For its latest trick, the BCS renders the SEC title game moot
"Is this the year you have to win your conference or the year you don't?" (AP photo)
Q: When is a conference championship really just a exhibition game?
A: When the BCS “system,” whatever that happens to be in a given year, gets its maladroit hands on it.
LSU faces Georgia for the SEC title Saturday at the Georgia Dome. If LSU wins, it will play for the BCS title. If LSU loses, it figures to play for the BCS title anyway.
This is college football, where we’re told Every Game Counts. This year another big fat asterisk gets attached: Every game counts except the SEC championship, which lately has counted the most. And that’s not the worst part.
On Sunday I was speaking with Falcons center Todd McClure, who has a figurative dog in this fight. (He played at LSU.) When I mentioned that I’d rather be Alabama, which is guaranteed not to lose another game before the final BCS standings are announced, than the Tigers, he said: “Do you think that’s fair?”
No, I don’t think it’s fair. The BCS is never fair. Occasionally there comes a year in which the outcry is minimal, and invariably some talking head will say, “The BCS worked this time.” Reality check: The BCS never works. The best the BCS ever can hope is to get lucky.
Case study in inconsistency: In 2007 Georgia was ranked No. 4 in the next-to-last BCS standings. The teams ranked first and second — Missouri and West Virginia — lost on the regular season’s final weekend. Georgia didn’t play. It finished atop the SEC East but was shaded by Tennessee on a tiebreaker. LSU, which had lost its final regular-season game to Arkansas, beat the Vols for the SEC title, and the Tigers got to play for the BCS title.
LSU moved from No. 7 to No. 2. Georgia didn’t play a game and slid to No. 5. Why? Because LSU coach Les Miles kept making the point that his team had “won its conference” and because the many talking heads on ESPN took up the cry. (As we know, what’s said on ESPN has an outsize effect on college football, the only sport in which opinions matter.)
Some of the same voices who’d lobbied for an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the 2006 BCS title game dismissed Georgia a year later because It Hadn’t Won Its Conference. Never mind that winning your conference isn’t a criterion for BCS title inclusion. Never mind that Michigan hadn’t won the Big Ten the year before. This just seemed like the thing to say at that moment in time, and by golly those ESPN chatterers kept saying it until it became reality.
Georgia wasn’t passed just by LSU but also by Oklahoma and Virginia Tech; see, the Sooners and Hokies had won their conferences. After that season, the BCS considered making a conference title a prerequisite for a berth in the BCS title game but decided against it, which is a good thing if you’re Alabama but another pie in the face if you’re a fan of consistent thought.
If you’re a BCS hater — and who isn’t? — you have to root for Georgia to beat LSU and render this ongoing farce even more farcical. Picture the incongruity: The Bulldogs hoist the SEC championship trophy on Saturday night and trot off to the Sugar Bowl to play this year’s version of Hawaii, and 24 hours later not one but two SEC non-champions get invited to the game that’s supposed to reveal the nation’s best team.
And now you’re asking: Don’t LSU and Alabama look like the nation’s top two teams? LSU has been the absolute best team from start to finish, but the Tigers still have a game to play. The Tide lost its biggest game on its home field and has beaten two teams ranked in the BCS Top 25. If Oklahoma State, which is ranked No. 3 to Alabama’s No. 2, beats Oklahoma on Saturday, the Cowboys will have beaten five Top 25 teams and will be the Big 12 champ. Should Alabama get that nod just because it plays in the almighty SEC and is, you know, Alabama?
The problem with the BCS is that it can tweak its “system” until the cows come home and never be prepared for the vagaries of a given season. And with conferences expanding to elephantine size and schedules growing more imbalanced, this will only get worse. Four years ago Georgia was penalized for not playing in the SEC title game; this time Alabama could be handed a de facto semifinal bye.
Do I think the BCS is fair? Yes indeed. A fairly Big Crock of Sludge.
