Geaux Tigers!

Is there anyone in the state of Nebraska not rooting for LSU tonight? I'd like to think that no Husker fan would root for the Buckeyes regardless--that's my own, vehement bias--but the Pelini factor has given us all a stake tonight. We are Tiger fans by proxy.

Best case scenario tonight the Tigers make Florida's beating last year look like a dress rehearsal. Bo's defense pitches a shut out, at least one person wears his Nebraska gear to the game and gets on camera, and we get at least one shot of Kirk Herbstreit weeping.

Worst case scenario? Sweater vest trumps white hat. In my mind, Ohio State has a sizable advantage in the coaching department and talent wise I think these two teams are pretty even. Add in the embarrassment of last year's title game and the Buckeyes have a lot going for them.

If I had to bet it I'd probably take Ohio State but I hope like hell the Big 10 doesn't win this thing.

(Bonus parenthetical content: I'm just about done with the two 10s. The higher ups in both the Pac-10 and Big 10 have been pretty open in their resistance to any sort of changes to the BCS and the current bowl set-up as they don't want to "diminish the Rose Bowl any further."

Now, I'm as traditional as they come. Nostalgia is my narcotic, but I could care less about the Rose Bowl at this point. The Grandaddy of 'em all hasn't pitted a Big 10 champion versus a Pac-10 champion in the past four years and five out of the last six. What is there left to diminish besides the quality of play even further (see: Rose Bowl 2008)? I have two suggestions for the interested parties:

1) Keep your Rose Bowl. While the other four conferences work towards a plus-one or whatever, the two 10s can just opt out, have their Rose Bowl and have no chance at the "official" national title. Problem with this is the first time one and two are in these two conferences everyone will know that the Rose Bowl is the true national title game.

2) Make the two 10s the superest super conference the earth has ever seen. Bi-coastal, huge media markets, a television network with some real clout that you might have a chance at watching, it's all good so far. Let the two conferences play only each other and, since neither conference has a championship game, the Rose Bowl can serve that purpose. Big 10 #1 vs. Pac-10 #1 for the right to enter in to the playoff or plus-one that the rest of the sane, and now even richer, conference commissioners agree to.

Of course neither of these ideas is logical or even well thought out but it does give me even more reason to hope that Ohio State loses tonight. Do it for me, Bo.)

PLAYOFF?!

Look, I don't know what I think about a potential college football playoff other than it's never likely to happen. Part of me likes the man-to-mouse mortality, the Old West-esque craziness that we experience under the current system.

Another part of me positively salivates at the notion of a December Decadence tournament set-up. All I really know is that bowl system was created essentially to stage exhibitions not decide national champions and the problem lies soley in the expectation of a Super Bowl from a series of preseason (or in this case, post-) games.

That said, you have to go play around with this fake football tournament ESPN.com has set up. You can do this a number of ways (BCS Rankings, Power Poll, etc.) but I recommend the custom ranking. Then you can basically devise your own personal 16-team playoff. Here's what I ended up with in the first round:

#1 USC v. #16 Texas
#2 OU v. #15 Tennessee
#3 LSU v. #14 BC
#4 Ohio State v. #13 Arizona State
#5 UGA v. #12 Hawaii
#6 Missouri v. #11 BYU
#7 West Virginia v. #10 Kansas
#8 Virginia Tech v. #9 Florida

After seeding something called AccuScore simulates round by round. The surprises immediately followed. Arizona State, who hasn't beaten any one of any consequence, upended the Buckeyes confirming my dim view of the Big 10. Kansas beat West Virginia--that would've been a fun one to watch--presumably because AccuScore has accurately calculated Pat White's fumble to carry ratio. And, in the only actual bowl match-up of the group Hawaii beat Georgia.

In the elite eight, Hawaii out-bombed ASU, Oklahoma beat Kansas, USC beat Va. Tech and, the only shocker, Missouri beat LSU. The Tiger love didn't stop there.

Faced with a Final Four rematch, Missouri finally beat Oklahoma and USC predictably walked over Hawaii. Tigers-Trojans?

Sadly this dry run confirmed what many of suspect but are loathe to admit. USC still probably has the best team in the country, but I doubt an even more mythical national championship appearance has soothed any sore feelings in Columbia.

In conclusion, try the fairy tale football playoff game. You'll like it.

I'm going to go run about 549 more simulations.