If Michigan had been picked for NCG

[Stormin]

I think it would have been an even greater injustice for Florida than it is now for Michigan. The purpose of the BCS is to produce a championship game to determine a National Champion. If you had a playoff format with four teams one of those teams would have had to play tOSU. Michigan had a shot at the National Championship and lost. Some say that Florida shouldn't have moved above Michigan because Michigan didn't play and had been #2. BUT Florida did beat Florida State AT Florida State and then beat an EXCELLENT Arkansas team with McFadden in the SEC championship while Michigan was idle. Florida BEAT the #4 team in the nation (LSU) and their only loss is AT the #10 team's stadium. They played the TOUGHEST schedule in the country.

Michigan's biggest downfall was their weak schedule. They played 3 teams ranked in the Top 25 and finished with a 2-1 record. One of the teams they defeated was Wisconsin which played only ONE team in the Top 25 and LOST. The biggest knock on Florida is that they have ESCAPED several times.

All in all, I think that the BCS worked. They should tweak the requirements for the National Championship Game to only include Conference Champions. IMO it would have been a far greater travesty to not allow SEC champion Florida to play in the championship and let Michigan in.

 

[BryceC]

If you had a playoff format with four teams one of those teams would have had to play tOSU. Michigan had a shot at the National Championship and lost.

This is a great point I've never heard said. Good stuff Stormin.

 

[CyinCo]

Good Stuff. I mostly agree.

However, what if OSU had lost to Michigan this year and it was OSU that sat at number 2 going into the conference championship games. In that scenario, is Florida picked over OSU? Or do you think it mattered which team it was?

 

[ISUFan22]

Excellent points stormin. As I stated in a separate thread, my only issue with the BSC and the voting is up until Sunday, Michigan was ahead of Florida all season.

I do believe Florida belongs a little bit more than Michigan, but not by much.

 

[Ficklone02]

What a fantastic weekend for Ohio State! As a buckeyes fan, coming into the weekend it appeared there were 3 possible opponents in USC, Michigan, or Florida.

USC would have been the toughest challenge. Michigan would have been another tough game.......but Florida. OSU will destroy Florida. I don't see any part of the game where they match up well with OSU, including the kicking game which for the gator's is nonexistent. I think I'll order my Buckeyes championship gear immediately.

 

[jparker22]

C'mon guys this is an obvious job of the Michigan team. They lost to OSU in the horseshoe by 3 points. That is reason enough for a rematch on a neutral field. the gators beat FSU by pulling off a fake punt and only won by 6. They will be destroyed by OSU and as for USC... Might have well as been boise state they beat the team that first beat USC. I hate the system it will never work well.

 

[Stormin]

I remember a few seasons ago when no one gave an Ohio State team much of a chance against Miami, who many thought was the greatest team of all time. We all know how that turned out.

Also, last year few if any gave Texas much of a chance against USC even though they were undefeated. Florida is a young team (with a pretty good coach) who somehow finds ways to win games. I think tOSU is an upset waiting to happen. They played Texas early and Michigan last, but have they really played any really tough teams week in and week out? The Big Ten was a tough conference at the top but the rest of the conference was very weak IMO. In fact, look at Wisconsin's schedule, they played ONE Top 25 team.....and LOST.

 

[rd4isu]

The national media's lovefest with the Big 10 gets old. The best thing that could happen would be for USC to soundly beat the Wolverines in the bowl game and stop all the whining. Coasting through a weak conference and trying to tout a "quality loss" shouldn't be rewarded in the form of a title game.

 

[Stormin]

Go back and look at the Play by Play of tOSU-Michigan. Maybe you saw a different game than what I saw. Michigan got the ball first and scored 7-0 Michigan. But then tOSU tied it up and continued to move the ball while NEVER trailing again. In fact, most of the game tOSU was up by 11 points and only at the end did they get as close as 3 points with tOSU running out the clock (and getting another first down as time expired). In the Fourth quarter the ONLY time that Michigan stopped tOSU is when Troy Smith fumbled at the Michigan 32 yard line.

I didn't see one of those classic games where the lead changes back and forth with one team having the advantage and then the other. I saw a game that tOSU took control of in the first half and while they didn't exactly blow the Wolverines away by any means, they were clearly in control. A touchdown and two-point conversion with only 2:15 left narrowed the final margin to 3 points with tOSU marching and getting another first down as time expired. A good competitive game, but not a classic game like some were trying to make it out to be.

 

[wonkadog]

I was pulling for a rematch in the championship game but it was solely because I hate the BCS system. If the rematch had happened all heck would have broken loose and maybe we'd get a real end to the college football season in the future. Heck, how hard is having a little tournament at the end of the year? I'd even settle for 4 teams.

