I’ve heard this story before. We have a system in place that is going to right the college football wrongs, give us a system that everyone can support, and finally end the decades of controversy that has plagued college football fans since the days before the advent of the forward pass.
The last time I heard about a fix to end all fixes was with the introduction of the Bowl Championship Series. Before that it was the Bowl Alliance and before that, it was the Bowl Coalition. This isn’t a knock on the playoffs. If you want to read about that, you can read it here.
http://cfbroundtable.com/2014/college-football-playoff-lost/ Each one of the above mentioned systems was an improvement on the last. I believe that the majority of fans will feel that the latest installment to fix college football will be an improvement over the BCS. I am not so sure they will believe that in the early years.
The BCS takes a lot of knocks and most of them are deserved knocks, however, by the time the BCS came to an end, it was the best system produced in terms of providing national championship matchups. When the BCS provided controversy in the later years, that controversy was unavoidable. In 2011, any combination of LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma State, or Stanford would have been controversial.
The BCS ran about as smooth as it could possibly run in those later years but in the beginning, it was the equivalent of a backfiring 1974 Pinto, (as Joel McHale would say, look it up kids). Initially, the BCS relied heavily on computers to produce the championship matchup. I once proposed an alternative to the BCS computer system. Simply simulate the entire season via the Playstation 2 and a current copy of EA Sports' edition of NCAA's College Football.
The BCS clunked along. In 2001, a second ranked Oregon team was left out in favor of Nebraska. Nebraska got the nod to play against Miami and was blown out. Margin of victory, which had been a major component in tabulating BCS points, was minimized to and fix the issues in 2001. In 2003, the BCS engine nearly seized up. Controversy was so strong in 2003 that the BCS barely survived. In 2003, margin of victory, though minimized, was still a factor. This meant that all of your nice, respectable coaches were forced to run up scores for fear of being left out of the national championship game and top tier bowls. Prior to the Big 12 Championship Game, (they used to have those), Oklahoma had amassed such a large lead in BCS points that Oklahoma could afford to lose the Big 12 Championship Game . . . and the Sooners did lose . . . and they lost big. Oklahoma stunk it up in Dallas losing to Kansas State 35-7. It didn’t matter. OU's NC ticket had been punched prior to kick off. Thanks IBM. Oklahoma was matched against the LSU Tigers and USC was sent to the Rose Bowl. LSU won, USC won and for the only time in the BCS era, we had a split national championship.
The fallout of the 2003 season was that the AP writers successfully demanded that their poll not be used as a BCS factor. The margin of victory was done away with, and the computers were minimized and given deference to the polls. In short, the folly of thinking that a computer could somehow do a better job than former coaches and sports writers in picking the top two teams was done. And they all lived happily ever after . . . .
Well not quite. 2004 created more controversy. However, it was the modern BCS controversy that we have grown to know and detest. An undefeated Auburn was left out of the national championship picture. The BCS did the best it could in 2004, this was simply a problem, much like 2011 or 2012, that the BCS wasn’t designed to fix. Too many teams, too little slots.
The new College Football Playoff is designed to fix the last major issue that the BCS never could have fixed. Instead of two slots, now we have four slots. Also, the new playoff system has given a better avenue to teams outside of the Power Five conferences. If it all stopped there, we probably would have a decent system but once again, the power brokers have attempted to remove the sports writers from the equation. Why the major conferences try to fix college football inequities by cutting out the polls is a bit of a mystery. For the most part, the polls and those that contribute to them, haven't really been the problem. In their place is a committee akin to the committees we are used to seeing in college basketball. There are factors that the committee will use but how one committee member gives weight to a factor may not be the same as how another committee member weighs the same factor. The committee is made up of individuals from various backgrounds. Some have been immersed in college football their whole lives and others have no tangible relationship to it at all.
Ideally, we picture a playoff system where both major polls have the same top four teams ranked and the playoff pits #1 vs. #4 and and #2 vs. #3 with the respective winners facing off for the championship. However, we are already being prepared that the committee’s top four teams may disagree with the polls’ top four teams. It works in college basketball because the committee is placing 64 teams. Any teams typically left out are at or near .500. The college basketball committee works because of quantity. Imagine if the NCAA basketball playoffs only could place four teams or even eight for that matter. Every year would be rocked in controversy. It is perplexing why the college football power brokers want to put more weight on an unknown committee and no weight on pollsters. At best this seems odd and at worst seems like an invitation to post season disaster.
