A State Of Bliss

Marques Stevenson waited in the set position, his eyes darting away from the hole he would soon hit. In an instant the senior tailback launched himself forward, took a handoff from quarterback Cole Schaezer in stride, cut briefly to his left and gave eleven Plymouth High School defenders a glimpse of what twelve other opponents had seen all season long. The fascinating blur of number thirty-one shooting past them, then growing smaller and smaller as it approached the goal line.

On this day, that familar routine had grown exponentially. On this stage, in front of the populations of two cities and a state-wide TV audience, Stevenson's burst downfield led him to a place he and his teammates had never before been. As Stevenson crossed the goal line and turned to wait for his teammates, and as they added their third extra point, the Ford Field scoreboard added another seven points that grew the Lake Orion High School lead to an improbable 21-3. And with three minutes to go before halftime, the Dragons had all the points they needed to make the biggest point of all.

This year, there was no better team in all of Michigan.

Today Lake Orion is home to the Michigan High School Athletic Association District 1 football champions. The Dragons exploded early and held on late to defeat the upstart Plymouth Wildcats, 21-13, bringing home their most cherished wooden hardware of all: their first-ever state title.

And despite another dizzying assortment of big plays and offensive highlights, the defense is what rescued Lake Orion in the second half and carried them to the promised land. Time after time the Dragons' offense stalled. Time after time the weary defenders in white were asked to keep Plymouth out of the end zone. Yet this collection of teenagers battled again and again, stopping a Wildcat offense that had worn down the likes of Rockford, Catholic Central and #1-ranked Canton over the previous month. In the end, Plymouth managed just one touchdown and one field goal the entire second half.

The Dragons' immortal and improbable ride began on a steamy hot August night with a 45-6 drubbing of their neighbors from Oxford, in the schools' first meeting in 27 years. The ride gained momentum as Lake Orion decimated the Oakland Activities Association's Red Division with alarming consistency. Rochester, who would eventually qualify for the MHSAA playoffs, fell 36-7. Then newly consolidated Pontiac High School crumbled, 44-13. Then West Bloomfield (56-14), Royal Oak (42-7), Troy (45-0) and Troy Athens (45-7).

Farmington Harrison, the ultimate Division 2 state champs, put the brakes on things a bit by handing the Dragons a 28-6 defeat. But head coach Chris Bell pulled his team together the following week, and Lake Orion delivered an inspired and emotional 28-7 victory over arch-rival Clarkston at home on Senior Night, locking up their second conference championship in three years and sewing up home field advantage throughout the regional playoffs. And for coach Bell, the regionals have been as familiar a setting for his teams as Dragon Field itself.

Even as junior quarterback sensation Sean Charette twisted and fell under a blitzing Utica Eisenhower defense in the regional final, breaking his right ankle, Lake Orion showed no signs of slowing its trajectory. Even as Charette's backup, platooning senior wideout Cole Schaenzer, guided the team against undefeated PSL champion Cass Tech, somehow the ride seemed destined to pick up steam as it turned and pointed itself toward downtown Detroit.

Now, that one frontier of state championship glory has been conquered. Now the green and while has entered the fraternity of the elite. Now these seventy high-school kids have immortalized their football program, creating an indelible story to share with their kids and their kids' kids whenever, wherever Lake Orion is mentioned.

To a brilliant coach, a fearless team, a loud student body and a proud community: this time the ride didn't just take you up the mountain. It took you right to the top.

Gee... ya think?

The good ol' boy network of NCAA major conference football has decided not to wait for Auburn or Oregon to slip up. The war against the two unbeaten schools from non-BCS qualifying conferences--Boise State University from the Western Athletic Conference and Texas Christian University from the Mountain West--has officially begun. And yesterday Ohio State University president Gordon Gee (see dorky photo) fired the first salvo.

"Well, I don't know enough about the Xs and Os of college football," said the school's leader, shockingly. "I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gauntlet that there's some reason to believe that they may not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame."

Sure, Gee has enough background in two fat-cat conferences to merit some attention. But anyone with a sniff of objectivity can see the bias behind his words. He's pandering to the BCS brass on behalf of his conference, and more specifically his beloved Buckeyes.

