Saturday, October 27, 2012

We Might Need a Playoff ... Now

Playoffs? You kiddin' me? Playoffs?

Well, that "playoff" the college football poobahs are bringing along will be here about two years too late. There's a pretty good chance that four teams from BCS conferences (and that includes Notre Dame) will finish the regular season undefeated.

How good of a chance? Let's put it this way: Of the 18 remaining games that Alabama, Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame have yet to play, in only four where these teams won't be favored by double digits, and only one, where one of those teams might even be an underdog.

That's why the beauty pageant is really going to start in earnest.

For only the third time in BCS history but the second time in four years, there might be at least three undefeated BCS conference winners. In 2004, Auburn was shut out by USC and Oklahoma. In 2009, Alabama and Texas got in, but Cincinnati didn't. So this time, who's going to be left out?

There are six unbeaten teams left in FBS, and interestingly, they represent each of the six BCS conferences, with Notre Dame standing in for its future non-football home of ACC. Ohio State is ineligible to win the Big Ten but remains in the running to win the AP national title (that's a topic for another day), but the other five teams all still have aspirations for the two spots in the BCS title game.

Projected BCS standings:

1. Alabama, 2. Kansas State, 3. Notre Dame, 4. Oregon, 5. Georgia, 6. Florida, 7. LSU, 8. Oklahoma, 9. South Carolina, 10. Louisville, 11. Florida State, 12. Stanford, 13. Oregon State, 14. Clemson, 15. Mississippi State.

17 comments:

Kharry231 said...

Such crap. Oregon Should be ahead of both of them. Oregon is clearly better than both of them!

Anonymous said...

Minor correction--Cincinnati got left out in '09 in favor of Texas and Alabama. That was the same year that both Boise State and TCU were undefeated. '09 was spared even more chaos when Iowa lost two close November games after their starting QB got hurt.

Anonymous said...

Kharry, Very intelligent comment. I like all the facts you used to back up your opinion. Reminder: future strength of schedule does not matter today. Who has Oregon beaten? I agree with the guru on the top 5. Thanks for your projections!

The Guru said...

Thank you very much for that correction. I've fixed it.

Anonymous said...

Jesus, the SEC is overrated this year. Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are Top 20 teams, not Top 10. They always benefit from some bias but this year is ridiculous. Obviously the result is that wins are over-credited and losses are excused away. The self-fulfilling-circle-jerk continues...

Anonymous said...

Here we go again, SEC bias, it's like oh a #2 and #10 play, the #10 team wins and so they switch places, next week the new #10 team wins and beats the #2, so they switch again, it's a never ending circle of parody, before today who has Alabama beaten? No one! But they are always gonna be the unanimous #1, they could lose 2 games and still be #1, may be an exaggeration but sure seems correct, Oregon has absolutely dominated on both sides of the ball then-ranked teams, no freaking duh once you beat a ranked team they won't have the same ranking, by the end of the year Oregon will have beaten 5 ranked teams, maybe 6 depending on the PAC 12 championship game, and sorry K-State has played some crappy defenses, how can you even give credit for their win at WVU?? Now that defense is way past mediocre, I'm sorry when was the last time an SEC team put up 56 in a half? Oh that's right, that would be never, it oregon kept in their starters they were on pace to score over 100, so stop with the bias and give Oregon some credit, and yeah at least I was able to back it up with facts, have a nice day

Anonymous said...

Uhhhh, KState beat WVU 55-14.

Anonymous said...

He said in a HALF, genius.

Dean Jameson said...

K-State (and all the other top 10 teams) could put up 56 in a half on Colorado. They're pitiful.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I like Oregon and sure many teams are capable of putting of putting up eight scores in the 1st half against a weak team. Unfortunately that means very little until they get into the tougher part of their schedule. Until another conference steps up, SEC will always be given the benefit of doubt in the early polls. So tune back in 2-3 weeks from now and then we'll talk.

Anonymous said...

RIP BCS System. You won't be missed.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, some one doesn't appreciate defense. While the Plucks run their system better than anyone, they are far from dominant on the defensive side off the ball. They are slightly above average at best. Even after playing the worst team in college football, the Quacks are only ranked 35th in total D, 39th in rush D and 45th in pass D. Are you reallygoing to tout 56pts in a half against Colorado as something to be proud of?

The SEC doesn't score 56pts in a half because they don't need to get style points to bolster their rankings. 10 pts is plenty when you hold your opponents to just over 8 like Bama does, but even at that they still score 30+ per game.

Anonymous said...

I love Oregon and would like to see them win the whole thing, but we are in week 9 and they have played nobody. zero. zilch, worth commenting on when compared to an SEC schedule, ND, or even K-State.

Anonymous said...

How could anyone put KState ahead of ND? ND beat OU more convincingly and by all SOS ratings has a stronger schedule thus far.

Anonymous said...

There are certainly some valid points being made by some of the posters here (particularly the ones who made logical arguments backed up by statistics, kudos). Here are some other pertinent facts that everyone might consider...

In the bcs era (flawed yes) here is how things have played out. SEC = 8 championships, 16 bcs bowl wins (most by far). Big ten = most appearances 24, and most wins by team OH ST, 6. Other conferences = basically squat.

I am NOT in SEC country (Big Ten grad) and I hate to admit that the SEC bias is deserved, but it isn't really too hard to understand why it is. THAT SAID, this year the SEC is softer than usual besides Bama (who I despise.) They have been just as dominant as Oregon (who I love) or K st. ND has won some really close games to teams that were overrated not to mention the "controversial" win against Stanford. How about that bias??? Im sorry but I think that Oregon and K St both look like they would smear ND, too bad they won't get a chance.

I think that if all 4 win out, Oregon vs K st for title, Bama vs ND in the boring bowl. Yeah D-fence wins but I don't wanna see another 6-9 snooze fest. Besides the SEC can afford to step out of the lime light once in the BCS era. If you haven't noticed I hate ND more than any other team, period. Worst fans, horrible city, NBC sponsered, pretentious a** hats. In state rivals and yes they always beat us, fine, but have some class South Bend.

Anonymous said...

Oregon's defensive numbers rank 3rd in the country when the game is within 28 points. Behind #1 BAMA and #2 LSU...their 3's and 4's play the second half which skews the numbers.

Clark said...

Oregon's defense is ranked in the 30s and 40s only because their reserves spend so much of the second half on the field. Week after week they build HUGE leads in the first half and sit everyone in the second half.

As to the idea that any great team could score 56 points in a half against a bad team like Colorado:
Alabama hasn't put up 56 in a game against anyone yet this year. Against Western Kentucky they had 21. Against FAU they had 30.
Same goes for Kansas St. They have scored 50 points 5 times this season, and did get 56 against a bad Kansas team. Against Missouri State they had 9 at the half, and against North Texas they had 14. Don't tell me that those two teams are significantly better than Colorado!

That's not to say that Alabama and K-State aren't very good teams. The real point here is that scoring 56 points in a half is very, very difficult. If you force a 3 and out on every defensive possession (which takes a good defense), the other team can still easily run 2 minutes off the clock, which is 16 minutes of the half already gone. Which leaves your team with 14 minutes to make 8 TD drives. Few offenses are capable of that in the way that Oregon is. Against WSU they scored 6 times in under 2 minutes, and all 8 scores took less than 3. Whether quick-strike offenses are good or bad is open to debate, but I'm not sure any other team in the country is capable of scoring at the rate Oregon does.

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