It doesn't take the Long Island Medium to figure out that the early years of the college football playoff will be bumpy. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a future where the committee is nixed or limited and the polls are again a major factor. I also won’t be surprised if we have a split national championship in the near future. USC’s 2003 AP Championship was in part an acknowledgement of what USC had done and also part protest of what the BCS had done. It worked. It forced the BCS to completely overhaul itself in the off-season.
If it seems as if I am preaching doom and gloom, I’m not. I think the Playoff will work the way it was intended and that years from now, a version of what we will see in 2014, will be run like a fine tuned engine. It may even work that way in 2014, 2015, and a year or two beyond. However, somewhere in the near future is another 2003. The flaws are in place and it’s only going to take the right scenario to bring those flaws to the surface. Here’s hoping that when it happens, it’s not my team or yours getting the short end of the stick.
Half of the Evil Commish
Sunday, September 7, 2014
The College Football Playoff and What We Have Lost
I have watched college football almost all my life but it was in the mid-1980s as a young kid in high school that I really started to pay attention. Every once in a while I would hear some talk about a college football playoff and my initial thought was with the majority of fans. Why didn’t we have a playoff? Why were national championships decided by a bunch of voters? Why, at the end of the season, was the best team in the country playing against the eighth best team in the country when the team ranked number two was pitted against the number four team? As I immersed myself in college football, I found that I started to appreciate the system for what it was. I still found it silly that various bowl agreements kept the two top teams from competing but I believed that a playoff would destroy so much of what made college football unique.
That opinion has never changed. I accept that the playoff is here and that it is never going away. I accept that the war has finally been won and I am on the losing side. I also realize that, at least in the short term, the playoff might very well boost my alma mater of Alabama. Years ago, Dennis Miller once made a joke on Saturday Night Live. The gist was that he appreciated the Republican Party because it allowed him to vote Democrat while still getting all the tax cuts afforded the wealthy.
All sports dynasties come to an end; college football dynasties more so. Because of the nature of college football, a dynasty always seems to end before anyone has a clue that the salad days are over. Think of USC in the 2000s. When USC lost to Texas by a razor’s edge margin could anyone have realized that USC’s dynasty was over? When Florida lost to Alabama in the 2009 SEC Championship Game, their dynasty came to an end. It didn’t matter that both schools were covered in great recruits and both had two of the best coaches in the game, they were done. When Alabama lost to Auburn last year in the most improbable way, Alabama’s dynasty came to an end . . . or at least it would have if the BCS was still around. Make every argument you want why Alabama could have still been a factor if the BCS was still the way champions were chosen and I will show you example after example of past teams that had all those same advantages but never made it back up the mountain.
The advantage of the new college football playoff system is that, in theory, we are going to have a clearly defined champion. The disadvantage is that from time to time, teams are going to get mulligans. Alabama would have been one of the final four teams last year. Pete Carroll may have been able to claim another championship or two. Bob Stoops might not be stuck at one. It would have certainly fixed Auburn getting shut out of the national championship picture in 2004 but it would have also negated USC’s loss to UCLA in 2006, Alabama’s loss to Auburn in 2013, Oregon’s loss to USC in 2011, and so on, ad nauseam. At some point, a team slotted in three or four is going to win the championship. Even this doesn’t bother me so much. When I think about what we have lost it’s not some late season loss that takes one team out of the national championship picture that I think about. It was actually an early September game.
