College Playoff

  

For years there has been an ongoing debate about how the participants that play in the national championship game should be chosen. From 1998 to 2013 we had the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which used computer rankings to determine the teams that would play in each bowl game. Teams would be ranked based on their record and strength of schedule, but each year seemed to end in controversy. Major conference schools who would have one loss still always seemed to be favored over small non-BCS schools that would go undefeated. Many teams always felt left out so that’s when the NCAA developed the idea of a four-team playoff system beginning this season.

The playoff system received mostly positive reactions from the schools, media, and fans. Each week throughout the season a committee of 13 members consisting of athletic directors along with former coaches, players, and administrators release their rankings. The top four teams at the end of each season will play in a tournament style playoff; win and you’re in the championship game. This seemed to be the solution to the problem of teams feeling left out and having a fair chance at getting to the championship, but already we’ve seen some controversy.

This season the committee decided on Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State. #1 Alabama plays #4 Ohio State and #2 Oregon plays #3 Florida State. Florida State was the only team to finish the season undefeated, which has everyone questioning why they aren’t ranked first. Also, just like the BCS system, teams like Baylor and TCU feel left out because they aren’t in a major conference like Ohio State. They all had one loss and TCU was even ranked third before winning their last game by more than 50 points, but surprisingly got dropped to sixth when the final rankings were released. Baylor beat TCU, completely dominated teams and led the nation in total offense so they have a great case for why they deserve to be in. Ohio State did have an impressive season while using their second and third string quarterbacks, but maybe their history and conference gave them a slight advantage over Baylor and TCU.

With so many teams in college football the NCAA may never find a system that pleases everyone, but it’s obvious they’ve made strides in the right direction. The four-team playoff will be around for years to come and we’ll most likely have more controversy, but hopefully it’ll expand in a way that gives every team an equal chance at winning the national championship.

-Cody Williams

Why BYU is irrelevant in college football

Coaching staff
The BYU coaching staff lead by Bronco Mendenhall deserves credit for digging the program out of the Crowton years, but has yet to reach fan or school expectations in years. Bronco has coached this team to back to back years of 8 and 5 with this year looking to be more of the same. That record is horrible but the fact that the team's expectations had gain national exposure to go undefeated and win a title they have failed. To top that off since the team left the Mountain West Conference in 2010 the strength of schedule has just barely cracked into the top 50 twice. Which means they are struggling against average to below average programs every week. With the consistency in BYU's struggles you can start classifying them as a week program too. That is not even close to  undefeated or winning a title.

Also under this coaching staffs watch the BYU recruiting classes are an average rank of 56th. That's nowhere near number 1. You don't expect to gain a top 10 recruiting class however when you exclusively recruit out of the rocky mountains. They have little to no talent on the team thanks to Bronco. instead Bronco has taken a player development approach but since they have fallen to back to back years of 8 and 5 it's save to say Bronco hasn't developed the players that well.

Lastly BYU is a LDS church school with a very intense honor code and with high moral expectations for all it's students including athletes. However BYU has had their national media exposure I mentioned earlier with reports of players receiving gifts, players drinking in clubs with boosters, players vandalizing property and a myriad of other improper acts by athletes and representatives of an "example program". This team has brought more negative coverage in the last 3 years than positive.




Fans, Alumni and Lack of Media
Even when the BYU athletic department is average the fan base praises them like they are number 1 and when they mess up they cry foul on others. This is  hypocrisy and they need to get realistic. Every year they have hype and fail. The school in general needs to fix it's image and operations.

As for lack media coverage. The fans make the ESPN contract out to be that ESPN chose BYU for the strength of the program. In reality they did choose BYU but only because BYU has a broadcasting network that has a strong presence in the rocky mountains. They are not elite. Almost every team in the country has signed a contract with either ESPN or Fox. So, BYU was actually late to the party.  Furthermore ESPN has actually hurt BYU. They have given BYU all the first game slots and on a secondary channel. BYU is getting the short end of the stick.



Suggestions of what to do
1-Fire Bronco and his entire staff.
2-Join a conference and change your TV deal to match the conference.

3-Erase the unwarranted BYU pride.
4-Recruit some real athletes and get competitive.
5-Lastly put more time on actually being an "example program" and not just saying you are.




-Chris Schlierman

Landon Donavan: The LegenD

#ThanksLD has been an underlining topic American soccer fans have been discussing all year. Fourteen seasons later the U.S. fan favorite has played his final match. Arguably the greatest American soccer player to ever have graced the pitch played for his sixth MLS cup. In a press conference Friday December 5th Donovan was asked about his past week and how he felt about playing in his last game.

“This week has been a little bit different that the past few because I personally didn't know [heading into the second legs of playoff series against Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders] what was coming next,” Donovan said at a press conference involving both teams at StubHub. “Now I know.”

“I've been very excited every day to wake up and go to training. Candidly, I don’t want it to end right now. It's been a lot of fun. And I'm going to have that attitude Sunday. I personally want it to be as enjoyable as possible, and that would be winning.”

“Now, like everybody, I just want to play, and we want to win a championship,” he said. “And after that I’ll think about the rest. But I gave myself a few days earlier in the week to understand the finality of it. Now it's a game, and we're at home playing for a championship. We're all so programmed now to just play the next game, and that's where my mindset is right now.”

A game that seemed preordained came to pass. After one hundred and twenty minutes the MLS Cup final was decided with a 2 to 1 final score lead by both regular season and finals MVP Robbie Keane. Lets take a look at the 2014 MLS Cup finals.

“I'm in a little bit of a daze, to be honest,” Donovan said afterward. “I don't know. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of obvious excitement. Some sadness. There's uncertainty. And just pure joy for this team and for what we did.”

“It just feels a bit strange, I guess is the best way to put it. But all in all, I'm really proud of what this team accomplished this year, and it's so nice to be in that locker room and see so many happy faces, and for me that's as enjoyable as anything now, as you get older.”

“There were moments [this season] where I didn't want it to end like it was going to [with the Galaxy not in the title game],” he said. “It would've been sadder for it to end like that. For me, it's perfect.”

 “As much excitement as there is about the game, there's excitement that tomorrow I don't have to train anymore,” he said. “I don't have to do a lot of the things that were the not-fun parts of the job. Along with that, I don't get experiences like today any more, either. So there's a lot of good, there's going to be some bad. But it feels good to go out this way.”

A true storybook end for the LegenD himself as Donovan rides off into the sunset a champion yet again. As we bid farewell to the six time MLS cup champion and the all time leader in goals and assist I would like to finish with a few thoughts of my own.

Landon Donovan as a fan of the game and as a fan of yours I just want to say thank you for what you have done for the MLS, LA Galaxy and soccer. You’ve inspired many and really made a deep impact on the growth of this game not just here in the U.S.A. but around the world. May your name and legacy be carried with great honor and respect now and forever. THANKS LD! You will be missed and always remembered as the LegenD you are.

-Eddie Schlierman