Why Bama would be better off NOT playing for the SEC title
"Best of luck against Arkansas. Seriously!" (AP photo)
As we discussed in this space last week, Alabama might not play for the conference title even if Arkansas beats LSU on Friday. For Alabama to win the tiebreaker and qualify for the SEC championship game, No. 3 Arkansas would have to pass No. 1 LSU in the BCS standings, and there’s no guarantee the Hogs will do that.
And if I’m Alabama, I’m thinking I’d just as soon not play for the SEC title. If I’m the Tide, I’ve already got what I need.
Assuming Alabama beats Auburn on Saturday, the Tide would surely be sitting No. 2 in the BCS rankings with one week to go. But the team that represents the West in the SEC championship game would have to face Georgia, which hasn’t lost since Sept. 10, and would have to do it in the Georgia Dome. If you’re all but assured of a berth in the BCS title game, why risk losing?
Yes, we’ve come 180 degrees since 2007, when Georgia led LSU in the next-to-last BCS standings but was passed by the Tigers at the wire. LSU beat Tennessee in the SEC championship game while the Bulldogs sat in Athens and watched, and immediately the ESPN-led cry went up: “You can’t play for the BCS title if you don’t even win your conference!”
Funny how almost nobody is saying that anymore. With the losses suffered by Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Oregon over the weekend, the SEC West now holds the top three spots in the BCS standings. Provided Alabama beats Auburn, it’s all but certain that SEC teams will finish 1-2 in the final rankings. And Alabama, which lost to LSU on Nov. 7, sits in the best spot of the three.
Arkansas probably can’t get to the SEC championship game no matter what it does. LSU could lose to Arkansas and still play for the SEC title, and a lot of numbers-crunchers think the Tigers could lose to Georgia — but not to both Arkansas and Georgia — and drop no lower than No. 2. But if Alabama beats Auburn it could be locked in at No. 2 without another game to play and that, all things considered, would have to be Position A.
Let’s say Arkansas beats LSU and passes the Tigers in the BCS rankings. Let’s say Alabama beats Auburn and moves to No. 1. Now let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that Georgia upsets Alabama in our fair city. That would leave Alabama with two losses and LSU and Arkansas with only one, and the all-SEC BCS title game would surely be staged without the Tide. (Can’t imagine a one-loss Oklahoma State or Virginia Tech nosing ahead of a one-loss LSU or a one-loss Arkansas that just beat LSU.)
Back in 2007, Georgia was blocked from the BCS title game because it didn’t play for its conference championship. For Alabama in 2011, playing for the conference championship wouldn’t seem essential — and it might even be injurious to the Tide’s health. Weird season, huh?
By Mark Bradley
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500 comments Add your comment
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
3:33 pm
The best thing coming out this mess (besides Bama getting a shot at the NC) is that there will be major howling from the other 9-1 teams not to mention Houston. And it really is all about money. The BCS wants the biggest TV draw they can get. And since Alabama and LSU set all kinds of TV ratings in the first matchup, they will get another. The concept of “fair” has nothing to do with it.
PerroGrande
November 21st, 2011
3:34 pm
Mark, I think the coaches dropped the ball on the KY game. At the start of the Auburn game, Gary Danielson was saying the question in pollsters minds was how good was UGA, really. By the end of that game, he was saying Georgia is among the best, and I think that was the sentiment. However, the close game with KY brought the doubt back to the table. The coaches throttled back for some reason. Miles was kicking FGs at 50 points, and UGA wasn’t when they had a 9 point lead. This performance really cost UGA in the standings. It would take monster blowouts at Tech and the Dome, and help from elsewhere to get UGA to New Orleans. Maybe the coaches didn’t see that as a legitimate goal?
DawgDad
November 21st, 2011
3:37 pm
Any system that places a non-Conference Champion in the BCS National Championship Game is a badly flawed system. There are too many teams and conferences around the country to seed some second-place (or worse) team in the SEC higher than all the rest of the Conference Champions on anything more than pure conjecture. Quite frankly, it would be far more entertaining to see LSU-Alabama-Arkansas each play a Champion or top team from other conferences in the big Bowl games, and see how the SEC really stacks up.
