The Sunday Blog, Week 12

[News Bot]

The Sunday Blog is a little late today because someone stayed up way too late watching football on Saturday night.
Sorry, but it was glorious.
My faith in the game was restored by the great finishes in the late-night games.
THE NOT-READY-FOR-PRIME-TIME
COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25
1. LSU (11-0): They were asking for the Mercy Rule in Oxford.
2. Alabama (10-1): Only Auburn stands in the way of, well, we’re not sure. See below.
3. Arkansas (10-1): It’s an SEC world and everyone else is just living in it.
4. Virginia Tech (10-1): Hokies quietly have moved way up the rankings.
5. Stanford (10-1): Barely escaped in The Game against Cal.
6. Houston (11-0): Nobody is sure how good this team is because of competition.
7. Oklahoma State (10-1): They had a chance to play for it all but missed field goasls haunt a lot of coaches.
8. South Carolina (9-2): Say this about Steve Spurrier — it took him awhile but he made the Gamecocks a winner.
9. Boise State (9-1): Broncos close with Wyoming and New Mexico. Thanks, again, TCU.
10. Kansas State (9-2): Wildcats gained 121 yards and won. Who do they think they are — Denver?
11. Oregon (9-2): Such a great comeback wasted by a kicker.
12. Oklahoma (8-2): Hard to understand the defensive collapse in two losses.
13. Clemson (9-2): The N.C. State game meant nothing and Clemson played like it.
14. Georgia (9-2): Winning nine in a row deserves something.
15. Michigan State (9-2): They won one of those silly Big 10 divisions.
16. Wisconsin (9-2): Big game against Penn State this week.
17. Michigan (9-2): Brady Hoke has done a really good job there.
18. TCU (9-2): Horned Frogs started slow but will have a nice season.
19. Penn State (9-2): That’s one tough bunch of players.
20. Southern Cal (9-2): Like him or not, Lane Kiffin can coach some offense.
21. Virginia (8-3): Cavs found a way against Semis.
22. Baylor (7-3): Did Robert Griffin get back into Heisman race?
23. Nebraska (8-3): This team has baffled me all season.
24. Notre Dame (8-3): Surprised they barely hung on against Boston College.
25. Georgia Tech (8-3): Techies have the Doggies this week.
THE SEC FOUR-PACK
1. With one week to go in the regular season, it is very possible that the SEC could end up with 10 bowl teams. Seven are already bowl eligible and since two will make it to BCS games the other eight tie-ins could be filled. Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Mississippi State need one more win. Vandy has the toughest task with a game against Wake Forest. Tennessee has Kentucky and MSU has Ole Miss. All three could lose which would leave the Liberty, Music City and Compass scrambling to find teams from other conferences. And while Florida seems destined for the Gator Bowl, if Tennessee wins and Florida gets smoked by Florida State there’s a chance the Gator could take the Vols because they will fill hotel rooms.
2. I heard an announcer say Saturday that “nobody thought Georgia could be in Atlanta after they lost their first two games.” Well, anybody who looked at the Georgia schedule thought so. I’m not taking away from Georgia winning nine games but when they face Georgia Tech it will be the first top 50 offense they will have faced during this winning streak. The seven SEC teams they beat went as combined 12-39 in conference play. Still, as Mark Richt said, it’s hard to win nine straight against anybody.
3. If Arkansas beats LSU and Alabama beats Auburn, who goes to Atlanta? It goes to BCS standings. And that’s where it gets interesting. Per SEC rules, “The tied team with the highest ranking in the BCS standings following the last weekend of regular-season games shall be the divisional representative in the SEC Championship Game, unless the second of the tied teams is ranked within five-or-fewer places of that highest ranked team. In this case, the head-to-head results of the top two ranked tied teams shall determine the representative.” If Arky wins a close game, could it jump to the top of the BCS? Probably not since Alabama hammered the ‘Backs earlier this year. Even if Arkansas did and Alabama was second, Alabama would go because of the SEC rule. And if the final BCS standings has Alabama No. 1 and LSU second, LSU would go. Crazy.
4. Steve Shaw, the head of SEC officials, released a statement Sundsay that said his officials blew the last play of the Vandy-Tennessee game twice. The end result was correct because the defender’s knee didn’t touch the ground, but the whistle blew the play dead and when that whistle blows, the play is not reviewable. I heard a whistle. It was almost a case of two wrongs making a right.

