I can’t stand all this BCS backlash, all of the Michigan moaners, the constant alligator abuse. Maybe it’s because I’m a big time Florida fan that I didn’t see a problem with the announcement of the Ohio State-Florida national title game. Or maybe it’s that I have a working brain. Whatever it is, I seem to be in the minority on this issue.
In my opinion, there are three types of people who are looking at this game. There are the people who recognize that the BCS is a bad system, but that it actually worked this year in getting the two best teams. Next there is the group of people who hate the BCS and will make up any excuse to bash it and discount its results. And then there are the people that are enamored with the Michigan Wolverines and can’t stand to realize that there chance to win it all has past them.
The first group is who I associate myself with. I don’t really like the BCS. I think it gives too much control to people who don’t really know college football. Sure, former coaches and players used to play the game, but how is the fan supposed to trust the Harris poll? What proves that these voters are actually paying attention? And how on Earth can the people in charge of the BCS justify using the coaches poll as part of the standings. The only thing that coaches know about is their team, the team they played last week and the team they played next week. They have no clue about what’s going on in games all across the country each Saturday.
Still, for all of its flaws and problems, the BCS did something remarkable this year: They got it right. Bitch and moan all you want, but Ohio State and Florida are the two best teams in the nation. One went out and beat the number two team in the nation twice. The other played the country’s toughest schedule and only walked away with one loss. And that’s not my opinion. Those are the facts. Will this game be a classic like USC/Texas was last season or Ohio State/Miami was in 2003? That is something we will have to wait until January 8 to find out. But don’t blame the system when it actually stepped up and did what it was supposed to do.
Now people who believe in group two are upset, because they think the BCS should be thrown away like a stale loaf of bread. And because of that, they will criticize any matchup that the BCS spits out. They say that the system rewards teams that lose at the beginning of the season, that it eliminates the chance of a George Mason type school making a run for the national title, and that it gives too much power to computers who don’t give an accurate feedback of what’s happening on the field. My response to that is simple…who cares? As long as everybody agrees to the same system, then it’s impossible to blame it. At the start of the year, every college football team knows that if the have a tough enough schedule and they win every game that they play, they will go to the national title game. (Except Auburn in 2004, who had a legitimate beef with the BCS) But the catch is that if you lose, which every team but Ohio St. and Boise St. did this year, you subject yourself to follow the BCS formula. Just think what would have happened if we didn’t have the BCS and bowls were still determined by conference affiliation. Ohio State and USC would have played in the Rose Bowl. Florida would have faced Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. And Michigan would have probably would have gone up against Arkansas in the Capital One Bowl. What would have been resolved then? Nothing.
Group three is for all the maze and blue bloods. The people who say it should be Michigan, not Florida, taking on Brutus Buckeye in Glendale. They think it ludicrous that Michigan fell in the rankings without even playing a game. And there in lies problem number one. When Michigan finished their season on November 18 with an 11 and 1 record, the Gators still had two games to go: at Florida State and the SEC Title game versus 8th ranked Arkansas. So it is possible that while Michigan was kicking back and relaxing, Florida was out there impressing the voters.
Problem two is, why does Michigan want to be number two in the polls? So they can play Ohio State in the title game. Wait, doesn’t that sound familiar. Yeah, because it already happened. On November 18, UM and OSU played a classic, 42-39 game in Columbus. The Buckeyes won, fair and square. So what would be the point of a re-match in the title game? If Michigan won (and Florida also won their bowl game), we would have three one-loss teams who have a good argument for being named national champs. And if OSU wins again, we learn something we already know, which is that Ohio State is a better team then Michigan is.
Michigan’s last problem is with UF coach Urban Meyer. They say he petitioned and moaned too much to the pollsters about how the BCS system fails teams who play tough schedules. He claimed that there is too much of an emphasis on style points and that the college presidents should create some sort of playoff system. And this makes Wolverine faithful upset because their coach, Lloyd Carr, didn’t do this. The thing is, neither coach was wrong. Meyer thought the system was wrong and said something about it. Carr thought it was fine and stayed silent. Was this because Meyer thought the BCS would screw him while Carr thought it would help him out? Maybe, we’ll never know. But blaming Michigan’s failures on Florida’s coach makes no sense.
So now that we’ve cleared up why I think this game is the best possible title game matchup, you probably think I’m going to make my pick. But as Lee Corso says, not so fast my friend. We have exactly one month until the game is played, and I guarantee you that sometime during that time, I will give you a pick. It just won’t be today.
Switching from the college to pro game, I realized that I haven’t been giving my season record when making my weekly NFL picks. Sorry about that. So here are my week 14 picks, hoping to add on to my 118-76 record (counting Thursday night’s Steelers victory)
of 2006.
My picks in bold
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Oakland at Cincinnati
Philadelphia at Washington
New York Giants at Carolina
Minnesota at Detroit
Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Baltimore at Kansas City
Tennessee at Houston
New England at Miami
Seattle at Arizona
Green Bay at San Francisco
Buffalo at New York Jets
Denver at San Diego
New Orleans at Dallas
Chicago at St. Louis
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