BCS 2012-2013: 2-team, 4-team, 8 team playoffs

Actual 2012-2013 BCS Schedule
Rose: Wisconsin (Big Ten) vs Stanford (Pac-12)
Orange: Northern Illinois (non-AQ) vs Florida State (ACC)
Sugar: Louisville (Big East) vs Florida (At-Large)
Fiesta: K-State (Big 12) vs Oregon (At-Large)
Championship: #1 Notre Dame (indy) vs #2 Alabama (SEC)

4-Team Playoff
The new system won't be based on computer rankings but rather an independent committee. So I can't presume to know what they would pick. However, I found this interesting article from SI that mocked the process. And although they went against the rankings in not having K-State in their top 8 under consideration, their final four went exactly as the BCS has them:

Semifinal #1: Notre Dame (1) vs Oregon (4)
Semifinal #2: Alabama (2) vs Florida (3)
Championship: tbd

8-Team Playoff 

This is my Fymbo Formula 1.1a, based on BCS rankings, restricting each conference to maximum two teams, and including at least one non-BCS team if they are in the top 12.

January 1st
Fiesta: #1 Notre Dame (indy) vs #8 Florida State (ACC)
Sugar: #2 Alabama (SEC) vs #7 Oklahoma (At-Large)
Orange: #3 Florida (At-Large) vs #6 Stanford (At-Large)
Rose: #4 Oregon (Pac-12) vs #5 Kansas State (Big 12)

January 12th

Semifinal #1: Notre Dame vs Oregon/K-State
Semifinal #2: Alabama vs Florida/Stanford

Championship: tbd


- - -

Is the 4-team an improvement from the current schedule? I say yes. Perhaps a small one, but I think it's better. It's certainly not a downgrade. I think there are enough doubters about ND, that forcing them to play Oregon is a good thing. And Alabama and Florida both had one loss. So why not let them duke it out?

What about the 8-team? It's pretty similar to the 4-team. Though because the BCS rankings are so SEC-heavy, I had to dig down deep to find Oklahoma and Florida State--they probably don't deserve a shot at the title. But if we assume they lose, now it's a 6 team field with a chance for Stanford and K-State to prove they belong. Not a bad thing in my book.

In the end I'm happy that the 4-team playoff will be coming our way and I'm not too sad about the 8-team being too impractical for now.

Embracing the 4-Team Playoff

I looked at this last year, but I think that I was too hung up on not getting an 8-team playoff that I wasn't as excited as I should have been about getting a 4-team playoff.

Of the previous 8 years, only once was it a downgrade from the current system (2005). And overall it was a big help, usually adding that third team that was left out.

And when you factor in the reality that conferences aren't about to cut games (money makers) and an 8-team playoff would ask a SEC team to possibly play 16 games, this 4-team playoff might in fact be the perfect situation. At least for now.

Now then, let's a take a look at this year's schedule and what could or should have been... (to be continued)

sports vacation / bowl schedule

Aside from Illinois basketball, I've sort of taken a sports vacation.

I couldn't tell you who's secured an NFL playoff spot without checking my Calcutta shortcut.
I have no idea what bowl games have been played and for a second I thought that I had missed New Year's Day already.
Hockey is in a coma.

I watched the Illinois-Missouri game. That was a bummer. But at least competitive. We were up 3 with under seven minutes to play. Sure you'd like to close that out, but it's better than being down ten the entire second half.

Other than that, I couldn't tell you what's going on.

The NFL Playoffs will be easy enough to jump into, especially with our Calcutta teams on the line.

So I figured I'd look at the bowl games and see if there's anything interesting.

- - -

A quick scan here and it seems as I haven't missed anything big yet. 

Here are the games that I could see myself watching:

Jan. 1 - 11am MST: Georgia/Nebraska: Capital One Bowl on ABC
Jan. 4 - 6pm MST: Texas A&M/Oklahoma: Cotton Bowl on FOX

I would turn on the Rose Bowl (Stanford/Wisconsin) or Fiesta Bowl (K-State/Oregon) but I don't have ESPN.

However, I plan on heading over to the in-laws to watch the title game on ESPN.

Monday, Jan. 7th at 6:30pm MST.

the last sandwich we built on the podcast

Capers
Thick Layer Of Cream Cheese
Olives
Swiss
Dill Pickles
Gouda
Grilled Onions
Colby
Lettuce
Asiago
Tomato
Provolone
Turkey
Pepper Jack
Spicy Mustard
Ham
Cheddar
Brownberry Oatnut Bread

New Book: Milestone

I have completed the rough draft of all thirty essays. (If you don't know what I'm talking about.)

The editing process should not be overlooked, so it's hard to say exactly when it will be published. But it's safe to say that at the absolute latest, it will be November 2013.

Aside from editing, I still need to decide on a title and create the cover. Also there will be significant formatting for both an e-book and paperback.

But hey, the rough draft is the hardest part. It's currently clocking in at almost 43,000 words which is about 80% as long as Autopilot.

As a sneak peek for loyal HC readers, here is the working titles and order of the individual essays.

