But Tebow was hurt.

If he’d been healthy, I’m sure it would have affected this:

Here’s the other thing about Stafford: He played his best in the biggest games. He had a rating of 206.3 in the 42-30 win over Florida (11-of-18 for 217 yards, three touchdowns and one interception)…

One other nifty little note:

… With a win over Hawaii, Georgia could also secure its fifth top-10 finish in the polls in the last six years. No other SEC team would be able to claim that kind of run.

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One stop shopping

Here’s the marketing concept:

No matter that Florida breezed past Ohio State, 41-14, in last year’s Bowl Championship Series title game. The number that mattered to Fox Sports and its national advertisers and bowl sponsors was 27.7 million — the viewers who tuned in and gave Fox its strongest Monday night showing in years.

The game was the first national championship broadcast by Fox under a wide-ranging media rights deal that includes the ability to sell bowl sponsorships, in-stadium signage and, perhaps most important, the right to plug the easily recognizable bowl logos into its broadcasts and its business partners’ advertising and marketing campaigns…

… Fox structured the deal to offer what advertising industry executives call “one-stop shopping” for the FedEx Orange, Allstate Sugar and Tostitos Fiesta bowls. (The Rose Bowl has its own broadcasting arrangement with ABC.)

Taco Bell, Allstate and other big corporate advertisers now can sign on one dotted line to purchase commercial time, arrange for seats on the 50-yard line, put their logos inside BCS stadiums and push their promotions directly into the Fox broadcast.

The deal, which first had to be approved by colleges, athletic conferences and bowl officials, was predicated on a simple premise, according to Neal Pilson, a New York City-based media consultant: “They figured that corporate advertisers would pony up more money because there’s clearly added value to this kind of comprehensive package.”

The advertisers love it.

“The synergies are great,” said Tom McGovern, director of U.S. sports media services for OMD, a New York-based advertising and media giant that represents such BCS players as Tostitos and FedEx. “There’s nothing else of this magnitude that [clients] can put their names on.”

The BCS games provide what Paul Swangard, managing director of the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Institute, describes as “their own mini-Super Bowl platform. It’s an overarching media platform that didn’t exist before, and it has the potential to generate incremental dollars that people 10 years ago never could have dreamed would exist.”

Add it all up and what do you get? A river of money:

… The deal seems to be paying off for Fox. Television industry sources say it is charging as much as $500,000 for a 30-second commercial in one of its three BCS games and up to $950,000 for a 30-second spot in the Allstate BCS championship game. Fox had effectively sold all of its time even before the network ran its BCS selection show on Dec. 2. [Emphasis added.]

In other words, the money guys never cared which schools were playing in which bowl games. Think about that the next time you read someone’s call to arms about boycotting the BCS because the fans are unhappy about the matchups.

Hawaii and the big boys

Going into the Sugar Bowl, Hawaii’s biggest question comes from its weak schedule. It’s hard to judge the quality of a team when its overall opposition is as undemanding as the Warriors’ has been this year.

What I thought I’d do to get a better grasp of the level of Hawaii’s mettle is to look at how the school performed against BCS conference competition over the last three years (the years that Colt Brennan has been the starter). Here’s the list:

• 2007: Washington (H)
• 2006: Alabama (R); Purdue (H); Oregon State (H); Arizona State (N)
• 2005: Southern Cal (H); Michigan State (R); Wisconsin (H)

I don’t know about you, but I was surprised to find that Hawaii was able to schedule five home games against BCS conference opponents and only play two road games against the same caliber of schools during this time. The Warriors compiled a 3-5 record in these games.

Looking at a breakdown of some of the offensive and defensive stats from these games, here are a few items that emerge:

• Hawaii was outscored by an average of about nine points per game. It was held under 20 points three times (all losses). Hawaii’s defense held these schools under thirty points on three occasions and won two of the three games.
• Win, lose or draw, Colt and his receivers are going to get their passing yards. Hawaii averaged over 400 yards per game passing against these eight schools. Its worst showing was 236 yards passing in a game at Michigan State.
• As we already suspected, running isn’t that important to Hawaii’s success. The average running yardage in these games was under 100. There were four games in which Hawaii rushed for over 100 yards; its record in those games is 2-2.
• Despite a losing record in these eight games, Hawaii on average outgained its competition by more than 70 yards per game.
• On average, offenses playing Hawaii throw for about 75 yards per game more than they get on the ground. The Warriors held only two of these eight teams to less than 100 yards rushing (Purdue and Oregon State), but only managed to win one of the games.

If you take Hawaii’s averages in these games and compare them to the national ’07 stats here’s how it would rank, along with the nearest BCS conference team to that ranking:

• Scoring: 27.75, 62nd nationally (Connecticut)
• Defensive points: 36.63, 110th nationally (Minnesota)
• Total offense: 498.63 ypg, 5th nationally (Missouri)
• Total defense: 427.13 ypg, 94th nationally (Duke)

Overall, these are respectable numbers. Hawaii is going to move the ball. It’s also going to give up its fair share of yards and points on the other side. Honestly, if I had to compare them to an SEC team, I’d think of Kentucky.

The stats show this team is credible enough to give Georgia a good fight next Tuesday. The Dawgs had best be on their toes when they play.

They think about stuff to post so I don’t have to.

Here are a few choice tidbits from today’s college football buffet line:

• If there were any doubts about Penn Wagers’ officiating crew being the college football equivalent of a train wreck waiting to happen, last night’s Holiday Bowl should erase them completely.
• Darren McFadden’s got himself a new, bad ride.
• West Virginia sues Rich Rodriguez for the $4 million buyout, which should help immensely in the school’s search for a new head coach. It’s inspired the thought of the day: So West Virginia is suing Rich Rodriguez for the $4 million buyout called for in his contract. If it’s going to come down to a jury trial in front of 12 West Virginians, he might just as well write the check right now.
• Maybe we’ve found the canary in the coal mine when it comes to the BCS: TV ad revenue. “What matters to us is the consumer interest in the BCS,” said Lisa Cochrane, vice president of marketing for Allstate, which is in its second year as a Sugar Bowl title sponsor. “All of the interest we’re seeing is good, as long as it’s not negative, and we’ve not seen any evidence of fans boycotting bowls because of their various opinions.”
• The New York Times shows Knowshon a little love.