Zoneblitz.com

So this story is already a week old, but apparently the Obama administration really is looking into reviewing the legality of the BCS Championship.  I only bring it up a week later because we’ve written about it a few times before.

And also because, when we shared the link above with a friend of ours (who’s a little more politically oriented than we are), he had an interesting reaction:

“I’m trying to imagine going back in time and asking the Federalists, ‘Now, if we ratify this thing, will it give the federal government the power to regulate tournament rules for collegiate sporting events?’”

You can find more of his thoughts on the topic at his blog.  Being a football blog, Zoneblitz does not necessarily agree or disagree with a lot of the topics covered on his blog–but we do agree with him that, if the NCAA wants their BCS solution to look good, getting the government involved might be the best thing for them.

The folks over at Despair.com have probably summed it up best:

“Government: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.”

I know I just wrote 2,200 words the other day focused at least in part on describing why I think ProFootballTalk.com isn’t as good a site as it used to be.

And I hate to harp on the topic. But he wrote another post today that raised my ire. Today Mike Florio’s topic was Noel Devine, the running back from West Virginia who decided to pass on the draft and go back for his senior season.

Sure, there might be little for him to prove by staying a Mountaineer. And yes, the NFL might impose a rookie salary cap for the 2011 season. So it’s possible – even likely – that Devine might cost himself some money by staying in school.

But at the end of the day, even if the NFL imposes a rookie salary cap, if he’s taken in the first couple rounds of the 2011 draft (assuming there is one) he’s going to make plenty of money.

Isn’t it just possible that Devine is enjoying the college experience? Can it be that he likes his teammates and wants to make a run at a major bowl game? Perhaps a national championship? Or, maybe he wants to guard against the chances that an NFL career doesn’t work out by, cough, cough, getting a degree?

Many college players come out early. And sure, it’s hard to blame them with the payouts they see in front of them. But many stay in school, some because they just enjoy it.

So often college football players are criticized for pretending to be students and using the NFL as a springboard for a pro contract. It’s almost surprising with a good to great player when it goes the other way.

So whatever Devine’s reasons, can we just enjoy the fact – injury risks aside (yes, see the cases of Sam Bradford and Michael Bush) – that this guy might be in the college game for more than just the big payoff? He’s taking a risk. But there’s insurance for that. I applaud Noel Devine. I don’t watch a lot of West Virginia games but I hope this move pays off for you.

No matter what ProFootballTalk.com says.

College football’s Bowl Championship Series is a joke. There are few things dumber in sports than having teams play 13 games and then having a collection of computers determine who’s number one and number two. As much as I have always enjoyed bowl games (though there are WAYYYYYYYYY too many) college football should long ago have instituted a playoff system that takes the top eight or 16 teams and plays them down to a final two, just like every other sport does.

But it’s not a congressional issue.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, should not be calling for Justice Department investigations into the BCS – at least not because it’s a crappy system. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, is free to think the system is unfair – he’s not wrong about that. Major conference or not, any team that wins all of their regular season games should have at least a shot to win or lose the national championship on the field

But as unfair and stupid as it is, he and Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee (Really? The House Energy and Commerce Committee needs its own subcommittee? Maybe these elected clowns, err, officials would be better off spending their time trying to eliminate layers of government and making the system more efficient? Just a thought) should not be co-sponsoring bills to change the system – certainly not now, when there are so many other things for them to be spending time on and, in my opinion, not ever.

But yes, that subcommittee Wednesday approved legislation aimed at forcing college football to adopt a playoff system.

The bill, according to an Associated Press story, would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff.
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Graham Harrell, the latest record-setting quarterback from Texas Tech University, has signed a contract to play for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Football League.

Nothing against the Roughriders (or is it the Rough Riders), but how can 14,000 yards passing and 119 touchdowns against 30 interceptions during a four-year college career not even warrant a training camp tryout in the NFL?

I realize Mike Leach runs a passing offense that skews some of those numbers. I also realize the stellar numbers of guys like Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons and Sonny Cumbie haven’t translated to success in the pros.

But in a league where backup guys like Dan Orlovsky, Quinn Gray, Cleo Lemon and Anthony Wright get recycled year after year after year, wouldn’t a fresh face like Harrell warrant a tryout?

Harrell completed better than 70 percent of his passes his last two seasons. He led the Red Raiders in chasing the national championship against traditional powers like Oklahoma and Texas by posting a six-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio. He threw for nearly 2,000 more yards than Kingsbury did – breaking his school passing yardage record five games into his senior season – in a similar number of attempts and completions.

He can run – he eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark as a rusher his senior year of high school – so he’d at least have an opportunity to complete in the new, fangled Wildcat fad that’s spread across the NFL. And he was considered a leader at Texas Tech.

I’m not saying all or any of those facts will make him into an NFL superstar. Is it possible he could join the ranks of all the other Texas Tech “system” quarterbacks and be junk in the pros? Absolutely. It might even be likely.

But the fact that this guy isn’t going to get a chance to prove or disprove those theories is confusing and disappointing. Not even a spot on someone’s practice squad? Really?

Somebody give this guy a shot.

Gaaaaaaaach.

Wars in the Middle East.

Budget deficits.

Still plummeting economy.

For the love of God, don’t Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and the rest of Congress have something better to do than worry about forcing a college football playoff?

I’d like to see a playoff as much as the next person.

But Congress needs to butt out. That collection of bickering clowns will probably make it worse anyway.