And Now For The Moment We’ve All Been Waiting For

For years the fans, journalists and the players themselves have been calling for a college football playoff. Tomorrow at 5:00 PM in Pasadena, California we finally get what we’ve all been asking for—a playoff. The Seminoles of Florida State take on the Oregon Ducks in a matchup of the last two Heisman Trophy recipients, with the winner moving on to play the winner of the Alabama/Ohio State game in a true national championship.

Plenty of column inches have been spent comparing the opposing quarterbacks, and the game should be an interesting look at their differing styles. Drop back pro-style quarterback Jameis Winston hasn’t had as prolific a year statistically as last season’s Heisman Trophy winning campaign (a feat that would have been near impossible, partly because last season was so outstanding and also because he has had to shoulder more of the load himself), but he has excelled during crunch time, and brings an unblemished record as a starter into the game.

On the other side, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has been stellar nearly the entire season, and was a deserving winner of this year’s Heisman. Excelling in Oregon’s up-tempo spread attack, he has accounted for 52 touchdowns this season passing and rushing the football. However, offensive line issues have resulted in 29 sacks this season, with Mariota fumbling seven times. If Florida State wants to win the game, getting pressure on Mariota, containing him in the pocket, and limiting his yards when he breaks containment will be key (of course that’s a bit like saying the most important part of winning a game is scoring more points than your opponent).

With the obligatory hyping of the quarterbacks out of the way, let me address a few points that I think will be keys in this game. First, I think that freshman running back Dalvin Cook is going to be a difference maker. His emergence late in the season (he’s played a monster role in three of the Seminole’s last four games) has taken some of the load off of Winston. If he has a big game, look for the Seminoles to control the clock a bit, and attempt to keep Oregon’s quick-strike offense on the sideline. With Oregon losing the services of top defensive back Ifo Ekpre-Olomu for the contest, I wouldn’t be surprised if freshman Travis Rudolph didn’t make a few big catches to keep drives going.

While Cook has emerged as the FSU’s feature back, with senior Karlos Williams moving to a complementary role, Oregon boasts four players with at least 50 carries this season. If the State wants to avoid a track meet, Mario Edwards Jr. is going to have to be strong at the point of attack and Jalen Ramsey will have to be step up in run support, otherwise freshman standout Royce Freeman and Mariota could have a big day on the ground.

Finally, while the Seminoles have played a number of close games this season, with seven of their wins coming by a touchdown or less, Oregon is not similarly battle tested, going 1-1 in games decided by a touchdown or less. Florida State has taken much grief for not dismantling what many viewed as a middling schedule, but some deeper analysis of conference strength suggests that the ACC has been underrated. If the game is close, I think that the Seminole’s experience in tight spots will serve them well.

Vegas has Oregon as an 8 point favorite, I like FSU to win the game outright 41-3 7.


Alabama/Ohio State
Nick Saban brings another juggernaut Crimson Tide squad to The Big Easy to face Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The conventional wisdom is that Alabama simply has too much talent all over the field for the Buckeyes to handle. The loss of J.T. Barrett certainly doesn’t help Ohio State’s cause. While Cardale Jones is making only his second start, the extra practice since the Big Ten Championship game does help matters a bit. Of course it’s impossible to simulate the defensive intensity that Alabama typically brings to the table, and expect Saban to employ every defensive scheme in the book in an attempt to rattle the young quarterback. However, Alabama has shown itself to be susceptible to the deep pass, and Jones showed that he was capable in that regard in his first start. The Buckeyes are going to need some quick strikes if they want to hang with the Crimson Tide.

Alabama comes equipped with their usual stable of top flight running backs (T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry) and first year starter quarterback Blake Sims has been a revelation, setting an Alabama single season record for passing yards. However, the key player on Bama’s offense is Amari Cooper. Cooper accounted for 45% of the Tide’s receptions this season, and has the potential to give opposing defenses fits. Ohio State’s defensive line should be up to the challenge of limiting, if not stopping, Alabama’s rushing attack, but if they want to keep the Tide from lighting up the scoreboard, safety Vonn Bell is going to have to have a strong game in the secondary.

Las Vegas has the line set at Alabama favored by 9. While I think that it will be tough for the Buckeyes to pull the upset, I wouldn’t be completely shocked if Coach Meyer pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Alabama 31-Ohio State 24.

Got a Head Start on my Fresh Start

New Year’s Eve has always been one of my favorite holidays. Even now, when I don’t plan on spending the evening attempting to consume enough alcohol to satisfy a busload of roadies for Motley Crue, I still think it’s a good holiday, primarily because I’m really enamored with the idea of fresh starts. I realize that January 1^st  is just an arbitrary date, and the beginning of the year could just as easily fall in March or September (and in certain places it used to), but still, the idea of starting over is incredibly appealing. Maybe it speaks to human optimism, and a belief that what was doesn’t necessarily always have to be?  

