Smitty

I don't think SMU would ever allow UNT to join Conference USA. And I'm not sure we should go there if we could. We need to build continuity here. The Sun Belt is improving, and UNT's upgrade in facilities will help that growth. Troy is improving, MTSU is improving, Arkansas State is improving. I would like to see the SunBelt expand, perhaps add someone like Missouri State. Their enrollment is over 20,000, they have solid men's and women's basketball programs, and would just need to move from I-AA to I-A in football. Plus, the SunBelt still has a great venue for its bowl game. And with all the talk of tradition, we're starting to build that in the SunBelt. Forget the tortillas and Tim Crouch's "first down!" call. So what. THE best tradition in sports is rivalries, and UNT is starting to build some rivalries with other SunBelt schools. Rivalries bring fans to the game, rivalries get people to watch at home, and rivalries build a conference.

The Morning News reports today that redshirt freshman Chris Todd, the backup to Graham Harrell, is transferring from Texas Tech. His dad says he will probably play JUCO next year. It does not say why, or where he is from.

Florida was off for thirty-seven days and it didn't seem to hurt them. Florida finished with a championship game aganist Arkansas and Ohio State finished with a championship game against Michigan, then they both had a huge layoff. It was a fair fight. OSU got hammered, fair and square. And my two cents, as much as I love Boise State and would love to see a school like that playing for the title, I think Florida, LSU, USC, or Ohio State would have beaten Boise. Probably Michigan would have beaten them as well. Oklahoma was good, but they were not at the level of the elite this year. Quoner is right, Boise's undefeated season and BCS win were the result of a perfect storm. But, maybe more importantly, what I think people will remember from this bowl season was that outrageous Boise State victory. OSU-Florida got upstaged, and that's good news for all the so-called mid-majors.

Interesting comment from NFL reporter Chris Mortensen on a chat on ESPN.com:

Amen! At least we're trying! Thanks for the information.

About 3:00 a.m. you'll wake up and you'll laugh.

A new chant rises from the Mean Green Nation: Kiln 'em, kiln 'em! Sorry, my humor is fairly pottery-mouthed. Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week, enjoy the buffet.

We may disagree over some playing calling, but I agree that Parcells is, overall, too conservative. And we are in complete agreement that Parcells should not be back next year. Bottom line: Bill should go.

This is a perfect example of a coach ignoring the height, weight, and 40-time numbers and signing a kid who can flat out play. I love that attitude. Mike Singletary was too small. Brandon Kennedy was too small. Teams look at numbers and spit out a kid like this. Colleges and the pros are marked with guys who were overlooked because of their numbers and went on to big careers, and they are littered with guys who had the numbers but not the heart, and who then failed. Give me guys who are good football players.

I'm not cutting anyone any slack. My first post last night listed Terry Glenn - how do you fumble that ball at that point on the field? The criticism of Roy Williams is for season-long failure to cover. His jar-shattering hits do not make up for a member of the secondary who cannot cover. And there have been a few too many missed tackles - like the one where he knifed into the backfield and whiffed on Shaun Alexander. James got beat on the TD down the middle early, but it was Roy Williams who got beat on Jeremy Stevens' 15-yard TD reception in the third quarter. Tony Romo was horrible, and not just on the field goal. He fumbled earlier in the game - I believe his seventh fumble. He threw poorly much of the night. How many passes were short? One pass to Owens was thrown behind him, allowing the defender to catch up and knock it away. He was off target all night and he took a couple of sacks because he held the ball too long. When your quarterback plays like that, you have to be more conservative in your play calling. I am a Tony Romo fan, but he is precariously close to being another flash-in-the-pan quarterback - a guy who shows some promise but then disappears. He was poor the last few weeks, and it is up to him regroup this offseason and improve next year. The play calling before the field goal was correct. You throw three times at that point and you should be fired. You must run the ball to use up the opponent's time outs. Parcells had every reason to believe he had the field goal in his pocket, so his play calling was correct. He milked the clock, got in position to kick, and used up Seattle's timeouts. Having done that, he threw on third and came close to a first down that would have ended the game. The failure on the field goal was just unimaginable. HOWEVER: Parcells should not be back next year. This team has been worse as the season has progressed every year. I agree completely with Tim Cowlishaw's column on Page 1 of the Morning News. The collapse of this team this year should cost him his job.

