Now that the dust has settled and our fate is no longer ours, it’s time to take a look at the mess that once again has become the BCS. But before I get into it remember this, the loss to Wisconsin (or a win over them) wouldn’t have been near as painful (or as triumphant) if we got a second chance in a post season playoff.
Ohio State and Alabama are the only two teams in the top ten that are not undefeated. Much of this will sort itself out over the coming weeks but then again, it may not. For now, I’m going to hold out for a Buckeye return to the BCS title. However, if I am to be denied the redemption I seek, then what the heck, I’m hoping for at least three unbeaten teams at the end of regular season play — if only to have something else to bitch about when the time comes.
It’s also important to note that with so many unbeaten teams, schedule and style points play a big role in the rankings. And since the goal of the BCS is to put the top two teams in the country into the championship game, I’m going to look at each team in relation to my incredibly biased opinion of the Buckeyes. Ignorance and pride can carry you a long way when you take in an endeavor like this.
9 – Utah
Utah has a handful of quality wins against so-so opponents. They pretty much ran the score against UNLV, New Mexico, San Jose State, Iowa State and Wyoming. Yeah, that’s great. Opening weekend, they barely got past Pittsburgh, ranked #15 at the time. Since then, Pittsburgh has pretty much turned into a bust. Miami dropped them 31-3 and we all know how much street cred we got from Miami.
Utah get’s another free week at the top unless they somehow blow it against Colorado State this weekend. From there, they’ve got Air Force, TCU and Notre Dame in that order. Chances are, at least one of the three will knock them out of the top ten.
8 – Alabama
Great teams take down giants and go on to win the next week. Great teams bounce back after a painful loss. After pulling a Buckeye at South Carolina, Alabama took out their frustrations on Mississippi. South Carolina lost to Kentucky. Of the two, I’ll take the Alabama route. As the BCS sorts itself out, Bama will climb their way back. Maybe not to the number one spot but I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it to Glendale. Remember, they’re in the SEC and the entire system is stacked in the SEC’s favor.
Bama should have no problem with Tennessee this weekend and they’ll knock LSU out of the way. That leaves Auburn standing in the way of an SEC championship game. The SEC East doesn’t bring near as much to the table as the SEC West so whoever wins the West will be right back in the national title hunt.
7 – Michigan State
As much as this bother’s me, I really like seeing Michigan State in the top ten. Although I’d love nothing more than to see the Buckeyes get their shot at the Spartans, they’ve done what the Buckeyes couldn’t. They had no problem with Illinois and managed to shut down the Wisconsin running game. We didn’t and now we pay the cost.
Our best hope is that Michigan State falls to Iowa the week after they beat Wisconsin in a close game. Abusing a 9-1 Iowa in their own stadium is probably the only way we can climb back up the rankings on our own. It’s also about the only way we can still win the Big 10 (granted we run it out from here). That still might not be enough for a trip to the Rose Bowl though.
6 – LSU
LSU is bound to self destruct any day now. Chances are it will happen against Auburn this weekend and against Alabama the next. Remember, LSU barely got past Tennessee. They’ll be fighting for a spot in the top 20 three weeks from now.
5 – TCU
Here we go folks. Now it gets tricky. TCU is currently 10th in the country in rushing and 1st in the country in points against. But like Utah, the schedule so far isn’t anything to write home about. When we’re looking at Air Force and Utah as the only thing keeping them out of the national championship game, then yeah, maybe the BCS doesn’t work.
4 – Auburn
If Auburn, Boise, Oregon and Oklahoma win out (not to mention TCU) then yeah, let’s have a playoff. Question is, can Auburn run the table. They have yet to face the biggest threats of the SEC and it took an overtime win to get past Clemson. Although they’ve averaged 40+ points per game, they’ve also allowed an average 24 points against. Chatanooga and Georgia won’t give them much trouble. A strong performance against LSU and Alabama will determine their fate.
3 – Boise State
They were so cute just a couple of years ago. That whole statue -of-liberty-will-you-marry-me-thing. Adorable. Now they’re just annoying. Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, Idaho, Fresno State, Nevada and Utah State…there’s a schedule to fear. Maybe it was the big win over Toledo that justifies it. Nothing I can say here that hasn’t been said already. Boise get’s past a one loss Alabama, Auburn, Ohio State or about anyone else in the top ten and yeah, the system is broken.
Editors Note: It appears as though the final draft of this post got lost somewhere along the way leaving me incredibly frustrated to say the least as I spent way too much time on it. If I get a chance, I’ll go back and attempt to rewrite this lost work of brilliance in which I outline the future for both Oregon and Oklahoma and show you Ohio State’s road map back to the 2010 BCS title.
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Jim,
I can understand why Oregon left you speachless …… or …. err ….. writeless in this situation. No words can express this team.
Wait a minute. What happened to the end of this post?? It appears that we’re experiencing some technical difficulties…give me a sec and let me see if I can find it. I put enough time into writing it.
Man…it looks like it’s lost. Way frustrating as I spent the better part of my morning working on it and procrastinating other things. If I get a chance, I’ll try to recreate it. I was definitely on a roll.
Jim….I just wanted to thank you for your efforts on this blog. I enjoy the conversation and banter back and forth.
