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Dan Shanoff writes a weekly college football column for Deadspin. Email him to let him know what you think.
While everyone is griping about the BCS, you know what is unsatisfying? Complaining about the BCS system the day after the bowls are set.
Complaining about Ohio State and "backing into" the national title game. Complaining about LSU being picked over a half-dozen other contenders. Complaining that there's no playoff. Yeah, yeah: It's a broken system; I'm no apologist. But here's my new campaign:
Stop snitching bitching.
What's the point of griping about it now? Particularly now that we have left the 24-hour frenzy of arguments that happen between the end of the regular season late Saturday night and the BCS reveal on Sunday night, it's just not worth it.
Yes, the system is exposed worse than ever (although the most aggrieved fan in 2007 would be hard-pressed to top the screw-job suffered by Auburn fans a few years back), but you certainly ain't changing it with your whining.
Ohio State and LSU may or may not be most worthy, but — and this is hardly perfect — every other contender is somehow LESS worthy:
Oklahoma has "worse losses"; Georgia didn't even play for (let alone win) LSU's conference title; USC had the single-worst defeat of the season; Virginia Tech lost to LSU head-to-head by 400; Kansas couldn't beat the team who couldn't beat Oklahoma; Hawaii played their schedule.
Given the discontent, let's quickly foreshadow the chance of a split national title if (when) LSU beats Ohio State, and the AP decides they would like to prove their relevancy by anointing an alternative champ.
If there's one legit gripe about the current BCS system, it's these counter-productive conference bowl-alignment requirements, which limit our ability to see, say, AP No. 3 (Oklahoma) vs. AP No. 4 (Georgia), with the winner earning the AP's share of the national title.
It will be a lot harder for the Sooners or Bulldogs or Hokies or Trojans to make that claim for a share of No. 1 when they are playing West Virginia (ranked 11th) or Hawaii (10th) or Kansas (8th) or Illinois (13th). So a split is a stretch.
There is one intriguing BCS scenario one of my blog commenters pointed out: What if Hawaii just throttles Georgia?
Given the way many — including me — consider UGA the best team in the country right now, wouldn't a sudden contrarian surge of AP support for Hawaii as champ put the perfect cap on this most imperfect of seasons?
Regardless, in this lull between the end of the regular season and the start of bowl season, can we just take a second to stop bitching about how fucked up the system is or how unfair the selections were — and appreciate that this was by far the most fascinating, unpredictable and thrilling college football season of our generation?
From the first week's "Upset of the Century" by App State over Michigan to this last week's shoulda-seen-it-coming bank-shot losses by both Top 2 teams, there has been nothing to complain about.
Except for some, the complaint is its ending.
For me, the complaint is it's ending.
This Week's Bandwagon: Who Is the Best Player? The most iconic individual award in sports will be given out next Saturday, and if we're all lucky, Tim Tebow will win — not (just) because he is the best player in college football but because he will end the tyranny of the previously impenetrable voter bias against sophomores.
With that inexplicable taboo eroded, we can actually focus on honoring the best player in the sport, regardless of age. (Meanwhile: Can I assume that as that "Top 25 Greatest College Football Players of All Time" countdown winds down, we'll find that Tim Tebow surprisingly ends up in the Top 3? OK: I'll settle for seeing him there after 2008.)
(My final ballot: (1) Tebow (2) McFadden (3) Brennan.)
This Week's BlogPoll Ballot Top 10
1. Georgia
Hawaii? UGA couldn't even get WVU or Kansas?
2. LSU
Miles will beat OSU, just not for Michigan.
3. Oklahoma
Start lobbying the AP voters now, OU fans.
4. USC
2007: "How Stanford Ruined a Championship."
5. Ohio State
No. 1? Needs "By Default" asterisk.
6. Florida
God damn you, clutch Auburn kicker.
7. Virginia Tech
Only 6 spots from my preseason pick.
8. Missouri
As long as they're not playing OU.
9. Illinois
Ron Zook in Pasadena: Amazing.
10. Kansas
Mark Mangino: Coach of the Year.
And so, in the fictional universe where my rankings reign supreme, here's the BCS bowl lineup I would have liked to have seen (but don't call it "bitching"):
National title: LSU vs. Georgia. Matches the "best-body-of-work" qualifier vs. the "hottest-top-team-at-end-of-season" qualifier.
(If you want a playoff, you want to see a team that didn't even PLAY for its conference title play for the national championship.)
Rose: USC vs. Ohio State. Let the teams too pussified to play a conference title game enjoy their precious little no-stakes bowl.
Sugar: Florida vs. Illinois. Screw the BCS' "two-team limit" per conference. Because Zook against Tebow in New Orleans sounds awesome.
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Kansas. The Big 12 showdown we're all intrigued to see. Bonus: Winner gets the AP half of the national title.
Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Hawaii. Stick the "sympathy vote" teams together No: I am not COMPARING VT sympathy to Hawaii sympathy.