Why not extend the flawed system’s argument to the SEC Championship game? If Georgia knocks off the top team from the West, why should they be crowned SEC Champions if they can’t pass the team they beat in the polls? I mean, under those circumstances, what did the game really prove?
Why count the game results at all? Just run polls every week and pass money under the table. ESPN could roll all the footage they want without any worry of the games upsetting their marketing folks.
Fair and Balanced
November 21st, 2011
3:37 pm
Simple solution: Whoever wins the SEC wins the NC.
ChrisHumpherys
November 21st, 2011
3:37 pm
With Arkansas, Alabama and LSU all in the top three, this year more than any other gives credence to creating a number of super conferences.
And who should LSU play should they win Saturday?
Here’s a couple options….
http://sportschump.net/2011/11/21/lsu-the-bcs-and-some-helpful-hints-to-determine-our-national-champion/7625/
South Carolina DAWGS
November 21st, 2011
3:40 pm
We need to CONCENTRATE on TECH and not be thinking of the SEC game. Next thing you know Crowell will have a “hang nail” and have to REST during the TECH game. Why did we recruit a guy who has no heart, no competive desire and simply wants to USE us to get to the NFL. This guy needs to be “cutting grass somewhere in south georgia and not in college at UGA”. And to think he was what we made all the FUSS about last year. He could not pick up Herschel Walkers dirty sox!!
South Carolina DAWGS
November 21st, 2011
3:40 pm
We need to CONCENTRATE on TECH and not be thinking of the SEC game. Next thing you know Crowell will have a “hang nail” and have to REST during the TECH game. Why did we recruit a guy who has no heart, no competive desire and simply wants to USE us to get to the NFL. This guy needs to be “cutting grass somewhere in south georgia and not in college at UGA”. And to think he was what we made all the FUSS about last year. He could not pick up Herschel Walkers dirty sox!!
Joe
November 21st, 2011
3:40 pm
Hey Mark- PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND HOW IN THE WORLD ALABAMA CAN PLAY FOR A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WHEN THEY NOT ONLY DONT WIN THEIR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP BUT CANT EVEN WIN THEIR HALF OF THE DIVISION????????????????????
FUNNY- THATS WHAT THE IDIOTS THAT RUN THE BCS TOLD UGA A FEW YEARS AGO……WHAT A BUNCH OF SORRY SEWAGE WE HAVE IN THE BCS AND NCAA.
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
3:42 pm
I think we should get rid of the East/West concept and just put the two best teams in the SEC Championship. Depending on what happens Friday, that would either be Alabama/LSU or Alabama/Arkansas.
WDE
November 21st, 2011
3:42 pm
Yo Vince we don’t hate Bama we just pity the fools…now tell how did you guys manage to lose to your biggest rival last year with a 24 point lead at the half, hard to understand. I mean you have the tradition, the genius that is Saban, the best players that can be grey shirted and you still managed to get schooled in the Iron Bowl and end up what was it oh yes 4th in the West last year…and to continue the trend of losing big games you lost to LSU in O.T this year….hmmm downward spiral it would seem.
Joe
November 21st, 2011
3:44 pm
Here is what we need to happen to make the BCS look like the complete ah they are……Blama loses to the barn……Pigs beat LsWho…and UGA wins the SEC championship…….I bet that would make everyone sick…..hahaahhaahahahaha..
DawgDad
November 21st, 2011
3:44 pm
bamaguy: not this year.
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
3:50 pm
People can rant and rave all they want, in the end there will another Crystal Football at an SEC school not named Georgia.
5IML
November 21st, 2011
3:52 pm
There’s a lot of jealously and delusion here today. There’s nothing than can be done about the jealous, but let’s stop with the UGA/championship talk (delusion). UGA has not beaten a currently ranked team this year. (*uburn is not ranked in either of the human polls.)
DawgDad
November 21st, 2011
3:52 pm
And, if the nation’s #3 ranked team knocks off the #1 team in the last regular season game of the year and DOES NOT pass that team in the polls, high time to get some new computers and voters. I have SOME measure of confidence in the voters, but there is just no way that “level of precision” in the computer polls is “real”.
