Speaking of 2018, it looks like the SC/ND contract doesn’t run past that year—unlike their contract with Stanford, which has Stanford on the docket for 2019 and 2020.

* Apparently the first blog to break this story was NDNation.

I am a pro-playoff guy and have been since I became aware that this is a sport and not a beauty contest. For 10 seasons, we have seen the BcS change its stripes more times than I care to count and each time against the wishes of most college football fans. I have finally had it. I don’t want a Plus-One; that just means that this year Virginia Tech gets in for beating no one except for a BC team they already lost to, and OU (my #2 team) would be in semi-finals against the alleged #1 and #2 teams. What a crock.

I want an 8-team playoff. I know 16 will never happen and I think that given a season like this, where 8 teams can say they should have a shot at showing they are the best, we should give them the opportunity. If not, then go back to the old beauty contest way with traditional bowl match-ups; Ohio State vs. USC in the Rose, LSU vs. Georgia in the Sugar (since they didn’t play during the regular season), Oklahoma vs. Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl (why did the Big 12 get hosed out of Miami for New Year’s for Phoenix?) and West Virginia vs. Missouri in the Fiesta Bowl. The season was amazing from day 1 with Appalachian State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor and it has propelled them on to the semi-finals of the Division 1-AA playoffs. See, all of the other kids are supposed to be the same but big time football is the sacred cow and apparently no would be excited about Ohio State hosting Kansas, LSU hosting USC, Virginia Tech vs. Missouri and Georgia at Oklahoma. Very sad that a sport that is just the best for 3 full months becomes irrelevant in 24 hours.

Now on to the Trojans: I was not a believer as many of you know. I felt that the “Dwarf from Shreveport” would never take this team anywhere and that we were destined for 9-3 and a trip to San Diego. Well the injury bug struck every Pac-10 contender and so we got another BcS trip and a 4th Rose Bowl in 6 years along with a 6th consecutive conference title. This team came on late and really looked good on for a half against ASU and 3 quarters against Nebraska. That was really it—the rest of the season the offensive play calling was inconsistent and the defense had to make just enough plays so the team got wins. I am not sure if the offense was so underwhelming because of the Dwarf’s inability to execute the plays, or Sarkisian feeling that he was the smartest guy there and thinking that no matter what we should throw all the time. The other thing I never got is why Stafon Johnson didn’t get more carries—either he was really injured or again Pete gave his seniors the benefit of the doubt sticking with Chauncey all season and Booty against Stanford.

The whole season for USC really boils down to the last 4 minutes of the Stanford game. They had a great game plan for SC and we played right into by being to confident in our offense. Three runs and a punt and we sneak out with a win because they were not going 80 yards against our defense with no time outs. Meanwhile, we would be 11-1 and playing Ohio State. But we were not smart enough to figure out that stats aren’t important wins are. Oh well, now we can find out if it was really the “Dwarf” that held this team back as in ’08 they will start the season in the Top 5 and we will see if Sanchez or Mustain are ready to fill the shoes of Matt Leinart who is the gold standard for SC QB play. Until we do the fans will not be satisfied and we will keep playing against crappy Big-10 teams in the Rose Bowl as the reward for the season instead of for National Championships in the craptacular system that we have to deal with in my opinion for another 7 years minimum. (Thanks Tournament of Roses Committee for a deal with ABC through 2014).

Tonight: The Battle of the Techs, with the lovely Erin Andrews on the sidelines. I might watch, since there’s nothing else sports-related on television, but these two teams are seriously dull.

Saturday:

• Early Games: Wisconsin at Ohio State on the Big Ten Network (noon Eastern). For those of you without DirecTV enjoy not seeing this game—meanwhile, I will try and watch on mute as Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis suck. FOX and the BTN should fire them now.
• A little Nebraska at Kansas (12:30 Eastern, FSN) should be interesting, if only to see how Mangino looks in his TENT sweatshirt and how Nebraska responds to playing without Sam Keller.
• Navy at ND (2:30 Eastern, NBC). Will the streak end, or can Charlie the Weis make it 44 in a row against the Middies? If I wasn’t going to be in LA for SC’s homecoming, I would probably see how this one goes.
• Late afternoon: none of the 3:30 Eastern kicks are exciting, so you’ll just have to wait until 5:00pm for the Saban Bowl. LSU will be fired up, but since Les Miles is still on their sideline, I like Alabama’s chances if they can keep it close into the 4th quarter.
• Story of the week: ESPN worked it out with the Pac-10 and FSN to broadcast the ASU/Oregon game to the rest of the country (6:45pm Eastern). Bonus points because Gameday will be there, even if they are making Herbstreit fly to Boston after the show instead of trading him for Blackledge. Maybe Herbie hates Mike Patrick as much as the rest of us do? Dennis Dixon for Heisman can take another huge step forward here.
• Finally, the ABC regional games at 8pm are not great, but most of America will get to see if BC can beat FSU at home.

