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Tuesday Question - If Missouri beat OU ...
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Utah QB Brian Johnson
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CollegeFootballNews.com
Posted Dec 2, 2008
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Tuesday Question ... If Missouri beats Oklahoma, then who should play for the national title?
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Pete
Fiutak
Q:
If Missouri beats OU,
the national title should be ...
A:
The SEC champion vs. Utah.
It won't be, it'll be Texas vs. Florida/Alabama, but that wouldn't be
fair. If OU loses to Missouri, then, in the overall tie in the Big 12,
Texas Tech will have actually been more deserving than Texas because of
the head-to-head aspect. USC would be next in line, but as I've said
several times before, the Oregon State factor (USC lost to the Beavers
while Utah beat them) combined with the Mountain West's 6-1 record vs.
the Pac 10, and, of course, the unbeaten record, would make the Utes
more deserving.
As far as what I'd like to see, I'd rather see SEC vs. USC or even
against Penn State, who actually has just as good a case as the Trojans
considering the Oregon State factor (Penn State throttled the team that
beat USC). But as far as the deserve factor, if you wouldn't put Utah in
this year, when would a non-BCS team ever deserve a shot?
Richard
Cirminiello
Q:
If Missouri beats OU,
the national title should be ...
A:
Texas. You know, that
team from Austin that wears burnt orange, and got screwed out of playing
in the Big 12 Championship game. Oops, wrong rant.
First off, do know that I could care less whether a team has won its
league title, division title, or conference spelling bee. As long as the
Big East, ACC, and Pac-10 have automatic bids to the BCS, winning your
league should not be a prerequisite for playing in the national
championship game. Being one of the top two teams in the country should.
With Oklahoma out of the way, No. 3 Texas could neatly slide up to No.
2, and begin preparing for the winner of Florida-Alabama. Ever since USC
lost to Oregon State, I felt that the best of the Big 12 should duke it
out with the best of the SEC in Miami on Jan. 8. Moving up the Longhorns
into the spot vacated by the Sooners would achieve that, while serving
up a double shot of karma. Why no Texas Tech? You can’t lose a game by
44 points in late November and expect to play for a national title.
You didn’t ask, but USC isn’t getting enough love. Ironic, right? I
understand that most of the media is fixated on gaudy offensive numbers
the way a junior high-schooler fixates on cleavage. However, why does
Oklahoma earn style points for scoring at least 60 in four
straight games, but the Trojans don’t for allowing just 55 points in the
last 34 quarters? Has the perception pendulum really shifted that far
over the last few years?
Matthew
Zemek
Q:
If Missouri beats OU,
the national title should be ...
A: Texas and the SEC champion would play for the title
under this scenario.
11-1 USC, 11-1 Penn State, and 12-0 Utah would not be able to
match the Longhorns' stacked resume in a national debate.
Let's make one thing clear in this comment, however, even if it
might seem tangential (at best) or completely irrelevant (at
worst).
Rest assured, it's not irrelevant. Follow along... especially if
Mizzou does beat OU in Kansas City this Saturday night.
I've received a lot of worried e-mails from Texas and especially
Oklahoma fans about Florida, and why some pollsters
currently have the Gators ranked higher than both the Longhorns
and Sooners. One could debate that point, but the reason why
that debate is and has been irrelevant is that the Gators have
had no controversy surrouding their status as a would-be
conference champion (provided Florida beats Alabama, of course).
The reason why Texas-OU was such a heated debate is that a
national mechanism (the BCS system, with its own computer-aided
standings) was being used to decide a local
(division/conference) debate. With the Big 12 champion being
likely to play the SEC champion in the BCS title game, there was
no controversy about the SEC half of the equation; the only
controversy surrounded the Big 12 side of the divide. Since
conference champions merit--and almost always receive--priority
(except for 2003, when Oklahoma lost to Kansas State but still
played for the title), there was and is no reason for Big 12
fans to worry that the loser of the SEC title game would still
be ranked higher than Texas or OU--whoever would win the Big
12--come December 7.
So while it might seem that there's still a poll controversy
surrounding Florida (or Bama) and the Big 12 champion, that's a
false debate. Assuming OU beats Missouri, the final poll votes
will be adjusted to reflect the priority given to conference
champions in a BCS title game debate.
Now, with all that having been said, there is one (but only one)
way we could have uncertain polls--polls not dictated or
determined by conference championship game results--decide the
BCS title game matchup.
It's a long shot, but college football--as this season has
proved, with the rare three-way tie in the Big 12 South--always
seems to find new loopholes in a BCS system that's full of them.
Here's the one scenario that could create chaos even now, at
this late point in the season.
Before a Missouri upset of OU, imagine that Alabama, down by
four and without timeouts, faces a fourth-and-goal at the
Florida 6 with 30 seconds left in what has been a jawdropping
SEC Championship Game, so good that Texas's riveting win over
Oklahoma is being forgotten to an even greater degree (not
because of the score or the winning team, but because of the
sheer quality of the competition). John Parker Wilson throws a
pass into the end zone, and Julio Jones clearly gets interfered
with by a Gator defender. Wilson also gets hit late on the play.
The officials miss both calls. Florida escapes, but with
everyone feeling uneasy about the way the game was decided.
If OU were to then lose to Missouri, we could have a
situation in which there would be a heavily politicized and
uncertain debate in the polls, without any connection to
conference championships, involving 12-1 Alabama and 11-1 Texas.
Bama would feel it deserved another shot at the best conference
champion in America, for one thing. Tide fans and SEC people
would also say--under such circumstances--that since three-loss
Missouri won the "mighty" Big 12, the conference's unofficial
runner-up (technically and legalistically, its third-best team)
wouldn't be worthy of playing in the national title game.
Texas would still be likely to win that debate, but gosh, it
really could get dramatic in a 24-hour span, with no guarantees
existing to ensure that the Horns could hold off Alabama.
Again, all of the above is a long shot.
Do remember, though, that stranger things have happened in a
sport that is almost about to celebrate its 140th birthday.
But if nothing wildly out of the ordinary happens in Atlanta, a
Missouri win over Oklahoma would put Texas in the BCS title game
against the SEC champion.
Steve Silverman
Q:
If Missouri beats OU,
the national title should be ...
A: The winner of the SEC
championship game between
Alabama and Florida would
obviously be team "A" in the
championship game. Don't write
off Alabama just because they
are a double-digit dog, either.
Then we have Team B. You can
make a case for Texas, you can
make a case for Penn State and
you can make a case for Boise
State. None of those are good
cases. You have to go with USC
and their hellacious defense.
You have to like the way
Florida, Oklahoma and USC
responded after their losses
this season and the Trojans have
done it with a defense that is
probably the best in the nation.
I'm not saying they would walk
over the Alabama-Florida winner,
but I think it would be the best
game. Texas? Do it again next
year and then we'll give you a
shot.
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