Yet another BCS whiff: Alabama’s brand burns the Cowboys
Maybe there'll be a touchdown scored the second time around. Then again ... (AP photo)
Nobody ever said the BCS made sense, and this year it makes less sense than … well, can you make less sense than zero? Alabama did not win its division and did not win its conference but could well be the national champion in a sport where we’re told Every Game Counts.
Actually, what this year’s serving of BCS glop tells us is that it’s good to have an aura. Nick Saban has an aura, albeit one of fire and brimstone, which means Alabama has an aura, which means Alabama got a nod it didn’t deserve.
Bama played its two toughest conference games — LSU and Arkansas — at home. It didn’t play either Georgia or South Carolina, the best teams in the SEC East. It played five teams that finished with a winning record, and one was Georgia Southern. The Tide beat three teams that finished the Top 25 of the BCS standings.
Oklahoma State played four such teams and won all four games. It played seven teams that finished with winning records. The Cowboys did, for mavens of minutiae, win their conference title. The knock on them is that they lost to unranked Iowa State. But they did lose on the road, and in overtime.
Alabama, the counter-argument goes, only lost in OT to the nation’s No. 1 team. But Alabama lost at home. Alabama was favored that night and couldn’t win. But because Alabama is coached by the dark lord Saban and because Alabama is from the SEC, which is the feeder league for BCS titlists, the Tide gets a second chance.
And this time the talking heads on ESPN, who make less sense with every week, had no problem with the concept of a rematch or the reality of a non-conference champion playing for the BCS crown. (Oddly enough, some of those same voices hooted down Georgia’s credentials in 2007. “Can’t consider a team that didn’t win its conference,” the ESPN choir harrumphed.) And Saturday night, moments after Oklahoma State finished routing Oklahoma, which entered the season ranked No. 1, some ESPN boys leaped at the chance to say, “Ah, that doesn’t really matter.”
“SportsCenter” opened with the highlights of the SEC title game and then Oklahoma State’s dismissal of its bitter rival. Then the Bristol anchors tossed, as they say in TV, to Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit. Musburger, who had famously lobbied for Georgia Tech to be promoted above Colorado to No. 1 when calling Tech’s victory in the Citrus Bowl in January 1991, started with a little joke. What’s wrong with a rematch, he asked, and cited the extremely appropriate case study of Rocky Balboa versus Apollo Creed.
Then Herbstreit dismissed Oklahoma State by saying the Cowboys had lost in Ames, Iowa, and, more to the point, didn’t pass “the eyeball test.” Which made you wonder: How could Kirk Herbstreit know just how Oklahoma State had looked against Oklahoma? He (and Musburger) had been sitting in a booth in Charlotte, N.C., calling the ACC title game.
Because big-time college football has no playoff grid, ephemeral stuff like “the eyeball test” and someone’s opinion — yours, mine and especially Kirk Herbstreit’s — are allowed to hold disproportionate sway. Alabama won’t be playing for the (exceedingly mythical) national championship because it had a better season than Oklahoma State but because its has the stronger brand. It’s Alabama. It plays in the SEC. It’s coached by Saban. Good enough for me! Give that team a second chance!
And that’s what big-time college football has become — a game of brands, not reality. Is it mere coincidence that ESPN has a 15-year contract to carry SEC games? (ESPN also has a contract with the Big 12, Oklahoma State’s diminishing league, but the bigger Big 12 package is with Fox Sports.)
This was a year when opinion mattered. Five of the seven computer rankings had Oklahoma State above Alabama, but the Tide finished ahead in both human polls. Why? Because of the brand. You cannot tell me that if Alabama’s name were attached to Oklahoma State’s body of work and vice versa that the results wouldn’t have been different. We all know they would have.
And now we’re faced with this scenario: A winner of nothing save some eyeball test can split two games against another team … and be declared national champ. Some “system” this is.
By Mark Bradley
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1,739 comments Add your comment
Paul in NH
December 5th, 2011
12:59 pm
Impartial Observer
December 5th, 2011
12:54 pm
So teams who didn’t win their division should not be allowed to play for the title? Tell that to Green Bay and St. Louis.
