Easiest Schedules for 2014 Title Contenders

Last week we ranked the toughest schedules for teams with legitimate aspirations of making the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2014. Of course, it makes sense to find out which teams have the easiest schedules.

We had previously ranked the strength of out-of-conference (OOC) schedules for all 124 conference teams (see complete list). While this is revealing, it must be used in conjunction with these teams' conference schedules to get the complete picture. Conference schedules, you see, are not created equal—even for teams playing within the same division of a conference.

That's why while defending SEC champion Auburn is judged to have the toughest schedule among national title contenders in 2014, its intrastate and SEC West rival, Alabama, actually has one of the easiest. And while USC and UCLA have schedules listed among the top five toughest, another Pac-12 South team made the list of the 10 easiest.

The Big Ten was the only "Big Five" conference missing from the top 10 toughest list, so it should be no surprise that three of its teams found their way to the top 10 easiest list. This is despite two of them playing high-profile nonconference games early in the season—it just reinforces the weakness of the conference overall, particularly with a new divisional alignment after the additions of Maryland and Rutgers.

Here are the top five easiest schedules for 2014. Keep in mind that only teams projected to make a run for the four-team College Football Playoff field are listed, so you won't find any Sun Belt or MAC teams here:

Easiest Schedules for 2014 Title Contenders (1-5)

Rank	Team	OOC Rank	Road	Notable Games
1	Oklahoma	101	5	Texas*, KSU, Bay, OKSt
2	Alabama	119	5	WVU*, A&M, @LSU, Aub
3	Ohio St.	32	4	VT, @PSU, @MSU, Mich
4	BYU	-	6	@Texas, @UCF, @Boise
5	Wisconsin	59	5	LSU*, Neb, @Iowa

Don't be surprised to find Oklahoma and Alabama in a rematch of last season's Sugar Bowl, but in 2014 in a game with more importance. Both teams basically have cakewalk OOC schedules and should be favored to win every game on their overall schedules—most by double digits.

The Sooners, aside from the annual Red River Shootout in Dallas against Texas, play all of their toughest Big 12 foes at home. The Tide once again will miss all of SEC East's best teams (Missouri, South Carolina and Georgia) and play just one dangerous opponent (LSU) on the road.

And then there's the case of independent BYU, which should not be counted out as a dark horse for a playoff spot. The Cougars play just enough high-profile teams to matter, headlined by a showdown with Texas—a team they utterly destroyed last year in Provo. They can conceivably go 12-0 if they win their three marquee road games.

Here are the next five:

Easiest Schedules for 2014 Title Contenders (6-10)

Rank	Team	OOC Rank	Road	Notable Games
6	Missouri	23	5	UCF, @SCar, UGA, @A&M
7	Oregon	78	5	MSU, @UCLA, Stan, @OreSt
8	Michigan St.	88	5	Ore, Neb, Mich, Ohio St
9	Baylor	105	5	@Texas, @OU, OKSt, KSU
10	Arizona St.	111	6	UCLA, @USC, Stan, ND

Besides BYU, there are two teams each from the SEC, Pac-12 and Big 12 (and none from the ACC) on this top 10 list. The Big Ten landed the most with three teams, despite two of them opening the season with OOC games against potential top-10 opponents.

Ohio State has a great shot to go through a third straight regular season unbeaten, with its stiffest challenge on the road at Michigan State. The Spartans have a September date with Oregon, but if they can run the table the rest of the way they should still be in good shape to make the CFP playoff field. Wisconsin does not play either OSU or MSU, so even a loss to LSU in the season opener might not kill its title hopes.

Pac-12 teams in general have the most difficult schedules because it's the only conference that plays nine conference games plus a title game. Nevertheless, Oregon lands on the list since its two biggest games—Michigan State and Stanford—are at home and the Ducks don't face USC and Arizona State in the regular season.

