BCS is the Playboy Mansion of college football... and U of L got invited

Were you ever that kid that got made fun of a lot in grade school, and maybe even in high school. Didn't get to hang out with the cool kids in school, and you were the guy everyone looked at when you showed up to a cool-people party when you weren't invited but somehow heard about it?

Luckily, I was never that kid. Well, maybe in grade school.

That's basically what you got with Louisville football. They used to be the nerdy guy. That 1-10 team, and even teams surrounding it... they were that pathetic nerd that you hoped would never show up at your party.

Louisville football was that nerd a while back. But over the last couple of years, these real cool guys, Tom Jurich and Bobby Petrino, come in and says 'hey I think you're cool'... come to a party with me.

And then the Louisville football, over time, becomes a little more popular. Then some other guys decide to jump in and go, hey I think you've got a good thing going with that guy, I'll hang out with you. Enter Brian Brohm, Michael Bush. They decide that nerd that was Louisville football, was cool. And then this nerd grabs a little more steam. And more fans start to get involved, because this nerd is becoming just a little bit more popular. Now, boy you are REALLY popular because you have an entourage. In this case, the fans and things of that nature are the entourage.

OK now, use that same analogy here. In the NATIONAL scope. You're that new guy. Now it's not the Brian Brohm's and the Michael Bush's that took a chance on you when they thought you were sort of a semi-nerd. Now, it's the BCS Committee who thinks you're the nerd. Like it or not, you're still that nerd.

You are there by default, well kind of. Yes, you deserve to be there. But you got the default invite. Right now, you're that guy at the office whose a real big nerd and no one likes, but you still got the invite to the company party because you are doing a real good job and you are a valued employee. Other people get invites to those parties because their cool. You're going by default.

Because if you don't win the Big East, sorry buddy, you're not in the BCS, because you aren't the cool schools like Notre Dame and LSU are. They go because they're cool. Not because they didn't anything spectacular at the office.

As popular as Louisville is in the regional landscape. Now you are getting invited to the big boy party nationwide. The BCS is like the Playboy Mansion of college football. You're that nerd all over again. Time to get on Hugh Hefner's good side.

And to become the real popular guy nationwide, you need to go support your nerd. Got to get everyone down there.

You have to go. If you can figure out a way. I mean, hop in a car. If you've ever even thought about a Louisville football game before, then you have to try to find a way to show up at that game. Jurich expects 40- to 50- thousand? Bring 55.

See the BCS (i.e. Hef) always has these parties, and they're usually all right around the New Year. You're getting invited to one of his parties. You've GOT to make a good impression.

Why does Notre Dame always get invited? Why do SEC teams who don't get the automatic invite still always get invited? They get invited because they bring fans... they help local economies. They're guaranteed to fill up the seats!

Louisville needs to OVERDO it, from an attendance standpoint, at the party.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
Record coming in: 4-1-1

Louisiana-Lafayette (+4.5) vs. NEW ORLEANS ** WIN **

Record going out: 5-1-1

Is the Grossman bashing really recessary?

When do we look at something and just decide, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The NFL is arguably the toughest league to win a championship. You have 11 players of offense, 11 players on defense, 11 players on special teams... all working in unison. It's a tough thing to accomplish.

So why, when a team is tied for the best record in the league after 14 weeks (11-2) do we still question the starting of a quarterback? Do we question Thomas Jones? Do we question Mushin Muhammed?

We don't.

Now granted, the quarterback position is unique. But that position doesn't have to be BRILLIANT when you have a defense like Chicago's.

Even after all of the times we've said "defense wins championships", we still question Chicago and their chances, just because they have Rex Grossman. Enough is enough already.

OK, now it's time once again for a little EZ Money.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
Record going in: 4-0-1

Central Florida (+4) vs. MINNESOTA ** LOSS **

Record going out: 4-1-1

One reason why Louisville is better than West Virginia

My Cardinal friends look no further than this link right here to be happy you are not involved with the Mountaineer program!

Just some other things I came across last night and today...

• Michigan head football coach Lloyd Carr GUARANTEES a BCS playoff


• UK fans can breathe easy. Morris won't go to the NBA. At least not midseason.

But, with my limited time tonight, I DID want to give my EZ Money College Basketball Pick of the Night.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
W-L Record going in: 3-0-1

Mississippi State (+1.5) vs MIAMI (Fla.) ** WIN **

W-L Record going out: 4-0-1

Thoughts over the weekend...

Nothing spectacular here, just thought I'd throw together a couple of things that I was thinking about over this weekend:

1. Sorry, but I just don't think that Louisville basketball is all that great right now. Louisville is a VERY GOOD run and gun team. But all other teams are beginning to do are throw up a simple 2-3 zone against them, and all of the sudden, it becomes tough for Louisville to really manhandle the teams they are supposed to.

And try this on for size.

Is it possible that now we are in the second year of "cupcake" non-conference scheduling, that the team just maybe subconciously plays 'down' to their opponent? Because there has GOT to be a reason that teams like Ohio keep it close with Louisville. Louisville has WAY too much talent and athleticism for that to happen.

That being said, you've got to love what Derrick Caracter and Juan Palacios are doing for the Cards. Let's see our guards get the ball to them a little bit more. Most times, they are very successful against the kids guarding them. But let's see what they do against better competition.

We'll see what happens as the season progresses.