On September 3rd, 1988 I gathered around the television set with my friends in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park, Florida. We were there to watch the season opening game for Florida State and Miami. Miami was the defending national champion but Florida State entered the season ranked #1. Not many gave the ‘Canes much of a chance of winning. We were all recent high school grads that didn’t immediately go off to college, by definition, we were punk kids. We were at our friend Kevin's house. His parents were out of town and we were fortunate enough to have the house to ourselves. On this particular Saturday night, this meant college football and having beers with good friends. Though I was an Alabama fan and later an alumnus of Alabama, my second favorite college to follow was Florida State. I was a Floridian and Florida State held a special place in the family. My grandmother had attended in the 1930s when it was an all-girl school. My great grandfather paid for her tuition in oranges as money was hard to find during The Great Depression and since the family business was growing oranges, it was the currency of choice. I wasn’t alone in rooting for the Seminoles. Matter of fact, out of the five of us that were there, four of us were rooting for FSU. Even with all Miami’s success, their popularity in their home state typically waned before reaching north to Tampa. The lone Miami fan, Kelly, took it all in stride. Prior to kickoff, we all trash talked. Kelly adamantly held that regardless of what the popular opinion was, Miami would win the game. Now folks, what I am about to write is going to sound outlandish but I promise you it is true. I’m not sure I would have believed it if I wasn’t there myself.
Bill, started challenging Kelly to a bet. He was working Kelly’s situation against him to make some cash and Kelly, normally unflappable and lover of Black Flag and The Dead Kennedys either got caught up in Bill’s game or knew something that we all didn’t. I have always tended to think it was the former. Kelly stated that not only would Miami win but that they would kill the Seminoles. Let's face it. We've all been there. Bill, thinking that he had his prey cornered, asked Kelly to spot him a touchdown. FSU WAS FAVORED! Kelly said he would spot him two touchdowns. They kept this up for another few seconds. By the time the bet was set, Kelly gave Bill thirty points. I don’t recall the amount. I think it was $20. $20 for a punk kid in 1988 was a pretty decent chunk. It was a couple of tanks of gas, it was about two cartons of smokes, or it was one really decent case of beer, imported beer.
If for some reason you don’t know the final result of that game or can’t glean the outcome from my story, I will let you in on the result. Miami beat Florida State 31-0 that night. If you’re wondering, Bill didn’t have the cash on him that night but he didn’t welsh on bets. The next day he got the cash and Kevin and I drove him over to Kelly’s house so that he could pay up.
Now why in the world is that particular game the one that I think of when I lament the loss of the antiquated college football system? In that game, a game that opened the season, perfection was demanded and perfection was not achieved. Florida State went from the #1 team in the nation to having no chance to win the national championship in a matter of a few hours of stepping onto the field for the first time that season. Florida State wouldn’t lose another game in the 1988 season. Only two teams would even come within a touchdown of the Seminoles. Save those two, most of the other games were blowouts. They beat #15 South Carolina 59-0. They beat arch-rival Florida 52-17. On all but one night, they were unstoppable. In terms of the national championship picture, none of it mattered. Had there been a playoff, FSU would surely have been in it and that September game would have been hardly different than a NFL team losing in the preseason. That game more than any other I have ever seen before or since defined college football to me. As I stated above, the playoff is here and I promise not to begrudge it but I know now when I think back to that September night in 1988, it will have a bit more of a melancholy feel.
That opinion has never changed. I accept that the playoff is here and that it is never going away. I accept that the war has finally been won and I am on the losing side. I also realize that, at least in the short term, the playoff might very well boost my alma mater of Alabama. Years ago, Dennis Miller once made a joke on Saturday Night Live. The gist was that he appreciated the Republican Party because it allowed him to vote Democrat while still getting all the tax cuts afforded the wealthy.
All sports dynasties come to an end; college football dynasties more so. Because of the nature of college football, a dynasty always seems to end before anyone has a clue that the salad days are over. Think of USC in the 2000s. When USC lost to Texas by a razor’s edge margin could anyone have realized that USC’s dynasty was over? When Florida lost to Alabama in the 2009 SEC Championship Game, their dynasty came to an end. It didn’t matter that both schools were covered in great recruits and both had two of the best coaches in the game, they were done. When Alabama lost to Auburn last year in the most improbable way, Alabama’s dynasty came to an end . . . or at least it would have if the BCS was still around. Make every argument you want why Alabama could have still been a factor if the BCS was still the way champions were chosen and I will show you example after example of past teams that had all those same advantages but never made it back up the mountain.
