Bowls, Heaps, and Tulsa

National Championship, Again.
As usual, the BCS messed up again.  Alabama gets ANOTHER shot at LSU in what is bound to be another "classic" defensive battle, i.e. offensive struggle.  I sure would have loved to see OK State's high-octane offense against LSU's high-octane defense.  Instead, we get two great defenses against two static offenses.  It's the exact opposite of last year's title game!

Those Left Behind
If that were the lone error of the BCS this season, perhaps we could excuse it.  However, the Sugar Bowl decided to exclude a second Big XII team or ANY non-BCS team and grab Michigan and a second ACC team (which is unheard of, since they are something like 2-10 in BCS games).  Boise State got hosed.  Kansas State was overrated, but no more so than Michigan.  TCU got a bit of a screw job as well, not moving up in the BCS standings in spite of several losses ahead of them in the final week of the season.  Instead, the Sugar Bowl, which is really supposed to be the granddaddy of all BCS games, no offense Rose Bowl, gives us a matchup of two non-top ten teams, both selected as at-large bids.  Now, I have no problem with Fiesta, Rose, or Orange.  Fiesta got a great matchup, thanks to the stupidity of the Sugar Bowl.  The Rose got what it is supposed to get with Pac 12 and Big Ten champs.  Orange got its ACC champ and the last remaining selection, so that's more of a BCS system problem than that actual bowl's problem.  The Big East stinks, and they got stuck with West Virginia and Clemson.

Other Errors
Stanford received the only top ten at-large bid.  Alabama's was an automatic bid as the #2 team in the country.  There were four top ten teams that didn't make a BCS game this season.  There were four teams not in the top ten that did, two of them by at-large consideration.  How is a system that rewards a Big Ten team that didn't win its division but not an MWC champion, or second place team ranked 4 spots higher, fair?  I don't favor a large playoff system.  But it sure would be nice to see Stanford-LSU, Bama-OK State, with the winners facing off a week later.  After those games are played, I'd be fine to see LSU-Bama if that's how it turned out.

This was all about money for the BCS.  The only way to enact change is to enact large-scale boycotts of certain BCS games.  I start with the national championship game, but I will certainly not be watching a Virginia Tech-Michigan Sugar Bowl.  That would have made a great Capital One Bowl.  Instead, we get a crummy Sugar Bowl, a crummy Vegas Bowl, and a worse Poinsettia Bowl.  Boise gets nobody in Vegas.  TCU gets nobodier in San Diego.  This might be the straw that broke the camel's back: either Boise goes to the Big East, or Chris Petersen may finally take one of those jobs elsewhere.  He certainly was vocal today, and rightfully so.  Three times in his coaching career he has finished in the top ten without a BCS bid, including a season in which he was undefeated.

Fraud
Jake Heaps was thrown into the fire as a freshman.  But the real adversity came his sophomore year.  After recruiting others to come to BYU and learn and grow into a national championship contender (his words, not mine), he loses his starting job and he high-tails it out of there.  I am sure there are other considerations of which we fans are not aware, but it sure seems like he is not a BYU QB.  Team first is what BYU is all about.  It seems like Heaps put himself and his future ahead of the team.  Transferring is no different from taking a redshirt year.  He will not play in 2012.  He may start somewhere in 2013, but in a new locker room, with a new group of guys, playing in a new system, etc.  I'd like to wish him well.  He seems like a good kid.  I don't wish him ill, by any means, but I say good riddance.

Let's compare Kyle Van Noy's situation to Jake Heaps.  KVN gets a DUI, Bronco makes him wait a year to join the team.  He waits it out even though he doesn't have to.  He could go anywhere else.  He wanted to be at BYU.  Jake Heaps has everything handed to him that he could want.  He gets benched b/c it's clear he isn't ready.  He leaves, without even knowing where he is going, he just wants out.  Which one do BYU fans want on their team?  I think this is one reason Bronco doesn't like the "top-flight" recruits as well (and not just b/c he can't get many of them: they just don't fit into his system of earning and perspiring and putting the team first.  I think Bronco would rather have 10 walk-ons than 10 five-star recruits).  I think in two years, after Riley Nelson graduates, Heaps will miss BYU a lot more than BYU will miss him.  He had a chance to start for what could be a very good BYU team in 2013, playing a very good schedule.  Instead, he will go elsewhere.  Someone will want him.  Someone good, inevitably.  He may do well, he may not.

I just wish he had the maturity to see the impact of his decision.  He would have all of the exposure he could possibly want.  He will play on a national stage, as an independent, against some big-time teams.  He may get that at Washington or wherever else he goes.  But I do believe BYU had a chance to do something special in 2013 with Heaps at the helm.  Now, whether it's Munns or some other QB not currently on the roster, BYU will still have that chance.  I am not sure Heaps will.  I am reminded of Corbin Louks who transferred away from Utah after dropping to third on the depth chart a few years back.  Well, he would have had a lot of games the past two season at Utah if he had stuck it out and perhaps led Utah to a Pac 12 South Title this season.  Instead, he finished his career playing on defense for a bad Nevada team.

Here Come the Hurricane
I was ecstatic to see BYU get the matchup I had hoped for (it would have been cool to see the bowl negotiate their way into Houston, but that was always a long shot).  Tulsa is a pretty good squad.  Most computers actually have Tulsa higher-rated than BYU, so, if nothing else, it should be a good test.  Tulsa doesn't have the same high-powered attack it had under Malzahn and Graham over the past 5 years, but it's still a decently good football team.  I anticipate a fun game, with points to be scored.  BYU should be the better team in the matchup, but it isn't a mismatch by any means.  Tulsa is certainly capable of beating anyone.  Tulsa's four losses on the season were to OK State, Oklahoma, Boise State, and Houston, all in the top 20.  In that regard, they are similar to BYU: beat all the bad teams they played, lost to all the good teams they played, they just happened to play better teams, and more of them.  Both teams' best wins came at home to 7-win teams.  These are similar squads, with similar results.  It should be a fun game.  I am excited about this one!