BCS Review Series: 2013, FSU Ends SEC's 7-Year Reign

Part 16 of a series: This is the final installment of a series reviewing each of the 16 seasons since the Bowl Championship Series came into existence in 1998. The articles are a look back at who got lucky, who got robbed, what could've been, what should've been and other controversies of the day. 

Part 1: 1998, A New Beginning for College Football

Part 2: 1999, FSU Ends Michael Vick's Quest for Perfection

Part 3: 2000, FSU-Miami Sows Seeds of Controversy

Part 4: 2001, Nebraska Fiasco Rocks College Football

Part 5: 2002, Controversy on Field Mars Perfect Ending

Part 6: 2003, Nightmare of Split National Championship

Part 7: 2004, Unbeaten Auburn Left Out in the Cold

Part 8: 2005, Perfect Season Ends With Epic at Rose Bowl

Part 9: 2006, Dawn of SEC's Reign in College Football

Part 10: 2007, LSU Goes "Undefeated in Regulation"

Part 11: 2008, SEC Wins in Polls, Then on the Field

Part 12: 2009, Alabama, Texas More Equal Than Others

Part 13: 2010, SEC and Pac-10 Finally Get Together

Part 14: 2011, LSU Robbed of Title in All-SEC Absurdity

Part 15: 2012, Notre Dame's Last Shot at BCS Glory

---

The 2013 season was a funeral procession for the Bowl Championship Series. By the time the season started, everyone knew the BCS was going away, to be replaced by the newfangled College Football Playoff. The rest was just details.

Throughout the season, little tidbits about the new CFP would trickle out—how the playoff teams would be picked, who will be on the 13-person committee, where would the championship game be held, among other things. While Condolezza Rice got plenty of love and hate for being on the exclusive selection committee, the final BCS season marched on, noisily and gloriously.

Alabama was presumed to be in the BCS title game for a shot to go for an unprecedented third consecutive national championship. Other than another shootout with Johnny Football early in the season, the Tide steamrolled through their schedule until a showdown with an unlikely obstacle in Auburn.

The Tigers, under first-year coach Gus Malzahn, had survived one close call after another—particularly against Georgia—to arrive at the Iron Bowl with their own shot at winning the SEC West. It took perhaps the best final play in the history of college football (sorry, The Play), but the now immortalized Kick Six effectively ended the Alabama dynasty.

After defeating Missouri in a wild conference championship game, Auburn carried with it two streaks into the BCS title game—the SEC's seven-year reign as BCS champions as well as the state of Alabama's four-year ownership of the crystal ball.

The man charged with ending those streaks happened to be intimately familiar with the SEC. Jimbo Fisher was the quarterbacks coach at Auburn and then an assistant under Nick Saban at LSU before being tasked to rebuilt a floundering former dynasty at Florida State. He launched a SEC-esque powerhouse in the ACC, with top athletes, a stout defense, and an irrepressible freshman quarterback named Jameis Winston.

While Winston encountered little resistance on the field in leading FSU to one rout after another, his season (and career) was put in jeopardy when a year-old allegation of sexual assault surfaced during the season. He was cleared just days before the ACC championship game, and he would go on to lead the 'Noles to a blowout of Duke and pick up the Heisman Trophy in the process.

The BCS era then ended on a high note. On a glorious January evening at the Rose Bowl, FSU charged back from an early 21-3 deficit and scored the winning touchdown with just 13 seconds left when Winston found Kelvin Benjamin in the back of the end zone. An old power that dominated at the advent of the BCS was back on top of college football again, just in time for the dawn of a new era.


Final BCS standings: 1. Florida State, 2. Auburn, 3. Alabama, 4. Michigan State, 5. Stanford.

Likely four-team playoff: Florida State vs. Stanford; Auburn vs. Michigan State.

What would the committee do? They wouldn't say, but had the members revealed their hypothetical CFP matchups for 2013, we'd have gotten a good idea on just how much weight they would assign to winning the conference championship.