As far as I'm concerned, he disqualified himself in his first-sentence admission that he doesn't know football. Really, Gordie? We had no idea. There's enough evidence in that place called reality to debunk the old man's nonsensical drivel: first, the "murderer's row every week" comment, Gee's insinuation that the undefeated teams from non-BCS qualifying conferences--Boise State in particular--don't play the high level of competition that the Big 10 and SEC face every week; and second, his "Little Sisters of the Poor" reference, a suggestion that Boise has weaker opponents on its schedule than those teams from the "murderous" Big 10 and SEC.

To test Gee's theories, let's consult the best known source for measuring a team's relative strength, Jeff Sagarin's NCAA Football Ratings. The Sagarin Ratings (also known as the Sagarin Power Ratings) weigh a number of factors and collectively rank all college football teams based not on the biased opinions of writers and coaches with a stake in the poll results, but on the strength of the teams themselves.

According to the most recent Sagarin scale, which covers games played through 11/20/2010, Ohio State is eighth while Boise State is #4 (one spot ahead of Auburn). Against the top 30 teams in the nation, the Broncos are 2-0 and the Buckeyes are 2-1. Should Boise take care of #19 Nevada on Friday night, they'll bump their record to 3-0.

Breaking it down further, if we compare Boise State's top games with that of Gee's Buckeyes we get the following (the opponent's Sagarin rating is in parentheses):

BSU = @ Virginia Tech (18), vs Oregon State (22), vs Hawaii (32)
tOSU = @ Wisconsin (14), @ Iowa (21), vs Miami-Florida (30)

Remember that this doesn't include Boise's upcoming game at Nevada (whose Sagarin rating is 24). Now if we look at the other end of the Sagarin scale we also see that Ohio State and Boise State will have each played four "gimmie" games (against teams with rankings above 100):

BSU = @ Wyoming (107), vs Utah St (115), @ San Jose St (157), @ New Mexico St (164).
OSU = @ Minnesota (104), vs Indiana (105), vs Marshall (109), vs Eastern Mich (167).

So Dr. Gee, would you care to retort? This looks pretty even to me. Based on this objective analysis, how can you conclude that Ohio State plays "fine schools every week" while Boise State plays the "Little Sisters of the Poor"? How is one schedule considered a "gauntlet" and "Murderer's Row" while the other is not? Could it be that you've been stuck in that isolation chamber called Columbus, Ohio for a bit too long?

Three more things need to be considered:

First, a team has to play its conference schedule. If Gee wants to criticize Boise State for playing WAC opponents (as if they have a choice), then he must criticize his own school for not playing two of the strongest teams in the Big Ten: 10-1 Michigan State (Sagarin rating of 20) and 7-4 Northwestern (Sagarin rating: 64). So either Boise padded its league schedule with cupcakes, or Ohio ducked the Sparties and Wildcats. Can't have it both ways, Poindexter.

Second, the teams' choice of out-of-conference (OOC) competition. Free to select any school in the nation, Ohio State boldly chose Eastern Michigan University, at #167 the weakest opponent on either team's schedule. And the Eagles still hung 20 points on the Bucks (see pic). They also added Marshall (Sagarin rating: 109) and Ohio U. (Sagarin rating: 75) along with their only worthy opponent, Miami-Florida (Sagarin rating: 30)--all home games of course. In contrast, Boise State chose to play Oregon State (Sagarin: 22) and gave up a home game to take on Virginia Tech (Sagarin: 18) 2,500 miles away in Landover, Maryland.

And third, given all of the above points, Gee's Buckeyes have lost a game, while BSU's record is spotless.

The bottom line is this: BCS schools like Ohio State pad their OOC schedule for easy wins and added home-game revenue, while schools from non-AQ (automatic qualifying) conferences like Boise State book the best competition they can find to boost their credibility. BSU president Bob Kustra put it this way in his sharply worded response to Gee's comments: "I don't mind somebody stating that they don't think we ought to be in the national championship, but to do it with such erroneous information as Gordon Gee has used, gets under the skin of all of us who thought university presidents were supposed to be standing for fairness, equity and truth in how we portray our universities."

Truth be told, Boise State has tried desperately to schedule top-shelf opponents but keeps getting shut down. "It's easy for the presidents to talk, but ask the ADs when's the last time that they seriously entertained taking requests or inviting Boise State to (play them)," Kustra said. "If you're Boise State or TCU, they're going to want to steer way clear of you." Asked to respond to Gee's assertion that Ohio State doesn't play the "Little Sisters of the Poor" that certain undefeated non-BCS teams face, Kustra glanced at the Buckeye's past two schedules and added, "If they're not playing the Little Sisters of the Poor, they're playing the Little Brothers."

TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte preferred a more succinct rebuttal. "We only worry about our house and what we do at TCU. I'll put our record up against anybody." In the past two seasons combined, TCU and Boise State have each lost just once--to each other. The Horned Frogs downed the Broncos in the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl, and BSU returned the favor this past January in the BCS's Tostito's Fiesta Bowl.

After being beaten each of the last two seasons--in Boise and in Eugene--top-ranked Oregon is anything but eager to face the Broncos. But IF Auburn loses, and IF BSU passes TCU in the rankings (as most feel they'll do should they beat Nevada) and IF the old boys network doesn't take over as it has in the past (for example, coaches agreeing to vote 11-0 Boise State as low as fifth to manipulate the system), that's exactly what the Ducks will get.

You think your school might want to schedule the Broncos, Dr. Gee? You know, a home-and-home series, one game at the Horseshoe and one game on the blue turf? Or maybe a two-game series against the Horned Frogs, with a game in Dallas-Fort Worth (they've got big stadiums out there too)? I didn't think so. Kustra said it best in his description of major conference scheduling: "The formula these days for BCS teams is get seven or eight home games, play one non-conference game against a team from another BCS league, schedule three or four patsies and try not to leave the state if you can help it." So it's ironic justice when a conference like the Big Ten goes so far as to drop conference match-ups from their schedules in favor of yet another $50-per-ticket home game against the Mid-American Conference. Had Ohio State and Michigan State actually played each other this year, the winner might still be in contention for a spot in the BCS title game.

Rather than tearing down other schools for winning every game they play, Dr. Gee, why don't you focus on your own school instead? And while you're at it, how bout dropping the procession of fine MAC schools that parade through the 'Shoe each September in favor of a Boise or TCU matchup--you know, something to gear you up for that "Murderer's Row" of Purdue, Indiana and Minnesota.

Till then, we'll go back to assuming you don't know an X from an O. Even though you did a fine job of removing all doubt.

To Ford Field, and beyond!

The man-child quarterback who kept an entire defense catching, grabbing air and wondering which way he'll turn, twist or take off, faked a handoff and turned to pitch the football to his tailback. That's when he hit the wall. The wall by the name of Andrew Shafkalis.

The ball bounced playfully along the Athens High School FieldTurf as Cass Tech's Keith Moore landed and watched helplessly. Ultimately it landed in the arms of Shafkalis's teammate Tyler Misiak at the Dragon 25-yard line. And in a moment, the Lake Orion sideline and the western grandstand exploded in joy. A game that seemed destined for overtime at best or a crushing, season-ending loss at worst, fell instead into the waiting arms of a hungry band of Dragons. The 24-21 defeat of the previously undefeated and favored Cass Tech Technicians officially punched Lake Orion's ticket to Ford Field. And next Saturday afternoon they will seek to travel where no LO team has gone before: the Promised Land.

As Misiak lept over the pile still scrambling for the elusive pigskin and face planted, only to re-emerge with the ball safely in his hands, the Cass Tech players dropped to the ground as if their legs had been taken out by an automatic weapon. They were safely in range for a game-tying field goal, and had enough momentum to carry into overtime. In fact, with the ball at Lake Orion's five-yard line, the kick was little more than an extra-point's distance, a kick [name of CT kicker] had made dozens of times this season.

Nearly as unexpected as the turn of events was the play call itself. The Dragons' defensive line had spent most of the afternoon in Cass Tech's backfield blowing up plays. Yet as vulnerable as Moore was in his own backfield, he was just as lethal once he crossed the line of scrimmage.

What was expected, however, was the resolve of a battered Lake Orion team who once again elevated its level of play to assuage the loss of junior quarterback Sean Charrette, who suffered a severe sprain to his left ankle in the first quarter of last week's win over Utica Eisenhower. Charrette's multi-talented wide-receiver-turned-backup-QB Cole Schaenzer (see pic) has stepped in since then, and while unafraid to drop darts downfield on third down, he's careful not to put his team's success squarely on his shoulders.

"Everyone knows we’ve got one of the area’s best quarterbacks (in Sean Charette)," coach Chris Bell said after the win. "But we weren’t worried when he went down because we know we’re very lucky to have a guy like Cole to keep this thing rolling."

