Tag Archives: McNeese State

The NCAA Continues to Stick to its Guns

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Or on and off the lake.

Or on and off the lake.


On Sunday the NCAA had the national championship in women’s rowing just minutes away from me in Indianapolis. When I asked a friend if we should get tickets to a women’s rowing event I was met with some strange looks. I might as well have proposed watching the “Twilight” trilogy in one sitting. So I sat this one out.

Ohio State repeated as the Division I champ and congratulations to the Buckeyes. The Ohio State women’s rowing team is also the banner photo for the NCAA’s Facebook page. Here the phrase “Champions on and off the court” is displayed symbolizing academic success.

The NCAA is once again fighting to the bitter end that all of its athletes are students first. Highlighting a women’s rowing team is not going to go very far to persuade the masses that only see the football and basketball players skipping class. At this point, the campaign is comical.

Perhaps a better campaign would be “Providing Opportunities for the Youth of America.” That’s cheesier than a superhero movie but it allows the NCAA to claim credit for those who graduate while still being illiterate. Looking at you SEC football.

Here are some other things I noticed this past week…

CBS Makes Some Changes

Speaking of the SEC, CBS is trying to solidify their alpha dog position on the conference. CBS sports announced that Adam Zucker will be replacing Tim Brando on their College Football Today. A show that serves as a pregame for their SEC game of the week. Allie LaForce is taking the place of Tracy Wolfson as the lead sideline reporter in that game. Could this be a preemptive move to go younger to combat ESPN’s launch of the new SEC Network? The timing can’t be a coincidence.

Flooding on the Field

McNeese State had a wonderful 2013 college football season. It made the FCS playoffs and crushed FBS South Florida 53-21. Lets hope a little water doesn’t stop their momentum.

Only a marketing guy could turn a flooded football field into a chance to sell season tickets. Not sure if it will work but at least they’re trying hard. Just good luck kicking a field goal in that lake.

The FCS gets it right

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As the BCS rankings and match-ups were announced on ESPN Sunday night, the trinity of annoying studio commentators (Jesse Palmer, David Pollack and Kirk Herbstreit) said the BCS got it right.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

For the record, I agree Auburn should be ranked no. 2. That doesn’t mean other one loss teams are not more deserving.

Michigan State only has one loss too and folks north of the Ohio River say the Spartans should be in. Check out what Big Ten talking head Mike Hall had to say while watching the SEC championship game.

Nice sarcasm as both Auburn and Missouri were scoring at will. Even Purdue fans tried to make a case for Michigan State.

What about Baylor? The Bears only had one loss too. Heck, I still think Alabama is the best team in the SEC as Auburn won the Iron bowl in its own house. What if the game was on a neutral field? Alabama would probably be going for its third straight title.

Yes, it’s the last year of the BCS; but instead of media personalities saying the BCS got it right, we should be blasting it one final time.

Look at how much fun the second round of FCS playoffs were this weekend. Several top teams went down and its games were great.

  • Coastal Carolina had maybe the surprise win of the weekend going into a freezing Montana. Montana’s website gave detailed advice on how to handle the below zero wind chills. Now that’s extreme. Coastal Carolina came out on top 42-35 in what might be the biggest upset a road team has had in below zero conditions since the Empire took over Hoth.
  • No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois has been destroying people all year with its passing game. Even the mascot was burning calories on the sideline in its 55-10 drumming of Tennessee State.
    • Still better than "Insanity"

    Still better than “Insanity”

  • New Hampshire stunned No. 5 seed Maine 41-27 to take the important title of “Best FCS Team in New England.”
  • No. 4 seed Southeastern Louisiana survived its upset scare against Sam Houston State 30-29.
  • No. 6 seed McNeese State was not so lucky as it lost 31-10 to Jacksonville State. That’s what happens when you’re too busy putting the name of your school on the back of the jersey instead of the players.

Get in there McNeese! No not you. I was talking to McNeese.

Get in there McNeese! No not you. I was talking to McNeese.


Come on McNeese State, even Michael Bay is more creative than that.

The FCS playoffs are just juicer than the anticlimactic BCS. The regular season still matters as not that many teams get in. The idea that the BCS system protects the magnitude of the regular season is just a total fallacy.

It’s so easy to accept the BCS after the great couple of weeks of football that we’ve had. But conference championships and huge rivalry games would happen no matter what type of postseason format was in place.

At the end of the day, can you justifiably say that Auburn is better than a Michigan State or a Baylor? Like bet your car, house, and PS3 type justification? What’s the harm in having them play each other for that spot?

The excitement we’ve had in college football the past two weeks can be recreated for four more weeks if we had the eight-team playoff we should have. Sorry ESPN, the FCS gets it right.