking to see who his SID is voting for in the preseason All Conference selections, whose to say other coaches are paying attention to their SID's choices for the Coaches Top 25 (33% of the BCS formula) during the season? I've long been a supporter of the BCS, but having coaches vote seems silly. Personal alignments, firings, recruiting wars - all of these and other factors can play into a coaches decision to select one team over another. In an age where 1 or 2 votes can matter in determining BCS National Championship participants (ask Texas), it seems strange to allow these conflicts to interfere with the process. Of course, the AP and Harris voters are no better - the state of Oklahoma had 95% of their AP voters vote OU ahead of Texas last year, while Texas had 97% of it's AP representatives vote for the Longhorns. The Harris pollers? A voter for the poll answered a question during the Sooner / Longhorn debate last year by saying that it didn't matter who he put 2 or 3, because Penn State was still undefeated, right? Um, the Lions had lost to Iowa weeks earlier...

The point is - fix the system, don't throw it out. Get us a smaller sampling of voters. Eliminate coaches votes or make them public so as those voting are held accountable. Find a selection committee (like they use for the NCAA basketball and baseball tournaments) to pick 2 logical choices. With this system, someone will ALWAYS get screwed (unless you get Texas vs. USC 2005). Still, this is better than it was BBCS (before the BCS) and still allows us to remain passionate and glued to our televisions throughout the year. Every game matters. Keep it that way.