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
Try This
November 29th, 2011
7:26 am
Brag about winning after the game, rather than before the game is played.
Then you guys won’t appear quite so delusional. Best of luck… You’ll need it.
Thomas Brown
November 29th, 2011
7:43 am
This is all subject to UGA beating LSU.
The moot point is DISNEYdawgs.com BRAGGING PRE-SEASON and PRE-GAME only to play like crud.
Do you have any idea how stupid your comments look in view of the fact that the moot point is that all this is based upon UGA beating LSU ?
If LSU beats UGA (what a joke to discuss in the 1st place), then the 2nd best team in the nation is Alabama and they play each other.
What is wrong with Bulldog fans’ any more around here ?
Is there not 1 reasonable Bulldog fan in the blogs ?
We’re going to beat LSU who is FAR and AWAY the better team comparing their wins and losses with our wins and losses after 2005, comparing Mark Richt starting 2005 with Les Miles starting 2005 at LSU, after he left Oklahoma State for LSU.
Such a moot point.
Brag while you can. Strike while the iron is hot Richt-0-Philes. 4 days from now, all you will have is that Les Miles doesn’t have a losing record to Mark Richt and Mark Richt has SUCKED compared to Les Miles 2005 through today.
And, you KNOW IT.
MarineDog
November 29th, 2011
7:45 am
What happens IF Ga. beats LSU, OkieSt loses to Okie, VaTech loses to Clemson, and Stanford gets upset by UCLA? This would leave an undefeated Houston, a loss Boise, and a 1 loss Ala and LSU with a 2 loss team that just beat the #1 team on the biggest stage and not even ranked in the top 10.
I know that this scenario is unlikely but stranger things has happened,
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
7:46 am
I refuse to accept reality!
J-Tag
November 29th, 2011
7:50 am
A playoff system would have the same effect, right? Any “system” cannot co-exist within any other “system.” If NCAA eventually goes to a playoff system to determine the national champions, then all of the “conference championshuips” will have to go away. Otherwise you’d have this same problem.
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
7:50 am
MarineDog
November 29th, 2011
7:45 am
“What happens IF Ga. beats LSU, OkieSt loses to Okie, VaTech loses to Clemson, and Stanford gets upset by UCLA?”
The Number 1 team will then play the Number 2 team for the National Championship. It’s not really that complicated. It is, however, a moot point. Monkeys will fly out of my Donkey before Georgia defeats LSU. Fun to fantasize though, eh?
Doc
November 29th, 2011
7:57 am
Everybody whines and cries for a playoff system…. WE ALREADY HAVE ONE! At the end of the year there are 8 conference champions. BCS should just pick the “best” two conference champions, or have a plus one (or two). If, for example, the Dawgs win vs. LSU, they would have to be considered, and in a plus one or two, they could easily win the National Championship, whereas right now they are totally out of the picture even though at this point in the season they are one of the best teams. They would run both Boise and SC out of the stadium in a rematch this Saturday.
Morning Reads for Tuesday, November 29th — Peach Pundit
November 29th, 2011
8:01 am
[...] in the Dark Knight series will take place eight years after the end of the last. – Mark Bradley explains why the BCS is bad for college [...]
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
8:02 am
@Doc
Here’s an even better idea:
Georgia should be allowed to play in the BCSCG every year – regardless of the outcome of the regular season. I think that would be fair.
MarineDog
November 29th, 2011
8:04 am
Denial Dawg,
It was just a question. BTW, nothing is a moot point until something actually happens to render it as such. At this point in time, that has not happened. LSU may indeed win, but they haven’t even played yet and isn’t that the reason the game is played in the first place? Hence, that’s why I said that stranger things has happened.
Doc
November 29th, 2011
8:04 am
No, that would be stupid. Unless they win their conference championship every year, which is unlikely in the SEC.
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
8:08 am
“No, that would be stupid.”
Precisely. That’s why it’s such a great idea – just like yours!
Doc
November 29th, 2011
8:10 am
Stupid? Really? The same system that is used for every other sport on the planet?
SuperB
November 29th, 2011
8:11 am
ESPN is the worst thing to happen to college football– unless you think the BCS is.
FLA DAWG
November 29th, 2011
8:12 am
I get your points but if The Dawgs can pull an upset and be the only 1 in the LSU loss column for this season, that won’t be moot.
The Dawgs winning The SECC in an upset itself will not be a moot point either. Something like that would bring great Christmas Joy to Dawg Nation and throw The BCS into a spin where it deserves to be.
