Posted on 12/09/2004 7:53:44 AM PST by crushelits
AUBURN is a pretty town in the middle of nowhere. It's in eastern Alabama, 100 miles from Atlanta, just off I-85. It's a classic college town, dominated by Auburn University. Once a cow college, Auburn is now a major state university with 25,000 students. It's a conservative place with fraternities and sororities and heavy student participation in religious activities. I can't prove it, but my guess is the student body voted overwhelmingly for President Bush last month.
Auburn has an unbeaten football team, but it won't play in the national championship game in Miami on January 4. The fact that the school is off the beaten track is one reason for this oversight. The sports establishment doesn't flock to Auburn for football games the way it does to Los Angeles to watch USC or to Norman, Oklahoma, to see the Sooners. But Auburn has a great athletic tradition. Bo Jackson played football there. Charles Barkley was a basketball star and still shows up for football games. Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium seats 90,000 fans and games begin only after an eagle circles the field and lands at the 50-yard line. Hence, the Auburn greeting, "War eagle!"
The Auburn team has taken its relegation to a secondary bowl--the Sugar Bowl on January 3--in good spirits. But Auburn truly has gotten a raw deal. Everyone who follows sports in American knows the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system for determining the number one team doesn't work. USC and Oklahoma finished their regular seasons first and second in the
BCS standings because that's where they started. Auburn was wildly underrated when the season began, ranking 17th in one poll. Since USC and Oklahoma remained unbeaten, Auburn couldn't pass them in the BCS rankings. That's the way the system works.
But I'm convinced Auburn is the best football team in the country. True, I'm a bit biased. My son Freddy goes to Auburn and I've become a fan. But I also have an advantage over many of the sportswriters and coaches who vote in the weekly rankings. I've seen Auburn play four times this year and watched several more games on TV. I doubt if most writers or coaches saw Auburn play more than once.
Like USC and Oklahoma, Auburn has a balanced team. Its two running backs, Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown, are likely to be first round picks in the NFL draft. The quarterback, Jason Campbell, was a disappointment to Auburn fans--until this year when he emerged as a brilliant team leader and pinpoint passer. He excelled on third-and-long situations. Auburn's defense featured the best cornerback in the country, Carlos Rogers, another sure-fire first round pick. Opponents rarely passed or even ran on Rogers's side. The Auburn defense overpowered the offensive machines of LSU, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Note those three highly ranked teams that Auburn defeated--crushed actually. Auburn beat Tennessee twice, first on the Vols' home field in Knoxville, then last Saturday in the SEC championship game in Atlanta. Who did USC defeat? Only two ranked teams, Cal and Arizona State. What about Oklahoma? The Sooners beat Texas and Texas Tech. The simple truth is USC and Oklahoma had weaker schedules.
This was a down year for the PAC-10, USC's conference, and the Big 12, Oklahoma's. But there's never a down year in the SEC. It is the best football conference in the nation year after year, including this year. An away game in the SEC is a visit to hostile territory, yet Auburn won handily everywhere. And, as usual, the SEC had more top 25 teams this season (5) than the PAC-10 (3) or Big 12 (4). The SEC champ, especially if it's unbeaten, belongs in the national championship game.
Auburn is also a great story. There's an appealing drama behind its success. Late last season, the school's president and athletic director tried to line up a new coach to replace Tommy Tuberville. They met secretly with the University of Louisville's coach and would have hired him if their mission hadn't been exposed in the press. Instead, Tuberville stayed, Auburn's president left, and the athletic director is retiring. On top of that, a number of players who could have jumped to the pros--Williams, Brown, Rogers--stayed for a final year at Auburn. And Tuberville brought in a new offensive coordinator, Al Borges, who injected excitement and unpredictability into the Auburn offense.
The Auburn team also has class. It showed this last Saturday against Tennessee. When a Tennessee player was hurt and lay motionless on the field, the Auburn players gathered together, knelt and prayed for his recovery. Maybe other teams would have done the same, maybe not. But I was impressed.
Without grousing, Auburn will trek
to New Orleans to play Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. Auburn students and the school's unusually loyal fans will flock there, too. And if Auburn wins, it will emerge with a unique distinction: the best team ever in college football that wasn't the official national champion.
BCS rant ping.
Auburn did a great job but I don't think the best team ever.
Tiger, I think you're more of an NFL guy, but all football fans have to hate the BCS system.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, poor widdle Auburn. Life ain't fair sometimes.
I'm sick of this constant arguing over this stuff. It is all the NCAA's fault. There is no reason why the bowl games can't be played this weekend, with a playoff game next weekend, and championship in January. Until the teams have to actually play each other, nothing will be solved.
