UD vs. Alabama: Wooooooooooooooo!

That's the type of fire I've been dying to see from CJ all year.

This will not be a normal recap, cause it's coming the day after the game, but I was shocked (and pumped) to look at my phone and see that Dayton had beaten Alabama by 12. It was not a game I was expecting them to win at all. But in typical Flyer fashion, UD got itself up and played a great game, winning 74-62. Maybe with that type of win, they'll put themselves back on track.

First things first: this performance by UD will be an anomaly for the rest of the season, for a few reasons. Dayton might not shoot 60 percent from the field again, will rarely shoot 50 percent from the three again, and my two keys to the game from yesterday's post actually coming through and being keys to the game will almost certainly never happen again. But it was nice for UD to out-rebound Bama (26-20) and for Chris Johnson to have by far his best game of the season (8-9 fg, 20 points) and make me look like I know what I'm talking about. The best part about CJ's game last night appears to be that of his nine shots, just four of them were threes. So even if he had an off night from beyond the arc (say 1-4) he would have finished with 14. It's pretty simple. When the guy gets inside, he scores more.

Despite the ridiculous shooting percentage, there are things UD did this game that are sustainable, some things that they are perfectly capable of continuing the rest of the season. First is the rebounding margin. They won it. And while neither team grabbed many rebounds in total (a byproduct of UD's 60 percent shooting and Alabama's 50 percent), UD won the battle on the glass. That's important. That's what they need to be doing all the time, especially when A-10 season comes around and they aren't playing teams that are as big as Alabama. The other stat that was great to see was Dayton's 18 assists on the game. Once again, this is a slightly inflated total due to the Flyers' high shooting percentage, but when a team has 18 assists, that means it was moving the ball well all game long. So whether or not the shots are dropping at such a high clip, the offense is working well. You have to be encouraged by a stat like that.

I wasn't expecting Dayton to win this came, and yet, it feels like I should have seen this coming. I mean, isn't this the way UD has been since I can remember? Play well, play poorly on the road, have a good stretch, have a horrible stretch that causes you to scratch your head and wonder why you ever thought they were any good, then win a game against a great opponent. Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm used to that. I wish I wasn't, but I am. After this Bama win, a fan can't help but wonder why Dayton couldn't play like it did against Alabama when it was playing Miami or Buffalo, because 60 percent shooting would not have been necessary to beat either of those teams, and UD would be 8-1, looking great so far. Alas, that's not the way it's been with the Flyers for a long time, and, for now, it looks like us fans are going to have to endure that inconsistency for at least one more year.

From here on out, the non-conference is pretty weak. Dayton plays USC Upstate, Florida International, Seton Hall, Illinois-Chicago and Ole Miss. UD's record in those games absolutely cannot be worse than 4-1, with the one loss allowed against a Seton Hall team that looks...not bad this year. Really, it needs to be a 5-0 stretch. Get through that, then we're into what really matters for Dayton. A huge first game against Saint Louis, the team that has dominated them in recent years. With play like last night, Dayton can continue to make it happen against all these teams.

Dayton vs. Alabama

Fitting that while I'm at work Dayton will be playing the most important game of its non-conference season. So instead of doing a recap, I'm going to try and capture this game before it happens.

First, to make one thing clear. This game wouldn't be the most important for UD if it were not for recent events. Dayton comes into its home contest against Alabama the losers of a surprising two consecutive (bad) games. After an 84-55 loss against Buffalo and a 75-58 loss at Murray State, UD will be playing its marquee non-conference game with its season looking tenuous at best. A win over a top 15 opponent and maybe the Flyers have stopped the bleeding and are getting back on track. A loss? Well, that would mean UD has lost three straight, fallen to 5-4 and officially qualify for "reeling" status. At 5-4 nine games in, nothing short of a spectacular performance in the Atlantic 10 regular season and A-10 Tournament would have Dayton playing in any sort of postseason.

What needs to happen
Dayton's work on the glass needs to improve. Currently Dayton is 226th in the country in rebounds per game. That sits in stark contrast to what we've been accustomed to for Dayton for a long time. They have hung their hat on their rebounding for years. But that has not been the case this season. Alabama, meanwhile, is ranked 42nd in rebounding. UD is going to have to really pick up its effort on the glass if it doesn't want to get run out of the gym giving up offensive rebounds.

