Stop The Presses

My ebb-and-flow loathing of Dan Wetzel is at high tide after his fire-alarm column at Yahoo! Sports. Putting aside the fact he doesn't appear to be much of a college football fan - just a drive-by buzzkill sportswriter who likes to cash in when controversy comes up - he writes about the sport with a dripping arrogance that "it should be obvious to anyone the BCS sucks and there should be a playoff."

Ohio State and BC are taking shots for weak schedules, but there's still half the season to go. He throws in some boilerplate SEC mythology, but the BBQ smokers down south really only have three strong teams (LSU, Kentucky and Florida - and one of them has lost twice already).

Wetzel gives the Pac-10 some love, claiming its pare nature punishes its top teams, but one Pac-10 team (Oregon) lost because it fumbled the game-tying touchdown into the end zone, another (Cal) lost because its quarterback stupidly ran around instead of throwing the ball away, killing the clock, and a third (USC) lost to a mediocre team that was 1-11 last year. They're supposed to be better than Ohio State, who's taken care of its business so far, or BC, who's done the same with the best passer in the game?

He's right that the preseason polls suck (the reason undefeated Kansas gets no respect while Oklahoma rockets to the top five with a loss), but hell, I think this is exciting. It's a big opportunity for every one-loss contender to show its stuff for the next seven weeks, and there's a LOT of football left to play for the teams at the top.

Not to mention - what's with his sideways diss on South Florida? He carps that the system is rigged for certain uniform colors, then discounts USF's resume by calling them a 'Cinderella' and derides them for being in their 11th year of football. It's a great rags-to-riches story, but I've seen a good amount of USF and until further notice the Bulls are for real.

In Wetzel's world, all this debate is supposed to strengthen the case for a ludicrous 16-team playoff. I'm not getting it - a lot of teams look pretty good right now, and that's all we know. In a sport where every team can't play every other, a playoff is only a weak simulation of a round-robin competition - too weak, in my mind, to mean more that a preceding 12-game body of work. Finally, all the focus on the national title and BCS complaining is taking away from the commendable accomplishments of these teams. The contenders will shake out - until December, just enjoy the ride.