It all started after the “Game of the Century”, or so it was advertised, pitting the consensus #1 and #2 teams against each other, in a classic rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State. Ohio State won by a close margin and debates began over whether Michigan deserved a rematch, as the best one-loss contender.
Most experts believed that USC was more deserving. They dominated their top three opponents: SEC-runner up, Arkansas, co-Pac-10 champions, Cal, and rival, Notre Dame. Their loss came to an Oregon State team, which ended up with a more than respectable 10-3 record for the program. Southern Cal had a smooth pathway to the national championship, but a kind of significant problem arose: They lost. The last game on their schedule is annually reserved for cross-town rival, UCLA, which hadn’t won this contest since the days of DeShaun Foster in
1998. SC faced a hungry team, bitter of being overshadowed in Los Angeles for so many years. The Trojans came out flat and crumbled as a result.This shocking loss should’ve paved the way for Buckeyes-Wolverines II right? Not if the people voting don’t want to see it.
Florida, ranked 4th before the USC loss, jumped to #2 in both the AP and the Coaches poll, while Michigan sat and watched. Yes, they beat Arkansas, and won the tough SEC conference, but the win wasn’t convincing enough for voters to be swayed that much.
Surely, people voted for Florida into the #2 position because they only lost once in the best conference in the country. Florida had to travel to Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, and Florida State, all of which are among the toughest atmospheres for opponents. However, they lost to Auburn and Georgia and Florida State were in a transition period.
After looking at the fact that Florida played Central Florida (4-8) and Western Carolina (2-9 I-AA team), their supposedly impossible schedule isn’t as good as advertised. And not to press the issue too much on how you win, but Florida almost lost to Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida State, and Vanderbilt. That’s a lot of close calls.Michigan’s schedule was most certainly not any better – they played Central Michigan and Ball State, and almost lost to the latter – but they won convincingly in hostile atmospheres (Penn State, Notre Dame), gave Wisconsin its only loss, and took OSU down to the wire.
People attest that Michigan had their chance already against OSU, but considering that the only blemish on the team’s resume is a 3-point loss to the best team in the country, maybe they deserved another shot.
A playoff could resolve all of this...
1 comment:
David, I don't know if I totally agree with your statement that there's a problem with the polls. I feel like the BCS has done an excellent job this season. If you think about it, going into the last week of the season (before the USC loss), the top 4 BCS teams were arguably the 4 best teams in college football history (OSU, Michigan, USC, and Florida). However, I do agree with some of your points. I feel like Florida’s loss was less impressive that Michigan’s loss. To avoid this, you should do something similar to what Will has posted and have a playoff. I don’t feel like an 8 team playoff is necessary, but rather, a 4 team (#1 plays #4, #2 plays #3, and then have the winners play in a National Championship Game). This season in particular would’ve worked out perfectly. Again, using the rankings going into the week before the USC loss: #1 OSU vs. #4 Florida and #2 Michigan vs. #3 USC. Ironically enough, those are the match-ups anyways, but I feel like there would be MUCH less controversy over who plays for the National Championship if this 4-team playoff would occur.
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