By Staff
What a BCS mess. As you all know by now, the final BCS standings were announced Sunday night, and we found out who will be playing in the national championship game.
I know that the BCS is the current format that we have and we all would not be complaining about anything if it worked out, but it has been rare that the system has done that -- worked.
After the current No. 1 team in Missouri lost last week and the No. 2 lost in West Virginia, we had to wait and find out who gets to play for the national championship game.
Did you get what I just said? We had to wait and be told. Does that not just sound weird?
As is the case in all other sports, except college football, there are some kind of playoff games that determine who is the best teams that get a chance to play for the national championship. They don't have computer systems that have certain formulas that do it for them.
For some teams, it is just being at the right spot at the right time. If you are going to lose at all, lose early and work your way up instead of losing late and not being in the first or second spot. That could cost you a chance to play for a national championship.
The poll on ESPN.com on Monday was “Did the BCS get it wrong?”
All states said yes except two.
Guess who? Louisiana and Ohio - the two states that have teams in the national championship game - homes of LSU and Ohio State.
Not picking on Ohio State again, but the sign I saw the other day during the Oklahoma and Missouri game (or it could have been the Pittsburgh against West Virginia game on Saturday? Either way the top-ranked teams lost making way for Ohio State to play for the championship game) said “Merry early Christmas Ohio State.”
The sign was referencing either Pittsburgh or Oklahoma winning and moving Ohio State to No. 1 in the BCS.
In a different scenario, Missouri finished No. 6 in the BCS and Kansas finished No. 8.
Missouri beat Kansas in the regular season, but Kansas got a bid to the Orange Bowl and Missouri goes to the AT&T Cotton Bowl against Arkansas.
A lower rated BCS team gets the BCS Orange Bowl invite against a higher rated team that defeated the team in the regular season. Missouri also defeated Illinois who finished No. 13 in the BCS and who is in the Rose Bowl against USC.
Anyway, enough of that. One team that I thought deserved a bowl bid that did not receive one was Troy. I am not just saying that because I graduated from there, but I really thought they should have got a bid after they lost the automatic bid to the New Orleans bowl after losing their game against Florida Atlantic University.
FAU won the automatic bid to the bowl after they shared the Sun Belt with Troy but won the head to head match up.
Troy finished the season 8-4 only losing to No. 4 Georgia, No. 9 Florida and No. 25 Arkansas and then to FAU.
I know that loss hurt Troy and they are only in the Sun Belt conference, but Troy was the only eight-win team to not be invited to a bowl game.
Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said that he does not think that .500 teams should be invited to a bowl. I am sure he is not just saying that because his team was snubbed. I agree with him. I am an Alabama fan and you are telling me that this year's 6-6 Alabama team deserves a bowl game?
Troy beat Louisiana-Monroe, a conference opponent for Troy may I add, and Bama lost to them.
The Sun Belt only has one bowl tie-in and that is to the New Orleans bowl. So unless Troy won the conference they did not have another bowl to go to.
Or so we thought.
Last year, Troy won the conference and went to the New Orleans bowl and won. Middle Tennessee who shared the title with Troy last year got a bowl bid from the Sun Belt conference to the Motor City Bowl in Detroit.
Middle Tennessee was 7-5 prior to their loss in the bowl game.
Well, I want to wish all area teams the best of luck this week and until Sunday when we meet again, God bless.