First, anyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge football fan, but like all football fans, I’m fickle. I watch more often when my team is winning than when they aren’t. I watch more football period when my team is winning. I try to avoid contact with it in general when my team is losing, especially if my least favorite team in the world is winning.
Of course, every Monday morning during football season, I have to torture myself with the BCS rankings. I read the who’s who of college football with trepidation and sometimes wanton disgust as a team here or there moves up or down in the rankings. I’m a die-hard Wolverines fan, and as we all know, Michigan has taken a beating this year (ok, not just this year). I can’t deny that it’s almost embarrassing, but as a die-hard fan, I will still don my Henne jersey (as our current QB has not earned my purchasing his jersey) in three weeks over Thanksgiving weekend. I will still likely cry wolf at every crappy call that goes against my Wolverines and I will definitely boo and hiss for every call that is in favor of the poisonous nuts. I may even be blessed, as every Wolverine fan hopes, as the Blue & Maize deny those horrible Scarlet & Grey types of a win. (Ok, I can dream damn it!!!)
There are of course other teams that I am almost as dedicated to. I love my alma mater—the Clemson Tigers. I really believed that Tommy Bowden could bring it back to Death Valley—at times, he even looked like he might. But the days of Danny Ford are long gone, and as long as IPTAY keeps trying to rekindle that (as any university’s boosters do), we will continue to lose. The head coach should be the head coach—you can always tell when the boosters get “too” involved. (Ah, but that is not what this blog is about.) I’m equally fond the Florida Gators. GO GATORS. They rarely let me down—this year, however, they also have fallen out of grace with the BCS. This leaves me with little to get excited about on Monday morning.
I’ll admit I’m content to be excited by Mizzou this year. The Tigers (my alma mater’s cousins as far as I’m concerned) did wonderful justice by breaking the Top Ten last week. With the loss this weekend, they fell from 6 to 12 in the BCS. It’s heartbreaking. Equally State (Michigan State for you non-Gander types) took a loss and a hit in the BCS from 5th to 14th. (Yes, I realize some states the big rivalry is between the two internal schools—for example, Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State…but we Michiganders prefer to believe of State as family—even when we play against them.) I’m pleased to see LSU hanging in the Top Ten (again, Tigers are cousins to my precious Clemson), and of course, thrilled to see Auburn hanging on in the Top 2. GO TIGERS!!! Of course, I’m not disappointed that the Ducks took #1 this week—hell, who doesn’t LOVE an underdog!?!?!?!
But here’s where I get lost: Why do the different polls run amok? Most of the time, we see the BCS, Harris and Coaches’ polls relatively the same. Oregon and Auburn are first and second. The computers agree. The computers go strictly off of difficulty of the season, points scored and wins. Now we all know that isn’t always the most accurate sh*t. It completely skips heart and soul—that which takes the players’, coaches’, and fans’ breath away, but this morning, as often happens, I think maybe that’s a good thing. Why? First, Bama. I love Bama. I have no idea why. There are a handful of teams like this for me: Bama, UNC, UCLA, Mizzou. I just like them for no reason other than I like them. But why in the hell is Bama still in the Top 10? They don’t have as hard of a schedule as they normally do. They haven’t been mopping up the field either with these smaller, unranked schools that they should be dominating, and the computers know it: 15th. But the BCS, the Harris, and the Coaches’ polls are all ranking them in the Top 10. The BCS, which does take into account computer ranking, has them at 6th, but the human only both have them at 5th. Why? Well, because we love Roll Tide, the Crimson Tide, we love Bama. Bama is one of the only schools that just about all of us like or love. They don’t make enemies, only competitors. It’s not like some of the other monster schools that have just as much hate as they do love. I can understand why the love comes pouring out and they can be in the Top 10 still—in spite of the fact they probably should be at the bottom of the Top 10, if at all. The computers don’t love my team’s nemesis either: Ohio State is computer ranked at 16th. However, somehow the poisonous nuts managed to hold on to 11th in the BCS. That doesn’t sound too bad, but here is the shining example of why we no longer use the completely human Harris or Coaches’ polls: *ss-kissing wins votes. They’ve ranked the nuts at 8th. As if!!! That’s half the computer ranking. Give it a rest. Now, don’t get me wrong. You’ve just read that I’m actually ok with, even though a little disappointed, with Bama being ranked higher than they should be. But if you’ve ever met most Ohio State fans, you’ll know what I mean. It’s not like Bama; they don’t inspire respect. The biggest mess at the Big House in record was after a huge upset for nut fans. They’re not known for their good sportsmanship. It’s not one of their fortes. So, I’m always at a loss to understand how a team that hasn’t played more than 4 ranked teams for each of the last 4 seasons can continue to hold on in the BCS.