—
Somehow I missed Green Bay getting voted into the Super Bowl. I thought they made the PLAYOFFS and then won 2 more games just to make it to the Super Bowl.
Paul in NH
December 5th, 2011
1:02 pm
“The guys who said Hershel Walker shouldn’t get the Heisman because he’s a freshman, forgot about that when Tebow came along.”
Troy Smith won the Heisman trophy in Tebow’s freshman year (2006).
keith
December 5th, 2011
1:03 pm
all these years covering sports…you’d think Bradley would finally have gotten past his hatred of alabama. c’mon, dude, jealousy and pettiness doesn’t become you.
Wise One
December 5th, 2011
1:03 pm
The BCS is junk. Mark nailed it. And Brent Musburgr? How does this guy keep a job? One of the worst non talent announcers in the history of the game. I hate it when this guy is on the air.
Musburger should be doing that dancing show on tv.
Delicate Dawg
December 5th, 2011
1:03 pm
If we didn’t win in 2007, then nobody should ever win again. That’s my position, and I’m sticking to it.
Bigdog
December 5th, 2011
1:03 pm
I don’t think the article bashes UA. The focus is to question the fairness of and the standard by which the BCS decision is made.
Alabama is a better team than OK in my opinion. They probably should be playing. But Mark’s right to question how that decision was made and point out examples where things overlooked this year were used to deny teams the opportunity to play in the championship.
iTiSi
December 5th, 2011
1:05 pm
MB, wish you or someone had some audio or video of what was said about GA in 07. Mr. Fowler(he prefers Mister) on ESPN said the other day they did some searching and could find no one with ESPN saying that. Does it exist? I do remember it being said, but can’t recall who said it.
Bigdog
December 5th, 2011
1:06 pm
NH Paul: I stand corrected, but they said he should’t get it as a sophomore either. Hershel deserved it for 3 years running. Alas, I am a little tired of talking about stuff from 30 years ago. Maybe next year.
Delicate Dawg
December 5th, 2011
1:07 pm
I agree Bigdog. They should just let the best two teams play and not pay any attention to what ESPN wants. Espn wouldn’t let us play in 2007, even though we should have been Number 2. It’s all just a big fat conspiracy.
Ranjo
December 5th, 2011
1:08 pm
Alabama and OK State should have a playoff game to determine who plays LSU.
TexGT
December 5th, 2011
1:11 pm
The point of this article is not to bash Bama – it shows the inconsistencies and complete hipocrisy of the BCS and the voters. What happened here contradicts 2006 (OSU-Michigan), which factually is completely on par with this year, and UGA getting jobbed in 2007.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
December 5th, 2011
1:11 pm
Can a tide roller provide info on how Trent Richardson drives a 2007 tricked out Tahoe? Insurance payments alone are $400 a month. Did Trent get a raise this year? The smell is strong in AL.
tikga
December 5th, 2011
1:15 pm
OSU do not lose to a 27 point underdog and you are in the title gane
BAMA STAN
December 5th, 2011
1:16 pm
the system got it right for once
Billy N.
December 5th, 2011
1:17 pm
back by a popular demand, And my home is in ALABAMA, 13 national championships, and both auburn & georgia ain’t whole a damn.
BAMA STAN
December 5th, 2011
1:20 pm
LSU vs Alabama will be a close game. LSU could certainly lose to Alabama
LSU can turn the ball over 5 times and still beat Okla St by 20
LSU can turn the ball over 4 times and still beat Okla St by 30
LSU can turn the ball over 3 times and still beat Okla St by 40
LSU can turn the ball over 2 times and still beat Okla St by 50
TrueDAWG
December 5th, 2011
1:21 pm
Bradley you are writing some great articles nowadays! I agree with every word you say! and all I can say is ROLL CRIED!!
RED WAVE
December 5th, 2011
1:23 pm
It’s the system you have for 1A football. So deal with it! Until you get a 16 team playoff with the Bowls incorporated then this is what you get. Roll D-mn Tide!
