WVU and the BCS
As I contemplated just how upset I would be if Kirk Ferentz ends up being Michigan's next head coach (right now, "extremely"), I had some thoughts about the team that has become my second-favorite blog topic: the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Who did WVU play and beat?
West Virginia is about to waltz into the BCS Championship Game. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll be interested to see if any talking heads mention WVU's relatively easy schedule, or if people just give it to them without a discussion. Think about this for a second: The Mountaineers will likely be playing for the BCS Championship without having defeated a single team in the current BCS Top 20. And on top of that, the best team they played (#21 South Florida) beat them. If WVU makes it to New Orleans, I'm pretty sure they will be the first team with those odd distinctions. I'm not saying that West Virginia isn't a good team. I think White, Slaton, and Devine can burn anybody on any given day. But did they earn a BCS Title shot, or did they just benefit from the rest of the big boys beating up on each other?
What about the Buckeyes?
One thing in WVU's favor is that Ohio State's schedule isn't that pretty, either. Here's one thing I was thinking about: If OSU had lost at Illinois (instead of at home), and if WVU had lost at home to South Florida (instead of on the road), would OSU have a leg up on WVU? And even as it stands now, how much of an argument does OSU have if there's a "snub" on Sunday's BCS selection show? Seeing that Illinois gave #1 Missouri all they could handle and might get a BCS berth while South Florida cooled off a bit, I think OSU has a legitimate beef. But last year's loss to Florida will come back to haunt the Buckeyes if WVU and Missouri win on Saturday. National perception matters, fair or not.
Final random thoughts
In a year as crazy as this one has been, why are 2-loss teams being left out of the discussion? And if this was the mid-90s, LSU would be undefeated with 2 ties. Would that matter? Just some stuff to think about...
Who did WVU play and beat?
West Virginia is about to waltz into the BCS Championship Game. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll be interested to see if any talking heads mention WVU's relatively easy schedule, or if people just give it to them without a discussion. Think about this for a second: The Mountaineers will likely be playing for the BCS Championship without having defeated a single team in the current BCS Top 20. And on top of that, the best team they played (#21 South Florida) beat them. If WVU makes it to New Orleans, I'm pretty sure they will be the first team with those odd distinctions. I'm not saying that West Virginia isn't a good team. I think White, Slaton, and Devine can burn anybody on any given day. But did they earn a BCS Title shot, or did they just benefit from the rest of the big boys beating up on each other?
What about the Buckeyes?
One thing in WVU's favor is that Ohio State's schedule isn't that pretty, either. Here's one thing I was thinking about: If OSU had lost at Illinois (instead of at home), and if WVU had lost at home to South Florida (instead of on the road), would OSU have a leg up on WVU? And even as it stands now, how much of an argument does OSU have if there's a "snub" on Sunday's BCS selection show? Seeing that Illinois gave #1 Missouri all they could handle and might get a BCS berth while South Florida cooled off a bit, I think OSU has a legitimate beef. But last year's loss to Florida will come back to haunt the Buckeyes if WVU and Missouri win on Saturday. National perception matters, fair or not.
Final random thoughts
In a year as crazy as this one has been, why are 2-loss teams being left out of the discussion? And if this was the mid-90s, LSU would be undefeated with 2 ties. Would that matter? Just some stuff to think about...
Permanent Link Here - posted by Nick at 8:21 PM
1 Comments:
interesting points. it'd be totally weird for WV and Missouri to be playing for a national championship (one which, I suspect, garner probably the crappiest ratings for any championship game yet), but I really really really don't want osu to get another shot at it.
incidentally, sagarin says that mizzou's and wvu's schedules are ranked 34 and 35, respectively. osu is way behind at 56. Michigan's, for comparison purposes, is 31.
if mizzou and wvu win, they deserve to be in the title game, especially with mizzou knocking off oklahoma.
wvu is certainly debatable, but if they tear up pitt like they did uconn, people will forget about osu, much like they forgot about Michigan last year.
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