NCAA football

[Gretzky's Mullet]

One of Dr. Mullet's favourite times of the year, it's coming time for college football's endgame, the controversial but compelling bowl games. There are a lot of really interesting teams in contention this year, and I for one can't wait. First of all, most conferences need to have their championship games, following which the bowls will be seeded. Here are my predictions for the championship games in the AQ conferences.

ACC: (6) Virginia Tech over (18) Clemson

Big 10: (15) Wisconsin over (11) Michigan State

Big 12: (5) Oklahoma State over (12) Oklahoma

Pac 12: (9) Oregon over UCLA

SEC: (1) LSU over (13) Georgia

Big East: no championship game, but I think Cincinnati will end up in first, though I'm not entirely sure what the tiebreaker is and don't care in that stupid conference

If those predictions were to hold the BCS could be:

Rose Bowl: Oregon vs Wisconsin

Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs Stanford

Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs Cincinnati

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs Boise State

Championship: LSU vs Alabama

[Champions of Nothing]

I don't want to see LSU/Alabama again. Enough with the goddam SEC already!

[VanJets]

I don't want to see LSU/Alabama again. Enough with the goddam SEC already!

Why? The SEC has shown time and time again to be the class of college football.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Oregon, and Boise St all had their chance to take that number 2 spot and blew it.

[Tony Romo]

So ive bern foliwing collage football this year. I know their are 4 bowl games at the end of the year and one of them is host to the bcs national championship game.

The thing i domt get is how do they deside who plays in the games and how do they deside the rankings.

Someone please explain

[RUPERTKBD]

I'm a die-hard Sooners fan, but if they lose to state, I'll be pulling for the Cowboys all the way.

BTW: Totally agree with the anybody but the SEC thing.

[GodzillaDeuce]

boo Wisconsin, boo Michigan State

Edited November 27, 2011 by GodzillaDeuce

[Champions of Nothing]

Why? The SEC has shown time and time again to be the class of college football.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Oregon, and Boise St all had their chance to take that number 2 spot and blew it.

Because I don't like any teams from the SEC. Often defensive first teams come out on top and make for boring games (not just refering to the LSU/Bama game).

[Gretzky's Mullet]

I'm in on the whole anti-SEC thing. Very sick of seeing those defensive battles every year, and very sick of the smugness of people in the south when they go on and on about how good their conference is. Who really wants a 9-6 National Championship again. However, I do think it's going to happen. I think the last time I was pulling for an SEC team of any sort was the year the Gators won as an underdog against Ohio State with their trick offence. Tebow was Chris Leak's backup.

I would have loved to see Oklahoma State vs Oregon in the Final. That would be an unbelievable offensive tilt, we'd have been on the edge of our seats all game.

[Gretzky's Mullet]

So ive bern foliwing collage football this year. I know their are 4 bowl games at the end of the year and one of them is host to the bcs national championship game.

The thing i domt get is how do they deside who plays in the games and how do they deside the rankings.

Someone please explain

The system is not a popular one, as teams invariably feel slighted by the bowl choices, so it's controversial at best. And it's very much influenced by sponsor money and power stuggles inside the NCAA. I'm not an advocate for a 16 team playoff as has been suggested, I think they should do an 8 game playoff and there'd still be room for some other non BCS bowls, but I digress.

They actually play five bowl games, one of which is just called the BCS National Championship and is played a week later. The Championship game involves the top two teams in the rankings, which are composed of a few different factors, including a coaches poll, a few silly computer formulas that make very little sense, and I think also the AP poll (this selection process is what meets the most scorn from fans). But the principle of rankings is straightforward: teams that win a lot get to the top, and the stronger opponents you have, the more your victories do for you. So LSU, by virtue of being undefeated and playing in the strongest conference, which right now is the SEC, finishes first. And Alabama should finish second, while they have one loss, it was against no. 1 LSU, and they've beaten everyone else (usually, losing to a higher ranked team doesn't drop you much in the rankings, as it's more just a verification that the original ranking was correct). The interesting part this year, is that LSU has to play Georgia in the SEC championship game, whereas Alabama gets to stay home yet will maintain their no. 2 ranking. If LSU loses to Georgia, they might actually drop, albeit likely no lower than no. 2, but still it's a little silly. But in that game, Georgia will be playing for a berth in the Sugar Bowl.

