CFN's 5 Thoughts for the Week

CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 21, 2011


5 Thoughts this week from the CFNers on the hot topics.


CFN Analysis 

Week 12  Thoughts, Nov. 21 

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- Cirminiello & Johnson: RGIII's Heisman Day
- Mitchell: So what's going to happen next?
- Harrison: Montee Ball & the Heisman  
- Zemek: College football needs a flex system
- Sallee: Arkansas, welcome back to the fun 

By: Barrett Sallee
Follow me on Twitter: @BarrettSallee


Razorback Nation, welcome back.

Not only are you No. 3 in the BCS and have a shot at No. 1 LSU on Friday, your national title hopes improved more than any other team in the nation after the shenanigans of last Friday and Saturday.

But don’t get too confident, things don’t look peachy.

According to the SEC’s three-way round robin tiebreaker, should Arkansas, LSU and Alabama each finish the season with only one loss to one of the other teams, the team with the lowest BCS ranking will be eliminated and the tie between the remaining two will be broken via head-to-head results, as long as they are within five spots of each other. Unless something incredibly ridiculous happens, they will be within five spots of each other.

Talk about a conundrum. For Arkansas to advance to the SEC Championship Game via the three-way tiebreaker, it must beat LSU bad enough to jump Alabama in the standings, but not embarrass the Tigers to a point where they fall below Alabama. Do you see that happening? I don’t. That’d be like scoring touchdowns but kneeling on extra points.

If the SEC West is decided by the three-team tiebreaker (which I predicted on Aug. 6), there will undoubtedly be a lot of anger in two fan bases, as was the case in the Big 12 in 2008 when the same scenario played out.

Before you complain about how the three-way round robin tie is broken, first come up with a better solution.

About the only other reasonable way is to let the BCS standings determine the champ, regardless of head-to-head matchup. I can’t sign up for that method. Just as it does every postseason, the BCS should serve as a tool, but allow for on-the-field results to determine the ultimate outcome.

So, it’s simple - Arkansas needs to take care of LSU and then hope that the Season of Shenanigans continues on Saturday afternoon in Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Auburn is able to spring the upset of Alabama as 19.5-point underdogs. Under normal circumstances, I’d say that’s impossible. Auburn is regressing and Alabama has everything to play for, including a few insurance style points (just in case).

After all of the craziness that transpired last weekend though, nothing will totally shock me at this point.
  
- Cirminiello & Johnson: RGIII's Heisman Day
- Mitchell: So what's going to happen next?
- Harrison: Montee Ball & the Heisman  
- Zemek: College football needs a flex system
- Sallee: Arkansas, welcome back to the fun 

 

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