Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament, which identifies a champion by process of elimination, the BCS takes a guess.
LSU?
Why, the Tigers lost at Kentucky, a five-loss team, and to Arkansas, a club so messed up that it forced its coach to flee to the great state of Mississippi.
Ohio State?
The Buckeyes lost at home to Illinois; anyone who watched Illinois come off as a high school team in the USC-dominated Rose Bowl likely discounted Ohio State as a contender.
Unfortunately, four months of football will have settled nothing. Ohio State and LSU compete for what is loosely termed “a championship game’’ tonight.
What it really is, I’m afraid, is TV programming.
It is one more night of Monday Night football before winter really grabs hold and offers only Clemson vs. Florida State hoops on those lonely Mondays after dark.
The BCS championship game has created no chatter, no buzz, outside of Ohio and Louisiana. If the BCS high command could reshuffle the deck today, a true consensus would probably match USC and Georgia.
Or USC and West Virginia.
Or USC and Missouri.
Kansas?
Anyone?
Or perhaps they would just give USC the trophy and call it quits.
The Trojans are the most skilled team in college football but, alas, they lost in mid-season, scuttled by injuries and serendipity on the night lowly Stanford showed up.
USC also lost at Oregon on an afternoon that the Ducks, with QB Dennis Dixon, appeared destined for Really Big Things. But that was before Dixon blew out his knee and the Ducks spent a month in trauma.
Cut out all the injuries and the two best teams in college football, 2007, were USC and Oregon.
6 OT’s for LSU to lose two games while USC loses to Stanford at home and at Oregon. Georgia could not win SEC East. There is a hitory with teams not winning conference titles and not performing in that game. OU and Nebraska.
I have no problem with LSU or Ohio St. Even though ASU had a better non conference schedule than they did. A tour of the MAC and Tressel’s old gig Youngstown St.
— Pat 01/07/2008 01:45 PM #
USC only played 1 team that was top twenty, Oregon with Dixon, and lost. The pac-10 was weak this year, USC is overrated they played no one and still had two losses. Their best win was??? An overrated ASU team that got blown out by all the good teams they played (USC, Oregon, Texas)? A 4 loss Illinois team? After the regular season ended USC had beaten 2 teams with winning records: ASU and Oregon St. Actually maybe OSU was the best team SC beat. That’s not impressive at all; there is nothing to support the claims that SC is the best in the country other than their pre-season ranking.
— evan 01/07/2008 02:48 PM #
USC only played 1 team that was top twenty.
They played Cal, Oregon, ASU, Nebraska and Illinois, who were all ranked at the time USC played them. USC won 4 of those 5. OSU, on the other hand, played ZERO “Top 20” teams all year and got killed at home by Illinois. Three of their wins were against Youngstown State, Akron and the Pac 10’s 9th place team, Washington. Greg, for once, is right.
— AZCoachB 01/07/2008 03:42 PM #
Nebraska was a top 20 team? Cal was a top 20 team? You don’t know a damn thing about college football if you think that.
Look at the final rankings when they come out, Illinois and ASU might break in the top 25 (undeservedly), but they were two of the most overrated teams in college football (especially ASU who got killed in all their tough games)
yeah… beating a 4-8 nebraska team and 6-6 cal team makes you national champ… good point
— evan 01/07/2008 07:01 PM #
btw I’m not defending OSU, they’re schedule sucked, Georgia was a good team though and USC has done nothing to deserved being called the top team.
— evan 01/07/2008 07:03 PM #
Georgia did lose to South Carolina at home and USC did not get to a bowl game. One thing that does matter is that Flynn did not play in SEC title game and LSU did win. USC lost at Oregon with Sanchez at QB. LSU’s losses were better than USC’s. Coach B is correct that USC did beat 4 of 5 teams that were ranked at the time. Problem was Nebraska went in the tank and if Dixon does not go down Oregon probably wins the Pac 10 outright.
USC and Ohio St do have a home and home starting next year at USC. There is also ASU/ Georgia, Washington/ Oklahoma, UCLA/Tennessee, Cal/ Maryland and a few other really good nonconference games.
Looked up Georgia’s schedule. YIKES!!
Sat, Aug 30 Georgia Southern Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Sep 06 Central Michigan Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Sep 13 South Carolina * at Columbia, S.C. TBA
Sat, Sep 20 Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz. TBA
Sat, Sep 27 Alabama * Athens, Ga TBA
Sat, Oct 11 Tennessee * Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Oct 18 Vanderbilt – Homecoming * Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Oct 25 LSU * at Baton Rouge, La. TBA
Sat, Nov 01 Florida * at Jacksonville, Fla. TBA
Sat, Nov 08 Kentucky * at Lexington, Ky. TBA
Sat, Nov 15 Auburn * at Auburn, Ala. TBA
Sat, Nov 29 Georgia Tech Athens, Ga.
Four of last five on road??? That is insane.
— Pat 01/07/2008 11:26 PM #
Greg, I agree 100%. If I had a vote for the AP, I would vote USC 1 for two reasons. They are the best team right now. True they got shell shocked by Stanford, but they got beat by a Dennis Dixon led Oregon team. End of story. The other reason would be as a protest, to the BCS.
— Ryan 01/08/2008 12:22 AM #
Evan –
Did you watch the game last night? OSU looked like lost little boys against a bigger, faster, tougher LSU squad. Tressel was completely out-coached and that makes OSU 0-2 against the only two legit teams it played this year. Fact of the matter is that if OSU were in the Pac-10, they probably wouldn’t have gone to a bowl game at all. The Big 10 is soft and completely overrated.
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 08:36 AM #
AZCoach,
Why are you asking me about OSU? I can’t stand that program, and I thought they were overrated all year. My original post had nothing to do with OSU, all I was saying is that USC has no right to claim being the best team based on anything they’ve done this year. I have no arguement with someone who says OSU didn’t deserve to be in the title game. LSU, Missouri, Kansas, and Georgia have all been more impressive than OSU or USC.
— evan 01/08/2008 10:31 AM #
LSU lost twice to Arkansas and Kentucky. USC (who was riddled with injuries I might add) lost to Stanford and Oregon. Oregon was better (pre-Dixon injury) than Arkansas and Kentucky, who are both better than Stanford. I don’t know how that equates to being more impressive.
Missouri was good but lost TWICE to Oklahoma so if any Big 12 team is in the discussion, it’s Oklahoma… who got burned by a coach-less WVU.
Kansas had a weaker schedule than OSU so they’re out of the discussion.
Georgia was great at the end so they’re legit.
If you ask me the four teams that deserved a shot, it was USC, LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia. This further illustrates the argument for a playoff of some sort.
As it stands, the national championship is decided by an educated guess.
Sorry for accusing you of being an OSU fan. I got you mixed up with somebody else I think. Regardless, OSU had no business playing last night.
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 12:22 PM #
According to the final poll:
LSU beat #9 Va Tach, #13 UF, #15 Auburn, #12 Tennessee, and #5 OSU
The highest team USC beat was #16 ASU. They also beat #20 Illinois. Its not their fault that formerly highly ranked teams Cal, UCLA, and Nebraska fell apart this year or that they had to play Illinois instead of a top 10 team in the rose bowl, but regardless their record doesn’t hold up
Georgia beat #13 Florida, #15 Auburn, and #19 Hawaii.. you could probably say the same thing about them as USC, but they still had a harder SEC schedule and no stanford quality loss.
Missouri beat #20 Illinois, #22 Texas Tech, #7 Kansas and only lost to OU (twice)
Probably the closest to USC is W.Virginia who beat #17 Cincinnati, #8 OU and had a terrible loss to Pitt.
My point being that Hansen is an idiot for saying that SC should just be given the trophy, they haven’t done anything to deserve it… Maybe if there was a playoff they would have actually beaten some good teams. As it stands LSU, Georgia, Missouri, and possibly WV deserve it more. OSU on the other hand deserves to not be put into any more championship games.
