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.
I disagree with you in too many ways to write them all. So I won't. Merry Christmas!
I think he means the best team not to win the Championship.
Even 6 teams would work with the "#1" & "#2" teams getting a bye
Best undefeated team not to win a national championship? I'd go with Penn State, 1995.
"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. "
Agreed this matters under the current method of determining a winner but is also why there needs to be a playoff. 2003 should not matter.
Auburn's non-conference schedule was pitifull; The Citidel, Louisianna Monroe, and SW Louisianna St. They hurt themselves with that cream puff schedule. They might as well have scheduled The Alabama School For The Blind. Auburn got screwed, but they also screwed themselves with their early season opponents!! The BCS is a crock Div 1A needs a true playoff. The only fair way to do it is take the champ from every Div 1A conference and 4 at-large teams, and play it on the damn field! Untill then BCS stands for Big Crock of S@#t!!!!!
OU had the toughest schedule of the top three.
They also beat Texas-no small feat as they are #4 in the BCS.
You need to get in line to win that distinction.
The Best Team(s) that wasn't a National Champion
All the whining and yapping this year about the BCS makes it sound as if this kind of "injustice" has never happened before. It happens all the time.
And BTW. I think Auburn is a fine team and may well be the "best" this year. But I also think they would have gotten the butts kicked by any number of past teams on that list that never got the recognition either.
Everybody hates the BCS because the very idea of a difinitive national championship in college football is ludicrous. There are too many teams and there is no opportunity to compare one to another in any meaningful way. They can't play a twenty game schedule followed by playoffs, which would be what is needed to have the matter decided by victories on the field.
The old regional bowl system had a lot more going for it, IMHO. I used to care who won the Rose Bowl, and this year, I don't even know who's in the Rose Bowl. Not only is the BCS stupid, it has destroyed whatever of beauty and value existed before it.
We don't need a college football national champion. Leave it be.
Division I is the only one without a playoff system for the national championship. All of the other NCAA divisions in football have a playoff system. You could take the top 4 teams and then pair them off for a two game national championship. In essence, you would be adding only one additional game. One could play four and two would play three. The winners would play one another for the national championship the second week in January.
The NCAA could reduce the number of games played during the regular season if that is a major consideration. The real reason there is no Division I national playoff system is the money and power associated with the bowls.
Auburn had 4 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 73.6.
USC had 3 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 65.6.
Not that big a difference - makes it real hard for either team to declare they should have been included. That's why this system is just rediculous.
The team may have class, but not Tuberville. I recall him coaching them against Jackie Sherrill's MSU team a few years ago. Auburn was up big very late in the game. The outcome was not in doubt, and Tuberville orders a fake field goal that results in a "rub your face in it" touchdown. The cameras then pan to Tuberville, who has a big shi# eating grin on his face. Totally classless. That's why I'm glad Auburn got jobbed this year- I'll bet Tuberville ain't grinning now! LOL
Auburn was rated #1 last year in the preseason polls but the MIGHTY TROJANS blew into Auburn and plucked the war eagle. So your crying about getting screwed because noone knows them is false. They were not that good last year while USC and OK were and thats why they were rated high in the standings. USC got screwed last year, its Auburns turn this year.
If we cant have a playoff bring back the old system!!! A split champion wasnt so bad under the old system but the BSC really screws things up.
(hey, a boy can dream, can't he?)
You are so right, anyone who has ever been associated with voting for teams has to know that bias reigns supreme in these voting decisions. So you take a bunch of biased sportswriters and coaches and reduce the game on the field to a diving contest. We wait for the correct solution to emerge. (Bowls and playoffs can be combined, as many freepers have posted.)
WAR d**n Eagle baby!
My Dad went to Auburn, class of '49. I went to the "other place", class of '82. We don't talk about football.
Auburn got stuck with the Citadel after Oklahoma paid Bowling Green to break its contract to play Auburn and play Oklahoma instead. So Oklahoma bribed its way into having a stronger out-of-conference schedule than Auburn. By the time Bowling Green and Oklahoma executed their behind-the-back deal, the only team available for Auburn to play was the Citadel. It was not Auburn's plan to play them, so quit bashing Auburn and saying they screwed themselves. Learn the facts.
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