Big 12 Rated 5th Best Conference in College Football?

Sports Illustrated (si.com) has created an index which ranks the best conferences in the BCS era based on BCS bowl record, nonconference performance (like the RPI formula used for college basketball), percentage of teams in the final Associated Press (AP) poll, record in other bowl games and NFL draft picks per team. Data from the 10 years of the BCS was used for the study, and it was divided into two five-year periods to account for the shift of teams from the Big East to the ACC. Each metric was rated on a point system, for example, six points were awarded for first place, five points for second and so on. The BCS and top 25 categories weighted doubly. Below are the results:

2003-08 1998-'03 1. SEC (40) 1. Big Ten (35) 2. Pac-10 (29) 2. SEC (31) 3. ACC (23) 3. Big 12 (25) 4. Big Ten (22) 4. Pac-10 (21) 5. Big 12 (19) 5. Big East (18) 6. Big East (16) 6. ACC (17)

I was shocked that the Big 12 was that low and that the ACC was above them. Looking at the numbers, the Big 12 ranked 5th in terms of teams being ranked in the final AP Poll with 30% of the teams in the conference, on average, being included. The Big 12 ranked 4th in BCS bowl game record coming in at 3 -5 with Texas accounting for two of the wins and OU accounting for four of the five losses. Overall, the Big 12 barely finished over .500 in all bowl games, winning 16 and losing 15 slotting them in 4th place for this category. Non-conference RPI ranked third and Big 12 NFL draft picks ranked 5th, with 11.7 players, on average, being selected. It is a pretty hard method to argue with. I have been thinking about loopholes for a while now and can't come up with any other metrics that could put the Big 12 any higher on this list. Any thoughts?

Wednesday Buffalo Bites

--Looks like the Ex-Buffs armed robbery duo will be charged today. Its a sad story but at the same time, very embarrassing for the program especially since it happened in Boulder near the campus. The team has a lot to prove to the CU administration and staff to gain its credibility back in terms of being thought of as "good citizens." I know its not fair but once again, that is the expectations around playing Division 1 football.

--On a funny note, if anyone listened to the Herd this morning on ESPN radio, he was commenting on college football players committing crimes and the success level of their respective teams after the dismissal of Alabama LB Jimmy Johns for selling drugs. The Herd jokingly said something to the effect of "Bama is now a national title contender. Just look at all of the championship contenders like FSU, Florida, Ohio State, LSU...they all have off the field issues. Duke and Vanderbilt no off the field incidents and they aren't competing for anything." Under this logic, Colorado is a couple more arrests away from making it to the big time.

--Former Colorado Basketball star, Richard Roby is highlighted in a rivals.com article, if you have access, discussing his desire to play in the NBA. Roby, since getting injured in the NBA pre-draft camp, has fallen off of many draft boards and looks to be heading for Europe. The NBA draft is coming up Thursday night.

--Speaking of rivals.com, they are counting down the 2008 College Football pre-season rankings from the bottom up. They are currently on #37 with Florida State taking that spot. No sign of the Buffs yet which is a good thing as they continue to get respect on a National level. I probably jinxed them with the post and they will show up as #36. They can't go much longer with that ridiculous schedule.

--Former Buffs WR, Dusty Sprague has been added to the Colorado Crush (AFL) practice squad in preparation for the upcoming playoffs.

--We need football so this blog doesn't turn into a CU blog about Track & Field. On that note, two Buffs on the Track & Field team are going to compete in the U.S. Trials.

--67 days until kickoff at Mile High Stadium

Preseason Magazines Everywhere

Here is a little excerpt from Phil Steele's Magazine. More to come from Athlon, Lindy's and Steele's Magazines. Colorado continues to get mentioned in the top 10 most difficult schedules coming in at #8 in Steele's Rankings.
Looking at the other 7 teams ahead of Colorado, Washington has two national non-conference contenders in BYU and Oklahoma on their schedule along with Notre Dame and USC. In a pressure filled year for Ty Willingham, this is not a great season opening schedule with an 0 -3 start likely. They do have most of their tough games at home. I still think most of the PAC 10 teams are overrated like Oregon after losing Dixon, California is coming off a down year and UCLA with newly acquired Slick Rick and no QB (who knows what will happen their). Arizona State should be a contender but do they have a defense and will Carpenter continue to be a hot head? Washington State, Arizona, Oregon State and Stanford will still be mediocre to bottom tiered teams in the conference. But there is no denying the USC, OU and BYU will be difficult. No one should have to play OU and USC in the same year.

