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Tuesday Question - PSU vs. Who For The Title?
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Texas QB Colt McCoy
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CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Nov 4, 2008
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If Penn State finishes unbeaten and gets one national title slot, who should get the other, a one-loss Big 12 champion or a one-loss SEC champion?
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Pete
Fiutak
Q:
If Penn State finishes unbeaten and gets one national title slot, who
should get the other, a one-loss Big 12 champion or a one-loss SEC
champion?
A:
There is absolutely no right answer. Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma,
Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have all been fantastic. It depends
on whether or not Florida can keep up its current pace of offensive
amazement. If Bama loses to LSU but redeems itself against Florida, it
might deserve it. Whomever survives the Big 12 race and wins the league
title, if it finishes with one loss, deserves the spot in the national
championship.
I've been preaching strength of schedule, so while I believe Florida is
the best team in America, I need a neutral tie-breaker. My pecking
order, at the moment, as far as what one-loss team should play an
unbeaten Penn State, would go in this order: 1) Oklahoma (who played the
nation's second toughest schedule), 2) Texas (7th toughest schedule), 3)
Florida (11th), 4) Texas Tech (16th), 5) Oklahoma State (29th), 6)
Alabama (80th)
By the way, Penn State has played the 67th toughest schedule.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q:
If Penn State finishes unbeaten and gets one national title slot, who
should get the other, a one-loss Big 12 champion or a one-loss SEC
champion?
A: Wow, this is the type of question that makes your
head throb just thinking about it. Anyone who’s 100% sure here is trying
hard to not look indecisive. I’ll take the SEC champ. The separation is
nominal, so go with the team that’ll have the toughest game in December.
While the Big 12 South winner will face a Missouri or Kansas team with
at least two losses, Florida and Alabama could be squaring off in
Atlanta as two of the top teams in the country. If the Tide beats the
Gators, or vice versa, that should be enough to beef up the resume and
build a stronger case than the Big 12 champ. It’s splitting hairs, but
that’s where we’re at as quality one-loss programs begin to line up
behind the three major unbeaten schools.
Matthew
Zemek
Q:
If Penn State finishes unbeaten and gets one national title slot, who
should get the other, a one-loss Big 12 champion or a one-loss SEC
champion?
A: I reserve the right to wait until the season has run
its course--that's the only responsible answer. Florida versus
Texas will be a very familiar BCS train wreck, a choice that
will simply not produce a fair outcome. See 2003 and 2004 in
particular.
Here's a more precise explanation of the situation staring the
college football world in the face: It's not as though one team
will not deserve to be in Miami. It's that one team will deserve
to go to South Beach, yet receive the shaft anyway.
With a plus-one, we could avoid this whole mess. 12-1 Texas,
12-1 Florida, 12-0 Penn State, and either 11-1 USC or 11-1
Oklahoma (take your pick there) would provide a mighty nice pair
of BCS bowl games, followed by a national title tilt that would
blow the doors of TV ratings and provide a windfall for the
sport.
But no, we still can't have common sense now, can we? That would
be asking too much of the incompetent fools we have "running"
college football, the one big-time athletic entity in the United
States of America that can't decide a clear-cut champion.
Back to the specifics of the question and a debate that would
presumably pit 12-1 Texas against 12-1 Florida. If forced to
choose right now, this writer's answer would have to be Texas.
The Longhorns, despite playing in the toughest single divison in
football--one without Vandy, Kentucky, Tennessee or South
Carolina--have gone 2-1 against the murderer's row of OU,
Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech, nearly pulling off the sweep.
Mack Brown's team has also crushed Missouri. With a road win at
Kansas and then a triumph in the Big 12 title game (presuming
they get there), the Horns will have a loaded resume.
Florida's profile won't be half-bad: LSU, Georgia and Alabama
(with the win over the Tide coming in the SEC Championship
Game), plus Miami, Florida State, and an okay Hawaii team out of
conference (plus the Citadel, a huge drag on the schedule
quotient). Texas's non-conference schedule (Florida Atlantic,
UTEP, Arkansas and Rice) is lousy.
But then compare the losses: Florida at home to Ole Miss, Texas
at Texas Tech in the last second of play.
Florida is--along with Oklahoma--the hottest team in America
right now. A 12-1 Gator team would be worthy of a title shot,
and moreover, a load for anyone to handle. Yet, Urban Meyer's
bunch could be kept out of the Sunshine State in early January.
It might be the only choice the BCS has... and that's precisely
why this system needs to be blown up. If it can't be eliminated,
a plus-one simply has to be installed. Immediately.
Steve Silverman
Q:
If Penn State finishes unbeaten and gets one national title slot, who
should get the other, a one-loss Big 12 champion or a one-loss SEC
champion?
A: Hmmm. It seems like a pretty
decent team from Los Angeles is not
getting an opportunity to be heard from.
Oh, yeah. You can only pick one team to
play against because there is no
postseason tournament. Someone is always
going to be left out.
That Big 12 South is just a monster.
Texas came within an eyelash of running
the Oklahoma, Missouri, Oklahoma State
and Texas Tech gauntlet. Oklahoma still
has Texas Tech and Oklahoma State
remaining. The Cowboys have Texas Tech
and Colorado, while the Red Raiders have
Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in
back-to-back weeks.
No offense to the SEC, but whomever
emerges from that Big 12 logjam will
deserve a shot at the national title.
All this is assuming Alabama loses at
LSU or in the SEC title game to Florida
and does not finish undefeated. And what
about Florida? Is anybody playing better
football in the country than the Gators?
What they did to Georgia was something
of a crime. Losses in September are not
supposed to be fatal, but when the loss
come at home by a point to a half-decent
Ole Miss team, it keeps you from playing
for the national title.
None of this is fair and all of it
smells like hot garbage. A tournament is
the obvious answer every season, and
never more so than this year.
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