ESPN and the AP are reporting this morning that Ohio State University president Gordon Gee is saying that neither Boise nor TCU deserve a spot in the BCS national championship game. According to the article, Gee came right out and said it–neither school play a tough enough schedule to be named the No. 1 team in the country.
“Well, I don’t know enough about the X’s and O’s of college football,” said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.
“So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there’s some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame.”
Gee’s comments didn’t go unnoticed as Boise State president Bob Kustra was quick to respond. In an article in the Idaho Statesmen, Kustra called Gee’s description of the Big Ten and the SEC as “murder’s row,” “…the greatest exaggeration I think we’ve heard this year in college football.”
Kustra went on to say that he can’t get the bigger conference teams to schedule Boise claiming that he had phone records to prove that he’d tried to schedule home-and-home games with top 25 BCS schools but they wouldn’t take the away game.
I have no idea if Boise has been left on the sidelines when it comes to scheduling but there is no question, if they want to become a player in the BCS, they are going to have to do something about the schedule. I do agree with him though when he says later in the article that there is a formula with the top BCS schools in which they schedule one out of conference BCS team and three or four “patsies” as he called them.
That said, I do defend the Ohio State schedule. Since the dawn of the Tressel era, the Buckeyes have made it a point to schedule a very difficult home-and-home series early in the season and they have been great for the program. The Ohio State/Texas and Ohio State USC series both set the tone for the BCS race early in the season. Yes, Miami was expected to be a much better opponent and fell flat on their face. I don’t think you can say the same about any team in the SEC (if I’m wrong, I’m sure I’ll be corrected by the SEC trolls in the comments below).
When you look at it though, you can see why Kustra may be denied. Which offers a better, more interesting game, Ohio State/Boise or Ohio State/USC? I’ll take USC any day — even if we lost both games to them.
And this is one of the biggest problems that will come for any team facing Boise — especially in this year’s BCS bowls. There will be incredible pressure from the entire country to prove that Boise was overrated. Blow them out and it’s not because your team was that good, it’s because Boise was overrated. Lose to them and you lost to Boise. It’s a no win situation.
Gee and a Playoff
Gees comments came out of a discussion about going to a playoff system. Later in the ESPN article, Gee said that given the choice between a playoff system and going back to the old bowl system, he’d take the old bowl system. He said that the drive for a national champion is a “slippery slope” to professionalism.
I’ve got to agree with Gee on this one. My father used to say, who cares about the national championship. We need to go back to the time when only one bowl mattered and that was the Rose Bowl. Although it would be hard if not impossible to go back, both Gee and my father have a good point. This is college football. One of the things that make it great is the imperfections of the game. Every year the teams are reset and the process starts all over again.
The season also wouldn’t be near as interesting if a two loss team would get a second chance to work their way back into the game through a playoff system. Every game counts which makes every fall Saturday a great day of football.
With that, it’s Thanksgiving and…
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I must agree on a few points …… I like the Rose Bowl. A traditional Pac10 vs Big10 game with a lot of history. Although my Ducks are heading towards a date in AZ this year (knock on wood), I still think the whole BCS is bull.
Gordon Gee is a moron for saying this. I agee with his statement ……. but, he is the President of a large university. He needs to learn how to delegate his thoughts and get someone else to say his dirty little secrets. I would love to see tOSU back up thier Prez and schedule a Home/Home game next year. Playing on the “smurf turf” is not as easy as it looks. I love what he said about playing “the little sisters of the poor” though. I laughed my arse off….classic line.
No offense to tOSU but many other teams could complain that tOSU has a competitive advantage over their programs because you play 8 of your 12 games at home. How about Gordon demand that tOSU step to the plate and play some competitive non conference teams away from home. He won’t do it because (just like Boise State) it is not in their best interest. Guess what Gordon …. College football isn’t “fair” …. quit making yourself look like the town idiot.
Tony-
Well, our big out of conference games are always home and away- the exception being next year against Colorado who wanted a one game payday to buy out Dan Hawkins’ contract (I kid… a little).