Controversies

Demise of non-AQ conferences: The formation of super-power conferences was probably the most significant legacy of the BCS. At the end of the era, there were just five major conferences, with all the also-rans picked clean.

Utah and TCU, both appeared in multiple BCS bowl games as non-AQ members, now reside in the Pac-12 and Big 12, respectively. Boise State's unique run as an annual BCS buster likely came to an end when coach Chris Petersen left for Washington. The former Big East is trying to stay relevant after rebranding as American Athletic, but it's susceptible to further poaching of its most high-profile members.

In 2013, both Fresno State and Northern Illinois made a run for a BCS bowl berth. Ultimately both teams lost a late-season game to blow their chances. But as an illustration of the gaps now exist between the haves and have-nots, both teams were unable to even come away with a win in second-tier bowl games.

Sugar Bowl takes OU over UO: Oregon had looked, for most of the season, the team most likely to challenge Alabama for the BCS title. Two late-season losses denied the Ducks a chance to win the Pac-12, though they were still very much in the hunt for a fifth consecutive BCS bowl berth.

At the end, politics trumped all other considerations. The Sugar Bowl, about to begin a relationship with the Big 12 in the CFP, opted to honor those ties a year early by taking Oklahoma to face Alabama. Oregon was left with an Alamo Bowl invitation to face Texas.

Despite predictions of a major blowout, the Sugar Bowl instead showcased a stunning upset. The huge underdog Sooners rattled Alabama early and held on late to end the Tide's season with two consecutive losses.

2013 BCS Bowl Matchups

Bowl	Score	Attendance	TV Rating
BCS Champ*	#1 Florida St. 34, #2 Auburn 31	94,208	14.8
Rose Bowl	#4 Michigan St. 24, #5 Stanford 20	95,173	10.2
Sugar Bowl	#11 Oklahoma 45, #3 Alabama 31	70,473	9.3
Orange Bowl	#12 Clemson 40, #7 Ohio St. 35	72,080	6.7
Fiesta Bowl	#15 UCF 52, #6 Baylor 42	65,172	6.6

Final analysis: Much derided and little loved, the BCS evolved over its 16-year existence to gain grudging legitimacy at the end. With the standings formula unchanged after the 2003 season, it was for the most part transparent and predictable.

The same cannot be said for the CFP, especially in its initial season of 2014, when little is known about the selection process, which will be entirely decided by the 13-person committee. Even with the promised release of four standings in the second half of the season, no one can be remotely sure how the four-team field will be chosen until it is revealed the day after the regular season ends.

For better or worse, the BCS made college football truly a national sport by intersecting regional interests throughout the regular season. And more importantly, it bestowed ever more clout and made enormous amounts of cash for the power conferences. For some, it was a "golden era" indeed.

BCS Review Series: 2012, Notre Dame's Last Shot at Glory

Part 15 of a series: Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing each of the 16 seasons since the Bowl Championship Series came into existence in 1998. Here is a look back at who got lucky, who got robbed, what could've been, what should've been and other controversies of the day. The series will appear throughout December and January.

Part 1: 1998, A New Beginning for College Football

Part 2: 1999, FSU Ends Michael Vick's Quest for Perfection

Part 3: 2000, FSU-Miami Sows Seeds of Controversy

Part 4: 2001, Nebraska Fiasco Rocks College Football

Part 5: 2002, Controversy on Field Mars Perfect Ending

Part 6: 2003, Nightmare of Split National Championship

Part 7: 2004, Unbeaten Auburn Left Out in the Cold

Part 8: 2005, Perfect Season Ends With Epic at Rose Bowl

Part 9: 2006, Dawn of SEC's Reign in College Football

Part 10: 2007, LSU Goes "Undefeated in Regulation"

Part 11: 2008, SEC Wins in Polls, Then on the Field

Part 12: 2009, Alabama, Texas More Equal Than Others

Part 13: 2010, SEC and Pac-10 Finally Get Together

Part 14: 2011, LSU Robbed of Title in All-SEC Absurdity

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Make no mistake, the BCS era did not destroy the Notre Dame brand.

