Posted on 12/02/2013 8:34:12 AM PST by xzins
With one week to go before the BCS rankings leave us forever, an undefeated Big Ten power missing out on the national championship is somehow an actual worry. Meanwhile, Florida State's sitting pretty. Full standings below.
It doesn't matter that Ohio State went 12-0 last year. It doesn't matter that an unbeaten Auburn was shut out of the BCS National Championship in 2004. It doesn't matter that Ohio State has lost two national title games against SEC teams in recent years. It doesn't matter that the SEC has won seven straight championships.
Or at least it shouldn't.
What will matter, however, is whether the BCS polls and computers rank Ohio State or Auburn No. 2 next week, assuming the Buckeyes and (burnt orange and navy blue) Tigers win their respective conferences. We'd thought we were just about done with the season's series of debates over which team should rank No. 2 and which should rank No. 3, but we've only just now arrived at the biggest one yet.
For now, the updated BCS standings after Week 14's wild weekend:
A win by either the Spartans or the other Tigers would render all this moot (except for Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs suddenly becoming a huge Mizzou* fan, we trust).
* Though Missouri would have a better case for No. 2 than Auburn would, if you ask me, since the (black and gold) Tigers have spent most of the year smashing fools by exorbitant margins. But nobody's asking me. Mizzou's probably too far back to jump that far, barring insanity.
If our new Nos. 2 and 3 win their conferences, the polls would be where Florida State finds its Pasadena opponent. While many voters would fall back on the SEC's presumed strength of schedule and difficulty (and most strength of schedule numbers do rate Auburn's as tougher so far), others would sympathize with a 13-0 BCS conference champion that was ineligible last year. At the moment, the Buckeyes hold that advantage, and would any voters who were unconvinced by an Auburn win over Alabama really be swayed by one over Missouri?
The difference could be Urban Meyer, who's successfully stumped his team into a BCS National Championship before -- and that was an SEC team at the expense of a Big Ten team. But do voters still think of Meyer as they did then? Whether Meyer's national profile has changed since '06 due to various controversies would actually matter. Like, actually help determine the season's champion. That's insane and ridiculous, but it's the system.
We don't know whether Auburn or Ohio State would win the right to go play FSU if the two played on a neutral field. We don't have a playoff yet, not for 12 more months. We do know the Buckeyes have won all but two of their games by multiple scores, while Auburn's won by a single score six times (including the two luckiest, most improbable winning plays of the year). Auburn's also lost a game by 14 points. Gus Malzahn and Nick Marshall have led an immaculate rebuild, but let's not let that loss be a footnote.
So it begins. One more week. The only vital contributions to the debate going forward will be those made by the players on the field in the Big Ten and SEC championship games.
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Yet if OSU lost to Michigan I don’t think you’d say the same thing.
In fact, OSU coming up at the end to stop them on the two point conversion speaks highly of them.
OREGON???
I mean, for 6-7 weeks I thought they were the best in the country, but dude…they’ve TANKED the last month….2 bad losses and a couple shaky wins….
We are talking about this season, no? The coaches from both teams in that game are no longer with their respective teams.
That must be why Urban Meyer took his heart problem to Ohio State.
Well, let's analyze that claim.
So let's put them in the SEC East. They sure wouldn't have lost to Vandy thru Kentucky (east bottom dwellers). That means, among Mizzou, South Carolina, and Georgia, you're claiming they'd have lost to all three, and then lost to Auburn or Alabama in the West, (but have beaten Ole Miss or Arkansas, to fill out your hypothetical schedule.
So you're saying OSU beats none of those four teams? Really? None? I'd love to see Alabama play a home and home against OSU. Just make it a mid-November play date, that's all I am saying.
Yes, I would, Michigan is weak when you’re talking national title talk…..and stopping one very poorly designed 2 point play can only speak so much….(I don’t have a problem with Hoke going 2 there, but that’s an awful play call).
OSU is good, but the SEC is far superior over all to the Big Ten this year (and most years) - and the PAC 12 is probably the second best league this year. The ACC is better than you may think, and better than they’ve been in many years. And they can light up the scoreboard in the Big 12!
98% of college football is NOT a cold weather sport….so sorry, that argument don’t fly.
I'll buy you dinner next year if #5 isn't screaming bloody murder for being left out of the playoffs.
You’re forgetting Texas A and M, LSU, etc…as potential western foes……and frankly, they may be a western team in the first place.
I think they should change it so that 4 SEC teams play for the title every year. 2 winners, 2 champions, just make it easier for SEC fans.
I don't think they will have 2 conference teams play for the title again. Good football is one thing, but the tv ratings for bama/lsu a couple years back was dismal. We had all seen the game before, and only SEC fans watched. Same outcome. The '2 best teams in the nation' could barely score a touchdown against each other. But gave up many touchdowns to the miscellaneous schools they faced during the season...
Shhhh....don’t let them know about FSU having a super weak schedule. No one is complaining about that...only about OSU because they are trying to keep them from the title game...the SEC doesn’t want to face them this year they know what Meyer will do to them. After all he dominated the SEC already.
Let them think FSU is a powerhouse so if/when OSU wins it will be even sweeter.
The SEC is full of Urban Meyer haters...fact of the matter is, he coached in 2 national title games and convincingly won both. He knows how to prepare his team.
And besides, this year Ohio State won’t have a 6 week layoff from their last game to the title game like in past seasons since they now have a conference championship game to play.
Remember when significant underdog OSU beat previously unbeaten Miami in 2002? Miami hadn’t lost a game in 2 years and then came up short in the biggest moment of the season in a tight game....
BINGO….the playoff system will be so much less satisfying than people think…..you do 4, then 5 and 6 bitch. Do 8, and 9 and 10 bitch. etc.
Human nature…..there is no such thing as perfection. The NCAA tourney, for all it’s glory, and I DO love it, rarely actually crowns the best over all team. Just sayin…..
I’ve been an Ohio resident almost my entire life, and while I’m a Cincy Bearcat fan, I’ll switch to OSU when my Bearcats aren’t on the line. It’s easy this year, since Meyer is a Cincy grad.
These teams that play each other year in and year out in bitter rivalries actually come to know the other team almost as well as they know their own.
The difference between top teams is miniscule. If you give a top 50 team even a hint that they’re in the game, then you’ve got a fight on your hands. That’s why OSU’s win over Michigan is a good win. That 2 point try by Michigan was a micro-overtime with OSU’s defense against Michigan’s offense.
OSU won the play and the game.
This is why we’ve always needed a playoff system instead of the pretty boy “I’m undefeated” nonsense.
BTW, when is the last time OSU beat someone from the SEC? Any southern team for that matter?
Even if they somehow draw the game against FSU...they’ll get crushed. Bank it.
Rivalry game...that was Michigan’s entire season riding on the line at home.
And neither should have Alabama...
Correct. Bama wins then the argument is moot. Instead they give up a 109 yard field goal return in one of the flukiest final plays I’ve ever seen.
The problem for Alabama is there is not another game for them to play into BCS title position.
No, they would only play a couple of the opposite division foes while playing the entire collection of teams in their division. That only leaves a pair of games against the Western div, so I chose one from the top and a lower tier team.
You will have to wait to next year when there is finally a playoff.
But it still doesn’t equal winning at Auburn…..where the rivalry is just as vicious….but the speed and the talent is there over Michigan. This “scant” difference you talk about is not that scant…..as the Big Ten demonstrates almost every bowl season against southern teams.
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