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LINCICOME: Florida won, but nothing was decided

By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 8, 2009 at 11:42 p.m.

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Head coach Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators has Gatorade dumped on him by his team towards the end of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners in the FedEx BCS National Championship Game on Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Fla.

Photo by Donald Miralle © Getty Images

Head coach Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators has Gatorade dumped on him by his team towards the end of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners in the FedEx BCS National Championship Game on Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Fla.

Head coach Mack Brown of the Texas Longhorns celebrates after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Game on Jan. 5 in Glendale, Ariz.

Photo by Jeff Gross © Getty Images

Head coach Mack Brown of the Texas Longhorns celebrates after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Game on Jan. 5 in Glendale, Ariz.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes celebrates after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 75th Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 in New Orleans, La.

Photo by Chris Graythen © Getty Images

Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes celebrates after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 75th Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 in New Orleans, La.

Poll

Does the winner of the Bowl Championship Series title game deserve the No. 1 ranking?


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In the first clear decision of the New Year, at least we know who is the best college football team. Or do we?

Uncertainty is the rule of the day, so why should something as negligible as which campus can unequivocally claim to have the best bunch of hired scholar/thugs matter much?

Even as Oklahoma and Florida squirmed and scrapped over the final BCS gift box, substantial opinion already claimed that whatever happened Thursday night was no more certain than a wind sock.

Nothing will undo Florida's win over the Sooners and their claim for their third title, but left open is the notion this year's Heisman Trophy went to the wrong quarterback and that Texas was right about Oklahoma all along.

College football is the one sport that can be played years after it is over, and this season shall echo longer and more loudly than most.

Specimen No. 1 - only in order of discussion rather than final ranking - is Utah. Yes, the very same Utah that rallied with less than a minute to play to beat Air Force. Yes, the overlooked Mountain West's poster child for disregard, the only undefeated major college football team - that Utah.

Could Utah beat either Florida or Oklahoma? We shall never know. We do know that the Utes beat Alabama, ranked No.1 for five weeks, so, fractionally speaking, Utah is at least No. 11/3.

That may be how this season should be sorted out, in thirds, or fourths, with mini-MacArthur Trophies all around; you know, that stadium replica trophy that used to represent the best. Each contender could get a section, except the one that got the end zone would be complaining all over again.

Because Utah did not lose and everyone else did, logic and fairness thereby may insist that the Utes should be adding to their trophy case the Waterford Crystal football that now signifies supremacy. (By the way, Florida's '06 trophy was shattered by a recruit who knocked if off a table, another indication of just how fragile this whole No. 1 business is.)

There is precedent here. Brigham Young, Utah's neighbor and rival, won the national title in 1984, but this was back when whimsy had a chance, before all the structure and, yes, money ruined everything. The Cougars were the only undefeated team, beating a mediocre Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl and then waiting for Nebraska and South Carolina to lose.

No one believed then or now that Brigham Young was the best team in the land, but that is not the point. The point is that it could be.

It is no longer possible for Cinderella to wear cleats since the big dance is for only the usual suspects and those being a recognizable pair, Florida and Oklahoma as representative of the ugly stepsisters and can be found.

Not that there aren't others of equal rank ready to protest a system they have all agreed to. That would be Specimens Nos. 2 and 3-USC and Texas, each with no more losses than Florida.

Texas already had a thumb in its nose about Oklahoma playing for the Big 12 title, even though the Longhorns had won head to head, so naturally, when Texas whipped Ohio State in a dramatic finish in the Fiesta Bowl, the same argument could be used and was.

Both Texas coach Mack Brown and Utah's Kyle Whittingham said they would vote their teams No. 1, votes that would not count if they did. Even President-in-waiting Barack Obama, who advocates a playoff system, allowed as how Texas has a "pretty good claim to be No. 1."

When all the ingredients are exactly the same - that is choosing among teams with one loss if you ignore the team with no losses - the only recourse is to make the most noise.

USC would be the one in this regard, whipping Penn State soundly in the Rose Bowl, so that its fluke loss to Oregon State could be explained away as disinterest or just one of those things.

The Trojans were so compelling after that, they should not only be forgiven but honored.

This brings us back to Utah. If Oregon State beat USC and Utah beat Oregon State, which it did with a two-point conversion in the last minute and a half and a field goal as the clock ran out, then clearly Utah is better than the Trojans, just as Texas will forever be better than Oklahoma. And Florida better than them all.

So, the Orange Bowl with its lofty status as the final decider, had all these nuisance claims to muddy its clarity.

Even TV's insistence on calling it the "championship game," something none of the other bowls were able to do, leaves this season as open on this end as it was when the whole thing started.

This is a whole lot more fun than a playoff.