None of that would be moot. Of course if there is no upset then forget everything I just wrote.
wins-by-a-link
November 29th, 2011
8:13 am
The BCS was created to protect the bowl system when so many were demanding a play-off for Div 1 football, The only Div in college football that does not have a play-off, Politics and big money will never allow the bowl system to be destroyed and the BCS will continue to twist and turn its way to create a national champion, ESPN is nothing but a parisite on college football and should have no influence on BCS. The true national champion can only be determined by a play off among top ten teams, But of course that will never happen.
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
8:14 am
Oh yeah? Conference Championships trump overall records in every other sport? If the SEC matched the two best teams in the SECCG, then Georgia wouldn’t be there to begin with, and none of this stupid conjecture would be necessary. None of it will matter come Sunday anyway.
LSU Dave
November 29th, 2011
8:15 am
The BCS is an absolute joke, and there’s no two ways about it. What else can anyone say? Division I college football is the only sport in the world, from the Super Bowl to little league rugby in Australia, that doesn’t settle matters on the field with a playoff. Asinine it is.
1992 Dawg
November 29th, 2011
8:16 am
Buck the F.C.S.!!
Denial Dawg
November 29th, 2011
8:20 am
If we had a playoff system, Georgia would still suck. We’d just have to whine about the playoff system being unfair, rather than whining about the BCS system being unfair.
Not much would change.
DanDawg
November 29th, 2011
8:27 am
Personally, I think it’s great that my Dawgs have an opportunity to affect the BCS title game. Oh, wait, never mind. That was so 2007, before the BCS had worked out the kinks. Sorry.
Doc
November 29th, 2011
8:29 am
Conference championships (and wildcards) get you into the playoffs in every other sport. The BCS goes straight to a one game wildcard, rendering completely meaningless the conference championship. So why bother?
freedawg
November 29th, 2011
8:38 am
great article, laid it out there perfectly. Very well done Mr. Mark!
Mark
November 29th, 2011
9:45 am
It is one thing for the voters to say, “Here’s what we will do under this scenario,” and another thing for them to actually do it.
If UGA beats LSU Saturday night, I do not believe the voters will have the chops to send LSU to the title game.
Adam
November 29th, 2011
9:56 am
“Any team that does not win its conference championship should not be in the BCS title game.”
Nick Saban, 2003
Just thought this was a funny quote by Saban a few years back.
Gene Big Dawg
November 29th, 2011
10:17 am
I think that ESPN is so caught up in most of their Comentaters except a few played in the other coferences if you will but here this all of you SEC haters o0n ESPN none of the BIG 8,10 or any other schools can hold a candle to the SEC . All of them are bius an I have not heard but one Lou Holtz speak well of Ga so Mark May whats your problem you brag on Boise State well who did they play Ga was the only team of signifigant yes they beat us but im sure coach Richt would like to have arematch there too. Mark May if an it might be a big if Ga wins saturday dont waste your breath to say anything well about the Dawgs we got a name for your kind down here in South Ga LINE JUMPER enough said!!!!!!!!!
Jerrydawg
November 29th, 2011
10:40 am
Actually, the BCS is setting itself up to be a null-and-void rating system. If you really don’t like the BCS then, just leave them alone and they will self destruct. I guarantee! Next on the list is the almighty voices of “ESPN”. They are so biased, as in Mark M. etc. The day will come when fans will rather listen to their radio announcers and mute the T.V. I mean if we want bias then get the best. You know like we UGA fans have done for years with the late but greatest Larry Munson.
DawginBama17
November 29th, 2011
11:00 am
Well put, Mark. You and Schlabach are the only writers I’ve heard communicate how UGA got the short end of the stick in 2007 and how flawed the logic is this year. (I’m not saying they would deserve to play for the BCS title this year if they go on to beat LSU; but it’s the inconsistency of the BCS and ESPN that irritates the stew out of me.)
Perhaps the silver lining to this will be that, some day, a new system will settle it once and for all. Don’t get me started on the Presidents and NCAA consumed by the mighty dollar. College football, the only sport that doesn’t reward a team that peaks at the end of the year.
Regards,
Disgusted FOOTBALL fan.
Garrett Buttrey
November 29th, 2011
12:05 pm
You guys are not very intelligent. Please tell me one team that would play with either Alabama or Lsu. There isn’t one. Arkansas was supposedly the 3rd best team in the country and got embarrassed! Ok state has no defense and would get shut out (not to mention thy got beat by a non ranked Iowa state team). The fact that Houston is even in this is embarrassing in itself seeing that they had one “signature” win over a power house UCLA team (that’s gotta be a joke), Oklahoma has 2 loses, stanford isn’t playing for its conference title either. Oregon has 2 losses. There isn’t a big 10 team even good enough to mention. Everyone is pissed off because the SEC has dominated college football for the past 5 years (about to be six whether Lsu plays Alabama or not). If you wanna be able to say anything, beat the SEC. Until that happens, sit back, shut up, and watch the big boys play real football. And maybe spend the time until the national championship trying to figure out what excuse you’re gonna give for when the SEC brings the 6th consecutive crystal ball back to SEC land.
