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
bamagirl4life
December 7th, 2011
10:34 am
Get over it losers!!!!!! ROLL TIDE!!!! the BCS Champs!!!!! POW!!!
SEC Fan
December 7th, 2011
10:37 am
Okie State’s main problem is history. Gundy is 1-8 against Oklahoma. This is the first year they have won an outright conference title and never played in a BCS game. The Iowa State loss was horrendous. I think Auburn had this problem with their 2004 undefeted season. Keep in mind, that USC had wiped the floor with Auburn the two previous seasons. I think that kept Auburn from realistically playing for the national Championship that year. The same with Oregon. Auburn destroyed them last year. LSU destroyed them this year. Boise State beat them a couple of years ago. They are not ready for prime time. Also keep in mind that SEC commish attempted to implement a plus one but was shot down by the other BCS conferences. The real tragedy of this season is that mediocre teams like Clemson, Virginia Tech, and W Virginia are playing in BCS money games while Arkansas, Kansas State, and South Carolina sit at home. As an SEC fan and an Alabama alum, I am game for the plus one but remember Big 10 and Big 12 that Texas is on the ropes and the perpetually overanked and over hyped Oklahoma have only one won BCS game in 11 years. the only win coming from U CONN. Stoops is rich and soft these days. Arkansas and Kansas State game is going to be huge for bragging rights. Good news for Pac 12 is that USC looks like a monster.
John
December 7th, 2011
10:40 am
Wait. 5 of the 7 computer polls had Oklahoma State over Alabama, which means 2 of the 7 computer polls as well as the 2 human polls had Alabama over OK State. So overall, it was a 5/4 split out of the 9 polls, which is as close as it gets. No matter who gets in or who doesn’t, someone will be whining. Regardless of who is in, some sportswriters will be championing the team that doesn’t get in, if only to promote their own AP poll, which is irrelevant to the BCS formula by the AP’s own insistence. I suppose sportswriters have to promote their relevance somehow.
dawg150
December 7th, 2011
10:49 am
As stated in my call-name, I’m a UGA supporter, and avid SEC fan, but this blows. Bama had their shot at LSU, at home…..and lost. Granted, OKST lost to Iowa St. Now, name another team in the SEC that would’ve even been considered for a “rematch” except Bama? Its all political, with Saban lobbying for his boys all morning Saturday…..please. What happened to his view of “no one who doesnt win their own conference shouldnt be eligible for the BCS Champ Game”. How soon he forgets his own argument? Hope LSU finishes what they started at Bryant-Denny Stadium. THEN, lets fix this……..
GatorBoy
December 7th, 2011
11:20 am
Just as Meeshigan was denied a rematch in 2006 (and NO ONE thought my Gators deserved to go to the BCSCG), OK State deserves a shot.
They were required to beat the Sooners convincingly (which they did) in order to be considered.
And as in ‘06, EVERYONE thought the Wolverines could have beaten the Gators head-to-head.
And what happened?
UF STOMPED OSU!
Truth
December 7th, 2011
11:35 am
All you the Dawg fans think they should have been in the NCG in ‘07… That could be very true! That team was pretty awesome! But does two wrongs make a right? Alabama and LSU are the two best teams so they should play each other in the game. If there had been another team up there that had lost to another highly ranked team then they would have got the nod over Bama, but a lostt to Iowa State was pretty bad. UGA will get thei chance in the coming years. Murry is a stud and this new Marshall kid seems to be the type of student athelete on and off the field that UGA needs at RB. Coach Richt is a good honest man and an excellent coach. With all that put together, UGA will have a shot in the next couple of years. Oh… And Dawg fans, dont forget that CMR said a non-conference champion should still go if they are one of the top two teams!
Keith
December 7th, 2011
12:14 pm
Whining and crying. OSU had their shot – as did Oregon, OU, and Stanford. All of them had losses after Bama’s loss to LSU. All of these pretenders either have two losses or the one loss they have was such a debacle it toppled them below Bama’s standing. I am NOT a BCS proponent. However, it did what it was designed to do – pit the two best teams against each other in the championship game. Mike Slive proposed a “plus one” a few years ago. The leading votes against were in the Big12 and Pac-10! Now, they are the ones crying! Mark, give us all a break. All you have proven is how limited your thought process is.
"Teams should have to win conference" argument - Page 4
December 7th, 2011
12:38 pm
[...] You end up with some dude giving the "eye test" to a team he didn't watch just play… Yet another BCS whiff: Alabama's brand scalds the Cowboys | Mark Bradley [...]
