It's Call It In the Air, Alright Yes Sir We Want The Ball

I couldn't sleep the other night, so I got to thinking. One thing led to another, and I wound up on college football. Now I'm watching college football (UF vs South Carolina) which led me to another thought on the sport, but we'll get to that in a second.

First, I was thinking about how Boise State has no chance at the national championship game. I want to say they do, but they really don't. Which is a shame, because I think they're the best team in college football, and if you watch them play, you'll be hard-pressed to disagree. Regardless, they're not making the big game.

So I tried to figure out a way to give them a chance. Now, I can't be the first person to come up with this, because, well, it's too simple. But if I am, I want it to be known as the 'Russell plan' for determining the national championship. Here's how it works:

The first part is that the college landscape is carved into 10 conferences with 12 teams a piece (Conveniently, there is currently exactly 120 teams). Each conference is split into 2 divisions and holds a conference championship game. These champions then enter the playoff brackets. The six current AQ conferences, will receive first-round byes and will rotate the top six seeds every year. The other four conferences, some conglomeration of the Mountain West, WAC, Sun Belt, C-USA and MAC, will play in two elimination games, with the winners joining the AQ 6 to form an eight team bracket. Then it takes three wins to become the national champion.

This clearly adds a couple games to the schedule, so the regular season will be shortened to 11 games. So, for an AQ school to win the crystal football, they will have played 15 total games, just one more than if they came from a current AQ conference with a conference championship game. Or 10 games to make it the same amount as it currently is. Either works. You figure each team plays the other five teams in their division, and then 2 matchups across the division (with a possibility for one of them to be a protected rivalry matchup). This leaves 3-4 open dates for the team to schedule at will. Which is about as many as most teams have now.

The first round of playoffs (the non-AQ conferences) will play out in two bowl games the weekend before Christmas. Preferably bowl games that are already prestigious, but it's not that important. Quarterfinals the weekend after Christmas (with two of the games being current BCS bowls, given to the #1 and #2 seeds, and the other two of respectable prestige like the Cotton bowl). Semifinals the weekend after that (the other two BCS bowls) and the National championship the weekend after that, which would roughly be Jan 8 like it is now.

I know. It's too simple. But hey, it makes sense, and just might fly.

The thought I had while watching the South Carolina Gamecocks pick apart the Gators was that Urban Meyer is over-rated. Substantially over-rated. His win-loss record is outstanding and he does have a pair of national championships on the mantle. Impressive stuff. But most of those accomplishments have been because of the personnel he walked into. He showed up at Utah after Alex Smith was known to have a quality arm. Meyer never coached a team of his own recruits in SLC. He went to Florida in 2005, and was greeted by a team overflowing with talent and a veteran QB, again. To his credit, he did sign Tim Tebow. And that Tebow guy has to be considered one of the best college football players ever. Like, top 3 status. So, you do have to give Meyer some credit for bringing that guy onto the Gainesville campus. But how much of Tebow's character or ability do you think was a result of Meyer's coaching? I wasn't there in training camp, but I'm betting not a lot.

Now Tebow is gone, and for the first time, Meyer is without a veteran star on his team. And he's struggling. Well, struggling by Gator standards. After tonight, he'll have lost his third straight home game. That's struggling for just about any program. So yeah, I think Urban Meyer is over-rated. He can turn a talented team into a title contender, but he can't foster a championship program over multiple recruiting classes.

Maybe if this Brantley fellow turns things around next year, I'll have to re-evaluate, but as it stands, I'll say that more than anything, Meyer's success can be attributed to his ability to evaluate a team's talent, and then move to a team that has a lot of it.

Word.