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
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:00 pm
PJohn
November 28th, 2011
3:53 pm
I believe:
No, that’s not the point. Try reading the column again.
This is not about UGA. It’s about the flawed BCS system and the inconsistent arguments used to support it. Alabama didn’t win it’s games and didn’t win it’s division, so why are they more deserving than a conference champion with the same number of loses? Can you answer that?
Yes. Even if Georgia should somehow manage to defeat LSU (highly unlikely), both LSU and Alabama would still have a better record for the season than Georgia. Perhaps you don’t realize that Georgia has lost two games this season? Georgia is not a Top 5 team.
Could they win the LSU game? Sure… Anything’s possible. If they do, it won’t change much. Alabama and LSU would still be the two best 2-loss teams in the nation. Who would have a better record?
atlautiger
November 28th, 2011
4:00 pm
Nom Nom, don’t worry UGA has had PLENTY of thug players on the field…maybe you will get your turn one day. @”truth”, I could care less about Bama but, LSU didn’t exactly “whip” them. But,I hope if LSU gets another shot at them they do really whip them.
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:01 pm
51NL we didn’t lose. Both had 2 losses we were ranked higher we didn’t go because coaches like Miles voted GA 25th in the final coaches poll to cause us to drop in the polls despite winning the last game and LSU to jump over us. You said it was because we lost 2 conference games. I was just pointing out so did LSU and one of the games was Kentucky. Someone else earlier said it was because we squeeked by Kentucky well LSU lost to Kentucky. No reason LSU should have moved above GA.
PreyDawg
November 28th, 2011
4:02 pm
Mark,
Help us mass email ESPN and help them remember this. Where do we send the email?
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:02 pm
Correction: Alabama and LSU would still be the two best 1-loss teams in the nation.
Skeezix
November 28th, 2011
4:02 pm
I hate the BCS and all the meaningless bowl games (don’t watch them). NCAA: Get a clue!…… Shorten the regular season to 10 games, pick the eight best teams and then have a playoff. At the very most, go with 16 teams for the playoff.
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:04 pm
@Skeezix
You’d just complain about the playoff system being unfair.
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:04 pm
Nobody is saying GA should go to the NC even if we win this weekend. What we are saying is why was the argument in 2007 because we didn’t win the conference and that disqualifies any team but now it doewsn’t matter. Stick to the simple facts 2007 it was said if you don’t win conference can’t go. Now the same people are saying you don’t have to win conference.
freddy
November 28th, 2011
4:07 pm
Fred-D…nothing against Coach Richt. He is a great individual, Coach and role model. There are prayers on both sides and “Faith without works is lost….Maybe just maybe UGA is David?
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:08 pm
That was not “the argument” in 2007. The argument was that you weren’t Number 1 or Number 2 in the BCS poll. The reason you weren’t ranked high enough was that your team sucked. If you could have played for (and won) the SECCG, it might have helped your case. You should have thought of that before you lost to Tennessee.
Gbal
November 28th, 2011
4:09 pm
BCS said …A playoff would totally render the regular season moot.
Does the NCAA tourney render the regular season moot?
Does the NFL playoffs render the regular season moot?
Does the ML playoffs render the regular season moot?
Does the NBA Playoffs…..never mind.
Fans love college football and will always fill stadiums w/ or w/out playoffs to the same level.
Telling me that having 12-16 teams fighting for 8 playoff spots this past weekend will be less exciting and draw less viewers than the couple of meaningful games this weekend (nationally). I call BS. Only 2 games played this weekend with playoff implications. 6-8 would have had implications with an 8 team playoff. Would that sounding like a moot regular season?
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:10 pm
Fleming,
If we, BAMA, were left out of the game we really couldn’t complain. He lost a game. If we were undefeated and were left out, that would be a different story. When you don’t take care of your business, you are at the mercy of the system.
Zach
November 28th, 2011
4:10 pm
So if LSU loses to UGA on Saturday how can there be a national championship game between LSU and Bama? The BCS rules state that only two teams from the same conference can play in the BCS UGA will be an automatic qualifier, leaving only one other SEC team to play for a national championship. This is just another reason, why the BCS is the most ridiculous system ever created in the history of sports.
Dawg Tired
November 28th, 2011
4:11 pm
Oh how well I remember Doug Flutie being so adamant that the Dawgs, who deserved to be #2 after #s 1 and 2 lost, saying UGA should not be in the NC game because, in his words, “They didn’t even win their own conference.” BTW, where is DF now? And, of course, “Herbie, as Brent Musberger calls him, always thinks Ohio State should be in the NC game.