— evan 01/08/2008 02:23 PM #
I think Kansas is drastically overrated. As far as judging the teams based on how the teams they beat finished… that’s not really a fair assessment. Oregon (with Dixon) would have finished top 5 and possibly playing for a national championship. UCLA and Cal were also top 25 teams until some key injuries. And once USC got healthy, they weren’t just beating teams. They were crushing teams so badly that the opposing players’ grandparents were waking up sore the next day. If you saw USC play their last 3 or 4 games, they were as dominant as a college team could possibly be. Injuries are no excuse and I don’t feel bad for USC at all but when we’re talking about the best teams, they have to be mentioned in the top 3 or 4 in my opinion. The bottom line is that we need a playoff to say who’s best. Otherwise, it’s a guess.
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 03:08 PM #
In case anyone is still unaware, that “overrated” team up north finished the season ranked #16 AP, #13 CP.
UofA finished somewhere in triple figures, i think…ahh who cares!
— Sparky 01/08/2008 08:49 PM #
oregon craps the bed at some point every year, healthy or not. i cannot believe they won their bowl game, they consistantly get beat out of conference.
— russ 01/10/2008 12:03 AM #
Legitimate question time…........ Where is that poster who puts Glanville for the UA heach coaching position at when Hawaii has one now?? Glanville can save Hawaii!!!!!
— Pat 01/10/2008 02:05 AM #
UMMMMM Russ, Oregon in the last 2 years has beaten Oklahoma and Michigan in non conference games. Also beat Houston and Fresno in the last season. They have beaten Fresno for 3 straight seasons and beat Michigan in the 03 season. In that same season they beat Nevada and Mississippi St. Want to try again?? They have lost to Indiana, Minnesota, BYU, Utah, and Oklahoma in that span. 03 to current. Heck, they have gone to a BCS bowl and a Rose bowl. Oregon can at least win a non conference game on the road. As for UA??? TCU?? nope. LSU?? Nope, BYU?? Nope. Wisconsin? OH, no, how about Purdue?? Nope. How about Utah?? Of course not.
— Pat 01/10/2008 02:25 AM #
oh come on pat. you know michigan’s bipolar problem at the beginning of the year. and though fresno is respectable, a win over a wac team is just not a bullet for a pac-10 team. and houston??? no. the win over oklahoma in eugene… not legit. but yea, you are right about uofa. we are as lowsy as they come. but oregon is a paper champion.
— russ 01/10/2008 09:06 PM #
IF UA beat the list of teams I mentioned there would be a parade and rioting in this town. HECK, winning the Sun Bowl might cause riots. I do not like Belotti or Oregon but they do play decent non conference games and do win their share.
— Pat 01/11/2008 12:02 AM #
oh yea, im not arguing with you pat. i wish we had the success oregon has had. they just are not as great as they are made out to be. i just thought it was funny when belotti ran his mouth about byu and then they embarassed oregon.
— russ 01/11/2008 07:31 AM #
It will be bettr with Neuheisel at UCLA. They both love each other!!! I still love it when CU beat Oregon in the Aloha Bowl and Belotti said the better team did not win Ricky’s response was there is an old saying…...... Scorboard.
— Pat 01/11/2008 06:36 PM #
I have no problem with LSU or Ohio St. Even though ASU had a better non conference schedule than they did. A tour of the MAC and Tressel’s old gig Youngstown St.
— Pat 01/07/2008 01:45 PM #
— evan 01/07/2008 02:48 PM #
They played Cal, Oregon, ASU, Nebraska and Illinois, who were all ranked at the time USC played them. USC won 4 of those 5. OSU, on the other hand, played ZERO “Top 20” teams all year and got killed at home by Illinois. Three of their wins were against Youngstown State, Akron and the Pac 10’s 9th place team, Washington. Greg, for once, is right.
— AZCoachB 01/07/2008 03:42 PM #
Look at the final rankings when they come out, Illinois and ASU might break in the top 25 (undeservedly), but they were two of the most overrated teams in college football (especially ASU who got killed in all their tough games)
yeah… beating a 4-8 nebraska team and 6-6 cal team makes you national champ… good point
— evan 01/07/2008 07:01 PM #
— evan 01/07/2008 07:03 PM #
USC and Ohio St do have a home and home starting next year at USC. There is also ASU/ Georgia, Washington/ Oklahoma, UCLA/Tennessee, Cal/ Maryland and a few other really good nonconference games.