BAMA STAN
December 5th, 2011
1:23 pm
Okla State could beat Georgia (10 out of 10). i mean, LSU’s 2-3rd teamers absolutely distroed the dawgs. come on. Bama is the ONLY team in the country that can beat LSU
Gbal
December 5th, 2011
1:23 pm
The system did its thing and put LSU vs Bama.
All polls, Harris, espnu, ap, usa … They all choosed lsu, bama, osu …1,2,3. So the system did its thing and put the top two teams against one another which it is suppose to do.
Do you want to have the top two teams in the NCG? regardless of confrence? YES
Any system rules that you have to win your confrence???? NO (Politicing said so in 2007)
Should there be? NO
Any politicing that influences the voters??? Oh hell yea!! ESPN, coaches, schools….
Can any system of voters be 100% sure they pick THE TWO BEST TEAMS for the NC game out of all of clooege football? NO
Could we be relatively confident that the same voters/system could insure that the best 3-5 teams are in their selected top 8? I THINK SO. There would always be some bubble controversy, be it between 2 & 3 or 7 thru 10. So what, nothings perfect. We just want to be sure weve captured the top few for the field.
Now let the top 8 play it out in a playoff!!!
Bama Sucks
December 5th, 2011
1:24 pm
‘Nuff Said.
Alphare
December 5th, 2011
1:24 pm
TexGT,
can you stop bringing up 06 OSU-Michigan?
Michigan was a late 1-loss team that year and FL was also a 1-loss team. FL then won SEC title and jump Michigan.
FL went on beat OSU in a blowout in the NC, which proved to most people the BCS got it right that year.
truth in the pudding
December 5th, 2011
1:24 pm
Six team playoff. To be seeded #1 and #2 you have to win your division. #1 and #2 get first round byes. Three weeks playoff, Clear Winner. Win your way to National championship!!!! any thoughts?
Paul in NH
December 5th, 2011
1:25 pm
Bigdog
I agree with you that HW should have won the Heisman as a freshman – it went to Rodgers because of “his body of work” and because Walker was a freshman. In his SO year Walker came 2nd behind Marcus Allen – who really did have a fantastic year.
gdawginkalamazoo
December 5th, 2011
1:27 pm
Bama Stan, I agree with that 1:16 post.
rick
December 5th, 2011
1:30 pm
This talk of having to win your conference is a joke. In no other NCAA championship do you have to be a conference champion to win the NCAA championship, which has happened numerous times in basketball and baseball. Georgia got screwed by the system in 07 when they were clearly the best SEC team at the end of the season, and the highest ranked in the BCS polls heading into the final week, but after watching two teams that were ranked ahead of them in the polls lose on the final weekend (Georgia was #4), somehow Lobbying Les and his Tigers jumped over them after barely beating a weak Tennessee team in the SEC championship game. That was largely based on the “didn’t win their conference” argument. Tennessee squeaked out victory in each of their last three regular season games to tie Georgia for the East, and by virtue of their win over Georgia in the regular season in a game the Dawgs didn’t show up for got to the championship game. Georgia would have beaten the crap out of LSU that year, and then would have enjoyed the privilege of taking on the Ohio State buttguys and pounding them, instead of having to settle for demolishing an overrated Hawaii team. I believe Alabama will win this time and put to rest for good this stupid argument of having to be a conference champion. I’ll tell you what’s a joke, is the conference champion of the pathetic Big East getting to play in a big time bowl, while quality teams like Boise are relegated to Las Vegas! Give me the top 16 teams, regardless of conference, and let them playoff. Shorten the regular season back to 10 games, let the higher ranked team host the playoff games, then have the National Championship at a rotating site, all before the year ends. Forget all these crappy bowls with crappy teams like Tech and Notre Dame. I’m tired of hearing about “it’s a reward for the players”. Why is anyone rewarded for going 6-6? You don’t think the players wouldn’t like being done having to practice and play by December and getting to be home with their families for Christmas, other than those playing for the championship. You think they like having to practice for another month? No way!
