I can’t say I was surprised when the last BCS standings came out Monday. They fell pretty much the way I thought they would with Ohio State, Miami, Washington State and Oklahoma in that order. Will they end that way? No. Here’s why. Ohio State has two games remaining on their schedule. The first one, at Illinois this weekend, is a lot tougher than it sounds. Illinois pasted Wisconsin last week, and despite their 4-6 record, Illinois is in a good position to pull off the upset this weekend.
Then there is Michigan a week later. You flash the maize and blue anywhere near Columbus, and Buckeye fans cringe. They hate Michigan. One reason why is because they can’t beat Michigan. They have a losing record in Ann Arbor and a losing record at home against the Wolverines. If the Buckeyes don’t fall this Saturday, they will in two weeks.
Miami is only 15 wins away from tying Oklahoma’s 47-game win streak, and only four from a second straight national title, but it’s the first three that will give the ‘Canes problems. This weekend they take on a Pittsburgh team who is 6-0 in the Big East and beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. If Miami can manage to get past the Panthers, they have to take their 32-game win streak to Syracuse and the Carrier Dome. Sure, SU is down this year, but the Orangemen managed to beat Virginia Tech last week. After Syracuse, assuming Miami is STILL undefeated, they have a week to prepare for Virginia Tech. Three weeks ago, this game was supposed to be THE game of the year. It still can be, especially if the ‘Canes are unbeaten and someone like Oklahoma or Washington State needs the Hokies to pull off the upset.
My guess is Oklahoma fans will be cheering for three reasons on Dec. 7. One, their Big 12 Championship victory over Colorado. Two, Va. Tech beats Miami, and vaults Oklahoma into the Fiesta Bowl. Three, Va. Tech ends Miami’s run and Oklahoma remains the kings of the win streak.
But wait. What about Washington State? They are, after all, third in the BCS. How can Oklahoma jump over Wazzu? Well, there are two ways. The first is simple. Wazzu loses to UCLA in Pasadena on Dec. 7 or Washington in the Apple Cup in two weeks. However, even if the Cougars win out, they could very easliy be jumped by Oklahoma.
Wazzu’s strength of schedule will remain weaker than Oklahoma’s. If Oklahoma wins out, which would include wins over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and a conference title victory over Colorado, the Sooners computer and media polls should rise just enough to bring the Sooners closer to WSU. If Southern California loses somewhere down the road, WSU will lose their 0.2 quality point deduction, which will bring Oklahoma even closer. Still with me? This of course is assuming that either Ohio State or Miami lose.
In the end, it will all come down to little hundreths of a point and once again we are more than likely going to have a computer that knows nothing about football decide championship contenders. If we had a playoff system, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now, we would be talking about possible first round playoff matchups.
Here is a rundown of the scenarios for the top four BCS teams.
Ohio State–win out.
Miami–win out.
Washington State–win out and hope either or both Ohio State and Miami lose. Hope that USC wins out and/or Oklahoma loses one of final four games.
Oklahoma–win out and hope either Ohio State, Washington State and/or Miami lose. Hope that Texas and Alabama wins out and USC loses.
Notes from around the country
“Shut up, Hootie”–I’m a huge fan of Hootie and the Blowfish, but I’m not talking about that Hootie. I’m speaking of Hootie Johnson, the chairman at Augusta National Golf Club, where The Masters is held every year. I’m sure you’ve heard the story in the news that Augusta does not have women members, and Martha Burk has been lobbying hard to get Augusta to let women through the gates. In an interview earlier this week, Johnson said that there will not be a female member before next year’s Masters and pretty much made it known that he is right and everyone else opposing it is wrong. I totally disagree with the policy that there are no female members allowed at Augusta, and I disagree even more so that Hootie feels like he has to open his big mouth and reiterate his point and make himself sound like like the biggest chauvanist in three countries.
“Bol on ice”–How many of you remember Manute Bol? He’s the 7-foot-7-inch Sudanese basketball player who was a major flop in the NBA and just recently fought William “Refrigerator” Perry in that celebrity boxing thing this summer. Anyway, in an attempt to sell tickets, the Indianapolis Ice are letting Manute Bol play.
In case you were wondering, the Indy Ice are a HOCKEY team. Bol has never skated before, and really probably cannot. They are still trying to find equipment that will fit the 91-inch giant. The Ice are also unsure whether or not he will actually play, because they have said they don’t want to get him hurt and have also remarked that they don’t want to damage the integrity of hockey. Really. I’m not even a hockey player, and I am outraged by this news. It is a complete disgrace to the game. If they do let him on the ice during the game, I would actually pay to see a defenseman lay him into the boards. I don’t care if he IS trying to raise money or not.
“The ‘Iceman’ cometh?”–Casey Clausen is questionable for the Vols’ game against State this weekend. Although he played and started the game against Miami, he was knocked around enough that he is back to questionable status. The man they call “Ice,” may actually be on ice on the sideline come Saturday morning.
“Upset of the week”–I’m 1-1 so far this year, missing Kentucky over Georgia and nailing Pitt over Va. Tech. This week I’m taking down another national title contender–Ohio State. The Buckeyes will get caught looking ahead to their game with rival Michigan and slip up in Champaign, losing to the Illini.
“Hunting for Heisman”–Here’s what you should do. Go online and find the Walter Camp player of the year list. Take any one of those ten names, and they have a pretty equal shot at taking home the hardware. No, I’m serious, it’s that wide open.