Tonight: #2 BC at #8 Virginia Tech, Hokie Hokie Hi.

Tomorrow: Boise St at Fresno St, Can Boise win without the marrying man Ian Johnson?

Saturday:

Gameday: at Penn State as the ESPN/ABC corporate plan comes together with Gameday and the ABC national night game at the same place. Note, you will find no college football on ESPN during the day tomorrow as Breeder’s Cup Horse Racing takes over the Worldwide Leader.

This is my schedule and it should be yours:

• USC at Oregon (3:00pm EDT FSN). Will SC step up and take over the Pac-10 again or will Dennis Dixon (Vince Young StarterKit) lead Oregon to the top of the conference and give them a shot at the title game? CBS will be showing you the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” at 3:30pm and I might flip over for the chance at an outstanding crowd shot.
• Kansas at Texas A&M (7:00pm EDT ESPN2). I like this better than UCLA/WSU (6:30pm FSN) and South Carolina at Tennessee (7:45pm ESPN).
• Ohio State at Penn State (8:00pm ABC). Can Ohio State survive the “White Out” and keep its run atop the BCS standings?
• Cal at ASU (10:15pm FSN). ASU has played no one, so let’s find if they are for real or if Tedford’s boys will continue their losing ways.

• Dan Shanoff, formerly of ESPN.com’s Page 2 and now a weekly College Football contributor at Deadspin likes Ohio State over Penn State, Oregon over USC, Cal over ASU, Florida over Georgia at the Cocktail Party, WVU over Rutgers, and Virginia Tech to continue the curse of being #2 by beating BC on Thursday (Something bad needs to happen to Boston sports soon).
• SI.com’s Cory McCartney throws out his take with BC surviving its trip to Blacksburg, Ohio State staying undefeated, Florida continuing to own Georgia, and—in the Pac-10′s big games—SC to upset Oregon and Cal to upset ASU.

Since the multi-color (credited to Jim Rome) keeps paying this guy to make lines (which he steals from LVSC) I will let people see what he has on the big games of the weekend.

• VT -3.5
• Oregon -2.5
• ASU -3.5
• Florida -9.5
• Ohio St -3.5

• College Gameday: live from Lincoln, Nebraska, 10:00 AM EDT (Fowler/Herbstreit and the other two)
• No. 5 Florida (2-0) vs. No. 22 Tennessee (1-1), 3:30 PM EDT, CBS (Lundquist/Danielson); Florida -8
• No. 10 Ohio State (2-0) at Washington (2-0), 3:30 PM EDT, ESPN (Franklin/Cunningham); Ohio State -4
• No. 16 Arkansas (1-0) at Alabama (2-0), 6:45 PM EDT, ESPN (Patrick/Blackledge); Alabama -3
• No. 9 Louisville (2-0) at Kentucky (2-0) 7:30 PM EDT, ESPN Classic (Collins/Curry); Louisville -6.5
• No. 21 Boston College (2-0) at No. 15 Georgia Tech (2-0), 8:00 PM EDT, ESPN2 (Jones/Davie); Georgia Tech -6.5
• No. 1 USC (1-0) at No. 14 Nebraska (2-0), 8:00 PM EDT, ABC (Musburger/Herbstreit); USC -10

Please plan your Saturday accordingly.

• ACC: Virgina Tech over BC in the money-grab title game.

[Agreed.]

• Big 12: Texas over Nebraska in the money-grab title game.

[I'm thinking OU instead.]

• Big Eleven: Michigan.

[Wisconsin.]

• Big East: West Virginia.

[L'ville.]

• Pac-10: USC, (12-0) and off to the BcS title game.

[Agreed, in spite of Booty.]

• SEC: LSU (13-0) over Florida in the original money-grab title game and “hosting” the BcS title game.

[Agreed, even though Les Miles needs to go back to Michigan.]

No points for originality, but let’s hope that they are as right as everybody else.

Befitting the most storied program in the history of the sport, Notre Dame makes the list more than any other school, with 18 appearances. Alabama is next with 12, followed by USC with 10. In the sport’s big picture, that sounds about right. Right behind the big three were Miami with 9 appearances, Nebraska and Florida State with 7, and Ohio State and Michigan fittingly neck-and-neck with Texas at 6 appearances. In a reminder that they used to dominate the college football landscape as much as anyone, Army is next with 5 appearances.

Vince Young’s scamper into the end zone to win the 2006 Rose Bowl is ranked fifth, also a fitting spot for an epic end to an epic game. It makes us feel a little better about giving up a chance at history to a Texas team that a) would have lost to that USC team seven times out of ten; and b) yet was completely deserving of the national championship. So yeah, it does ease the sting a little.

Oh, wait, no it doesn’t. But this list kinda does. So kudos to Ivan, who no doubt hears the phrase, “The band is out on the field!” in his deepest, darkest nightmares.