Last season, the BCS foundations shook after Utah stunned Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and finished the 2008 season with an undefeated record of 13-0. As the only undefeated team in the country, many felt that Utah was snubbed when it was denied entry into the BCS National Championship Game, and then subsequently finished the season as the second-ranked team, behind the one-loss Florida Gators, despite the fact that the Utes had not lost a game all season.
Instead having a clear-cut national champion, as the NCAA may have been able to claim in previous seasons to help justify the BCS format, there was actually a team with a legitimate claim to refute the recognized BCS national champion.
Well, if 2008 was bad, just imagine the media frenzy that will take place in 2009. Although Texas and Alabama are universally recognized as the top two teams in the country, there are FIVE (that’s right, I said FIVE) teams that closed the season undefeated. Because of the BCS matchups, those five teams are GUARANTEED to produce AT LEAST two undefeated teams after the bowls conclude, with the possibility of a third depending on the outcome of the games. In addition to the ‘Bama-Texas Citi BCS national championship game, undefeated TCU plays undefeated Boise State in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and undefeated Cincinnati takes on the one-loss Florida Gators at the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Just because the potential exists for post-BCS drama, though, does not mean BCS organizers are necessarily hiding under their desks. In addition to the potential for drama, the presence of so many undefeated teams in the BCS this season brings the potential for some very exciting matchups. Thanks to the BCS format, TCU and Boise State will actually have the opportunity to play in one of the biggest bowl games in college football. Before the BCS was formed there was no guarantee that those two teams would have had the opportunity to compete in a high-profile bowl game, let alone be featured against each other as one of the premier matchups of the postseason.
Which brings us to our question of the day: Is the fact that five unbeaten teams will enter the BCS bowl games this postseason a good thing for the Bowl Championship Series format, or is it a bad thing?
Opponents of the BCS format will undoubtedly be voicing their disapproval that so many undefeated schools could be excluded from a chance at the National Championship game, but they cannot deny the excitement-factor that exists thanks to the matchups we will all be treated to as a result of the BCS format in place.
Loyal Homer will take the position that having five unbeaten teams eligible for BCS play is a bad thing, Sports Geek will argue that it is actually good for the BCS, and Bleacher Fan will be left to simply sit and ponder the very shocking (and depressing) fact that the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl have become the two LEAST intriguing ‘major’ Bowl Games of the postseason!
FINALLY, we have some worthwhile football to watch this weekend. If last night’s unofficial Pac-10 Championship between Oregon and Oregon State is any indication of what is in store for us this weekend, then we are all in for a treat! With three premier games on the slate – #5 Cincinnati at #15 Pittsburgh for the Big East Championship, #3 Texas versus #22 Nebraska for the Big XII Championship, and #1 Florida versus #2 Alabama for the SEC Championship – Saturday should make for a college football lover’s dream come true!
That is, of course, unless you face a dilemma similar to Bleacher Fan’s this weekend. You see, the Bleacher Fan Clan (without soliciting any actual input from Bleacher Fan) felt that Saturday, December 5th, would be the PERFECT time to embark on an annual holiday tradition. That means that while the rest of America is settling down to enjoy some of the best college football games of the year, Bleacher Fan will be heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols. I, therefore, must choose between the three games and select the one that I most want to watch, sacrificing the other two all because the most enduring traditions of the season are best enjoyed in the warm embrace of kith and kin. Thith THTINKTH!
Fortunately, the decision is not a difficult one. Although the Big XII and Big East Championships should make for outstanding games, neither will be able to match the excitement (or impact) of the National SEC Championship Game.
Any time the top two teams in the nation play it is a game worth watching. This one, however, comes loaded with implications exceeding even those of your “normal” number one versus number two matchup. First, it is a championship game. The winner of the Florida–Alabama game will not only be named the top team in the country but also the 2009 SEC champions (a pretty good title to have when you consider that the last three SEC Champions have also gone on to become national champions).
Second, both teams are virtually GUARANTEED an invitation to the BCS, with the winner being offered the opportunity to play in the national championship game. For people who want to see a college playoff setup, this is about the closest that we can get. Two BCS-caliber teams will take the field with the winner moving along to the national championship game – I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a playoff setting to me!