Top Ten, 10-0

Worth it for the block:



Worth it for the celebration:

new illinois billboards

best song of 2012

illini all the time

8-0

My Second Turkey

So last year was my first turkey. This makes two.

I did things a bit differently this year. 

I got a 20 lb bird and put in the fridge to thaw Friday night.

Brining is all the rage but I read this year that you shouldn't brine a turkey that comes injected with a saline solution, as that is already pre-brined. Of course, all the frozen turkeys I've ever seen are like that. So I'm not sure how everyone and their mom is talking about brining--is everyone really paying big bucks for a fresh turkey?

I think this turkey was around $14 and it was a Honeysuckle premium brand and huge. 

Brining is a pain in the ass, spilling liquid everywhere. Plus, I heard that trash bags aren't good to use as they can leach chemicals, so I didn't really have a plan for doing it in the fridge anyways. 

So no brine. Also, no roasting bag. Going old school. But with an Alton Brown twist. 

The night before I opened the turkey, pulled out the crap, and let it sit in the fridge overnight exposed. The idea was to let the skin get nice and dry so it would crisp better. 

In the morning, I pulled it out, rubbed canola oil all over, salt, pepper, a little herbed chicken rub. Put it in the oven with the legs to the back. And put in at 500 degrees. For half an hour. That's the Alton Brown method.

After 30 minutes, drop the temp to 350 and add foil to cover the white meat. At this point the turkey's already got a nice color. I roasted it for another 3 hours. I did flip it over with twenty minutes to go to brown the bottom a bit. 

I pulled it out before the thermometer popped up as Mr. Brown says you can't trust it. That by the time it's popped it's already drying out. 

Let it rest for a long time, then carve. Then top it with hot cider/butter/honey glaze right before serving. 

Turned out excellent, without the need to brine. Easy peasy. 

Though I do need a roasting pan, as the shallow pan I used was overflowing with grease and burning on the bottom of the oven, making a bit of smoke. So yeah. Turkey was great though.

state of sports

Chiefs 1-10 (virtually a shoe-in for the #1 pick now, but there's no good qbs this year)
Illinois Football 1-10 (can't count non div 1-a teams)
Fantasy Team 2-9
Brit's Fantasy Team 3-8 (despite being 2nd out of 8 in scoring)
Avalanche [season canceled]

- - -

Fucking yikes.

- - -

And then there's Illinois basketball. Good wins against USC and Butler, close wins against Hawaii and Garnder-Webb. By default, I'm all in on Illinois basketball now. The Big Ten is super tough this year, but I would love a strong conference season, maybe a sweet sixteen run. And I want to beat Missouri on 12/22.

- - -

Back to Illinois Football. Here is the list of seasons where a Big Ten team didn't win a conference game in the last 15 years:

Illinois 1997 
Northwestern 1998
Iowa 1999
Illinois 2003
Illinois 2005
Indiana 2011
Illinois 2012

No other team has two, and we have four. Jesus, two of them we were in school for. Since I became an Illini, we've done it three times and only one other school has done it once.

And I hate our coach. He got a flag for running into the ref, although he was the one that fell down. He got an infraction for using chewing tobacco on the sideline. Our team wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for penalties and turnovers, signs of a poorly coached team. He's awful. He and Romeo Crennel can go take a cruise together and get out of my life.

Illinois is the greatest team in the history of basketball

This video is so good it can't be contained by my usual width.

bands I like that sing about Colorado

311 - "Six"
Like a drive through Estes Park, you savor the sun
But when the clouds come, make animals


Ozma - "Rocks"
I've been trying to find a way to finally up and find you
Climbing every boulder in my way
To throw me off your trail you moved to Boulder, Colorado
A hop, a skip, and one long jump away
I finally found a way to find a way to finally find you
Down where Colorado Street meets Hill
Pick a rock and throw it way across the Rocky Mountains
And pray to God it hits your window sill


Bowling For Soup - "Surf Colorado"
Remember the first time, Goddamn we got so high
She held me so close that I thought that I might break
And now she's a mile high and I'm on Texas time
She traded rattlesnakes for bunny runs in Colorado Springs
Yeah, there's no surf in Colorado anyway
And it's a shame to hear you're happy
And you still look at me that way


The Hold Steady - "Multitude of Casualties"
She drove it like she stole it
She stole it fast and with a multitude of casualties
She said I shipped it out from Boulder
Packed in coffee grounds and wrapped around in dryer sheets
We spent a few months just wandering the Sonoma
High as hell and shivering and smashed
We were trying for a vision quest 
We opened up three buttons
And all we saw was desert trash


The Hold Steady - "Don't Let Me Explode"
He said what about Los Angeles?
She said we never really made it that far west
We scored big in Denver and thought it might be best
To go hang around in the upper Midwest


The Hold Steady - "Cattle and the Creeping Things"
Don't it all end up in some revelation with four guys on horses and violent red visions
Famine and death and pestilence and war?
I'm pretty sure I heard this one before
You in the corner with a good looking drifter, two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar
I heard Gideon saw you in Denver
He said you're contagious

Still waiting on video highlights.