Still the biggest name in college football, Notre Dame just signed the richest college apparel deal with Under Armour, worth $90 million over 10 years. Its exclusive TV contract with NBC will be running for 35 years when the current agreement expires in 2025. And in the fiscal year ending in June 2013, the school made about $20 million in revenue from its athletics programs, all of it from football.

But the championship trophy case under the watchful eyes of Touchdown Jesus remains unreplenished since 1988, when Notre Dame last won a national championship in football. And as the BCS era ended after the 2013 season, the Irish not only got a goose egg in terms of titles, they didn't even have a single BCS bowl win to show for it.

Notre Dame had its last shot at BCS glory in the 2012 season, when third-year coach Brian Kelly put together a talented roster that managed to negotiate a brutal regular-season schedule unscathed. But as further evidence that their football gravitas has seriously waned in the age of power conferences, the Irish needed all kinds of help to finally make it to the BCS title game.

Though they remained undefeated, for most of the second half of the season the Irish were behind three other teams in the BCS standings, seemingly consigned to yet another BCS bowl and not a place in the BCS title game. But in a span of two weeks, that all changed.

First, Alabama lost to Texas A&M as America was formally introduced to the powers of Johnny Football. (Amazingly, the Tide dropped only three spots to No. 4 after the loss—now, that's gravitas.) Then, on the following Saturday, both Oregon and Kansas State fell in games they were heavily favored, opening the door for the Irish to ascend to No. 1.

Also on that same day, USC's four-year starting quarterback Matt Barkley was knocked out by UCLA on a brutal hit, rendering him unavailable for the following week's game against Notre Dame. The Irish took full advantage as their defense, led by Heisman runnerup Manti Te'o, throttled the Trojans with a 22-13 victory, securing their first shot at a BCS championship.

But as we learned later, Te'o's fake girlfriend saga started to unravel in the intervening 50-plus days between the USC game and the BCS title game against Alabama. With their star linebacker a non-factor, the Irish were thoroughly outclassed as the Tide rolled to their second consecutive BCS title.

Notre Dame's bid to return to glory fell well short, as it finished the BCS era 0-4 in BCS bowl games. The Irish were the only program that came up winless among teams with at least three BCS bowl appearances, and they lost those four games by a staggering aggregate score of 158-57, never coming closer than two touchdowns in any of the losses.

Final BCS standings: 1. Notre Dame, 2. Alabama, 3. Florida, 4. Oregon, 5. Kansas State.

Likely four-team playoff: Notre Dame vs. Kansas State; Alabama vs. Stanford.

Despite having superior computer rankings, Florida and Oregon would've been left out because the three teams other than Notre Dame were all conference champions.


Controversies

Another free pass for 'Bama: For the second year in a row, the Tide lost a game in November and never dropped out of the top four and returned to the top two within two weeks. Whereas the loss in 2011 was to No. 1 LSU, the 2012 loss was to two-loss Texas A&M, ranked outside of the top 10, and at home.

Alabama was the beneficiary of now an overwhelming media narrative of the SEC's superiority. With conference teams routinely taking up half of the top 10, any losses within the SEC would not be punished in the polls the same way as did teams from other conferences. Oregon lost in overtime to Stanford for its only loss of the season but would never get the same reprieve.

Did Northern Illinois Belong?: For the first time, a non-AQ team qualified for a BCS bowl berth despite not going undefeated. Northern Illinois had an early-season loss to Iowa but then ran the table and won the MAC title. Still, the Huskies were a longshot to make a BCS bowl a week before the end of the season. At No. 21, they were five spots short of the top 16 qualifying threshold.

Then a series of upsets, particularly Nebraska's blowout loss in the Big Ten title game against Wisconsin, opened the door for NIU, which finished at No. 15 in the final BCS standings. While a number of pundits derided their inclusion, the Huskies were ranked ahead of both the Big Ten and Big East (Louisville) champions.