There is even more at stake, specifically for the Florida Gators who are teetering on the brink of “Dynasty” status. Having already won national championships in 2006 and 2008, the Gators are very close to winning a third title in four years. Depending on the outcome of the other conference championship games, Alabama may be the last REAL opportunity for a school to prevent that from happening. When you consider that the Crimson Tide are conference rivals of the Gators, it is safe to assume that ‘Bama would love nothing more than to be the team that stopped Florida in its tracks.
Neither coach is a stranger to the BCS (Urban Meyer won national championships in 2006 and 2008, and Nick Saban earned one title while head coach of LSU in 2003), and both schools would be worthy representatives from the SEC at the title game in January. All we have to do is sit back and enjoy as these two titans battle it out on the field at the Georgia Dome this Saturday at 4pm. It’s a winner-take-all matchup between the best two teams in the country for the SEC crown and a shot at the national championship – it doesn’t get any better than this!
What do you call it when the first and second place teams face off in a game to determine who the champion of their conference will be? I call it a championship game, and that is precisely the setting for Saturday’s matchup between the #15 Iowa Hawkeyes and the #10 Ohio State Buckeyes!
The Big Ten often takes some heat for not having a formalized “championship” game (even by many of the writers on this site). Hopefully, this de facto championship matchup will help to quiet some of those naysayers, because the word “championship” does not have to be present in the title of a game for it to have a championship feel (and outcome). Simply put, this will by far be the BEST game to watch this weekend, because it will decide a BCS invitation.
Ohio State and Iowa both sit atop the Big Ten standings with conference records of 5-1. That means that the winner of Saturday’s game in Columbus will be in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with only one more game remaining on the season. That GUARANTEES the winner at least a share of the Big Ten Conference crown for the 2009 season. Since both Ohio State and Iowa close the season against relatively weak opponents (Michigan and Minnesota, respectively), though, the likelihood is that the winner of this matchup will finish the season as sole champions of the conference. In addition to guaranteeing at least a share of the Big Ten title, though, the winner also gets to punch their ticket to the BCS. Thanks to the elaborate tiebreaker system in place in the Big Ten, the winner of this game will be guaranteed an invitation to “The Granddaddy of Them All”, the 2010 Rose Bowl game.
When you consider the paths taken for each team to reach this point in the season, you find two VERY different stories.
Ohio State was expected to be in contention for the Big Ten Championship, although the preseason projections were that they would be competing with Penn State for the title, as opposed to Iowa. While the Buckeye offense may have been the subject of much scrutiny and criticism this season, Ohio State’s defense has played quite impressively this year. Even in their losses to Purdue and USC, the defense for Ohio State has played remarkably well. Three of their eight victories this season have been by shutout, and they have won their last three games by a combined score of 107-14.
The Buckeyes did need a little help to get themselves into this situation, however. The loss to Purdue back in October had cost Ohio State their lead in the Big Ten, and if not for a very surprising Iowa loss at the hands of Northwestern last week, the Buckeyes would not be playing for the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
As for the Iowa Hawkeyes, the 2009 season has been full of drama and excitement. The Hawkeyes started their season off by needing not one, but TWO blocked field goals at the end of the game just to save the game against Northern Iowa. The close calls didn’t stop there, though. Iowa has trailed at some point in every single game they have played this season. Despite playing from behind, though, they managed to pull off a major upset victory over Penn State, who at the time was ranked as the fifth best team in the country. They also went on to win several other nail-biters, including games against Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. As a result of those wins, Iowa had managed to climb the national rankings all the way up to the number four spot before finally losing to Northwestern last weekend. With that loss to Northwestern, Iowa had lost any hopes of competing for the National Championship game, but they remain in complete control of their Rose Bowl dreams.
During the game against Northwestern, Iowa suffered a second, very damaging loss when junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi injured his ankle. The injury, which was severe enough to require surgery, will prevent Stanzi from playing against Ohio State this weekend. Without Stanzi under center, Iowa will be forced to start redshirt freshman James Vandenberg on Saturday, which means the Hawkeyes will likely have a much more difficult time in scoring points against the vaunted Ohio State defense.