Its pretty close between Baylor and Colorado as the #1 Big 12 schedule...Steele must put a lot of stock in Oklahoma. Everyone on Baylor's conference schedule is on CU schedule with the exception of OU and Texas Tech and adds Wake Forest, Wash St and UConn to the non conference schedule. Colorado has West Virginia, Colorado State and Florida State plus Orange Bowl Champion Kansas. I think Kansas and Tech is a push. West Virginia beat an OU team last year, I know it is last year but it is still a close match-up. The battle is between Wake Forest and Florida State and the edge might go to FSU because it is in Florida and Wake is in Waco but CU does have Eastern Washington the schedule. Either way, both schedules are very hard.

We're Getting Closer...

So here we go...! Some of the first signs of the upcoming college football season are starting arrive and they couldn't have come at a better time. Less than 100 days to kick off and pre-season time killers are slowly filtering in:

-- The fantastic Excel helmet schedule is been completed by some anonymous super fan. Get your copy and save it to your desktop.

-- The first of the 6 or so College Football preview mags has hit the newsstands. Head on over to your local bookstore and pick your own copy of Lindy's.

-- Just under a month and a half until the release of EA's NCAA 09. Can you say online dynasties?

Buffs Lighten Football Schedule

What do the following teams have in common: West Virginia, California, Hawaii, Georgia, Oregon, Washington and LSU? These are just some of the home and home non-conference games that the Buffs had in the next decade...enough big time BCS schools to make every Buff fan cringe. And when you add the Big 12 schedule on top of these games you start to question the sanity of the athletic department. Here is a glimpse into 2010 and some of the notable opponents...Colorado State, @ California, Hawaii, Georgia, @ Missouri, Texas Tech, @ OU, @ Kansas, @ Nebraska. The next year they were supposed to swap LSU for Georgia but in a great move based on the teams the Buffs are already lined up to play, the University announced that Fresno State would be taking the LSU spot for the 2011 - 2013 season in which the Buffs were able to get a 2 for 1 home scenario. I know Fresno is not a pushover because I was sitting in the endzone when David Carr torched the Buffs at Folsom in the first game of the year in 2001. Buffs win that game, they are probably in the National Championship. But lets face it - Fresno State or LSU? All in all, this was a great move for the Buffs. Yes, every Buff fan would love to see the Bayou Bengals roll into Boulder but its about taking a page from the Big 10's book of success...don't kill yourself in non-conference.

Other Friday Morning News -

Rivals.com list Colorado along with North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Washington and Alabama as teams who could rise to new heights within their respective conferences.

Derek Tolan moved down the leader board yesterday from 10th to 44th after shooting a 5 over 77 in the second round of the NCAA Championships in Indiana yesterday. Only the top 6 individuals not on a team will make the cut for the final round Saturday and as it stands now, Tolan is 15th of individuals not on a team. He is three shots off the pace to make the cut.

The Track & Field NCAA Championships get underway today. The Buffs Men's Team is fresh off a Big 12 Championship win and hope to have similar success in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend.

May 1st Links

Witherspoon Chooses Memphis - Atlanta area wing Wesley Witherspoon, one of the top three unsigned seniors in the 2008 hoops class, has chosen to attend the University of Memphis. CU was listed as one of Witherspoon's top 5 but in the end the allure of Calipari was just too great. Bzdelik will start to get these types of players in due time, but his teams need to start showing some solid improvement on the floor to help make their decision a little easier.
Witherspoon Decision Coming Today

BCS to Stay the Same - The brilliant conference commissioners met in Hollywood, Fl for the past few days and have once again decided that they are perfectly content just sitting back and watching the money flow in rather than actually giving the fans what they want. Check out Schlabach's story.
No Plus One

Mandel's Post Spring Top 25 - Five Big 12 teams in his top 25. Pretty consistent with what I have seen with the exception of Tech in the top 10. Big 12 is going to be fantastic this year.
Post Spring Top 25

Harvard is for Morons - We've landed on the moon! Way to be timely idiot. This happened over 5 years ago. LET IT GO.
Give This Clown an F