I imagine that’s part of the motivation behind New Year’s resolutions. It’s a public (or private, if you’re that type of person) declaration of what you intend to change. Well, this year I’m in a bit of a quandary. Having just packed up my entire life and moved, I’m already just a few weeks into a completely new routine, and to be honest, I really like the direction it’s taking me so far. So instead of making resolutions this year, I’m going to share a few of the things that that have made this a fresh start. The first one is something that I’m sure a lot of you might be pondering for one of your resolutions, working out. I’m no stranger to the gym, and I’ve spent plenty of hours working out this year, but the last few weeks I’ve been trying to actually enjoy the time I’m spending in there for its own sake, not for what I’m going to get out of it in terms of physique, and not as a way to distract myself from things that are bothering me. I’m not saying that I’m not going in there with a plan, or that I don’t notice and gain a certain amount gratification from any aesthetic improvements. I’ve just chosen to actually fully experience and enjoy my time in there for what it is, an opportunity to use my body and push myself physically and mentally.

The second thing I’m working on this year is trying to be optimistic and positive. I don’t mean being unreasonably optimistic, but more along the lines of not looking for the negative in every situation; the reason that a plan won’t work or the smudge that ruins a masterpiece. If you know me, you know this is a heavy lift for me, figuratively speaking. I know I haven’t, or won’t, always succeed with this, but just consciously attempting it has produced results that I’ve noticed.

Finally, my writing here is something that has been a big change. Having an ongoing project, one that causes me to think about ideas or events that I want to write down, and sticking to it, has been a big change from how I’ve approached writing in the past. Academic writing afforded me an opportunity to procrastinate, to obsess over an idea, a single paragraph, or even just a couple of sentences for days. By the way, that style can and probably will lead you to turning in your capstone project six months later than you intended to (I’m not kicking myself too much, that amount of freedom and space swallows some people whole and they never finish). Writing daily posts doesn’t just take commitment; it requires you to look at the world differently. Rather than just stumble through the day, you start to notice things, even if there isn’t very much happening and all you’re noticing are what thoughts you’re having. I’ve noticed that it’s made me much more present, mentally.

One thing that I’ve noticed is the importance of being kind and understanding with yourself. It’s different than being lazy. It’s about realizing that we all fall short of our goals sometimes, and not letting one setback derail your entire program.  

 
Well, those are some of the things that I’ve been doing with my fresh start. What are you planning on doing with yours? Feel free to put your thoughts down in the comment section.

Clock's Ticking

When you spend as much time in an university political science department as I have, you spend a lot of time talking politics—with your classmates, colleagues, activist-types around campus, or just random people you meet that want to ask your opinion about some political issue once they find out that you’ve studied poli-sci. While it can be dangerous to put people into ideological boxes, as time goes on you start to notice that there are some broad generalizations you can draw about people and their political beliefs (and if this post ends up infuriating you, please go back and read this last sentence, particularly the broad generalizations part). One type of person that you’re almost sure to run into on a college campus (and the type that caused me to shake my head more often than almost any other) is the self-described libertarian. They’re found in other places too, but I’ve found that university campuses are particularly target-rich environments for these folks.
There’s even a bit of research that backs this up. I’m sure you’ve probably heard of these guys (and yes, they’re predominantly guys, there’s a bit of research on that too), but in case you haven’t, the quick definition (the one used in research I’ve been referencing)--“someone whose political views emphasize individual freedom by limiting the role of government”. Given the current status of public opinion, you might be thinking “Hey, that sounds just like me.” If you’ll give me a second, I’ll try to explain why that isn’t you (or at least it shouldn’t be).


Esquire writer Charlie Pierce has a  "Five Minute Rule" concerning politicians from the Paul family that I think essentially applies to libertarians in general.


“The Five Minute Rule states that you can listen to any politician from the Paul family for precisely five minutes and agree with pretty much everything that person says. But that at exactly the 5:00:01 mark, the conversation will be Raptured up into the Izonkosphere and the CAPITAL LETTERS will starT to Come OUT.”  


The capital letters that he’s talking about reference the tendency for unbalanced individuals to resort to typing in all capital letters when engaged in political discussions on the internet. I’m not saying that all libertarians are unhinged paranoids, but I do think that any political discussion with a libertarian is destined to eventually go off of the rails whenever the conversation digs past the superficial statements, and gets into the nitty-gritty of how government and society function. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of speaking to a religious fundamentalist. Their ideology can’t fail, it can only be failed. The answer to every question or problem eventually boils down to some combination of “privatize it”, “deregulate it”, and “cut taxes”. 


The tax cutting fetish was on full display earlier this month when Senator Rand Paul  placed part of the blame for the killing of Eric Garner on excessive cigarette taxes.  For the moment, I don’t care what you think about the topic of police violence, I want you to just think about the level of rabid allegiance to your political ideology that it takes to go on television and place the blame for a man’s homicide on cigarette taxes. That’s just one example of how this political movement is at best a three note symphony, attempting to play the keys of deregulation, privatization, and tax cutting in response to any and all issues. They say that they want smaller government in order to make people freer, unfortunately they forget the axiom that “power abhors a vacuum.” That basically means that in the absence of authority, power will be asserted by someone. We don’t need to speculate about whether this is true. Nearly the entire 19^th century is a testament to this fact. The hands-off approach of the U.S. government towards business produced robber barons whose names are still legendary, as are their abuses of the general public. It took the Great Depression, a World War, and the institution of the New Deal for regular Americans to finally begin to realize their fair share of the economic bounty of the country.


As we head towards yet another presidential election, I just want to remind you that the clock is ticking, and that libertarianism’s five minutes are hopefully almost up.