This Is Where Divisiontitlequest Would Show Up...

...if there were even a snowball's chance at a Wild Card spot.

Browns lose again, despite limiting the Colts to 10 points, including a late touchdown.

Anderson's out for the rest of the year.

Man, even hardcore Browns fans are getting bummed out now. It's gonna be a long December in Browns Stadium.

I didn't catch much of anything else, as today was a travel day. The closest I got to football was getting stuck in a Cincinnati traffic jam partially induced by post-Bengals traffic. Gotta hand it to 'em, they apparently stuck around to the bitter end. Say what you will, Ohio football fans suck it up, even as their teams suck hard.

Divisiontitlequest, Week 12

Browns lose, 16-6. Not even a particularly close game. Add three more drops to Braylon's season total (is there any kind of historical stat on this, and if so, where does he stand?) and Brady Quinn didn't look any better than Derrick Anderson would have.

Fuck this, I'm going home.

College Football News & Notes, Week 13

This Texas Tech-Oklahoma game went from mildly competitive to downright ugly fast. Shiny, high-scoring offenses may be shiny and exciting, but in the end the same boring defenses will reign supreme. Now there's a torrid triangle atop the Big XII Texlahoma Division. Chaos will reign. Now watch and behold the horror when either Florida or Alabama lose next weekend but win the SEC, setting up a Texas-Oklahoma title game. Remember when people said that Ohio State and Michigan could have ended up playing again for the title in 2006? This could happen and again, and I'm pretty sure Mike Tranghese is ripping his hair out one follicle at a time.

Rick Rodriguez epically failed this entire season, then goes on GameDay this morning and says he lost because of Lloyd Carr's recruits? It takes a lot to alienate an entire program's fan base in a mere season, but here we are. Also, local reports claim RichRod's postgame chat with Tress consisted of Rodriguez saying, "this is the last time this happens." West Virginia, I'm pretty sure he did y'all a favor. And Michigan fans? I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I feel bad for you guys. You guys do run a classy program, and Rich...he makes Nick Saban a model of integrity. Bobby Petrino's still a douche.

An ACC update: If Virigina Tech wins next week, they win the Coastal Conference with a win next week. Georgia Tech can win if Virginia Tech, and the game against Georgia doesn't matter. Boston College....awwwwww, fuck it. I just give up on predicting anything. They can play games the next two weeks, then whoever shows up in Tampa gets to play for the title. It's a clusterfuck of a year in the BCS's real chump conference - would you belive the ACC is 1-9 all-time in BCS games? Freals. Even the Big East has done better. More on this sometime.

Man, I think the Big XII is the only conference/division that isn't overrated.

What happens if Ohio State gets picked by the BCS over an undefeated Boise State? Dear lord, I'm taking a month-long hiatus from sports talk shows. Come to think of it, I may be better off doing that until after the season anyway.

I wanna see the top four teams lose next weekend. Hey, Missouri and West Virginia choked it away despite themselves, why can't, like, four teams. I just wanna see all hell break loose and see, like, Boise State and Texas Tech play for the National Championship. Let's see Penn State take on, like, USC. I WANT A UTAH UTES NATIONAL COMMEMORATIVE THINGER WITH MY SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SUBSCRIPTION, DAMMIT. Grumble grumble playoffs grumble.

The Rose Bowl is currently projected as a matchup between Penn State and Oregon State. Man, people were worried over a USC-Ohio State matchup.

I gotta say, Texas Tech's utter spewing tonight was pretty impressive. I mean, we've seen a host of top-ranked teams blow their big shot the last two seasons, but not quite in this horrific a fashion. There is no one talking them up, and it's only been over officially for less than three hours. Yeah, I'm still awake. Whatevs.

So looking ahead, no giant matchups, but still, give me three days to surf games at the girlfriends' place, and you've got a pretty content guy here.