Yes the pass rush is bad, the offensive line stinks, and we need another corner. But Roy Williams is a prime reason that this team has given up so many third-down conversions this year. No one fears going across the middle anymore.

The shooting star that is Tony Romo has just been sighted at the end of a meteoric season: BUMP.

IF you can get add a pass rusher, then Roy Williams might be useful. But on a defense that can put no pressure on a quarterback, Williams is a liability.

I hate to say it, but thank God this pathetic freakin' season is over. I can't stand to look at these guys anymore. Yes, I know I'm knee-jerking and overreacting. Wouldn't you?

Don't blame Parcells. Open up the play book? With what, a quarterback skipping the ball to his receivers and happy-feeting his way all over the field? This one is on the players, who could not make the big plays when they really needed them time after time. Terry Glenn. Romo. Owens. Romo. Whitten (fumble). Romo. Roy Williams (freakin' cover somebody, you stiff). AND ROMO. He couldn't do any better than that against a patch-work secondary? And then the field goal... I have rarely seen a group of players gift wrap a game as badly as that.

The Soonerfans.com website is visible again. Apparently not only were they swamped with postings, their moderators were issuing temporary bans to members posting comments they did not like. Three-day bans for first offense, seven-day for second. For instance, these posts earned three-day bans: After issuing bans, the moderators posted sentiments like these: And when the bans were criticized, this was posted by one of the moderators: Unbelievable! Thank goodness for Harry and crew!

It is wonderful to have a wife who either likes sports or tolerates your love of sports. I know. Get a load of this: I am a long-time Atlanta Braves fan. Back in the days before radio broadcasts over the internet, the Braves were playing a critical series in San Francisco. The last game of the series was in the afternoon, with first place in the NL West on the line. I called my wife, who was at home, and she checked the TV broadcast to give me the score. That was nice, but her next move gained her worshipdom: She turned up the sound on the TV, put the phone handset next to the TV, and left it there for the next hour while I listened to the final five innings over the phone. She even checked every so often to make sure the phone connection was still open. God, I do love that woman. I'm a big sports fan and wife is not, but we've been extremely happy in our fifteen years together. My advice: don't make her a sports widow. Pick your spots for the games you NEED to watch that might override your normal schedule. Take her to dinner - where she wants to go - the night before a game, then you can peacefully watch the game the next day. Take her to some games. Watch TV games with her. Answer her questions. My wife, despite her better judgment, has learned more about sports than she ever imagined, and she enjoys the games much more than she did years ago. Also, learn how to shop for jewelry. If you can shop for jewelry, you can screw up a lot.

This doesn't bode well for Patrick in Miami. But considering the state of runningbacks in Dallas, I'd love to see him land with the Cowboys. Julius Jones is proving a disappointment. Patrick and Marion Barber would make a good tandem.

I have access now. Thanks, Harry!

Harry, I would love to have access to the Mean Green Report. I will keep watching and post when I have access. Thanks, Smitty

Fiesta shockwaves might be felt for years to come By Pat Forde ESPN.com GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Now that the Statue of Liberty has been run and the Fiesta Bowl has been won and we've all become citizens of Boise State's Trickeration Nation, it's time for two things: 1. An assessment of what we saw at University of Phoenix Stadium. Simply and succinctly, it was the most amazing football game I've ever attended. Never seen that much nerve from a coaching staff. Never seen such nerves of steel from the players executing the razzle dazzle in do-or-die situations. Never seen both teams appear hopelessly beaten in the final minutes of regulation. 2. A look at the potential ripple effects from this dream game in the desert. Where do the Broncos go in the aftermath of their epic upset of Oklahoma? Into the top 10 on a semipermanent basis? Into the households of better and better recruits? Onto more and more TV screens nationwide? Or do they slip back to normal life on the fringe of BCS Land? More importantly, where does college football go? Is this the beginning of a new day in the sport? A day when all colleges can dream the Boise State dream, and have the avenue to achieve it? A day when playoff backers gain a larger foothold in their climb up the bowl system's ivory tower? Or is it simply a brilliant blip on the radar screen, a fun story with short legs that inevitably yields to the permanence of the powerful? Only time will tell us. Right now it's the biggest moment for the nontraditional powerhouse portion of college football since BYU won the national title in 1984 -- but it might have a greater impact. Potentially, this could desegregate college football, allowing more upward mobility in a sport that's rigged against the little guy. It could shift the game's landscape and power balance, like Miami's 1984 Orange Bowl upset of juggernaut Nebraska did. At the very least, Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 did one thing: It reinforced the certainty that there is dwindling daylight between the haves and have-nots. "I don't even know if you can call it a gap anymore," Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson said Tuesday. "The competitive level is balancing. It's becoming apparent that other people than those six automatic-qualifier conferences can play on a national level." The bowl games back that up. The Mountain West and Western Athletic Conference both went 3-1 in postseason play. The MWC's slate was highlighted by league champion BYU bludgeoning Pacific-10 member Oregon 38-8. And the Western Athletic Conference got its signature win from Boise State Monday night, but also had Hawaii thump Pac-10 member Arizona State, San Jose State upset New Mexico in Albuquerque and saw Nevada lose by a single point to Miami. From a credibility standpoint, that was huge. Especially what the Broncos did. "It was fun," said Thompson, who was rooting openly for a team that happens to be undefeated against Mountain West schools. "It was great. I hate to use a cliché, but it was one for the ages." This was the first year the BCS expanded to five games and opened its qualification pool to a non-big-six-conference team that finishes in the top 12 in the final BCS standings. Previously, an outsider had to finish in the top six in the BCS standings. Just getting the opportunity was big, as WAC commissioner Karl Benson said Tuesday. Once Boise got that bid, then endured some significant doubts and hoots of derision, it came through spectacularly in the clutch. "There was pressure on Boise State, pressure on the WAC," Benson said. "We needed to deliver and have that type of impact, to legitimize the quality of play and play a type of game that captures fans' interest." Mission accomplished. Now the issue will be 2007 preseason rankings, which play a significant role in a team's upward mobility toward BCS bowl eligibility. Will every voter who became a Boise believer Monday night still be a Boise believer in August? Or will they backslide into the usual default position of filling out a ballot based on laundry? The Broncos will have some big vacancies at key positions next year, but they will return the nation's only undefeated head coach, Chris Petersen. And they could have some company in the rankings from other WAC and Mountain West teams. The question is whether any of them can run the table. Or whether they'll need to. So far, it has taken a perfect season for a non-BCS-league team to make a BCS bowl. Utah was undefeated in 2004, Boise in 2006. Both Benson and Thompson are confident that will change. "Last year TCU [which was 11-1] would have been in, if the current legislation had been in place," Thompson said. "I really believe an 11-1 non-AQ-conference team will get into a BCS bowl at some time." Benson was too busy savoring his league's success to use Boise's victory as leverage for a playoff. And Thompson wasn't going to stump for a playoff, either -- but he did champion a plus-one format that would match two teams after the bowl games are played. "Wouldn't it be wonderful," he said, "if 13-0 Ohio State -- if they win the football game [against Florida] -- played 13-0 Boise State? Wouldn't that be fun?" Yes, it would. But it's not going to happen -- not yet. We won't know definitively for years whether Boise State's landmark, lightning-bolt victory becomes an agent for change. The segment of America that stayed up late watching the Fiesta Bowl had to fall in love with the Broncos. The question is whether it also fell in love with the Broncos' cause. Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.

That's it, Sooners. Just go into your room, slam the door, and cry for two days. This is pathetic.

No, those expectations also come from the BCS schools. That Mack Brown and Bob Stoopes did not vote for TCU, and voted Boise 12th and 10th? That's either whistling through the graveyard or arrogant ignorance. Yes, the media has more than its share of arrogance, but that attitude is also knee-deep among BCS coaches, ADs, and presidents. The the biggest road-block to a playoff and to allowing participation by the non-BCS schools is the greedy BCS jerks who want to keep everything for themselves.

...the Sooners don't want the rest of the world to watch them crying.

I really tried to turn it off, but I just couldn't do it. I had to watch.