The setback of losing Stanzi is nothing new for the Hawkeyes, though, who have been used to playing under high-pressure and dire circumstances all season long. If anyone is used to playing with their backs against a wall, it is the Iowa Hawkeyes. For their part, Ohio State has shown vulnerability even in games they should have had well in hand, and so nothing should be taken for granted by either team coming into Saturday’s game.
When you consider everything at stake for this game – A guarantee to be at least co-champions in the Big Ten Conference, with the an automatic BCS Rose Bowl invitation for the winner – the formula adds up to a championship game with a championship atmosphere!
What came first, the sports or the hype? Who knows?! What I do know is that both exist and both need each other to maintain. Hype is perfectly legitimate and necessary to set viewer expectations (pay attention to hype for next Monday’s NFL game on ESPN – is it possible to “sell” the value of Baltimore and Cleveland?) and set the stage for the appearance of drama… even if the whole charade only lasts for half of a quarter. Hype drives sports, and sports rely on hype.
The catchall “sports media” is responsible for creating hype, and therefore value. The Sports Debates is guilty of it as well. Each week the writers here contribute what we believe will be the best game of the coming weekend, and present our arguments backing up that presumption. It is less overt hype, but hype nonetheless.
I have no problem with hype. However, there is value to the comment in the argument from Bleacher Fan that the hype machine tends to overinflate value. That is, rather than excite for a coming reality (the upcoming New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts game will be excellent, for example), hype has been twisted into a warped tool designed to create false value, driven by inherent bias. While Loyal Homer is correct that eyeballs see the details – the eyeball test evaluates teams based on intangibles like hustle and headiness that a computer may never grasp – they also come with bags of unavoidable bias. Therefore the best method for evaluating a college football team involves computers, and a debate win from Bleacher Fan.
In theory the eyeballs seem to be the best method to judge a college football team. The polls seem to get more right than they get wrong, regardless of Bleacher Fan’s astute observations about recent poll missteps. However, it is really not just eyeballs being used to judge a team, who those eyeballs belong to matters as well. A lot. One expert is better at evaluating teams than another. For example, I trust Sports Illustrated writer Stewart Mandel much more than I trust ESPN’s Lou Holtz. Duh. The voting and polling system is fraught with errors from voters who do not deserve the vote (many of the voters on this list of the original voting cast from the 2005 Harris Poll do not deserve a vote because they do not watch and follow college football), do nothing to retain the vote, are not screened for football knowledge to evaluate if they deserve a vote, and in some cases still get a ballot sent to them after they have died, as was the case with the Heisman trophy.
It is not that college football is just wedded to an antiquated approach to things – hence the reason eyeballs are still thought of as a legitimate way to judge the best teams in college football. It is that the entire organization seems immune to criticism when making blatantly obvious mistakes.
Bleacher Fan makes an excellent point, too, about the various types of bias that ultimately obscure the vision of voters. Size matters. Er, rather, MARKET size matters. The more mediums, locations, and distribution channels content can be bought, sold, and distributed, the better for the sports media organizations. Eyeballs exist in this paradigm as well… as in, “how many eyeballs are watching the game, reading the story, or telling their friends to tune in?” And, the more money a sports media organization has, the more biased nimrods they can include on college football hype shows. It is a vicious cycle.
Loyal Homer’s basic argument – that humans are able to be more objective than computers – does not hold water with me. While it is true that eyes can perceive hustle plays that demonstrate why a team goes from good to great, human eyes are never alone. They are unquestionably accompanied by history, bias, geography, allegiance, friendships, appreciation for that coach that always returns your calls or gives you the soundbyte you need, etc. I remember covering a high school baseball team one rainy Spring. After making an in-person visit to practice to grab some quotes and get the low down on the team, my car got stuck in the mud trying to escape the rainy baseball facility. The head coach, coaching staff, and a number of players ran over to push my car out of the mud. I will never forget it. Their kindness was the focus of my next column. While I am not communicating that their kindness bought them long term favor in my eyes, that team got the benefit of the doubt when rumors floated past my ears.