Jeff
December 5th, 2011
1:31 pm
You are dead on and glad to hear a member of the media call a spade a spade. ESPN has gone overboard in its adoration for the SEC. While a lot of it is justified, why let facts get in the way of an aura? I would also add Big 12 (like it or not) had the highest (aka toughest) conference rating this year too and how about the exact logic that kept Michigan out in 2006? You can’t have it both ways. Oh wait, yes you can
Gbal
December 5th, 2011
1:32 pm
Truth –
If you go 6, you might as well go 8 and let 1&2 play the first week too. It would really creat another advantage for 1&2 if they had a week off. 1&2 play 7&8 should be a big enough advantage.
Waht would really be great is for first round to be on the top seeded campuses!!! Take it hope to the schools and students! I know that will never happen.
Seriously??
December 5th, 2011
1:32 pm
hey Bama Sucks….13 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS…nuff said you loser.
drsoul
December 5th, 2011
1:32 pm
Anyone ever notice that Bradley and Obama are very much alike in their politics????
Lots of talk, little or no substance…!!!
7576DAWG
December 5th, 2011
1:34 pm
Congratulations go out to ORSON CHARLES and JARVIS JONES for being selected to Coaches’ All- American Team. Great honor way too make us proud.
Alphare
December 5th, 2011
1:34 pm
rick,
“somehow Lobbying Les and his Tigers jumped over them after barely beating a weak Tennessee team in the SEC championship game”.
I love the way you promote UGA for the 07 title. But you forgot to mention the “weak Tennessee team” blew up the dawg team. Did that make the dawg a “weaker team”?
Rationale
December 5th, 2011
1:35 pm
Personally speaking, I hope LSU beats Alabama worse than it did to UGA.
Rationale
December 5th, 2011
1:37 pm
Hey Rick, Les Miles, Kirk Herbstreit and Mark May set that standard. Yet this year, they choose to ignore their own standard.
Gbal
December 5th, 2011
1:39 pm
Rick – On the money – The system did its usual job the best it can. Placed the top to vote getters in the game.
You cant ask it to do a better job. Now taking away ESPN and forcing the voters to really study the teams before voting…. aint happening!
Playoff – 8 teams or 16 teams. Doesnt matter…We would have the top teams in the playoff and they decide on the field.
THERE IS NO LOGICAL REASON NOT TO TO THIS FOLKS. NAME ONE LOGICAL REASON?
Pat Forde Says:
December 5th, 2011
1:41 pm
“There is not a single scintilla of doubt that a playoff would be the best way to end this – or any – college football season. Sixteen teams, eight, four – whatever. Any of the above would beat the fraudulent BCS system we are stuck with in America. If it were a four-team deal, Alabama and Oklahoma State would settle the squabbling in one semifinal, while LSU throttles someone in the other semi. Then we’d know for certain who most deserves to play the Tigers for the national title.”
Seriously?? Bama Sucks
December 5th, 2011
1:41 pm
‘Nuff Said!
Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com Says:
December 5th, 2011
1:42 pm
“The season is a three-month marathon, not a three-week sprint, and Oklahoma State survived a more strenuous workout than Alabama. That, too, seems obvious. So why will LSU play Alabama, not Oklahoma State, in the BCS title game? Because Alabama is in the SEC, and the networks love the SEC. They have reason to, given the top-dollar TV contracts given to the SEC, but it’s more subtle than that. Familiarity breeds appreciation, which explains the unfathomably bad songs that make it into the Top 40. Why are they there? Because the radio plays them. Why does the radio play them? Because they’re in the Top 40. It’s a vicious cycle that has resulted in Katy Perry in your eardrums, and Alabama in your favorite bowl game.”
Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com (wow) :Says:
December 5th, 2011
1:44 pm
“Oklahoma State did what it could, which was put the Sooner Schooner on cement blocks and sell the parts to a wagon train chop shop. The Cowboys had OU quarterback Landry Jones so flustered that I’m not sure he could have qualified for the Dr. Pepper Tuition Throw. The Overthrow, maybe. So LSU won by 32, OSU won by 34 and Bama won by not playing. For all we know, the Tide spent the weekend eating Dreamland ribs and channel-surfing between the LSU-UGA game, the OU-OSU game and C-SPAN. But Bama and LSU will play for the national championship, and one-loss teams Oklahoma State, Stanford, Boise State and Houston won’t. So sad.”
