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.
No, I went to a Big 12 school and have no problem with Missouri winning the SEC championship even though Mizzou was our arch rival.
Next year we will have four teams eligible for the championship and you can bet that at least one SEC team will be part of the mix. Three out of the current top five are from the SEC.
Mizzou a 1-point underdog in the SEC Championship Game...
‘Conference championship opening lines Auburn a short favorite over Missouri’
Bettors lay the points with Ohio State against Michigan State
Conference winners should be in...
I wish I could take credit for it. But, alas, I did not write it.
There aren't enough slots to take all conference winners. There are only four slots.
Patience...it will go to 6 teams and then eventually 8 teams.
Today, as in fifty years from now, there is no record of OSU beating Arkansas on any official record.
OSU is 0-10 in bowl games against SEC teams.
OSU is 0-10 in bowl games against SEC teams.
And it will most likely stay 0-10 this year as well...
You mean the national champions with 13 returning starters and a stable full of returning lettermen? Yeah, they're so overrated for a team that sends so many players to the NFL.
Good luck against Sparty on Saturday. You're going to need it.
I think they'd lose to LSU as well as Mizzou, South Carolina, Alabama and Auburn. I also think A&M, Georgia and Ole Miss would give them a serious test. Don't know what their schedule would be, but they could easily lose 3 games in the SEC, and maybe 4, depending on the schedule. That would make their participation in the SEC conference championship moot.
But, you're right, it's all hypothetical. I hope OSU wins on Saturday so we get to see them play FSU. FSU is the better team just like Alabama was the better team last year. OSU can be this years Notre Dame.
Urban Meyer is a great coach. One of the best. I hated it when he left Florida, but under the circumstances (it wasn’t his health), I understand why he made the move. If the same team shows up on Saturday that played vs. Michigan last week, the BCS will be FSU against the SEC. Personally, I’d like to see it without an SEC team this year. If not for a pathetic loss to West Virginia, we might have seen the other OSU in the game. After watching their dismantling of Baylor, they have the ability to beat any of the topped ranked teams.
This ol' Okie Stater agrees. But it wasn't only the dismantling of Baylor, but the prior dismantling of Texas and Kansas that feed into the discussion.
OSU beat the living dogcrap out of all three, seemingly without working up a sweat -- dominating on both offense and defense. Crushing Texas -- in Austin -- was particularly satisfying. They never gave the Teasipper fans a chance to cheer.
Two years ago, it was that miserable OT loss to IS. The Pokes would have beaten LSU. This year, it was West Virginia. That loss was absolutely mind-boggling when watching them beat, and in many cases, crush, some of the better teams out there. Nothing would make me happier than watching the Cowboys in the BCS championship game. But it won't be this year, unfortunately. Let's just hope they lay a hurtin' on big red Saturday. The game is in Stillwater so that would be a great finish to the regular season.
Indeed, it has been a long time coming. I go back to the Bluegrass Bowl days, played on the infield of the race track at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds -- which we won (beating Florida State, by the way).
T. Boone's been good for the program. And for the school.
Haven’t they already changed the name to T. Boone Pickens U?
Like I said:
I dont think that any other NCAA team could have beaten UM Saturday.
Naw. Just the stadium. Not the U.
Yet...
We've all heard the rumors, he was getting his "Petrino" on.
No I mean the Alabama from thus year the one that lost last week and haven’t played a tough team til last week
. The same Alabama that allowed weak teams to score a ton of points on them.
if we a bringing up last year OSU is the only undefeated team for two years.
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