The #2 in America is 2-6 since October 1. Let that sink in for a second.
It happened again on Saturday night when the feel-good story of 2007 ended with Mizzou’s win over #2 Kansas in Arrowhead Stadium during the “Border War.”
The talking heads will tell you this is the year of parity and point out how good this is for college football. John Saunders and the anti-playoff crowd will tell you this is what makes college football great: that every game counts so much.
But this season only underscores the need for a playoff system. The only reason KU and MU were ranked 2 and 4 going into this weekend is because both play in one of the weakest BCS conferences and have even weaker out-of-conference schedules. Ohio State stands to “back-door” into another National Championship game, despite playing one of the worst schedules in recent memory and STILL not going undefeated.
Here we sit at the end of the regular season, and the two best teams in America may be USC and Georgia. Because they each have two losses, despite playing schedules infinitely more difficult than the rest of the top-25, they are barred from competing for their sports championship.
Does 1 loss for Mizzou, Ohio State, or WVU, with their weak schedules, REALLY make them better or more deserving than 2 losses for USC, UGA, LSU or even 3 losses for Florida with their difficult schedules?
Sadly, we will never know . . .
“And then there were three.” Here’s where we stand:
-OSU is guaranteed the Rose Bowl, but an Oklahoma win over Mizzou OR a Pit win over WVU puts the Buckeyes BACK into another title game.
-WVU, win a convincing win over BCS #20 UConn, won the Big East Championship and should take over the #1 ranking. A win over rival Pitt next Saturday guarantees the National Championship game.
-Mizzou, fresh off their big win over KU, may be an underdog against Oklahoma, who beat them by 10 earlier this year, in the Big 12 Championship. Bob Stoops, an Ohio native, would like nothing more than to beat MU again and send the Buckeyes to the Big Game in the Big Easy. MU controls its own destiny as a win puts them in.
-The rest of the 1 and 2 loss teams need BOTH WVU and MU to lose to have any chance. That might open the door for LSU, UGA, USC, OK, or even the ACC Champion.
-The coaching bloodbath began this week as Lloyd Carr and Dennis Franchione resigned from Michigan and Texas A&M respectively. In addition, Ed Oregeron of Ole Miss, Guy Morris of Baylor, and Bill Callahan of Nebraska were all fired. Expect Karl Dorrell of UCLA, Ted Roof of Duke, and several others to join them soon. You can even expect some heat to increase under Steve Spurrier’s seat after the Gamecocks finished a disappointing 6-6 season with a loss against arch-rival Clemson.
-Notre Dame won two games to finish a season for the first time in over a decade. Not only does the senior class leave ND with two consecutive wins, but youth was again served in Palo Alto. Freshmen Jimmy Clausen and Robert Hughes played very well against an improved Stanford defense. Meanwhile, the ND defense, including underclassmen John Ryan and Kerry Neal, played well, despite the offense commiting 4 ND turnovers, and held a decent Stanford offense to 14 points at home. The officiating in this game was some of the worst this year with the notorious PAC-10 replay crew in the booth reversing an indisputable ND touchdown catch by David Grimes in the 3rd quarter and the traveling Big East field crew calling back-to-back offsetting penalties in cases where Stanford players took cheap shots at ND players, who only verbally responded. Still, the 21-14 road victory, including a last-second goal line stand, should give the very young Irish team some degree of momentum going into the offseason.
-Auburn won the Iron Bowl convincingly despite some more poor officiating.
-Sylvester Croom and his MSU Bulldogs put the final nail in Ed Orgeron’s coffin, winning the Egg Bowl.
-WSU beat UW to win the Apple Cup. Where are all the Ty Willingham puff pieces this morning?
-USC, finally healthy, embarrassed ASU on Thursday night. USC, when healthy, is the best team I have seen all year.
-Darren McFadden proved to be the best player in the nation with his efforts in Baton Rouge. Dennis Dixon proved to be the most valuable player in the game, as his Ducks have sadly struggled in his absence.
-On to my rankings:
1. WVU (10-1)
2. Mizzou (11-1)
3. Ohio State (11-1)
4. Georgia (10-2)
5. Southern Cal (9-2)
6. Oklahoma (10-2)
7. LSU (10-2)
8. Virginia Tech (10-2)
9. Florida (9-3)
10. Auburn (8-4)
11. Kansas (11-1)
12. Arizona State (9-2)
13. Hawaii (11-0)
14. South Florida (9-3)
15. Boston College (10-2)
16. Illinois (9-3)
17. BYU (9-2)
18. Clemson (9-3)
19. Tennessee (9-3)
20. Oregon (8-3)
21. Texas (9-3)
22. UConn (9-3)
23. Cincinnati (9-3)
24. Virginia (9-3)
25. Arkansas (8-4)
Honorable Mentions: Michigan, Air Force, Wisconsin, Tulsa, UCF
Conference Rankings:
1. SEC – This conference is not overrated. There are more good teams that could beat a top-5 team in the SEC than any other conference.