Comments

  • January 9, 2009

    9:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Avalanche711 writes:

    Great article Bernie! Having Computers and polls decide a national champion is absolutely ridiculous..... IT SHOULD BE
    DECIDED ON THE FIELD! Just as in every other sport in college
    athletics.... Here is the plan now everybody listen and send this
    to all your Senators.... Regular season should consist of 11 games Starting the first of September and running to November.
    Do away with all of those stupid conference championship games
    If they need a conference champion to make them happy, go by
    record and use tie breakers like the NFL, head to head, Division
    record etc...Using one poll, a united poll, don't need 3 or 4 of
    those damn things, or by just Using records and doing away with
    those lowsy polls completely, Pick the top 16 teams in the country. Seed them depending on their rankings. The first weekend in December, Number 1 plays number 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, ect, 8 games at neutral sites if possible.... and then there was 8 and they would play the next weekend at neutral sites or we could use the bowl sites to make those morons happy. Then the 3rd week of December, the final 4... Then on New years day the Real Championship game...... That would fill
    in the 4 or five weeks these teams wait to play their bowl games from the end of the season.. Can you imagine how much excitement a College Football Playoff would muster!! The ratings
    would be off the charts everyweek for every game.. Everyone would have a chance which is what it should be all about in the first place. And do away with that damn Pac 10- Big 10 alliance for the Rose Bowl. Only bowl that does this I think.. Different teams and different conferences should have a chance to play in the Rose Bowl if it even still exist for a College Football Playoff..

  • January 9, 2009

    1:26 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    fuzzyjim writes:

    Bernie baby,
    I was about to congratulate you on writing what may be the only logical column I've ever read of yours (which is why I only bother about once a month). However, the statement "...when Texas whipped Ohio State in a dramatic finish in the Fiesta Bowl..." clearly shows you are still clueless so that the rest of the column must have just been luck.
    Did you not notice how Texas squeaked out the win at the very end?
    Getting whipped means being dominated, dude..

    Avalanche, I agree with the 11 game season and ending conference championship games. However, a 16 team playoff is probably one game too many (not that I would be strongly opposed). I would start with the top 8 ranked teams the week you suggested. But then, the boys have to do finals and the holidays, so have the remaining 4 teams play off New Year's Day with the Big Kahuna the next week. That way, nobody can whine about the "bowl tradition" and all that. In fact, I'd let the 1st round playoff losers play New Year's Day too.

  • January 9, 2009

    2:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    jersey writes:

    B-------ullcrap

    C-------oncept

    S-------pare me!!

  • January 9, 2009

    2:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    moet writes:

    Hi Bernie,

    Your last comment was your best. Who says there has to be certainty? I like the bowl system, even if there are too many of them, and whether you choose the Top 4, 8 or 16 for a playoff, there still needs to be a way to rank the teams going in, so there still will be subjectivity and controversy.

    I do think Utah, TCU and BYU (& who knows, maybe CSU in the future) make a pretty good case for the Mtn West being one of the top 6 conferences now, as all three made the final Top 25 and two of them ended up in the Top 7 when all was said and done. I think people might have been surprised just how well Utah would have played against Florida, OU, USC or Texas this year. It's too bad they didn't get a shot at #1.

    Finally, Bernie, try to keep in mind that these are still college kids when you're describing them. There's no need to refer to college players in general as "hired scholar/thugs", especially in the context of a BCS Bowl game featuring players and people of the quality and character of Tebow and Bradford. I mean, we're not talking Miami, Fl of the 80's with any of the teams on the scene now. College football players for the most part earn their scholarships with more hard work on the field and in the classroom than most of us even came close to experiencing when we were in college. Otherwise, good article.

  • January 9, 2009

    3:08 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    curoma writes:

    Divide Every Conference into 10 teams
    Only the Winners of any given Conference make Tourney.
    Season only has to be 10 games long.
    Thats right, O-N-E out of conference game.
    EVERY GAME COUNTS
    The ticket and swag money to the individual schools would be sick.
    A 15 game tournament, no team plays more than 14 games.
    A lower 16 team secondary tourney so the "pointless bowls" can still have their games.
    Always have the Final Championship game in a 100,000 seater.
    Let the chips fall where they may and the whiners whine.
    Sound ridiculous? What do we have now?
    USC Trojans would've beaten all comers this year.
    The fatheads who run the NCAA don't give a crap anyway.
    A shame the lower Divisioned schools have a playoff system in place BUT, FOR the "BETTER SCHOOLS", It's not feasible.

  • January 9, 2009

    3:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Ottis writes:

    Unfortunately, while the overall point about a playoff is good, the bowl games took away the momentum. USC beat Penn State but coasted in the second half even though anyone who watched USC knows that USC doesn't coast - which means most likely that USC wasn't as good as the first half indicated. PSU lost. Alabama lost. Texas struggled against an Ohio State team that should not have been in a BCS bowl and which came from one of the weakest conferences; neither team distinguished itself. That leaves only Utah, and your BYU example only serves to remind us that BYU winning the national championship was a joke and everyone outside of Utah knew it. I don't know if Utah was good enough, but given its schedule, I'll choose to say no. And beating Alabama in one game on one day isn't enough to say yes. So did we end up with the best team as national champion? despite the flaws of the BCS, I think we did - and the bowl performances support that.