The Stiff-Arm Conspiracy

Conspiracy theory with me for a minute, won't you kids?

So, the Heisman Trophy presentation was last night and can I just say how much I love it? It's one hour. Bing, bang, boom- DONE. They trot all the old dudes up there say a few words, let the winner give his speech and then SHAZAM! Gone until next year as the Worldwide Leader In Sports has better things to show us. (Namely a pretty fascinating documentary about Bo Jackson that answered the question all of us ask from time to time: 'Hey, whatever happened to Bo Jackson?')

But I was looking at the voting results from last night's win for TAMU's Johnny Manziel and bells started ringing in my head when they mentioned that this award had been defined by Conference Re-Alignment more than ever before. Sure enough, Manziel's biggest victories came in the Southwest Region (Texas... and company in Heisman land) and the South Region (hardcore SEC Country.) Texas rallied hard for it's kid and the SEC rallied hard for a fellow, albeit new SEC-er to get the win. Manziel even beat out his next closest competitor, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o in the Northeast- Te'o only won in the Midwest- and not by much. (319-311 or something like that I think.)

Contrast that with the last time a Golden Domer won the Heisman in 1987. Tim Brown took every region except the Northeast. (Granted his main competition was from Syracuse, Michigan State, Pitt and weirdly, Holy Cross.) But I'm willing to bet back in the hey-day of the Holtz Era, the Golden Domers still had that 'national brand' thing going for them and probably got paid attention to a lot more on the television than they have been prior to this year for a good decade or so. All of which made me wonder: is Notre Dame's vaunted independence going to look all that great in a couple of years?

There a couple of problems with this notion. First, the Heisman has as much bearing on fairness and objectivity as the BCS does and second, they've never given it to a purely defensive player- ever. And I don't know why. But prior to last night no true freshman had ever won either and that made me curious. Johnny Football certainly had the most Heisman-worthy moment, beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa for all the world to see. But he's a freshman. Awesome year, no doubt but if stats were to believed last night, two separate tackling studies concluded that Te'o had missed two tackles- all season. That's equally as insane. So it was curious...

And then I remembered seeing this gem in the comments/speculation on who the B1G would add next over at BGHP...

ND and Pitt, because chicks dig the longball.


Longball: Maybe Delaney convinced ND late this fall.

First, he told ND they risk being on the outside looking in if there are four playoff spots for four super-conferences.

Second, he told them the B1G will add Rutgers and get ND out of its ACC deal and picking up the NYC cable market.

Third, he told them bring along whoever you want, and ND picked Pitt.

Fourth, and most importantly, Delany told ND we will make more money than can be printed. What cable company can refuse to add the network that carries ND, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska? Maryland was a nice AAU State school to connect the dots. The deal was already done before Thanksgiving. The only reason for the delay of the announcement was to let ND focus on the national championship.

Chicks dig the longball theories.

It is, as the commentator noted something a longball but the more I think about it, the more I've got to wonder if there might not be something to this. The Domers saw probably the best college football player in all the land (at least on the defensive side of the ball) get beat out by a freshman phenom from TAMU largely on the basis of regional, SEC voting. Te'o didn't even crack the Northeast (he lost a slim margin) where there would be, I'd imagine a hefty amount of Irish fans around.

At the very least, we can conclude the obvious: The Domers ain't the national brand they used to be. But with Maryland and Rutgers on board the B1G, everyone is watching Maryland's lawsuit with the ACC very carefully. If they get out of the $50 million, smart money is the FSU and Clemson bolt to the Big 12, the SEC grabs two more (I'm hearing NC State and VaTech) and suddenly Notre Dame's looking at a playoff system where the four big power conference set a lot of, if not all of the rules. And then their deal with the ACC suddenly doesn't look quite so smart.

At that point, the above scenario becomes very plausible indeed. Whether it's already in place is another matter (I'd be surprised if it is. Delaney may be the Master of Conference Re-Alignment Chess but if he's pulled this off, he should be promoted to Grand Master at very least.)

We'll have to wait and see but the B1G has played it smart so far- and in their heart of hearts, I doubt they've given up on the dream of Notre Dame in the B1G. I think it's still plausible at the very least. And if they bring Pitt along, it only gives Penn State more friends- which we were apparently concerned about.