Michigan vs. Ohio State
There is really only one thing I want to write about Saturday’s big game in college football between Michigan and Ohio State. The loser absolutely should not be allowed to play for the National Championship. With all the tweaking that is done to the Bowl Championship Series formula each year, I can’t believe they haven’t incorporated a penalty or a rule that says if you don’t win your conference, you cannot play for the national championship. If you can’t take care of business during the regular season, why should you be able to play for the championship? How can you be the best in the nation, but not be able to win your conference title?
There are plenty of good teams in the nation this year, and I believe a few could beat Michigan or Ohio State any given week. If you are wondering, that list includes USC, Notre Dame, Florida, Arkansas and, yes, even Rutgers. I think all of those teams would have a legitimate shot at beating one or both of those teams today.
I know some arguments could be made. Like, what if your conference has a championship game after the regular season? Too bad. The winner is getting an extra boost from an extra game. And, chances are it is against a ranked opponent, which could propel it ahead of someone in the BCS rankings who did not get a chance to play an extra game.
Take this year for example, the Southeastern Conference will probably have a championship game where both teams are ranked in the Top 10 (Arkansas and Florida). The winner of that game will certainly get a boost in its computer rankings and probably in the human polls as well (whether it is enough to propel it ahead of someone in the BCS rankings is still a question). The loser, well, if you can’t beat the best in your conference, you probably can’t beat the best in the nation.
A second argument: What if the two best teams in the nation are absolutely from the same conference? Well, this year, they are already going head-to-head once (right at the end of the season), so how much can possibly change between now and Jan. 8? It’s not like either will be playing another game in between with a chance to greatly improve.
Finally, the Big Ten is not as great as everything thinks. It is incredibly top heavy. The top three are good, but that’s it. No one has it ranked as the best conference in the country. The Big East and the SEC both have more top 10 teams than the Big Ten. Ohio State hasn’t played a good team since Sept. 9 when it won on the road at Texas! Michigan hasn’t played a good team since Sept. 23 when it beat Wisconsin!
I am hoping those who vote in polls will ensure this doesn't happen by voting for someone else No. 2 on their ballots after this game.
There are plenty of good teams in the nation this year, and I believe a few could beat Michigan or Ohio State any given week. If you are wondering, that list includes USC, Notre Dame, Florida, Arkansas and, yes, even Rutgers. I think all of those teams would have a legitimate shot at beating one or both of those teams today.
I know some arguments could be made. Like, what if your conference has a championship game after the regular season? Too bad. The winner is getting an extra boost from an extra game. And, chances are it is against a ranked opponent, which could propel it ahead of someone in the BCS rankings who did not get a chance to play an extra game.
Take this year for example, the Southeastern Conference will probably have a championship game where both teams are ranked in the Top 10 (Arkansas and Florida). The winner of that game will certainly get a boost in its computer rankings and probably in the human polls as well (whether it is enough to propel it ahead of someone in the BCS rankings is still a question). The loser, well, if you can’t beat the best in your conference, you probably can’t beat the best in the nation.
A second argument: What if the two best teams in the nation are absolutely from the same conference? Well, this year, they are already going head-to-head once (right at the end of the season), so how much can possibly change between now and Jan. 8? It’s not like either will be playing another game in between with a chance to greatly improve.
Finally, the Big Ten is not as great as everything thinks. It is incredibly top heavy. The top three are good, but that’s it. No one has it ranked as the best conference in the country. The Big East and the SEC both have more top 10 teams than the Big Ten. Ohio State hasn’t played a good team since Sept. 9 when it won on the road at Texas! Michigan hasn’t played a good team since Sept. 23 when it beat Wisconsin!
I am hoping those who vote in polls will ensure this doesn't happen by voting for someone else No. 2 on their ballots after this game.
posted by Steve Bernard @ 6:36 PM
4 Comments:
At 2:46 PM EST,
Anonymous said…
I am sick of hearing about this matchup! I realize it is a big game, but if they played earlier in the year it wouldn't be a big game (for the rest of the country)! I say just wait til the hogs kick the gators in the teeth and launch themselves into the number 2 spot despite USC winning out...
At 10:48 PM EST,
Anonymous said…
What people don't realize is that the Big 10 has historically been a top heavy conference with one or two teams dominating. Just look at a list of championships. Michigan has 42, Ohio State is next with 30, and Minnesota comes in third with 18. The last time Minnesota won a championship was in 1960! Michgan or Ohio St. has won or shared 8 out of the last ten Big 10 championships.
At 2:48 PM EST,
Anonymous said…
I don't think I could disagree more with this. Luckily, I'm bored out of my mind at work today so I've stumbled upon this blog of my former HJS colleage.
(1) Should we kick all the at large teams out of the NCAA Basketball tourny? Or all the wildcard teams out of professional playoffs? If the point of the BCS is to have No. 1 v No. 2, then it shouldnt matter that theyre in the same conference.
(2) You are crazy if you think Rutgers could touch either of those teams... and Notre Dame already had its shot and it got embarrassed, so unless they recruited an entirely new secondary, they might as well skip the national championship.
(3) You finish the whole thing up by contradicting yourself. You say that things couldnt change between a game this week and a game in early Jan, but you already tried to make the "could beat Michigan or OSU any given week" argument before... so can outcomes change week to week or not?
You're usually sound reasoning is lacking on this one...
At 5:21 PM EST,
Steve Bernard said…
Cameraman Kevin - Hey, how are you doing? Thanks for taking some time to read this. While I see some of your points. I think that I should have better clarified the one point about some of those teams beating Michigan or Ohio State - some of the circumstances surrounding how those teams played earlier in the year have changed, i.e. Darren McFadden is fully healthy and was a non-factor in Arkanssas loss to USC the first week of the season. I think that some things can change between September and January, not as much between mid-November and January.
As for your comment, you can't compare college football season to those other leagues. College football has the shortest season and doesn't have playoffs. The regular season here is the de-facto playoffs. If you have a playoff, then you can let more teams in, if not - this game is basically a playoff game and should be treated as such.
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