Boise State, TCU and Oregon have been a long time coming. They’ve played unbelievably hard schedules, and remained unranked for years as they clawed their way up to the top. Mizzou was a top notch, but like Ohio State, didn’t make “friends” back in their hayday. They made enemies, and of course, became the first of the mighty to fall in the great steroids, gifts, illegal benefits, dot, dot, dot… They’ve made a respectable come back almost 20 years in the making. Kudos to them. They’ve clawed as much as Boise State, TCU and Oregon—which is a shame for what used to be a dominating team. But, they earned that hatred as they and their fans back then could be utterly obnoxious. They are different team now, far more humble, after their own Goliath story unfolded. Of course, back then, most of the bigger teams always played the bigger teams. It was a different game then. The little schools weren’t making national headlines, playing nationally ranked teams, and there were no computers. It was all on the human emotionally ranked polls. Hell, Mizzou is ranked 12 in the BCS (14th and 15th, in the Harris and Coaches’, respectively). But the computers have them at 4th. Tough schedule, clawing their way back to the Top. They’ve had several years of tough schedules and they’ve earned that computer rank, but add that human factor and down they fall to as low as the human factor can get them without dropping them off the Top 20.
I’m just wondering how much of our bias is just too much of bias? I love my Wolverines. We don’t belong in the rankings—I’m devastated, but I can admit it. I love my Tigers and my Gators. They’ve had their day; it will come again. But why are we still ranking teams considerably higher than they belong? In 2007, Ohio State was ranked number 1 almost all season. They played 3, yes only 3, Top 20 teams all season. Florida had a hard schedule and stayed up in the top all season. The USC Trojans were up there all season undefeated also, and played an equally grueling schedule. The Trojans lost to UCLA in a sad ending to an almost perfect season that cost them the trip to the BCS National Championship. By the computers, it still should have been Florida vs. USC. But the human factor sent Ohio State instead. It was a slaughter (41-14, for those of you that need a reminder). No sh*t. The nuts hadn’t played anyone worth a damn that year. They were barely winning games against Ohio University and Bowling Green for crying out loud. Ditto in 2008. They looked horrible in the BCS against LSU who took them at 38-24.
Part of it is that we as a whole hate on the western conference teams (the reasoning debate is, as usual, another blog). Part of it is a love for the ugly. Seriously. Mizzou was horrible back in the day—when they were winning they were rude about it. When they were losing, they were sore about it. That chicken came to roost, and it has not been long forgotten as the Harris and Coaches’ polls show.
My question is when does the rooster crow for Ohio State? Enough already. They want to be a Top Ten team, then they need to stop scheduling “fluff” games to keep their winning streak. Bowling Green? Toledo? Ohio U? Western Michigan? How about I pick their schedule for next year:
1. LSU
2. Mizzou
3. Bama
4. Oregon
I know then they have their conference games: next year the conference includes Nebraska and will still have Michigan State and Wisconsin. Figure motion in and out, but still, the Big 10 almost always has at least 3 in the Top 20. That would be 5 to 7 solid teams to beat and earn the actual graces bestowed upon them...
My opinion (worth all of the paper it’s printed on now): Harris and Coaches stop voting on your bias. I do not want to see another sh*t team in the BCS getting their butts handed to them because of your bleeding hearts. It’s the only game that means anything to me in a year where my teams are floundering—as I suspect is the case for all the other die-hard football fans. Thanksgiving weekend will likely be a bust for me this year, and I’m tired of watching less than sufficient teams play top teams because you like their coach in your good buddies network. Your idiocy is affecting the BCS rankings and the college players that are working so hard to get to that precious BCS Bowl. And you’re annoying me (yes, because that’s soooo important) and other fans. Get a reality check and start voting what the schedules and wins are or abstain from voting for (or against) teams that your bleeding hearts have a ridiculous bias for (or against). In the meantime, GO AUBURN!! GO DUCKS!!! Go anybody that actually is earning their ranks. May the BCS Bowl lights shine on anyone that actually earned it with tough schedules and hard won wins.
