Decision ‘08

The Most Improbable Season

I don’t know what this means for my beloved Red Raiders and their shot at the New Year’s Day Gator Bowl, but #1 Missouri is in danger of falling, and #2 West Virginia is gone. Both teams had merely to win to make the BCS Title Game, but merely winning has been almost impossibly difficult for teams in the #1 and #2 position this year. I know this is a story that has been beat to death, and I’ve heard all the talk about parity and the 85 scholarships - but really, this has been a season that has defied all expectations.

Can Ohio State and Georgia possibly play for the national title? If so, what a letdown…neither team has remotely had a ‘championship season’…yet the possibility is there. Also back in play: LSU, a mere week(!) after losing to Arkansas in a quadruple-overtime thriller…

UPDATE 12/02/07 7:55 p.m.: Woo-hoo! The Red Raiders will play Virginia on New Year’s Day in the Gator Bowl. Good thing for Tech that the BCS chose both Oklahoma and Kansas. As for the title game, LSU-Ohio State. Sigh…very predictable and unexciting. The fix was in against Georgia, and the voters made sure that they didn’t get in, since they didn’t win their conference…not that they deserved to go, but neither did LSU, frankly…oh, well, congrats to Texas Tech, any time you’re playing on New Year’s Day, you’ve had a good season…

4 Responses to “The Most Improbable Season”

1 Ryan Says:
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Ugh. The BCS is a complete disaster - even more so than usual. My only hope at this point is that OSU loses to LSU, Hawaii beats the pants off of Georgia, and everyone has to really sit and think about whether this system represents any improvement over 1997 (which, of course, we all know was the year my own alma mater got jobbed).

Great game for Tech, though. The Cavs are definitely beatable if you guys can keep Leach from taking another job. My boys, on the other hand, are about to have Tim Tebow feed them some turf.
2 Mark Says:
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Yes, to leave out 12-0 Hawaii in a normal year - well, yeah, their schedule was super-soft…but no softer than Kansas, who lost against the only REALLY good team they played this year in Missouri. But the real killer is a two-loss team in the championship game…that’s just not right…
3 Gulf Coast Bandit Says:
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Mark: Who are you going to put into the game if not LSU? The only 1-loss team this year (besides OSU) is Kansas, who as you said, lost against the only good team they played this year.
Of all the teams that are 11-2, I think LSU makes the strongest case - they won the SEC and their two losses were both in 3OT - in the old days, they’d be 11-0-2.
LSU smacked VT around by 40+ points when they played head-to-head, so that eliminates them.
Oklahoma is the next team in the BCS, and they present the next strongest case. But, they lost to a Colorado team that ended up 6-6 and playing in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. They also, of course, lost to your Red Raiders.
Despite the whining you hear from Athens, Georgia didn’t even win its own division, let alone the conference.
Missouri didn’t win its conference.
USC lost at home to Stanford, who ended up 4-8; as well as the loss at Oregon, which ended 8-4.
Kansas only has one loss, but they didn’t win their division, so if we’re going to eliminate UGA, we have to eliminate KU.
West Virginia lost to a 5-7 Pitt team at home, in a game that they could have won to put themselves in the game.
Which brings us to Hawaii. Should we put Hawaii in the game?
4 Mark Says:
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Well, I grant you that the SEC is tough, tough, tough, and LSU’s loses were very close. But they lost a mere two weeks ago against unranked Arkansas at home! Similar arguments kill Oklahoma, as you say…my Red Raiders were unranked and beat them, and the fact that they were without their starting quarterback for most of the game is irrelevent - that’s why you have backups.

No, the more I think about it, believe it or not - I do say put Hawaii in! Nobody believed in Boise St. last year, either…

No offense to LSU fans - it’s just been a screwed-up year, BCS-wise…and changes are already being weighed:

While college football’s power brokers are adamant that there is no chance of an N.F.L.-style playoff in the near future, there are also hints at a change in the system.

In discussions with B.C.S. conference officials, it is clear that momentum is building for a serious discussion of the Plus One model. When the conference commissioners meet in April in Miami, it appears they will discuss the Plus One as a modification to the current postseason format.

The Plus One would essentially have the top two ranked teams play after the five Bowl Championship Series games, though a bigger question is how it would be set up.

While the plan would not go into place until at least 2011, there is a large amount of research into the Plus One in conference offices. Along with the Southeastern Conference, of which Slive is the commissioner, and Tranghese’s Big East, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big 12 have expressed willingness to listen to ideas about the Plus One.

The obstacles are still the same, however. The Big Ten and the Pacific-10 have been reluctant to change, primarily because of their relationship with the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl’s television contract with ABC lasts through 2014, which will also be a factor.