The advantage of the new college football playoff system is that, in theory, we are going to have a clearly defined champion. The disadvantage is that from time to time, teams are going to get mulligans. Alabama would have been one of the final four teams last year. Pete Carroll may have been able to claim another championship or two. Bob Stoops might not be stuck at one. It would have certainly fixed Auburn getting shut out of the national championship picture in 2004 but it would have also negated USC’s loss to UCLA in 2006, Alabama’s loss to Auburn in 2013, Oregon’s loss to USC in 2011, and so on, ad nauseam. At some point, a team slotted in three or four is going to win the championship. Even this doesn’t bother me so much. When I think about what we have lost it’s not some late season loss that takes one team out of the national championship picture that I think about. It was actually an early September game.
On September 3rd, 1988 I gathered around the television set with my friends in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park, Florida. We were there to watch the season opening game for Florida State and Miami. Miami was the defending national champion but Florida State entered the season ranked #1. Not many gave the ‘Canes much of a chance of winning. We were all recent high school grads that didn’t immediately go off to college, by definition, we were punk kids. We were at our friend Kevin's house. His parents were out of town and we were fortunate enough to have the house to ourselves. On this particular Saturday night, this meant college football and having beers with good friends. Though I was an Alabama fan and later an alumnus of Alabama, my second favorite college to follow was Florida State. I was a Floridian and Florida State held a special place in the family. My grandmother had attended in the 1930s when it was an all-girl school. My great grandfather paid for her tuition in oranges as money was hard to find during The Great Depression and since the family business was growing oranges, it was the currency of choice. I wasn’t alone in rooting for the Seminoles. Matter of fact, out of the five of us that were there, four of us were rooting for FSU. Even with all Miami’s success, their popularity in their home state typically waned before reaching north to Tampa. The lone Miami fan, Kelly, took it all in stride. Prior to kickoff, we all trash talked. Kelly adamantly held that regardless of what the popular opinion was, Miami would win the game. Now folks, what I am about to write is going to sound outlandish but I promise you it is true. I’m not sure I would have believed it if I wasn’t there myself.
Bill, started challenging Kelly to a bet. He was working Kelly’s situation against him to make some cash and Kelly, normally unflappable and lover of Black Flag and The Dead Kennedys either got caught up in Bill’s game or knew something that we all didn’t. I have always tended to think it was the former. Kelly stated that not only would Miami win but that they would kill the Seminoles. Let's face it. We've all been there. Bill, thinking that he had his prey cornered, asked Kelly to spot him a touchdown. FSU WAS FAVORED! Kelly said he would spot him two touchdowns. They kept this up for another few seconds. By the time the bet was set, Kelly gave Bill thirty points. I don’t recall the amount. I think it was $20. $20 for a punk kid in 1988 was a pretty decent chunk. It was a couple of tanks of gas, it was about two cartons of smokes, or it was one really decent case of beer, imported beer.
If for some reason you don’t know the final result of that game or can’t glean the outcome from my story, I will let you in on the result. Miami beat Florida State 31-0 that night. If you’re wondering, Bill didn’t have the cash on him that night but he didn’t welsh on bets. The next day he got the cash and Kevin and I drove him over to Kelly’s house so that he could pay up.
Now why in the world is that particular game the one that I think of when I lament the loss of the antiquated college football system? In that game, a game that opened the season, perfection was demanded and perfection was not achieved. Florida State went from the #1 team in the nation to having no chance to win the national championship in a matter of a few hours of stepping onto the field for the first time that season. Florida State wouldn’t lose another game in the 1988 season. Only two teams would even come within a touchdown of the Seminoles. Save those two, most of the other games were blowouts. They beat #15 South Carolina 59-0. They beat arch-rival Florida 52-17. On all but one night, they were unstoppable. In terms of the national championship picture, none of it mattered. Had there been a playoff, FSU would surely have been in it and that September game would have been hardly different than a NFL team losing in the preseason. That game more than any other I have ever seen before or since defined college football to me. As I stated above, the playoff is here and I promise not to begrudge it but I know now when I think back to that September night in 1988, it will have a bit more of a melancholy feel.
