IF THE CAMPUS BCS CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT HAD BEEN PLAYED

Senior Analyst Mark Noe has done a masterful job of putting together a ten team playoff to settle any and all National Title debates.  I like his proposal; I really do.  But now that the bowl games have all been played and the BCS is patting itself on the back for “getting it right”, I still can’t help from wondering: did they?  Better yet, could there have been an even more interesting match-up for the crystal football?

The more I looked at Mark’s pairings, the more I started to think that there really could have been a very different outlook to the championship game.

The season may be over with, but we can still have a little fun.  Here’s a look at what might’ve been.

PLAY IN (aka “Wild Card” round)

#8 Florida vs. #9 Boise State

The Broncos looked pretty good against TCU (and Oregon in the first week), but there were some other games that were a little closer than they should have been.  Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, and Nevada were within striking distance of upsetting the best team in the WAC.

Florida was the top team in the nation right up until they dropped the SEC championship game to ‘Bama.  They had their own close calls along the road.  Tennessee was within ten points (as was South Carolina), and Arkansas came within three points of upsetting the defending National Champs.

The way I see it…

Get ready, because this is a long one...

Why watch?

This year's national championship match-up in Pasadena makes for a fitting end to the decade. Look at all of the themes that defined the past 10 years in college football that are involved:

-Like USC, Oklahoma, Texas and Ohio State before it, one of the sport's marquee names, Alabama, is looking for a return to glory under a charismatic savior doubling as a football coach.

-Texas runs a wide-open spread offense; the Crimson Tide runs a more traditional pro-style attack.

-The power conferences are represented in the title game, at the expense of some mid-major upstarts.

-In a decade that celebrated the "cult of the coordinator"–Norm Chow, Bo Pelini, Mike Stoops, Gene Chizik, Gus Malzahn–both staffs feature hot young assistants in Will Muschamp of Texas and Alabama's Jim McElwain who may hold the key to their teams' fates.

And, of course, 'Bama has a chance to add yet another chapter to the story of the decade: the rise of the SEC juggernaut.

Why you should watch:

Well the simple answer here is that you'll have nothing to do between the Orange Bowl and the National Champinoship anyway, so why not watch the two of the best non-BCS teams in the country. While neither team is a Boise State or TCU, they each won a conference championship which should at least equate to a quality football game to watch.

When Central Michigan has the ball:

This will be my last chance to talk about senior QB Dan LeFevour during his college career. No one player makes a team, but a single player can be the difference in a game when he has the right supporting cast around him. Players like Jamarcus Russel, Vince Young, and Matt Lienhart come to mind. I'm not convinced either of these players are the best quarterbacks I've seen but they were the difference for their respective college teams in many different games. The Chippewas have spent the past four years hinging their success directly to the abilities of dual threat quarterback Dan LeFevour and in his final game things will be no different. While there are plenty of other players on the CMU team to talk about, none will determine the outcome of the bowl as much as their veteran quarterback. To prove just how important his play has been here are just a few stats to digest:

#8 Nationally in Passer Rating (154.44)

#1 Nationally in Completion Percentage (71.3%)

#3 Nationally in Total Yards for a Quarterback (3745 yards)

#9 Nationally in TD2INT ratio (4.5)

For all of you not familiar with this stat, the top QB is Kellen Moore with a 13 and the bottom QB is Riley Dodge with a 0.6

Any quarterback who carries a 2.0 or better is generally looked upon favorably.

#2 Nationally in Percentage of Overall Team Plays (63%)

To put this stat in perspective, Tim Tebow accounts for only 58% of Floridas plays and QB Ricky Dobbs in Navy's Triple option only accounts 49% of the total plays.

The top player in this statistic is MTSU QB Dwight Dasher who accounts for 65%

So can Troy manage to slow down and contain Dan LeFevour? Well the Trojans played MTSU this season and were able to pull off a decisive win while moderately containing Dwight Dasher. I guess that means it's possible. The difference will be the way in which LeFevour is contained. While Dasher's strongest points are his legs and ability to run the ball, Central Michigan has proven they can win even in games when LeFevour doesn't gain much on the ground. Where CMU has a problem is when their star quarterback is held below a 60% completion rate which has happened in both of their losses this season. If the Troy secondary can play solid pass defense, the Trojans could come a way with a win.

Why you should watch

Both teams are looking for a little extra respect.  Georgia Tech  has had a fantastic year, going 11-2 and winning the ACC championship, but was shut down by Miami (33-17) and slipped against Georgia (30-24).  Getting by Virginia Tech 28-23 helps their image a little, but honestly, they’re .500 against ranked opponents and their win wasn’t quite as impressive as their loss was telling.  Getting a win over a tough Big Ten defense could do a lot to show that this team is someone that could make even bigger waves next year.

Iowa was in the national title discussion for all of two seconds, but that’s more than they’ve had in a long, long time and ending 10-2 is actually a little disappointing after the 9-0 start they had.  With wins over Arizona (27-17), Penn State (21-10), and Wisconsin (20-10), Iowa has proven that they can beat the big boys.  Yes, they lost to Ohio State (27-24 OT), but it wasn’t as if they were blown away.  On the biggest stages this year, the Hawkeyes have held their own and finished the regular season 3-1 against ranked opponents.  Most of those were conference opponents though.  A win over Georgia Tech would prove that the Hawkeyes can hang with the tough teams around the nation, not just around the Midwest.

When Georgia Tech has the ball

QB Josh Nesbitt is quick on his feet, sharps as a tack with his decision making, and a tough enough runner to square his shoulders and get a little nasty against tacklers.  He’s just not that great when he has to throw the football.  With a 47.7 completion percentage, he’s missed more than he’s hit, but he’s also had 100 fewer attempts than his counterpart, Ricky Stanzi, with four additional games.  Nesbitt doesn’t throw for a ton of yards, averaging roughly 130 yards per game, but the offense isn’t designed around his arm anyway.

Nesbitt leads the charge on the ground, running 259 times for 991 yards and 18 touchdowns.  There are a slew of supporters in the option attack, but Jonathan Dwyer is perhaps the most dangerous.  Dwyer has carried 221 times for 1346 yards, averaging a very impressive 6.09 yards per carry and earning 14 touchdowns.

If there’s anyone more dangerous than Dwyer, it may be fellow junior Anthony Allen.  Allen has only carried 61 times, but has gained 597 yards for an astronomical 9.79 yard-per-carry average and five touchdowns.  The Nesbitt/Dwyer/Allen trio gives this offense the depth that makes it so hard to defend, and they’re still not all that Tech has to offer.  There are six individuals who are averaging more than five yards per carry (with more than 10 carries) on the Yellow Jacket roster.

Look for Tech to use all available options (no pun intended) in this match.  Not only because this is a bowl game and this is their chance to showcase all of their talent, but also because…

On the other side of the ball, Iowa represents the toughest all around team Georgia Tech has faced all season.  The Hawkeyes are not only the highest ranked (10^th), but have the highest rated defense (also 10^th).

Linebackers Pat Angerer, A.J. Edds, and Jeremiah Hunter are quicker than most stereotypical Big Ten linebackers, are smart, well disciplined, and are coached by one of the best defensive minds in college football -  Norm Parker.  This trio flies to the ball and don’t often miss tackles.  They’ll be the key to slowing down the option.

Nesbitt can’t forget DE Adrian Clayborn, though.  Clayborn is very quick in his own right and can chase down a play on the opposite side of the field as if he were a linebacker, not an end.  The rest of the defensive line is pretty solid as well.  DE Broderick Binns isn’t the best pass rusher in the world, but he’s quick and good at sniffing out the ball.  Tackles Christian Ballard and Karl Klug take good care of the center of the line and will free up the linebackers to move around.

This defense will give up yards, but they’ve only allowed eight rushing touchdowns all year (8^th nationally).  Against the run, they’ll bend a little, but won’t break easily, especially in the redzone.

