Posted on 11/30/2006 2:29:05 PM PST by MikefromOhio
Weekend Thirteen cleared up the BCS title picture a bit. USC won convincingly against Notre Dame while Florida failed to get the style points needed to make a run at the Trojans and Wolverines. With Arkansas losing to LSU, Florida only theoretically has a chance at the title game. The weekend was not without surprises as Texas lost for the 2nd time in a row while West Virginia eliminated itself from Big East and BCS contention by losing to South Florida. The weekend also featured some great finishes with BYU, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee pulling games out late. This week is Championship Week. The conference championship games for the MAC, Conference USA, ACC, SEC and Big XII will be played. Each of those games, along with the Army-Navy game, is the feature this week.
vs 
The MAC champion goes to The Motor City Bowl in Detroit, MI to face either the 7th best Big Ten team or an at-large team. As the Big Ten is getting 2 into the BCS, it will be the at-large team. Central Michigan can score in bunches while Ohio is on a roll.
vs. 
The winner of this game goes to the Liberty Bowl to play against an SEC school while the loser of this game will most likely be heading to Mobile, Alabama for the GMAC bowl against a MAC team (probably Central Michigan). Houston lost a close game to USM earlier this season while it was still in the post-Miami funk after nearly defeating the Hurricanes in Miami.
at 
I can’t believe I’m actually going to pick this. Wake Forest is the better team. Georgia Tech has the weapons to win, but not the quarterback. Their defense will keep them in this game, but the pick is Wake. The winner goes to the Orange Bowl while the loser goes to the Chick-Fil-A bowl (formerly the Peach Bowl).
vs. 
The winner of this game is going to the Sugar Bowl unless Florida wins big and something absolutely screwy happens in the BCS. Arkansas must win this game to get into the BCS at all. Otherwise, LSU is going. It comes down to if Florida will be able to score consistently or if Arkansas will be able to make some plays through the air. Special teams will play a big factor in deciding this game. That favors Arkansas. With LSU not playing this weekend, the loser of this game is probably relegated to the Capital One bowl.
vs. 
The winner of this game is going to the Fiesta Bowl. A good old school match-up that will be played in the Big XII championship for the very FIRST time in the 10 year history of the conference. Since the loss to Texas back in October, Oklahoma has been on a roll. Nebraska, minus a slip up against Oklahoma State, has only lost to USC and Texas, which was a much better team at the time of the loss. I have to give the edge to Oklahoma. Bill Callahan gets too conservative in big games like this and I think the Oklahoma offense will be able to move the ball against the Nebraska defense. The loser of this game will go to the Cotton Bowl.
vs. 
Army and Navy square off again. This year Navy is the home team. Navy is the better team but Army did almost knock off Texas A&M earlier this season. This game will win Navy the Commander in Chief’s trophy for the best service team. Navy is slated to go to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(2) USC (-13.5) at UCLA
USC 43 – UCLA 17
(3) Michigan BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Rose Bowl
(5) LSU BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Rose Bowl
Connecticut at (6) Louisville (-27)
Louisville 42 – Connecticut 21
(7) Wisconsin BYE
Next Game: Accepted bid for the Capital One Bowl
(10) Boise State BYE
Next game: projected to be in the Fiesta Bowl
(11) Auburn BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Outback Bowl
(12) Notre Dame BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Sugar Bowl
(13) Rutgers at (15) West Virginia (-10)
Rutgers 22 – West Virginia 20
(14) Virginia Tech BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (Peach)
(17) Tennessee BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Cotton Bowl
(17) Texas BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Gator Bowl
(20) BYU BYE
Next Game: accepted bid for the Las Vegas Bowl
Stanford at (21) Cal (-29)
Cal 43 – Stanford 7
(22) Texas A&M BYE
Next Game: accepted bid to be in the Holiday Bowl
(25) Boston College BYE
Next Game: projected to be in the Champs Sports Bowl
Texas A&M BYE
Next Game: accepted bid to be in the Holiday Bowl
Florida State BYE
Next Game: Accepted Bid to the Emerald Bowl
Oregon St. at (24) Hawaii (-7.5)
Hawaii 43 – Oregon St. 40
We now wait for the Harris Poll.
However, it should be a requirement to win your conference.
If it isn't a requirement to do so, they need to institute a 4 team playoff.
Mike -
Your reply makes no sense. Here's what I wrote:
Sometimes it is going to happen that the two best teams at the end of the season are from the same conference. And it is even possible that they won't have played each other yet. Sure, the second-ranked team should be conference champ if the top-ranked team is from a different conference, but not necessarily otherwise.
You say you know all this, and yet say both teams in the NCG should have won their conference. Why? You don't say. You then go on to say if there is no conference champ requirement therefore there should be a playoff. This is a complete non sequitur; that is, the two things are unrelated.
The current system is very simple and easy to understand. There will be a national championship game and it will pit the BCS #1 against the BCS #2. Period. Of course it is somewhat subjective who is BCS #1 and #2, but that is unavoidable without a tournament of some sort, which we do not presently have.