Looked up Georgia’s schedule. YIKES!!
Sat, Aug 30 Georgia Southern Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Sep 06 Central Michigan Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Sep 13 South Carolina * at Columbia, S.C. TBA
Sat, Sep 20 Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz. TBA
Sat, Sep 27 Alabama * Athens, Ga TBA
Sat, Oct 11 Tennessee * Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Oct 18 Vanderbilt – Homecoming * Athens, Ga. TBA
Sat, Oct 25 LSU * at Baton Rouge, La. TBA
Sat, Nov 01 Florida * at Jacksonville, Fla. TBA
Sat, Nov 08 Kentucky * at Lexington, Ky. TBA
Sat, Nov 15 Auburn * at Auburn, Ala. TBA
Sat, Nov 29 Georgia Tech Athens, Ga.
Four of last five on road??? That is insane.
— Pat 01/07/2008 11:26 PM #
— Ryan 01/08/2008 12:22 AM #
Did you watch the game last night? OSU looked like lost little boys against a bigger, faster, tougher LSU squad. Tressel was completely out-coached and that makes OSU 0-2 against the only two legit teams it played this year. Fact of the matter is that if OSU were in the Pac-10, they probably wouldn’t have gone to a bowl game at all. The Big 10 is soft and completely overrated.
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 08:36 AM #
Why are you asking me about OSU? I can’t stand that program, and I thought they were overrated all year. My original post had nothing to do with OSU, all I was saying is that USC has no right to claim being the best team based on anything they’ve done this year. I have no arguement with someone who says OSU didn’t deserve to be in the title game. LSU, Missouri, Kansas, and Georgia have all been more impressive than OSU or USC.
— evan 01/08/2008 10:31 AM #
Missouri was good but lost TWICE to Oklahoma so if any Big 12 team is in the discussion, it’s Oklahoma… who got burned by a coach-less WVU.
Kansas had a weaker schedule than OSU so they’re out of the discussion.
Georgia was great at the end so they’re legit.
If you ask me the four teams that deserved a shot, it was USC, LSU, Oklahoma and Georgia. This further illustrates the argument for a playoff of some sort.
As it stands, the national championship is decided by an educated guess.
Sorry for accusing you of being an OSU fan. I got you mixed up with somebody else I think. Regardless, OSU had no business playing last night.
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 12:22 PM #
LSU beat #9 Va Tach, #13 UF, #15 Auburn, #12 Tennessee, and #5 OSU
The highest team USC beat was #16 ASU. They also beat #20 Illinois. Its not their fault that formerly highly ranked teams Cal, UCLA, and Nebraska fell apart this year or that they had to play Illinois instead of a top 10 team in the rose bowl, but regardless their record doesn’t hold up
Georgia beat #13 Florida, #15 Auburn, and #19 Hawaii.. you could probably say the same thing about them as USC, but they still had a harder SEC schedule and no stanford quality loss.
Missouri beat #20 Illinois, #22 Texas Tech, #7 Kansas and only lost to OU (twice)
Probably the closest to USC is W.Virginia who beat #17 Cincinnati, #8 OU and had a terrible loss to Pitt.
My point being that Hansen is an idiot for saying that SC should just be given the trophy, they haven’t done anything to deserve it… Maybe if there was a playoff they would have actually beaten some good teams. As it stands LSU, Georgia, Missouri, and possibly WV deserve it more. OSU on the other hand deserves to not be put into any more championship games.
— evan 01/08/2008 02:23 PM #
— AZCoachB 01/08/2008 03:08 PM #
UofA finished somewhere in triple figures, i think…ahh who cares!
— Sparky 01/08/2008 08:49 PM #
— russ 01/10/2008 12:03 AM #
— Pat 01/10/2008 02:05 AM #
— Pat 01/10/2008 02:25 AM #
— russ 01/10/2008 09:06 PM #
— Pat 01/11/2008 12:02 AM #
— russ 01/11/2008 07:31 AM #
— Pat 01/11/2008 06:36 PM #