NCAA Coaches Usually Get It Right But The Administrators Are
a bunch of hypocrytes!!! After failing in the courtroom to block the state of Delaware from accepting wagers on single college football games during the 2009 season and beyond the talking heads that run college sports got even by dictating that any state accepting wagers on single games will not be allowed to host a championship game of any kind. These are the same people who take African American kids out of the ghetto pay them nothing and make billions off their ability to play sports and then kick them to the curb after their four years of eligibility has ended. This is all done under the guise that the kids are rewarded with a college education. I won’t even go into graduation rates!!! These are the same individuals who claim adding a twelfth game to the regular NCAA football season is not in the best interest of the student athlete. Get real!! Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow is only taking one course this whole year much like USC’s Matt Leinart did his senior year. The real reason they don’t want to start adding games is that it might lead to a much wanted playoff system which would interrupt the current way the cash flows back to these people in charge. When college head coaches are paid $4 million per year by these same people are we to believe there is no money in college sports? Hypocrytes!!!!!
On a lighter note it is much more fun to hear what these same head coaches are saying and thinking this time of the year especially when the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll is released as the 2009 edition was yesterday. The reason I am so interested is that I like to check my college football future tickets for accuracy with the coaches’ opinions. Since the inception of the current BCS formula for determining the NCAA football champion the coaches’ opinions have been fairly accurate. I have broken down in the chart below where the eventual champion was ranked in the USA Preseason Poll since the BCS system started in 1998.
| YEAR | TEAM | PRESEASON RANKING |
| 1998 | Tennessee | #10 |
| 1999 | Florida State | #1 |
| 2000 | Oklahoma | #20 |
| 2001 | Miami Florida | #2 |
| 2002 | Ohio State | #12 |
| 2003 | LSU | #15 |
| 2004 | USC | #1 |
| 2005 | Texas | #2 |
| 2006 | Florida | #8 |
| 2007 | LSU | #2 |
| 2008 | Florida | #5 |
It appears the coaches were mildly surprised in 2002 (#12) and again in 2003 (#15) and very surprised in 2000 (#20) but over the lasr five years they have been able to point to the eventual champion with a great deal of accuracy. Below I have charted the range results percentage wise:
| Ranking | Number of Champs |
| 1 | 2 Times |
| 2 | 3 Times |
| 3 | 0 Times |
| 4 | 0 Times |
| 5 | 1 Time |
6 of 11 Champions (55%) have been ranked in the top 5 in the Coaches’ preseason poll.
| Ranking | Number of Champs |
| 6 | 0 Times |
| 7 | 0 Times |
| 8 | 1 Time |
| 9 | 0 Times |
| 10 | 1 Time |
Adding two more champions mkaes it 8 of 11 (73%) that were in the top ten in the preseason poll including all five of the last champions. So now let’s take a look at the coaches’ top ten for this year:
| 1.Florida |
| 2.Texas |
| 3.Oklahoma |
| 4.USC |
| 5.Alabama |
| 6.Ohio State |
| 7.Virginia Tech |
| 8.Penn State |
| 9.LSU |
| 10.Mississippi |
Based on the past it would appear that my large bet on Texas at 6/1 and a smaller wager on Penn State at 35/1 both have a very good chance to be in the hunt and maybe just maybe I will be interested in January’s second Rose Bowl game of January 2010. Since all eleven previous champions were ranked in the top twenty in the preseason poll it appears my wagers on Notre Dame (#23) at 28/1 and BYU (#24) at 250/1 are probably losers but what happens if the Cougars upset Oklahoma in Arlington, Texas on September 5th which I believe could very well happen. Then what do you think their odds will be? That’s what makes these futures bets so much fun and sometimes profitable. One thing we do know is that at least we can count on the coaches being closer to right than their bosses. Thanks for listening!!