100%GRIZ
December 3rd, 2008, 07:30 PM
by John Smithers - Missoulian
Watching the idiocy that is the FBS system for deciding a national champion unfold this week, it was nice to sit back and know we'll get to enjoy a much more fulfilling brand of football Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
There might not be any first-round NFL draft picks on the field when Montana hosts Weber State, but the game will still be played at a high level.
The venue might be smaller, but the atmosphere in Missoula promises to be just as electric as the Big 12 championship Saturday night between Oklahoma and Missouri.
Even if the Sooners topple the Tigers, the college football world will still be left debating ad nauseam whether it shouldn't have been Texas,which beat Oklahoma, in the Big 12 title game.
Or maybe it should be USC in the national championship against Alabama or Florida. Or Texas Tech. Or Utah. Or Boise State. Or Penn State.
The FBS system is the unholy marriage of athletics and the financial interests of the schools and conferences they represent.
Sporting events, by their very nature, are unpredictable, exciting affairs.
Upsets happen. Boise State can beat Oklahoma,leaving memories - and highlights - for a lifetime.
The FBS school presidents don't care, nor do they like unpedictability. Bowl games are too profitable to the schools, conferences and cities that host them, they say, to even consider playoffs.
With a little creative thinking it could be done, of course. You could even maintain a "bowl" system, but just expand it by a few games to get a true national champion.
And something tells me there would still be enough money to buy all the Tostitos you could want.
But when it comes to creativity, university presidents and the rest of the dinosaurs who run major college football are light-years behind the unwashed masses they ignore and despise.
So let them have their abomination. Let them hand the trophy, which should be shaped like a giant question mark, to some team that no more settled it on the field than the cheerleaders.
I'll take and FCS playoff game any day.
It's true that Weber State might have a gripe about having to play in Missoula. The Wildcats could have taken care of that by beating Eastern Washinton, however.
But at least WSU and Montana will get a chance to decide - once and for all - which was the better Big Sky Conference team in 2008.
No Voters, no computers, no politicing by the coaches.
And what a game this one promises to be.
Not since 1990 when Nevada beat Boise State 59-53 in three overtimes in the 1-AA semifinals have two Big Sky teams of this quality met in the playoffs.
The Grizzlies will be doing everything they can to avoid a track meet like Cal Poly found itself in last weekend with Weber's wicked offense.
And the Wildcats will do what they can to avoid getting the ball rammed down their throats by Chase Reynolds and UM's big offensive line.
Weber will be out to prove it can beat UM on a rain-slicked field in Utah, on turf in Missoula or on the moon.
Montana will be out to prove its effort in Ogden was a fluke, and media morons like myself who think the Wildcats are going to beat the banged-up Griz again are dead wrong.
Whatever happens, it's going to be fun. It's going to be the best football game of the year in this city - so far.
It's going to be a better football game than any national title tilt the FBS comes up with because it's actually going to mean something.
One team will be left standing - with no questions asked.
Watching the idiocy that is the FBS system for deciding a national champion unfold this week, it was nice to sit back and know we'll get to enjoy a much more fulfilling brand of football Saturday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
There might not be any first-round NFL draft picks on the field when Montana hosts Weber State, but the game will still be played at a high level.
The venue might be smaller, but the atmosphere in Missoula promises to be just as electric as the Big 12 championship Saturday night between Oklahoma and Missouri.
Even if the Sooners topple the Tigers, the college football world will still be left debating ad nauseam whether it shouldn't have been Texas,which beat Oklahoma, in the Big 12 title game.
Or maybe it should be USC in the national championship against Alabama or Florida. Or Texas Tech. Or Utah. Or Boise State. Or Penn State.
The FBS system is the unholy marriage of athletics and the financial interests of the schools and conferences they represent.
Sporting events, by their very nature, are unpredictable, exciting affairs.
Upsets happen. Boise State can beat Oklahoma,leaving memories - and highlights - for a lifetime.
The FBS school presidents don't care, nor do they like unpedictability. Bowl games are too profitable to the schools, conferences and cities that host them, they say, to even consider playoffs.
With a little creative thinking it could be done, of course. You could even maintain a "bowl" system, but just expand it by a few games to get a true national champion.
And something tells me there would still be enough money to buy all the Tostitos you could want.
But when it comes to creativity, university presidents and the rest of the dinosaurs who run major college football are light-years behind the unwashed masses they ignore and despise.
So let them have their abomination. Let them hand the trophy, which should be shaped like a giant question mark, to some team that no more settled it on the field than the cheerleaders.
I'll take and FCS playoff game any day.
It's true that Weber State might have a gripe about having to play in Missoula. The Wildcats could have taken care of that by beating Eastern Washinton, however.
But at least WSU and Montana will get a chance to decide - once and for all - which was the better Big Sky Conference team in 2008.
No Voters, no computers, no politicing by the coaches.
And what a game this one promises to be.
Not since 1990 when Nevada beat Boise State 59-53 in three overtimes in the 1-AA semifinals have two Big Sky teams of this quality met in the playoffs.
The Grizzlies will be doing everything they can to avoid a track meet like Cal Poly found itself in last weekend with Weber's wicked offense.
And the Wildcats will do what they can to avoid getting the ball rammed down their throats by Chase Reynolds and UM's big offensive line.
Weber will be out to prove it can beat UM on a rain-slicked field in Utah, on turf in Missoula or on the moon.
Montana will be out to prove its effort in Ogden was a fluke, and media morons like myself who think the Wildcats are going to beat the banged-up Griz again are dead wrong.
Whatever happens, it's going to be fun. It's going to be the best football game of the year in this city - so far.
It's going to be a better football game than any national title tilt the FBS comes up with because it's actually going to mean something.
One team will be left standing - with no questions asked.