By Mark Bradley
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810 comments Add your comment
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
8:44 pm
RON DAWG————————I couldn’t agree more. Alabama had their shot a couple of weeks ago….not a couple of months ago. They lost. End of story. Next opponent. It’s not fair to LSU or the rest of the teams in the BCS for Alabama to get 2 shots in 6 weeks where other teams that may or may not be as good don’t even get a smell. THAT’S TOTAL BULL$HITT AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT. The whole point of not doing away with the BOWL SEASON is that it makes the REGULAR SEASON mean so much more because each game counts and the season IS a playoff. Apparently not…..not when it gets in the way of a money game. OBAMA……YOU SAID YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CORRUPTION. HAVEN’T HEARD A PEEP FROM YOU SINCE YOU WERE ELECTED. DID THEY BUY YOU TOO?????
FLA DAWG
November 28th, 2011
8:44 pm
Hey Mark,
Why delete my post?
I wrote nothing defamatory or used unkind words of any sort.
What’s the problem?????
JY
November 28th, 2011
8:46 pm
BCS = BULL CRAP SYSTEM POPULAR VOTE GOES TO WHO EVER ESPN ANALYSIS ARE IN LOVE WITH THIS WEEK & ESPN = ESPECIALLY STUPID PEOPLE NETWORK!!!! GA CAN WIN & GO DOWN IN POLL WHY DON’T WE PUT TOP 25 TEAMS IN A HAT & DRAW 2 !!!!!!
Boca Baby
November 28th, 2011
8:47 pm
Neutral Fan: Let’s see how well LSU covers all of Georgia’s receivers. Murray has thrown to six this year. LSU cannot just stack the box and not pay for it. Murray has proven he is accurate. The running game will be good enough to keep LSU honest. And Murray can scramble and run for yardage.
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
8:49 pm
@DAWG FAN———I thought about that and the way I see it is what do they have to lose? So it pumps up LSU. DAWGS get more pumped up….this will be for the marbles, the season and your honor. It will mean that much more if they win. LSU’S best game against UGA’S best game and let the chips fall where they may.
JDW
November 28th, 2011
8:49 pm
@Andy…”JDW I did not mention LSU potentially losing in my post, because it is my opinion (only an opinion) that there is a better chance of Kim Kardashian’s next marriage lasting a year than UGA beating LSU this weekend.”
You probably should stick to your area of expertise…who do you like for American Idol this year?
DP
November 28th, 2011
8:50 pm
If the SEC championship game is moot, should Georgia win by some miracle does that mean they won’t get SEC championship rings for the players to sell on Ebay?
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/2003-05-15-georgia-rings_x.htm
Less Miles
November 28th, 2011
8:52 pm
What the hell are you idiots talking about. This is Mark Richt we are talking about. Anybody remember the West Virginia 28-0 before my thugs wake up or AL 31-0 (or something close) before my idiots respond games.
Less wants Richt at GA and wants to protect his key players. This game will be closer (at the end) than most think. Less gets to take his A team to the big dance and Richt gets another reprieve.
Kelly
November 28th, 2011
8:52 pm
For the person who asked, “How do we know Bama is better than OSU?” – We don’t. And unfortunately, it’ll remain speculative because the [system] in place presently leaves most everything up to speculation. It’s crap and everyone knows it is. Rollingtider, by your own coaches words, you shouldn’t be playing in the CG. I’m one who thinks Bama is probably deserving, but by Saban’s own words…”Anyone that doesn’t win their conference has no business playing in the national championship game.” -Nick Saban, 2003.
K9 NONSENSE
November 28th, 2011
8:53 pm
@ESPN……..EUREKA,YOU GET IT!!! THE VOTERS SAY LSU & BAMA SSSOOOOOOOOO LETS GET ON & STOP ALL THIS CRYING!!!!!!!!! P.S. YOU STILL DIDN’T ANSWER THE ORIGINAL QUESTION!!
Less Miles
November 28th, 2011
8:53 pm
YOU SAW IT HERE. The NCAA will find a way to strip Paterno of at least 2 wins. They have to. The all time record cannot be tainted like it is. Watch.
dave
November 28th, 2011
8:55 pm
Looks like I’m boycotting the BCS Title Game again this year. I think that makes 10 in a row. What a joke. Wake me up when we have a playoff. Who the hell has Alabama beaten? Apparently they’re too chicken to play real teams. They’d rather beat up on Georgia Southern every weekend, because, God forbid, they might lose to a real team. No one can say that Alabama is any better than any of the other 1 loss teams out there, including Boise State. BCS is the worst fraud ever perpetrated on the American public.
