Post BCS Thoughts

What a fitting end to this college football season. #1 Missouri losing to Oklahoma was not a huge surprise, considering that Oklahoma was favored and had beaten the Tigers handily earlier this season, but absolutely no one could have anticipated that West Virginia would fall. Even you Buckeye and LSU fans can’t claim that you really thought this would happen.

The fallout of yet another round of upsets leaves us with an Ohio State-LSU title game and a host of disappointed teams. Georgia is likely feeling the most slighted. The Bulldogs entered the weekend ranked fourth in the BCS, watched two of the three teams ahead of them lose, and yet somehow moved down one position in the BCS and ended up fifth.

I am not saying that Georgia deserves to be in the title game in place of LSU or Ohio State (although they would certainly have a good argument) but if voters felt that LSU and/or Oklahoma was that much better than Georgia, shouldn’t they have ranked those teams higher to begin with? You can’t honestly tell me that the shaky 21-14 win over Tennessee was enough to vault LSU from 7th to 2nd in the BCS. Politicking played a huge role in that jump, and it makes me a little sick. I can certainly understand how critics of the SEC would point to the preferential treatment the conference seems to garner.

I also find it a little curious that Ohio State received a virtual pass to the Championship game while voters were tripping over themselves trying to find someone other than Georgia to play for the title. An ESPN poll (I know, not exactly the most scientific) showed that over 50% of the country does not believe that Ohio State is one of the top two teams in the country, and yet their credentials were not questioned at all when it came time to vote.

The truth is that no one knows who the two best teams are in the country right now. As I mentioned prior to this weekend’s games, it is much easier to narrow down the top eight or so teams than it is to select the top two, especially when nearly all have the same record and have suffered similarly unexpected losses over the course of the season. I still believe that the eight teams I listed would still make a compelling playoff, although their order might have shifted a bit over the last week.

Obviously, Ohio State, LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma, USC and Virginia Tech have the strongest arguments. Hawaii also gets a pass for its unblemished record. The eighth position would be open for considerable debate (West Virginia, Missouri and Kansas all ended their season with losses, which could open it up to Arizona State or Florida) but I believe it would be much better to have a debate for the eighth spot of a playoff than the second participant in a title game.

Of course, we’re all probably wasting our time asking for a playoff when the BCS bigwigs are content to roll with the way things are. We can only hope that the BCS fallout will produce some signficant changes in the near future, because no matter who wins this year's Championship, the result will be questioned for years to come.