BCS: More like Show Me the Money

Dear MR. NCAA,

I am sick and tired of hearing about the BCS.  You make the claim that going to a playoff system would water down the regular season. You make the claim that every game means something…I will stop right there.   Personally, I don’t see how a playoff system would water down the regular season.  I don’t see how it is okay to have a playoff system at every other level. I guess D-IA (aka FCS)-D3 mean nothing, the only level that you don’t want watered down is D-I aka FBS.  The claim that every game impacts the BCS standing is just a lie.  This coming weekend (or should I say week, since the only two days teams don’t play games are Sunday and Monday, but only when there is NFL football, otherwise any day is fair game) not ONE single game will have an impact on the BCS standing.  This year could turn into a mess, I for one don’t want to see and LSU-Bama rematch for the title. Why you ask? We’ve been there done that already. It’s was late in the season, if it was earlier in the year I would be all for it, but not now.  So I am here today to propose a playoff system that I believe could work, it might even make more money than the current system.  We all know the only thing the NCAA cares about is money. So here goes nothing.

My idea is a 16-team playoff system, starting a week after the conference championship games and ending either the first weekend in January or some time that week.  This would help the teams because a month layoff hurts timing that the team develops over the year. Oh wait, you don’t care about the game you want to hear about the money. Sorry I will get to that for you, Mr. NCAA. This system would yield a total of 15 games.  Each game could use a current bowl game for its title, since we don’t need any more bowl games.  This is the part you will like this allows you or whoever charges the company to attach their name to a bowl more money.  Which allows for a bigger TV contract since all the games are bundled together, again more money.  Also, the playoff system would allow for the game to be decided on the field, and not on a computer or a coach who ranks his own team.  This would also allow for all other bowl games to be played, but for the love of God stop with all the bowl games.  I love football but I don’t want to see two 6-6 teams battle it out.  The bowls should be a privilege not a right, and right now more than half of D-I teams make a bowl game. This is the first grade where everyone gets a ribbon for taking part.

I am open for ideas on how to come up with the 16 teams.  My idea is to use the BCS standing (I know the NCAA does not want to get rid of it) that takes the top 16 teams.  But like the current rules no more than 2 teams per conference, be willing to up it to 3.  No more AQ, unless every conference gets one.  No teams should have the right to play in the post season because they were the best in their conference at 6-6, I am looking at you UCLA, who would be the Pac-12 rep if they beat Oregon, but that’s a really big IF, but anything can happen.

So to recap

1.      16 team playoff

2.      More money

3.      Chance for more money

4.      BCS can still be used

5.      Did I say more money?

Thank You,

A concerned NCAA fan

Also a retired D3 football player (Can I get some kind of pension)

Is Devin Hester a Hall Of Famer?

As of right now, I say NO.  Without a doubt he is the greatest return man in the history of the game, but this does not equate to being Hall of Fame worthy. It’s hard for someone to make it as a special team player into the hall.  Take a guess at how many guys that were just special team players are in the hall... if you said one you are right.  The only player that was a special team’s player is Jan Stenerud; he was a place kicker who played 18 years. He scored 1,699 points, had a 66.8% success rate at kicking field goals and 96.5% on extra points. 

It is hard for a special teamer into make it to the hall.  For the simple fact they are on the field for so few plays a game.  Last year Marc Mariani had the most Kick Returns in the NFL with 60 over a course of a season; that is an average of 3.75 times a game. Tramon Williams lead the NFL in punt returns with 41 over a course of a season; that is an average of 2.56 times a game. 

Now these are both the top return guys from each category, not taking into account times when they did not return the ball.  However, it gives a general idea of the number of plays that they were on the field.  Taking the numbers and combining them leads to 101 plays on the field.  I’ll add the top number of fair catchers on punts, which was 21 last years.  So the total now stands at 122 plays in a season or 7.63 plays a game.

I understand that the number of kick/punt returns is not comparable to the number of plays on offense but it puts things into perspective.

Last year the team that ran the most plays during the course of the season was the Atlanta Falcons, who ran 1,097 plays on offense.  Which comes to an average of 68.56 plays a game.  Taking the team that ran the least amount of plays it comes out to 56.69 plays a game, the Titans ran the least plays a game a total 907 plays last year. 

Last year in the NFL there were a total of 32,319 offense plays ran. This is an average of 1,009.97 plays a team for the year and 63.12 play a game for each team.

Now looking at the average plays per game 63.12 and the average number of kick/punt returns a game 7.63; it takes 8.27 games for a kick/punt returner to equal the number of plays that a member of the offense is on the field for a single game.  So it takes almost a whole year for a kick/punt returner to play the equivalent number of plays that a member of the offense participates in during the course of two games.  As a result, takes a returner eight years to participate in the same number of plays as an offensive player does in one year.

Throughout Hester’s career he has returned 128 kicks and 189 punts, in 83 total games.  His combined total return is 3.8 per game, when adding his 52 fair catches it comes to 4.45 a game. Just last year Hester averaged 3.4 return-plays a game, including fair catches.  He had a total of 55 returns and fair catches.

The Bears had a total of 936 plays last year on offense. That comes out to 60.19 plays a game.  Hester only had 55 total returns last year, so he did not even play a full game based on the average number of plays the Bears had per game.

This year the Bears through seven games are averaging, 60.14 plays a game on offense. While Hester is averaging 4.42 returns a game.  He has played one half of football so far this season, as he has been involved in 31 total plays.

I understand that Hester has an impact on the game, on more than just his returns.  Some teams elect to kick the ball out of bounds on a punt instead of kicking it to him.  Also, fin the battle for field position they can flip the field advantage to their respective team.  A long return can spark a team even if it is not a touchdown.

Now Hester owns many records as a return man, he owns the career total kick/punt return for touchdown record for returns with 16.  When all is said and done he will most likely own the record for more returns for touchdowns, this includes all type of returns (punts, kicks, missed field goals, fumbles, and interceptions).

I think for Hester to make the Hall of Fame, based just on his special team accomplishments, he needs to end his career with about 25-30 returns for touchdowns.  This is going to be very hard to do, if not impossible. Another way Hester can make the Hall of Fame is if he improves himself as a wide receiver.

Now realistically Hester can improve as a wide receiver as he is still just learning to play the position. There are only a few receivers in the league that have been playing the position shorter then Hester. He is only in his fifth year playing wide receiver.  Hester will never be a number one receiver however; he can be a good slot receiver. There is no other player in the league that can run with him in the open field.  If you think there is watch his punt/kick returns, the cuts he makes and his vision are unbelievable.   

The biggest problem is that the Bears have no receivers, so Hester is made to play on the outside.  This is a problem for him because he can’t use his skill set, because he is easily jammed, due to his small stature.  It is much harder to jam a slot receiver, which would allow Hester to get off the ball clean.  His best game this year came when he played the slot the most against the Vikings, where he had five catches for 91 yards and a touchdown.

If Hester can somehow get to around 8,000 yards and 50 touchdowns as a receiver I think he has a great chance to make the Hall of Fame if he does not return another kick for a touchdown.  However, Hester would need 5,496 more yards to get to 8,000 and 37 more touchdowns to get to 50.  Can he do it? I am not sure, but I would love to see it happen.