While I do not agree that numbers “cannot be influenced by bias or self-serving interests” as Bleacher Fan stated, computers do offer a certain level of objectivity that lends itself to a better overall product. Sure, people program computers… and computers often reflect the human bias. But, that is why the world has committees!
Weirdly, I personally still believe in the bowl system as being a good thing for college football. I also believe it is a legacy that started small, but has compounded and is – short of an act of Congress – a permanent part of our sports culture. But, when it comes to determining the national championship contenders, perhaps some things ARE better left to machines.
Read the arguments from Bleacher Fan and Loyal Homer about what the best criteria is to judge the ability of a college football team – computer rankings or the “eyeball test.”
History affectionately refers to the team as the 2002 Ohio State “Luckeyes” (it is even in the Urban Dictionary!). Somehow, someway – much like this college football season with the Iowa Hawkeyes… until last week against Northwestern – the team seemed to find exciting and improbabld ways to pull out a win. For the Luckeyes it was a last second pass from Craig Krenzel to the Michael Jenkins against Purdue, or a pass interference call to extend the national championship game and give the Luckeyes the chance to win the game and the season.
The Luckeyes never passed the eyeball test used by fans and savvy members of the media. The method is simple – watch a team and surmise if the team is talented enough to make an impact in the conference or national title race. Does the team do the “little things” well? Does the team play with consistency? Does the team control the line of scrimmage and make key catches to get beyond the stick on third down? The 2002 Luckeyes did… and the computers do not measure that. Until senior quarterback Ricky Stanzi was injured last week, the 2009 Iowa Hawkeyes did as well.
Iowa is a curious case this season. Until the surprising and unfortunate loss at home last week to Northwestern the team was ranked fourth in the country. The computers were very fond of Iowa because of the strength of schedule from its opposing teams. Iowa opponents have tallied a combined 49-35 record this season. While on the surface it may appear as though the Hawkeyes luck through some wins – like many believe the team did in week one versus Northern Iowa – the truth is that the team has played some very talented teams and won more than it lost.
Like the Luckeyes, the Hawkeyes (Lawkeyes??) simply did not pass the eyeball test. But, the computers did love the Luckeyes, and even gave the team a shot against Miami in the title game – eventually. The Luckeyes finished up as national champions. The Hawkeyes’ final chapter from this season is yet to be written, but the team has played excellent opponents and still has the opportunity to make a BCS game with a win over Ohio State – of course – this coming weekend. And, the computers love the strength of schedule.
OR, do the computers have it all wrong? It seems, watching the Hawkeyes play, that the team is just downright lucky against some vastly inferior opponent. Stanzi threw five interceptions against Indiana a week before the Northwestern loss, but the team still managed pull off an incredible come-from-behind victory. The computers just evaluate the wins and losses and strength of schedule. Fans and media can use their eyeballs to determine if a team is able to play with the other elite teams in the country. Many believe teams like the Luckeyes and Iowa are not up to the test.
Therefore, what is the best method for evaluating the quality of a college football team?
Loyal Homer will argue that the best method for evaluating a team’s quality in college football is with the old, tried and true eyeball test. Bleacher Fan will argue that the objective computers more fairly and accurately evaluate the quality of a team.
Perhaps more than any other debate or any other commentary about the BCS, this debate captures true insight into the value of the old way college football functioned and the new way college football now functions.
Fans, media – what is to be trusted more, your eyeballs or the computers? Let the debate commence!
This is a topic that just will not go away. Every time I think and hope it fades away, it pops back up. The topic is similar to another in its persistence – Brett Favre. It is like steroids. It is just a plain ole’ bad penny… it is always showing up! Yes, we are talking about Congress getting involved in sports issues. Either the Mountain West Conference commissioner is presenting a playoff scenario to Congress, or a former beloved slugger shows up on Capitol Hill to say, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” These situations are in addition to the issues and past occurrences brought up by Sports Geek in the debate intro.
Political figures do get involved in sports. While I am always weary of that fact, I do not really have a problem with First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden coming to the World Series tonight, even though I doubt they have any rooting interest in the game. They are, after all, planning on visiting a veteran’s medical center later this afternoon, and they are to be commended for that. But, for Congress to have any say in any sports topics and issues is wrong and totally unnecessary.
