You got me. Losing by 3 points in OT to the number 1 team in the country is EXACTLY the same as losing to an unranked team that finished sub .500.
Oh.
N/M.
Bingo. While Oregon was playing Stanford, most of the SEC was playing teams like Wacahatchee State. There are a lot of factors that have put the SEC in the title games recently- their non-conference scheduling, the SEC having the pollsters in their back pockets, even the SEC officials seem to grease the skids for the team with the best shot at the title game. A few years back Arkansas would have beaten Alabama were it not for the officials refusing to let it happen.
None of the above. Notre Dame is just the pet team of NBC and I am not sure Alabama is even a university. 
Go Stanford !!!
Losing by six to a team with a winning record (6-5, for your information) the day after your school suffers an unimaginable tragedy is JUST like losing to an over-hyped team in OT who shouldn’t have been #1 in the first place.
I tire of this BS. Realize that nobody in the US outside of the SEC buys into your bullshit. I’m tired of your ignorant and insular crap. Unfortunately, your crap has infected the people with votes.
The Pac 12 and the Big 12 are every bit as as good as the SEC. Many times, they’re better. Better schedules, better rankings (by computers), etc.
But we hear, every year, about how deep and tough the SEC is. And it’s all crap. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy–the conference becomes ‘tough’ only because pundits rate it so, basing their estimations on prior years when pundits rated it so… ad infinitum.
Does Alabama deserve a title bid over my team (K-State)? Hell yes! Our QB was hurt, but that doesn’t excuse losing to an unranked Baylor team so badly (it was my fault, ask me how). Does Alabama deserve a shot above Oregon, which lost–
Oh. Wait. Wait. Please, this is too perfect…
by three points in overtime?
Tell me. Are you arguing that Alabama deserved to play for an MNC because they only lost by five points in regulation? And Oregon doesn’t deserve to play for one because they lost by three in overtime?
Yes. I really dislike the SEC, but Oregon didn’t even make it to their conference championship game, let alone win it. Them’s the breaks.
It’s not unprecedented that a team can not make it to their conference championship game and yet go to the BCS title game, but you make a good point. I’d like the Conference Championships to be the first round in my hypothetical college playoff.
Too bad Oregon State or Arizona couldn’t have held on to their 4th quarter leads. I would have loved to have seen Oregon’s offense go against ND’s defense, but that’s life.
Like Alabama last year?
You’re tired of my crap? Holy hell… Look I’m as rational an SEC fan as they get, but you are pushing it… Let’s look at what you have to say:
You’re right. And as soon as the CHEATERS IN CHARGE let a PAC-12 team or a Big 12 team or even aBig 10 team in the game, they will put all this “SEC is so great” talk to bed.
Beat the SEC. Don’t ARGUE that other conferences are better. Don’t ARGUE that the SEC is not that great. Just beat 'em. That’s all you have to do. Just like when Michigan and Ohio State were God’s own teams and they should’ve played every weekend because they were the greatest ever… all it took was a UF victory to put that to rest. Just. Beat. Them.
Yes. Oregon couldn’t even win their own conference. But wait… do I hear you sputtering about last year… “Bama! Ofergod you said…” Calm down. If you read my posts you will see time and time again that I argued against the rematch. I think if you can’t win your conference, you shouldn’t be able to win the National Championship. Period.
Notre Dame fan from Gerry Faust and the great Ken Macafee… its the defacto school of Chicago dammit. (if you say Northwestern or Illni you are lying to yourself)
Since I’m here in southern purgatory… okay okay I like the sweet tea and it’s 65 degrees right now… The overriding SEC fanatics are finally even… gettin to ME… funny I was telling guys that in big ten country Ohio State could be in the Nat champ game and Michigan fans will root for a bus accident getting to the stadium… but not here in the confederacy… where these dunces just root for each other like madmen… You kicked my butt in the title game… okay…now I’m fan of yours…NOT!!!
Exactly why Manziel shouldn’t get he heisman… great numbers… yeah against SMU Sam Houston state and South carolina state…
SEC plays some bullshit cupcake games… no doubt… Where is Western Carolina again?
I greet the game with immense apathy.
Are you under the mistaken impression that I am defending the system or previous contestants?
I became a temporary Notre Dame fan for two reasons:
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I gotta give ND brass balls for their preseason scheduling. Oklahoma, Stanford, USC, Miami, Michigan, and Navy in Dublin. BYU and Michigan State aren’t too shabby either. While the above teams didn’t do as well as we thought, it’s still far far better than D-IAA teams. I know there’s a lot of NBC bias with ND, but at the time I felt if they could get through that slate, they deserve major props.
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I like Manti Teo, and hope he wins the Heisman on Saturday. Living in Hawaii, I’m naturally pulling for him. Plus, as a Nebraska fan, it’s a small consolation for Suh not winning it a few years ago.
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I’m not really anti-SEC, and fully expect Georgia to stomp my Huskers. That said, Bama lucked out. In a normal year, nearly everyone would be rooting against the SEC team for winning 7 straight. But in Notre Dame, they got perhaps the most polarizing opponent.
I guess this is a moot point now that we’re advancing to a 4 team playoff, but I wish there had been more of a rigid system for choosing the top 2.
If people thought that only conference champions should play for the title, then that should have been a requirement, rather than something you could emphasize or ignore depending on which conference it hurt or benefited. Alternately, if the point was to choose the best 2 teams in the country regardless of conference championship, then probably those conference title games should have been de-emphasized or eliminated. It seems pretty weird to pimp these games but have them be meaningless some of the time. It’s also bizarre to have the Georgia/Florida situation this year, where a team is effectively punished for winning a tiebreaker.
Would it were possible for both of them to lose.
I’m sorry, but how exactly was Georgia punished? They got to play for the SEC title. Winning the East and going to Atlanta was Florida’s top goal of the season, and we did not accomplish that. Sure, we get a better bowl game, but who gives a shit? We obviously deserve the better bowl, going 4-1 against top 15 teams, while Georgia went 1-2. But their season is more of a success, since they won the East. Playing in the Sugar Bowl is nice, but every single one of our coaches and players would rather have played in Atlanta.
Just pointing out the hypocracy that every game counts (unless you are in the SEC) or that after the Nebraska incident, you need to win your conference (unless you are in the SEC) or that you should not play cream puffs (unless you are in the SEC).
You’re not going to hear any Notre Fan complain about hypocrisy in college football. 1989 and 1993 (take your pick - one of them screwed the Irish over) are pretty much the poster children for poll-voting bullshit.
Playing in the Orange bowl is a LOT better than playing in the Capital One bowl. Whether you would have preferred to play in the SECCG is irrelevant, what matters is that the team that didn’t make the SECCG was rewarded relative to the team that did make it. The same goes for Florida/Georgia versus Bama had Bama lost the SECCG.
If you play the same number of conference games as every other team in the conference and you’re one of the top 2, you shouldn’t be penalized for losing that bonus game; it should be treated as a bonus. Conferences should set up their bowl tie-ins such that teams aren’t penalized for making/losing their conference championship game.
Of course, this is all IMHO.
I wouldn’t root for Notre Dame if they were playing Al Qaeda. So put me down for Al Abama.
But I prefer the scenario in Skammer’s post.