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
8:56 pm
K9 nonsense
How do we know bama is better than okie st?
JY
November 28th, 2011
8:56 pm
I don’t give Ga much of a chance because of money for the SEC !! The Ref have been schooled how to call this game!
Coach Mark ( tanning bed ) Richt
November 28th, 2011
8:58 pm
If LSU loses on Saturday. Say What? They aren’t going to lose to us. They will stomp us. I just hope we can keep it less than 50 points. We know we don’t deserve to play in this game.
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
8:59 pm
@DAVE———–I agree, I haven’t watched a championship game since 2007. I elect my own National Champion. The rest is all a bunch of bunk. What’s sad is that even if UGA was playing in the game at the end of the day………….it just doesn’t mean as much as it when I was kid.
GATA
November 28th, 2011
9:00 pm
Dayum – that kicker reminds of my IRA – no return!
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:00 pm
@ JY
If it already written in stone that bama and lsu will play for the NC no matter the out come of this game …………… It would be better for the SEC to throw the game for Georgia to get three teams in. bCS bowl….
DP
November 28th, 2011
9:01 pm
Poor BIG MIKE. If there had been a fair process for a national championship everybody knows the Dawgs would have won 10 or 15 by now. Everybody is out to get the Dawgs.
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:04 pm
Revisionist history there Mark?
The 07 Georgia team had absolutely no business being in the bcs title game over LSU. None. With a backup qb LSU beat a UT team that pounded the dawgs by 4 touchdowns. LSU lost 2 games in triple overtime to bowl teams- both on the road. In addition to being blown out by UT Georgia also lost at home to an unranked Carolina team. And lastly Mark LSU destroyed Va Tech which finished the season ranked 4th in the nation 48-7. UGA beat nobody of comparable stature out of conference.
Regardless of winning the conference championship anyway you look at it LSU clearly had a superior season in 07 and fully deserved to go over Georgia. Plain and simple.
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:05 pm
@ tide rising
How do we know bama is better than okie st?
ESPN Talking Heads
November 28th, 2011
9:06 pm
We control everything and our only motivation is to bring misery to Georgia fans everywhere. It is our secret plan. Don’t tell anyone – it’s secret.
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
9:07 pm
DP———–That’s not the point. I remember several teams getting screwed over the years UM and AUBURN come to mind immediately. And usually to make room for the likes of OSU or OKLA or USC. Any team west of the Mississippi will do. I don’t why but their must be a lot of Journalism Majors from that section of the country. This is just another ESPN SPIN MACHINE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. I think we know now for sure who is pulling the BCS strings and I blame the NCAA for that. I blame our politicians for allowing it. And most of all the puppet fans like you that support it.
Dr. Lou
November 28th, 2011
9:09 pm
You can’t stop us. We control every lever of power in collegiate football.
Heh heh heh heh heh…
BravesFan79
November 28th, 2011
9:09 pm
Nothing will ever change until the FANS protest, and Refuse to buy tickets for any game that isnt the National Title game! If that happens, watch how fast the presidents move!
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:10 pm
And no. It doesn’t seem fair that LSU has to beat Bama not once but twice. But the reality is that they are far and away the best 2 teams in the nation and that is not really in dispute by anyone with an IQ over 80. And the reality is that there have been other teams that didn’t win their conferences that went to the title game- Neb. and OU. And last of course we lost to the no. 1 team in overtime after missing 4 field goals. I think that’s a little more deserving than losing to an unranked and horrific Iowa State ballclub. Iowa State? Really? And didn’t OK. State just barely beat a very average Texas A&M team by 1 point? Bama has had one close game the entire season- the OT loss to LSU. Other than that the closest anyone came was 3 scores when Penn State scored a consolation td in the last minute to lose by 16. Any which way you look at it LSU and Alabama are clearly the best 2 teams in the country and there is no way in hell Ok state could stay on the field with LSU. Only a fool would believe otherwise.
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:13 pm
Tide rising
Answer my question please
How do we know bama is better than okie st?
