|
College Football: Why Georgia Deserves A BCS Title Shot
by Christopher McIntosh
12/02/2007
I can't believe what's happening.
My lazy [redacted] refused to write about the coming apocalypse, but instead chose to let the truth lay out there.
Quick, name the most important game of this year's UGA football team?
Whipping Florida? Auburn? Georgia Tech?
Wrong, wrong, and wrong.
Tennessee?
Close, but no cigar.
See, it's a trick question. And if you're into scenario planning, you could have seen this one a mile away.
Tennessee vs. Kentucky.
Prior to that game we were ranked high, at that point West Virginia could still lose without spitting the bit against a 28 point underdog (they had yet to play UConn), the Big 12 was going to eat itself if everything went as expected, and LSU was number one in the country.
If UK completes that 2 pt conversion and wins in OT number 14 or whatever it was, UGA plays LSU in the SEC championship.
If the team that showed up against Tennessee in the Georgia Dome yesterday had showed up against the Dawgs - with virtual homefield advantage via playing in the ATL - we would have won. Hell, Tennessee should have won but for their quarterback's inability to distinguish between WRs and DBs - which was odd considering his team was wearing head to toe hunting vest orange.
Guess the quarterback thought he was in a duck blind and not on the field. Might explain why he kept aiming his throws away from the Tennessee players downfield.
If, If, If. If I write that article, I feel a little more vindicated. If UK holds a lead and wins an OT game they tried desperately to lose. If LSU...
Oh well.
I'll go ahead and concede defeat right now. The only way we could end up in the title game is if the vote for number 2 split equally and that put us at number 3 on every ballot and we squeak into the 2 spot on points despite not receiving a plurality of the votes for number 2.
That was too complicated. We ain't gonna get it. Especially now that the Harris poll is out and we're somehow number 4, behind LSU and Oklahoma.
But I think we've got a case. A damn good one.
1. Caveman math. If 1 and 2 lose and 3 and 4 don't, then they should be 1 and 2. A + B = C. As Richt said last night, they ranked us four when they *knew* that we weren't going to the SEC championship game. Why should anything change that? Why should a team leapfrog us when we didn't lose.
2. Polls are designed to reward the best teams at the time. The one thing there does seem to be a consensus on is that we are one of the hottest (read: best) teams in college football right now. LSU? They lost to an unranked McFadden, oops, I mean Arkansas team, last week. Why does beating a lower ranked team like Tennessee mean that they are suddenly better than Georgia? Did we play this week and lose and I missed it? The only other team people speak of in the "hottest" discussion is USC and they lost to Stanford. Sorry, that knocks you out of the discussion. (Of course, Stanford beat once NUMBER 2, Cal, last night in what can only be termed an inexplicable event - 3 of their wins this year are USC, Notre Dame, and Cal. Who would have bet on that before the year started?).
3. Polls are [redacted] lies. Mizzou was the number one team in the country. They were also underdogs to Oklahoma - who was ranked number nine. How does that make any sense? It doesn't, so don't bother. But there are rules. And one rule is, generally speaking, you can't drop behind a team if you don't lose. Which brings us to...
4. If Ohio State gets in, so do we. Sorry, but the entirety of the last month we've seen the Buckeyes ride their lack of games (and no risk of losing) up the polls and apparently all the way into the championship game. Why? They didn't beat anybody? Presumably all the other teams that played in the last couple of weeks have racked up points in the pollsters heads by showing them something. Or at least that's what suddenly became true yesterday. Yet, Ohio State keeps moving up. Yes, I know they only have one loss, but the same principle should apply to two loss teams. Ohio State finished their schedule early, can't punish them for that. Same with us.
5. The conference champion conundrum. I hear again and again, that there is no playoff, we don't want a playoff, and there shouldn't be a playoff. Okay. If the BCS title game contenders have to have won their conference, doesn't that sound suspiciously like a playoff? More to the point, what happens to teams that are in split conferences like the SEC? UGA gets no shot at LSU, but in the East has a better overall record and equal record in conference to Tennessee. But we lost to Tennessee nine weeks ago. Ipso facto, no championship game.
But if you look at the quality of their last games--LSU v UGA--who looks better? That's what I thought. Plus, ask yourself this, why does winning the conference mean that you are a better team in a world of split conferences, imbalanced schedules, and no head to head victories?
There's also a huge inequality here. If the SEC was not considered such a great conference year in-year out, then we'd be in deep trouble. The Big 10 and the Pac 10--two holdouts on the championship business--not only can sit at home and watch teams implode, but they could potentially actively schedule poor teams at the end so they only take losses early, from which they can recover their national title hopes. Do you think it's an accident Ohio State has done so well in this system? When you don't have to win a one and done playoff, I mean, conference championship, it's a whole lot easier to remain number 1 or 2 the last two weeks of the season.
Finally, we just deserve it. UGA hasn't had a legit title chance in 25 years. At the very least we haven't had a shot at the title game since it's even been invented. We all know that Ohio State is a fraud. Last year that got demonstrated in one quarter. And this team is even worse. The Big Ten was a fraud - see Appalachian State and the conference's inability to acquire ranked teams. And go look up Ohio State's quality wins. Wait... you're back already?
The SEC was the best conference all year. I know it's wrong, but LSU-UGA? No one would vote for it, but LSU has arguably had the best season and UGA was the top two loss team. And last year conclusively proved that the Big Ten - even when good - can get whupped by the SEC. And they weren't good this year.
Either way, put UGA in the game. If you thought they were the fourth best team in the country last week then you've got to think they are one of the top two this week.
|
|
Post a Comment
E-mail To A Friend
Join The List
Technorati Tags
Football Uga Georgia Bcs Title Championship