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
Mock 1
December 8th, 2011
12:55 am
Ala- Lsu are the two best teams in college football,SEC rules ! It it what it is, simply the best !
SLCDawg
December 8th, 2011
2:42 am
What if Bama wins by 1 in ot?
Big Dogs Eat
December 8th, 2011
5:59 am
Alabama and LSU–the two big dogs in the SEC. The rest are pretenders. Fla’s down for a long time and Ga is a nonfactor. Saban and Miles will rule the SEC for years—book it!!!
1785 Dawg
December 8th, 2011
6:42 am
Mike, I agree with you 100% (and that alone frightens me). I will not watch the game. We need a playoff.
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 8th, 2011
7:05 am
SLCDawg
December 8th, 2011
2:42 am
“What if Bama wins by 1 in ot?”
Same as if they win by 24 in regulation. They will take home another crystal football and the Dawgs will continue to whine at the moon.
ROCK STEADY FREDDY
December 8th, 2011
8:00 am
EVERYONE BOYCOTT THE GAME! IT’S ALL ACROSS MESSAGE BOARDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY! DO NOT WATCH THE GAME!! END THE BCS NOW!!
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 8th, 2011
8:17 am
Speaking of boycotts, there is a huge movement promoted by message boards and email campaigns to stop purchasing gasoline until the oil companies drop the price back to under $1.00/GAL.
I’m expecting that to kick in and make a big difference any day now.
I do agree that many have grown weary of complaining about the BCS. They want a new system about which they can whine and complain when their loser teams continue to lose.
J
December 8th, 2011
8:18 am
Take my workd USC and UGA DID NOT want to play BAMA,, That would have been anouther route and would have tarnished the East Teams Records ohhhhhhhh, BAMA and LSU art the top two teams, SEC is the top confrence, Too Bad OSU, you could have joined the confrence and been a part of it, Oh Well.
t.saunders
December 8th, 2011
8:22 am
The BCS is B.S……..Bama whiffed at home, they should be out , simple as that. Anyone say play off ?????……….
Le Chien d'Impartialité
December 8th, 2011
8:48 am
Anyone say that a playoff would have resulted in Bama vs. LSU?
I knew that you could!
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
WOOF!!! WOOF!!!
lmao
December 8th, 2011
10:05 am
Mark, Excellent article OSU is getting shafted because they are OSU. No one has mentioned this point if it would have been Oklahoma who only had one loss I guarantee you they would be in not Alabama and that is why this system is flawed.
ck hall
December 8th, 2011
10:06 am
Looks like a “homer”beat writer to me..I guess I could agree if Georgia had some real tradition i.e.,One National champ in football–and that one one I could have coached with Herschel.Ga backed into Atlanta this year with wins over powerhoues Fl/Tenn/AU/Ky–Only played one decent SEC team and that was SC and lost!!!——-so get off Bama’s back.. remember when Auburn did not get into game with 0 losses?
npgator
December 8th, 2011
10:52 am
Bama would beat OKie State like a rented mule!
G
December 8th, 2011
11:00 am
Bradley,
Did you forget bama destroyed Penn State. And to compare loss to #1 LSU vs a loss to Iowa St is crazy no matter where it was. Guess this is one way to get people to read your articles.
Fed Up Dawg
December 8th, 2011
11:14 am
@lmao
Oklahoma wouldn’t have skated with a single loss to a losing team.
You can’t play with the winners after you lose to a loser.
Fed Up Dawg
December 8th, 2011
11:18 am
Bradley is not a homer. At least, he’s not a Georgia homer.
He only wrote this nonsense to fire up the toothless muck at the bottom of the UGA fan-base in order to embarrass the non-delusional Georgia fans.
Jonkdawg
December 8th, 2011
12:05 pm
Why don’t we just let Alabama VS Oklahoma St ( of course its stupid thing to say) and lets see who will play with Lsu for National bowl.
GO DAWGS!
Brad
December 8th, 2011
12:34 pm
This is so irritating – let’s compares those RESUMES:
OSU’s best win: Escaping #8 Kansas St.
Bama’s best win: Destroying #6 Arkansas
OSU’s loss: 6-6 Iowa St
Bama’s loss: #1 LSU
OSU’s opponents with winning records: 7-5 Texas (who played no one out of conf), 7-5 Mizzou
Bama’s opponents w/o winning records: 6-6 Florida (who played FSU out of conf), 6-6 Miss St (who had to play Ark, LSU, and Bama), 6-6 Vandy
AND the 2007 argument doesn’t hold water – UGA was competing with a fellow conference member for a spot in the BCS champ game. LSU gets the edge for playing in the game. Here, the conf champ is already in the BCS champ game, so Bama is competing with another “at-large” team.