I have looked far and wide in researching this particular debate and nowhere did I see that one of the roles of Congress has is to intervene in sports activities. The United States Congress has several powers and all of those powers, either directly or indirectly, are tied to the federal government. The BCS system, and any type of playoff system in college football, have absolutely NOTHING to do with the federal government. Steroids in sports have absolutely NOTHING to do with the federal government.
And before you say it… I will go ahead and say it for you – this is a sports blog and we call it The Sports Debates. It is not The Political Debates and it is not Capitol Hill Debates. In the same sense, Congress is a group of politically-minded men and women. Senators and representatives are experienced at making decisions regarding what they and their constituents believe is best interest of our country. They have studied the numbers and studied the laws of our Constitution. They are well-qualified to make those decisions (well, some of them at least!).
What members of Congress are not qualified to do is make decisions involving athletics and sports. Do members of Congress have time to analyze what is best for a particular sport? Sports Geek, Bleacher Fan, and I watch countless hours of college football and then read numerous articles about what we have watched every week and college football in general. To this day we have yet to figure out the best postseason solution is for college football. What makes members of Congress believe they know the answer
Sports Geek pointed this out in the intro, but it is important to remember that sports, as a whole, are purely a form of entertainment. Yes, jobs are often at stake. But, not to those who are being entertained. My life and well-being as a fan of baseball is not in any danger no matter what MLB does in baseball. Baseball is a form of entertainment and a passion of mine, and it has no business being discussed by Senators and Representatives who are in session.
In case you have not noticed, there are countless other things that DO affect lives and DO affect the well-being of others that need to be addressed while Congress is in session. How about our nation’s unemployment rate during this recession? How about healthcare reform? How about the War in Afghanistan, which began in 2001? Heck, Mark McGwire was still playing in 2001!! These are issues that affect our well-being. Congress, and our government as a whole, needs to protect the citizens of this country so we can enjoy things like sports. The government has their hands on everything else. Can’t the government just leave sports alone? Get your priorities in order Congress!
Read Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan’s arguments for the games they believe are the must watch events of the upcoming weekend.
Up here in the great state of Ohio, where I have just turned the heat on in the office, the briskness of Fall is beginning to creep in through the single-paned windows. That is a signal that football is starting to get good. REALLY, good. Conference play is starting in earnest in college football, and though non-conference snooze-fests are beginning to wind down, one rare remaining meeting bears special attention this weekend – the University of Miami’s visit to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma Sooners.
This game is very important for the Sooners. Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford still is unable to start this weekend while recovering from his shoulder injury. That means Landry Jones (that is a football name if I have ever heard one) will again be under center as the Sooners struggle to preserve their shot at a BCS bowl game. The week one loss to BYU SEEMED as though it would spell the end of the Sooners BCS hopes. But, in the “expect-the-unexpected” nature of modern college football, many teams above the Sooners have lost and the door is open yet again for a BCS game. Thought Miami was trounced a week ago in Blacksburg by Virginia Tech, many still consider Miami a good team. If the Sooners win this game, the team will have reasserted itself as a force in college football with a schedule friendly to BCS re-emergence.
On the other side of the field, there is another week, and another shot at ACC redemption. The ACC is given more opportunities to prove its collective football value each year, and no conference squanders those opportunities like the ACC. This week the conference’s hopes rest on the shoulders of true sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris. Coming off of a dismal and surprising performance last week against the Hokies where Harris committed two turnovers and scored no touchdowns, he told the Associated Press that he alone would shoulder the blame for the loss. Impressive poise apparently is not solely for inside the pocket.
However, Harris is not, in fact, the only ‘Cane to blame for last week’s embarrassment. The ‘Canes missed a whopping 17 tackles last week. If Miami tackles better this week, the Sooners could find their renewed BCS hopes again dashed.
The game will not be easy for the Hurricanes. Not only do they have to travel, they are likely suffering from “really good opponent fatigue.” This weekend’s game will be the team’s fourth consecutive game against a ranked opponent. Not easy for any team or any group of players. It is a particularly grueling schedule for its national visibility, too. A loss hurts Miami’s reputation – and by extension the reputation of the entire conference. A win and the ACC is respected again with Miami as the league’s top dog.