War Eagle
December 7th, 2011
12:38 pm
Great article Mark. ESPN annoucers fall on their face every time Saban turns corner with their nose”you know where”
Not only did they shed UGA in 2007,Auburn was treated with the same agenda by the horsy voice Scotch Berman, exterminating Auburn(13-0) in 2004, allowing Oklahoma(12-1) advance to Title game getting whack by USC 55-19.
Their PET TEAMS are Alabama, Notre Dame, Big Ten, Miami
and South Florida(Granny son school).It seems to me they have broken the Sherman Anti Trust law running everyone out of business to CONQUER??
BARNER LOGIC @ 12:38 P.M.
December 7th, 2011
12:44 pm
354 MORE DAYS TO REMIND YOU lil’ brother……………….42-14!!!!!!!! GLAD TO SEE THAT CURB STOMPIN’ STILL HURTS!!!
Nom Nom Nom Chucks....Taylor or Norris
December 7th, 2011
12:52 pm
Where is Mark Bradley?
ROCK STEADY FREDDY
December 7th, 2011
1:48 pm
BOYCOTT THE TITLE GAME. EVERYONE KNOWS THE FIX IS ON! BOYCOTT! BOYCOTT!
Bill
December 7th, 2011
1:49 pm
BSPN has done more to destroy college football than any other organization except maybe the NCAA. They are so biased and powerful that the colleges have to cowtie to them. I remember when a bowl game was earned not just generated to make money for TV. Saban is the Mafia leader of the SEC. Just read the interview given recently by a former pro player Heath Evans.
Robert Kirby
December 7th, 2011
2:23 pm
Mark,
Thanks so much for supporting the home front – SEC. But you don’t need to show regional bias to support Alabama in the BCS title game. Ok St. is No. 2 nationally scoring, No. 61 on defense. Alabama is No. 15 scoring, No. 1 in all defensive categories stopping the other guys. Ok St played 2 teams in the BCS top 15, Alabama 2 teams. The Tide played a fair Lions team outside their conference, the Cowboys as always, played no one. If for some bizarre reason, you see Coach Saban as coach satan (”dark lord”), that’s sick and too bad for you. The BCS got the title game right – the best two teams playing for the title.
king of mean
December 7th, 2011
2:53 pm
FWIW – i hope we take LSU’s cocky-a$$ punter out…
Truth
December 7th, 2011
3:02 pm
Bill… He was a head coach in the NFL! The Dolphins were in shambles and they didnt need a mommy. They needed someone to get their butts in gear. True, Saban isnt the nicest man in the world, but how does that make him the “mafia leader of the SEC”? The guy is the best college football coach and love him or hate him… He gets results.
George Washington
December 7th, 2011
3:13 pm
All this talk of, “…they didn’t even win their conference or their division….” So what. Happens in basketball and baseball (both college and pro) all the time.
BILLDAWG
December 7th, 2011
3:15 pm
THE BOWL CARTEL SOCIETY. Let me see if I have the right. LSU and Alabama in the championship game and VA Tech in the Sugar Bowl? The second place team in the ACC is picked for the Sugar Bowl ahead of UGA and Arkansas. The loser of the ACC championship game goes to the Sugar Bowl in place of the loser of the SEC championship game?
This stinks. It’s all about the money. It was agreeded that the ACC, which is usually a weafootball conference and is having a poor year even for them, was going to get a share of the big BCS money and that if the SEC has a poor year sometime it will get a shot at a BCS bowl that should go to an ACC team.
It’s fixed folks! Just like professional wreastling. I’m fed up with the whole BCS concept. We need a playoff system and we need it now.
Delicate Dawg
December 7th, 2011
3:24 pm
@dawg150
“What happened to his view of “no one who doesnt win their own conference shouldnt be eligible for the BCS Champ Game”.”
I won’t even mention the double negative…
Please stop repeating this false rumor. Coach Saban never said such a thing and the repetition of this lie only adds to the image of Georgia fans as whining, delusional idiots. Barking Madley should be ashamed of himself for stirring this stupid pot. He only wrote this ridiculous article in order to bring out the toothless goons among our fan-base and thereby embarrass the rest of us.
Experienced FB Fan
December 7th, 2011
3:44 pm
Mark,
I love reading columns from reporters like yourself who clearly know nothing about college football. On top of that, you report incorrectly the things you think you know. Alabama indeed played 5 teams that ended up with winning records and four teams that ended in ranked in the BCS (the only poll that matters). Are you bitter because you got cut from your middle school football team? What’s deal? Where does this bitterness come from?
