So, end the suspense . . . Whcih one would they have got took to the woodshed by? USC or Texas? ;D

Just blame Georgia for being over-confident, under-prepared, and rallying too late when they got too far behind. Resting on laurels after blowing out LSU in the same facility a couple of weeks earlier didn't help either. Maybe they were drunk too!

Never-the-less, West Virginia won that one fair and square, and better than pollsters gave them credit earlier. Upsets do happen!

Agree with SportsKC, by the system and results, Texas and USC were the top two.

I agree as well. Just trying to have some fun on a hot summer day. After all, a guy can dream, can't he? ;D

Actually, the point is that given the BE schedule, someone has an opportunity to blow through their schedule undefeated & get to the BCS championship game. The West Virginia win shows that once you get there anything can happen. In recent years, we've seen a number of favored teams go down in defeat in that game. The Ohio State win comes to mind immediately. You couldn't find anyone outside the Big Ten who wasn't picking Miami going into that game. Too much speed everyone said.

Oh, I know as deep as you follow things you have a good sense of balance. West Virginia proved to be a good team with an excellent game plan. I believed before the season started they were the team to watch in the BE and surprise many. Rich Rodriguez is a fine coach and can motivate an offense.

Things can happen in football. USC was almost beaten by Fresno State. Texas struggled against T A&M. Penn State possibly could have had an undefeated season had it not been for a short kick and four seconds added on the clock against Michigan. Didn't USF rip through Louisville? The unpredictables make it all exciting.

The one problem with the BCS system is that some go through conference championship games, others do not. For some championship game winners, they faced an easier opponent and the game could be treated as a warm-up or extended experience. It appears this happened with Texas winning, but the Longhorns may have dominated USC anyway. On the other hand, Georgia surprised LSU, and turned around and got surprised themselves in the bowl game (third consecutive game in the same facility). Advantage Georgia? Maybe not. While these things sound a bit simplistic, they are factors related to attitude and preparation. Georgia had other suspect moments during the regular season with a couple of supposedly weaker teams while doing very well against some of the other SEC giants. Of course, consistency determines the big winners.

While I am not necessarily advocating that all BCS conferences be 12 at the moment, it would be nice if participants had similar number of games under their belts beforehand, as well as the won-loss records being fairly consistent. But then again, Florida State with four loses going into the BCS bowls, was in one of the more exciting bowl games. Something can be said for starting so-so and ending strong. But in college football, one early loss can knock someone out of a championship run. Every game is almost a playoff in that sense.

Really, maybe we are all trying to suggest how to fix things that won't lend themselves to being fixed.

Once upon a time, Oregon State went to the Fiesta Bowl against a vaunted Notre Dame team. The Irish were blasted out of Arizona by the Beavers. Even some Duck fans were telling people that the Beavers were possibly the best team in America at the end of that season.

Then came the hype for the next season. At least one magazine had the Beavers at #1.

That was all well and good... until the first game of the season at Fresno. Oops!

(To be honest, I tend to think there are other instances of the SI curse taking hold that fast...)

There's also the issue with the "Best American Team Ever" currently playing in Germany. Last Monday was a little hard to watch. Thanks to the referee, Saturday wasn't as good as it should have been. At least they still have a shot.

Talent goes in cycles. Peaks, by necessity, are accompanied by valleys. Flukes are summarily punished. As for WV and the fun bunch, we'll see.

That's is a really good summary there sec03




The problem with championship games is that they are only done because of greed and to create interest. Recently, Urban Meyer said all BCS conferences should have championship games. I disgree with that. The conferences are going to be different just simply based on the membership. No one will ever think the BE is as deep as the SEC. One BE team can defeat a SEC team but even if the BE expands to 12 does anyone think that will improve the BEs representative? It would be better just to schedule tough OOC games IMO.

There is little the NCAA can do to make the playing field equal. I can only see a further reduction in scholarships from 85 to 65 and cut out the redshirt year or a more equitable distrubition of money. I simply don't see the later happening.

All in all good post sec03

Great posts, everybody! You guys make for veryinteresting reading.

At one time the ACC was the only one to have a post season bb tournament. Members complained that it wasn't fair when they lost. South Carolina bolted with that being one of the reasons. Maryland suffered in silence. Now everyone has one. The Big Ten held out, but eventually they joined in.

I think that 12 has become the gold standard & that eventually everyone will be there . . . when they're ready. The SEC & ACC go there over night by raiding other conferences. The Big XII by merger. None of these three grew themselves into this position. It will take others longer. The Big East is nowhere near ready.

Of course there are problems with conference games as you guys have pointed out. However, it just creates one more hurdle to make life interesting.

