UF President Slams Greg Oden, Big Ten, BCS

Actually, you can add Michigan and Jim Delany to that list.

Here's the full story. University of Florida president Bernie Machen has been pushing for a playoff system for college football since before Florida was selected to play in the BCS National Championship against Ohio State. In fact, he started putting the wheels in motion before Florida won the SEC championship game against Arkansas in late '06.

That he still campaigns for a playoff today, despite the fact that Florida ended up being lucky enough to get selected to the title game instead of Michigan, says volumes about his passion for the subject. And in this recent CBS Sportsline interview, Machen used both barrels of his verbal shotgun to express his thoughts.

More after the jump. (You'll be entertained, I promise.)

SPLN: On another subject, is there any way to explain the athletic success at your school the past two years?

Dr. M: More and more schools are going to try to copy our model. It's a family oriented, team-oriented system. There are kids who started on some tournament teams this year that we backed away from because of the academics.

We're the ones who started this thing about the storefront schools (giving away degrees). I started that because I got (mad) that some of our competitors were taking kids that we knew didn't belong in college.

What's going to happen I hope is that everyone starts to realize, you can win the right way. You can graduate your athletes.

SPLN: That raises another question. What did you think of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany's open letter comparing the Big Ten to the SEC?

Dr. M: It's ridiculous. What a homer. I was at Michigan (as provost and dean of the school of dentistry). I know how they get in at Michigan. Don't talk to me about the Nobel laureates at Michigan.

Just look at Greg Oden's class schedule this semester. The Big Ten has fought the conference playoff, then they (complain) because Ohio State doesn't have a game in 48 days. (Actually 51 between the last game of the season and the BCS title game. The Big Ten traditionally ends its regular-season football schedule before Thanksgiving).

Full disclosure here: obviously, I'm an SEC and Florida fan, but I happen to agree with most of what Dr. Machen is saying. Jim Delany's inferiority complex shines brightly in his ridiculous diatribe blasting the SEC (and Orson from EDSBS wrote a brilliant and brutal dissection of Delany's idiocy which perfectly sums up my feelings on the matter) and I have absolutely no problem with Machen calling him out on it. I agree that a playoff is good for college football and that the 12th game is a boil on the sport's hindquarters. I love Machen's emphasis on graduation. And I agree that the BCS is more concerned about self-preservation rather than what's good for college football.

But Bernie, you don't need to call out Oden, who has impressed me all year long as a well-rounded, respectful ~~43-year old~~ kid who is a true team player. His amazing talents have made the 2007 college basketball season all the more exciting and intriguing. And his class schedule is, frankly, none of your damn business, or at least, you shouldn't be picking on an individual player. I wouldn't appreciate it if the president of another school called out one of our players for something like, oh, say, firing a semi-automatic rifle into the sky after a nightclub scuffle. That's embarassing enough without having to deal with scrutiny from schools in other conferences.

So, Bernie... keep it real, man. I appreciate everything else you said. KEEP SAYING IT! We need a playoff. And we need to graduate student athletes. But when you're heaving stink bombs at the enemy, leave the kids out of it.