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:15 pm
Dawg48,
Ok state’s defense I think is 87th in the nation. Do you honestly think that they could stop LSU one time? And do you really think that Ok state can rack up points against the LSU defense? If you do I got one lesson for you. Oklahoma. OU was averaging over 60 pts a game in its last 5 games of the season going into the 08 bcs title game against Florida. 60 freaking points! How many did this big 12 offense score against an sec caliber defense like Florida? Yep. 14. If you actually think that Ok. state after losing to Iowa State is as good as an Alabama team that had only one close game the entire season- that being the LSU game, then have another sip of that koolaid.
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:16 pm
Dawg 48,
Based upon national offensive and defensive rankings and quality of loss and number of close calls I think its pretty obvious we’re better than Okay state.
GATA
November 28th, 2011
9:17 pm
Bama check yourself. Everyone bashes UGA for a weak schedule, yet UGA/Bama had SIX common opponents and both went 6-0. And yes UGA beat your in-state rival 45-7. If you want to get into dissecting how games were lost, everyone knows UGA beat SC all over the field and lost by 3 largely due to a bad game by one of our best players. Bama had ONE quality win (Arkansas). Who else did they beat? Penn State?? Look at PSU’s record – they beat no one and lost to every ranked team. Don’t cry about it, your a good team. But there are other teams that could make just as good, if not better, argument than you to be number 2. LSU is the only team that has clearly earned that right to this point.
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
9:18 pm
I disagree with LSU and ALABAMA being the best “TEAMS” in the country. They are not……..They are the best Defensive Teams in the country and the country (voters) aren’t used to seeing that kind of dominance out of a defense. But UGA has developed an equally impressive defense over the course of the year with young talent and a power house offense that perform without it’s top three tailbacks and two of it’s veteran linemen without missing a beat against almost anybody in the country. They didn’t start the year with this swagger, but like 2007, I would put them against any team in the nation including the likes of LSU and Alabama, both of which would have problems moving the ball against UGA (particularly Alabama).
JDW
November 28th, 2011
9:19 pm
@Tide Rising…so how was it going into the last weekend of the season GA was #3 to LSU’s #7? What happened was a public relations campaign by the ESPN led media to persuade voters that a team that did not win their conference championship should not play in the BCS Championship. I think the same rule should apply today…the top two conference champions as of Sunday night should be the ones in the game.
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:19 pm
dave,
Go ahead and boycott the bcs title game. You won’t be missed.
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:21 pm
Dude that was 08
So your basically saying 2 things.
1 you were the only person that new the week of the okie st Iowa st game ISU is the better team
Or
2 if okie st and ISU played again you would bet the farm on ISU ( cause down deep you honestly think their better)
The point is we will never know cause the game won’t be played…………
If ISU can beat okie st on any given Saturday then okie st can beat LSU on any given Saturday.
The only true fact we know is, is that LSU is better than bama cause the game was played!
GTBob
November 28th, 2011
9:21 pm
Alabama is getting into the MNC because their name is Alabama and because they only have one loss. There is no other reason really. Perception is everything. Alabama doesn’t objectively have a great argument for getting in.
JDW
November 28th, 2011
9:21 pm
@Tide Rising…so how was it going into the last weekend of the season GA was #3 to LSU’s #7?
What happened was a public relations campaign by the ESPN led media to persuade voters that a team that did not win their conference championship should not play in the BCS Championship. The same rule should apply today…the top two conference champions should be the ones in the game.
Dr. Lou
November 28th, 2011
9:22 pm
I’d put Georgia up against any team in the nation too – so long as they don’t actually have to play them. Dawgs are the Champs of Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda.
Dr. Lou
November 28th, 2011
9:23 pm
We put whichever teams we like in the bowl games. Resistance is futile!
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:23 pm
BIG MIKE,
Wrong sir. Bama is ranked no. 1 in the nation in defense and no. 1 in all 4 major statistical defensive categories. Offensively we are ranked 20th overall if I remember correctly. LSU is ranked 5th overall in D and I believe is also ranked top 20 in offense.
Georgia’s defensive stats are skewed by the fact that their schedule was horrendous. Look up the offensive rankings of Kentucky, Vandy, Florida, Tennessee, the two Mississippi schools UGA played, and AU and even South Carolina and you will see that every single one of those teams with the possible exception of Carolina is offensively horrible. And this doesn’t include the 2-3 nonconference patsies Georgia played. Boise was the only great offensive team Georgia played. And of course we all know what happened to the dawg defense when they played a real offensive team.