(Yes, I left out West Virginia, as a penalty for gagging the worst choke of the year AND for ruining my prediction from last week.)
Given how utterly wrong I was about my WVU-over-Pitt pick, it is of nominal consolation to me that my preseason pick of Virginia Tech as national champs was in line with the BCS computers' final regular-season results, which had VT ranked No. 1.
Coming next week: A realistic playoff system we can all agree on!
And in two weeks: The Bandwagoneer Bowl Preview!
As usual, send any comments, observations or complaints to danshanoff-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.
Comments
Rose: USC vs. Ohio State. Let the teams too pussified to play a conference title game enjoy their precious little no-stakes bowl.
But in this fantasy world, the team that didn't even qualifiy for its conference's hyper-masculine title game gets rewarded with a trip to the only meaningful bowl game.
I hate the BCS.
-GADAWG87
(but don't call it "bitching")
It's bitching.
Ahh, Shanoff. Married info U of F 'fandom' and constantly takes shots at tOSU. Kind of like the sun coming up in the east.
Are you kidding me? He's going to keep writing this? This was supposed to be the only bright spot to the season ending.
It's trite, hyperbolic, often contradictory and lacks any insight. I don't get it.
-BryanV21
Given how utterly wrong I was about my WVU-over-Pitt pick , apostles03 will take this time to remind me that I shouldn't speak in absolutes about things I know absolutely nothing about.
Dan Shanoff is SSWagoneer eating at the Smorgasboard.
Considering that you need twelve to a conference to qualify for a conference championship game, as has been repeated to Shanoff ad nauseum, I can't see ripping either 'SC or OSU for not playing a conf. championship game.
BCS: Worst. System. Ever.
Ohio State and LSU may or may not be most worthy, but -- and this is hardly perfect -- every other contender is somehow LESS worthy:
So they're not the best...but they suck the least?
The Pac-10 doesn't play a conference championship is because it only has 10 teams (you need 12) and the teams play each other every year. Unless you have two teams that should be included in a Pac-12, it doesn't work. You don't need a conference championship if you play all the teams in it each year.
Mizzou got dicked, badly. They beat Kansas, in the only game with any sort of strength of schedule that the Jayhawks played all season, and they're out of the BCS.
Except for some, the complaint is its ending.
For me, the complaint is it's ending.
What a turn of phrase! Shanoff, you wordsmith!!!!
If I'm not mistaken, the Big Ten and Pac-10 lack championship games due to the fact that the NCAA only allows such games for conferences with 12+ schools.
@POPULARCOPY: The Veer Offense is still the worst system, but the BCS has displaced Titus as worst series.
@Signal to Noise:
What you said.
Why shouldn't we bitch?? This whole thing is retarded. It's really really retarded. And I want to bitch about it. The BCS is like SSW, it makes no fucking sense to me.
@jose reyes.the roof: should have refreshed.
Yes, the insistence on Pac-10/Big Ten in the Rose Bowl is stupid this year and there's precedent for pulling from another con when one con winner goes to the title game: Texas-Michigan in 2005, anyone?
I would have loved to see USC-UGA in Pasadena.
VT is BCS #1, but isn't in the BCS Championship game, I don't get it
-SeriouslyWTF21
Yes, the AP will vault the winner of a 3 vs. 4 matchup over the winner of a 1 vs. 2 matchup.
And I say yet again, conferences that don't have 12 teams aren't allowed to stage Championship Games. Until Boise State and Nevada join the Pac-10 and N.D. State joins the Big 10-12, they're not having title games. Pussies or not.
[Can't we] appreciate that this was by far the most fascinating, unpredictable and thrilling college football season of our generation?
Is that anything like appreciating how good the foreplay and early coitus was, only to have your partner pass out or throw up, leaving you with such a dirty feeling, even if you do come to a conclusion?
@jose reyes.the roof:
If Shanoff were an archaeologist, he'd rip the tyrannosaurus rex for having short arms.
Illinois should be in the National Title game- WlEiTcH6969
From last week's Shanoff column:
If Mizzou loses, Ohio State will be in the national title game and no one (outside of Kansas) will have a gripe.
From this week's Shanoff column:
5. Ohio State
No. 1? Needs "By Default" asterisk.
Dude, pick a fucking thought process and stick with it. We get it. You less-than-three the SEC. Nonetheless, a little consistency would be appreciated here from everyone whose hands aren't consistently down Urban Meyer's trousers.
@Signal to Noise: Course, they then got utterly annihilated by OU. That game just proved that Mizzou and KU weren't BCS teams to begin with.
@Signal to Noise: I'd actually like to see the Pac-10 expand, poaching Hawai'i (which never should have been excluded from the Mountain West, when the WAC split) & Boise State from the reconfigured (as of '96 (?)) WAC. Though, if not two WAC schools, then Hawai'i (since they play Pac-10 schools non-conference, anyway) & UNLV.
Tim Tebow will win -- not (just) because he is the best player in college football but because he will end the tyranny of the previously impenetrable voter bias against sophomores.
I was scanning this quickly and thought he was calling Tim Tebow a tranny. Hangover Mondays are rough.
Enter comment about hating BCS Here:
I could've sworn I heard Pete Carroll say, "We don't know anything at all about Illinois?"
Oh.
Snap.
No. 1? Needs "By Default" asterisk.
I'm assuming that this similar to the asterisks in the Ashley Young post.
LSU needs to thank Sean Glennon for that lofty ranking.
Personally I believe that Boise and Fresno State are the two best schools for the Pac-10 to pick up. I think both programs would get enough boost from the promotion to be contenders within a few years.
@J-No: Where did Vick finish in the '98 Heisman vote? Didn't he place third (?) as a first-year?
I think that if the BCS system blowing the bowl season again is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.
@The Seaward (nee Tocchets Bookie): "consistently down [insert name]'s trousers" is my new favorite phrase
@jose reyes.the roof: 2nd I think behind Dayne and it was the '99-'00 season. He was 6th his last year.
Regardless, in this lull between the end of the regular season and the start of bowl season, can we just take a second to stop bitching about how fucked up the system is or how unfair the selections were -- and appreciate that this was by far the most fascinating, unpredictable and thrilling college football season of our generation?
No.
The BCS sucks.
@jose reyes.the roof: In 2000 he placed 6th as a sophmore.
He placed 3rd as a freshamn in 1999.
I know it's been said, but I have to repeat it - all of these nights where we've all sat at our computers with the TV on and posted on this site about how insane it was that this #2 team was losing and that #1 team was being upset and this #whatever team came out of nowhere... the BCS system was GREAT this year! It makes every single game important! It's like a year-long playoff, and in the playoffs, YOU CAN'T LOSE TO STANFORD OR APP ST!!! Just think, the 3 weeks of playoff fun in January would take away from the months of fun we've had watching teams like WVU and Mizzou and KU.
It was awesome, and I hope they keep the system the exact same way it was.
Coming next week: A realistic playoff system we can all agree on!
Also coming next week: hell freezing over and a monkey flying out of my ass.
So Shanoff posts his BCS Top 10, yet puts #10 Kansas in over #8 Mizzou. What a douchebag
Georgia didn't even play for (let alone win) LSU's conference title
Yet you still have them in your pretend National Championship game???
When does the SSW post?
@Frank Beamers Goiter: A Da(y)ne is a type of dog. So maybe Vick's Bad Newz Kennelz was just his way of channelling his ire at the running-back that finished ahead of him in Heisman voting.
Shanoff is right, this is the first time anyone has complained about the BCS. Where was the complaining all season long?
What's that you say? Oh, really? Years, even? Well, now I don't know what to think.
@The Seaward (nee Tocchets Bookie): Great find...although perhaps Shanoff is in Kansas. No?
@jose reyes.the roof: I'd go for Hawaii and Boise myself for a Pac-12.
@Trot Nixons Hat: Yeah, but if you're going to pick one from the Big 12 not named OU, then looking at head to head should have counted for something.
I heard John Feinstein on NPR this morning, his palpable righteous indignation was quite amusing. I half expected him to board himself up at NCAA hq with hostages until this shit gets fixed.
Someone should put Tebow's heisman in the oven and heat it up before they hand it to him. Then he can fall backwards blowing on his smoking hand, before running out and sticking it in a snowbank.
Previous SSW: The SSW
New SSW: The DSW
Regardless, in this lull between the end of the regular season and the start of bowl season, can Shanoff take just a second to stop bitching about and taking shots at Ohio State every fucking week and writing his masturbatory fantasies about Tim Tebow -- and appriciate that this was by far the most fascinating, unpredictable and thrilling college football season of our generation?
Fixed, and Oh, I guess not.
Yes, Dan, but what do you think of Tim Tebow?
@Jimbo: Fair point, I hadn't considered that. I also hadn't ever considered that Shanoff lives anywhere but at the foot of Urban Meyer's bed.
@Signal to Noise: It would be great for Chris Petersen, since Boise would prolly sometimes get two games in LA, sometimes; then he could go to his Church's hq without making another trip just for that.
-The BCS is shit.
-Simmons is a Douche.
-SSW sucks donkey nuts.
Deadspin commenters are best when bitching about the obvious and no one can take that from us.
If I hear the "it works - look how interesting the debates are!" theory for why the system is fine one more time I am going to throw a haymaker.
If anything, I hope they keep the BCS system after this season. Because it's been total chaos, and really isn't that all we want? Who wants some boring playoff when you can combine the rabid fandom of alumni itching for a fight with a system that pisses everyone off in the end?
It brings a tear to mine eye.
@Da_Man