One of the few counties in Alabama that Kerry won was Lee County, where Auburn is. The best explanation I have heard for that is that the conservative student body has many people who vote in their home counties or who didn't vote, while the more liberal members of the faculty (who constantly complain about how conservative their surroundings are) all voted in the county. There is also a sizable black community in the county apart from the school, and although many blacks now realize that the demoncrats don't represent their values, the majority of blacks still voted for Kerry.
And I agree completely on the BCS point. Auburn got screwed based on history, location, and the preseason polls (done by the same people who do the later polls, and who wants to admit they were wrong all along?)
We need to send Jesse and the Rev. Sharpton over to the BcS offices and declare that the final polling to determine the two teams to play in the championship is not over.
We should demand a recount of all final major national polls to determine if certain voters were pressured to exclude Auburn.
Auburn needs to take care of business and win the Sugar Bowl and let the chips fall where they may. Personally I think they are the best of the unbeatens (USC, Oklahoma, Utah and Yes, Boise State) since the SEC is a much tougher conference top-to-bottom this year than either the Pac-10 or the Big 12.
As much as it pains me to say (Tide fan), I'll have to agree that Auburn should be playing for the Championship. Those "War, Darn, Eagles!"
Yep. Voting is for gymnastics and figure skating.
You know what, this is just bound to happen with the current system. It seems every year, a team or two is "screwed".. Until the system is changed (abolished), loof for more of this krap...
The SEC has five teams ranked among the top twenty in the country (Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, and Florida). Just think about that: One out of every four teams in the Top 20 is from that conference.
Follow the money! The Sugar-Orange-Rose Bowls don't want to give up their big bucks. And all the other less-than -major bowls wouldn't be too keen either. To me, it's just college football. If Auburn finishes unbeaten, they have a right to call themselves champions - who cares what the other coaches, sports writers, and a computer say?
Absolutely correct.
First; when you've got 3 unbeaten teams, one gets jobbed. No way around it without a playoff.
Second; so what? College sports aren't pro sports. The purpose of college sports is to benefit the students playing the sport and to help build campus spirit. The fact that TV money has turned it into a monster is no reason to screw it up by lengthening the season even further (an 8 team playoff would require 2 more games, or more if you don't incorporate the bowl games into the playoffs). We don't need a college football national champion. Leave it be.
Barnes needs to stick to political commentary and do a little more simple research.
First, 'SC also beat 9th ranked Virgina Tech on the road in front of 70,000 fans in the BCA Classic opening game.
Secondly, I'd like to know how many USC games Barnes watched during the year. Probably one - Notre Dame.
Third, Matt Leinart excelled with a Frosh/Soph offense minus Mike Williams and with a true freshman at wideout (Dwayne Jarret). Everyone has been gunning for this team since spring camp. No one expected Auburn to be this strong.
Fourth, if Auburn wants the respect they "deserve", they need to stop scheduling patsies like Lousiana-Monroe and a DIV-2(!) team like The Citadel. A DIV-2 team matchup shouldn't even count in the standings.
Fifth, Auburn lost a lot of traction with the press when they were manhandled by 'SC in 2003 by a score of 23-0 after getting picked to win the National Championship by a lot of writers. It didn't help them in this year's pre-ranking after burning a lot of voters the year before.
Ugh. In a perfect world, we'd have a playoff. 'SC didn't moan last year when we finished ranked #1 in both polls and didn't get a chance at the BCS championship. Pete Carroll stayed above the fray and quietly went about soundly beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl instead of whining to the press about how ridiculous the situation was. Now the tables are turned, we're ranked #1 anyway, and still the Eastern press corps thinks there's some sort of God-given right to be coronated "the champion" because West Coast games are past their bedtime and hard to watch....
</rant>
How can people say the BCS does not work? They have the consensus #1 and #2 teams playing each other in the Orange Bowl. Pre-BCS, USC would be playing MI in the Rose Bowl, OK would be playing in the Orange Bowl and Auburn would be playing in the Sugar Bowl. None of the top three teams would be meeting in a bowl game. I watched all three teams play this past weekend and an arguement could be made for any combination to make up the top three (my opinion is USC and OK are the two best teams). Unfortunately for Auburn, USC and OK were (rightfully so) #1 and #2 when the season began and they have not lost. Barring a playoff (which does not look likely anytime soon), the system is working fairly well.
That's not what he said. He said best one that didn't get recognized as national champion. Of course, even at that USC fans will say last year's USC team was as good as this year's Auburn team. But all the media came out and pled USC's case last year and they got pronounced national champion by various pundits despite the BCS outcome.
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