Kelly
November 21st, 2011
3:55 pm
DawgDad: On the other hand, computers aren’t tainted with the way things are ’supposed’ to look, e.g. Oklahoma still in the top 10. I don’t have much faith in the computers, but less in the pollsters. However, for levity’s sake, there’s always this: http://www.faniq.com/images/blog/c079987951eaece4eb26f1a8c7954be1.jpg
Kelly
November 21st, 2011
3:56 pm
(it does turn out to be true that the best thing that ever came out of Alabama is I-10)
5IML
November 21st, 2011
3:56 pm
WDE,
BAMA was 14-0 in 2009, and 10-3 last year.
*uburn will be five/six games worse in the loss column this year compared to last year. That’s a downward spiral.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
3:56 pm
I am going to say it ” UGA to win the SEC CG.
And LSU and BAMA play for the MNC.
LSU wins again.
And then Congress wants to investigate the BCS
Because that is a whole lot easier than doing their real job.
Then the BCS wants to investigate Congress, because the BCS is great at screwing things up more then they were in the first place.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
4:00 pm
How is Oklahoma still in the BCS top ten. They lose to Baylor and got raped by Texas Tech.
Geez.
SEC Commissioner
November 21st, 2011
4:01 pm
DawginLex
November 21st, 2011
2:59 pm
haha
how do you know how good bama is?
They have played no one outside the SEC except for an offensively challenged PennState.
They had trouble with GA Southern’s TO. How do we know they could handle Oklahoma or Okie State? Or Boise?
We don’t.
So based on what Herbstreit said in 2007, his words not mine, if LSU wins Friday, Bama should be excluded from the BCS title game
Dawg in Lex,
Your loser attitude is showing once again this week,( 13 weeks and counting). I guess losing to a weak Boise St team( proven) and a weaker USC team at home(proven) makes your UGA squad sooo much better than LSU or Alabama? However your logic is flawed, a guess that world series win by St. Louis via the wildcard makes them non worthy sense they did not win ‘their” division?
You can throw all the Statistics out all you want, but do not dare bring up scheduling with The (proven) second easiest schedule in the conference this year. Sagarin has your schedule listed at 43 toughest, while LSU and Alabama are back to back in the low 20’s. There goes that argument.
You can wish in one hand and wish in the other, but all in all, your dawgs are not going to a BCS bowl game, they can win the SECCG but they still will be ranked behind 3 other SEC teams at the end of the SECCG standings and their is nothing you can do about it( let me rephrase that) your beloved dawgs may end up ahead of one team( Arkansas) if everything goes wrong for The Razorbacks this Friday and your dawgs hang on to beat a weak one dimenisional GT Team and get past the rugged LSU squad. But that is running about 30% or less in odds.
Argue all you want but in the end you lost to South Carolina at HOME and Boise St in the dome, slipped past a mediocre Vandy team, a weak Ole Miss team who scored more points on UGA than anyone else has on UGA all season in conference, beat a weak Tennessee team in the 4th quarter and looked pathetic against a proven weak link in the conference in Kentucky.. Like anyone who is not wearing Red and Black Colored blinded glasses will tell you, UGA has improved, but they are not ready for prime time with the three big boys in the league. If you gave UGA 2 or 3 weeks to prepare, and hope no one gets suspended, and super glues your porcelain all high school running back together then maybe you would have a SLIGHT Chance against anyone of those three teams.
But you have that home game in two weeks in the dome against one of those three, until then, “settle down Francis” and get back in your mom’s basement and do some more of that illogical thinking you have been known for on these blogs and eat that peanut butter and jelly sandwich your mom left for you, drink your milk and maybe one day you can run with the big boys.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
4:02 pm
and my point is UGA loses to ranked opponents BSU and SC and is 13.
Oklahoma loses to unranked Texas Tech and Baylor and is ninth.
Toccoa
November 21st, 2011
4:02 pm
Mark, thanks for bringing this up. I’ve been screaming about this for 2 days and nobody seemed to be listening. And there are those that are talking about LSU losing to GA and maybe still going to the BCS game. WHAT! If you are LSU or BAMA or OKLAHOMA for that matter, the rules are not the same. The sooners have lost 2 games to teams ranked much lower then the teams GA lost to and their still ranked higher then we are. Until we have a playoff it will continue to be a JOKE!