Preaseason coulda-been game: UCLA (4-6) @ Arizona State (4-6), Friday 9:30. Both were ranked in the Top 25 preseason, and both just snoozed away in a pretty boring conference. Give this one to the Sun Devils, I think UCLA's got bigger fish to fry - namely, fucking up USC's title hopes at the last minute, and at great expense.

The Surprisingly Big Game: Given that most of the shockers have been wiped out (Texas Tech, don't forget to turn out the lights as you leave, I give you Tennessee-Kentucky. Tennessee needs this win for a surprising reason: with a loss, they'll have 8 losses in a season for the first time in school history, leaving only one school in I-A without an 8-loss campaign. Which team?

Ohio State.

Week 13 Playoff Projections

So, as promised last week, here are your Tuesday projections. Not much change, though I shook up some conference champion projections, if only for shits and giggles.

AUTOMATIC BERTHS:

• ACC: Miami


• Big East: Cincinnati


• Big Ten: Penn State


• Big XII: Texas Tech


• Conference USA: Tulsa


• MAC: Ball State


• Mountain West: Utah


• Pac 10: Oregon State


• SEC: Alabama


• Sun Belt: Troy


• WAC: Boise State

AT-LARGE BERTHS:

• Texas


• Florida


• Oklahoma


• USC


• Ohio State

SEEDING:

1. Alabama


2. Texas Tech


3. Texas


4. Florida


5. Oklahoma


6. USC


7. Utah


8. Penn State


9. Boise State


10. Ohio State


11. Ball State


12. Cincinnati


13. Oregon State


14. Miami


15. Tulsa


16. Troy

First Round:
Troy @ Alabama
Boise State @ Penn State
Cincinnati @ Oklahoma
Oregon State @ Florida
Miami @ Texas
Ball State @ USC
Ohio State @ Utah
Tulsa @ Texas Tech

The first round doesn't exactly inspire salivation (though the Ohio State-Utah game appears intriguing), but the second round has the potential to be epic - Penn State/'Bama, Florida and Oklahoma, and Texas Tech against either OSU or Utah, plus a Vince Young Show rematch. Lord, can we please, please, PLEASE make this happen?

And now for the Obama Bowl tournament, the 8-team tourney supported by President-elect Barack Obama.

AUTOMATIC BERTHS:

• Miami


• Cincinnati


• Penn State


• Texas Tech


• Oregon State


• Alabama

AT LARGE:

• Texas


• Florida


• Utah

That's right, thanks to their loss to Oregon State, and coupled with Utah's latest rise, USC, along with Oklahoma, Ohio State and Boise State miss out. Not particularly satisfying, now is it?

Your seeds:

1. Alabama


2. Texas Tech


3. Texas


4. Florida


5. Utah


6. Penn State


7. Cincinnati


8. Miami

And your Obama Bowl First Round:

Miami @ Alabama
Cincinnati @ Texas Tech
Penn State @ Texas
Utah @ Florida

Two matchups of classic powers, including a potential Penn State/Texas game for the ages, and the juciest game of the first round? The Urban Meyer Memorial Grudge Match. Not bad, but it lacks the pizazz and potential. Plus, NO USC?! OMGWFBBQ.

Alright that's enough of that.

The past weekend was rather ho-hum, doncha think? Though Troy's EPIC FAIL against LSU was pretty mind-blowing. To hold a 31-3 lead on the defending champions? That's something you'll never forget. Blowing it in the fourth quarter? That's something you'll never want to remember.

It's off to the first last week of the season. The Big Ten and Mountain West will have champions, the Big XII will have a clearer answer for its mess, and we we still have solved very, very little. So stayed tuned, folks.

Divisiontitlequest, Week 11

(Note: Divisiontitlequest is an weekly series of blog posts accounting the the struggles I, and all Browns fans face in this season of so much promise. It's been published weekly on my Tumblr, and it's high time I moved it on over here, just in time for the probable death knell.)

This might be it. The Ravens lost, but the Steelers eked out what has been an day for odd scores in the AFC North. Now, it comes down to tonight's game at Buffalo to determine if we'll have even a slim shot at playoff glory.