Avoiding the Darkest Day of the BCS
History will note that the final straw leading to the end of the BCS was an intra-conference matchup. When LSU and Alabama faced off in New Orleans on January 9th, they weren’t merely playing for a national championship; they were playing in the most controversial game in BCS history. I can’t think of any game that divided college football fans more than the rematch of LSU and Alabama. Yet, if you were to ask the BCS power brokers, they would tell you that the 2011 Championship was one of the times that the BCS got it right. Their argument was simple. The BCS was designed to pit the two best teams in the country against each other and even if you didn’t like the circumstances, the majority belief, however slim, was that on January 9th, 2012, the two best teams in the country faced off. It’s an endless debate that can run college football fans in circles. Both sides bring up great points, however, leaving that debate for another day, it was the intra-conference rematch in 2006 that, if it had taken place, might have been the darkest day in the history of the BCS.
The debate began in the waning seconds of the annual Ohio State/Michigan football game on November 18th, 2006. Ohio State had not yet beaten Michigan but was closing their grasp the Wolverines. For the last three plus hours, Michigan struggled to keep up with Ohio State but every time OSU pulled away, Michigan clawed back with an answer. This matchup had been building all season. These were two of the most successful programs in college football history. They hailed from, what was perceived at the time, as the best conference in college football. Ohio State entered the game undefeated and ranked #1; Michigan came in undefeated and ranked #2. On the line was simply . . . everything. The prize on that November night was the outright championship to the Big Ten conference and a guaranteed spot in the national championship game. In the history of one of college football’s greatest rivalries, this was the first time the two had met as the two top teams in the nation. Waiting in the wings was the #3 USC Trojans and to a lesser extent, was SEC upstart #4 Florida, hoping that all the chips could fall into place to launch them into a matchup with Ohio State.
At 1:37 to go in the game, a Michigan injury created a pause for announcers Kirk Herbstreit, Brent Musberger, and Bob Davie to talk about the national championship scenarios. Davie,
Well, first of all, I think the two best teams should play and I think these are the two best teams. . . . Tonight’s the national championship for me.
Even with this talk of a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan, most believed that USC, if they could win out, would be the Buckeyes’ opponent in Glendale. USC needed to beat Notre Dame and then follow it up against its recently dwarfed archrival UCLA. If USC was going to stumble, then it would be against the Irish who, despite a lopsided, early season loss to Michigan, had managed a 10-1 record and a #6 ranking. The hopes of the fans in Ann Arbor and Gainesville were crushed when USC battered the Irish in a 44-24 victory. All that was left on USC’s schedule was an unranked 6-5 UCLA whose last win in the series was in 1998. For all intents and purposes, the national championship game was set. As we who have followed college football know all too often, November and early December have a way of rewriting the national championship script.
After USC’s twenty point rout of Notre Dame, the polls, not surprisingly, bumped USC to #2, Michigan remained at #3 which is where they had dropped the week before after their loss to Ohio State, and Florida sat uncomfortably at #4. It appeared that the national championship game dust had finally settled. On December 2nd however, all BCS Hades broke loose. USC inexplicably lost to UCLA. In a field of one loss teams, two losses was simply too much. USC had gracelessly bowed out of the national championship picture. On that same night, Florida captured their first SEC Championship in the post Spurrier era. The prevailing belief on the night of December 2nd, 2006 was that Michigan was going to keep ahead of the Gators and get its chance at a rematch. The logic made sense. Michigan’s loss was a three point loss to the #1 team and Florida’s loss was a ten point loss to #15 Auburn.
In the BCS era, pollsters weren’t as married to their previous week’s poll. Between Urban Meyer’s politicking and a general feeling that the Ohio State/Michigan game had been decided, the final BCS standings moved Florida past Michigan into the #2 spot and a matchup with Ohio State. Without knowing what happened next, we could debate whether Florida deserved to jump Michigan. However, it was exactly what lay ahead that showed us just how close we came to a BCS nightmare. Instead of a Michigan/Ohio State rematch, Michigan was relegated to the Rose Bowl to play USC and Florida moved on to Glendale.
The media lead up to the national championship game was to expect a blowout. Ohio State was a seven point favorite and the pre-game press treated this matchup as a college football letdown. On January 1st, reality started to shift.