Chris Johnson's got to step up. CJ has been lackluster all season long. Even when he's scored, it hasn't been great. CJ has shot 36 percent for the season (34 percent from three), and he's only pulling down five boards a game. In the past, CJ has stepped up big in important games. It would be excellent if Dayton could get another 26 point, 20 rebound-type performance out of Johnson like he delivered against Duquesne two seasons ago. CJ has hit some clutch shots in big moments in the past. That hasn't been a factor this season. He has the talent to be the best player on the court tonight, but he's going to have to play a completely different game than we've seen from him this season. He's going to have be aggressive at all times: on the glass, going to the basket and occasionally hitting open shots when they are good ones to take.

Tonight's game is a huge one for the Flyers. They've got to bring their best possible game to the table. We need to see a vs. Pittsburgh-type performance. I'll be hoping to come home to some good news. I'll be rooting for Chris Johnson above all, because he's got to be dying about the way he's been playing so far. Have a good Wednesday, and go Flyers

College Football's Big Game

This weekend (if you haven't been clued in by the endless talking about it on TV and ever-growing number of features on every angle possible) No.1 LSU will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on No.2 Alabama in college football's biggest game of the year.

That first paragraph is not meant to belittle the game. It is a huge game. The winner will be heavily favored to win the national championship. But this game has taken on more attention than I can ever remember a college football game getting. There have been plenty of No.1 vs. No.2 matchups in the regular season before, but this one somehow seems bigger. The last 1 vs. 2 was between Ohio State and Michigan, and received a great deal of attention mainly because of the fact that it was the biggest rivalry of the year for both teams, with a shot at the title game on the line. This game between Bama and LSU feels somehow different. Yes, a shot at the title game is still on the line (though not guaranteed, like it was in the OSU-Michigan game because that was the final game of the year). This game is receiving extra attention because it is coming at the perfect time. It is a matchup of two SEC schools in the height of the "SEC is the only football conference that matters" era of college football.

History tells us that we've got a good shot a good game between the two teams. I hope it will be a good game, but I will have the nagging thought in my head about how this game will spell the end of the season for one of the (supposedly) best two teams in college football.

The BCS is designed to have the best two teams in the nation play. It doesn't want a playoff, because that allows for upsets to happen, and then the system does not get its optimal national championship matchup. Believe it or not, in the BCS' 13 years, it has gotten the two contenders right more often than not. But this year, it is almost impossible for that to happen.

According to every unbiased source, the BCS' current Nos. 1 and 2 (LSU and Bama) are the best two teams in the country. The problem is, they are playing each other this weekend and are both in the same division of the SEC. That means only one of them (the winner of Saturday's game in all likelihood) can play in the SEC championship game. A team with one loss that doesn't even make it to its conference championship game cannot possibly be selected to play in the national championship, right? And despite how annoying it will be when all the SEC fans are pining for the loser of this game to be given another shot, this year, they'll be right.

Which brings us to the even bigger problem. According to the BCS, LSU is the best team, the most deserving of playing in a national championship game right now. But to do so, they have to beat Alabama in Alabama this week. Home-field advantage is approximately 70-times more important in college sports than pro sports. In a game between the nation's two best teams, which seem pretty evenly matched, how is it fair for the site of the game to help decide the winner (and then the likely eventual national champion)?

It's not fair at all to do this in college football, a sport where the great teams switch from year to year (look at Auburn and Oregon this year: not bad by any stretch, but nowhere near national champion caliber. That's just how it works). When LSU has its chance to win a national title (it probably will not be this good next year), the school is given a significant disadvantage to winning that title because of a road game on the schedule. It doesn't make any sense.

Unfortunately, there isn't a good solution to this problem. The only solution is to extend the season and have teams play home-and-aways with all the teams in their conference divisions. But I don't like that at all. Really, the best solution is the one just about everybody has wanted all along: a playoff. The loser of Saturday's game will almost certainly still finish in the top four or eight teams in the country by season's end, and in a world with an FBS playoff, they would be given another shot at the title. A shot they deserve, because the only mistake they made was deciding to be great in a year when a team from the same division decided to be great as well.