5IML
November 21st, 2011
4:02 pm
bjohn,
How is Auburn still in the BCS top 25 but not ranked in either human poll?
WDE
November 21st, 2011
4:04 pm
@5IML Auburn is no longer ranked because we beat them and knocked them out of the top 25..understand now? And what in the world does 2009 have to do with the price of rice? Hey how far do you think Bama falls when Auburn beats them this year, still top 15 you think?
reality Gator
November 21st, 2011
4:05 pm
Can you believe dog fans? trashing Ala, knowing they have not won a title since Ronald Reagan was in office.
Hey dogs at least Al played LSU, Penn State:
your 8 teams that you beat are 12-40 SEC play.
I can not wait till LSU or Ala beat these pretending dogs by 35 ””’
Kelly
November 21st, 2011
4:05 pm
What’s up with all the “mom” talk? When asked why he returned to Alabama, Bear (pay mo) Bryant replied: “Mama called.” Look it up.
DawgDad
November 21st, 2011
4:05 pm
I don’t think it serves the best interests of the SEC to have two of their teams playing for the National Championship. That proves nothing about the Conference in relation to the rest of the country (lost showcase opportunity), and would only serve to breed deeper resentment at the SEC and the process staging such a contest.
The Bowl games traditionally were designed to pit theoretically evenly matched teams from other Conferences in showcase games, with an atmosphere of accompanying spectacle. The big games were played on New Year’s Day, adding to the holiday atmosphere. There was a lot to like about the old system, in my opinion far too much to give up for what we have now.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
4:06 pm
5IML,
Good Question..especially since they beat the 12th ranked team in South Carolina. does not make much sense.
bigeasy830
November 21st, 2011
4:06 pm
Proponents of the BCS and critics of a play-off system always scream that the regular season is the play-offs, every game counts so there is no need for a play-off system. Well if UGA wins the SEC title game and they still send another SEC team to the BCS title game then that throws your argument right out the window.
bigeasy830
November 21st, 2011
4:08 pm
UGA will shock the world and crush the SEC west team in the SEC title game.
perk
November 21st, 2011
4:08 pm
TOTAL BS and Hypocrisy if Bama gets in NC game without even playing for conference championship.
5IML
November 21st, 2011
4:08 pm
@WDE
“Auburn is no longer ranked because we beat them and knocked them out of the top 25″
So, you are a UGA fan posing as an *uburn fan. Simply pathetic.
@51ML
November 21st, 2011
4:09 pm
Can’t speak for everyone, but jealousy has nothing to do with me not wanting to see a rematch. One of the great things I look forward to every year is the bowl match-ups that you get at the end of the year with teams across the country that haven’t and don’t normally play each other. Similar to a bowl’s reluctance to pair two teams that have already played, it’s much more exciting if its a new match-up.
WDE
November 21st, 2011
4:09 pm
@reality Gator hey did you catch the score in the UGA/UF game this year…yeah UGA won…God I love saying that!
timthebrave
November 21st, 2011
4:09 pm
Without a playoff I would just assume going back to the old system. It still isn’t decided on the field. I just hope for something crazy every year so that the BCS will go bust and we can finally get a playoffs.
SEC Commissioner
November 21st, 2011
4:09 pm
If you do not want to see TWO SEC teams in the NCG, you are not deserving of being in the SEC as a fan! I do not care who plays who, but I do know that if UGA is playing anyone, I want UGA to win, if ANY TEAM is playing anyone outside the conference I Want the SEC team to win.
If you are not pulling for the SEC teams, you need to get up and leave at then end of the bowl game, basketball game, Baseball game after an SEC team has beaten another outer conference big foe and the fans start chanting S-E-C, S-E-C,S-E-C, your rights have been revoked.
timthebrave
November 21st, 2011
4:10 pm
It will take an undefeated Pac 10 or Big 10 team not making the championship for this to happen….Until that we are probably stuck with this garbage system
Kelly
November 21st, 2011
4:11 pm
Good points, DawgDad, but I think we have to be careful about nostalgia. I agree with you about pitting an SEC team against another conference team in theory, but not so sure about that in reality. It does seem to be the case that Bama/LSU are much better than everyone else this year (though teams like UGA have markedly improved). IF the Nat’l Championship game really is about the two best teams playing one another, we have to put those two teams in regardless of what conference they’re from. If it’s the case that it’s LSU and Bama this year, we can’t let nostalgia get in the way of a true(er) championship.