UGA Insider
December 8th, 2011
1:02 pm
“All those who gain power are afraid to lose it”.
-Darth Sidius
SecFan
December 8th, 2011
1:10 pm
By Bradley’s logic, had Bama lost to a team like Vanderbilt in its second to last game, and OSU had only lost to LSU by 3 points earlier in the season, the voters would still have chosen Bama because of the brand. Yeah, right.
Anonymous 'Cos
December 8th, 2011
3:12 pm
Some interesting reading here on Saban’s compassion for his players! Such a nice man…
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Heath-Evans-Nick-Saban-once-stepped-over-a-conv?urn=nfl-wp13450
Bama can keep Saban! I’ll keep Richt, please…
Thanky Mark
December 8th, 2011
5:54 pm
Red Meat for the Sour Grape Dawggies!
We LUV YA man!
Thanky Mark
December 8th, 2011
5:56 pm
@Anonymous ‘Cos
Wow! A blog post!
Can’t get any more reliable journalism than that!
Pac12 beach girl
December 8th, 2011
6:14 pm
Playoffs, now!!!!
Delbert D.
December 8th, 2011
6:27 pm
I give up; no real playoff system on the horizon. So, start with a plus-1 after the current BCS contract expires in 2013. Then as conference expansion proceeds to 4 major conferences, the playoffs begin with the conference championship games. The Big East is desperate and unstable, and the Big 12 really needs to continue to split into the SEC and PAC-16.
Then, all the dissenters will scream, “What about East Carolina? What about New Mexico?” While the conference championship games are being played, let these minor conference representatives , along with independents play their way into position. Seed the CCG winners with a bye week, and play on.
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
6:44 pm
Most of the folks clamoring for a playoff system will be shocked to learn that they’ve been left out altogether when a playoff system finally arrives. There are currently simply too many Div. I/FBS programs, and many of them have no business playing in this division.
They’ll miss the money after they have been culled from the league.
Runnin with the Dawgs
December 8th, 2011
6:47 pm
I wish we’d played Bama in the SEC title game. They would have whipped us for sure, but I can’t see them running up a high score like LSU did. The cats will pay for that one, wait and see.
dogearedblutic
December 8th, 2011
6:49 pm
Oh Yea Bradly, You are Sooo Right, You’re Bulldawgs almost Whooped LSU an Bama Lost by Three whole points in 5 Qtrs, so That Makes You’re Bulldogs Natl Champs by Default, oh yea They Didn’t Play Bama did they… Maybe Richt will start pepperin in some Okla St. Scrimmages, toughen up them Fogs.
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
6:56 pm
“The Big East is desperate and unstable, and the Big 12 really needs to continue to split into the SEC and PAC-16.”
Because if the Big 12 survives, then the ACC will be left out in the cold. The Big East is already history. Why? Because the ACC poached all of their football programs in an attempt to out-class the Big 12. Didn’t work.
dogearedblutic
December 8th, 2011
7:04 pm
yea, bradley whine not have the bullfogs play LSU for a Championship, oh that’s Richt, The Fogs got Humilated… At Least BAMA Has a Brand, for the FOgs, it’s Pick them up at the Bent and Dented Store. Not difficult to find find, they’re on the 50 percent Off Sale display…
Delbert D.
December 8th, 2011
7:47 pm
The Big 12 can’t survive because of Texas (this is an opinion, not a prediction). Texas is like a supermassive star, disrupting the orbits of all other objects around it. It will eventually find a more stable environment in the PAC or SEC, with significant equals rather than lesser companions. Facing the prospect of withering in a conference without significant gravity, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be the next to exit. The Big Stretch (formerly the Big East) will fragment due to travel costs and time and no regional or national fan and advertising base. The SEC will continue to thrive, and it will add 2 prime members to reach the magic number of 16. The ACC will add 2 members from the Atlantic corridor to reach the stable 16 state, as will the Big Ten from the Midwest.
This seems as natural as the laws of physics. 64 is the number, divided by 4 for superconferences. As for the other 56 schools in the current FBS, let them eat cake out of bowls.
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
8:03 pm
Ha!
When you put it that way, it’s physically impossible to disagree!
