And for his next trick…

Tony Barnhart just made every Georgia Tech fan’s head explode.

The lines are being drawn.

There’s an expression you hear a lot in law school: “bad facts make bad law”.

It’s starting to look like we’re drifting that way in the D-1 playoff debate.

… Swofford, who is the incoming BCS chair, said the nature of the 2007 season and its weekly upheaval has motivated his presidents and athletic directors to reconsider a plus-one model.

“A lot of people look at it and say … maybe it would be better if more than two teams had the opportunity to play for the national championship,” Swofford said.

Pointing to what happened this season as a justification for creating an expanded playoff is a knee-jerk response at best, cynical manipulation at worst. I’m not arguing pro or con about a playoff here, just that using what any rational observer of the sport would acknowledge has been a highly unusual season as a basis for radically transforming the game strikes me as reckless.

Or maybe Swofford and Slive simply intend to use this as some sort of half-assed bargaining chip to play with the Rose Bowl, which is going to have a huge problem with a seeded “plus-one” playoff format. Either way, it’s bad.

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More signs of massive disinterest

While the TV ratings for the Sugar Bowl were down from the previous year, the number for the Fiesta and Orange Bowls rose.

Fox doesn’t sound too upset.

Ratings for Fox’s coverage of the Sugar Bowl, a Georgia blowout of Hawaii, dived 17 percent compared to last year’s game, which featured Notre Dame.

But the Oklahoma-West Virginia Fiesta Bowl was up 10 percent, and the Kansas-Virginia Tech Orange Bowl climbed 6 percent.

Last year’s BCS title game all but ended when Florida took a 34-14 lead into the half. But the game was still the second-most-watched sporting event of 2007, drawing 28.8 million viewers. About 19.6 million watched the NCAA basketball final on CBS.

Asked if Fox believes it’s getting its money’s worth for $80 million a year, Bell replied, “Without question.”

He added: “It’s our top priority to extend this relationship, whatever the format. Whether it’s a plus-one, an eight-team playoff or status quo, this is the business we want to be in.”

Maybe they just need to enlarge the Notre Dame exception for the BCS – let a bowl have the option to invite the Irish over any school that has a strength of schedule greater than 100. Obviously America would rather watch Charlie Weis get smoked than June Jones.

The cherry on top of the sundae

Dawg fans will no doubt be pleased to see the final jewel in the diadem that has been Fox’s broadcast of the BCS:

… Look for a smooth Urban Meyer tonight when he plays guest analyst on FOX’s pregame, halftime and postgame shows…

The good news is, if the title game drags on as long as the Sugar Bowl did, nobody will be around to watch the postgame show except for the fans of the winner and a few folks in Hawaii getting ready to eat dinner.

What else would you expect from North Dakota?

Today’s eyeroller is an editorial in the Bismarck Tribune.  You only need to see one line to know where they’re coming from:

… Are bragging rights to a national sports title as meaningful as helping to bring about peace on earth? Hardly.

Hoo, boy.  I bet you didn’t know that Glenn Dorsey was scheduled to fly to Jerusalem today to settle that pesky Israeli/Palestinian thing, but cancelled because he couldn’t catch a return flight to get him to New Orleans on time.

By the way, guys, the next time you want to wax indignant, try to get your facts straight.  The NCAA has no direct connection to tonight’s title game.

Once again, the fans speak.

For all of this year’s bitching and moaning about tonight’s BCS title game, somebody out there wants to see it.

StubHub, an online ticket broker, has announced the game is the top-selling event in the company’s history, surpassing last year’s Super Bowl and BCS championship games in gross sales.

A quick look ahead

The most daunting task facing what should be a very highly ranked Georgia squad in ’08 is this:

2008 SCHEDULE (home games in bold)

Aug 30: Georgia Southern
Sep 6: Central Michigan
Sep 13: South Carolina
Sep 20: Arizona State
Sep 27: Alabama
Oct 11: Tennessee
Oct 18: Vanderbilt
Oct 25: LSU
Nov 1: Florida
Nov 8: Kentucky
Nov 15: Auburn
Nov 29: Georgia Tech

That’s nine teams that played in bowls this season, including three on January 1st. There are five teams on that list with head coaches that have won MNCs.

The two open dates on the schedule are nice (and getting two weeks to prepare for Paul Johnson’s triple option may be bigger than we think right now), but a month and a half between the last two home games looks a little strange. From here, it looks like that stretch away from Athens will wind up defining the season.