The omnibus 2008 college football thread

The Game Room
281

Perhaps my last post was unclear. My plan is very much the same as what jsc1953 is proposing (except that I would like the bowl games spread out more). A team making it to the big game didn’t necessarily have to be a CC, it’s just more likely (especially if every conference had a CCG).

I used to be in favor of a +1 plan where #1 played #4 and #2 played #3 in mid-to-late December, then the winners played each other ~ Jan 5. Then I read this plan online somewhere, and I support it because it’s much more viable.

I think it is much more likely to happen because it preserves the classic bowl system. (The problem with the way things were done a few years ago was that every 4th year the Rose bowl was #1 vs. #2, whether or not either of those teams were in the PAC10 or Big10.)
Right now there are 2 teams that don’t go to their traditional bowl game. Under my previous plan there would be 4. (The Sugar Bowl could be the SEC#3 vs. somebody). With this new plan, it’s the old fashioned bowls, then one more game. I think it’s doable. A bill that won’t pass is no good. Same with a 8-team playoff system; it will never pass.

282

I just attempted to come up with a mock +1 scenario for this year, and uncovered a flaw in the plan: too many mediocre teams winning conferences, and not enough big time bowl games.

At the moment, we have major conferences being led by #19 Cincinnati, #21 Oregon State and #22 Maryland…all of which would be given an automatic slot in a major bowl, but would have no reasonable shot at the championship.

We’d have to come up another 2 or 3 bowl games (maybe elevate the Cotton and the Gator?) to have enough to act as play-in games for the +1 championship game.

283

jsc1953, I’m now thinking that you and I are not on the same page at all.

I’ll need some help from people to play out how this bowl season would play out under “my” plus-1-after-traditional-bowls system.

(Let’s say Oregon State wins out, Florida wins the SEC and TTech wins Big 12)

Pre-bowl rankings:

  1. Texas Tech
  2. Florida
  3. Texas
  4. Oklahoma
  5. USC
  6. Alabama
  7. Penn State
  8. Ohio State
  9. Utah

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rose Bowl : Oregon State vs. Penn State [Irrelevant this year]
Orange Bowl: Maryland vs. Cinci [Irrelevant this year]*
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl: Texas Tech vs. USC

Lesser bowls:

_____ Bowl: Texas vs. ________
Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Ohio State
_____ Bowl: Oklahoma vs. ________
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After all of these games, the pollsters and the computers do their thing one last time, and the #1 and #2 play for the title. All of the teams that are in the top 6 right now have a decent shot at ending in the top 2, but 1 or 2 will get left out. Let’s play it out more:

Let’s say Florida, USC, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma win their games. Alabama probably wouldn’t make the cut. Florida definitely would. It would come down to the pollsters to determine whether it’s USC, Texas or Oklahoma. Since USC had destroyed the Big-12 mythos in their game, they would probably get the nod. But, it would be quite possible for the winner of a “lesser” bowl to get to #2 and the NCG. If Utah beat Florida then… well, it could be Utah in the NCG… but it could happen.

So… not a perfect system, but better than anything else that possible.

I think in the average year, the top 6 teams would mostly play each other.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Note: I just used this site and adjusted things. (Perhaps things would have been less confusing if I had made the same assumptions that they did.)
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID=878964

I welcome corrections. I also wonder if some of the matchups would be different under a more traditional matchup system than under the current one, because of BCS rules. For example, would the Sugar Bowl include Utah under the pre-BCS system?

284

I’d assumed/understood the +1 to be a little different – there wouldn’t need to be another poll after the bowl games. You’d just take the highest ranked bowl winners.

So in your scenario, that would be #3 Texas and #4 Oklahoma (#1 and #2 having been upset in their bowl games). So we’d have a Red River BCSCG.

(But now that I think about it, it wouldn’t be fair to leave out USC after they upset #1 TT.)

285

Allow me to interrupt this discussion to say…

Give 'em the Axe! The Axe! The Axe!
Where?
Right in the neck! the neck! the neck!
There!

286

Game on! Been looking forward to this one for the past two weeks! (Go Tech!)

287

Boomer!!

Sooner!!

288

The Beavers, without their starting quarterback and their star running back, squeak out a win against Arizona. PK Kahut misses a PAT, but redeems himself with a game-winning field goal as time expires. Next weeks Civil War is for the Rose Bowl. Go Oregon State!

Oklahoma is pasting Texas Tech at the half. Barring a miracle, the Sooners will win. I want a playoff system, but sometimes the chaos that is the BCS is fun.

289

Tech sucks on natural grass. It’s a big factor.
I can’t in good conscience root for Oklahoma to win, but I can certainly hope for them to fail to lose.

290

Wow. I really thought TTech would win this game. I was WAY off. The only question (that isn’t really important) is if OK will be ranked 1, 2 or #3. (I’m thinking 3. The pollsters know that 'Bama will be playing Florida, so all that matters is that OK gets ranked above Texas.)

291

Comparing the 3:
OK won at home, lost neutral site
TTech won at home (on a miracle last second touchdown), lost on road
Texas won at neutral site, lost on road (notice no home game for them)

TTech looks like the weakest of the three, and I can’t take OK over Texas because of the head-to-head. I would say that Texas still deserves to be ranked over OK. If OK convincingly beats OKState, then I might change my mind.

292

Wow. Just… wow. We almost bought tickets to fly to the Arizona game, but theuywere like $500 and we couldn’t justify when there was an outside chance we’d have to fly to Pasadena for the Rose.
What a game. I am absolutely, 100% emotionally and physically wasted at this point.
I so wanted the game on the foot of Kahut at the end. I really thought he would do it, even a 50 yarder if necessary.

I just… don’t get it. No Moevao. No Quizz… but somehow, we got the win. It really shouldn’t have happened.

Civil War next weekend and the stadium will be rocking. Can’t wait. Tickets are already going for $150… glad now I got mine at the beginning of the season.

293

I think it’s also fair to look at non-conference opponents. I use non-conference because schools have no choice in their conference games.

UT played
Florida Atlantic (5-6) unranked
UTEP (5-6) unranked
Rice (8-3) unranked
Arkansas (4-7) unranked

OU played
Chattanooga (1-11) extremely unranked
Cincinnati (9-2) 19 BCS
Washington (0-11) you do the math
TCU (10-2) 16 BCS

So OU played 2 quality non-conference games. UT might have played 1.

I think it will all come down to how well OU plays in Stillwater. Upthread I predicted an OU loss. If the Sooners play like they did last night, that’s not gonna happen.

294

I missed the beginning of the game (wasting my time with Oklahoma - TT) – what happened to Moevao & Quizz? Will they back for Oregon?

Good luck in the Civil War – I think all USC-haters will be pulling for ya!

295

Moevao has been struggling with a shoulder injury the last few games. Quizz got hurt on a tackle in the first quarter. I don’t know if they’ll be back for the Civil War, but I really hope Quizz is back because I don’t think the Beavs have a chance against the Ducks without him. If Quizz hadn’t got hurt, the Arizona game wouldn’t have been close. Canfield and Moevao are basically interchangeable at this point.

296

Canfield has a stronger arm and throws a prettier ball it seems… but he has a tendency to make awful decisions with the ball and just throw the ball up for grabbs Favre style. He was lucky the Arizona DB’s couldn’t catch, because he had two int’s they just flat dropped. Both were awful throws into triple coverage.

Moevao doesn’t seem as exciting, but to me is a much safer pick if he is available.

What year is Canfield anyway?

This Big 12 fiasco is frustrating. I hate these A>B>C>A deals. Plus their tiebreaker is based on the BCS vote- so the conference champion won’t necessarily be determined by onfield play but political gamesmanship and opinion. Grrr.

At this point, I’m willing to move OU ahead of Texas- as their dismantling of Texas Tech was impressive.

Crazy season.

297

I was really surprised to read that today. That’s a bizarre way to decide your conference – there’s gotta be a better tie-breaker.

298

It’s the final one, I think, but it won’t matter after next week.

OU will have 2 losses (UT/OSU), TTU will have 1 (OU), and UT will have the 1 (TTU). I can’t see UT or Tech losing to the two teams fighting for the bottom of the South. But OSU is highly motivated to take this one.

TTU goes to the championship.

299

Here’s my theory on the TT, OU, and Texas conundrum:

TT is out because they got rocked.

The rules for head to head tie breakers in the Big 12 is that the winner of the head to head match up wins the division. Therefore, since Texas beat OU, they should win the division.

300

Let’s take a look at the BCS’s worst case scenario:

Texas gets to the SWC (okay, Big 12, whatever) championship and beats Missouri
Florida and Alabama win out, but Florida beats Alabama, barely, in the SEC title game.

That leaves Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, USC, Penn State all with just one loss (did I miss anyone)?

Utah and Boise State are both undefeated and ranked in the Top 10, so both “deserve” a BCS boll berth.

Penn State has to play in the Rose Bowl because of the conference tie in, where they beat Oregon State (again, in a rematch no one except people from Oregon want to see).

Florida and Texas meet in the mythical national championship game, where one or the other eeks out a mediocre looking win via some incompetent officiating (can they have a Big 12 crew work that game – this would almost guarantee it).

Alabama crushes Boise State in the Sugar Bowl.

USC hammers Texas Tech in Fiesta Bowl.

Oklahoma beats the snot out of Utah in their bowl game.

So it ends up that the winner of Texas/Florida wins the “national championship”, but again no one is quite satisfied with the result, as there are four other one loss teams with just about as legitimate a claim to the top spot.

Of course the part where there are 9 pretenders before New Year’s Day shows the flaw in having an eight team playoff, so the BCS people are happy.

Maybe it would be more fun if Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma and then Texas loses to Missouri in B-12 title game to take some of the mystery out of it.