I am off to see Kansas State take on TCU in Fort Worth this weekend. I will be wearing purple, which is a big deal for me. It is, after all, the color the dreaded Baltimore Rat Birds. Given that both the teams wear purple, I figure I can make an exception. The biggest challenge is that this game is an 11 am start. It will make for a very early Saturday morning. On the flip side, it also means a pancakes and mimosas tailgate. The weather isn’t looking so hot as a light rain is in the forecast. It beats the freezing rain they had last year for the Baylor game. This should be a good game. Both teams have comparable records and TCU is only favored by four. Practically a pick’em.
The other positive thing to the early start is that I will be back in time for the two big games, Va Tech vs Clemson and Wisconsin vs Penn State. It would seem to me that the winner of the Big Ten conference, the strongest conference this year, should be in FBS playoff. If not, I fully agree with Danny Kanell, that it should be called an invitational instead of a playoff. If Ohio State or Michigan want to be in the playoff, then they should win the conference. I hope this controversy will spur the playoff to go to eight teams. Like Lurch from Junkies said, it is an easy solution. Give an automatic bid for each of the power five conferences, one for the group of five conferences, and two at-large berths. It would be very simple and clean. I don’t want to hear it would make the regular season meaningless. Tell me how Michigan can lose to Ohio State and Iowa, and be ranked above both Wisconsin and Penn State. I get it, they beat the Badgers and Lions. However, they received no penalty for losing to Iowa. And this is why the regular season matters? Look, Michigan probably beats PSU nine out of ten games. They are the better team but the same could have been said of the 2007 NY Giants. The Patriots were the better team, but we didn’t give them the title. You have to win it. Michigan’s playoff started last week against Ohio State and they were eliminated. Tough luck. Here’s to hoping Colorado and Va Tech both score upsets.