Now that quarterback Tim Tebow has put a nice little bow on his legend with the best single-game performance of his career in the Florida Gators' demolishing of Cincinnati in Friday night's Sugar Bowl, the time has come to debate his place in the annals of college football history.

(For purposes of this discussion, I'm going to use my "history"–i.e., dating back to 1985.)

In my opinion, excellence in sports–particularly team sports–comes in two distinct flavors.

The "Best" athletes distinguish themselves through their talent and unmatched skill. These competitors stand out from the crowd because, to put it simply, they do what they do better than anyone else.

The "Greatest" athletes attain incomparable achievements. They're defined by their bodies of work. Their excellence stems from what they've done, not what they can do.

Winning, however, defines The Greatest. Often, they're the vital cog in a dominant machine. Think Joe Montana leading the San Francisco 49ers to all those Super Bowl wins.

Is one form of excellence better than the other? I don't think so. Sure, you play to win the game. Yet, in a team sport like football, the ability of one outstanding player to take a program to the promised land is a clear exception to the rule.

(Of course, the two excellences aren't mutually exclusive. Michael Jordan, for instance, is both The Greatest and The Best when it comes to the NBA.)

Which brings us to Tebow.

Within the context of Urban Meyer's revolutionary offense, Saint Tim was a unique animal in today's world of college football. Yet, in a strange kind of reverse-reverse bias, pundits probably have attributed an outsized effect to his impact on games, simply because his style was so anomalous.

As an example, in his Heisman Trophy year in 2007, just six of Tebow's celebrated 23 rushing touchdowns covered more than five yards, and only two were longer than 10 yards. While the Florida signal caller earned high praise that season for making plays with his feet, his prodigious touchdown numbers masked the reality that he was Florida's most effective option in short-yardage situations.

Is Tebow the best college football player I've ever watched? Absolutely not. He wasn't even the best player in college football this year, a distinction that belongs to Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska's hulking defensive tackle.

Tebow makes a stronger case for being the greatest college quarterback in history.

The marriage of Tebow and Florida represented the kind of perfect union that only comes along every so often in college football. Tebow's combination of bruising running and accurate passing made him the ideal triggerman to operate Meyer's funky single-wing spread offense. Along with a whole host of talented Gators, Tebow played an instrumental role in turning Florida into college football's premier team in the second half of the 2000s.

However, that's not to say Tebow's resumé doesn't have holes. He played a primarily supporting part on Florida's 2006 championship team, with Chris Leak serving as the Gators' primary quarterback. Additionally, Florida hasn't had an undefeated championship year.

Most importantly, UF never won back-to-back national championships during Tebow's four years in Gainesville. History has proven that to be college football's truest mark of greatness.

In my book, that puts Tebow behind Nebraska's Tommie Frazier, who led the Cornhuskers to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 1994 and 1995 and almost won a third national championship in 1993.

So Tebow may not be The Greatest, but that's still pretty damn great.

On this installment of the In The Bleachers Podcast we are joined by friends of the show Rob Harley from Harley in the Huddle and Mark Noe from College Football Campus. The fellas join us to talk coaching controversies and to breakdown the Orange, Sugar, Rose and Fiesta Bowls.

We hit the Mike Leach and Urban Meyer situations hard starting with the Leach firing and wrapping up with Meyer's decisions impact on college football and Gators' recruiting. With Leach being fired and his statement being released during the show you'll get each of our first hand reactions to the statement.

Then we hit the four big daddy BCS Bowls, saving the Championship Game for next week. You'll get each of our storylines, match ups to watch, x-factors and predictions for the four games. Plenty of information to be had and some bonus good natured ribbing about my Heels blowing it against Pitt in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Remember, if you want the podcast you must subscribe to the Feedburner,but if you want to subscribe to the blog please use the NEW RSS Feed.This is for iTunes to be able to archive the shows. You can also search for "In The Bleachers" on iTunes and subscribe to the podcast that way.

Enjoy this week's episode of In The Bleachers and if you have any questions or comments to the show please email them to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Also be sure to follow In The Bleachers on twitter!