 

[cyclonekj]

Politics-wise, the best thing (if you don't like the current system) that could happen is having one of the nation's largest universities (Michigan) get passed over. They have the ability to make more noise than some of the smaller schools and ones with less tradition.

 

[CycloneSteel]

Florida getting passed over would have made much greater waves. The SEC getting shut out twice (Auburn a few years ago) would have maybe been the straw that broke the camel's back.

As it stands, they made the correct choice, though Michigan and Big 10 fans will scream otherwise. Michigan had their chance, and the Big 10 has proven VERY weak this year. If OSU beats Florida, then they will truly be the national Champ. If they would have beaten Michigan (again) there would have been some doubt lingering in a lot of people's minds, since they weren't tested by any other conference's best team (Texas didn't win Big 12 this year).

Go Cyclones!

 

[AirWalke]

Maybe this will get the Big 10 to create a championship game for the two new divisions -- the Michigan division and the Ohio State division. :laugh8kb:

For all intents and purposes, the Michigan/Ohio State game WAS the Big 10 championship game, and Ohio State won. I would love to see Michigan or Ohio State get through the SEC unscathed. The SEC is due for a controversy to slide their way after Auburn got snubbed.

 

[Clonefan94]

I'm actually more upset at Notre Dame getting in to a BCS bowl than anything to do with the NC game. I'm trying to figure out how their schedule was good enough to get them in. Especially when the only top caliber teams they played kicked the s*** out of them. Oh well, I guess as Brent Musburger said, "If for nothing other than tradition, ND deserves the Rose Bowl." He said that during the USC - ND game and I've been infuriated ever since. (I know they didn't get the Rose Bowl, but, it's still frustrating that somehow Notre Dame deserves a BCS just because of who they are)

I guess it's the old addage that no press is bad press and as many, if not more, will tune in to see ND lose as are watching to see them win.

 

[ICCYFAN]

Michigan's biggest downfall was their weak schedule. They played 3 teams ranked in the Top 25 and finished with a 2-1 record. One of the teams they defeated was Wisconsin which played only ONE team in the Top 25 and LOST.

Where are you going with this paragraph? Michigan lost AT Ohio State. Wisconsin lost AT Michigan. Each team won all of the games they were supposed to win and there's no dishonor in these losses...

I'm not unhappy with Florida getting the nod; the SEC is brutal and I have no problem with the consensus #1 (OSU) being paired with the champion of the best conference. Hopefully it's a good game!

Two other thoughts:
1) Michigan (with Brian Griese at QB) got a gift Co-National Championship the year they shared it with Nebraska, who would have killed them had they gone head-to-head (my opinion of course).
2) The delayed pass interference call for Chris Gamble on the two-point conversion pass in OT of the Miami / OSU game was a joke. Miami was robbed of that National Championship, and this comes from a guy who was rooting for OSU. Add to it the fact that Maurice Clarrett was a booster-fleecing hoodlum, and I hope OSU gets their head handed to them!

 

[BryceC]

One thing I would absolutely love to see (that nobody is even admitting is a possibility) is to see BOTH OSU and Mich to lose. Then people would be saying, "oh, everybody wanted to see two teams that LOST against supposedly inferior competition play in the championship, that would have been such a travesty".

 

[galles15]

to add even more controversy to this subject it would be nice to see Ohio State and Michigan both easily handling their opponents, Florida and USC, by winning with ease.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I'm sorry, I can never respect the BCS.

Right after the Rose Bowl, the argument was that the BCS would produce an undisputed national champion. Most of the time no one can agree which teams should be in that game, how can it produce an undisputed champion? If I recall, the Texas/USC game of last year's the only undisputed championship game.

I've never been a big fan of the BCS, but I especially lost respect in Jan '03 when we had a split nat'l champion, the BCS champion (I forget who) and the AP champion (USC). The one thing that the BCS guarantees and it can't deliver. That and the 3 undefeated teams I think a year later when Auburn got left in the dust.

 

[Stormin]

Where are you going with this paragraph? Michigan lost AT Ohio State. Wisconsin lost AT Michigan. Each team won all of the games they were supposed to win and there's no dishonor in these losses...

The problem that Michigan and especially Wisconsin had was that they played a WEAK schedule. There was NO dishonor in their losses. Their wins just don't deserve many accolades. i.e. their wins were against a bunch of nobodys whereas Florida played the toughest schedule in the nation (much like Carson Palmer's USC team did a few years back).

 

[bluehooper]

I live in Michigan and really enjoyed all the crying on sports radio today. As a Big 12 fan I am anti-Small 11 and would like to see Ohio State and Michigan both lose. All I hear is how weak the Big 12 is, although maybe this year with good reason. :sad9cd: