BCS Ramblings

Ah the BCS....




















As someone who grew up in 1-AA territory the BCS does not sit well with me. I would love to see at least an 8 team (or larger) tournament like all the other divisions do, but since we can't have that, we get a lot of bitching. And because I am told that bitching is what I do best here is mine for the week.

Is Ohio State the best college football team in the country? Well that is a very debatable question. If you believe the BCS, or the human polls the answers is yes. If you believe the computers the answer is no, they have the Buckeyes ranked 3^rd. I ask you this: if OSU is not number one who is? Lets look at the next few teams in order of BCS ranking.

#2 Boston College (8-0). I would have no problem if you called Boston College the #1 team in the country. They have taken care of business and beaten every team they were supposed to. Unfortunately for them they, like OSU, have not played any particularly good teams (good teams defined by national perception). The good news for BC is the computers think they are number 1. If Boston College wins out they play for the National Title. The Eagles have a tough test Thursday night at #8 Virginia Tech, a win here and BC will be perceived as a legitimate title threat.

#3 LSU (7-1). Experts feel that LSU is probably the best team in the country and deserves to be #1. There is one key thing that makes me disagree with them being #1; they have a loss (to current #14, two loss Kentucky). If everyone wants to talk about how great college football is cause the regular season is a playoff and every game counts when you lose you should fall behind the teams that have taken care of business this far. If you want to keep LSU in the championship discussion while there are multiple undefeated teams still out there stop calling the regular season a virtual playoff. LSU’s current BCS situation is very favorable for them, this is of course assuming that they take care of business and don’t lose to any more teams that they are favored to beat.

#4 Arizona State (7-0). I would also have no problem if you wanted to deem ASU #1. They have also not lost a game this year. Once again the common thing among all of the undefeated teams is that they have not played anyone good. ASU’s resume is solid in my opinion , they defeated Colorado (who beat Okalahoma), Stanford (beat USC), and Oregon State (who beat Cal). I know you can’t use the transitive property in football, but those teams can not be too terrible if they all beat teams that were ranked in the top 5 for multiple weeks this season. ASU has a great chance to prove their title game worth in the next four weeks with games against Cal, Oregon, UCLA, and USC. If they go 4-0 they deserve to play for a championship.

#5 Oregon (6-1). Two weeks ago it could be argued that Oregon had the best 1 loss resume in the country and then the upsets started to pile up, and Cal (only team to beat Oregon) lost twice. Oregon has upcoming games against #12 USC and #4 ASU, winning these two games and making through the rest of the Pac 10 schedule unscathed will probably put the Ducks in the title game (this is of course dependent on some other things happening that the Ducks can not control, but with the way this season has been, winning out will probably get the job done).

#6 Okalahoma (7-1). Much like Oregon, if OU wins out there is a better than average chance enough of the teams in front of them will slip up some time in the next few weeks. Unfortunately for the Sooners they did not look good last week against lowly ISU, hopefully for them it was an off week. Possibly three tough games remain @ Texas Tech, OK State, and the Big 12 championship.

#7 West Virginia (6-1). WVU is pretty far down the list but they guys at College Football News have picked them to reach the title game. They will be favored in every game left on the schedule, but Rutgers will be looking for revenge from last years defeat and Louisville will be looking to ruin WVU’s season while making their disaster a little more bearable.

#8 Virginia Tech (6-1). Only loss is to # 3 LSU. This was a young, inexperienced team trying to help a university recover from tragedy early this season. VT is really coming on strong late in the season and the schedule sets up nicely for a run at the top. #2 BC comes to Blacksburg this Tuesday and the season finale at Virginia should be a fantastic game putting the winner into the ACC championship. If VT wins out in the regular season they will probably see a still highly ranked BC again in the ACC championship and a win there might be enough to push them past a few teams possibly still ranked ahead of them.

#9 Kansas (7-0). Yeah, yeah, yeah Kansas has not played anyone good. Blah, blah, blah. They are a Division 1 team in a BCS conference, remaining undefeated for the whole season deserves some respect no matter who your 12 opponents are. Fortunately for the BCS, Kansas will probably lose 1 or 2 games the rest of the way, but should the magic remain and Kansas is the undefeated Big 12 champion they deserve a chance to win the championship, no? You mean to tell me that the champion of the Big 12 conference could be undefeated and left out of a title game that would possible feature two one loss teams? That to me would be the ultimate travesty of the 10+ years of the BCS.

With Ohio State sitting at #1 right now it is win out and you are going to New Orleans (regardless about how you feel about them). Ohio State has four tough, but winnable, games left on the schedule. If the Buckeyes get through undefeated they definitely deserve to play for the national title under the current BCS structure. If there was a 8 or 16 team playoff at the end of the season I am not sure I would put my money on OSU to win it all. (Note: this playoff will never happen because the NCAA thinks they would lose money, there will be a whole post about this and how to save the other Bowl games some other time when I feel like writing 3000 words)

I think the major problem with the discussion about who is #1 at this point in the season is people seem to be thinking teams with a loss to a mediocre team are better than teams that have beat every mediocre team they have faced. If you want to be #1 win every game you play or hope that everyone else loses, but until you have the same number of loses I am not sure you should rank teams based on their opponents.