In addition, ole’ Herbie was right there amening Dougie’s nonsensical statement back in 2007. Now, of course, ole’ Herbie thinks LSU and Bama should play again even if LSU loses Saturday ( a very unlikely scenario). In his defense, it does seem rather obvious that LSU and Bama are the best two teams in the country. However, it was also fairly obvious back in 2007 that UGA was one of the best two teams in the country. At least, the odds are good that the right two teams will be playing this year.
As unlikely as it is, a UGA victory would be good for college football because two teams from a conference won by another team would be playing for the NC. Hopefully that would move us closer to a true playoff system. And that would be a good thing.
DAWG
November 28th, 2011
4:11 pm
We are not paying the right people. The group from BCS and ESPN are like a bunch of kids in the school yard playing games and when the game is not going their way they change the rules.
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:12 pm
We are talking about Les Miles argument and ESPN’s argument that if you didn’t win the conference you couldn’t go. Only you are saying our team sucked. I don’t remember you voting or being in the media at the time. The word was had to be conference champion. Nobody could say the team sucked. Only Alabama sucked that year from the SEC.
BiggDawgK
November 28th, 2011
4:12 pm
Georgia starts out 0-2 and only the most faithful of us in Bulldog Nation were saying not to panic. It made sense that with all the newbies and departure of the “troubled” kids as well as boise st having nothing to do off season except prepare for the Bulldogs etc… the season could start off ugly. A mistake packed game against the cocks had the haters creaming their jorts. The Dawgs hunkered down and did no less than RUN THE TABLE for the remainder of the season. Of course each week the hate filled nothings worked themselves into a frenzy predicting this is the week the pups lose blah blah blah.
Here we are 10 straight wins later and now all the idiots are suddenly lsu fans with the mantra “The team that beat everyone else they played will beat Georgia ha ha ha y’all suck” Do I really need to point out how pathetic that makes all you little losers sound?
P. Bull Terrier
November 28th, 2011
4:12 pm
Why is it so hard for people like “War Eagle” to understand that the complaints most UGA fans have about the 2007 season are based on the RANKINGS leading up to the final week? When the teams RANKED above Georgia lost in the final week, it was logical to expect the next team in line to move up to take their place. Ohio St. moved up from #3 to #1 as expected. Instead of moving up from #4 to #2, UGA was jumped by LSU and Oklahoma in the final week. You can debate the “who lost to who during the season” stuff all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that UGA appeared to be next in line for a shot at the Championship game, but got jumped at the last minute.
The explaination given in 2007 is that UGA didn’t win their confrence so they didn’t deserve to play in the championship game. Even though most Georgia fans felt our team was one of the two best in the country, we grudgingly accepted that explaination because it had at least some merit. Winning the SEC Championship should mean something. In 2007, LSU won the SEC Championship and we didn’t. If the unwritten rule requires a team to win, or play in, their confrence championship game, then it makes sense that UGA got passed over in favor of the team that won our confrence.
Now, we’re told that it doesn’t matter if you win your confrence championship. If you are one of the two “best” teams in the opinion of those who vote, it might be better if you don’t even qualify for the confrence championship.
I think I speak for most reasonable Georgia fans (there are a few of us) when I say our problem isn’t about the debate over which team was better than which in 2007, or this year. Our problem is with a system that keeps the rules hidden from the puclic and changes them as they go. Our problem is the same as the problem Auburn had with the system when the went 12-0 and didn’t finish #1. Our problem is the same that most fans have with the system every year. It’s not a question of which team was better then, or which team is better now. Our problem is with a broken system.
Why is that so hard to understand?
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:13 pm
Have your Mom read this article to you again. Yes, the argument was about being the conference winner, now it’s not a requirement.
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:15 pm
2007 Regular Season:
UGA (10-2)
Lost to 6-6 South Carolina
Lost to 10-3 Tennessee by 21 points
2011 Regular Season:
BAMA (11-1)
Lost to 12-0 LSU 6-9 in OT
Regardless of the way the selections go on Sunday night, it’s not apples to apples.
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:16 pm
51ML, exactly what is the system? In 2007 the “system said don’t vote GA high because they didn’t win their conference so can’t win BCS. Coaches like Les Miles and others voted us 25 in the Coaches Poll, which is bull, so we would drop in the final BCS. So now the system says it’s OK if you don’t play in or win the conference. Just want someone to explain why it’s different.
PJohn
November 28th, 2011
4:18 pm
I Believe:
No, I’m refering to Va Tech and OSU. If they win their conferences, they’ll have only one lose (same as Alabama) and a conference championship.