Thanks Tony. I’m glad you’ve stuck around. Some great (or at least fun) discussion here. Just wish a few more of those who stop by would comment. The traffic is much higher than the regulars who chat on the blog.
I will start out my coments by complaining about the BCS. 1. The thing I would like to see taken out as a rating criteria is the margin of victory. The BCS took it out a few years ago the added it back in. All margin of victory does is let teams purposely run up the score to get style points with the BCS and computer rankings. Teams like Boise State, Oregon, Florida (not this Year), USC (when they were cheating), and etc. Take last nites game, 32 to 3 was the half time score and for all practical purposes the games was over. Yet Oregon played it’s starters for at least another quarter until they had 46 points on the board. I’m making my assumptions based on what I see on the scoreing chart on ESPN. Really was 60 points needed to beat UCLA? I’m, not picking on Oregan specically, but it proves my point on running up the score on purpose to get style points. I’m sure there will be others this weekend to do the same.
2. I agree with using strength of schedule as a criteria. If teams like Boise State want to be in the BCS championship game let them join a stronger conference. When the PAC Ten was looking to add teams, I did not see Boise State asking the PAC to to join their ranks. Let teams like that muddle in their weak confernces. 3. To computer rankings have to much power is BCS voting. How can the two human polls have Oregan #1 and the computers put Oklahoma #1 in the BCS.
Does anyone know where these computer polls come from, there seems to be more of them every year. Enough on the Bull Crap Stinks ratings.
Jim, I agree with you on you synopsis of the top teams. I would love to see 4 undefeated teams at years end and just sit back and listen to all the coaches whine about why they should be in the Championship Game.
Oh, Tony I found last nights game kind of boreing, I turned it off at half time and watched the baseball playoffs. By the way after watching one half of last nights game I already know how to beat Oregan. It will remain a secret between me,myself, and I.
Golfcartcarl …….. Sorry I was not able to respond quickly ….. did a Salmon / Steelhead trip upto Washington this weekend. On your points ….. Oregon did not “run up the score” on UCLA. We put in our second and third string team to play the 4th qtr. And our scrubs scored more points int the final qtr than UCLA scored in the whole game.
Oregon and Rick Neuheisel have a long history ….. It was Neuheisel who called for a fake punt late in the 1996 Cotton Bowl between Oregon and Colorado while the Buffaloes led 38-6 (that is running up the score). Before this game ….. Ricky called Oregon’s offense a “gimmick” that someone will be able to figure out. Leading the nation in scoring is not a “gimmick” ….. it is playing good solid football. Rick asked for what he got ….. no regrets. He should learn to keep his mouth shut.
I agree …… a blowout can be boring. But these games are “blowouts” because Oregon has learned to not play down to their competitors level.
If you know the secret to stopping the offense ……. I know a few PAC10 coaches that would love to talk to you.
Cheers
I agree 100% about style points. I think it’s an absolute crock. Although the Buckeyes have scored a few more points than usual this year, back in the days when Tresselball was king, the low scoring games definitely hurt us in the rankings.
For some reason, the BCS doesn’t consider a punt an offensive play. Funny, it seemed to work well for the Buckeyes back then.
We (Ohio State) should focus on winning out in our Big(11)Ten schedule.
Yea for MSU!
Go Ducks! (we enjoyed your time with us in our historical Jan. 1st home)
I heard the best defense for the current way college football seasons go, especially for those conferences w/o a Championship Game = EVERY game during the season is IMPORTANT. (ask the Buckeyes)
Tony, hope the trip was worth your time, sounded like fun. I’ll bet by know your wondering what you have to do to be ranked atop the BCS. You run up 60 points and Auburn wins by a touchdown and they jump to #1. At this time in the season I think it’s beter off not to be #1, seem like a bad precarious place to be lately. Tough game this weekend, I see your playing the cheaters from down south. Watch out, sounds like a trap game.
Wisconsin sure fucked up our season, we needed them to lose to Iowa. I am beginning to really dislike Wisconsin. Never had a great lover for their program now I’m really looking for some kind of revenge. Any one know where I can find a time machine to go back two weeks and play that game in Wisconsin over. they finish against Northwestern and Michigan maybe we can catch a break or two.
Carl, The trip was well worth it …… Annual trip of 6 guys …. one of them from Cleveland. Found out that his daughter just got accepted to Ohio State. Damn it.
I completely agree with you …… next week at USC is a trap. They won’t need much motivation to get up for this game; Last years thumping of 47-20 (Oregon ranked #10 / USC ranked #4), Losing the PAC10 title, Sanctions, etc. They played an excellent game against CAL and they have a bye week coming into the Oregon game. Should be a more exciting game than UCLA.
If Oregon keeps winning ….. our strength of schedule will catch up and we should end up getting the #1 ranking. Personally ….. I think the BCS is a scam ….. but, if this is all we have than I really don’t care if we are 1 or 2. Either way ….. your playing for the championship. The PAC10 is very competitive this year and I don’t know if they can remain get through the season undefeated.
Auburn is a “one man show” and they don’t have a very good defense. I don’t think that they will get past Alabama undefeated.
Wisconsin has really surprised me this year ….. They are a very predictable ….. but tough team to stop. They have played “their game” and been very successful at it. Not much you can do about it now …… just hope that they start to stumble.
Wisconsin has Big Ten syndrome.