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Dec. 4, 2006 Well, the final Bowl Championship Series (BCS) results are in and the Gods of this arcane process have decided that the Florida Gators will meet the number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes for the National Championship. The BCS system, which involves a computer-tabulated mathematical formula encompassing records, strength of schedule as well as human polls to determine the best and second-best teams in the nation. These two teams are then pitted against each other for the right to say they are the best in any given year. The system was implemented to eliminate the "mythical" national championship, which had previously been determined completely by a vote of coaches and various media members from around the country; that methodology was deemed too problematic because the championship was not truly decided on the field. The best teams often did not face each other in the post-season bowl games and, thus, the "mythical" moniker was attached with less than flattering intent. Well, after this year's debacle, one thing is clear: The national championship can still be considered mythical. The legitimacy of this game, even in advance, is in doubt because, as was often the case prior to the installation of the BCS, the two best teams will not be playing in this year's championship game. Ohio State and Michigan were clearly the best two teams in the nation, both undefeated, at the time they met in their season finale two weeks ago. In that game, OSU defeated Michigan by three points, that's it. Although the Buckeyes were the better team that evening, the game was on their home field in front of a raucous partisan crowd. The crowd itself was worth at least a few points to the home team. One would guess there is not another team in the nation that would have beaten the Buckeyes on that night in that stadium. Still, Michigan did have a legitimate chance to win the game, even up to the last few minutes of the contest. The consensus of the pundits after that game was that Ohio State and Michigan were the top two teams and both deserved to play in the championship game. In fact, the BCS standings after that day still showed Ohio State on top followed by Michigan in the number two slot. The Michigan team, however, has been victimized by the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy. The week after the OSU/Michigan match up, the University of Southern California team, on its home field, defeated Notre Dame and this was enough to vault them past Michigan in the BCS standings, despite the fact that Michigan beat Notre Dame by a larger margin earlier in the year--on Notre Dame's home field no less, and also despite the fact the USC had already lost to an unranked opponent (while Michigan's only loss was to the best team in the land). USC became the team of the moment and after all "Michigan already had its chance." At this point, the Florida Gators were barely mentioned in the championship picture--it was USC's to lose, with Michigan closely on its tail. This week, USC proved just how worthy it was by again losing to an unranked opponent, and looking horrible in the process. Crosstown rival, UCLA, mauled the Trojans from start to finish. Clearly, the USC team had no business being ranked so high in the first place and, mysteriously, the Trojans remain the #5 team in the BCS standings despite losses to two lousy teams. A little later in the evening, the Florida Gators defeated Arkansas in the SEC conference championship game. Florida, too, looked shaky in this contest and looked to be headed for a loss until a botched punt by an Arkansas return man resulted in a touchdown for the Gators--and a new lease on life in that game as well as the title game. As I watched this contest, the only scenario I could envision which would have Florida leap-frogging Michigan was a complete blowout of the Arkansas team, which clearly did not happen. The Wolverines surely would be a lock for the championship after that, wouldn't they? I mean, the powers that be had already jumped on the USC bandwagon and moved that team past Michigan for a week, before the Trojans fell on their face. Surely they would see the error of their ways and give Michigan the respect it had earned during a previously undefeated season (prior to the OSU game). The result? Florida vaulted past the still idle Michigan in the BCS rankings to claim a spot in the title game, while Michigan will play USC in the Rose Bowl. Any college football fan who does not see the complete travesty in this situation is not being objective or is not paying attention. In two weeks, USC and Florida both jumped past Michigan in the standings, with Florida moving up two slots, passing an idle Michigan team, which was the consensus number two team when it ended its season. The Gators did this despite looking unsteady in their final game and barely beating a weak Florida State team the previous weak. While it is true, Michigan did not win its conference. It lost out to the #1 team in the nation--by three points. Would the Gators have won their conference if it included this year's Buckeyes? Add to this the fact that the BCS in no way requires a team to win its conference for passage to the championship. It is also said that Florida's conference, the SEC, is much tougher than the Big Ten in which Michigan plays. While this might be true, strength of schedule is included in the BCS formula, which had Michigan #2 all along, and Florida, in fact, struggled against several inferior teams during its season. In the eight weeks since the BCS standings have been available, Florida was never ranked about Michigan--until now. In classless fashion, the Florida coach, Urban Meyer was openly lobbying for his team to be chosen and, in the process demeaning the season that Michigan had. He called for an immediate playoff system if Michigan was allowed to play OSU for the national championship. While a playoff system is clearly needed, it is petty for a coach to whine in advance, just in case his team does not make the cut. How does Mr. Meyer feel about the system now that his team was handed a spot in the finale? Michigan coach Lloyd Carr took the high road the entire time, opting out of commenting directly on the teams involved. Make no mistake, the Gators are a very good football team; however, they are not the second best team in the nation. They were placed in that spot to placate the various voices which did not want an OSU/UM rematch for the title. Ballots were cast, not based upon how voters viewed the quality of the teams, but rather to engineer a specific outcome, an ostensibly more favorable result. Somehow, in the two weeks since the OSU game, Michigan has become an also-ran. While the Rose Bowl is a nice consolation prize for the Wolverines, it is still a horrible disappointment for a bunch of kids who deserved better. And how does Mr. Carr motivate his team, which should be playing for the national title, to fly across the country and play against a two-loss USC team in what is nothing more than a glorified exhibition game? I would not want that task. The NCAA needs to end the embarrassment now and create a playoff system which will produce a more legitimate national champion. While OSU may be the best team this season, they should be required to demonstrate this on a neutral field against the next best team. Unfortunately, that team will be playing in Pasadena instead of Arizona. ------------ About the author: Ed Abraham is a concerned citizen living in flyover country, U.S.A., who happens to be truly disgusted by the loss of common sense in our society and is doing all he can to try to reinstall it. Email: eabra@myway.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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