Though the championship game was supposed to be a snoozer, all eyes focused on the Rose Bowl where two previous national championship hopefuls squared off. Most expected a classic and for two quarters it looked that way. The first half played out like a couple of savvy boxers feeling each other out. By halftime, the game was knotted up at three. The third quarter was owned by USC. USC scored 16 unanswered points and never looked back. By the time it was time to turn the lights out in Pasadena, the Trojans had handily beat the Wolverines 32-18. Any thoughts Michigan had of claiming that they were cheated out of their spot in the championship game were quickly quashed.
A week later on January 8th, Ohio State started off as expected by fans and Vegas bookies alike. The Buckeyes took a quick seven point lead and it appeared that the rout was on. However, Florida answered back and then continued their own barrage. After the Buckeyes’ first touchdown, Florida scored the next three. Midway through the second, OSU would get on the board again making it a seven point game. No one knew it at the time but that second touchdown would be the Buckeyes’ last. By the time the half came around, OSU was down by twenty. Between Ohio State adjustments and Florida protecting a lead, the second half only resulted in one more touchdown; it was another Florida score. The game ended with Ohio State looking at the wrong end of 41-14. After the game, Florida defensive end, Jarvis Moss was interviewed. Moss stated that he thought there were four or five other SEC teams that could have competed with the Buckeyes. It would sound a little like post game trash talk if history didn’t seem to prove Moss’ comments out.
It is the results of the Rose Bowl and the BCS National Championship game that diminished the 2006 matchup between Ohio State and Michigan. On November 18th, the game seemed like a matchup of titans destined to be placed in the pantheon of greatest teams of all time. Less than two months later, the nation questioned just how good those two teams really were. The “what if” came into play. What if these two had played in the national championship? Their reputations and that of the Big 10 would have stayed intact. The fallout from those two games redefined the roles of the SEC and the Big Ten. Prior to January 8th, 2007, the SEC’s dominance was seen as the overly excited views of a rabid, southern fan base. Counter that to the Big Ten, which was widely perceived to be the the premier college football conference. Florida’s national championship would start a SEC run of seven straight national championships that included, not just the Gators but featured LSU, Alabama and Auburn among its champs, Florida would claim another championship in 2008 and the Crimson Tide were just a few years away from an incredible run of winning three national championships in a four year period.
The fortunes of the Big Ten went ironically south. Michigan’s next game would be an opening season loss to FCS Appalachian State; the game that many consider to be the worst upset in the history of the BCS. By the end of the 2007 season, Ohio State had clawed back to the national championship. Unlike 2006, OSU faced a season of criticism in 2007. There seemed to be a collective national groan when the Buckeyes won their spot in the 2007 championship game. College football irony had placed Ohio State in Florida’s role of the year before. They were disrespected and maligned. Ahead of them though was a chance to reverse it all. A victory over the latest SEC bully would revalidate Ohio State and the Big Ten. Redemption wasn’t there for Ohio State. It was another great start and another disastrous second quarter that did them in. Instead of reversing the damage of the year before, Ohio State reaffirmed that there was a definitive gap with their southern cousins.
Who knows what our college football landscape would look like right now if Michigan and Ohio State had played for it all on that January 8th night? It’s not too hard to believe that the BCS might still be alive and well if perceptions hadn’t been so drastically changed. We can and will continue to debate whether the BCS really got it right in 2011 but there is no doubt that the BCS worked the way it was intended in 2007 and regardless of our team loyalties, a dark day in college football nightmare was avoided.
The debate began in the waning seconds of the annual Ohio State/Michigan football game on November 18th, 2006. Ohio State had not yet beaten Michigan but was closing their grasp the Wolverines. For the last three plus hours, Michigan struggled to keep up with Ohio State but every time OSU pulled away, Michigan clawed back with an answer. This matchup had been building all season. These were two of the most successful programs in college football history. They hailed from, what was perceived at the time, as the best conference in college football. Ohio State entered the game undefeated and ranked #1; Michigan came in undefeated and ranked #2. On the line was simply . . . everything. The prize on that November night was the outright championship to the Big Ten conference and a guaranteed spot in the national championship game. In the history of one of college football’s greatest rivalries, this was the first time the two had met as the two top teams in the nation. Waiting in the wings was the #3 USC Trojans and to a lesser extent, was SEC upstart #4 Florida, hoping that all the chips could fall into place to launch them into a matchup with Ohio State.
