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TiK's Ten: Championship Week Thoughts on College Football & Mizzou

We have reached the end of the greatest regular season in all of sports. It is, perhaps, the saddest time of the year in that regard as to me, there is nothing really any better than college football Saturdays in terms of the pageantry and the meaning of every game. While our beloved sport isn't perfect, it is still better than the others. Baseball is wonderful for its uniqueness, but its become more of a localized sport as the postseason has lost some luster. College basketball used to be fantastic, but has so many flaws now it's dying a slow death until someone finds a cure. The NFL has great talent but has lost some of its own pageantry, in my view, from earlier eras.

As for our Tigers, I enter the bowl season with one simple thought on the season, "I"ll take it." The low moment of the season was Indiana, obviously, and the high moment was the Arkansas game. While many of our wins were not pretty, we still did end up 10-3 and really, it's pretty clear after tonight we weren't beating Alabama. So, it appears in essence what the Indiana came cost us was likely a spot among the Big Six Bowls, either the Cotton or Peach.

With that, here are my final "regular season" thoughts, written before the Selection Committee announced anything:

1. Alabama is elite and will continue to be elite, but we can compete. It's just going to be very hard to beat them without more offensive weapons. There were just some plays you got the feeling we were overmatched, on both sides of the ball. Yet, despite that, I felt today that the defense was good enough to hold them within check for three quarters, but it was the inability to hold them after cutting it to 21-13 that sealed the game, and then it was done. But, you felt for a time like one big stop or one big play, it gets really interesting. So, really, we're arguably closer than many might think...don't lose heart, Tiger fans.

2. We'll be back, again. I'm not sure about next year - haven't analyzed that yet, but i do think we're going to be a consistent presence in the East and thus make it back to the SEC Championship again. Next year, it depends on how the younger play makers at RB and WR respond, but I think we'll have a chance yet again. I trust Pinkel and I actually think that even when he moves on, we'll have a really good coach who will keep us competitive.

3. I'm okay with whatever bowl we get. While it's fun to engage in because any talk about college football is a good thing, I find some fan angst about Gator vs. Outback vs. Citrus kind of silly. If we're not one of the Top 6, it really is one big group of bowls to me, though I suppose there is kind of a divide between the Outback level bowls and something like Birmingham. As far as this year, it appears it's going to be Citrus, Outback, Music City or Gator -- and I"m good with any. I just hope for a decent opponent.

4. I wrestle with what to think about Maty Mauk. On one hand, he's a terribly frustrating player at times with missed throws and nonsensical scrambling patterns. On the other, he does make plays in a Johnny Manziel kind of way, as we saw tonight on a couple of those "oh no" rollouts that turned into downfield completions. He makes me nervous -- though he also can run (and I wish he had ran a bit downfield a bit more tonight, but maybe that wasn't available) and he can be a threat. Long term, I don't know what the future holds at QB -- I do want Printz to get a completely fair shake and I know in some ways we're kind of counting down to the Drew Lock era regardless. What we do in the interim will be interesting.

5. On the stadium improvements and BYU. First of all, let me say that I'm fine with the BYU game next year, as I had not commented on that before. I don't like regular season neutral site contests normally, as I think they're really kind of stupid in an era of spending millions upon millions on stadium improvements and the benefit home games bring to Columbia. However, I do think this particular game is a bit of an exception -- I think throwing a bone to KC is appropriate after we said we would. Opponent wise, BYU is quite recognizable. As far as the stadium improvements that have been talked about go, I think the south end zone expansion is clearly necessary, but I also hope it's not purely suites and offices and locker rooms/training areas. I actually do think bringing the stands back to even with both sides is a good idea, as I do think some added "family pricing" (as that area is) seating would be quite popular. We'll see what they come up with, but I liked the original drawing which provided for a modest increase in regular seating in that area.

6. Oregon, Alabama and Florida State should be in, and I don't care who is 4th. I really don't. I think you could make a case for any one of the three, and though I actually like the TCU and Baylor programs more than Ohio State, I think the Big 12's antics over who their champion is were so ridiculous I hope they don't get a spot. However, I wouldn't be offended if TCU or Baylor got in over Ohio State. To me it all shows how badly we need to expand the playoff.

7. The Playoff has already worked in one respect. The conference title games really were meaningless in the past other than for pride of the two schools playing. Now, with 4 spots available, all four conference title games mattered, as did the Mountain West title game given they get a spot in the big six bowls. Contrary to what people have said, that actually enhanced the meaning of the regular season rather than detracting from it.

8. That said, they were kind of duds. Outside of the ACC Title Game, all four were really duds. It makes me wonder if conference title games make a lot of sense going forward -- if a concern on an expanded playoff is number of games, I would advocate dropping the conference title games and just going with tiebreakers to decide your automatic bid and "champion".

9. In 2017, we'll be at 6 or 8. I think the powers-that-be will let one cycle through of the six rotating bowls, but in 2017, it will go to 6 or 8. Increasingly, I wonder if they'll go the slow step and go with 6, with the committee still selecting all six versus any automatic bids -- this way, unless a conference champ was truly not deserving, they would likely get in, but it would give the Top 2 a reward with a bye. It would certainly be an improvement. However, increasingly, I favor 16 or even bigger -- if not for the logistics on some of that, I'd go there today.

10. On the coaching changes. I think Florida scored the biggest get, I think McElwain is a great coach and will have Florida as the top team in the East within 3 seasons. I think Nebraska's hire is really the strangest, but that's nothing against Riley -- I just think it was an odd hire. An under the radar "interesting" hire was Buffalo doing a Kim Anderson by hiring the head coach of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a D3 power. Most folks are looking to Michigan's hire next, but I am actually curious to see what Oregon State does, as they are at a bit of a crossroads. As for Kansas, good luck, Mr. Beaty.

And, there you have it. As for my final ranking:

1. Oregon; 2. Alabama; 3. Florida State; 4. Ohio State; 5. Baylor; 6. TCU; 7. Georgia Tech; 8. Michigan State; 9. Mississippi State; 10. Ole Miss

Last but not least...

GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!

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