One of the traps for college football fans is the endless debates about who's the best. Polls attempt to determine who's the best. So pollsters vote for who they think is the best. Computers try to determine who's the best. IMO "who's the best" is irrelevant. Sports is about competition & accomplishment. It's about who has accomplished the most. A championship is even sweeter when it's accomplished in competition with an opponent whom even the winners concede is probably a better team. That's what it's all about to me - knocking off the best. Accomplishment on the field of competition is far more important than being "the best."

Which is why we need a championship tournament in college football.

Elections are great in politics, but they are totally meaningless in sports. There never has been a national championship in college football because championships are earned, not awarded.

A good post, Friarfan. However, this one statement may need to be qualified a bit.

When the SEC expanded, they took Arkansas and South Carolina and these actions were quite public. South Carolina was independent, so no raid was involved except the old bb Metro and that was a very fluid bb arrangement anyway following a line of departures. In the case of Arkansas, the Razorbacks had been itching to leave the old Southwest Conference for years, being the only non-Texas school in the conference. Broyles and Arkansas made no secret they wanted to move. While the SEC did talk seriously with Texas A&M and some with Texas, and may have even pondered Houston, it was four Texas schools that broke up the Southwest with their merger with the Big Eight.

As you know, the ACC expansion was deep and multiple on one conference (the BE) and got messy.

Maybe the SEC addition of Arkansas can be called a raid in the technical sense, and it may have spelled the beginning of the end of the Southwest Conference, but it was more incremental compared to the ACC endeavor.

So, the U.S. expanded unilaterally into Indian and Spanish territories. That worked out well for most of us.

Excellent points. I probably shouldn't have used the term "raid."

What I was trying to get at is that all 3 12-team conferences expanded explicitly for the purpose of getting to the magic # 12 for the explicit purpose of having a play-off & did so by annexing established teams from other established conferences.

It's not like they grew into 12 by a natural process & for reasons having nothing to do with a play-off, woke up one day after finding themselves with 12, & said "Oh, why don't we have a play-off?" This is actually the situation for which the NCAA rule was created. Roy Kramer turned it on its ear.

For a variety of reasons, I believe that the Pac Ten, the Big Ten, & the Big East will grow more slowly to 12 & will wait for schools that are a good fit.

Agree, at least until the system changes. People see Air Force in the MWC for all-sports and wonder why Army and Navy cannot do the same. I suppose locations and traditions are the driving forces among other factors.

Didn't Air Force even make the NCAA bb tournament this past season?

The Army experience in CUSA did not go well in terms of the W-L record. However, would Army's results have been any better those years as an independent? Maybe if they had been playing a few more 1AAs and lower MAC types, but Army struggled with even the weaker CUSA teams. I tend to think Army's CUSA experience accounted for just a few more loses, in totality, than they may have had otherwise. It was not uncommon for many years both Army and Navy collectively, to have near winless seasons. But playing each other was what counted the most.
Their recruiting restrictions and regimen would make it real difficult to take on heavy scheduling with BCS-type opponents.

If Army and Navy are getting bowl tie-ins arranged, have the Patriot League for bb, find themselves on TV sufficiently enough, have the coffers of the federal government, and the prestige of being the "academies", I don't see what incentives they would have to compromise their flexibility in scheduling which have been unique and appear to be working, at least for Navy right now.

No tradition at Army & Navy? Hmmm . . . I'll have to look that one up.

Perhaps that was clumsy wording I did, Friarfan ::). Of course Army and Navy are tradition rich, and quite distinct indeed. Their tradition has been independent, whereas Air Force has an extensive history with the WAC and MWC for all sports. Air Force just seems appropriate in the MWC. I doubt Army and Navy are of the mindset to be in an all-sports conference for now.

Leave it to me I would have everyone in conferences of twelve. No, I am not going to list my dream groups now ;D.

I sure do agree that it is perplexing to see Air Force get it done & to see the other 2 academies struggle. You'd think that with all of the tradition at Army & Navy,they would have something to build on, so it would be easier to get it done.

Boston Globe - 11/26/04. Mark Blaudschun.
Interview with BC AD DeFilippo.

DeFilippo quote when asked if he could go back in time and change things.

" I'd love to go back to the early 1980's and get Ted Aceto to change his vote on Penn State."

The comment was made in reference to the Nova AD casting the deciding vote that kept Penn St. out of the Big East. Had the vote been different everything else might have changed, because the BE would have had Penn St. as an anchor, along with Syracuse, Pitt, and Boston College, and the addition of Miami would have made the conference a solid East Coast factor.

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SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS - SEC
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - BIG EAST / AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE / BIG TEN