As you read this, I’m sure you are fast-walking down the hall to the intern’s office that handed you your false info. Just be careful not to trip over your shoe laces and spill your shirt pocket protector due to lack of god given athletisism. Get out of reporting sports and try writing children’s books…..you can bull$&it kids but not knowlegable football fans.
bear
December 7th, 2011
3:51 pm
bcs= 2 best teams. Enough said.
mark
December 7th, 2011
4:29 pm
Bama looses to #1 LSU, OK State looses to unranked Iowa State. Bama and LSU were the only 2 teams to spend time at #1 this year and the BCS got it worng? Gimme a break….
Concern
December 7th, 2011
4:39 pm
Who did UAT BEAT other than PA State? a weak schedule.
Paul
December 7th, 2011
4:39 pm
o k mark————————-ROLL TIDE ROLL……………………………….
Larry Givens
December 7th, 2011
5:14 pm
Bradley – if this were happening with Georgia and Florida instead of Alabama and LSU, you would be taking the opposite position. It’s fine if you want to denigrate the BCS but bashing Alabama in the process is totally uncalled for. The system is what it is. It has worked as it was designed to work – the two best teams are playing in the BCS national championship game. OSU gave up more points in September than Alabama did the whole season. If I were you, I would be thankful Georgia did not have to play Alabama or the SEC Championship game would have included one less bulldog – unless Alabama also played South Carolina in which event the result would have been the same. Look at how Georgia played LSU and then look at how Alabama played LSU and then tell me Alabama should be penalized for not playing Georgia. Alabama beat Florida by 28 points in Gainesville. Alabama beat Penn State by 16 points in State College (before the bad news came out). Alabama beat Ole Miss by 45 points in Oxford and Auburn by 28 points in Auburn. OSU did not just lose, they lost to a 27 POINT UNDERDOG. OSU is a very good team that has had a very good year. I have been impressed with Coach Gundy and the manner in which he has supported his players as this controversy has played out. Would that I could say the same about you. You are about as objective as Rush Limbaugh at a Democratic committee meeting and about as credible as Herman Cain at the marriage counselor’s office.
Carson Breland
December 7th, 2011
5:20 pm
Bradley still the winny sniveling brat that can’t get over the big boys. If you knew anything about CF and the BCS the only job they have is to pit the best 2 teams. If you can’t look at the 3 teams and determine the 2 best, you need to be writing in the Living Section. Why are you mentioning anything about being in the same division, or winning your conference. Did someone tell you these were rules to be in the game. No. You’re making up the rules as you go because you have a hate on for a team. (Passed down from Furman Bischer I guess). Note to you. You do not run the BCS or make up the rules. And note to the rest of you thumb suckers: You’ll be watching. Don’t kid yourself.
thomas
December 7th, 2011
5:42 pm
get over it the best 2 teams are playing the cowboys were a 28 pt. favorite and lost as far as puppies and cocks they’re not in the same as class as bama and lsu
Cobb Dawg
December 7th, 2011
5:55 pm
Mark, much of the time I agree with you, but not here. If Bama was in any other conference or division, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s unfortunate for the rest of college football that the best teams are in the SEC, and in this case the SECW. But them’s the facts. Bama lost to the #1 team in the country by 3, and held them to 9. And Bama’s stats were better in that game than LSU’s. OSU could have, should have, avoided this whole conversation by simply beating mighty Iowa State (6-6). The BCS, despite it’s flaws, managed to get it right this season. The best two teams in the country are playing for the NC. And rightfully so.
Big Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:07 pm
Mark you my most favritist riter cause you rite wat Dawg fans wanna here. You be tell it like it is so them bammers can all go to hell.
GATA!
From Where I Sit
December 7th, 2011
6:23 pm
It’s a shame as Alabama does not deserve a 2nd chance at LSU! Not everyone can be in the SEC. Therefore, OK State won their games and played their conference schedule like Alabama. However, AL did not make the conference championship. This should have made them the odd man out.
Playoff system is what everyone wants. Scrap the BCS and begin the playoff system next year!!!!
Enough Said!!!
Doofus Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:31 pm
OK State didn’t play in a conference championship game either duncewad.
Bama Bill
December 7th, 2011
6:32 pm
Big Dawg, go bite another Big Dawg’s A$$………………..
Doofus Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:40 pm
We could have just skipped down to the Number 4 team. No, wait… Stanford didn’t play in a conference championship game either.