NIU faced Florida State in the Orange Bowl, keeping the game close until two fourth-quarter FSU touchdowns made the final score 31-10. It was only the second loss by a non-AQ team against a BCS opponent, but the deceiving score would prove to have a negative impact on the Huskies the very next season.

2012 BCS Bowl Matchups

Bowl	Score	Attendance	TV Rating
BCS Champ*	#2 Alabama 42, #1 Notre Dame 14	80,120	15.1
Rose Bowl	#6 Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14	93,359	9.4
Fiesta Bowl	#4 Oregon 35, #5 Kansas State 17	70,242	7.4
Sugar Bowl	#21 Louisville 33, #3 Florida 23	54,178	6.2
Orange Bowl	#12 Florida St. 31, #15 N. Illinois 10	72,073	6.1

Final analysis: Alabama became the first team to win consecutive BCS titles, even though it lost a game in each of those two seasons. But the narrative has now been firmly shaped, and only reinforced by the Tide's rout of the Irish.

It was the seventh consecutive BCS title for an SEC team, which now had nine BCS titles (in 15 years) without losing a game against non-SEC opponents. The Tide's dynasty also appeared to be working toward its zenith, with senior quarterback A.J. McCarron returning for an unprecedented three-peat.

The end of the BCS era, though, was now in sight as a new postseason format came into focus. The crystal ball, the BCS standings and a way of life for college football were about to have one swan song season before being packed off to make way for the brilliantly named College Football Playoff.

BCS Review Series: 2011, LSU Robbed in All-SEC Absurdity

Part 14 of a series: Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing each of the 16 seasons since the Bowl Championship Series came into existence in 1998. Here is a look back at who got lucky, who got robbed, what could've been, what should've been and other controversies of the day. The series will appear throughout December and January.

Part 1: 1998, A New Beginning for College Football

Part 2: 1999, FSU Ends Michael Vick's Quest for Perfection

Part 3: 2000, FSU-Miami Sows Seeds of Controversy

Part 4: 2001, Nebraska Fiasco Rocks College Football

Part 5: 2002, Controversy on Field Mars Perfect Ending

Part 6: 2003, Nightmare of Split National Championship

Part 7: 2004, Unbeaten Auburn Left Out in the Cold

Part 8: 2005, Perfect Season Ends With Epic at Rose Bowl

Part 9: 2006, Dawn of SEC's Reign in College Football

Part 10: 2007, LSU Goes "Undefeated in Regulation"

Part 11: 2008, SEC Wins in Polls, Then on the Field

Part 12: 2009, Alabama, Texas More Equal Than Others

Part 13: 2010, SEC and Pac-10 Finally Get Together

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The 2011 season was where the BCS got it all wrong.

And the victim that suffered the most amount of injustice was actually an SEC team—LSU.

The Tigers of 2011 put up possibly the most impressive resume of any team in the BCS era. They defeated five teams with at least 10 wins. They beat three teams that went on to play in BCS bowl games. And they became the first (and only) team to score a perfect 1.000 in the final BCS standings since the format was adopted in 2004.

Yet, thanks to the combination of a giant loophole that the BCS never closed and the media-driven groupthink mentality amongst the voters, LSU was forced to play a conference team that it had already defeated during the regular season—on the road, no less.

Alabama might have won the 2011 BCS title, but its place in the championship game was so richly undeserved. Let us count the ways:

1. Championship loophole: In both 2001 (Nebraska) and 2003 (Oklahoma), a team that failed to win its conference somehow ended up in the BCS title game. After each instance, an argument was made that a conference title should be mandatory for teams playing for the national championship.

That reasoning had both logical and historical roots. Every national championship team since the AP began publishing its final poll after bowl games in 1968 was a conference champion, all the way until the advent of the BCS era in 1998. Conference title was a requirement for teams to qualify for the biggest bowl games.