Source: GatorSports.com - Dooley's Desk

 

[Escambia94]

One thing to note is that with LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas ranked 1-2-3, people are clamoring for an all-SEC BCS championship. This is against the rules. The BCS Championship Game will be comprised of AQ conference champions unless a non-AQ champion qualifies. Therefore, even if all three win next week, one of them will have to be crowned the SEC West Champion and go on to face the Leghumpers for the National Championship SEC Championship. That means that the division tie-breaker comes into play. Assuming none of them lose next week, LSU faces UGA. As long as LSU beats UGA, LSU will face Virginia Tech, Stanford, or Houston--whichever finishes highest of the non-SEC teams and wins their own conference. If UGA does the unthinkable and beats the SEC West Champion, then we have a problem. That would eliminate the SEC from the BCS Championship, because no voter in their right mind would vote in 2-loss UGA over the ACC or Pac-12 conference champion unless one of the BCS AQ champions also has two losses.

 

[DRU2012]

One thing to note is that with LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas ranked 1-2-3, people are clamoring for an all-SEC BCS championship. This is against the rules. The BCS Championship Game will be comprised of AQ conference champions unless a non-AQ champion qualifies. Therefore, even if all three win next week, one of them will have to be crowned the SEC West Champion and go on to face the Leghumpers for the National Championship SEC Championship. That means that the division tie-breaker comes into play. Assuming none of them lose next week, LSU faces UGA. As long as LSU beats UGA, LSU will face Virginia Tech, Stanford, or Houston--whichever finishes highest of the non-SEC teams and wins their own conference. If UGA does the unthinkable and beats the SEC West Champion, then we have a problem. That would eliminate the SEC from the BCS Championship, because no voter in their right mind would vote in 2-loss UGA over the ACC or Pac-12 conference champion unless one of the BCS AQ champions also has two losses.

Are you SURE about that bit about an "All SEC BCS Championship" being forbidden? It almost happened in the Big 10 a few years back (one of the years WE ended up in it, when things unexpectedly "fell our way" at the end of the regular season), and the "experts" are talking about an "Alabama/LSU" BCS match-up as a real possibility...not that THEY couldn't get it wrong, but you'd think someone would have clued them in by now. As I understand it, a "#2-ranked SEC team" COULD be voted in as an opponent to the #1-ranked SEC-Championship-Winner, that there is NOTHING in the BCS rules that either forbids it, OR requires that the winner from one conference MUST play the winner from a DIFFERENT one--that sort of thing is only still around in the "fine print" of some of the bowl-match-up "guidelines", and even those are acknowledged "leftovers" from the old days of "guys in loud blazers" getting wined-and-dined (and God-knows-what-else) in a quest to give one's school-and-team the inside track towards one of the then "New Year's Day Bowls".

 

[Escambia94]

Perhaps I should have said that the BCS discourages having two teams from the same conference playing for the national championship. Rule 1 says that the BCS championship shall be comprised of AQ conference champions. Rule 199 says that if no other team qualifies, then a non-AQ conference champion can be in the BCS CG, if and only if they are ranked within 5 spots of the conference champion and no other AQ-conference champion has enough wins. As much as we SEC fans want to see an all-SEC BCS CG, something will happen to prevent it. Either there will be an LSU-Arkansas/ Alabama-Auburn upset, or enough voters will choose Virginia Tech if they win the ACC or Oklahoma State if they win the Big 12-ish. The rest of the country is annoyed with the SEC and with enough votes they will find excuses to make sure both BCS CG teams are not SEC.

If I am wrong, then oh well...SEC!

 

[DRU2012]

Perhaps I should have said that the BCS discourages having two teams from the same conference playing for the national championship. Rule 1 says that the BCS championship shall be comprised of AQ conference champions. Rule 199 says that if no other team qualifies, then a non-AQ conference champion can be in the BCS CG, if and only if they are ranked within 5 spots of the conference champion and no other AQ-conference champion has enough wins. As much as we SEC fans want to see an all-SEC BCS CG, something will happen to prevent it. Either there will be an LSU-Arkansas/ Alabama-Auburn upset, or enough voters will choose Virginia Tech if they win the ACC or Oklahoma State if they win the Big 12-ish. The rest of the country is annoyed with the SEC and with enough votes they will find excuses to make sure both BCS CG teams are not SEC.

If I am wrong, then oh well...SEC!

When it comes to EITHER "the forces of the cosmos" OR "the resentful pettiness of anti-SEC voters", there is too much empirical data to bother underestimating the likelihood that you are right...I guess I'm just hoping that we could end up with a "Last Game" that we'd actually find interesting--you know, between the two BEST TEAMS?