By "this thing" Coach Bell could well be referring to tailback Marques Stevenson (see my pic). The one-man lightning bolt followed up his other-worldly 14-carry, 290-yard detonation of Grand Blanc in the Region 3 final with a merely sensational 190 yards on 25 carries, including a sprint up the middle that resulted in a 42-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 in the first half. Danny Ney added 82 yards on a workmanlike 16 carries. Cristian Burks led the Technicians attack with 142 yards on 18 carries, including touchdown runs of 15 and 46 yards in the first half.

One more challenge awaits this dream team, a dream date with the real Division 1 Cinderella. Plymouth High School, who dropped the state's #1 team, Canton, in the Divisional round, crushed Rockford's title hopes Saturday afternoon 20-17, scoring the winning TD on a 26-yard pass with :11 left on the clock. Pumpkins anyone?

What can you do when you can't do any better?

Imagine your major college football team winning its first game and sitting at #3 in both major polls. Imagine your team winning its next eight games while the two schools ahead of and behind you lose multiple times. Can you imagine your unbeaten team atop both polls and likely the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings as well?

Well, you can't if that major college football team of yours is the Boise State University Broncos. In an act of either coordinated sabotage or collective incompetence, neither the writers nor the coaches have moved Boise State up into the top position at any point during the season. Not even for one week.

While the 9-0 Broncos have managed to maintain the number three ranking, three teams (Auburn, Oregon & TCU) have already passed them in each poll--despite the fact that the Broncos have done nothing to justify being passed by anyone. Nine games under their belt, and not a single underwhelming performance on their resume. Yet they've actually lost their position twice in the AP (writer's) poll and three times in the USA Top 25 (coaches) poll. They even dropped in the rankings after a 63-0 victory on the road.

BSU is currently one of four BCS unbeatens, along with the three aforementioned leap-froggers. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Boise is at most two upsets away from playing for a BCS Championship. As we have seen time and time again, however, conventional wisdom--or wisdom at all for that matter--has no place in the BCS, much less major college football. Just as Oklahoma and Oregon and Auburn appeared out of nowhere to jump over the Broncos, you can bet that some one-loss flavor of the month would do so as well, if our hand-wringing media friends have anything to do with it.

No other varsity collegiate sport allows one of its teams to win every game on its schedule and not even compete for a national championship. So how do you explain the blue-horse hatred? Is it simply a fear of bad TV ratings come bowl time? Is it a money thing? Is Boise seen as the major college equivalent of a ladder-climbing female executive in an old-boys-network corporation? I wish I knew.

In rationalizing their discrimination, NCAA power brokers and media "experts" contradict themselves with the effortless frequency of an election-year politician. Here's a sample of what's been said and why it's either untrue or mysteriously not the case with other schools:

1. Boise State hasn't played anyone. WRONG. First off, they gave up a home game to travel 2,500 miles to Washington, D.C. and beat Virginia Tech, who was #10 at the time (and have since climbed back to #16 in the BCS Standings). They defeated #24 Oregon State by double digits, and while the Beavers have hovered around .500 this season, they do happen to host #1 Oregon in their annual Civil War in a few weeks. I have a feeling Oregon won't have as easy a time as the Broncos did.

2. Yeah, but Boise State could never beat the top teams from the major conferences. You mean teams like top-ranked Oregon from the Pac-10, which they've defeated the past two seasons--including 2008's 37-32 victory at Autzen Stadium in Eugene (see pic), where the Ducks owned a 23-game home win streak from 1997-2001 and where they haven't lost since)? Or unbeaten TCU, whom the Broncos buried this past January in the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl? Or VaTech, currently the highest-ranked team in the ACC, who has already locked up a berth in its conference championship? Teams like that?

3. Yeah, but those wins over Oregon and TCU all happened last year, and have nothing to do with this year's team.Until Alabama fell last week at LSU, the Crimson Tide were poised to jump both Boise and TCU despite having one loss on their record. Why? Because they were the defending national champs. But wait, that happened last season right? See what I mean? Similar rationale has also been used to elevate perennial powers Ohio State and Oklahoma virtually overnight, and it may be used again soon to build Nebraska into the sexy, one-loss alternative. Like Boise coach Chris Peterson would stand a prayer against the likes of Tom Osborne or Bob Devaney. I mean come on!