2. Pac-10 – The PAC-10 took a big step back in the past few weeks with Oregon’s crumbling and ASU’s exposure. A 1-2 record against Notre Dame, with both losses at home, doesn’t help either.
3. Big East – The Big East rebounded nicely over the past few weeks. WVU should be the favorite to win the national championship, while UConn, USF, and Cincinnati all look like legitimate BCS contenders.
4. ACC – The ACC is not a great conference, but they are improving. UNC, WF, MD, BC, and Miami all appear to be headed in the right direction. Clemson got a big win over South Carolina, but G-Tech was spanked by UGA. The ACC Champion may not be the only ACC going to the BCS.
5. Big 10 – The Big 10 moved up this week despite not playing because the Big 12 looked so bad.
6. Big 12 – I don’t care how many teams are in the top-10, KU was exposed and MU’s best wins are over the previously discussed Jayhawks and Illinois. This is NOT a national championship schedule. Oklahoma and Texas proved to be overrated as well. If Mizzou goes to the national championship, it may be the lowest rated game in years as WVU will most likely crush them.
My Heisman Ballot:
1. Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
2. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
3. Pat White, QB, WVU
4. Chase Daniel, QB, Missouri
5. Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii
6. Matt Ryan, QB, BC
November 25th, 2007
I just wonder how many more seasons like this have to occur before people the general public revolts because the BCS and poll system isn’t picking the best team…
While everyone argues that, I’ll just remind everyone what I did on Friday–I went a Div I FCS Playoff game. Yes, Division I college football playoffs. My alma mater, University of Delaware, played Delaware State in the opening round of the FCS playoffs on Friday, televised nationally on ESPN.
For those of you that aren’t familiar, FCS plays an 16 team, 4 game playoff. Bracket: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3117576
Most teams play 11 regular season games (Ivy league plays 10), with two lucky teams earning the right to play 15.
Recaps from first round:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3126270
Frankly, based on many of the weak schedules played by “Top 25 teams”, I’d love to see some of the teams in the FCS playoffs get a chance against them.
Before you laugh, remember: Delaware beat Navy (who beat Notre Dame who beat UCLA who beat Oregon.) Appalachian St. beat Michigan. Massachusetts racked up 277 yards of offense and only lost 24-14 to BC at BC. UNH beat C-USA’s Marshall. There could be a healthy list of FCS/I-AA players taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft this year.
November 29th, 2007
Mike,
Both your rankings and the AP have VTech about six slots ahead of BC. I think this just proves the subjectivity in play with rankings. Both BC and VTech are two loss teams. BC’s non conference opponents (UMass and Bowling Green) both have great histories in their own conferences with UMass losing only to Appalacian State before playing BC. I will concede that VTech’s loss to LSU was to a more formidable team than either FSU or UMd to which BC lost, but VTech ALSO LOST TO BC! So how in hell can anyone objectively give VTech a 5-8 slot header over the Eagles? Was it VaTech’s impressive wins over Duke, Ohio University, William & Mary? Is it Notre Dame’s fault for being one of BC’s non-conference opponents? Is it because of Beamer’s new strategy of changing QBs every play? Even this year I don’t think even the biggest Domer-hater can argue that East Carolina is a more formidable opponent (ok, well maybe this year).
I am interested in your thoughts here.
November 29th, 2007
Pretty simple: people think V-Tech is a better team.
They outplayed BC for 3 3/4 quarters before Ryan made 2 unbelievable plays.
November 29th, 2007
Mike, that is about the lamest non-thoughtful non-analytical response I think you have ever posted on this site. What “people think” is totally irrelevant if not based on data. If that is the case then maybe the people should be dumped in favor of computers.
Also, I am wondering if you watched the game. The Hokies hardly “out-played” BC. Their first touchdown was one of the most controversial reviewed calls of the season. None of the referees called a touchdown for the first 20 seconds after the play, then it was called by an official no where near the goal line. When it was upheld the broadcasters who had been replaying the tape were stunned.
So apparently you have no objective answer. If your assessment is right, then it just shows that there is clear bias against smaller private elite schools (unless they are called Notre Dame).
November 30th, 2007
Okay Bob, what do you want me to say?
The polls are subjective for some voters, objective for others.
Many people feel V-Tech played a harder schedule. Many people (like me, and yes, I did watch the game) feel that VT TOTALLY OUTPLAYED BC and that Ryan looked like crap before a mental lapse and coverage breakdown at the end of the game allowed a miracle comeback.
Sorry it doesn’t meet with your liking Bob, but most voters in this country of ours think BC is an average football team and I think they are right.
Bob, if you are the only one (or a member of a distinct minority) who thinks a certain way, does that mean the rest of the country is wrong?
Also, VT lost to LSU and UVA, two BCS-level opponents. BC lost to FSU and MD who will barely make bowls. How’s that for analysis . . .
November 30th, 2007
Also, your whining post AGAIN reeks of sour grapes.