The Wiz of Odds

Another BCS Screwjob

Here's the scoreboard from the Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas on Oct. 11 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The score is at the bottom: Horns 45, Sooners 35.

In the end, this was just another meaningless regular season game, brought to you by the Bowl Championship Series. Head-to-head matchups don't matter when it comes to the BCS, whose standings made Oklahoma the winner of the Big 12 South. Unreal.

For those who are against a playoff, this is just the reason we need one.

Worldwide Follower Is at It Again

Nothing quite like taking somebody else's information and passing it off as your own.

On Sunday at 1:05 p.m. (Mountain Time), the self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader in Sports" gave us this bit of news: "Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen will be named the head coach of Wyoming, sources familiar with the agreement told ESPN.com's Joe Schad."

Who are these "sources" we ask, and why for the umpteenth time don't they want their names published? Could it be that Austin Ward of the Casper Star-Tribune and Bob Hammond of the Laramie Boomerang are the sources?

Ward was the first on the scene Saturday night, filing a story at 9:21 p.m. (Mountain), hours after Missouri lost to Kansas in the Border War at Arrowhead Stadium:

"A chartered flight left Laramie for Kansas City in the afternoon, picked up Christensen and landed back in Wyoming around 7 p.m., the first definitive evidence of reciprocal interest and progress for UW's marquee coaching gig.

" 'No comments tonight,' " Christensen said before climbing into a white Suburban with his family and a member of the UW athletic department."

Hammond, following Ward's lead, had this in Sunday morning's edition of the Boomerang: "Veteran Missouri assistant head coach Dave Christensen is in line to become the next head football coach at the University of Wyoming, according to a source close to the situation."

The story was teased above the fold of Sunday's Boomerang (below).

Of course, ESPN has the bigger blowhorn and because of that, it's not news until the "Worldwide Leader" posts it. But seriously, isn't giving Ward and Hammond credit the right thing to do?

Power of the Press

An expanded look at how college football news was played on the front pages of Sunday's newspapers. The only sports front in the bunch comes from the Lexington Herald-Leaders. Click an image for an enlarged view.

Columnists Corner

Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle: The Bowl Championship Series is such a disaster it's perfect.

Ron Morris, Columbia State: A Hall of Famer with 170 victories was outcoached by a wet-behind-the-headsets "interim" coach whose experience is a mere six games. Yes, veteran Steve Spurrier got schooled by the youngster, Dabo Swinney.

Jeff Carroll, South Bend Tribune: If Charlie Weis is guilty of anything, it is being a square peg in a round hole.

San Venable, Knoxville News-Sentinel: It was only fitting that a cold, steady rain fell during Phil Fulmer's final game as Tennessee coach.

Rich Bozich, Louisville Courier-Journal: Kentucky played an uninspired and unimaginative game against Tennessee. Its offense looked more confused and erratic than it looked in August. Its defense gave up the longest running play, longest passing play and longest drive that Tennessee generated all season.

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: Urban Meyer doesn't lose many games period, but he especially doesn't lose games to Florida's arch-antagonists. The Urbanator is the terminator when it comes to seeking and destroying the teams Florida fans most want to beat.

Doug Blackburn, Tallahassee Democrat: It doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to know that Florida State is not in the same league as Florida, but he asked one anyway. "You can know what's going to happen, but if you don't make tackles and you miss assignments you're going to get beat," Seminole safey Myron Rolle said. "It got out of hand. I guess there's no way to stop them."

Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star: A look at Saturday’s Border War, a pulsating, last-minute 40-37 Kansas triumph, gives you a pretty good indication of how Missouri wound up a "disappointing" 9-3. Gary Pinkel struggles with the details. Mark Mangino does not.

Geoff Calkins, Memphis Commercial Appeal: If you want to read a column about how crazy and terrible and unfair the firing of coaches has become, you've come to the wrong place. It's business, people. Nothing more, nothing less.