So the other four games are the BCS bowls (the National Championship game is at a rotating site between the sites of those four games). They are the Rose Bowl game (played in Pasadena, CA), the Sugar Bowl game (played at the Superdome in New Orleans), the Fiesta Bowl game (played in Phoenix, AZ) and the Orange Bowl game (played in Miami). Those games pit some of the rest of the top teams in the country against each other. There is a selection committee, but here's how they're chosen:

Rose Bowl = Pac-12 champions vs Big 10 champions

Orange Bowl = ACC champions vs at large

Fiesta Bowl = Big-12 champions vs at large

Sugar Bowl = SEC champions vs at large

Basically, those conference champions make it unless they're involved in the National Championship, whereupon a different team is chosen, though it's often from the same conference (which was why we had to watch crappy Illinois get pounded by USC in the 2008 Rose Bowl for instance). Those conferences are thus often called automatic qualifiers, "AQ", because automatically one team from each one makes a BCS bowl. The Big East winner also gets an automatic bid, though that's become tenuous lately because that conference has been a joke in recent years (for instance, this year, an unranked team, to be determined, will get a BCS bid from that conference). The other at large bids are based largely on the rankings, so that's how a team like Boise State, who're typically one of the best, gets a shot at BCS bowls, usually very memorable games too. Now that most of those conferences have championship games, it's a better system, because before, the rankings were often a fairly esoteric tiebreaker that teams resented. For example, a couple of years back, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech all tied with the same record, all having a loss that had come at the hands of one of the other two (for example, Texas Tech beat Texas but lost to Oklahoma, who themselves had lost to Texas). However, the selection criteria allows for only two teams per conference I think (although I believe if both are in the national game a third can be chosen, as I think could happen this year, though I'm not 100% sure about that). So based on the rankings, Texas and Oklahoma both got big bowls and Texas Tech didn't.

Edited November 27, 2011 by Gretzky's Mullet

[Tony Romo]

^^^^^

thanks. So basically the top team in each confrense plays in a bowl game unless they make the bsc bowl game.

So with the rankings does it matter how big their wins are?

[Gretzky's Mullet]

^^^^^

thanks. So basically the top team in each confrense plays in a bowl game unless they make the bsc bowl game.

So with the rankings does it matter how big their wins are?

To some extent yes, though a lot of it is subjective and qualitative. I remember a couple of years back where Florida won a game but dropped in the rankings, because they were playing a much inferior opponent and won in less than convincing fashion. Because rankings aren't really standings so much as they are a perception of team quality, a close win against a bad opponent actually makes you look bad. College football typically has a lot of blowouts, as you've probably noticed, because there's very little parity. And most teams in strong conferences see no need to play anyone good, because they figure that their conference schedule is strong enough to make them well regarded, and they don't want to risk losing a game early on by losing to another strong team. So that can kind of ruin the first couple weeks of the season. There are sometimes some exceptions, and oftentimes it actually helps both teams. This year, Oregon went to LSU and lost 40-27 in the first week of the season, and yet Oregon, had they not lost to USC last week, would probably be back in the championship picture in lieu of Alabama, because while that was a loss, the fact that they put up a very competitive effort on the road against the no. 1 team actually works in their favour in the minds of the voters. Conversely, Alabama played and pounded Kent State in that week, but were leapfrogged by LSU who had defeated a strong opponent. The following week, Bama played and beat a ranked opponent (Penn State), while LSU played the weak Northwestern State, so Alabama's quality win jumped them back over LSU. Meanwhile, Oregon, despite two losses, just has to get through the pathetic UCLA in the Pac-12 championship game next weekend to get to the Rose Bowl. They are lucky that USC is bowl ineligible though.

At some point though, a blowout is a blowout. Any win by over 20 points is about the same in the minds of voters, since backups usually get into the game.

[Baercheese]

Go Oregon go!

[Gretzky's Mullet]

Go Oregon go!

Provided they win the Pac-12 game (which they should easily), the Rose Bowl will be an absolute doozy. Either Wisconsin or Mich State will be a compelling opponent for them, and the Rose Bowl will probably be the game to watch. I always really look forward to the Fiesta Bowl, I can't remember the last time that game wasn't amazing.

[VanJets]

I guess I'm in the minority of enjoying defensive football, however I don't think wed have a repeat of the 9-6 game.

[Gretzky's Mullet]

Defensive football is good, but it's nice to see some offence too. A football game without any touchdowns is always a bit of a downer in my view. I also usually like more cerebral football. The SEC tends to trump up how "athletic" their players are, which is fine, but in my experience it usually means they play a brand of football that accentuates athleticism, whereas I prefer a bit more creativity, like you might get in the Pac-12. That's a bit of a stereotype, and I realize not everyone feels that way, but it's something that sometimes tires me about the SEC. I'm also kind of sick about their pompousness too. Obviously it's somewhat deserved, as that conference has provided the National Champion every year since 2005, when Texas won out of the Big-12. But seriously, can't you just let your play do the talking? Two years ago, I was really pulling for something different, but Colt McCoy got hurt early in the game and the Longhorns really didn't have much of a chance against Alabama after that. Last year's game was a pretty exciting one too, Cam Newton for Auburn and the fast paced Oregon offence on the other side. Wanted the Ducks to win, but was entertained all the same.

