I think he’s right about the playoff, but I’ll grant that he’s complaining. Mack Brown was still worse. Didn’t he drop a team ahead of him to fifth or something and vote his team at number one to help get them to that game?
You could make a case for other teams being there, but USC had it all lined up, and Michigan had a chance against OSU and lost. The voting system was bizarre - something weird always happens there - and I have nothing good to say about the voters. But Florida belonged, that much was for sure.
No. But somehow this became the story for why coaches poll votes are public for the final poll. Mack Brown did what any coach should do and simply stated he thought his team, which had an equivilent resume to California, should have a chance at a BCS game.
Cal played a lackluster final game of the season against So. Miss.
Some voters did move Texas up, and a few moved Texas to #2 or #3. Many others left Texas around 7 or 8.
Cal’s lowest vote was 8, their highest was 3. The #3 was a move up from the week before.
The votes didn’t matter though – Cal’s game agains So Miss actually changed the computer portion of the BCS rankings enough that Texas would have taken Cal’s spot in the top 4 anyway.
It’s hard to say so long after the fact, and of course as a Texas fan, I was a bit biased, but I think whatever lobbying was done was blown out of proportion because it led to a Pac-10 team not being able to go to a Rose Bowl. Had the whole hubub been about whether Texas or, say, Virginia Tech deserved a trip to the Orange Bowl, I don’t think there’d have been quite the media outrage.
Besides, Cal got whipped in their bowl game, and the UT-UM Rose Bowl was the Second-Best Rose Bowl Ever[sup]TM[/sup], so it all worked out right anyway.
Word. I heard so much whining from Cal people and Pac-10 pumpers about Mack’s supposed “lobbying.” What the hell was he supposed to do, just sit there and hope for the best? He reminded other coaches of Texas’ resume. If Mack goes back to Austin and hides under a rock, he’s chased out of town. He’s employed by the University of Texas. It’s his job to pump his team.
People also forget that we got locked out of a BCS invite back in… shit, can’t remember, it was either '02 or '03. No way was Mack going to let that happen again. He did what he could within the rules to get a break, and as I remember, it didn’t matter in the end because the computers punished Cal for their crappy game vs. Southern Miss anyway.
Still, it might have been a great controversy had Cal not gotten their asses kicked by a Texas Tech team we destroyed earlier that season in their bowl game. I love how the biggest whiner, Aaron Rodgers, is riding the pine in Green Bay while Favre basically extends his victory tour for another season. Shouldn’t have messed with Texas, Aaron!
I’ll let slide the revisionist history about Mack Brown and the 2004 Rose Bowl…if you promise, in light of the butt-kicking Cal put on A&M this year, that no one ever mentions the 2004 Holiday Bowl again.
I think I wrote Reggie Wilson earlier when I meant Reggie Lewis. Still a little hung over I guess. Pretty bad to incorrectly identify one of the best players in college football.
Do fans outside of the SEC realize how widely reviled UF is within it’s own conference? I am pretty sure it’s a holdover from the Spurrier era, but it’s definitely true. I would say that UF and Tennessee are the most widely hated teams within this conference setting aside rivalry hatred. In other words, sure Bama and Auburn go at it, but realize that UF is hated by Georgia, Tennessee, Bama, Auburn, and on and on. Personally, I grew up an Auburn fan in Alabama. I cheered like hell for Bama in the 93 Sugar Bowl (92 season) and argued on behalf of Auburn when they were robbed a shot at USC. I was all for LSU in their split title. Admittedly, it’s still hard for me to cheer fo Tennessee, but I’ve even been able to work up a holler for the Dawgs. But UF, man, nobody likes us.
Yeah, IIRC that’s the poor kid whose Mom died of breast cancer on New Year’s Eve, then the sideline announcer tried to use that to get a reaction out of him. Jerk.
I’m an SEC fan, and I rooted for Florida last night. Mostly cause of my hate of Ohio State, some because they’re an SEC team, and some because of hearing how they didn’t deserve to be there. No way Michigan deserved to be there.
Only SEC team I can’t root for is Tennessee. I would include Vandy, but no one cares about them.
