The Eighth BCS Is Out...UGA #15

Well the regular season has finally come to a close after three-plus months of games. After the dust has settled, we have Oklahoma and Florida duking it out for the National Championship in Miami on January 8th (which ironically is the first day of Spring classes).

1. Oklahoma
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
15. UGA

Did the system get it right? In one man's opinion, no it did not. While I have no beef seeing the Gators in the Championship game (well, I mean I do not WANT to see them there, trust me, but based on merit they should be unfortunately) I must say that like UGA last year, Texas got the short end of the stick.

Last time I checked, Texas also lost one game all year, on the last play of a stretch of four games in which they played FOUR STRAIGHT TOP 11 Teams (Missouri was ranked #11, hence I did not say Top 10, but still an arduous schedule). They BEAT #1 Oklahoma by double digits (10) on a NEUTRAL FIELD. As mentioned on the blog last week, under any other three-way tie-breaker scenario used by other conferences, Texas would have been the one who would have been playing in the Big 12 Championship Saturday night and if the regular season is any indicator (which by the way, Texas thumped Missouri 56-21) Texas would be in the National Championship game.

But, this is the system we have. It is without question, extremely flawed and really has only produced the right championship matchup only a few times in its dubious 10-year history. This is the same system that one year says that in order to be able to play in the National Title you MUST win your conference, but yet the following year is very willing to send a team that did not (aka Texas this year if Oklahoma had been upset by Missouri Saturday night).

Anyways, here is the rest of the BCS lineup:

Rose Bowl
#8 PSU vs. #5 USC

Orange Bowl
#12 Cincinnati vs. #19 Virginia Tech

Sugar Bowl
#6 Utah vs. #4 Alabama

Fiesta Bowl
#3 Texas vs. #10 Ohio State

Last, but not least, as I have said for quite some time now, UGA will be playing BCS ranked #18 Michigan State in Orlando, FL in the Capitol One Bowl @ 1pm on New Years Day. A Top-1o win season is still a possibility with a win and quite honestly I think we would all be very, very disappointed in nothing less considering the great expectations we had placed on this team coming into/throughout the season.

As a final footnote to this post, I must say that while I have enjoyed ranting about college football throughout this Fall Semester, I do look forward to discussing some of the other local sport teams (aka the Men's and Woman's basketball teams and of course the Falcons, Hawks and Thrashers) in the upcoming weeks with college football wrapping up. While I do realize that this school loves college football #1 and as a result that is what most of you really want to read/discuss, I do wish that I and the rest of the staff gave some of the other sports some love (especially the hopefully playoff-bond Falcons).

The Seventh BCS Is Out...UGA falls to #16

The second edition of the BCS poll was released last night and the Top 10 was virtually unchanged...except for one big movement: Oklahoma is now #2, Texas is now #3.

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
16. UGA

This is critical, because according to the Big 12 Tie-Breaker rules, in the event of a three-way tie, the team ranked the highest in the BCS will win the division. In this case, because Oklahoma is now #2, Texas #3 and Texas Tech #7, Oklahoma will play # 20 Missouri in the Big 12 Title Game. The interesting thing about all of this is that out of the five conferences that are broken into divisions (ACC, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference (MAC) and SEC), it is only the Big 12 rules that would have Oklahoma play in their conference title game. The other four conferences' three-way tie-breaker rules would have had Texas instead.

Anyways, after last wekeend's games, things have become very clear from a National Perspective.

The ACC Champion will be either #25 Virgina Tech or #17 Boston College. Those two each won their perspective divisions by winning last weekend and will play each other in the conference title game for the 2nd straight year (with this year's game being moved to Tampa Bay). The winner will play Big East Champion Cincinatti in the Orange Bowl.

The SEC winner will be either #1 Alabama or #3 Florida. Those two will gut it out next Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. The winner of this game will go to the National Title.

The Pac-10 scenario is pretty simple. If #5 USC goes on the road and beats 4-7 UCLA, they will play Penn State in the Rose Bowl. If they lose, they will fall into a three-way tie that will actually give Oregon State the Pac-10 crown and trip to the Rose Bowl.

The Big 10 will now more than likely get two teams in the BCS, due to Oregon State's home loss to #19 Oregon. #10 Ohio State appears headed to the Fiesta Bowl (more than likely playing Texas), while Penn State will represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. If USC loses Saturday to UCLA, the Big 10 might only have Penn State go to a BCS game, because USC still might earn an at-large bid over Ohio State.

With Ohio State likely playing in a BCS game, it appears that #21 Michigan State will be Georgia's opponent in the Capital One Bowl. Despite the loss Saturday to the now #15-ranked Yellow Jackets, UGA will still likely get the nod over 8-4 Ole Miss or 7-5 South Carolina or LSU.

As for the National Championship, it appears that it will be Oklahoma vs. the SEC winner. I cannot see Oklahoma losing to Missouri in their conference title game. If they do lose, however, then with a win Saturday, USC would play the SEC winner. If both Oklahoma AND USC lose on Saturday (a very, very unlikely scenario) then the BCS would be in complete turmoil, as Texas, Utah and Penn State would all make compelling cases to play the SEC champion.