I don't believe I posted my reactions to last Thursday's loss versus the Broncos, but I think a simple, grunted "GOD DAMMIT" will suffice.

It is officiallly:

Beat Michigan Week

Yes, this is a bit of seminal week here in Columbus. Even if that other team is a bit of a joke. Let the madness - tell me that jumping into Mirror Lake in the end of November isn't that - begin.

TJBFC Presents: Road to the Summer Bowl

PLAYOFF! PLAYOFF! PLAYOFF!

It seems to be the hottest topic on the college football scene at the moment. Even President-elect Obama got in on the action last week. Proponents mostly present the merits of an 8-team playoff that retains the BCS formula. That's well and all, but the ideal method, I believe is a 16-team tournament. Realistically, the best we can hope for anytime soon is a "plus-one" system after the bowls - using the current BCS Title Game.

Little do these so-called "experts" know that I've been secretly determining college football's true champion since 2003, with a little thing I like to call the Summer Bowl. And it's about to blow your mind.

So how does the Summer Bowl work?

First off, let's establish the fact that it is no more than a fantasy simulation, played entirely on my six-year-old XBox (I still haven't made the platform jump). And it will never, ever happen in real-life due to it's detail and it's placement (which could be easly altered for real-world demands. It stems from the stalemate that came about between USC and LSU a few years back. The BCS not only didn't prevent, but more or less caused a split championship. So who was the true champion? My cousin and I, in the boredom of a youthful summer, decided one lazy afternoon to play it out with NCAA Football. We picked a relatively neutral site - Kansas City - and played it out. USC pwned 'em, 62-14, and suddenly a tradition was born. It evolved into a playoff the following year, at one point becoming a massive 32-team affair.

As for the current setip, it's based on my idealistic 16-team system. It ensures fairness and helps out the little guy.

• All FBS conference champions earn a spot


• Five at-large teams qualify, limit of two per conference


• Seedings are based on BCS standings

So currently, let's use some logical projections and current BCS rankings to set our field:

AUTOMATIC BERTHS

• ACC: North Carolina


• Big East: Pittsburgh


• Big Ten: Penn State


• Big XII: Texas Tech


• Conference USA: Tulsa


• MAC: Ball State


• Mountain West: Utah


• Pac 10: USC


• SEC: Alabama


• Sun Belt: UL-Lafayette


• WAC: Boise State

AT-LARGE BERTHS

• Texas


• Florida


• Oklahoma


• Georgia


• Ohio State

So take the 16 teams, and apply the BCS rankings (all teams, except for UL-Lafayette are in the BCS Top 25)

1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. USC
7. Utah
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Georgia
11. Ohio State
12. Ball State
13. North Carolina
14. Pittsburgh
15. Tulsa
16. UL-Lafayette

And the first-round matchups look something like this:

UL-Lafayette @ Alabama
Boise State @ Penn State
Ball State @ Oklahoma
North Carolina @ Florida
Pitt @ Texas
Ohio State @ USC (groan)
Georgia @ Utah
Tulsa @ Texas Tech

Draw your own conclusions at will, but there are some nifty matchups, including a potential 'Bama-Penn State slugfest in the second round. Stay tuned every week for updated projections, then check in this summer as we play it out.

And just for shits and giggles, let's draw up a more reasonable 8-team playoff using the current (er, pre-fifth game) BCS formula

AUTOMATIC:
North Carolina
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Texas Tech
USC
Alabama
Utah (automatic qualifier)

AT-LARGE:
Texas
(apologies to Florida and Oklahoma fans, blame Utah)

Seeding:
1. Alabama
2. Texas Tech
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Utah
6. Penn State
7. North Carolina
8. Pittsburgh

First Round:
Pitt @ Alabama
Utah @ USC
Penn State @ Texas
North Carolina @ Texas Tech

Less appealing, but only slightly so. The Notre Dame clause and the conference tie-ins neuter it a bit, but hey, gotta let everyone have an equal shot, right?