Yet, in 2011, Alabama didn't win its own division, never mind the conference, since it didn't even qualify for the SEC title game.

2. BCS precedent: Without the conference title requirement, it was up to the voters to decide the top two teams in the final BCS standings—an established fact after the formula was tweaked in 2004. Their only guideline was that the finalists be the nebulous "best two teams."

In 2006, they correctly averted rematching Ohio State and Michigan in the title game, even though the Big Ten rivals were Nos. 1 and 2 going into the final weeks of the season. The voters bought into the SEC argument (loudly advocated on CBS by Gary Danielson) that it was not possible to determine the best two teams in the nation if they were both from the same conference.

But in 2011, most of the voters forgot all about that after being brain-washed by the SEC dominance over the past five years.

3. Strength of schedule: Alabama's main competition was Oklahoma State, which lost out on the absurdity of the argument that one bad loss trumps all good wins.

The Cowboys' only loss of the season was to 6-6 Iowa State on the road in overtime whereas the Tide's only loss was to LSU at home in overtime. Yet, OSU had a higher computer ranking, having defeated four teams with at least nine wins, whereas 'Bama beat just two. OSU ended up losing the argument because it played in the underrated (by the human voters) Big 12.

Alabama also played one of the weakest schedules of any teams appearing in the BCS title games. Because it got to skip the SEC title game entirely, it played only nine and won only eight games against BCS conference opponents—in both cases the fewest of any team that won the title in the BCS era.

4. Post-hoc fallacy: Because Alabama did beat LSU, 21-0, in a snooze of a championship game, does that mean its selection was vindicated? Most definitely not.

The Crimson Tide were well-prepared to play in the championship game after getting an unearned reprieve. But that they played well was irrelevant because they shouldn't have been in there in the first place. SEC apologists like to excuse its teams' poor performances in big bowl games due to lack of interest (see, Alabama, in 2009 and 2014 Sugar Bowl), but if they win it just affirmed the conference's superiority.

In 2011, they wanted that argument to go both ways.

Final 2011 BCS Standings: 1. LSU, 2. Alabama, 3. Oklahoma State.

Likely four-team playoff: LSU vs. Alabama; Oklahoma State vs. Oregon.

The rematch would've been accepted here with the Tide no better than a No. 4 seed since they were the only non-champion in the field. Oregon would've gotten the nod over Stanford despite having one more loss because it beat the Cardinal and won the Pac-12.

Controversies

Boise State Snub III: Whereas conference championship was not required for teams to play in the BCS title game, that requirement was iron-clad for non-AQ teams wishing to participate in a BCS bowl game.

For the second year in a row, Boise State lost its only game in a heartbreaker when its kicker missed a field goal at the end of regulation. This time, in their first year as a member of the Mountain West Conference, the 36-35 loss to TCU cost them the conference title.

As a result, despite finishing No. 7 in the final BCS standings, well ahead of three BCS conference champions (Big Ten, ACC and Big East), Boise State was snubbed again by the BCS bowls. The Sugar Bowl opted to match up No. 11 Virginia Tech with No. 13 Michigan, with neither a conference winner. The Broncos were relegated to play in the Las Vegas Bowl for a second straight year.

K-State Snub V: Bill Snyder returned to Manhattan and rebuilt the Wildcats program a second time, only to find that the BCS was just as inhospitable as when he left it the first time.

Kansas State was snubbed for a BCS bowl berth for a fifth time after finishing in the top 10 in the final standings. Just as No. 7 Boise State was bypassed by the Sugar Bowl, the eighth-ranked Wildcats ended up in the Cotton Bowl. K-State never received an at-large berth in the entire BCS era, as its two BCS bowl appearances (2003 and 2012) both came after winning the Big 12 title.

