Dave2112
Level of Cherry Feather
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From AOL's Jim Armstrong....
LSU belongs in the national championship game, which means the BCS got it half-right. Hey, at least the system is making progress.
Trouble is, any discussion of the BCS, an alliance of the powerhouse college-football conferences designed to ensure the biggest bowl payouts for its constituents, has to get around to Missouri.
The Tigers beat Illinois to open their season and dominated Kansas to win the Big 12 North. I only mention it because Missouri will be on the outside looking in as both teams play in BCS bowls. Huh?
BCS apologists will tell you it’s because Missouri lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. While losing in early December never is a good idea, West Virginia lost to lowly Pittsburgh over the weekend, but still got a BCS berth. And Kansas got slapped around by Mizzou two weeks ago, but was awarded a BCS gig.
Ohio State, meanwhile, lost its next-to-last game to Illinois, but backed into a Sugar Bowl matchup with LSU because a handful of other teams lost at crunch time. As for what else Ohio State did to earn a slot in the championship game, you probably have to listen to a talk show in Cleveland or Columbus.
The Buckeyes only lost one game, their boosters will tell you. Well, duh! Given their cream-puff non-conference schedule — good morning, Youngstown State — and the sorry state of the Big Ten, who exactly were they supposed to lose to? Here’s all you need to know about Ohio State: According to a Las Vegas oddsmaker, the Buckeyes, had they not had a shot at the title gift-wrapped for them, would have been five-point underdogs to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl.
Nothing personal, Ohio State. It’s just that somebody had to hold the Buckeyes accountable for their easy schedule and nobody did it. So instead of Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, Illinois will provide the road kill for USC. The Fighting Illini are 14-point underdogs in the game. The same Fighting Illini who, ahem, beat Ohio State at Columbus.
Let me know if this is starting to make any sense. When the subject is the BCS, it’s all about making money, not sense. It’s about stiffing Missouri, which just hammered Kansas, and putting the Jayhawks in a big-money bowl. Missouri is No. 6 in the latest BCS rankings, ahead of five teams that received BCS berths.
Illinois is No. 13, but will play in the Rose Bowl. Mizzou, sitting seven notches higher, will play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. Nothing out of the ordinary there. This is the BCS we’re talking about.
Why do they even have these rankings when, as often as not, they don’t mean anything? Another case in point: Virginia Tech was No. 6 going into the weekend and proceeded to beat Boston College, once ranked as high as No. 2, in the ACC championship game. LSU, meanwhile, was No. 7 before beating a so-so Tennessee team in the SEC championship game.
So what happened Sunday night? LSU jumped over the Hokies and landed in the Sugar Bowl to play Ohio State. Not that the Tigers aren’t a deserving team, but where’s the integrity in the rankings when Virginia Tech takes care of its business and isn’t rewarded?
The BCS, like that blind squirrel in your backyard, gets it right once in a while. Unbeaten USC vs. unbeaten Texas in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago. Florida, the SEC champion, against unbeaten Ohio State last year. It’s all those other years that have people clamoring for change.
It’s one thing to have an argument about the best college football team in the country. When the topic is college football, who among us doesn’t like sitting on our barstool, real or virtual, and going back and forth with anyone who’ll listen? The problem is, as long as we have the BCS, the argument will never end.
I don’t profess to have all the answers, just the right one. If those university presidents, the ones who justify making the head coach the highest-paid employee in the state, won’t OK a playoff, at least give us a Plus-One system. As in, play the bowls and the two highest-rated survivors go at it, preferably during the hiatus between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
There. Was that so hard? What’s that? Yeah, you’re right. With the BCS, nothing is ever easy.
*****************************
Personally, I've liked Ohio State over the years. But, let's get real. Their non-conference games might as well be against high schools. Talk about spoon-feeding a rich school 6 or seven automatic wins they don't even have to really play.
Missouri got screwed. Plain and simple.
And, while I like what West Virginia has done over the last two seasons, I completely agree that they deserved their fate. It's not like Pitt was that big an obstacle. They collapsed when they shouldn't have and paid for it.
Here's the one thing not mentioned that I still don't like about the system. Why isn't Hawaii playing for a national title? How can you be the nation's only undefeated team and not play for a title? It's like telling certain schools (read: schools without multi-million dollar staffs and influential alumni) not to bother playing their best, because they will never be undefeated enough. It's a sport. You win all your games in any sport, you get to play for the championship. Should be that simple.
I completely back some sort of playoff system, or as Armstrong mentioned at the very least winding up with an extra bowl game with the top two teams out of the BSC playing each other.
I mean really...what is going to take to prevent these seasons where we have two or three undefeated teams, while one-or two-loss Big Money chools get the samew title shots year after year? Especially in a great year like this, full of upsets and real competition. This was a great year for college football...except the end. Same old, same old.
LSU belongs in the national championship game, which means the BCS got it half-right. Hey, at least the system is making progress.
Trouble is, any discussion of the BCS, an alliance of the powerhouse college-football conferences designed to ensure the biggest bowl payouts for its constituents, has to get around to Missouri.
The Tigers beat Illinois to open their season and dominated Kansas to win the Big 12 North. I only mention it because Missouri will be on the outside looking in as both teams play in BCS bowls. Huh?
BCS apologists will tell you it’s because Missouri lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game. While losing in early December never is a good idea, West Virginia lost to lowly Pittsburgh over the weekend, but still got a BCS berth. And Kansas got slapped around by Mizzou two weeks ago, but was awarded a BCS gig.
Ohio State, meanwhile, lost its next-to-last game to Illinois, but backed into a Sugar Bowl matchup with LSU because a handful of other teams lost at crunch time. As for what else Ohio State did to earn a slot in the championship game, you probably have to listen to a talk show in Cleveland or Columbus.
The Buckeyes only lost one game, their boosters will tell you. Well, duh! Given their cream-puff non-conference schedule — good morning, Youngstown State — and the sorry state of the Big Ten, who exactly were they supposed to lose to? Here’s all you need to know about Ohio State: According to a Las Vegas oddsmaker, the Buckeyes, had they not had a shot at the title gift-wrapped for them, would have been five-point underdogs to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl.
Nothing personal, Ohio State. It’s just that somebody had to hold the Buckeyes accountable for their easy schedule and nobody did it. So instead of Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, Illinois will provide the road kill for USC. The Fighting Illini are 14-point underdogs in the game. The same Fighting Illini who, ahem, beat Ohio State at Columbus.
Let me know if this is starting to make any sense. When the subject is the BCS, it’s all about making money, not sense. It’s about stiffing Missouri, which just hammered Kansas, and putting the Jayhawks in a big-money bowl. Missouri is No. 6 in the latest BCS rankings, ahead of five teams that received BCS berths.
Illinois is No. 13, but will play in the Rose Bowl. Mizzou, sitting seven notches higher, will play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. Nothing out of the ordinary there. This is the BCS we’re talking about.
Why do they even have these rankings when, as often as not, they don’t mean anything? Another case in point: Virginia Tech was No. 6 going into the weekend and proceeded to beat Boston College, once ranked as high as No. 2, in the ACC championship game. LSU, meanwhile, was No. 7 before beating a so-so Tennessee team in the SEC championship game.
So what happened Sunday night? LSU jumped over the Hokies and landed in the Sugar Bowl to play Ohio State. Not that the Tigers aren’t a deserving team, but where’s the integrity in the rankings when Virginia Tech takes care of its business and isn’t rewarded?
The BCS, like that blind squirrel in your backyard, gets it right once in a while. Unbeaten USC vs. unbeaten Texas in the Rose Bowl a couple years ago. Florida, the SEC champion, against unbeaten Ohio State last year. It’s all those other years that have people clamoring for change.
It’s one thing to have an argument about the best college football team in the country. When the topic is college football, who among us doesn’t like sitting on our barstool, real or virtual, and going back and forth with anyone who’ll listen? The problem is, as long as we have the BCS, the argument will never end.
I don’t profess to have all the answers, just the right one. If those university presidents, the ones who justify making the head coach the highest-paid employee in the state, won’t OK a playoff, at least give us a Plus-One system. As in, play the bowls and the two highest-rated survivors go at it, preferably during the hiatus between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
There. Was that so hard? What’s that? Yeah, you’re right. With the BCS, nothing is ever easy.
*****************************
Personally, I've liked Ohio State over the years. But, let's get real. Their non-conference games might as well be against high schools. Talk about spoon-feeding a rich school 6 or seven automatic wins they don't even have to really play.
Missouri got screwed. Plain and simple.
And, while I like what West Virginia has done over the last two seasons, I completely agree that they deserved their fate. It's not like Pitt was that big an obstacle. They collapsed when they shouldn't have and paid for it.
Here's the one thing not mentioned that I still don't like about the system. Why isn't Hawaii playing for a national title? How can you be the nation's only undefeated team and not play for a title? It's like telling certain schools (read: schools without multi-million dollar staffs and influential alumni) not to bother playing their best, because they will never be undefeated enough. It's a sport. You win all your games in any sport, you get to play for the championship. Should be that simple.
I completely back some sort of playoff system, or as Armstrong mentioned at the very least winding up with an extra bowl game with the top two teams out of the BSC playing each other.
I mean really...what is going to take to prevent these seasons where we have two or three undefeated teams, while one-or two-loss Big Money chools get the samew title shots year after year? Especially in a great year like this, full of upsets and real competition. This was a great year for college football...except the end. Same old, same old.
