BCS Rankings Are Out, But Why?
domer.mq - 9:02 pm
The Bowl Championship Rankings Are out. Notre Dame places 8th. It doesn’t matter. It has absolutely no effect on which teams will play in which bowls. So why not just have one, single BCS ranking at the end of the regular season?
Controversy = 
.
It’s simple. Start releasing the BCS rankings from the beggining of the season, and nobody will really care much because it’s just too early in the season for all the variables that go into the BCS to make any sense. You’d end up with some team like Washington ranked #1 in week 1. It undermines the reputation of the BCS. However, wait until the end of the season to release a single poll, and you miss out on all that free publicity/marketing from the major news outlets who, in turn, use the early and pretty much useless BCS rankings to create “content” that thrills half the football watching population while pissing the other half off, thus generating revenue.
The early rankings also enable the fans of, say, the top 15 teams to hem and haw over whether or not their teams will win an opportunity to play in these self-appointed “big time bowl games.” And when the final regular-season rankings get near, it allows media companies to generate content revolving around the controversy of it all. And by then, Suzy Whatsafullback and Johny Nevercaredbefore will be watching these bowl games. Oh yeah, don’t forget about Tommy Tuberville’s inevitable poo throwing. That’s always a good time.
Biscuit
I was gonna write an article about the relative rankings tonight, but I am tired and a bit pissed about it. So then I’d go and say something rude. Like WHAT THE F VOTERS? Or something like that.
But, my only point would be this: ND lost to #2/#3 Michigan in a route. Auburn got BLOWN OUT by a then-unranked and now #15/#18ish Arkansas team and SOMEHOW THEY ARE RANKED ABOVE US. Florida lost to that same Auburn team that, at the time, was ranked #10/#11.
How are BOTH OF THOSE SQUADS ranked above us in the USA Today Poll? Someone, please figure it out and write a post. Or just write a post about it that makes me feel better. F the pollsters, they all blow.
October 16, 2006 at 12:48 amGeronimoRumplestiltskin
Biscuit,
The reason why ND will get the short end of the stick as far as polls are concerned is, according to the geniuses over at CFN.com, “that the Notre Dame team that got whacked around for three quarters by Michigan State is the same one that would get its doors blown off by Cal, Tennessee, and everyone else ranked in the top ten”. Most non-ND folks were hoping and praying that ND would get “exposed”, and the Michigan game provided them with all the argument they feel they will ever need. It does not matter if ND beats USC; then, the story will be that USC was overrated, not that they were wrong about ND.
I really wish ND had not scheduled GT-PSU-Mich back-to-back-to-back. By the third game, ND’s emotional reserves were low, and UM, after warming up against Vandy and CMU, was coming into a game they had been focusing on for 8 months. Unfortunately, the UM loss (and, particularly, the margin of that loss) will give voters (in their minds) all the ammo they need to torpedo any chance of ND moving up into the Top 5 unless the undefeated and 1-loss teams do a lot of losing…..
October 16, 2006 at 2:50 amThe Biscuit
Yeah, I hear you. And actually, I kind of get their logic, as anti-ND as it is. But, what I don’t get is why Auburn then jumps back up ahead of us. They have 1 loss, and lost UGLY to Arkansas. Yes, they beat a quality FL team, but we’ve had some good wins as well.
You’re dead on on the scheduling. We win those first few tough games, and it all disappears with the loss to Michigan. So while Auburn gets credit for beating FL, we don’t get any credit for our first 2 wins anymore.
I think if we win out we end up in the Top 4, cuz there will be some losing at the top fuh sho. Still, frustrated.
October 16, 2006 at 11:38 am