I have no illusions about UGA this year. I think they’re a good team, but not as good as LSU or Alabama. The purpose in bringing up 2007 UGA is that the arguments used against that team are applicable for 2011 Alabama, but they’re being discarded today. Why?
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:19 pm
@Zach,
I think you’re reading from the Bowl Coalition rule book. Either that or you just made up a rule.
The rule states that a 3rd team from the same conference can play in a BCS game if the two non-conference champions play in the BCS championship game.
Dawg Tired
November 28th, 2011
4:21 pm
Those saying a playoff system renders the regular season meaningless are obviously a touch weak in the analytical thinking department. Surely even those less-than-bright-lights on the tree can understand that you would need to have an outstanding regular season record to even make the playoffs. I doubt anyone with a 7 – 5 record would be in an eight (or even 16) team playoff. Of course, you are still at the mercy of the folks that decide who gets into the playoff. A 10-1 team from the Big 10 (a 12 team conference) would still be more likely to make it into the playoffs than a 10 – 2 Georgia team. Pay no mind to the fairly obvious fact that the Big 10 ( a conference with 12 teams) is pretty weak most years.
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:22 pm
@Zach
If Georgia wins the SECCG and Bama & LSU remain in the top two spots in the BCS poll, then Georgia will play in the Sugar Bowl. Three conference teams can play in the BCS bowls if all three teams are Automatic Qualifiers.
The BCS has never required participants to win conference titles in order to qualify. That is a red herring argument.
Mike
November 28th, 2011
4:23 pm
HAHA, awesome column, Mark! No way could it be said better than this. This column should be emailed to every talking head in the nation who is promoting an LSU/Bama rematch regardless of what happens Saturday.
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:23 pm
Fleming,
The system is the sum of the whims of humans. Besides the Barn in 2004, none of us can complain about the system. As I previously stated, if you win (all of) your games, you don’t have to worry about the system or ESPN or any of that stuff.
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:25 pm
BTW: Georgia was not the Number 2 team at the end of the season in 2007. Some fans thought they should be, but the voters never agreed with them. You can disagree with the voters, but you don’t get a Mulligan.
Rickster
November 28th, 2011
4:26 pm
Bring on the heat, Mark. Bring on the Heat.
Dawgs: “Spontaneous human combustion” hot.
Tech: “Lukewarm”
Packers: “Burn an ant with a magnifying glass” hot.
Aaron Rodgers: “So hot even the Scoville Scale doesn’t go high enough” hot.
T3
November 28th, 2011
4:26 pm
UGA is VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY lucky they didnt have
to play Bama or LSU in the regular season.
willie rick
November 28th, 2011
4:26 pm
mdga gtfan
I hope you are right about nobody watching but I doubt it. I am a dog fan all the way but am not upset we aren’t going ,we lost two games and our chance of a higher ranking than we have. I realize we wont be considered if we beat LSU. My gripe is LSU beat Al at home now they have to beat them again or is it going to be two out of three or 3 out of five. The networks control college football it stinks. People like Kirk Herbschiedt (sic) need to shut the hell up and quit trying to manipulate things beyond their capabilities
I bet if the ratingsare low enough the
really
larry williams
November 28th, 2011
4:27 pm
Lsu is going to kill ga. the nut that said LSU AND ALA DID NOT PLAY GA IS RIGHT . IF THEY DID GA WOULD HAVE GOT KILLED..REMEMBER THE BLACK OUT.LSU AND ALA WOULD HAVE SCORED 45 POINTS ON THE WEAK BUTT GA DEFENSE….GA YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO LOSES TO LOWLY BOISE AND NO QUARTER BACK SC. GO BACK TO YOUR DOG HOUSE..YOU SABAN HATERS..
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:27 pm
@PJohn
By your logic, Houston should be playing in the BCSCG.
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:29 pm
Now hear this: ESPN does not hate UGA. ESPN does not hate any school. ESPN loves winners. If UGA was to go 14-0 next year, Richt would have two or three ESPN specials and commercials. That’s how it works.
Rationale
November 28th, 2011
4:31 pm
When is ESPN going to have their own feet held to the fire. A report came out today that ESPN was given an audio of someone speaking to the wife of Coach Fine, and ESPN did nothing with it, just like Patreno did nothing with it. ESPN needs to be held to the same standard they held Patreno to. Reply to that double standard Kirk Herbstreit.
willie rick
November 28th, 2011
4:31 pm
Boycott the BCS Title game low ratings bring big changes
Fleming Island Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:32 pm
51ML. You are exactly right about the whims. All this article is stating is the hypocrites at ESPN saying something totally different this year. You can’t argue with the article because they are saying something different than 2007. That’s all it’s saying. How can you argue with the article? Just stating fact that they said one thing in 2007 now saying something different. Are you arguing that fact? You can’t. Cut and dry don’t care who is involved this year but in 2007 the media and Les Miles said one thing now they are saying something different.