DawgFaceBlues
November 21st, 2011
4:12 pm
SEC commissioner, you are taking up way too much space and time. We’ve won 9 in a row no matter how you look at it. One of the best GA teams was losing to unranked FLA in 1980 with less than a minute to go but guess what. We won that big boy. So your stupid argument doesn’t coincide with any reason why Stanford is in top 5 or Ok or OK St losing to unranked teams here at the end of the season.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
4:12 pm
Reality Gator…you really think LSU will beat UGA by 35?
The Dawg defense is probably the 1st/2nd best in the SEC right now.
I dont see LSU scoring 35…and Bama? no way.
Not saying we will win( okay if the planets align) but it will be close.
Wild Wings Cafe will see to that.
5IML
November 21st, 2011
4:13 pm
The sole goal of the BCS is to match the best two teams against each other. LSU is obviously number one. If not BAMA, who is the second-best team? #logicaldebate
PMC
November 21st, 2011
4:15 pm
Even if LSU loses that championship game, thier resume is still more worthy than any other school to play in the BCS Championship game.
It’s 1 vs 2 in a ranking. LSU and Alabama are the two best teams right now.
It’s a horrible system and it won’t change until people force it to change by withholding dollars.
PMC
November 21st, 2011
4:17 pm
The Bowls are awful corrupt money grabs that have generally produced horrible matchups of late.
It is what it is, a great 3 months followed by the worst postseason month+ in sports.
PMC
November 21st, 2011
4:18 pm
The only real proponents of the BCS are people on the take.
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
4:18 pm
The BCS was created to prevent a #1 SEC team playing in the Sugar Bowl with a #2 PAC 10 team in the Rose Bowl due to league contracts. What has happened since the BCS was created is that the SEC has become the totally dominant football conference. Who ever thought that the numbers one, two and three BCS teams would be from the same conference.
Special K
November 21st, 2011
4:18 pm
Sour grapes here, get your sour grapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Samuel L. Jackson
November 21st, 2011
4:19 pm
How do you stop a bulldog from pulling his pud???
Paint it orange and blue, then he’ll only beat it once every 7 yrs
SEC Commissioner
November 21st, 2011
4:20 pm
DawgFaceBlues
November 21st, 2011
4:12 pm
SEC commissioner, you are taking up way too much space and time. We’ve won 9 in a row no matter how you look at it. One of the best GA teams was losing to unranked FLA in 1980 with less than a minute to go but guess what. We won that big boy. So your stupid argument doesn’t coincide with any reason why Stanford is in top 5 or Ok or OK St losing to unranked teams here at the end of the season.
1980? Are you kidding me?
Let me worry about my space, this is not a BULLDAWG BLAWG.
A bunch of losers who are supposedly SEC fans crying foul because the chances are darn good TWO SEC Teams will be in the NCG. You need your “man card” and your “SEC membership’ revoked as an SEC Fan.
Are you kidding me? Making it 100% likely that the SEC will win it’s 6th BCS NC in a row and some poor mouthed, feelings hurt UGA fans are crying because they are not part of the final equation?
This winter when these Oregon fans are back on here trash talking, if you are one those people wishing two other teams( not only the two best teams in the country and The SEC) are playing instead of “OUR OWN CONFERENCE SCHOOLS” just stay off the blog and out of the argument.
You lost your membership as a conference member, but do not fear, two new member schools are more than happy to take your place and will be very happy to chant S-E-C- S-E-C at the end of those contests.
bjohndawg
November 21st, 2011
4:21 pm
UGA has the third longest win streak in College Football right now after LSU and Houston.
Just goes to show you that its tough to go 9,10,11 wins in a row.
I will go out on a limb. I dont see LSU beating Arkansas, UGA, and Bama again. To tough a road to win those three.