2. I didn't put two and two together.

As I watch this Dallas-New Orleans game (it's at halftime right now), I failed to remember that Sean Payton not only came from Dallas, but coached Tony Romo last year. That's got to be worth a couple of points to the Saints, right? Wish I would've known that before, because now I think the Cowboys are going to keep me from winning my five-team parlay!

3. So another sports movie (and basketball, no less) with Will Farrell. I'm in!

4. Not much else from me, because I want to get back to watching this Sunday Night Football game. One random thing... I get mesmerized by the shot clock at Freedom Hall sometimes. If you watch it intently for about two minutes, you'll catch it going haywire, or the shot clock operator is doing something weird... one of the two. The shot clock will sometimes just change from "5" to "35" during times in a game. I can't figure out why. And I feel like I'm crazy, so I don't share it with anyone on press row, but once again, I saw it tonight. Check it out, and see if I'm sane.

HOPE YOU LISTEN TOMORROW! Lots to talk about!

IU-UK Gameday Blog

I may update this post from time-to-time today. But really I'm just excited to be here. It's nice to see this game have a little "home-court advantage", regardless of which way that home court advantage goes. I've really got only one pick for EZ Monday today, and that is for this IU-UK game.

First off, I think the UNDER in this game is a LOCK. I see a very slow-paced game. We'll see how it turns out, but I see a lot of zone as well as both teams only have one real inside threat and both coaches will try to keep that player out of foul trouble early.

I see IU falling to a very bad start. They will trail by double digits in this game thanks to the home crowd of which IU players have never seen before. But IU will claw back late in the second half thanks to very good defense forcing UK to take some very ill-advised shots. IU may even come back and take the lead. I see this one going down to the wire, but UK holds on.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
W-L Record going in: 3-0

Indiana (+5) vs. KENTUCKY ** PUSH **

W-L Record going out: 3-0-1

Some first half thoughts:

• The defense from both teams is very solid. Ill-advised shots on both ends making it tough for either team to get anything going offensively.
• DJ White had a better first half than I expected.
• UK free throws are hurting them in the first half.
• If IU doesn't double Randolph than he will have 30 before the day is out.
• IU's open looks seem not to be falling.
• Good surge at the end of the first half for UK. Getting Stevenson involved may be the 2nd half key for the Cats.
• HALFTIME: UK 28, IU 26 (sidenote: UK is 5-0 when tied or leading at half... 0-3 when they trail)

Second half droppings:

• UK picking up their pace, to the pleasure of former UK standout Kenny "Sky" Walker sitting two seats down.
• DJ White is not going to be able to do it all by himself today for Indiana. A guard will need to get involved.
• Either team is two outside shots away from breaking the game open. Neither is shooting well from outside.
• IU's offensive rebounding has been very impressive in this game.
• Sheray Thomas gets booed when he comes into the game.
• Earl Calloway is the first guard for either team that decides that he can take over this game as he sparks a 6-0 run, scoring four of those points, giving IU the lead back at 39-36 with 12:38 remaining.
• Kentucky responds with an 9-0 run of their own to take a 45-36 lead.
• E-MAIL: Someone wrote and asked if I would tell them how many IU fans I can estimate being here. Let me tell you... it's not much. I'll say 1,000 at most.
• I never would've thought DJ White would win the battle underneath today, but he has.
• Morris should touch the ball inside each possession. It's a shame he isn't. That keeps Indiana in it.
• Indiana's defense is insane good, but their offense just can't match it this early in the season.... or so it seems.
• The hard work by both of these teams today is to be commended. It's not often you see a knock-down dragout like this one. I'm appreciative. The Cats earned this one!

QB Talk... AND EZ Money

As I will try to attempt to do three-four times a week on this blog, I'll try to show you a couple of the interesting things listeners have e-mailed or I've come across myself as I browse the good ol' World Wide Web, as well as give you the 'almost-famous' EZ Money, my picks for tonight's game.

I started my college basketball picks with Villanova (-1) over Oklahoma, and boy those Wildcats pulled through, so I'm 1-0.

It's interesting. Today, I got a lot of stuff on quarterbacks that are neither in college nor the NFL... at least not right now.

According to MySanAntonio.com, former Green Bay Packers star QB Bart Starr is getting threatened by an 81-year-old woman named Ruby. Problem is, I found nowhere in the article what exactly Mr. Starr did. Must have been bad, or maybe she's just trying to get money.

Then thanks to a listener (thank you James D. from St. Matthews), I give you future Louisville QB Matt Simms. Who won a state championship at his dad's old stomping grounds (Giants Stadium), and then after his teams 41-0 revenge win over St. Peter's (Simms' team was beat in the final last year by St. Peter's), Simms decided to let the fans of his fallen opponent know whats up!

I, for one, do not have too much of a problem with it. Evidently, Simms really got it handed to him by the fans at St. Peter's for a full year. Now, obviously, he'll have to show a little better judgment when he comes to Louisville. If Bobby Petrino saw this, he'd be running for days. But all in all, no biggie. In fact, I like the fire.

Prepare for a little IU/UK prediction tomorrow. Now, onto my picks for tonight in college basketball.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
W-L Record going in: 1-0

NOTRE DAME (-1.5) over Alabama ** WIN **
Florida State (-9.5) over GEORGIA STATE ** WIN **

W-L Record going out: 3-0