The BCS stunk worse this year than normal. There was no clear-cut faceoff between #1 and #2. Instead, we had Ohio State (a good choice) and LSU (WHAT???).
LSU was there largely because of their status as champion of the Most Holy of conferences, the SEC.
Yes, LSU won handily, but that proves nothing. Getting hot for one game doesn't mean much. It's how you got there to play it that matters. And in this case, LSU's presence is clear evidence of the disrespect that other conferences, particularly the Big Twelve, are subject to when the BCS say who shalt play for the championship.
How did this conference get named as the Ultimate in the BCS's eyes?
Here's how the typical SEC team does business:
- Schedule non-con creampuffs like Middle Tennessee, Tulane, NE Louisiana, or North Texas, to provide easy non-conference warmups.
- Beat up on the conference doormats. This year, it was Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
- Play .500 against the better teams.
- Stroll into a big fat bowl game secure in the fact that the BCS is wowed by your unbelievable tough schedule.
Big Twelve teams invariably took precipitously deeper after-loss nosedives in the rankings that their vaunted SEC rivals. That's how former #1 and two-loss Missouri ended up destroying the hapless Hogs (remember, creampuff non-cons practically guarantee a record of .500 or better, so most SEC teams are automatically in SOME sort of bowl) in the Cotton Bowl. The team could have been forgiven for saying "thanks, but no thanks" to the consolation game.
To LSU's credit, they did schedule Virginia Tech. But they were very fortunate to play a team still reeling from the tragedy that took place earlier last year on their campus (the Hokies had just squeaked by in an East Carolina home warmup the week before), and whupped them in Baton Rouge.
But there's no justification for letting a two-loss team play in the national championship when a former #1 with ONE loss is in the wings.
Unfortunately, Kansas lost late. But in this football fan's mind, THEY are the #1 team in the nation. They could have dismantled Ohio State as easily as they did the reinvigorated Hokies had they gotten the chance.
Sure, I'd like to see NCAA football playoffs. But the BCS can work.
It has to get over its perception of SEC mightiness that has somehow arisen.
How about strength of schedule relying much more heavily on quality of non-conference foes?
Embattled Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, when questioned before the season about the Hogs' creampuff 2007 non-con schedule, said the SEC is so tough that easy non-conference opponents are a necessity.
Apparently, the BCS agrees wholeheartedly.
