Is it me or does it seems as if we are being taken advantage of with the BCS National Championship game that college football fans are stuck with on January 7th? I say stuck because only one of the teams playing in the game is deserving of their perch. I will let you determine whom I speak of by giving you the following clues.
- The non deserving team narrowly beat an opponent that they were favored to beat in their conference championship game by 2 touchdowns. They did so by benefiting from some very timely officiating.
- The non deserving team benefited from playing in a traditionally strong conference that this year was not strong at all.
- The non deserving team had 3 quality wins over teams that had rankings of 14, 20, and 22. Not necessary big time teams.
Let us make a case for the obvious deserving team who will play the non deserving team.
- The deserving team dismantled the consensus #1 ranked team over the last two years in their conference championship game. They avenged their only regular season loss over two years.
- The deserving team benefited from playing in a far more superior conference. They became battle tested from the quality of opponents that they played and beat.
- The deserving team had quality wins over big time teams with rankings of 1, 7, 9, and quality wins over teams with rankings 20, and 22.
If you do not know by now who the deserving team is? They are the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Going undefeated this year was a daunting task because of the road (SEC) they had to go down. Top that with a win for the ages over their nemesis Florida there is no denying that they are the best team in the land.
The undeserving team is the Texas Longhorns. Do they have a great quarterback in Colt McCoy? Yes. Do they have a great coach in Mack Brown? Yes. But the fact that the Big 12 was not “big” this year makes this game look like a beating in the making. As fans and as a journalist I can only hope that we will all be entertained.
I think the best team to not be playing in this game is TCU. This is a great offensive team averaging over 40 points per game. They play in the Mountain what – I mean Mountain West Conference which does not help their cause. But keep this in mind. They beat the ACC runner-up in Clemson; beat another ACC school in Virginia. TCU hung a combined 93 points on the two ranked teams that they beat in Utah and BYU. Both of those teams entered their games against the Horn Frogs ranked 16th. They will have to accept a bowl bid to either the Fiesta Bowl or the Orange Bowl.
Two other deserving teams will also not get their chance at the title. One team because of their lack of a tough schedule in a mediocre conference. Yes that would be Boise State who after going undefeated again in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference) is primed to play spoiler in either the Orange Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.
Finally, the Cincinnati Bearcats had a magical season going a perfect 11-0. They won the Big East Conference championship outright (second straight year) with a come from behind win over Pittsburgh. Over the next few weeks we will be hearing a lot about their head coach Brain Kelly as his name is sure to come up over and over regarding the open coaching job at Notre Dame. Kelly’s Bearcats team had quality wins over 3 ranked teams. They will probably be facing last year’s national champion Florida in the Sugar Bowl. (This article was written 24hrs before the Bowl Selection Committee pairs teams for their respective games).
Imagine if we could have had a playoff. We would have seen 5 undefeated teams going at it. But instead we have to wait and see if chaos comes from an undeserving team playing for it all.
Lake Lewis is the President and CEO of the Sports Journey Broadcast Network.