The fraud that is OU Football exposed tonight - USC and LSU should meet for the championship

dateline: Texas Stadium | 12/6/03 | Jamail Holloway's fur coat at the Orange Bowl

[Diddle E. Squat]

Congrats to K. State, Big 12 Champs. They spanked the pompous overrated Sooners 35-7 tonight in the Big 12 Championship game. Meanwhile USC and LSU continued to roll with big wins(52-28 and 34-13(with 3 minutes left, respectively.)

No way should OU be chosen by the BCS to play in the Sugar Bowl, the pollsters and computers should drop them hard to at least #3(Michigan is probably better, but they do have 2 losses.) What a fraud the BCS is, can anyone reasonable prove that OU is better than LSU and USC, both of who have dominated late in the season? Yet just like with Nebraska a few years ago, OU will probably back in based on bogus prior rankings, overrated hype, and a scam of a system.

OU didn't just lose, they got their butts whooped. If they had lost by just a few points, one could make a decent argument that perhaps they below in the mythical national championship game. But not after this lame performance, and the impressive play of USC and LSU in the last month. 2 teams are going up, 1 is going down. But once again, the BCS is probably going to show how utterly bogus it is. Besides, I'd say its 50-50 that right now Michigan could beat them all, just as with USC the year before.

Without a playoff, its all just figure skating.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I'll gladly give up a Fiesta Bowl berth to see that classless Stoops denied a place in the Sugar Bowl. 77-0, jerk. And this Longhorn usually enjoys a good Aggie loss.

OBTW, Larry Fitzgerald for the Heisman.

Pooooooooor Soon-ERS!

[Diddle E. Squat]

You'll enjoy this...

[Diddle E. Squat]

Looking good for USC...

[Numbers Guy]

Besides, I'd say its 50-50 that right now Michigan could beat them all, just as with USC the year before.

As a Michigan season ticket holder, I'll agree that Michigan might be able to beat all of them. But Michigan lost two games and doesn't deserve a chance given 3 1-loss teams ahead of them. Michigan didn't get the job done. That's the problem with a playoff, it will make a wonderful game like Michigan vs. Ohio State be a battle for seeding.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Division I football is the only NCAA sports division without a playoff system.

It's a sham- and fans should vocally and vigourously demand a playoff system!

[Rodney King]

They are frauds because they lost a game? They are frauds because the BCS hasn't dropped them, even though we don't know that is the case yet? How the hell would you pick the championship? P.S. Although I live in Oklahoma I really don't care. I just find the amount of emotion and illogic put into sports conversations that I pay attention to it ouf of amusement.

[dennis1x]

it could have been 105-0 easily.....Oklahoma was taking knees with 11 minutes left.

Oklahoma not a fraud, a great team that will win the national championship.

and no, im not an oklahoma grad or fan.

GO ILLINI!! (1-11)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Its called 'fun with hyperbole'.

Can you tell that I'm a big fan of Tony Bruno's humor?

[hole_n_one]

I think S. Cal is going to be playing in Pasadena.

[Rodney King]

I'll gladly give up a Fiesta Bowl berth to see that classless Stoops denied a place in the Sugar Bowl. 77-0, jerk. And this Longhorn usually enjoys a good Aggie loss.

Personally, I attribute the loss to him not kicking even more ass against A&M. I don't know football very much, but I know a lot about management and organizations. Midway through the season (halftime at the A&M game, perhaps 3 quarters into it) OU changed their organizational goal. They changed their goal from scoring as many points as possible while giving up as few as possible to one that gives a greater weight to vague and deateable concepts of sportsmanship as defined primarily by teams that are not as good as them. They changed the goal and the results changed. That shouldn't be a surprise.

[SevenofNine]

HA HA Sooners losessss

HA HA

[eddie willers]

Oklahoma not a fraud, a great team that will win the national championship.

If they play for it.
LSU and USC get my vote.

[Rodney King]

Oh, sorry.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well, if its any consolation, if its USC-LSU announced tomorrow, I'll then start arguing that OU got ripped off, since I hate the BCS, and too often there is just no way to truly pick the 2 best teams with certainty. Its such a joke that there isn't a playoff.

[Numbers Guy]

It's a sham- and fans should vocally and vigourously demand a playoff system!

Okay, let's set up a playoff system.

Do we take 8 or 16 teams? You really think the #16 team should be playing in a tournament?

Next step, we do what all the columnists want us to do and play the playoff games at various bowl sites. Now here's an interesting question: Suppose you're an LSU fan. Suppose LSU makes a run to the title game, so they play four games in four weeks, at various sites. How in the heck are you going to be able to afford to go to those games unless you're a millionaire? You try to fly anywhere on 7 days' notice--FOUR straight weeks?

So you're not going to have a ton of fans of the teams at these neutral site bowls unless one ends up in the team's backyard (and is it fair that this will disproportionately happen to southern teams?).

And that means we'll have a bunch of locals at the games, not into the games, sitting on their hands. And the early round games likely won't sell out--the NCAA has trouble selling out 15-20,000 seat arenas for 1st/2nd/3rd/4th round basketball games even though people there get two games at a time until the regional finals.

So we'll have empty seats and quiet crowds, other than the rich boosters rattling their jewelry.

Okay, here's an alternative: Home field advantage, like the NFL. Top seeds get to host the first two or three rounds, with the final at a neutral site.

And how is Bobby Bowden going to feel about having his first round game being played in a snowstorm in Lincoln? Dan Fouts is still whining about that Jan 1982 AFC championship game in Cincinnati.

And, as I mentioned elsewhere, you've just greatly devalued the regular season. The Michigan/Ohio State game this year was one of the most intense, exciting athletic events I've ever attended. If it was a battle for seeding or first round home field advantage it would have been far less compelling.

If people want a playoff, here's a different proposal: Restore the bowl tie-ins. Make the bowls meaningful. *After* the bowls are played, pick two teams to play for a title. That can be through some messy BCS system, or maybe just a smoke-filled room of people who can figure things out.

A one game playoff *after* the bowls. It keeps the pressure on during the regular season (btw, I'm a Michigan grad, I should want a playoff, we're playing well after stumbling on special teams earlier in the season). It keeps the conference championships meaningful. It guarantees large and enthusiastic partisan (bi-partisan I guess) crowds at bowl games. And it makes the people who want a "playoff" happy so they can say someone won a playoff.

[dennis1x]

i think the OU loss guarantees a USC birth as they will probably move ahead of OU in both of the human polls.

if LSU doesnt also pass OU in both polls the expected very close race between USC and LSU is decided.

that leaves a OU vs LSU battle in the BCS which i think OU wins.

[JennysCool]

Dear God, I'm from Nebraska and my Horrible Ex-Girlfriend is a K-State alum! How the hell am I supposed to feel about this???

I guess being happy the Sooners had it handed to them by ANYONE is my only option.

[DrewsDad]

I don't think you can fault Stoops for the 77-0 score. Stoops did what he could to keep the score down. I think tonight's game just goes to show you that sometimes you just have a really crappy day. The Aggies knew that already. Now, OU knows it too.

[Azzurri]

What a wonderful outcome! The BCS is now officially dead and everybody knows it. Well, everybody except the metrosexual NCAA suits who get manicures, wear green eye shade, and take their wives on comfy bowl trips to warm weather sites.

[Rodney King]

Yeah. Like I said, I don't follow it closely, but I also think it gives me a a more impartial view. I suppose a playoff system would add 3 weeks to the season right? I suppose that is doable. If the season is lengthen by one week, and then OU, for example, doesn't need to play North Texas or University of Tulsa.