Stewart Mandel, SI.com Says:
December 5th, 2011
1:45 pm
“Sports fans seem to be perfectly fine with postseason rematches in almost any other scenario — even ones where the result renders the entire preceding season meaningless. In 2007, the New England Patriots completed the NFL’s first 16-0 regular season with a win on the final weekend against the New York Giants. Five weeks later the Giants, having lost six regular-season games, upset the still-perfect Patriots and got to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. It was hailed as an all-time classic. The difference, of course, is that the Giants weren’t given another shot at the Patriots by a set of voters and computers; they earned that shot by advancing in a playoff. College football is different. It’s the one sport that continually trumpets the importance of its regular season and views the postseason as more of a celebration than competition. LSU-Alabama II makes a mockery of that talking point, asking us to accept that Every Game Counts — but that this particular one merits a do-over.”
drsoul
December 5th, 2011
1:46 pm
How many people would lay a year’s salary on the line to bet on Oklahoma State against either LSU or Alabama????? I think the answer will give you the reason the BCS championship choices are only the best teams at this time in America…!!!
doug summers
December 5th, 2011
1:47 pm
POINT IS OKLA STATE LOSES TO A TEAM THAT WAS 0-56-2 AGAINST TOP 6 TEAMS!! OSU IS RANKED 107TH IN TOTAL DEFENSE! CANT BELIEVE ANYONE WITH A STRAIGHT FACE WOULD THINK OSU COULD BEAT LSU OR ALA! RTR
TexGT
December 5th, 2011
1:48 pm
Alphare –
What you just said proves my whole point. Michigan (compared here to Bama) was absolutely considered the second best team in the country at the end of the year, but they were left out because they didn’t win the conference, and already had played OSU.
If you remember correctly, all the “experts” said OSU would demolish Florida – the opposite happened. Why not here give Okie State a shot, a team all the “experts” think will get killed by LSU. You don’t know who will win until they actually play – upsets happen all the time in CFB.
And the fact Michigan lost late is a red herring. Are you saying that if Bama had lost to LSU the last game of the season, they would not longer be worthy of the #2 ranking? Bama would still be sitting at 2.
Alphare
December 5th, 2011
1:49 pm
Gbal,
logic reason? Let’s see:
1. With a 8-team playoff, the champ has to play 3 games to be the champ. Currently just 1 game.
2. What are gonna do with the 1st round losing teams? go home?
3. What about all those bowl games and their sponsors? let colleges lose all those money?
4. Who are still interested in the bowls with a playoff?
carologic
December 5th, 2011
1:50 pm
Whether or not an Ok St could beat an alabama team or an lsu or not, people outside of the sec don’t want to see the same two teams from the same conference, especially who have already played each other, play again
carologic
December 5th, 2011
1:51 pm
bottom line bama had their chance and blew it. give another team a shot.
Morg
December 5th, 2011
1:56 pm
You’re complaining about the wrong things here. Using your logic, the computers the BCS uses actually gave OSU a better chance of getting into the championship game.
Billy N.
December 5th, 2011
1:56 pm
BAMA’S GREAT, nuff your @ss.
Alphare
December 5th, 2011
1:58 pm
TexGT,
“Michigan (compared here to Bama) was absolutely considered the second best team in the country at the end of the year”.
I am not sure where you got that. I remember lots of people don’t buy OSU-Michigan although they were ranked high. Moreover, why would voters and coaches put FL #2 if “Michigan (compared here to Bama) was absolutely considered the second best team”?
all the “experts” said OSU would demolish Florida? who are those experts? Most people I know or around me mostly expect FL to win.
“Why not here give Okie State a shot”? because most people don’t think they are the #2 team. This is not wellfare system. Over 70% of the coaches favor Alabama. Even lots of UGA fans believe BAMA is the #2 team.
wiltontiger
December 5th, 2011
2:00 pm
Alabama did not play Georgia or South Carolina, but LSU beat the stuffings outta Gorgia. Auburn beat South Carolina. This year, it just so happens that the 2 best teams nationwide , are from the western division of the SEC. Get used to it and get over it.