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
8:06 pm
“let them eat cake out of bowls”
But Seriously,
Those teams will have to either be absorbed back into the existing FCS system, or start a league of their own.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if those teams became the league that continued the Bowl tradition?
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
8:11 pm
@Delbert D.
Do you think that conference realignment will ever threaten existing conference members?
What if one of the teams on the “outside” is much better than one of the conference teams?
Benevolent invisible hand of the free market, or what?
B. Thenet
December 8th, 2011
8:15 pm
The Big 12 is not going to survive because Charlie Weis is going to eat Iowa State.
Delbert D.
December 8th, 2011
8:16 pm
But Seriously –
“Do you think that conference realignment will ever threaten existing conference members?
What if one of the teams on the “outside” is much better than one of the conference teams?
Benevolent invisible hand of the free market, or what?”
Moving from physics to the equally-important realm of evolution, I think there is a strong component of natural selection that will be at work in the settling down to 64.
Delbert D.
December 8th, 2011
8:23 pm
B. Thenet – “The Big 12 is not going to survive because Charlie Weis is going to eat Iowa State.”
I would hazard a guess that even Weis is not sufficiently massive to form a black hole. He will eventually expand by using up all of his hydrogen and collapse into a white dwarf, while releasing massive amounts of energy and photons.
But Seriously
December 8th, 2011
8:41 pm
If Mark Mangino lacked critical mass, then Weis should be safe. He probably won’t last long enough in Lawrence to consume his hydrogen anyway.
Buzz 2011
December 8th, 2011
9:05 pm
I thought you had the ” dream team” playing in the national championship Bradley?/
That would be the Thugas… Bring them in to play LSU.. They deserve it don’t they ?
My god man, they took out Kentucky by a field goal.. Held LSU 42 points and only gave GT 250 yrds on the ground!! A dream team, indeed they are….In your dreams Bradley..
phillip
December 8th, 2011
9:55 pm
Stanford will drill OSU, and the excuse from the ‘Pokes is…”well we weren’t excited to be there.”
B. Thenet
December 8th, 2011
10:00 pm
Stanford may score points, but they will not be able to stop OSU when they have the ball.
Paul
December 8th, 2011
10:28 pm
And my home, is in ALABAMA, 13 national championships, and all the other teams, ain’t worth a damn. Roll TIDE Roll
Just sayin'
December 9th, 2011
5:34 am
Hey everybody, Mark B. posted this little fire starter early December 4, and probably stopped paying attention five minutes later. And it’s December 9, now. Please, go home, Get some rest. There’s no sense in arguing when all of us know we’re right. RTR
Dawg89
December 9th, 2011
8:19 am
Dead on the money, Mark.
Over It
December 9th, 2011
9:08 am
Maybe one day, in a land, far, far away, the fans and TV viewers will demand that this mess be fixed and handled like every other college sport: with a playoff series! It probably won’t happen as long as we all keep going along with this pile of collective BCS garbage year after year after year. Maybe if we all boycotted the “Holiday Slate of Absolutely Meaningless Bowls” and not one person watched the so called championship game on TV, we might get the right people’s attention and put an end to this charade.
Paul
December 9th, 2011
9:25 am
AND my home is in ALABAMA……………….RTR
DapperDoug
December 9th, 2011
9:54 am
Mark, I had forgotten how narrow your view is; this article reminded me. Thanks
Blazer in Birmingham
December 9th, 2011
9:56 am
So, no one wants to see a rematch and since LSU already beat Alabama they shouldn’t get a second chance. I just don’t think that losing to a 6-6 team is more impressive than losing to a 12-0 team.
But what would happen if there was a playoff? You still have the possibility of having a rematch. Look at the NFL or the lower college divisions. Hell, there have been instances of teams playing each other the last game of the season and then having to turn right around and play each other in the first round of the playoffs. But that’s the system.
One statistic to look at:
Alabama’s opponents records 83-61
Oklahoma State’s opponents records 81-63
chazzo
December 9th, 2011
10:15 am
Yes we need a playoff system. Yes I feel for the players at Oklahoma State. Yes Nick Saban is a jerk.
Bottom line: OSU lost at home to Iowa State (unranked). Bama lost at home to LSU (#1 team in the country).
That’s a slam dunk not a whiff.
collegerahrahBS
December 9th, 2011
10:44 am
Who cares about college? NFL rulez. Refs control the college game. 2 words -Vern Lundquist. What a dork. How can u sit thru that guy? Everything better in Pros. Speed of game,refs,coaching,announcers,cheerleaders,fans. College rah rah crap is crap.