DawginBama17
November 29th, 2011
12:08 pm
….and Les miles, apparently, is a great salesman. I can’t really blame him for his lobbying against UGA in 2007; however, he was lobbying for a rematch immediately after the Bama game! I’ve got an idea, why not make the SEC Championship game for the national title and make the bowl game an exhibition game….it’s basically been that way for the last 5 years anyway.
what a joke
November 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
All a result of ESPN demanding to the BCS that AL be allowed to play in double elimination, why no one else can. AL lost, so they should be eliminated from the BCS championship game, unless the team that is undefeated and beat them loses to UGA. No other school gets to “replay” a game that they lost.
opinion
November 29th, 2011
12:14 pm
Unless LSU loses to UGA, Bama should not be allowed to play them again. Someone else should be given a shot.
Garrett Buttrey
November 29th, 2011
12:30 pm
“Unless LSU loses to UGA, Bama should not be allowed to play them again. Someone else should be given a shot.”
Who would play with either of them?? Please tell me.
DawgFan
November 29th, 2011
12:49 pm
Our team has a better loss than yours? Our schedule was much tougher than yours? This BCS system is total bullcrap. I do believe that the two best teams are LSU and Alabama but what I believe or what I think that I can justify with numbers shouldn’t matter. However, under our current system it is all that does.
The NC should be decided on the field and not in the media or by coaches that do not have time to watch the other games. Let the conference champs play each other to decide the NC.
Either way this year is done and i hope that UGA does beat LSU(doubtful tough) and they still play Alabama in the NC game. This will be a huge problem for the BCS powers that be.
Godawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on
November 29th, 2011
1:05 pm
Alabama is not UGA from 2007. They aren’t getting in AHEAD of the team that wins their conference (assuming the Dawgs lose Saturday). It is perfectly legitimate for the second best team in the country to be the second best team in a conference, as long as the first place team in that conference is also the team ranked first in the country.
Now, if the Dawgs can pull it out against LSU, all bets are off.
Blackoutanyone?
November 29th, 2011
1:50 pm
Tdawg… I apologize for taking so long to decipher your idiocity. I don’t speak dumbass and in turn struggle to read it. Look here Milkbrains, you need to understand that no system will be perfect. Your calling for 16 team playoff… why stop there? Since we can’t possibly look at the quality of play and determine what team is more deserving as you suggest. I can’t know for certain one 11-1 team would beat another 11-1 but that same argument can be made about the #17, #18, and #19 teams that would be left out of your playoff right? I can say for certain Bama wouldn’t lose to Iowa State this year. I can compare Oregon vs LSU to Alabama vs LSU. At some point you have to look at the body of work and if you understand the game of football then 12 games should be enough to seperate the teams. As for your statement regarding not winning your conference and not playing for the championship I agree…IF there is another conference champion more deserving. Care to name that team this year? Care to tell me were I might find a rule exempting a non conference champion from playing in the BCS National title game? One more thing. The SEC Title game was already played this year. Everyone outside of the state of Georgia knows this. Enjoy your curb stomping Saturday. Bama will enjoy the bye week and heal up for our rematch with LSU. National Championship #14… Hunker down and Suck on that
Blackoutanyone?
November 29th, 2011
2:01 pm
All you people need to do is ask yourselves this one simple question. Who are the best two teams in college football today? Most of you feel its LSU and Bama but because the Dawgs got screwed in ‘07 you would rather wine. Simple question… really. You guys think a team who lost to Texas tech or Iowa state or tcu should even be in this discussion because I don’t.
Bama grad
November 29th, 2011
3:33 pm
I graduated from Bama and this game has boring written all over it. Saban’s is not a great coach. The time management of the last drive in regulation and the debacle in overtime speaks volumes.
I actually hope LSU wins this. Because the Saban is Great disciples will have to admit Less is better and I have never heard him mentioned with great.
Garrett Buttrey
November 29th, 2011
3:50 pm
“I graduated from Bama and this game has boring written all over it. Saban’s is not a great coach. The time management of the last drive in regulation and the debacle in overtime speaks volumes.
I actually hope LSU wins this. Because the Saban is Great disciples will have to admit Less is better and I have never heard him mentioned with great”
Saban is not a great coach?? Do you even watch football? And look at all the games Les Miles has blown due to his terrible clock management skills. Lsu is no doubt the best team in the country but if you didn’t think that the Lsu-Alabama game was the best game played in a long time, you don’t know good football. Seeing two teams with descent offenses and terrible defenses is fun… until the score reaches 40-42 at halftime and then no one cares anymore. The good part of football is the big hits, the goal line stands, the big shots on the quarterbacks, and the game changing special teams plays. You get all of that in a Lsu-Alabama rematch. No one who is used to GOOD football, not the crappy Pac-12/ Big 12 lack of defense football, wants to see Okie State or Stanford (and Andrew Luck for that matter) get completely embarrassed by whichever team they would play in the National Championship. Everyone knows that the Lsu-Alabama game was essentially the National Championship and now we will get to see it again. Like I said earlier, sit down, shut up, and let the big boys show you what good football looks like… again. Quit whining about the fact that you choose to go for a sub par team that you know would get the brakes beat off of them by any of the top 5 SEC teams. The BCS isn’t a perfect system but to say that they are biased in any way to the SEC is wrong. I’m sorry that you can’t keep up with the SEC but lets face it, we are just better than you. End of story.
Bama grad
November 29th, 2011
5:58 pm
Garrett,
Where are your creditials Mr Football. Saban has 1.5 National Championships. The .5 being the coaches (who gives a rats a** about) poll. The other half of the .5 was USC in the AP.
A great coach and only 1 outright NC that he almost never got to (AL 12 TN 10 AT BAMA). Btw, TN lost 5 other games that year. A debacle against Utah, the 24 poiint collapse against AU last year.
The NC game that we all saw. If Colt plays the whole game, a totally different outcome. Remember Saban has show a tendency to let teams get back in the game which is exactly what TX did with their backup QB.
Gene Chizik (sp) has many AP NCs as does Saban. Tell me Gene is a great coach.
Bama grad
November 29th, 2011
6:02 pm
Oh, I forgot Bama 31 GA 0 at the half. Final 41-30.
Bammer
November 29th, 2011
6:18 pm
Yeah I’m sure you’re a Bama grad you tool. Check almost ANY team who has won a NC and I guarantee you they had one or two close games that they maybe “shouldn’t” have won…whatever that means. And it wasn’t like Coly “My Pretty Pony” McCoy stubbed his toe before the game and couldn’t play…Bama knocked him out of the game! They made his ass QUIT. Twist your stupid stats anyway you choose…and throw in the La Monoe’s and Utah’s while you’re at it. Saban is 54-12 at Alabama. I’ll take it and so would any of these delusional Mutt fans.
Bama grad
November 29th, 2011
7:49 pm
Bammer,
Unlike you redneck, I did graduate from Bama. No coach at Bama has had Auburn down 24 and lose the game. The fact is, they quit on him in the second half.
Idiot, Fulmer’s win percentage was 0.8269 at the end of his 5th season, Saban’s is .8181. Try and claim Fulmer is a great coach.
Saban has a lot of close wins 17-14 over KY, 24-20 over Ole Miss or was it MSU. To be great, he is not living up to the hype week in and week out.
The Time Is Now: Boycott the BCS – Andrew Ishak
November 29th, 2011
10:27 pm
[...] title game. On the other hand, if they LOSE…they go to to the national title game anyway. Mark Bradley at the AJC said it as well as anyone: this week’s games are pointless. And that’s because we have [...]
www.cnn.com
November 29th, 2011
10:35 pm
test
BC$ Slave
November 29th, 2011
11:59 pm
You people defending the BC$ are deluded.
Deluded.
The polls are basically meaningless. They are subjective and biased.
Polls are not really competition based.
That renders the BC$ meaningless.
That renders the mythical national championship game meaningless.
Could mighty LSU wind up in a non-BCS bowl? Er … maybe | Mark Bradley
November 30th, 2011
8:30 am
[...] Speaking of the BCS … [...]
Crimson Crush
November 30th, 2011
8:53 am
Call the Whambulance …. STAT ! … we have multiple Crush victims of broken hearted dreams and disproven delusions on the way … Doctor Cry Baby Cry is on standby …
bb
November 30th, 2011
9:08 am
Does the BCS have issues, sure. Would a playoff system be better, maybe. But all this crying about the 2007 Dawgs and how they got cheated is pathetic. #1, the Dawgs were NOT sitting atop the SEC East anymore than Al. is sitting atop the SEC West this year. Furthermore, they were ranked 4th b4 the SEC game. How were they suppose to move up to #2, when they didn’t play that week. The comparisons btw 2007 Ga. and 2011 Al. are apples and oranges. Al. is sitting at #2, they don’t have to move up to get into the BCS title game. Now, after Ga beats LSU, if Ok St. beats Ok. it is very possible that Al falls down, just like Ga did in 2007.
Stop all the whining, it is embarrasing. Be glad we are in the SEC Game, enjoy the rest of the week, and on Sat. GOOOO DAWGS !!!!!
UnderDawgs | ALDLAND
November 30th, 2011
1:26 pm
[...] This and this – So much for the “every game counts” argument. [...]