Doofus Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:41 pm
Hmm… USC can’t play. They’re on probation.
Doofus Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:42 pm
With USC out, that leaves Oregon at Number 5. No, wait… That would be a rematch. Can’t have that.
Doofus Dawg
December 7th, 2011
6:46 pm
Come to think of it, Number 6 Arkansas would be a rematch too, and they didn’t play in a conference championship game either.
Guess LSU could have played Boise State?
You’re right, From Where I Sit… It sucks that OK State lost to a losing team. That just messed everything up, didn’t it? Can’t be a winner when you lose to a loser.
SLim
December 7th, 2011
7:03 pm
Face it, Alabama is light years ahead of UGA and the rest of the SEC except for LSU. UGA looked like little girls in the second half of the SEC Champ game. I wish UGA had played Alabama this year…it would have made the Blackout game look like UGA belonged in the SEC.
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 7th, 2011
7:15 pm
Truth is, brand name helps, but that alone won’t get you to the Big Game. Michigan wouldn’t have gone to the Big Game the year they lost to Appy State, no matter what else happened. LSU wouldn’t have gone the year they lost to UAB. (Who defeated UFC this year, BTW) You can drop a game along the way on the road to a National Championship. You just can’t drop one to a losing team.
If Alabama had lost to any one of the ten teams that Georgia defeated this year, then Oklahoma State would be playing LSU in the BCSCG. That’s the truth.
aol.com
December 7th, 2011
8:01 pm
Saban treats his players like dirt but he continues to get away with it by sending money to the players in underhand ways like he did in Suit gate where players were found to be getting paid by a local mens suit shop. Now Saban is being called out by pro players who saw how heartless this man is. Would you let your son play for this man? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/heath-evans-nick-saban_n_1133930.html?ref=sports&ncid=webmail
Perception, More Than Anything, Determines BCS
December 7th, 2011
8:05 pm
[...] As Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes, Alabama will be playing for a championship, “Because of the brand.” [...]
Joey
December 7th, 2011
8:22 pm
Bradley’s column is absurd. Using much of his logic, Slippery Rock should be in the title game. Give me a break. Clearly, the two best teams in the nation–as demonstrated in their earlier game this season–are LSU and Alabama. Had Alabama’s defeat of Auburn occurred on the same weekend as OSU’s victory over Oklahoma, much of this discussion wouldn’t be taking place. Why has everyone forgotten the substance of OSU’s loss to Iowa State 6-6???
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 7th, 2011
9:13 pm
Nobody has forgotten, Joey. Many small-minded fans in this area are merely jealous of Nick Saban because he is successful. It is a price that you pay for being a winner.
Everyone likes Georgia’s coach. He’s a really nice guy.
GEAUX may-retta
December 7th, 2011
9:22 pm
you forgot, LCdI, he’s also a good Christian man.
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 7th, 2011
9:25 pm
Oh, trust me. I could never forget that!
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 7th, 2011
9:26 pm
Hey! It worked for Cecil Newton, eh?
GEAUX may-retta
December 7th, 2011
9:31 pm
Schultz was on here yesterday and I asked him why cmr always gets a pass on leading the country in players arrested since taking the puppy helm. He said he’s called him to the carpet on it. I have never seen it. As far as Cecil goes, well, Eddie long is a preacher too. Lol
Bama13
December 7th, 2011
10:17 pm
Let the haters …. hate jealous? I think so
FLA DAWG
December 7th, 2011
10:59 pm
WHAT THE HELL!?
Where is the commentary regarding The Dawgs vs The Spartans!?
This game is incredibly important for Richt, Bobo, Grantham, The Players, Students, Alumni and Fans.
If we lose this game Richt & Co must absolutely say goodbye to our beloved Athens, Ga.
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 7th, 2011
11:56 pm
Heh!
You can’t fire Mark Richt. He just won 10 games and went to the SECCG.
Give him a raise is what you’ll do.
Cobb Dawg
December 8th, 2011
12:03 am
“GATA
December 6th, 2011
1:30 pm
Bama and Okie St should play Sat to see who plays LSU.”
Now here’s a guy (maybe a gal) who’s thinkin’ wit der brains! Maybe the bowl/playoff sytem should be contingent on the circumstances. If there’s one undefeated team and two “number twos”, maybe the number twos play a playoff game to decide who plays number one. If there are no undefeated teams, then the top two, if the results clearly show who they are, play for the NC. We just have to get creative with this thing. Thanks GATA! UGA fans are smarter than everyone else’s.