College football sucks

There, I said it. I used to think the NCAA provided something that the NFL did not, and they do, but it's not something that should be provided.

Tulane lines up for its now annual asskicking from the LSU Tigers tonight. The season started off fairly well - Alabama beat the Green Wave only via two punt/kick return touchdowns (I don't remember which). But the season has gone terribly for Tulane, losing to Army homecoming weekend and getting blown out by Rice (to be fair, Rice is very good this year, but still). LSU is essentially on the bubble for a BCS bowl game (unlikely, but possible). Neither has seen the season go as hoped.

And, frankly, no one outside of Tulane alumni and the student body gives a shit about the LSU-Tulane "rivalry." It's a rivalry that hasn't been relavent since the Truman administration. This used to be a playing-out of Louisiana's two cultural hearts - New Orleans and everywhere else. It used to have the same significance as UC vs. Stanford - a rivalry between the state's premier public and private institutions.

But in the intervening years, Tulane left the SEC, falling into the hellhole that is non-BCS football. They mustered two great seasons when Tommy Bowden coached, but sucked after he left for Clemson (Of course, it didn't help that Tulane passed over OC Rich Rodriguez for the HC position). And that summarizes why the worse schools can't compete or even get better - as soon as they get better, the head coach and AD will leave for greener pastures. Organizational stability and success allow for a school to build a winning program, and smaller schools are largely unable to create any of those things.

It remains to be seen whether Bob Toledo can build a winning program at Tulane. I doubt it. Alumni won't allow Tulane to go to Divison I-AA, and the NCAA isn't structured to allow for more competitive schools (the easiest way to facilitate this, of course, would be to further decrease the number of scholarships offered).

Oh, and FanHouse has a pretty sweet picture of a Texans fan's jersey:


Some Texans fans like Dallas as their NFC team.

Those people are called "traitors."

Some Texans fans loathe the Cowboys.

These people are called "the citizens of Houston."

Can't have it both ways folks - either like Dallas or like Houston. Can't do both.