In terms of “sisters of the poor”, here’s next year’s Buckeye schedule (minus the “sisters”): Colorado, at Miami, Michigan State, at Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn State, Mich1gAAn
South Idaho State’s significant games for 2011- Georgia, and then the Mountain West (Air Force, at TCU). Oh, and Nevada- who is only “ranked” due to (see if you’ve heard this before) poor competition.
But yeah, it’s all about money- and I’m OK with that; makes Buckeye athletics self sustaining, unlike most institutions where student tuition dollars are used to fund athletic opportunities for a small portion of the student body.
Although it is out of place for Gee to say something like this, I’m sure he knew exactly what he was doing.
Gee has been a fairly innovative president no matter where he goes. He has also keept academics a priority and has found a balance between athletics and academics in a way many universities have failed to do. Read further down that ESPN article and you will see the comment about Ohio State in the top 10 academically as well as athletically.
Mali’s also right about money. Walk around the Ohio State campus and you can see the financial impact of the athletic program. We will always play the Ohio schools in the Shoe (and the Mac programs). For the smaller schools, those games bring in enough money to fund their entire athletic program for a year.
As I said, Buckeyes have regularly scheduled home/home games and they’ve set the tone for the national championship race. Yes, there are off years but unlike many conferences, we are not afraid of them. One of the problems with scheduling Boise…say we schedule them now. I’m not sure how far out they make the schedule but there’s a good chance that by the time we get to the series, Boise is no longer the team they are now. Then once again, we’d find ourselves defending our schedule.
Mali’s right. You can’t look at that schedule and say it’s soft.
By the way, want to talk money? I got an email from a ticket broker telling me that average OSU/Michigan tickets are going for $385 a ticket. Even in potentially lopsided game, it will be a sell out.
And??? michigan still sucks…
Ohio State 39 Michigan 23
My father is a graduate of “The” Ohio State University (BS ’59) and I grew up hating Michigan about as much as any other Buckeye fan. Living near the University of Utah and attending their football and basketball games throughout the years, however, endeared me to the Utes. What I have observed in the world of D-1 college football is that it is a constant struggle of the “mid-major” universities to gain any respect and/or notoriety from the “establishment” which would include OSU. In the case of the Mountain West and the Western Athletic Conference, much has to do, in my opinion, with the location of the schools. Very few schools east of the Rockies are willing to play an away game so far from friendly confines of their home field. Ex. – Florida has not played non-conf. game outside of the state of Florida since 1991. I do have to respect those that do. For instance, Pitt played a game against Utah in Sept. and others who have come to SLC in recent years are North Carolina, Texas A&M, Indiana, Louisville, Kansas and every PAC 10 school except for Arizona St., Washington and USC.
Concerning the comments of Mr. Gee (BTW – his undergraduate degree is from THE University of Utah). The pompous attitude and arrogance of his words are very offensive to those before mentioned schools who are trying to gain respect on the national level. It is very easy to get defensive when a non-BCS school beats a BCS school of some reputation and that win is scrutinized and in a sense belittled by the national media. Many will call the win a fluke, down play the significance or just say that the BCS school was “not up to playing” such “inferior” competition (ex. – Mark May, Craig James, etc.). Ex. – When Utah beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in ’08, there were some who defended the Utes, however, most said that Alabama wanted rather to be in the NCG than play a team from the “lowly” Mountain West. They just justified the loss away even though the Utes took the Crimson Tide to the woodshed. In the ’05 Fiesta Bowl, the win by Boise St. over Oklahoma was justified away by the “trick plays” at the end of the game. I was discussing this issue with a friend of mine recently and when a team like Boise St. resorts to those types of plays against a “superior” BCS school they won by virtue of “trickery,” however, when a BCS school defeats another BCS school (ex. Michigan State over ND and Northwestern this season), using similar tactics, it is a “gutsy” call by the coach. In other words, what it comes down to is one’s perception of the world of college football which is now controlled, essentially, by the Fox News of sports – ESPN.