2011 BCS Bowl Matchups

Bowl	Score	Attendance	TV Rating
BCS Champ*	#2 Alabama 21, #1 LSU 0	78,237	16.2
Rose	#5 Oregon 45, #10 Wisconsin 38	91,245	11.8
Fiesta	#3 Oklahoma St. 41, #4 Stanford 38 (OT)	69,927	9.7
Sugar	#13 Michigan 23, #11 Va. Tech 20 (OT)	64,512	7.1
Orange	#23 West Virginia 70, #15 Clemson 33	67,563	5.3

Final analysis: Like it or not, Alabama's 2011 BCS title must come with an asterisk.

Unlike Nebraska in 2001 and Oklahoma in 2003, the Tide did win the BCS title game and took home the crystal ball. Their second championship in three years left no doubt that Nick Saban was building a budding dynasty, but doubts sprung anew about the viability of the BCS.

It has become clear to many of the BCS critics that the entire apparatus, built by its SEC godfather Roy Kramer, had become inexorably tilted in favor of his old conference both in perception and in practice. Its influence now extended to the AP poll, which had a chance to exercise its own independence, but declined. In the final poll, 55 of the 60 voters ranked Alabama No. 1 while four went with Oklahoma State.

The SEC's takeover of college football was now complete.

BCS Review Series: 2010, SEC and Pac-10 Finally Have a Date

Part 13 of a series: Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing each of the 16 seasons since the Bowl Championship Series came into existence in 1998. Here is a look back at who got lucky, who got robbed, what could've been, what should've been and other controversies of the day. The series will appear throughout December and January.

Part 1: 1998, A New Beginning for College Football

Part 2: 1999, FSU Ends Michael Vick's Quest for Perfection

Part 3: 2000, FSU-Miami Sows Seeds of Controversy

Part 4: 2001, Nebraska Fiasco Rocks College Football

Part 5: 2002, Controversy on Field Mars Perfect Ending

Part 6: 2003, Nightmare of Split National Championship

Part 7: 2004, Unbeaten Auburn Left Out in the Cold

Part 8: 2005, Perfect Season Ends With Epic at Rose Bowl

Part 9: 2006, Dawn of SEC's Reign in College Football

Part 10: 2007, LSU Goes "Undefeated in Regulation"

Part 11: 2008, SEC Wins in Polls, Then on the Field

Part 12: 2009, Alabama, Texas More Equal Than Others

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Defending champion Alabama opened the 2010 season as the odds-on favorite to repeat, with Heisman-winning running back Mark Ingram and senior quarterback Greg McElroy both returning to lead a veteran team. But it was their in-state rival, Auburn, that grabbed the headlines and—ultimately—the crystal ball.

Behind rent-a-QB Cam Newton, who had been drummed out of Florida as Tim Tebow's backup, it was the Tigers who arrived at the Iron Bowl the day after Thanksgiving as the team ranked No. 1 with national championship aspirations. Auburn has had a few close calls—winning three games by a field goal—though nothing like the War Damn Miracle variety of 2013.

Behind McElroy's aerial assault, it looked like Alabama was going to shatter Auburn's dreams. The Tide went up 21-0 and were poised to make it 28-0, but they had to settle for a field goal and a 24-0 lead midway through the second quarter. That little crack was all the reprieve the Tigers needed, as Newton led a stunning comeback for a 28-27 victory and a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

But South Carolina was less of an obstacle in Auburn's way of a national championship than the NCAA, which was probing all season just how Newton landed on The Plains. Newton's father, Cecil, had shopped his son's services for upwards of $180,000 to Mississippi State. But the NCAA decided that since no money changed hands, everything was kosher and cleared Newton to play for the SEC title three days before the game.

Once there, the Tigers mauled South Carolina, setting up the first—and as it turned out, only—matchup between SEC and Pac-10 teams in the BCS Championship Game. Oregon had obliterated all of its opponents other than one close-call at Cal. And the title game would be decided on one bizarre play.

Instead of an expected shootout, the game at the University of Phoenix Stadium was a defensive struggle. With the score tied at 19-19 and less than two minutes to go, Auburn running back Michael Dyer was stopped after an apparent short gain. But because his knee didn't touch the ground, Dyer got up and alertly turned it into a 37-yard play that put Auburn in field-goal range.



