Well, my Bears hung tough with Stanfurd, when I expected them to fold and let the Furd run away in a rout. Which also just means that Stanford is even less of a BCS title contender than anyone thought.
Way to let the Pac down, Ducks, and let the SEC decide which two out of 3 of their teams they want to claim the crystal football. Oh boy.
God, what if LSU loses in the SEC CCG, and drops to #3? Would we get Bama and Arkansas in the BCS CG even though neither of them won their division, much less their conference?
You would think an LSU loss to Georgia would somewhat devalue Alabama and Arkansas in the rankings, for losing to a team that couldn’t even beat Georgia. You would think. But that means logic and common sense would have some impact on the BCS rankings, and I really don’t think it does (especially with so many voters drinkin’ that smooth, smooth SEC Kool-Aid - now in delicious Crimson Tide flavor!).
Even so, in this situation, I would guess a one-loss Oklahoma State/Big 12 Champion would sneak into the title game. If Okie State loses to Oklahoma, though … I have no freakin’ idea. Boise State and Virginia Tech, anyone? Houston and whoever wins the FCS title? You’d just have to throw your hands up and see who the voters pick.
In this post in the preseason thread, I thought UGA would contend for the Nat’l Championship.
Because LSU, Bama, and Arkansas was not on their schedule.
I really thought that USCe would be the only hurdle. Stupid Boise St. :o
Isn’t there a rule that only two teams from the same conference can be in the BCS bowls?
I think if LSU loses, (and Bama wins) that the SEC teams will still be #1, #2, #3 in the polls (and whoever plays UGA in the SEC Championship game wins).
Arkansas doesn’t deserve to be ranked that high. If they beat LSU I’ll change my mind, but their rankings are skewed by South Carolina being ranked even though the Gamecocks’ only good win was against Georgia in week 2 (they played the friggin Citadel yesterday; try not to strain yourself, boys), and because Auburn is still getting defending nat’l champ cred even though their defense is pretty bad.
Again, a playoff really doesn’t do anything if your goal is to find the best team of the year. Upsets happen, and they can happen in a playoff. Doesn’t mean the team that pulled off the upset is actually better overall. For example, Iowa State beat Oklahoma State Friday night. Does anybody really, truly believe that Iowa State should now be ranked ahead of Okie State? Of course not. But if that happened in a playoff, well … you get the Cyclones moving on and the Cowboys going home.
There’s nothing wrong with a playoff system to find a champion. You just have to accept that a playoff champion isn’t going to necessarily be the best team, just as the BCS champion isn’t going to necessarily be the best team. There are flaws in whatever system you use.
I still say the Plus One system would be a fair compromise. You take your top four teams, have them play on New Years, and have the winners play the next week in the championship game. Are there flaws in that? Heck, yeah … even this year, how would you narrow the field to the top four? And could you still have an upset on New Years? Yep … but at least you get four teams playing for a chance at the championship. And you wouldn’t even have to change the bowl schedule!
And one more thing about an LSU-Bama rematch. Should LSU go unbeaten into the BCS championship, what would we be asking them to do? Win the championship game, thereby proving they can defeat their chosen opponent. Well, if you say it should be Bama … they’ve already done that. Why should you ask them to do it again? I’d feel the same way about Oregon, if they hadn’t lost to USC. They had their chance to defeat LSU and couldn’t do it. You should give someone else a try. That’s really why I love college football … every week is almost literally a playoff in and of itself, which makes it such a hoot to watch and follow.
The other factor that bothers me personally is the slurp-slurp-slurping of the SEC’s rep juice. Sure, the SEC is a top conference, very likely the top conference in the land. But there are other good teams out there. I don’t go for the notion that “SEC is the Best! Therefore, second-best in the SEC = second-best in all the land = BCS championship as SEC house party! Raise the roof!” Alabama was unable to defeat LSU, so let’s see if somebody else can defeat LSU.
Now, if only we could find somebody who actually could defeat the SEC’s best team once in a while … I admit I would have more of a point if that would actually happen some year. :smack:
I guess I am going to get on my annual soapbox. What we have now IS a playoff. A two team playoff is a playoff. Two teams are selected and then they play the BCS game.
This is much better than the system before the BCS, when there was no guarantee that #1 would play #2.
Big 10 and Pac 10 Champs had to play Rose Bowl
Big 12 Orange Bowl
SEC Sugar Bowl
Etc. etc.
And then if there was undefeated team, the pollsters made the decision.
A team that makes the playoffs is being recognized as one of the best teams in the country, so it’s not really an upset if one playoff team beats another. And your critique applies to any playoff system. I still think Ok. St., Stanford, and Alabama are great teams, but which team is the best of those three? We leave that question up to computers, instead of giving them a chance to find out on the field.