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
“ESPN loves winners.”
That’s why they hate Georgia.
bart
November 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
I would love for the dawgs to put a whipping on LSU say about 35-10. (OK i realize that is hardly likely but suspend your disbelief for a second). I would love to see the BCS squirm with that.
Pensacola Dawg
November 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
Hey guys David Pallock was all over the 2007 situation on his show today, maybe the talking heads on ESPN will man up and discuss WTF!
PJohn
November 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
Not really, since being in a mid-major conference has thus far been consistently used as a disqualifier to the BCS title.
Honestly, though, I’d prefer that to the system of favoritism that we have now. Suffer through a couple of Houston vs. Hawaii BCS title games and before you know it, we’ll finally have the play-off everyone want…or does everyone really want it?
Calhoundawg
November 28th, 2011
4:33 pm
Excellent column, Mark. Georgia should have played in the ‘07 title game and we wouldn’t have this connundrum, would we? I almost hope we lose (we probably will) the SECCG and LSU gives ‘Bama loss #2. It seems we “lose” as much from losing it than does LSU — nothing!! They ought to let us play Houston, anyway!! God Bless our beloved head coach Mark Richt, God Bless Georgia (We run this state), and Goooooooooooooooooooooooo Dawgs !!!
AceDawg
November 28th, 2011
4:35 pm
Well put, Bradley. The best solution for college football is a 12 team playoff system. The top 4 BCS teams get a bye and will host first round playoff winners at one of the four traditional “BCS” bowls. Every conference champion in the top 16 of the final BCS ranking makes the playoffs, and extra slots are selected from the highest ranked non-conference champions. (not that there will ever be more than 12 conference champions in the top 16 of the BCS standings, but if there were, the playoffs should be expanded to make extra room in those years. This ads motivation to win conferences, keeps BCS bowl special interests in the game, removes the biggest championship invite controversies, and prevents chump conference champs from securing automatic bids to the playoffs. In this scenario, highly successful small conference teams like Boise or Houston would have a shot if they won their conference and finished in the top 16.
JJ Jones
November 28th, 2011
4:35 pm
Hey you think GA got shafted. Try being a Boise fan. Ranked top 10 all season. I loss to TCU (a top 20 team) by 1 point on a missed field goal. And the bowl selection will be yet another Nobody-Is-Watching-It-Bowl against a 6-5 or 6-6 opponent. Ranked #7 in BCS but treated like it’s not even in the top 25 when it comes to bowl selection.
I Believe
November 28th, 2011
4:37 pm
@AceDawg
Why not just arbitrarily assign the game to Houston and Boise State. That’ll get the result that you want.
Calhoundawg
November 28th, 2011
4:37 pm
No wait!!! How ’bout a Georgia/Boise rematch?? Go Dawgs !!!!
5IML
November 28th, 2011
4:39 pm
JJ,
This blog is for whining about UGA in 2007. You’ll need to go somewhere else to bitc and moan about Boise.
pac 12
November 28th, 2011
4:40 pm
boy is our league a joke. ucla is a 31.5 dog against oregon and just lost 50-0
GTBob
November 28th, 2011
4:40 pm
The championship is already Bama-LSU unfortunately. LSU actually has a decent reason to lose on purpose if they wanted to. The SEC would get one extra team in the BCS and they would get more money as a result of it. Amazing that there are actually pros to losing their next game.
dawgfan4life
November 28th, 2011
4:40 pm
well said Mark Bradley. You should send this article to ESPN. The two hottest teams back in 07 was Georgia and USC Trojans. That would have been a great game but instead we got shafted by the BCS and ESPN voters. I think the BCS is a bunch of crap and bring on the playoffs. Seems like the best option at this point. I stand behind you 100%. No matter how big of a SEC fan I am and would love to see another title come our way but far is far and another team deserve a shot at the title. If everyone who reading this post we all need to cheer them dawgs on to show just how of a flaw the BCS is. The same team that got shafted in 07 will be the same team to expose the BCS on how big of a flaw it really is. I beleive in carma and this year the same set up with the same two teams has come back around funny how things come back around full circle. GO DAWGS!!!!!!