AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > December > 05 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe BCS joke’s on us
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN
10: Michigan didn’t play last week and fell to third in the BCS rankings. I figure by bowl week, they’ll be down to 17th.
9: Seriously, I don’t have a problem with anybody putting Florida in the BCS title game because they legitimately think the Gators are the second-best team in the country. The problem is most voters flopped their rankings largely because they didn’t want to see a rematch between Michigan and Ohio State. Pollsters: You’re supposed to rank teams, not play Don King.
8: And finally, Jim Tressel’s abstention in the coach’s poll is Exhibit A about why Division I coaches shouldn’t vote. If Tressel ranked Michigan No. 2, he would’ve been accused of siding with the Big Ten. If he ranked Florida No. 2, he would’ve been accused of trying to avoid a rematch. As it was, he was only accused of being a wimp.
7: Son of, “And finally”: The BCS can’t be fixed but this would help. Either: 1) Have every major conference hold a conference title game, like the SEC and ACC, or, 2) Pass a rule preventing a second-place team from playing in the BCS title game.
6: Photographs clearly indicated the other night that Britney Spears was not wearing underwear. This has absolutely nothing to do with the BCS. I just felt it was time to change topics.
5: One day, I’m going to be walking down the street and see two ex-boxers, three ex-Bengals, Britney Spears and the BCS, drinking out of a paper bag.
4: The pressure is on the Cincinnati Bengals: With four games left, they now have as many arrests as wins (seven each). Anybody want to lay odds on the winner?
3: I declared the Falcons dead two weeks ago. Little did I realize at the time that the rest of the NFC was DOA as well.
2: The fact John Schuerholz wanted Tom Glavine back and didn’t sign him because he was concerned about not being able to trade Tim Hudson or another pitcher further illustrates the financial handcuffs on the Braves’ front office.
1: So if bowl games are rewards, is Chan Gailey going to bench Reggie Ball in the Gator Bowl as a reward to the rest of the Georgia Tech players?
Permalink | Comments (18) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
Comments
By NoleBuzz
December 5, 2006 12:01 PM | Link to this
By Style Points
December 5, 2006 12:01 PM | Link to this
Does anyone actually enjoy reading Jeff Schultz’s columns and comments, or do the rest of you bloggers just treat his offerings as an opportunity to blog your favorite sports topic of the day? There’s the topic for this blog … .
By Puplwood Smith
December 5, 2006 12:08 PM | Link to this
Biggest winner this weekend? Mr. Pibb, who is somewhere laughing his a** off that Dr. Pepper got stuck sponsoring the ACC Championship game.
By NoleBuzz
December 5, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
By NoleBuzz
December 5, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
By NoleBuzz
December 5, 2006 12:36 PM | Link to this
Sorry for the triple post guys…computer issues…
By vRad
December 5, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this
@NoleBuzz
If Florida wins, they will be the undisputed no. 1 team in the country. There is no doubt about that.
While most voters may have dropped Michigan because of the extraneous factors that Jeff complains about, the fact is, fortunately, it was the right decision.
Here is why. Michigan catapulted to the top 5 rankings on beating a highly overrated ND team. (Tech should have won the game against them, however, we were not aggressive enough. And we are definitely not top 10 material). In UM’s defense, from that point they did nothing wrong, which is why they stayed at the top. In this they were helped tremendously by the lack of real opposition. The next best team they played was Wisconsin, which is pretty bad, but again propped up by a remarkably poor schedule.
On the other hand, you have Florida, which has beat LSU, Arkansas, and a bunch of other hard SEC teams. Their only loss was to Auburn. While many would place this in UM’s favor (since they lost to OSU, which was not as close as the 3 point margin indicated), here is the clincher; give me one good reason to believe that Michigan would have beaten Auburn if they had played them? Thats right, there is none.
The only reason people seem so convinced that UM is better than Florida, is because of their margin and style of victories. This is extremely subjective, and more importantly, flawed, because the SEC and Big 10 have remarkably different styles of play. Have you ever seen 1 SEC team blow out another? It is ALWAYS a grind, because the entire SEC (and ACC) is so strong on defense. Style points are almost impossible to come by, because stingy defence hardly ever makes you look good. On the other hand, you hardly ever see Big 10 games without at least 50 points on the board.
If UM had beaten someone of the caliber of Auburn, then I would have agreed that they should be in the NC. However, they have lost to the only team that they played that is as good as, or better than Auburn. So there is no saying that they would have won against Auburn. Thus the fact that their one loss came against #1 team is not a point in their favor.
Also, some (you Kirk Heisbert) have been saying that its not UM’s fault that they did not have as tough a schedule, in that case, why not Boise State? They have not lost to ANYONE!
By David
December 5, 2006 12:57 PM | Link to this
Jeff, Aren’t you a little old to be fantasizing about Britney Spears? I bet your wife wouldn’t be thrilled about it.