Red Stick
November 28th, 2011
9:24 pm
LSU and Alabama are clearly the 2 best teams in the country. As usual the Dawg nation complains.
If you guys ever played a whole season you would have an argument. You lost 2 games in 2007 including getting clobbered by UT. You looked bad against Boise State in your opener this season. You are paying the price for that loss. I said at the time there was no reason for as long as Richt has been in Athens and the talent you have, to lose to Boise.
You guys were fortunate that you didn’t play LSU, Alabama and Arkansas this season. Of course that isn’t your fault but the only reason you are in the Dome on Saturday is because South Carolina played the Hogs and you didn’t.
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:25 pm
Well said GTbob
Red Stick
November 28th, 2011
9:29 pm
BIG MIKE
November 28th, 2011
9:18 pm
“I disagree with LSU and ALABAMA being the best “TEAMS” in the country. They are not……..They are the best Defensive Teams in the country and the country (voters) aren’t used to seeing that kind of dominance out of a defense. But UGA has developed an equally impressive defense over the course of the year with young talent and a power house offense that perform without it’s top three tailbacks and two of it’s veteran linemen without missing a beat against almost anybody in the country.”
Now that is funny. You aren’t serious are you?
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:29 pm
JDW,
First of all OU and Neb already set a precedent by being 2 teams that didn’t win their conferences that played in the title game. Secondly as I pointed out in an earlier post that LSU’s 07 accomplishments regardless of whether they won the conference or not far exceeded Georgia’s. 2 losses in OT on the road to 2 bowl teams plus a convincing nonconference 48-7 win over Va Tech which finished 4th in the nation vastly exceeds the quality of Georgia’s 2 losses- a blowout by 4 tds, the other a loss at home to an unranked foe, and no noncon wins anywhere near the quality of LSU’s demolishing of VT. Lastly the bcs final rankings that decide the 2 teams that play for it all are decided as of the last ranking. They are not decided in the next to last ranking, the initial ranking, the 8th or 10th week of the season ranking. It is the FINAL BCS RANKING that counts sir. A fact that dawg fans for some strange reason seem incapable of understanding. LSU’s season that year was superior. Plain and simple.
Dr. Lou
November 28th, 2011
9:29 pm
Georgia would be ranked Number 1 right now – if I wanted them to be! That’s just how powerful The Doctor© is. W/L records mean nothing to me!
Bwah ha ha ha!!!
Dawg48
November 28th, 2011
9:30 pm
Then next year when the top 25 comes out who ever is the top 2 teams let’s go ahead and just let them play the NC game! That way the rest of America can save money on tickets, gas , tailgate parties, get togethers , fan apparel and so on.
bitter free market fan
November 28th, 2011
9:30 pm
what????—coruption——————-capitilism is –well—–its all about getting yours—-stop whinning
Tide Rising
November 28th, 2011
9:30 pm
Red Stick,
I think big mike is drinking that fire engine red kool-aid. The man has no idea what’s about to hit his team in the Georgia dome.
Dr. Lou
November 28th, 2011
9:30 pm
Bwah ha ha ha ha!!!
GATA
November 28th, 2011
9:33 pm
Tide Rising:
“Georgia’s defensive stats are skewed by the fact that their schedule was horrendous.”
Here is Bama’s “Strong Schedule” = No room to talk
(UGA “weak” common opponents)
Florida
Vanderbilt
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Mississippi State
Auburn
Arkansas (ONLY QUALITY WIN)
LSU (BAMA LOSS)
(Remainder of weakass schedule)
Kent State
Penn State (mediocre – look at who they beat: Indiana, Temple blah blah blah. No ranked wins)
North Texas
Georgia Southern
GTBob
November 28th, 2011
9:33 pm
LSU and Alabama are clearly the 2 best teams in the country.
Give me a logical fact based argument for why Bama deserves to be in over Okie St, Stanford, or Va Tech, assuming those teams win out. They may be, but nobody really knows for sure. It’s all a guess really. If Ole Miss had played the exact same schedule as Bama, with the exact same results would they even have a chance at getting in? No.