Everyone can see, and you admit, that the BCS #1 and #2 might come from the same conference. Yet you say that the national championship game should not feature these two teams in this event. Such illogic might pass muster down in the hayfields of Ohio, but it would get you laughed out of a world-class university such as the University of Michigan.
Just sayin'.
However, I have a perfect soluton to this debate....Ohio State would play Florida in the 1st quarter, Michigan in the second quarter, Boise State is the 3rd quarter and Louisville in the 4th quarter. LOL!
When are they going to announce the results?? Or, did they already?
"However, it should be a requirement to win your conference."
No championship game for ND? Ever? Even if they were undefeated? You can't win a conference championship if you're not in a conference.
Urban Myers just went up a bunch in my book, just interviewed and he stood by his comments that a playoff is needed, that right now we don't know who is actually #1 because it is impossible to know for sure in this system and depends too much on odd breaks in how the season goes. Says he expects we'll get a playoff soon.
In contrast, Jim Tressel completely danced around the question. What a gutless ass, because he knows he's always going to ride high in the polls and always has a shot at gaming the system, just like Texas, USC, and Notre Dame.
I think the SEC is overrated, full of blowhards, and OSU is the better team (and Michigan, but they just got their shot), but flip me onto the Florida bandwagon for this game. Any coach honest enough to continue to advocate for a playoff, even when they just benefited from the system, has me as a fan. (Unlike that hypocrite Mike Belloti in Oregon, who flipped-flopped as soon as the BCS system came around and benefited him.)
Go Florida!
Go Gators!!!
LOL! Especially when "little old Wake Forest" may embarrass them right there on the field. :)
We can hope! Looks like it will be Louisville playing Wake in the Orange bowl.
Prepare for the big chomp!
You were right-on in your prediction here. Reggie Ball had the back-to-back worst games of his career. How hard is it to get the ball to Calvin Johnson???? It's hard to believe that was the same team that beat Va Tech and Miami and Maryland.....
Simply expand the BCS from 10 teams to 12, and add 4 playoff games between the BCS bowls/bowl season and the (currently mythical) national championship game.
Keep the BCS, BCS bowls, and all the other bowls, but modify it into a 12-team playoff, with just 5 additional playoff games after the New Year's bowls (and actual a net of just 4 additional games.) Right now 10 teams go to 5 bowl games based out of the 4 BCS bowls (with the bogus mythical nat'l champ game being a 2nd game for one of the BCS bowls on a rotating basis.) There is talk of going to a +1 playoff format, where the top 2 BCS bowl winners meet in a nat'l champ game. But that would likely require either going back to 8 BCS teams (very unlikely for political reasons) or adding a 5th BCS bowl. Doing the latter wouldn't hurt the BCS revenues one iota, the original 4 BCS bowls could still keep to themselves the final champ game on a rotating basis and the new 5th BCS bowl could have a separately negotiated TV contract if they were worried about it diluting their existing TV contract.
For that reason expanding to a 6th BCS bowl and 12 BCS teams won't hurt the existing BCS bowls and would provide an excellent 12-team playoff that preserves all the bowls, includes virtually every team that has a legitimate claim to being the best, doesn't interfere with finals week, and only strenghtens the existing BCS bowls and revenues. It also provides a better chance of including deserving minor conference teams. Plus if you drop the limit of 2 teams per conference down to 3, it should take away the criticism that a potential actual best team (such as Wisconsin or LSU/Auburn) gets frozen out if a conference is very top heavy.
Round One: Add 2 BCS bowls, choose 12 teams using the BCS, and play the BCS bowl games during the New Year's holidays, just as always. They can seed them 1-12, or follow the traditional format of the Big 10 (sic) and Pac 10 champs meeting in the Rose and each of the other 4 bowls hosting a conference champ, then seeding the 6 wildcards based on rankings. Keeps all the existing bowls, doesn't have to change the number of bowls, number of bowl teams, or the bowl season at all. They can move up 1 existing bowl and create a new BCS bowl (perhaps in the new Dallas Cowboys' retractible roof stadium in Dallas) or move up 2 existing bowls and add a replacement minor bowl. So all the coaches, schools, conferences, and bowls are happy and don't lose anything.
Round Two: At least a full week after the BCS bowls, give the highest-ranked two winners a bye, and have the #3 & #4 ranked winners host campus home games against the #6 & #5 winners.
Round Three: The Final Four, have the bye teams hosting campus home games.
Round Four: The actual national championship game is played in a BCS bowl, rotated among the original 4 BCS bowls, just as it is now.
With 12 BCS teams you get 6 conference champs and 6 wildcards, guaranteeing that even in the worst case the top 6 teams will get into the playoff, and most likely the top 9 or 10 teams, or even all 12 if there are no upsets. It is virtually certain that the actual best team in the country will be in the top 9 or 10 BCS rankings at the end of the year, as opposed to many years where the actual best team doesn't make the BCS top 2 or the #1-ranked team loses their bowl (which by nature suggests that the polls were wrong and thus may have been wrong about who the actual top 2 teams were.)