George Schroeder, Eugene Register-Guard: It took 12 games, but Oregon finally got its signature victory, denying Oregon State a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Reporters Notebooks

Bryant-Jon Anteola, Fresno Bee: Fresno State's Pat Hill was on a flight Saturday to Seattle. Speculation has Hill interviewing for the opening at Washington.

Austin Ward, Casper Star-Tribune: Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen was in Laramie Saturday night for a second interview with Wyoming officials, who are looking to replace the fired Joe Glenn. Update: Bob Hammond of the Laramie Boomerang reports that Christensen has agreed in principle to become Wyoming's coach.

Michael Rothstein, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: A source tells Rothstein that a buyout of Charlie Weis will cost Notre Dame at least $12 million. Earlier reports have put the buyout between $4.5 and $16 million.

Jeff Carroll, South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick plans to meet with Weis to talk about the season, but a meeting won't come for several days. Weis is 28-22 in four seasons, but appears to have several factors working in his favor.

Bryan Mullen, Tennessean: Phillip Fulmer said he would be interested in the Clemson job. "If the right place that has the same kind of passion that the Tennessee people have, and I felt like I could have the same kind of passion there that I've had here, then that's something I would look at."

Ryan Greene, Las Vegas Sun: With one year remaining on his contract, Nevada Las Vegas coach Mike Sanford's job status for the 2009 season is safe, according to athletic director Mike Hamrick.

Chadd Cripe, Idaho Statesman: Boise State's Chris Petersen, whose name has been associated with several openings, said he is "not necessarily" interested in any of those jobs — including the opening at Washington.

Antonya English, St. Petersburg Times: The status of Florida's Percy Harvin for the Southeastern Conference title game is in doubt. Harvin left the locker room on crutches with a boot on his right foot after the Gators' victory against Florida State.

Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell is expected to have surgery Sunday on his left (non-throwing) hand. He is expected to be fully recovered for postseason play.

Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Mike Leach says graduation rates should decide the three-team tie in the Big 12 South. Last month, an NCAA report showed Tech with a 79% graduation rate, tops among Big 12 teams and well ahead of Texas (50%) and Oklahoma (46%). "I think they should break that three-way tie based on graduation rate. I think the Big 12 conference should have an executive session [immediately]. When they do that, they will find that no one’s more deserving than the Red Raiders."

Mike DeArmond and Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star: The new four-year Border War contract that will have Missouri and Kansas playing in Arrowhead Stadium could be worth $1.6 million a season for each team.

Billy Hull, Seattle Times: Hawaii secured a spot in the Hawaii Bowl with a 24-10 victory against Washington State. The Cougars lost 11 games for the first time in team history.

Douglas Burns, Carroll Daily Times Herald: The woman in the Metrodome sex incident now says she was a victim.

Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: Unless some well-connected people aren't telling the truth, or are out of the loop, Tommy Tuberville will return for his 11th season as the Auburn coach.

Bob Asmussen, Champaign News-Gazette: Here are 25 reasons Illinois went from the Rose Bowl to no bowl.

Barry Horn, Dallas Morning News: With Sylvester Crooms' departure from Mississippi State, there are three African American head coaches in college football among 119- I-A teams.

Paul Buker, Oregonian: He's not looking forward to another trip to El Paso to cover Oregon State in the Sun Bowl. "...right now El Paso does nothing for me. And lord knows, I would never come back from Juarez. All they would find is my laptop."

BCS Guru: Oklahoma or Texas?

It's the moment we've all been waiting for. Will the BCS standings give the Big 12 South to the Oklahoma Sooners or the Texas Longhorns?

Sam Chi, the BCS Guru, has the answer, but we're not going to reveal it here.

You'll have to go to Sam's site for the answer, or listen to our late-night podcast with the Guru. Listen to the podcast by clicking here.

Wiz podcasts are also available for download on iTunes. Click here to go to our link on iTunes or search the iTunes store for "The Wiz of Odds." For a complete list of all podcasts on the Wiz, click here.