Clemson beats S. Carolina
Auburn beats Alabama
A&M beats Missouri
Michigan or Michigan State beats Ohio State
and…
FSU loses the ACC championship
Who wins the SEC championship game in your scenario? Because I think they get one of the spots easily.
ETA: Well, maybe not. But it is an important piece of data.
Well, the SEC championship game would be Auburn v. Missouri, right? I think if Auburn wins that game, they go to the BCS game. If they lose, I’d bet that Alabama sneaks in, because Alabama.
I think the 2nd slot would go to Clemson. Both teams that didn’t even win their divisions, let alone their conference!
looking at the SEC standings, I can’t quite figure who would play? Would Auburn get it for the SEC West with a loss to LSU and a win over Alabama? I guess it would be USC in the East.
OK, lets say Carolina wins the SEC in my scenario. Would they really put a 3 loss SEC team in the BCS championship even though said team lost to a 1 loss Clemson?
Oh, correct my quote above - it would be South Carolina over Missouri for the East, and Auburn in the West (divisional tiebreaker goes to head-to-head winner).
I don’t think they’d put a 3-loss SEC champ in the BCS Championship - I think Alabama would make their way back up the human polls with just one loss. And if Ohio St. lost to Michigan but still won the Big Ten championship game, they’d probably make it back up the chart. But it’d be close between Ohio St. and Clemson, I think.
So if all that played out, if you’re a Clemson fan it’d be better to pull for Auburn in the SEC championship to prevent Alabama from rising. And for Ohio State to lose the Big Ten
Missouri is in the east? Seems odd.
In college football, politics trumps everything. Alabama could lose twice and be in because the chimps that run the polls think the SEC is all that. I think if OSU wins out (and I certainly hope they don’t) then they should get in above FSU even if FSU wins out. They would have beaten a 1 loss Wisconsin team and a two loss Michigan State. Both Wisconsin and MSU were stiffed by the officials and should have one fewer loss each. MSU got called for pass interference for daring to intercept a pass in South Bend. Wisconsin of course got the shaft in Arizona in a ridiculous ending. Take away those two losses and the Big Ten is a lot tougher than the pollsters think.
For reference ere’s a list of the current Top 10 BCS teams, and their subsequent record per Quintas’ scenario (assuming all teams involved win out all games the OP didn’t mention):
Ohio St. 12-1 (Big Ten champ/runnerup)
Florida St. 12-1 (ACC runner-up)
Alabama 11-1
Oklahoma St. 11-1 (Big 12 Champ)
Auburn 11-2
Clemson 11-1
Baylor 11-1
Stanford 10-2 (PAC-12 Champ?)
Missouri 10-2
South Carolina 9-3 (SEC Champ)
When Texas A&M and Missouri joined the SEC, A&M went into the SEC West due to a couple of long-standing rivalries (LSU and Arkansas), and the fact that they’re the westernmost SEC school overall.
Mizzou probably ended up in the East just to balance the divisions out.
Thank you Munch!
According to SEC/ESPN standard doublethink, under the OP’s scenario, the BCS title game would feature Alabama playing its own 2nd string. Either that, or Alabama playing Auburn. Under no circumstances would either Ohio State or Oklahoma State even be allowed to get tickets to the game.
My guess - the top two in this order:
Auburn, if they win the SEC
Clemson, if they win the ACC
Alabama
Oklahoma State, if they beat Texas
Ohio State, if their loss was to Michigan and they win the Big 10
Florida State
They can’t. FSU has an ACC title game bid locked up over Clemson.
Mizzou ended up in the East for a couple different reasons:
Alabama’s rivalry against Auburn and Tennessee. Auburn would have been the most likely team to head to the East, but with how the SEC does its permanent cross-division rivals they couldn’t play both each year. With how each fanbase considered its actual rival (Tennessee would be the first choice for any Bama fan), you would lose a game against Auburn and would have a pretty big break between games.
Also, recruiting probably played a part in the decision. If Auburn headed east, there might be a perceived advantage into the fertile Georgia/Florida recruiting grounds. Not that Alabama would be at a disadvantage to anyone all things being equal, but families being able to regularly watch their games in person more often is still a consideration.
Not quite 2 weeks ago… 38-13 OSU
I’m assuming they had no plans to break up the existing divisions, and planned to just tack A&M and Mizzou onto the existing ones. In that case, it makes the most sense to put Mizzou in the East and A&M in the West for the reasons I’ve mentioned- A&M is clearly “West” and has longstanding historical rivalries with LSU and Arkansas (Arkansas was in the SWC with A&M longer than it’s been in the SEC), and A&M/LSU have played each other something like 52 times in 110 years.
To be perfectly honest, I believe they thought an expansion to 16 was in the close future (14 is an odd and awkward number to schedule around). The likely targets were most likely a N. Carolina & Virginia school. Once the ACC signed the Grant of Rights agreement that became harder. I still think they eventually end up at 16, and break them into 4 team pods.
With that said I actually don’t mind Mizzou in the East. The match-ups are personally more attractive, and other than aTm in the west, the schools in the East match up better with institutional philosophy. Plus I get to shit-talk my Florida alumni inlaws.
I also meant to add that Auburn wanted/wants to move to the East Division but was blocked by other schools (this is info from a college buddy of mine that works in the Mizzou Athletic Dept., so take it for what’s worth).
Yeah, I get the impression that A&M is far and away the academic powerhouse of the SEC West.
The fact that both new schools are AAU members was critical in the SEC plans of improving their academic reputation. Before the expansion only Florida and Vandy were members, so to double that number was a big deal.
This isn’t to say that the two Alabama schools are slouches, just that the way the state system is set-up it prevents them from meeting certain criteria (on campus medical school, etc…).