The MMQ : A Little Anger In Columbus This AM

The Suckeyes Just Got “Penn Stated”

I went and reviewed my post from last season after “Selection Sunday” and was surprised to see that I commented that I didn’t watch the show. Yesterday I DID watch the show and I was tickled to see that the suckeyes were left out.

Now EVERYONE IN COLUMBUS KNOWS HOW HAPPY VALLEY FELT LAST SEASON!

Karma’s a Bitch...

In Short: You can’t go on the road and get pantsed by 31 points regardless of how many good wins you have…

And if Wiscy would have just taken care of business…But we did get 10 minutes of this:

Lucas Oil Stadium should be embarrassed…

So I guess this means that everyone should play fewer conference games and everyone needs to schedule Mercer late in the season to keep your perfect record unblemished. The SEC has been rewarded with two teams making the CFP and only playing 8 conference games…BS. The committee should have held its nose and taken the suckeyes…even though I’m not sure they are one of the 4 best teams in the country!

But I will still say that CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS NEED TO MEAN SOMETHING! Which is consistent with what I said last year. And what Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports is saying this year (I’d read the whole article as it’s a good one that soap boxes post season reform for College Football):

https://sports.yahoo.com/heres-make-college-football-playoff-even-better-032144320.html

Excerpts:

For the second consecutive year the Big Ten staged a championship game where the winner didn’t win much. Neither Penn State last year nor Ohio State this season advanced to the College Football Playoff. It was the same with USC in the Pac-12. A year ago, Alabama could have lost the SEC title game and still made the playoff. This year the Tide didn’t even have to play and they got in

MMQ:

This season, TWO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Pac 12, B1G) meant nothing. Either Michigan or PSU should have been the B1G’s representative last season (Michigan was the best Stats team that was NOT in the CFP and of course, PSU won the B1G, but was lousy on the stats line). The suckeyes were not a good team last season and yet somehow made it in. But if you’re going to ignore the Conference Championships, abandon them for player safety and other reasons.

Back to Wetzel:

While at first consideration it may sound like an eight-team playoff devalues the season compared to a four-team playoff, but if you’re eliminating the conference title game round, that isn’t the case.

Here’s the simple frame work.

First weekend of December is no longer reserved for conference championship games. They are the first round of an eight-team playoff, where the higher-seeded team gets to host. The champions of the five major conferences would be granted automatic bids. If you win your league, you are in

Again, I don’t want to cut and paste the entire article, but the whole post season needs to be re-thought.

Does Bama getting in piss me off? It didn’t seem to piss off Urban Legend that much.

he knows the suckeyes had a bad loss…

The fact that Bama is in and will have a decent shot at beating Clemson in 4 weeks as they will be healthy at Linebacker confirms for me, anyway, that the committee is paying attention to those sorts of things now. So to answer the question, no. I think Bama is one of the 4 best teams.

Also, the B1G’s last 2 season’s dismal performances (sparty 38-0 against Bama and suckeyes 31-0 against Clemson) is another strike against the committee taking a team from the B1G, but I think the committee screwed up twice in 2015 and 2016 by not taking the Best B1G team from either Season (Suckeyes in 2015 – Michigan in 2016).

Wiscy winning would have changed the outcome as they would have been in and Bama would be out and that would have been sweet, also. Bama getting in is just a world we’re living in and everyone should get used to that.

Read Thamel, too. Good opinion stuff here…

https://sports.yahoo.com/alabama-ohio-state-cfp-committee-makes-controversial-decision-yet-185105924.html

Will the play in games be more compelling? I guess we’ll see. Early picks: I like Clemson in a squeaker over Bama and Oklahoma over Georgia. I think it’s Baker Mayfield’s year with a Heisman and National Championship.

The MMQ’s

The MMQ Game of the Year: This one is always tough because you have to take all of them into consideration. Four, for me anyway, that were in the running were Oklahoma – suckeyes, Auburn – Georgia, Auburn – Bama and Domers – Canes. I guess I’ll go with Domers – Canes because someone I really hated was gonna lose, but to see someone get pantsed in a big game is even better!!!

MMQ for the Game we THOUGHT was the Best Game of the Season (at the time it was played): This is for that game between two teams that everyone thought would have some sort of CFP Impact later in the season. There’s only two: Gatorland vs. Michigan and FSU vs. Bama. Gatorland and Michigan both had “Down” seasons and FSU-Bama turned out to be a nothing burger with FSU stumbling. I’m giving this one to FSU-Bama, but it’s close.

MMQ Upset of the Year: Hands down – Iowa over the suckeyes. I know it wasn’t the largest point spread upset, but it was the biggest surprise that only a few people saw coming. Wash State over USC considered here, also. But Iowa singlehandedly kept the suckeyes out of the CFP.