Edited November 27, 2011 by Gretzky's Mullet

[Gretzky's Mullet]

Current BCS standings out:

1. LSU

2. Alabama

3. Oklahoma St.

4. Stanford

5. Virginia Tech

6. Houston

7. Boise St.

8. Arkansas

9. Oregon

10. Oklahoma

11. Kansas St.

12. South Carolina

13. Michigan St.

14. Georgia

15. Wisconsin

16. Michigan

...beyond which it doesn't matter for BCS selection criteria. So I'm going to revise my bowl predictions. Also I looked up the official criteria, and it turns out the only way a third team from the same conference can get in to a BCS bowl is if they're the conference champion and the other two teams make the National Championship game, which isn't the case for Arkansas this year, so they'll probably go to the top non-BCS bowl instead, in their case probably the Capital One Bowl. Also, for some unfathomable reason, Houston pulled ahead of Boise State in the poll. Yeah, I realize Houston is undefeated, but they haven't played a single good team this year, as their only win against a BCS conference team was against the hugely flawed UCLA. Meanwhile, I think Boise State's one loss to the ranked, and always tough, TCU should be offset by a true quality victory over SEC East Champ Georgia in week 1. Short memories I guess. Provided Southern Miss doesn't upset Houston in the C-USA title game next weekend, we're probably now looking at:

Championship: LSU vs Alabama

Rose: Oregon vs Wisconsin (though the Badgers are obviously in tough against Michigan St in East Lansing)

Fiesta: Oklahoma State vs Houston

Orange: Virginia Tech vs Cincinnati (ugh)

Sugar: Stanford vs...hard to say, but it could, against all odds, be Michigan. This depends strongly on the outcomes of the conference championship games.

[RUPERTKBD]

Hey GM, can the Sooners get into a bowl game if they knock off the Cowboys?

[Champions of Nothing]

It was a tough season for my Longhorns this year. They've always got so much talent but struggles at the QB position after Gilbert left killed them. Hopefully either Case McCoy (Colt's little bro) or David Ash can emerge next season as a leader on the field.

[VanJets]

Defensive football is good, but it's nice to see some offence too. A football game without any touchdowns is always a bit of a downer in my view. I also usually like more cerebral football. The SEC tends to trump up how "athletic" their players are, which is fine, but in my experience it usually means they play a brand of football that accentuates athleticism, whereas I prefer a bit more creativity, like you might get in the Pac-12. That's a bit of a stereotype, and I realize not everyone feels that way, but it's something that sometimes tires me about the SEC. I'm also kind of sick about their pompousness too. Obviously it's somewhat deserved, as that conference has provided the National Champion every year since 2005, when Texas won out of the Big-12. But seriously, can't you just let your play do the talking? Two years ago, I was really pulling for something different, but Colt McCoy got hurt early in the game and the Longhorns really didn't have much of a chance against Alabama after that. Last year's game was a pretty exciting one too, Cam Newton for Auburn and the fast paced Oregon offence on the other side. Wanted the Ducks to win, but was entertained all the same.

You mean Auburn from the SEC

It's funny because Chip Kelly said he could see the score be like 60-58 or something? It turned turned out to be a pretty good defensive battle.

I just hate those games where it's two teams just going back and forth. Defense is apart of the game!

[TrevorForPrimeMinister]

I'm in on the whole anti-SEC thing. Very sick of seeing those defensive battles every year, and very sick of the smugness of people in the south when they go on and on about how good their conference is. Who really wants a 9-6 National Championship again. However, I do think it's going to happen. I think the last time I was pulling for an SEC team of any sort was the year the Gators won as an underdog against Ohio State with their trick offence. Tebow was Chris Leak's backup.

I would have loved to see Oklahoma State vs Oregon in the Final. That would be an unbelievable offensive tilt, we'd have been on the edge of our seats all game.

I'm not an SEC fan by any means, but throw out the polling and ranking system for a minute. The national championship should be the 2 best teams in the country plain and simple, and this year LSU & 'Bama are far and away better than anybody else.

Being a Die Hard Hurricanes fan, these past 8 or so years have been pretty damn rough.. the embarassing loss to ND last year stung and with the self-imposed bowl ban this year,there's really nothing else to do except enjoy the madness in cheering against Nebraska,ND,Florida,FSU & Ohio St.. If Wisconsin ends up in the Rose Bowl like I think they will, I may go down and watch that in Pasadena because i'd have a bunch of friends coming over from Wisconsin to watch it.

Here's how I see it shaking down;

Rose Bowl : Wisconsin vs Oregon [badgers Win]

Fiesta Bowl : Ok. St vs Stanford [Cowboys Win]

Orange Bowl : Virginia Tech vs WVU [Hokies Win]

Sugar Bowl : Houson vs Michigan [Wolverines Win]

National Championship : LSU vs Bama [LSU Win Again]

Edited November 29, 2011 by TrevorForPrimeMinister