In that format no school hosts more than 1 playoff game. The existing BCS bowls (and all the other bowls) keep as many games as they have now, with no watering down of the BCS bowls but rather a strengthening since all of them now matter. With no more than 2 games per weekend after the New Year's bowls there shouldn't be any interference with the NFL playoffs. All the traditions remain and the regular season and conference championships still matter (6 wildcards isn't many, especially since 1 or even 2 slots will often go to a minor conference teams, and they could add a rule that only conference champs can host a playoff game.) And the crowned champ has to beat ON THE FIELD 3 or 4 legitimate playoff teams, rather than posing, campaigning, and/or riding an overrated conference's reputation or legacy high initial poll ranking to a 1-game crap shoot. In reality this playoff system only adds a net of 4 extra games to what exists now. Just 4 additional games, all in January, so the university presidents' objections are shown to be completely bogus.
12 teams in a playoff assures that the resulting champion really is the best in the country. And in the process changes the final game from a fraudulent bogus mythical faux-championship that is nothing more than a figure-skating exhibition between 2 beauty contest winners into a legitimate title game.
Of course there can be variations on this basic structure. They could always start with the current format of 10 BCS teams and give byes to the top 3 BCS bowl winners while having the #4 & #5 winners play in a single round two game to fill out the Final Four. It can also be expanded to an optimal 16 team playoff format if the byes are eliminated and 2 additional bowls added to the BCS.
A 10 or 12-team BCS playoff may not be as perfect as jumping straight into a 16-team playoff, but it is far more feasible and politically doable. In fact if the will is there, this could be done in the next few months, or a year at most. They chose to add a 5th bowl and went to 10 teams in between seasons, so the precedent is there. The Cotton and a Florida bowl (and others) would be beating down the BCS doors to step up and be the 5th and 6th bowls. It is time to institute a playoff, and there are ZERO good excuses for not doing so.
How would a 12-team BCS bowl playoff look this year?
Bowl, BCS ranking, Team, (* indicates BCS conference champ, wildcards distributed by ranking)
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC* (assuming they choose to keep the traditional Pac 10- Big 10 (sic) matchup)
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 11 ND
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 9 AUB
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 8 BOISE
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 7 WISC
new bowl: 3 MICH vs 4 LSU
If they stuck with the 10-team BCS and 2-teams per conference maximum (followed by a Round Two of three byes and the #4 & #5 winners playing for a spot in the Final Four):
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC*
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 11 ND
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 8 BOISE
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 4 LSU
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 3 MICH
10-team BCS and no or 3-teams per conference max:
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC*
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 11 ND
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 7 AUB
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 4 LSU
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 3 MICH
16 team BCS, no restrictions, straight seedings (other than the Rose Bowl, no byes in Round Two):
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC*
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 16 RUTG
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 15 VA TECH
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 13 WV
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 12 ARK
new bowl: 3 MICH vs 11 ND
new bowl: 4 LSU vs 9 AUB
new bowl: 7 WISC vs 8 BOISE
16 team BCS, 3-team per conference max, same conference matchups avoided in first round (BCS bowls) if possible (similar to the NFL's format):
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC*
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 18 CAL
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 15 VA TECH
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 16 RUTG
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 12 ARK
new bowl: 3 MICH vs 9 AUB
new bowl: 4 LSU vs 11 ND
new bowl: 7 WISC vs 8 BOISE
16 team BCS, no or 4-team per conference max, same conference matchups avoided in first round (BCS bowls) if possible (similar to the NFL's format):
Rose: 1 OSU* vs 5 USC*
Sugar: 2 FLA* vs 16 RUTG
new bowl: 6 LOU* vs 15 VA TECH
Fiesta: 10 OU* vs 13 WV
Orange: 14 WAKE* vs 12 ARK
new bowl: 3 MICH vs 9 AUB
new bowl: 4 LSU vs 11 ND
new bowl: 7 WISC vs 8 BOISE
All options are a vast improvement over what we have now, with all games having meaning, and a true national champion earning it on the field.
Congrats to ScottSays.
He is the FReeper Pick'em League champion this year.
What's interesting is that both UF or OSU have a good chance to hit the NCAA daily double..men's championships in BB and football..
Interesting scenario. One obvious problem , FWIW, is the home field advantage in rounds 2 & 3. Not because of "home field" per se, but because of weather. Asking an ACC or SEC team to potentially go play a BIG 10 team team in a blizzard in late Dec/early Jan isn't fair, it's near "criminal" (G)...heck, some of those kids have never seen snow...(g)
Congrats on the win! I hope more people will play next year too. I was just happy to finish in 5th place! I also finished 5th (out of 48) in the Free Republic NASCAR Fantasy Cup. woohoo! :>
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