MMQ Best Comeback of the Year: Hands down UCLA coming back in the 4^th quarter against Texas A&M. Both coaches in that game fired…

MMQ Coach of the Year: This one is tricky. But I think you have to give it to First Year at Purdue Coach Brohm for getting the Boilers back to a bowl, first time since 2012. (Relax Sparty, Antionianus was considered. But I felt that last season was more of a fluke than anything).

MMQ for the Team of the Year: I normally don’t go with an undefeated or highly ranked team here. However, I do have to pick an undefeated team this season as they have beaten everyone they’ve face by double digits. Scott Frost’s UCF Knights win easily here and drew a tough team in Auburn for their bowl game…

MMQ Most Disappointing Team of the Year: Teams in consideration: FSU, Gatorland, Tennessee, Texas, and USC. Tennessee NOT winning an SEC game, firing its coach and all the other crap has to be the winner here.

MMQ for the Most Improved Team of the Year: The Candidates:

Sparty: 3-9 to 9-3 and 3^rd in the B1G East. Not Bad

Domers: Ditto. 4-8 to 9-3 is a nice turnaround

Spoilermakers: winning 6 and getting to a Bowl for the first time since 2012

Iowa State: Getting Bowl Eligible without breaking a sweat and beating The Laters in their house and also beating TCU at home is quite an accomplishment.

The Winner: Iowa State. We were talking about them a lot mid-season and they are going to be a force to reckon with in the Big iiX for some time to come.

MMQ Best Coach’s Comment of the Year: Satan: “Rat Poison”. Hands Down.

MMQ for Best Coaching Hire: I already gave Brohm Coach of the Year so I’m giving the Coaching Hire to Fleck. Herman was considered, but Texas is still a mess.

MMQ for The Worst Referee’d Game of the Year: Pick one of about 6 that Michigan played in this season. With the Game at or near the top of the list.

MMQ Vote For Heisman: If I had one. 1. Mayfield 2. Jackson 3. Love

MMQ Best Player of the Year that Won’t Be Considered for Heisman: Mo Hurst. No one else.

MMQ For Most Overrated Conference of the Year: SEC and Pac 12 considered. Right now, I think the Pac 12 is the weaker conference, but everyone seems to know that. Therefore, the SEC takes the crown again as the most overated.

MMQ For Worst Coaching Performance of the Year: The Candidates:

Harbaugh: Yes, I’m putting him on the list. If Speight was your best QB going into the season and O’Korn was the back-up, I have concerns. Especially after observing O’Korn as a starter. Peters should have been further along in development after having a red-shirt under his belt. Sorry, Jimmy, that’s a fact. Also: still just 1-7 against rivals and finished his 3^rd B1G season at 5-4.

Sumlin: So much talent and so few positive results. I’m not sure he gets a look from anyone else at this point, even though he’s a great recruiter with high ranked classes.

Jones: What else can be said? Great recruiter with lousy sideline in game decisions.

Herman: Didn’t win any Big iiX “marquee” games, but did make a bowl at 6-6.

The Winner: 2 of the 4 nominees lost their jobs, so piling on there seems excessive. I’m going in house and saying that Harbaugh should have done a better job with Hoke’s last class than he did.

The MMQ for the “Well That’s Fabulous” Moment of the Year: So MANY to choose from that I really don’t know how to make a decision. But when I started putting the list together in my head (including two SEC teams in the CFP) I got to the situation in Tennessee. Without question, we’ll be talking about the WTF week that was as the Volunteers tried to hire a new HC. Got to be the winner, with the 2 SEC teams in the CFP a close 2^nd.

MMQ for the Most Off the Field-Football Related Issue That Occupied Our Time: This one’s close. The overall coaching carousel vs. the debacle that is Tennessee. There were some others (Ole Miss violations, UNC not getting slapped by the NCAA, others) but I’m going with the Coaching Carousel this year due to the fact that winning coaches are leaving great programs (Fisher – FSU, Frost – UCF) to take over dumpster fires and see if they’re as good as they think they are. Malzhan wisely chose a contract extension at Auburn vs. going home to Arkansas, who is now scrambling to fill their vacancy. Should get interesting.

The Bowls Are Set!

In what is slowly becoming a big issue with seniors already announcing that they won’t be playing, the bowl match-ups have been announced. Here’s a link to Yahoo Sports Ranking of the Bowls:

https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-2017-bowl-games-1-39-alabama-clemson-iii-tops-list-224829195.html

Michigan meets South Carolina as the 13^th Best Bowl Game in a rematch of the 2014 Outback Bowl, which everyone remembers for this: