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.
The SEC is by far the strongest conference. If it comes down to comparing undefeated and one loss teams, the edge must go to the SEC. Next year, we will see the SEC dominate once again if gets screwed out of the title game this year. It is the only way they can be beaten, i.e., keep them out of the title game.
Auburn defeated two ranked teams. OSU barely survived a mediocre Michigan team, which gambled on a two point conversion rather than take the tie and go into OT.
OSU didn’t beat them when they were in the SEC. OSU is still 0-10 against SEC teams in bowl games.
0-10 bowl record against SEC teams. That’s tanking.
Really? Name one OSU bowl game win against an SEC opponent.
Arkansas...a couple years ago in the sugarbowl
“OSU didn’t beat them when they were in the SEC. “
Cute.
No. OSU knowingly played ineligible players in the game and the game was vacated. It’s not counted as a win in any NCAA or bowl record book. According to all official records, cheating OSU did not win the Sugar Bowl.
True. OSU may have beaten a Big 12 team or old Southwest Conference team, but never an SEC team.
“I still think Bama is better than Auburn (despite the loss), Ohio State and Missouri, but FSU would destroy any one of them.”
As an FSU alumnus, I concur. Expect to hear a LOT of this in the coming weeks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_vpfblTqng
Twas the night after Auburn and all through the land,
not a “Roll Tide” was uttered by a Crimson Tide fan.
They used to be boisterous, they used to be loud,
they used to be boastful, and cocky and proud.
But they lost all their swagger, they lost all their swing. For one little second had changed everything.
The score it was even. The clock had run dry.
When Nicholas Saban then started to cry.
He demanded a second be put on the clock.
The worse that could happen? A miss or a block.
But fate it is fickle, and greed has a price,
and what happened next just wasn’t too nice.
The previous kicks, wide left and wide right.
So he put in a rookie, ‘twas not very bright.
The kick was a boomer of 56 yards, but the extra yard needed was not in the cards.
- And back in the end zone a lone Tiger stood.
He caught that ol’ football, he caught it real good.
He started to run, he heard the cheers grow.
The Crimson Tide offense? Too fat and too slow.
One hundred and nine he ran for a score.
If needed he could have run one hundred more
The crowd it erupted while storming the field.
The Crimson Tide’s season was settled and sealed.
A cry of “War Eagle” soon echoed the plain.
Nick Saban’s expression was one of pure pain.
And up in Ohio they shouted “Go Bucks”
For it gave hope to all well except for the Ducks.
And in Tuscaloosa you could hear a pin drop.
And in Tallahassee a tomahawk chop.
For the night after Auburn the Tide has no clue.
The new boss in town wears Orange and Blue!
None of it matters outside Dec 14 in Philly...
Go Navy, Beat Army!
5.56mm
That’s going on our Christmas Card!
I think you are just worried a Big 12 School is about to win the SEC championship...
The SEC is by far the strongest conference. If it comes down to comparing undefeated and one loss teams, the edge must go to the SEC. Next year, we will see the SEC dominate once again if gets screwed out of the title game this year. It is the only way they can be beaten, i.e., keep them out of the title game.
Screwecd out of? It;s the system that has been in place since 1998 with all the tweaks. If one year an SEC doesn’t make it, then change the system. Oh yeah, we will next year.
Sugar Bowl W 31–26 January 4, 2011 Arkansas Razorbacks Jim Tressel
That’s ‘cause the weather is balmier down here than up there in the winter!
True. OSU may have beaten a Big 12 team or old Southwest Conference team, but never an SEC team.
Sugar Bowl W 31–26 January 4, 2011 Arkansas Razorbacks Jim Tressel
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