At 1:37 to go in the game, a Michigan injury created a pause for announcers Kirk Herbstreit, Brent Musberger, and Bob Davie to talk about the national championship scenarios. Davie,
Well, first of all, I think the two best teams should play and I think these are the two best teams. . . . Tonight’s the national championship for me.
Even with this talk of a rematch between Ohio State and Michigan, most believed that USC, if they could win out, would be the Buckeyes’ opponent in Glendale. USC needed to beat Notre Dame and then follow it up against its recently dwarfed archrival UCLA. If USC was going to stumble, then it would be against the Irish who, despite a lopsided, early season loss to Michigan, had managed a 10-1 record and a #6 ranking. The hopes of the fans in Ann Arbor and Gainesville were crushed when USC battered the Irish in a 44-24 victory. All that was left on USC’s schedule was an unranked 6-5 UCLA whose last win in the series was in 1998. For all intents and purposes, the national championship game was set. As we who have followed college football know all too often, November and early December have a way of rewriting the national championship script.
After USC’s twenty point rout of Notre Dame, the polls, not surprisingly, bumped USC to #2, Michigan remained at #3 which is where they had dropped the week before after their loss to Ohio State, and Florida sat uncomfortably at #4. It appeared that the national championship game dust had finally settled. On December 2nd however, all BCS Hades broke loose. USC inexplicably lost to UCLA. In a field of one loss teams, two losses was simply too much. USC had gracelessly bowed out of the national championship picture. On that same night, Florida captured their first SEC Championship in the post Spurrier era. The prevailing belief on the night of December 2nd, 2006 was that Michigan was going to keep ahead of the Gators and get its chance at a rematch. The logic made sense. Michigan’s loss was a three point loss to the #1 team and Florida’s loss was a ten point loss to #15 Auburn.
In the BCS era, pollsters weren’t as married to their previous week’s poll. Between Urban Meyer’s politicking and a general feeling that the Ohio State/Michigan game had been decided, the final BCS standings moved Florida past Michigan into the #2 spot and a matchup with Ohio State. Without knowing what happened next, we could debate whether Florida deserved to jump Michigan. However, it was exactly what lay ahead that showed us just how close we came to a BCS nightmare. Instead of a Michigan/Ohio State rematch, Michigan was relegated to the Rose Bowl to play USC and Florida moved on to Glendale.
The media lead up to the national championship game was to expect a blowout. Ohio State was a seven point favorite and the pre-game press treated this matchup as a college football letdown. On January 1st, reality started to shift.
Though the championship game was supposed to be a snoozer, all eyes focused on the Rose Bowl where two previous national championship hopefuls squared off. Most expected a classic and for two quarters it looked that way. The first half played out like a couple of savvy boxers feeling each other out. By halftime, the game was knotted up at three. The third quarter was owned by USC. USC scored 16 unanswered points and never looked back. By the time it was time to turn the lights out in Pasadena, the Trojans had handily beat the Wolverines 32-18. Any thoughts Michigan had of claiming that they were cheated out of their spot in the championship game were quickly quashed.
A week later on January 8th, Ohio State started off as expected by fans and Vegas bookies alike. The Buckeyes took a quick seven point lead and it appeared that the rout was on. However, Florida answered back and then continued their own barrage. After the Buckeyes’ first touchdown, Florida scored the next three. Midway through the second, OSU would get on the board again making it a seven point game. No one knew it at the time but that second touchdown would be the Buckeyes’ last. By the time the half came around, OSU was down by twenty. Between Ohio State adjustments and Florida protecting a lead, the second half only resulted in one more touchdown; it was another Florida score. The game ended with Ohio State looking at the wrong end of 41-14. After the game, Florida defensive end, Jarvis Moss was interviewed. Moss stated that he thought there were four or five other SEC teams that could have competed with the Buckeyes. It would sound a little like post game trash talk if history didn’t seem to prove Moss’ comments out.