4. Yeah, but since Boise State plays in a weak conference they'd better destroy the rest of their competition to be considered for the BCS Championship. Done, so far at least. In the five league games they've played this season, the average score is Boise 50, Western Athletic Conference 8. And one of those teams (Hawaii) had the second most votes of all teams not ranked in the polls at the time they played. Not to mention the nation's top passing offense. The Rainbows averaged 394 yards through the air entering the game but were held to 196 yards of total offense, nearly 300 yards less than their average. Boise State QB Kellen Moore, on the other hand, set a career mark with 507 passing yards while the rest of the offense rolled up 737 yards, shattering the school record. So should they beat their last three conference foes decisively as the haters have insisted (including #19 Nevada on the road), then strength of schedule is officially a non-factor, right? After all, you can't do more than beat everyone you play right? RIGHT?

5. Yeah, but Boise State has to play at a consistently high level for a number of years to be considered worthy of playing for the BCS Championship. This is what people said last season to support their lack of even considering the Broncos as national title contenders. Umm okay. While the hand-wringers keep inventing reasons, Boise keeps rolling. A win this Friday at home against Fresno State will give the winningest school of the past decade their fifth straight 10-win season.

6. Yeah, but until Boise State plays more quality teams they won't get my vote. Ironically, the people saying this are the coaches. Not only do they vote in the USA Today poll, a major contributor of the BCS formula. But they can schedule their teams to play any non-conference opponent they want... including Boise! So why won't they? Most likely because they know they'll lose. Truth be told, the Broncos just can't find schools willing to play them. It's gotten to the point that they're giving away home games for the chance to schedule and beat worthy opponents. Like Virginia Tech.

7. Yeah, but... Give them a minute, they'll come up with something.

Exactly. Should the Ducks or Tigers or Horned Frogs fall, expect the media to start beating the drums for a procession of one-loss schools like Nebraska, or Stanford, or Ohio State, or Wisconsin, or Oklahoma State, or someotherschoolI'mmissing, or one of the very teams who just lost. Doesn't matter, so long as it's not that dadgum college from Idaho with the funny blue field.

That's how the BCS works. It's not about putting the best two teams on the field. It's about crafting a matchup of two fat-and-happy teams from two of the six behemoth conferences so they can laugh, gorge themselves and split their Brinks-truck-sized BCS bankrolls. The only time "the system has worked" is when there have been exactly two unbeaten teams at the end of the regular season. Well their days are numbered. Soon we'll look back at the fraud that was college football's Bowl Championship Series and wonder what the heck we were smoking.

If you've read this blog before, you know how I feel about the concerted effort to drop Michigan out of the 2006 BCS Championship. Despite finishing the season ranked second in the BCS rankings, and despite their only threat (USC) being upset in their final game, the maize and blue were passed by Florida with the help of the Gators' intense lobbying efforts which persuaded the coaches to drop the idle Wolverines to third in the USA Today poll.

Even Auburn hasn't been immune, as they were snubbed by the BCS in 2004 despite the Tigers' flawless 11-0 record in that oh-so-tough SEC. It seems like one of the berths in the title game is automatically reserved for the winner of the SEC championship. Meaning Auburn could lose to Alabama (not entirely unlikely), then beat South Carolina to win the SEC, and even with a loss they're in.

The idea that Auburn and Oregon could each lose a regular-season game thereby setting up a third straight post-season meeting between unbeatens Boise State and TCU (see pic), this time for the BCS Championship, actually makes people angry. Does it make the coaches angry enough to vote the nation's only two undefeated teams third and fourth in the nation? Does it make those in the media angry enough to actively lobby the coaches to do this? Yes and yes, if history is any indication.

I'm pulling for Boise State because I like Coach Peterson and the juggernaught he's built up there in Idaho. I'm pulling for them because I still remember the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, where the Broncos tied yet another team they supposedly couldn't keep up with (Oklahoma) on a last-second hook-and-ladder touchdown and beat them with a statue of liberty play in overtime, after which their tailback heaved the football into the jubilant crowd before dropping to a knee for a marriage proposal (see pic). Most of all, I'm pulling for Boise because I feel they're the best team in the nation this year and they deserve a shot.

But even if I didn't, I'd pull for them for the sheer enjoyment of watching that old boy network known as the BCS implode. Get your popcorn, kids.