On the way home from my basketball game this morning I was listening to ESPNRadio, trying to soak in all of the “analysts” thoughts on the BCS bowls and the BCS in general and of all people, Dick Vitale made the best points. I’ve been 50/50 on whether or not I think a playoff in football would be good for the game with my main concern being the dilution of the regular season but Vitale actually convinced me that an 8 team playoff would work and not dilute the regular season for two main reasons. First, you’ll still be playing for seeding and Secondly you’ll be playing for location. Just as the winner of the ACC Tourney usually gets to play games in Charlotte/Greensboro/Raleigh I’m sure a top seeded LSU would love to play in the Sugar Bowl (USC in the Rose etc etc).

So if we had an 8 team playoff that still utilized the bowls I think we’d have a first round that looked something like this: #1 Ohio St vs #8 Hawaii (Sugar), #2 LSU vs #7 USC (Fiesta), #3 VTech vs #6 Mizzou (Orange) and #4 Oklahoma vs #5 UGA (Rose). Those would be some amazing first round matchups! Sure you still have some controversy on whether or not to put Kansas or West Virginia in over Hawaii but….

In my opinion Hawaii got hosed and I’m not the only one who thinks so. AOL Sports Blog says Hawaii’s Sugar Bowl bid is a Joke and I couldn’t agree with him more. The only point he could have made stronger was mentioned that under the current system, a team like BYU would have never won their national championship. Hawaii deserves their shot at #1!

In other hosings, I’d like to mention Mizzou getting the shaft! In less than 24 hours they went from the #1 team in the country to not making a BCS game only b/c they lost their conference championship game. I don’t like how they can be punished when not all other conferences play a conference championship game.

Now regarding the rest of the bowls, ECU gets to travel to Hawaii for a matchup vs Boise St. While many people underestimate the Purple Pirates, I think Boise St. won’t be one of them. I look for Boise St to win big unless ECU gets the ball to Chris Johnson 25+ times during the game.

There are tons of terrible bowls (I think the majority are uninteresting matchups) that even a die hard college football fan like myself could care less about (think Florida Atlantic vs Memphis in the Sun Bowl, Yipppee) but there are also some under the radar matchups like Kentucky vs. Florida State and Virginia vs. Texas Tech.

In maybe the most disturbing thing I’ve read this morning, NC State’s Tom O’Brien is being mentioned for the Michigan job by the Sporting News (Link to Article).

Two other interesting names recently were dropped in my lap: N.C. State’s Tom O’Brien and Missouri’s Gary Pinkel.

O’Brien has been at N.C. State just one season, but he is a perfect fit in Ann Arbor. He’s a Navy grad who has coached at high-minded academic schools such as Virginia (as an assistant) and Boston College (as head coach). Plus, O’Brien is one of the nation’s best coaches.

Please god say it ain’t so and if it is so, hurry up and make it happen for before Paul Johnson gets a job somewhere other than Navy!

If Michigan was smart, they would throw big money at Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe, who in my opinion, is one of the best coaches in the country year after year.

Speaking of Paul Johnson, he is being highly considered for the Duke job (also mentioned in that article) along with former ECU coach Steve Logan.

And some interesting news out of Fayetteville, Arkansas regarding our baby blue friends up the road…

Look for South Florida’s Jim Leavitt to soon be linked to the Hogs’ job. Sources say he also could be in the mix at Auburn if an opening occurs. Few have built a better program as quickly as Leavitt.

I’m being told repeatedly by sources with knowledge of the situation that North Carolina’s Butch Davis remains a possibility in Fayetteville. Things appeared to be dead just a few days ago.

GaTech recently got turned down by UCONN Coach Randy Edsall and now they are considering Rick Nuehisel. Why they would go after Nuehisel (who apparently wants the soon to be open UCLA job) is beyond me. I guess they fail the remember how he singled handedly crushed two formerly prominent programs (Colorado and Washington). GaTech should look at Boise St’s Chris Peterson, ECU’s Skip Holtz, UTEP’s Mike Price or Cincy’s Brian Kelly.

Other thoughts:
Tenn. choked away the SEC Championship game with 2 INTs in the Red Zone.
I think Oklahoma is the best team in the country along with Oregon (but only if they had Dennis Dixon).

I’m I the only one who is tired of hearing about Ohio State? Play someone other than your weak-ass Big 10!!!

Finally, Can we please move the ACC Championship game to Charlotte? The crowd at the game looked pathetic, why must we continue to play there and no Tampa will not be any better. Memo to the ACC, the Florida schools are no longer the cream of the crop, how about we accommodate the rest of the league.

Anyone have any thoughts on this craziness?