Oklahoma is desperate to hang on to an important victory in their annual March toward playing in the BCS. Miami has more to prove now after last week’s drubbing than ever before. This will be an entertaining game full of big plays and big hits. This is the best game of THIS weekend.
It was 6pm on April 29th, 2010, and I was sitting at my office when my phone rang. It was Loyal Homer, who was very upset because the television show That’s So Raven (which, according to Loyal Homer is the BEST show on television) had been preempted for some “stupid Jonas Brothers thing”. Since Sports Geek was waiting in line somewhere for tickets to the upcoming Adam Lambert concert, I got the call.
After a minute of talking Loyal Homer down from the ledge, the conversation shifted to the topic of how impressed Loyal Homer was that I just KNEW that the Miami Hurricanes vs Virginia Tech matchup back on September 27th, 2009, was going to be the best game of that weekend.
And that was it. The next thing I knew, the FlashForward was over and I was back at my office writing this article.
It got me thinking, though… Why on earthwould I select the Miami vs. Virginia Tech game? The ACC hasn’t been very competitive on a national scope in recent years, and Miami hasn’t been relevant since the 2001 and 2002 seasons (unless you count post-game brawls as being relevant). So what if Miami won their first two games of the season, both against top-25 opponents. Who cares that Miami is back in the top-ten? As for Virginia Tech, what good comes from being the reigning ACC Champions if you follow that up with a week one loss against Alabama, and BARELY squeak by Nebraska in week three of the following season?
UNLESS it was a sign that the ACC is once again becoming a power conference in college football!
Think about it. The ACC currently has four teams sitting in the top-25 rankings, including Miami, who just last week moved to ninth in the nation (and don’t forget Georgia Tech, who WAS ranked in the top-25 until their loss to Miami last weekend).
As for Miami and Virginia Tech, they are turning out to be the class of the ACC this season, and the matchup on Saturday afternoon will likely be the difference maker in who ultimately represents the ACC in the BCS in January. When you consider what Miami and VA Tech have collectively accomplished already, it leaves little doubt that this is not the same caliber of ACC programs that we have all gotten used to seeing over the past few years.
Miami and VA Tech have played a total of five different opponents this season, and of those five opponents, FOUR were ranked in the top-25 nationally. How did they do against those programs? Miami sits at 2-0, and VA Tech at 2-1! That means that Virginia Tech and Miami ALONE have already defeated more top-25 teams (3-1 against the top-25) than the entire Big XII (only ONE win against the current top-25 teams) and the SEC (only TWO wins against the top-25).
Unlike the schools of the SEC and Big XII, the ACC actually challenged themselves this year with very aggressive scheduling. Miami’s first four opponents are each top-25 teams, as are three of VA Tech’s first four opponents. So far, both schools have risen to that challenge, and both have proven that they deserve to be back in the discussion of which are the best schools in the nation.
The best football in the country is being played in the ACC right now, and with the best two schools in that conference facing off against each other on Saturday, THAT is the game that you do not want to miss this weekend!
It is hard to argue against performance on the field. All the posturing, polls, history, and rankings in the world become irrelevant once two teams set foot on the field to play ball.
Just ask Alabama, Oklahoma, UCLA, Washington, Arizona, Virginia, Stanford, Iowa State, Arizona State, Michigan, Oregon State, and Tennessee (whew, that was a long list), all of whom are schools from “power” conferences that have lost to the Mountain West Conference in 2008 and 2009 (so far).
In fact, the Mountain West’s record against the six current automatic-BCS Conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big XII, PAC-10 and SEC) over the past two seasons is the best of any conference in the football bowl sub-division (FBS). Their record of 16-13 against the six power conferences is a greater winning percentage than even the SEC (13-16), and the Big XII (12-14), which are generally regarded as the two best conferences in college football. As for the non-power conferences, the Mountain West is miles ahead of the WAC (6-28), MAC (11-57), Sun-Belt (5-43), and Conference USA (4-44) in quality inter-conference play.
