Maybe Tedford didn't get what he wanted.

ESPN has pulled out of the USA Today poll and the BCS. The whole absurd fiasco after the 2003 season (LSU I understand, but who in the world thought Oklahoma, after getting blown out by K-State [*K-STATE*] was a good option for one of the two best teams in the country?) wasn't what broke the camels back (this was a rather sickly camel, I admit).

We broke the damn camel. Turns out the biggest problem with the BCS wasn't the top two teams; having one and two play each other was a nice idea, and no could really argue – or rather, everyone could argue, but that's the whole point. That's the real reason college football won't go for a playoff in the forseeable future: the debates are too much fun, and generate too much money. The biggest problem with the BCS was the idea that anyone could agree on the top eight teams. If the top two generate enough passion to keep people going from January to August (with spring ball thrown in to give people hope), then everyone should have known that the other six would be asking for too much.

The very season after the mid-major conferences convinced the Senate to hold hearings on the limits of allowing mid-major teams into the BCS, it was an implosion of spectacular proportions that has caused the AP and ESPN – the former the most respected poll in college football, the latter, the sports news leader in America – to pull out of the BCS because Cal didn't go to Pasadena and Texas did.

It doesn't take much of a conspiracy theorist to argue that the last coaches poll was fixed, and obviously, the good folks at the AP and ESPN are conspiracy theorists. Somehow, despite being the only team in the country to take the obvious #1 team to the wire, and despite winning all their subsequent games (JJ racked up over 500 yards in his last two games, over 650 in the last three), two coaches dropped Cal to #8 in the last week (from a lowest possible ranking of #6 the previous week), and four coaches dropped Cal to #7. The Big XII has seven votes in the coaches poll, and the team which directly gained the most from the shenanigans had both their coach and his brother voting. Shades of the 2000 election, I think.

The end result? Cal broke the BCS. Yeehaw.

(And quite possibly, Cal is cursed.)

Intimidating venues, take 2

I was wrong. It turns out, 3 points per home field advantage is a mistaken number. It's actually a 58% win advantage, which is much more convincing. Of course, these numbers are for the NFL from 2001-2003, but still, that's pretty good.

And, I am vindicated in my belief that going for it on 4th and short at anything other than your own 35 or less is the right decision — AND YOU SHOULD RUN. This is really a very large concern of mine,* because unless your punter has the precision of one of those midwestern guys, or your O-line and backs are pathetic, it's just not worth it to punt.

*Of course, I'm not a coach, nor am I a player, nor have I ever played football. I just watch a fucking lot of it.