It is the results of the Rose Bowl and the BCS National Championship game that diminished the 2006 matchup between Ohio State and Michigan. On November 18th, the game seemed like a matchup of titans destined to be placed in the pantheon of greatest teams of all time. Less than two months later, the nation questioned just how good those two teams really were. The “what if” came into play. What if these two had played in the national championship? Their reputations and that of the Big 10 would have stayed intact. The fallout from those two games redefined the roles of the SEC and the Big Ten. Prior to January 8th, 2007, the SEC’s dominance was seen as the overly excited views of a rabid, southern fan base. Counter that to the Big Ten, which was widely perceived to be the the premier college football conference. Florida’s national championship would start a SEC run of seven straight national championships that included, not just the Gators but featured LSU, Alabama and Auburn among its champs, Florida would claim another championship in 2008 and the Crimson Tide were just a few years away from an incredible run of winning three national championships in a four year period.
The fortunes of the Big Ten went ironically south. Michigan’s next game would be an opening season loss to FCS Appalachian State; the game that many consider to be the worst upset in the history of the BCS. By the end of the 2007 season, Ohio State had clawed back to the national championship. Unlike 2006, OSU faced a season of criticism in 2007. There seemed to be a collective national groan when the Buckeyes won their spot in the 2007 championship game. College football irony had placed Ohio State in Florida’s role of the year before. They were disrespected and maligned. Ahead of them though was a chance to reverse it all. A victory over the latest SEC bully would revalidate Ohio State and the Big Ten. Redemption wasn’t there for Ohio State. It was another great start and another disastrous second quarter that did them in. Instead of reversing the damage of the year before, Ohio State reaffirmed that there was a definitive gap with their southern cousins.
Who knows what our college football landscape would look like right now if Michigan and Ohio State had played for it all on that January 8th night? It’s not too hard to believe that the BCS might still be alive and well if perceptions hadn’t been so drastically changed. We can and will continue to debate whether the BCS really got it right in 2011 but there is no doubt that the BCS worked the way it was intended in 2007 and regardless of our team loyalties, a dark day in college football nightmare was avoided.
CFB Articles can also be found here
I am going to simultaneously post my articles from the College Football Roundtable to here. Starting today, I will post the back log of articles and today's article. Happy reading.
Monday, July 21, 2014
My latest article on CFB
Here is the latest article for CFBRoundtable. It's an article that discusses what we have lost by entering the new era of a college football playoff.
http://cfbroundtable.com/2014/college-football-playoff-lost/
http://cfbroundtable.com/2014/college-football-playoff-lost/
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Remembering the BCS - How We Avoided the Darkest Day
(This article has since been posted at The College Football Roundtable. If you want to read it, you can see it here. http://cfbroundtable.com/2014/avoiding-darkest-day-bcs-ramifications-2006-ohio-state-michigan-rematch/).
Thursday, July 3, 2014
It's been a while . . .
Okay, I have to say that I apologize for leaving off of this blog for so long. So did anything happen in the world of college football since the second week of November 2011? Didn't think so.
I will be more dedicated to blogging, however, some of my blogs should be appearing at http://cfbroundtable.com/. I have submitted my first article to the guys at The College Football Roundtable and I am hoping that it gets published soon. As a teaser, it is a look back at the 2006 season, the possible rematch between Ohio State and Michigan and how the 2007 championship game went from a possible BCS nightmare scenario to a significant change of the perceptions of the college football landscape. If for some reason the article doesn't make the cut at CFBR, you can expect it to find a home here pretty soon. As I am hopeful that some of my college football articles will be making it to CFBR, I will expand this blog to include some sports articles that won't be just based in college football.
Stay tuned . . .
I will be more dedicated to blogging, however, some of my blogs should be appearing at http://cfbroundtable.com/. I have submitted my first article to the guys at The College Football Roundtable and I am hoping that it gets published soon. As a teaser, it is a look back at the 2006 season, the possible rematch between Ohio State and Michigan and how the 2007 championship game went from a possible BCS nightmare scenario to a significant change of the perceptions of the college football landscape. If for some reason the article doesn't make the cut at CFBR, you can expect it to find a home here pretty soon. As I am hopeful that some of my college football articles will be making it to CFBR, I will expand this blog to include some sports articles that won't be just based in college football.
Stay tuned . . .
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