What that means is that the schools in the Mountain West are performing better against the “quality” conferences than any other conference in the nation, INCLUDING those quality conferences themselves.
It is important to note that I am not only speaking about the quantity of wins against the power conferences, though. Some of those wins came against struggling programs (Washington, Iowa State, etc.), but the Mountain West has also beaten some of the best within those conferences. The two most notable examples are when Utah defeated SEC runner-up Alabama (who spent much of the 2008 season ranked as the number one team in the nation) in BCS play last year, and when Brigham Young topped the #3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in week one of the 2009 season.
Need more proof that the Mountain West has performed well enough during this evaluation period to warrant an automatic BCS bid? Look no further than the top ten rankings.
Following the conclusion of the 2008 football season, the top ten spots in college football were owned by five different conferences (each claiming two of the spots). Those conferences were the SEC (Florida and Alabama), Big XII (Texas and Oklahoma), PAC-10 (USC and Oregon), Big Ten (Ohio State and Penn State), and you guessed it – the Mountain West (Utah and TCU). That means that the ACC and Big East (both current BCS conferences) could not even place a single team among the top 10 in the nation (Virginia Tech came closest at #15). As a side note, Utah was also the only team in the entire FBS to finish the season undefeated.
As for 2009, you can expect more of the same. In the most recent rankings for the 2009 season, Brigham Young currently sits among the top ten (ranked at seventh in the nation), with TCU (#16) and Utah (#18) not far behind.
All of those examples point to a single fact – the Mountain West currently is one of the best conferences in college football. They have certainly performed better than the Big East and the ACC, and have arguably been better than the PAC-10 or Big Ten in recent years. They have been the most successful conference in the NCAA when facing the current “power” conferences in football, and their best teams match up just as well as (or better than) the best teams from any other conference in the country (including national championship contenders such as the aforementioned Alabama and Oklahoma).
For the purposes of a BCS evaluation, taking recent history into account is VERY important. The BCS is a system that exists for the sole purpose of ensuring that the best teams in the nation play against each other during the college football bowl season. The best teams and conferences from ten years ago should have no influence on a decision about which team is CURRENTLY playing the best football. Recent history has proven that the Mountain West can be relied upon to consistently produce some of the best teams in college football. It is now time for the BCS to recognize that contribution by guaranteeing a BCS bid for the Mountain West champion every year.
If the BCS truly wishes to provide matchups between the best teams in the country, then the Mountain West MUST be an annual part of those matchups.
No matter how much the fans of the Big Ten, Pac-10, and even the ACC this year would LOVE to disagree, the two most powerful conferences in college football in 2009 are the SEC and the Big XII.
Last season, these teams OWNED the top ten rankings. From the Big XII (South), Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State each spent considerable time in the BCS hunt. Meanwhile in SEC country, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia all took turns at some point during the season respectively ranked as the best team in the nation.
In fact, four of the top five teams in the final BCS standings came from those two conferences, and the National Championship matchup was a clash between SEC champ Florida and Big XII champ Oklahoma. Many also felt that Texas, who only missed the Big XII championship because of a tiebreaker, was JUST as worthy of a national title shot.
The 2008 season was proof of the dominance in college football today by the two most powerful conferences.
After the 2009 preseason polls were announced, it became evident that the experts are expecting more of the same for this upcoming season. Six of the top ten spots in the AP rankings are occupied by schools from those two conferences, including each of the top three spots (Florida
- #1, Texas – #2, and Oklahoma – #3).
But which conference between the SEC and the Big XII is going to be the toughest?
Last year, it appeared that the South division of the Big XII was the deepest, with as many as four teams being ranked in the top ten BCS standings at the same time, but it is the SEC who has claimed the last three national titles, and who are the nearly consensus favorites to win the crown again this season.
Loyal Homer will argue that the SEC is the best conference in college football for the upcoming season. Its continued dominance on the grandest stage has once again set them up as the premier conference.
Sports Geek will argue that the Big XII is the best conference. The level of talent within the Big XII is too deep for the SEC to compete, and 2009 could be the year that the Big XII ends the recent streak of SEC championships.
Posted by Bleacher Fan 