Yeah, it’s a playoff. But if LSU and Bama get a rematch because certain teams in the SEC got way too much credit simply because they’re in the SEC (skewing their BCS rankings upward), or if a one loss team that lost earlier in the season gets in ahead of another one loss team that lost later in the season, that’s not a very satisfying result. Extend the playoff to include 8 teams, and you alleviate some of the unfairness inherent in a computer and human poll ranking system.
If you have 8 teams, there’s no reason why Virginia Tech and potentially Houston couldn’t get a shot. And a playoff system doesn’t necessarily have to give the “major” conference winners an automatic bid (though if we end up with superconferences, that won’t be a concern).
I think everyone should be drinking the SEC kool-aid at this point. I’ve started to suspect that an absolutely unbreakable SEC stranglehold on the BCS title will be the thing that finally chokes the life out of the farce that is the BCS. I’m a total SEC homer, but IMO, you can’t love the sport without valuing the competitive spirit even more than your favorite team. If it’s not fair, it’s not acceptable. And the BCS is not fair.
Right now, Oregon is #10 in the BCS rankings. They get left out of any playoff scenario we’re contemplating. Does anyone think that Virginia Tech is more deserving than Oregon? Who has Va Tech played?
I don’t mind a plus one add-on, but I’m not one of these pushing for a playoff overhaul. There will always be “deserving” teams right on the outside looking in (see Oregon, above). Want a playoff game? LSU-Arkansas. Winner controls their destiny; loser has no guarantees. I’m sure Oklahoma St. and Alabama are considering their upcoming games to be playoff games. A loss would be devestating to any potential title attempt. See also Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last week.
My schools - South Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech (yes, I’ve been a student at each of them) - are all doing pretty well right now, though none of them are (or should be) in contention for the championship.
I think the Hokies are a bit overrated this year - as others have pointed out, they haven’t beaten anyone really notable, and also they got trounced by Clemson, dammit - so while I usually root for them in the annual match with the Cavs, I’m rooting for UVa this year. I believe that would get the Cavs into the ACC championship game against Clemson, at the Hokies’ expense.
And of course, I’m hoping the Gamecocks wipe the floor with Clemson. This wouldn’t put the Gamecocks in the SEC championship game, nor would it take Clemson out of the ACC championship game, but you know how it is: 1-10’s a tolerable season, as long as the one win is over Clemson.
It was a fun year in the Big Ten. Solid wins over Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State. Northwestern was an upset, but that’s Mom’s alma mater, so I’ll let it pass.
But, man, I thought we were past the days of losing 45-17.
Let me start with saying the decision to join the Big Ten was unanimous by NU fandom. Everyone is absolutely excited to be part of the historic conference. Someone might’ve piped up to say “we’ll miss those Kansas schools”, but that can be neither confirmed nor denied. The feeling was to get the heck away from Texas’ Big XII (fair or not, that was the perception). A&M and Mizzou agreed, although I don’t think they’re as good an SEC fit as we were with the Big Ten.
Yes, we got blown out by Michigan and Wisconsin, and the coach and especially QB are getting plenty of heat for that. In no way did we consider those “home cooking” by the new conference. The feeling is that the Big Ten may not be as strong at the top as the Big XII (we’d get similarly drilled by Oklahoma and Okie State had we stayed), but the middle teams are better. We didn’t get to play the weaker teams like Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana, as we got the three stronger Leaders (or is it Legends) teams in our first rotation. Some Husker fans took askance at that, but I’ve always felt like we joined to play Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin now, not in three years. And it was awesome to see my Huskers in Happy Valley, Camp Randall, and the Big House*.
Most of the general feeling isn’t “The Big Ten is too tough” or “We should breeze by these guys”, but that we should’ve performed more consistently. We destroy MSU, rally on OSU, and shut down an emotionally-charged PSU team. So, we proved we are one of the better teams. Then we somehow lose at home at Northwestern and look like we don’t belong with Wisconsin and Michigan. So, in Huskerland, all the ire is directed inward, and how this coach is losing like this in his 4th year.
No regret at all about joining. I think the Penn State game is what solidified Nebraska with the Big Ten. The outpouring of thanks from State College on how well the Huskers handled it has been overwhelming, especially on how our assistant coach led both teams in prayer. My parents live in Lincoln and sent me a newspaper full of letters from PSU fans and staff.
Now we get ready for our “designated rival”, Iowa. It’s called the “Heroes Game”. And I thought Legends vs Leaders was corny :rolleyes:
