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
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
810 comments Add your comment
BobDawg
November 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
BUCKET… interesting take… and I agree mostly, but I think the SEC/ESPN has too much pull for OSU to jump Bammy… (Unless, T Boone Pickens ponies up???) He could really make a mess of things if he starts throwing some huge cash around the place….
Nom Nom Nom Chuck
November 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
I do not believe at ALL UGA should be in a NC discussion…my point is that the current system just is not working anymore. Which is why I emphasize 2007.
I would love to see Alabama’s D go up against Stanford’s O line….you just don’t see those kind of matchups with the current bowl system and they would be fun to watch.
Basically Mark Richt got screwed once by the BCS for a NC game and screwed himself twice.
UGA89
November 28th, 2011
2:26 pm
The difference between the NCAA basketball champion and the NCAA football champion is the basketball champ is whoever is the hotest team at the end of the season and the football champion is the team that the voters ASSUME is the best team over an ENTIRE football season.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:27 pm
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:25 pm
“Atlantic Monthly”
About as relevant as MSNBC.
******************
Read the article, if you can. Not a pretty picture but doesn’t go nearly far enough in talking about your lying, cheating, stealing Scam Newton, Gene Cheatzik, Nick Unfairly and the rest of the rotten crew from across the state line….
You’d be ashamed of your team if you had any sense….
bucket
November 28th, 2011
2:27 pm
I love how all the UGA haters are hoping for LSU to do to UGA what their teams couldn’t do this year!!!
BobDawg
November 28th, 2011
2:27 pm
2010 BCS CHAMPS… where you been lately??? Where is Malzhan going next???
loel
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
You all say the SEC east in down this year and comment on how strong the west is.. Well Georgia has already played three of the six west teams and busted all of them. Now they play a fourth.. They will fair well against LSU and now four of the six west teams including the defending National champs so get off that subject.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
” Scam Newton, Gene Cheatzik, Nick Unfairly and the rest of the rotten crew from across the state line….”
Huh?
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
ESPN is already annointing Ohio State as champs in 2014….you know it’s coming.
pj
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
Mark, your articles rarely change my mind on an issue – but I hadn’t thought about it that way – and you’re 100% correct here. My fellow dawg fans have been griping for 2 days that Bama gets the shot that WE didn’t get in 2007. My argument was – We lost TWO games that year including getting blown out by the Vols. Bama lost just once – by 3 – in OT – to the #1 team in the country.
But the thought of having two NON SEC Champs playing for the big trophy – is simply absurd, whether theyre the 2 most talented or not. A Dawg win Saturday would create the perfect storm to demand for change in the system. Nice piece Brado.
Matt
November 28th, 2011
2:29 pm
I would think that not only a OK ST. backlash but Va Tech one as well. They are sitting at #5 and if they beat Clemson, especially if they beat them bad, would have an argument. If Ok. ST. and Va Tech are both sitting in the top 5 and both win their conference championships while Bama sits idle AND neither jump them it will be a HUGE crock of ****!!!
Gorilla Biscuit
November 28th, 2011
2:29 pm
LSU/Bama? Been there, done that, got a t-shirt. Georgia needs to Gorilla stomp LSU and throw a monkey wrench into the machine. Bama can’t win the SEC but deserves to be National Champions? I just fell down the rabbit hole.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:29 pm
“where you been lately???”
Working.
“Where is Malzhan going next???”
Walmart? Lunch? I haven’t checked his schedule today.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:30 pm
“ESPN is already annointing Ohio State as champs in 2014″
They also anointed UGA champs in 2008.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:31 pm
“You’d be ashamed of your team if you had any sense”
Why?
SmyrnaBob
November 28th, 2011
2:31 pm
If I recall correctly, in 2007 Vandy missed a 30 something yard field goal at the end of the Tennessee game and UGA stayed home from that SEC Championship game.[So unVandy like]
But anyway, this is the Dawgs chance to be SEC Champs even when last week’s Top 3 teams were from the SEC as well. National Champs are mythical, but SEC Championships are still won on the field.
bucket
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
I actually had not considered T. Boone’s input, but that’s a great point BobDawg. He has the money and the national exposure to cause a BIG stink!!!
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
There is zero chance that the powers that be will sit idly by this weekend and allow GA to win this game.
Not a single chance in hell….
Not that we are capable of winning it anyway, most likely.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
phil, why are you so upset about Auburn? You should be more upset that UGA hasn’t won the NC in over 30 years.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:33 pm
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:31 pm
“You’d be ashamed of your team if you had any sense”
Why?
Good one…
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:33 pm
“National Champs are mythical, but SEC Championships are still won on the field.”
Huh?
Matt
November 28th, 2011
2:33 pm
This will be like watching the Mets/Yankees World Series (at least they won a playoff system to get there). Noone outside the states of ALabma and Lousiana are going to give 2 s***** about that game. Supplement Va Tech/ WVU and Michigan/Houston (according to ESPN.com) and you have one lousy bowl season.
Bo Duke
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
UGA can’t hold Bama’s jock, not now not ever. Does Bama deserve an opportunity that UGA did not have in 2007? Heck yeah, because Alabama is everything UGA longs to be but never has been and nnever will be. MB stop kissing UGA behind and deal with reality.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
“Good one…”
Ok, so you’re a moron.
Paul
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
Just think ga fans. If you didn’t choke against sc, then you would be ranked 3rd now and the game would be for a nat champ appearance. On the flip side, bama has every right to go. I guess when balt and pitt played in the afc champ game a few years back, that shouldn’t have happened because pitt won their division.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
“Noone outside the states of ALabma and Lousiana are going to give 2 s***** about that game.”
People said the same thing last year but instead over 27 million people watched the championship game.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:35 pm
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:32 pm
phil, why are you so upset about Auburn? You should be more upset that UGA hasn’t won the NC in over 30 years.
***********
As a matter of fact, I am.
But that doesn’t take away from Fraudburn’s overt theft of the title last year. I give you bums some credit though for apparently hiding the evidence, at least for now. Eventually, it’ll come out in the wash….
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:36 pm
“But that doesn’t take away from Fraudburn’s overt theft of the title”
How does one steal a title?
“I give you bums some credit though for apparently hiding the evidence, at least for now.”
Take your meds, phil.
Gorilla Biscuit
November 28th, 2011
2:37 pm
“UGA can’t hold Bama’s jock, not now not ever.”
And what facts are you basing your ASSumption on?
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:37 pm
“Eventually, it’ll come out in the wash….”
You shouldn’t bet your double wide on that claim, phil.
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:37 pm
“And what facts are you basing your ASSumption on?”
Wins, defense…. You know, facts.
Spencer
November 28th, 2011
2:38 pm
Dawgs win 51-9
P
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
loel
you are bragging about beating auburn miss st and miss? Please. Bama and lsu beat them both by a much larger combined margin than you. roll tide.
Gorilla Biscuit
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
What win? They didn’t beat us.
Brucerugby79
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
If Dogs win I will be happy–with 3 teams in bcs everyone in the sec will get a fat check–look at the positive my brothers–plus we would kill Houston–beating LSU will not be so easy
Gbal
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
Mark –
Best piece you have ever written my man and it is not because I am a UGA fan.
It is just so real how ESPN talk becomes reality. Thats all the voters hear! And it is so crazy how ESPN changes their logic as to what should happen.
The best team does not alway win. There can be upset in college football; happen weekly. But for 3-5 ESPN heads to decide who should WIN! Pretty pathetic. But the pathetic thing is that the voters all follow!
Sound familiar??? Like how we got our current president? Media runs the world man, and in this last case, into the dirt!
P
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
just think ga fans. if you hadn’t choked against sc, then you would be playing for a spot in the nat champ game.
Less Smiles
November 28th, 2011
2:41 pm
You run the state of Ga and you wanted to fire Mark Richt? Boy, the state of Georgia is in worse hands than Louisiana.
P
November 28th, 2011
2:42 pm
if only poor ga could have taken care of sc at home, they would be playing for the chance to beat us. roll tide.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:42 pm
2010 BCS CHAMPS
November 28th, 2011
2:37 pm
“Eventually, it’ll come out in the wash….”
You shouldn’t bet your double wide on that claim, phil.
******************
Guess again, doof.
Gorilla Biscuit
November 28th, 2011
2:43 pm
On the other hand, the Dawgs did beat the Dawg snot out of Auburn.
War Dang Dawg
November 28th, 2011
2:43 pm
Georgia HAS to win on Saturday. It would be the perfect result and the ultimate expose’ of a flawed, phony popularity contest masquerading as a coherent “system”. After what happened in ‘07, could anything be better than Georgia being the reason that the national title game features the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in a conference?
Dawg in NC
November 28th, 2011
2:44 pm
@ SETH Just tell me who AL has played besides LSU and ARK?. I’m sick of hearing how they beat AU so badly, not to point elbows but UGA beat them worse than you. By my count AL has played two ranked teams and so has UGA!!!!!!!!! AL hadnt earned chit more than UGA as far as record and play as you say. Especially if UGA wins this weekend that makes them the best in the nation seeing as how no one else could beat LSU. We will see next year which is better. Go Dawgs!!!!
War Dang Dawg
November 28th, 2011
2:45 pm
And if the Dawgs beat LSU, how can anyone argue that Okie State or Stanford or Boise St. or Va. Tech couldn’t do the same thing or that any of those schools haven’t earned their shot? I don’t get the argument.
Brad K
November 28th, 2011
2:45 pm
The “experts” are giving Alabama so much credit for the whipping of Auburn. Why??? Georgia did to Auburn in one half what it took Alabama to do in an entire game.
Richt`s Hammer
November 28th, 2011
2:48 pm
God we lose by 50 and I head off to Honduras with the head hunters in tow.
Bremen Dawg
November 28th, 2011
2:49 pm
Kudos Mark, great article. I think there is a lot of mad Dawg fans now, ESPN made a big deal about UGA not going to championship game but now they are favoring a team that finished third in their conference.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:50 pm
I thought Fraudburn gave us a good game this year….
You know, if you consider that 7 they posted to our 45 to be a sound effort….
Seth
November 28th, 2011
2:50 pm
You’re kidding right dawg? We beat the #1 team and another team ranked as high as 3rd and you’re dismissing that? Aub is our rival game. And if you want to compare scores to like opponents, I would love to compare our score against tenn miss miss st fla vandy. Here’s a news flash. We beat those teams by more than 100 points than you did. Leave it to you to think you will beat lsu. 13 point underDOGS. Ha The only team that can beat them is us and we’ll get our shot.
phil
November 28th, 2011
2:51 pm
Fire Gene Cheatzik!