Don’t Argue, Just Win!

“Behind every argument is someone’s ignorance.”
–Louis D. Brandeis

I’ve always thought that strength of schedule is the #1, strongest, most equitable way to serve as a tiebreaker between 1-loss teams in college football. It took another perfect storm to get everyone to question the BCS and for me to amend one of my foundations for rewarding teams. No, strength of out-of-conference schedule is no longer my end-all be-all tiebreaker. I never thought I’d have to point this out, but there’s something much more obvious that seems to have been overlooked by both the computers and some of the human voters. Here’s my novel concept: if Team A dominates Team B by 10 points on a neutral field, then they are the better team. Everything else just serves to cloud what should be a crystal clear conclusion.

The argument for Oklahoma is pretty straight forward. They went out and played the harder schedule. Their out of conference schedule included both Cincinnati and TCU. Neither the Bearcats nor the Horned Frogs looked like they could have stopped the Sooners offense even if they had 12 defenders and a coach in their huddle. Not only did Oklahoma win all but one of their games—they dominated.

The problem is that Texas also dominated all but one of their games in arguably the strongest conference in the country this year (yes, better than the almighty SEC). Their one loss came in the last second of a 4-game gauntlet that included Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and finally Texas Tech. To clarify: the Longhorns only loss was at the end of a brutal 4-game stretch, against a rival on the road, in the last second of the game. As far as losses go, the Longhorns loss to the Red Raiders is fairly understandable.

Yet we find ourselves in a situation that would have not one, but TWO teams with the same record getting the invite to the BCS Championship Game while Burnt Orange Nation would be sent to some consolation game. Florida lost at home to an average Ole Miss team. Oklahoma lost to Texas on a neutral field. Texas lost to Texas Tech in Lubbock. Yes, the same Red Raider team that was #6 at the time and climbed as high as #2 nationally. As far as I’m concerned, that would qualify as a quality opponent.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is the USC Trojans. It’s interesting to me that a team that has one of the best defenses I’ve EVER seen at the college level is getting so little love. It’s equally baffling that even with the media’s love fest with everything Pete Carroll; it is USC that is the 1-loss team that’s being overlooked. Lets recap their season—they had one bad half and lost to the 2nd place Pac-10 team on the road. Anyone who watched that game knows who the better team was. It was obvious the Trojans came out flat in the first half and paid dearly for it. Some 18 and 19 year old kids lacked the needed emotion to compete, immediately following the uber-hyped Ohio State game. Looking back, that shouldn’t have been such a shocker. If anyone needs a reminder why EVERY game matters in college football, this would be Exhibit A, B, and C.

But look at the rest of the performances that Southern Cal has dropped on their opponents. Their defense is putting up numbers that are almost hard to believe. Aside from their loss at Oregon State, USC is giving up only 5.9 points per game. They have 3 shutouts and 3 additional games where they only gave up a field goal. If the old adage is “defense wins championships,” then why is everyone talking about the Gators? The best defense resides on the WEST coast and they aren’t even an afterthought for the National Championship. Why is that?

Another thing that I find shocking is that the Big 10 also has a 1-loss team, but it seems like no one remembers that Penn State is also a Division I program. The Nittany Lions can thank the Buckeyes weak BCS performances the last 2 years for the media’s complete lack of respect in regards to their season. They played the same Oregon State team in Happy Valley and blew the game open so early, nobody watched past halftime. Aside from that, they went to Ohio State and beat the Buckeyes who have been the cream of the Big 10 crop for the last few years. Then Michigan State was supposed to pose a problem in their last game of the year; they rebounded from their only loss of the year by beating the #15 Spartans by 31 points. Not a bad way to recover from their only loss of the season that happened on the last play of the game.

But at the end of the day, each and every one of these teams has held their own destiny in their own hands. Win your games and you remove all doubt. Right now, Alabama is the undisputed #1 team in the land. If they win the SEC Championship game on Saturday against Florida (and that’s a big “if”), then they are going to get their shot in the BCS. No one will be talking about their out of conference schedule, no one will be talking about the strength of the SEC West this year and no one will be nit-picking their less-than-impressive victories at home against Kentucky or Ole Miss.

USC can’t complain because they lost to a team that was hammered by Penn State. Texas needed ONE stop at the end of the Texas Tech game and couldn’t get it. Oklahoma needed to show up against Texas, but left their game on the wrong side of the Red River. Florida’s vaunted special teams should have converted all of their extra points. So honestly, if these power houses took care of their own business throughout the season—they wouldn’t be in this situation at the end of the year.

However, I do find it funny that the one team that was blown out is in the best position to profit. Extra-Extra!!! Read All About It: the BCS has flaws!