I’m sure that it is very hard to understand the thinking of the mid-major fan when OSU (and other notable schools) are the darlings of the national media (mainly ESPN). When OSU defeats Illinois by the slightest of margins, the reasons for this are dismissed, however, when Utah has close games against Air Force and San Diego St., the national media jumps all over this and calls into question Utah’s relevancy/strength (that is assuming that Utah is relevant in the first place which they have been in recent years).
In the case of Boise St. and TCU this year, one can say all they want about their schedule. OSU, however, needs to look at their own schedule in an objective way without the rose colored glasses that many Big 10 fans wear. OSU beat Ohio, Eastern Michigan, Marshall (the three in Columbus), Indiana, Minnesota (who was defeated by South Dakota St., however, the national media ignored that as much as they could.) That is almost half of OSU’s schedule and if those schools are not the “Little Sisters of the Poor” I don’t know what is. In dealing with TCU in the MWC: Miami, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue and Penn St. (just because 110,000 fans show up to their game to watch the NL’s doesn’t mean that they are any good.) aren’t much better, if any, than Utah, BYU, Air Force and San Diego St. which TCU handled easily except for SDSU which came back on TCU and made it a game in the 4th Q. – oh no, does that eliminate TCU from Nat. Champ. status? That just leaves the mighty Iowa Hawkeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers (Wisconsin was defeated by the perennial paper tiger Michigan St.) Look at the SOS – OSU at 59th? What!?! 59th? Doesn’t OSU play in THE Big 10 (even though there are now 12 schools)? Hmmm, weird. Not much better than TCU and Boise State.
I would really like to see OSU schedule home and home series against high quality opponents week in and week out and maybe even play a high quality WAC and/or a MWC team home and home in order to back up the comments of Mr. Gee to prove the universities worthiness each and every season since that is the perception of many in the mid-major world of college football (Oh, I forgot that playing a team like Boise St., TCU, or Utah home and home is not in the financial interest of OSU – so I guess that I am wrong to believe that the games are in the interest of the student/athletes and the fans?). Until that happens, his words are empty and meaningless.
Thanks for letting me vent from my small corner of the world on the western edge of the Rocky Mountains.
Good luck against Michigan on Sat. and of course Go Utah against BYU on the same day. Around here it is called the “Holy War.”
Yeah…I’ve been thinking about the Gee comment over the weekend and it’s a pretty stupid thing to say (no matter how right he may be). I agree with you though Ute in that it’s going to be almost impossible for the mid conferences to get the respect they need.
Buckeye fans get frustrated enough with the ESPN SEC favoritism not to mention Mark May’s never ending love for USC. Fox News of sports is a good description.
I do get frustrated with the smaller schools on the Buckeye schedule. As I mentioned above, it’s about money and I have no problem with the in-state games. I can understand giving regional schools a budget boost but I’d rather see a couple bigger games on the schedule.
The Buckeyes play the smaller schools at home but again, that is a money issue. The smaller schools can’t handle the crowds Ohio State brings — at least regionally. Toledo had to go to Cleveland to host the Bucks.
You’re point about Florida is spot on but you can’t say the same about the Buckeyes. USC, Texas, Washington, next year in Nebraska, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan every other year — we are used to facing big away games in tough stadiums.
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2009/11/in_chasing_bcs_glory_did_tcu_m.html
One down one to go. Boise could not handle the pressure and are out of it. TCU is the next one to go. Just could be Gordon Gee knew what he was talking about.
The TRUTH hurts, Bob Kustra. Suck it.
Sincerely,
E. Gordon Gee-President
THE Ohio State University
I’ve been pheasant hunting in Nebraska all weekend. Corn Husker Fans are amped about the Big 10 move and especially excited that they get to play tOSU in their first season in Lincoln. They just hope Pelini doesn’t go crazy on TP and slug him in the chest…
Who’s up for a road trip???
This guy.