Wes Byrum's 22-yard kick as time expired gave Auburn a 22-19 victory and the fifth consecutive BCS title for the SEC. The Tigers' reign was short-lived—as was widely expected—with Newton bolting for the NFL after just one season. Dyer would be booted off the team the following season (ending up at Louisville in 2013 after a year out of football), and head coach Gene Chizik was fired just two seasons later—after a 3-9 campaign in 2012. He was replaced by the offensive mastermind of the 2010 team, Gus Malzahn, who would turn around Auburn faster than you can say "Kick Six."

The game also marked just the third—and last—BCS title game appearance for the Pac-10, which would embark on an ambitious realignment gambit that nearly obliterated college football as we knew it.


Final BCS Standings: 1. Auburn, 2. Oregon, 3. TCU.

Likely four-team playoff: Auburn vs. Wisconsin; Oregon vs. TCU
Although Stanford was ranked ahead of Wisconsin, the Cardinal probably would've been kept out of the playoff because they did not win the conference.


Controversies

TCU in the Rose Bowl: For a second consecutive year, TCU finished the season undefeated but was denied a shot at playing for the BCS championship. The Horned Frogs came agonizingly close, as they'd become the first non-AQ team to play for the title had Alabama held on to win the Iron Bowl.

They did get a decent consolation prize, though. Per a new agreement with the BCS, the Rose Bowl must now take a non-AQ team once if it's available in the final four-year cycle of the BCS. Because of this provision, TCU was bound for Pasadena to face Wisconsin while Pac-10 runner-up Stanford was dispatched to the Orange Bowl. TCU beat the Big Ten champ in a thriller and finished second in the final AP poll.

Boise State snubbed, Again: The Broncos were neck-and-neck with TCU for much of the season in the BCS standings, but only one team was guaranteed to earn a BCS automatic berth. As was the case in 2009, though, the BCS probably wouldn't dare to snub either team had they both finished in the top five of the final standings.

But everything went "poof!" for Boise on the same night Auburn stormed back to win the Iron Bowl. Had the Tigers lost that game, the Broncos would have not only had a chance for a BCS bowl berth, but maybe even a spot in the national title game, too.

Perhaps a bit dispirited by Auburn's comeback, the Broncos struggled against the Colin Kaepernick-led Nevada team all night. But still, they just needed a Kyle Brotzman 25-yard chip shot to seal the win as time expired. He missed, and after the Broncos lost in overtime, they were out of the BCS picture altogether—despite finishing 10th in the final BCS standings and ahead of both the ACC and Big East champs.

2010 BCS Bowl Matchups

Bowl	Score	Attendance	TV Rating
BCS Champ*	#1 Auburn 22, #2 Oregon 19	78,603	15.3
Rose Bowl	#3 TCU 21, #5 Wisconsin 19	94,118	11.3
Sugar Bowl	#6 Ohio St. 31, #8 Arkansas 26	73,879	8.2
Orange Bowl	#4 Stanford 40, #13 Va. Tech 12	65,453	6.8
Fiesta Bowl	#7 Oklahoma 48, UConn 20	67,232	6.2

Final analysis: The 2010 season marked the end of an era as conference realignment would sweep through college football in the offseason.

First, Nebraska departed the Big 12 for the Big Ten. Then, the Pac-10 came up with an audacious plan that threatened to break apart the Big 12, with Texas and Oklahoma the prime targets for poaching. The conference came up with a plan to save itself, but its preferential treatment for the Longhorns in the scheme enraged rival Texas A&M to bolt for the SEC a year later.

The realignment frenzy had its roots in the formation of the BCS, as the gulf between the haves and have-nots greatly expanded in the preceding decade. Tempted by the vast amounts of TV and bowl dollars, many schools abandoned a century of tradition to find greener pastures.