By GW
December 5, 2006 01:03 PM | Link to this
What if conference championship games existed in every league as a prerequisite to a playoff berth? What if the winner finished 10-3 or 9-4 or even 8-5 overall and the loser 12-1 overall? Would that be fair? This scenario could occur in every conference’s championship game, every year. This is the case in basketball. BB plays 30+ games so we accept a 20-10 national champion and a 29-1 runnerup. Will we accept that in football? I doubt it. The BCS does put a premium on ALL games September-December. December basketball games are merely practice scrimmages.
By Ball Coach
December 5, 2006 01:12 PM | Link to this
Jeff, I love you humor. Keep it up!!!
By ICEMAN
December 5, 2006 01:18 PM | Link to this
Jeff,
The only reason you put B.Spears picture up is because it has just been released that she is the most searched entity in the world of the internet. You do not have to resort to such tactics to get people to read your columns.
By NoleBuzz
December 5, 2006 02:00 PM | Link to this
ICEMAN…haha, that was hilarious. And true. VRad, you say “On the other hand, you have Florida, which has beat LSU, Arkansas, and a bunch of other hard SEC teams.” Who? UGA? Kentucky? Alabama? Vanderbilt? South Carolina? And it’s not like barely beating FSU was much to brag about. I’m sorry, but UM has just as strong a claim to this title IF UF wins by a little and they win by a lot.
By ReggieDawg
December 5, 2006 02:25 PM | Link to this
I like the idea of everyone having a conference championship. All each conference needs is twelve teams and two divisions. You could even use the conference championship to set up a playoff. For example:
Big 10(11)- Add Notre Dame. Done. And then Notre Dame can stop competing for the Commander and Chief trophy and actually earn a BCS bid.
Pac 10- Add Boise State and BYU (or Hawaii, Utah, Fresno State, etc) This will give legitimacy to both of these schools (esp Boise State) and provide the Pac-10 with a clear cut winner.
Big East- Cherry pick C-USA and make a mega-conference.
With six onference championships, you could take the and 2 deserving at-large bids and play a 3 game play-off. We’d actually have a champion
By ChampDawg
December 5, 2006 04:03 PM | Link to this
Janet Jackson exposes herself at the Superbowl….. hey, here’s an idea— let’s get Britney to expose at the “Chick”-Fil-A Bowl.
Doesn’t Britney have 2 kids now. Remember her kiss with Madonna? And now she’s left hubby. I’m betting Brit and Paris are lesbo’s and/or play it both ways!!
By Dash
December 5, 2006 04:16 PM | Link to this
Nolebuzz… Yes, despite what you think, Florida beating UGA, Tenn, LSU, ARK, UK, S. Carolina, Bama, FSU and Vandy is much more impressive than beatting Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Vandy, Iowa, Mich St. and Penn St. Wisconsin, Michigan’s “best” win played one ranked team all year… and lost. Notre Dame beat ZERO ranked teams all year. Yes the Jackets were ranked all year but they are not ranked now. And if you are counting that as a major win then UGA beating the jackets should count just as much for Florida, since the gators beat the Dawgs. If you honestly beleive that the schedule adds up you know nothing about football.
By Ted
December 5, 2006 04:42 PM | Link to this
To Nolebuzz - please explain how, if UF beats OSU by a little and UM beats USC by a ton, how UM could have just as strong a claim to the title?!? I mean UF would have beaten OSU while UM lost to OSU. I don’t care if UM beats USC by 100, there is no way UM wins the title if UF beats OSU since UM lost to OSU. No way.
By BadgerDawg
December 5, 2006 06:20 PM | Link to this
I believe there would be a split championship either way if OSU loses and 3rd wheel wins since the 3rd team arguably had just as much of a reason to be there as the 2nd. It won’t be an issue after OSU rolls by at least 3 TDs and everyone realizes LSU should be the team representing the SEC. End this madness and adopt a playoff. If you keep it to 8 teams, it doesn’t diminish the regular season at all, but anyone should have a lot less sympathy for #9 claiming they were robbed than #3, who in almost every year has had a decent claim. There have been very few consensus 1-2 matchups.
P.S. vRad, you just made my day. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when you tried to group the ACC in with the SEC for tough defenses. Maybe you meant to type “MAC”, “MWC”, “WAC”, “SWAC”, or “CUSA” instead. The SEC has tough defenses; the ACC has weak offenses. There is a big difference. I will give you Tech’s defense has generally played great with a bunch of people UGA didn’t want, but once Tenuta accepts a promotion to either HC or simply DC at a major school, they will fall back to (at best) mediocrity. If only there was an ACC-Big 10 challenge in football, it would be at least as one sided as the bball is the other way. The Big 10 overall(not the top 3) is down this year, the ACC is atrocious.
By NoleBuzz
December 6, 2006 10:58 AM | Link to this
Dash and ted … by your reasoning, UM, UF, and OSU would have equal title claims. UM lost to OSU who lost to UF who lost to …. AUBURN. UM lost to the #1 team in the nation, OSU lost to the #2 team in the nation, and UF lost to the # 9 team in the nation. Even though UF beat OSU, they still only have one loss, which makes them comprable to the two other one-loss teams: OSU and UM. It’s a mess. Bring on the playoffs. Or something else. THIS SUCKS!