College Football Notebook (12/5)
The main story in most sports sections on Monday went something like this. After years of controversy, the USC-Texas Rose Bowl finally gives the much-criticized system an undisputed championship game between the top two teams. As my niece would say, “DUH!” Even the Olympic boxing and figure skating judges could have done well!
The BCS didn’t ‘work’, you just got LUCKY! USC won 66-19 last Saturday and Texas won 70-3. Both teams finished 12-0 and were the only undefeated teams in the nation. So now, a season that started on the Thursday before Labor Day has brought us “Back to the Future.” USC started the year as the number one team in the country and Texas as the number two team in the country. The AP began ranking teams in 1936 and last year, for the first time since its inception, it saw two schools go cable to cable as No. 1 and No. 2. Now, a year later, it’s deja vu again. !
USC started as the nation’s preseason No. 1 last year and Oklahoma was second. USC remained number one in all weekly polls, while Oklahoma was number two. Auburn tied Oklahoma for number two for a week, but that’s “pinching pennies.” USC and Oklahoma contested last year’s national title game (Orange Bowl), with USC winning 55-19! It’s probably safe to say that this year’s game will be a bit more competitive.
USC, out of consecutive national titles (won the AP title in 2003 and the undisputed title last year), once again opened as the nation’s preseason No. 1. Texas was ranked No. 2 and in every survey this year, the school’s rankings are a haven’t changed. USC has a 34-game winning streak (tied for fourth-best since 1900), while Texas has won 19 consecutive games (the second-longest current streak). USC has ranked at the top of the AP poll by a record 33 consecutive polls, long surpassing the previous record of 22 held by Miami-Florida (from 2001-02).
USC ranked first and Texas ranked second in this year’s BCS first ranking (released Oct. 17). Texas topped USC the following week, but USC returned to number one the following week and remained there until Sunday’s final rankings. It’s noteworthy that never before have teams ranked one and two in the initial BCS standings of the year met in that year’s title game, so USC and Texas are giving us first.
Another novelty in the bowl is that both teams enter this game with an average of more than 50 points per game. That never happened in any previous bowl matchup. The Longhorns are averaging 50.9 PPG, while the Trojans are averaging even 50. USC is averaging 580.3 YPG with Texas averaging 508.4. Texas’ average winning margin was 36.3 points per game, while USC’s average winning margin was 28.7 points per game. That difference really comes into play when team ATS records are being written down. While Texas is impressive 10-2, USC stands at just 6-6
BETTER LUCK BCS
While it doesn’t seem right for a team with four losses to be in one of the four BCS Bowls, the BCS ‘played lucky’ when they were able to tie Penn State against Florida State in the Orange Bowl. The Seminoles entered Saturday’s first ACC Championship Game 7-4 and on a three-game losing streak, having been outscored 89-36. However, FSU used a 24-point third quarter to upset Va Tech (a two-TD favorite), scoring 27-22. Despite a final BCS rating of just 22, the Seminoles are claiming ACC’s automatic bid.
The Orange Bowl now has Bobby Bowden, the NCCA’s all-time winning coach with 359 wins against Joe Paterno, who ranks second with 353 career wins. Paterno had been heavily criticized in recent years and rightly so. The BCS has been around since 1998, but this is Penn State’s first BCS Bowl. Penn State, the seventh-winning Division IA school in history, had been in a single bowl game since 2000 (Citrus Bowl in 2002) and entered the 2005 season with a 26-33 record in five years.
Sunday was great fun watching and hearing all the “talking heads” praise the Florida State vs. Penn State showdown, as well as Bowden and Paterno. These are the same people who gave FSU ANY CHANCE against Va Tech on Saturday and who chose Penn State for the middle of the group in the Big-10, earlier in the year.
Sometimes (not often) I wish I had their jobs. It should be fun, after the fact, to tell everyone what happened and why. As a handicap, I must “show my hand” before the game and then “live” or “die” with the result. Clearly, your job is MUCH easier!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
For the second year in a row, a Pac-10 team finished fifth in the final BCS standings, but was unable to secure an offer from BCS. Last year it was Cal and this year it is Oregon. The Ducks 10-1 lost only to No. 1 USC, but lost to two teams with two losses. Ohio State (No. 4) and Notre Dame (No. 6) finished 9-2 but according to BCS statutes, both qualified as overall teams. Pac-10 and Oregon fans must wonder how a Notre Dame team that beat just three teams with a winning record this year and lost to a Michigan State team 5-6 is more deserving than the Ducks. Please don’t remind them that Notre Dame is also the proud owner of a seven-game losing streak (1-6 ATS), having been beaten by an average of 34.4 to 17.6 points per game!
LSU cannot be happy with their Peach Bowl offer, considering the fact that Alabama, Florida and Auburn (all the teams they beat) will be playing on January 2nd!
Arkansas State (New Orleans Bowl) and Akron (Motor City Bowl) are playing in a Division IA bowl game for the first time. Rutgers makes just his second bowl appearance, returning to the postseason for the first time since the 1978 Garden State Bowl. Demonstrating he has a sense of history, bowl officials sent the Scarlet Knights to the Insight Bowl, where they will play against Arizona State, the same school that beat them in 1978 (34-18)!
Akron was the only Division IA team last year that was eligible to go bowling and not go to a bowling game (Clemson and South Carolina had self-imposed penalties). This year, however, SEVEN schools suffered that fate. The MAC was hit the hardest, as the conference has five schools eligible for the stay-at-home bowl. While Miami-Ohio, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan won seven games, FOUR 6-5 MWC schools and THREE 6-5 C-USA schools are going bowling!