Let me start off by saying I dont claim to know shit about college football. I dont watch it, like it, or generally even follow it. Not even when I was in college and Drew Brees was our quarterback heh. This year though Ive taken an interest in the stupidity of the polls and BCS. My cousin goes to Ball State and thinks his team is awesome, Ive told him they havent beaten anyone, and its like talking to a brick wall. That really doesnt matter, but what does is after looking in to Ball State and various other teams, how out of wack rankings and polls are. So if youll just follow my non-expert analysis on this here it goes.

Ball State (#17 BCS) - They are 11-0 and their supposed quality wins are Navy, IU, and uh maybe Central Michigan. Ive had trouble finding strength of schedule information (Anyone know 'the' place to find it?), but places that do weekly updates for it have Ball State around the bottom 117-119.

Navy - Lost to Ball State by 12. Other losses include Duke by 10, then 23rd ranked Pitt by 21, and Notre Dame by 6. Quality wins, then 16th ranked Wake Forest(lost to teams such as Maryland and NC State since). All in all, losing to Duke to me wipes away quality win status for Ball State.

IU - Lost to Ball State by 22. This was Ball States big win, beat a Big Ten team, yay or something. IU is now 3-9. They somehow beat then 22nd ranked Northwestern by 2. But when you check Northwesterns schedule they hadnt beaten anyone either, their big win being then #17 Minnesota, which came after losing to IU. Of course Minnesota went on to lose to Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa (55-0) after that.

Central Michigan - Lost to Ball State by 7. This was supposed to be their big final test (Believe they had lost to CMich a few years running). CMich had lost only to then 2nd Georgia by 39, and hapless Purdue by 7. They had beaten noone of mention, cept of course that super important team Ball State beat, IU, by 3.

So Ball State has beaten a bunch of crappy MAC teams, IU, and Navy. This makes them 17th in the BCS ahead of teams that all have losses, but have lost to teams a lot better than anything Ball State has played. LSU ranked 18th, has lost to Florida, Georgia, Alabama (by only 6 in OT), and Mississippi. Im almost positive LSU would wipe the floor with Ball State. If Ball State had say lost by one point to Navy in OT, and then blew out every team by more than they have, they would not be ranked. Its all because they havent lost that they get a ranking. Im not even sure a playoff could fix college football its such a disaster. Now that Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, but lost to Texas that lost to Texas Tech, Im pretty sure BCS computers explode and catch fire and we cancel the season. That leaves Alabama all alone at the top with their skate by OT win over worse than Ball State, LSU. Course theres always Florida but they lost by 1 to Missouri and they arent even ranked, and if you cant beat a team that much "worse" than Ball State Im not even sure you should be ranked... but ya.

I guess if you just stick with your conference and ignore the rest of the games it can be fun. But even that proves to be a mess with ties in standings and who had to play to who and who didnt play who and no title game for all the conferences.

My final what if question is about my school Purdue 4-8. They beat IU and CMich that Ball State played. Central Michigan by the same margin, and destroyed IU 62-10. Theyve lost to 4 teams currently ranked, and 4 other Big Ten teams with winning records. Obviously a bad year, but if they played Ball States schedule would they be undefeated, and ranked 17th in the country?

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"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

Florida lost to Ole Miss, not Missouri. Ole Miss has really turned things around. They beat both Florida and LSU in the SEC, not something to scoff at.

As far as Ball State, they'll get destroyed by just about anyone who is put in a bowl game with them anywhere near where they are ranked. If they're lucky, they'll get matched up against LSU and they might manage to pull out a win because LSU is crap this year. They don't even deserve to be in the top 25 and with that loss yesterday, they might not be when the polls come out today.

See Hawaii last year. I know I learned a lesson last year when they got to a BCS bowl.

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bah let them have their fun. I'm a graduate of Ball State, and I know they rarely have a good year in their football program. Let them have their fun while it lasts.

As someone who loves college football more than the NFL, let me just say:

1) Don't fret so much over the BCS. Anyone who does follow college ball knows it's an inadequate measure. This year (like any other year since the BCS came out) will be another year where it's debated who should and shouldn't make the championship game. It's like they want to keep the current BCS system just for the sheer number of debates it generates. This year will be exceptionally interesting given the Texas-Oklahoma-Texas Tech love triangle and how they all played out.

2) Although it is a poor measure.....it's all we've got. We can't go to a playoff system because of money and the powers-that-be (which could easily be a 100-page essay, but suffice it to say that the bowl system and the people who control them sink any realistic chance of a playoff system. We are lucky to even have the BCS system at this point, really).

3) Even with the shitty BCS rating system......it can produce some of the best games in history, of any sport. See : '05 championship game between USC and Texas.

4) Sometimes you just need to give the little guy a chance. See: Boise State vs. Oklahoma in the 07 Fiesta Bowl. Did anybody give Boise State a chance vs. a powerhouse football school like Oklahoma? That also had to be one of the funnest football games to watch, complete with crazy plays (Statue of Liberty) to the marriage proposal.

So is Ball State ranked too high? Realistically, yes. Who cares though? If you are someone like LSU, you should be more pissed at yourself for playing so poorly. If you're Ball State, at least you get your day in the sun, you will get into a bowl game, and you will either get destroyed or you will win and silence the naysayers, just like Boise State in 07.

Ball State is in the public eye now. That is about all the recognition for their undefeated season that they should be entitled to, so they shouldn't be too upset. Maybe in the future, their program will become a nationally-known program. Ultimately, they need a season like this to accomplish that. Think: big picture +++.

Texas Tech > Texas > Oklahoma > Texas Tech

When Oklahoma beats OK St that should give them the computer "juice" to get over Texas in the BCS rankings (Texas plays A&M on Thanksgiving and Ball State would give A&M issues...)

The Big 12 has some incredible offensive teams this year (too bad they don't have any defense outside of what Oklahoma did to Tech). If Ball State had played a Big 12, SEC, Pac-10, or hell a Big 10 or ACC schedule would they be undefeated? Hell, would they have a winning record? I don't think that if Ball State played Michigan, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Notre Dame that they would have more than one win (and we have all ragged on how much those teams suck this year)

Ball State is as deserving of a BCS game as any of the last group of teams is deserving of a bowl game. They got lucky and ran through a sisters of mercy schedule without tripping up. Thank you for playing, now take your ball and go home, it is time for the big boys to play.

Yeah, I don't see Oklahoma losing to State which should jump them above Texas in the BCS polls.

Oklahoma vs. Florida for the National Championship is probably the best game we can hope for at this point anyway.

Here is the BCS nightmare possibility:

1) Oklahoma loses to OSU, leaving Texas and Texas Tech tied for the Big 12 South Title. TTU has the head to head tie-breaker and plays in the B12 title game. Texas would probably move to #2

2) Florida loses to Florida State, knocking them from the top 5 in the BCS rankings. Florida then beats Alabama in the SEC championship game knocking Alabama from the top five. An idle Texas would possibly move to #1.

3) Oregon State wins their game vs Oregon leaving them in a tie with USC. Oregon State has the head to head tie-breaker vs USC giving them the Pac 10 championship.

If all three of the above happen then Texas and USC would play in the MNC game and neither of them would have won their conference championships.

I sure hope that happens.

Oh, I forgot. You could add to #2 -OR- if Alabama loses to Auburn then beats Florida (even if Florida wins vs FSU)

Yes, I am rooting for this to happen too. The Nightmare Scenario for the BcS

On the one hand, I'd like to see that happen just to show how F'd up the BCS is. On the other hand, fuck USC. The Pac-10 is a joke and has been for quite some time.

Yeah, I HATE Texas too. I would see this as an evil that we have to see to try to get a better solution.

"Did you win the conference?" "Nah, Texas Tech won it." "Oh, shit... how'd you guys end up?" "We won the national championship!" "WTF?"

Agreed.

[Yes I'm still bitter that Reggie Bush admittedly pushed Matt Leinart over the goal line vs ND and got away with it.]

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Is there some unknown rule that you can't push your own player to gain yards? I must have missed that one and I am a ND fan.

Big XII teams ending up in the BCS Championship game despite not winning the Big XII Champoinship game is nothing new.

There used to be that rule in the NFL, but it's gone now. I am not sure if the rule exists in college.

Isn't the BCS contract continuing until at least 2014 or something like that? I forgot where I heard it, but it was stated that even if they wanted to go to a playoff system that the earliest they can even start it is years from now because of television contracts and bowl contracts and such.

The BCS is why I just don't care that much about college football. Love the game, love the players, love the passion... but it is really difficult for me to get excited about a computer ranking. Which is why, of course...

March Madness > everything else in sports

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There's always a way out of a contract if someone wants it bad enough. I used to like March Madness but with the turnover of the kids now, where anyone worth a shit enters the NBA draft as soon as he can, it's not nearly as good as it used to be. Bring back the dynasty days. Bring back teams where you actually knew the players. Bring back UNLV vs. Duke.

Some of my BCS "random thoughts" from this past weekend:

1) I don't want to hear any more garbage about "if you have a playoff then the regular season is meaningless." They keep comparing NCAA Football to the NFL; there are four weeks left in the NFL regular season and only two teams have locks on playoff spots (Giants and Titans) and around 20 teams fighting for the other ten positions.

2) Too bad that the "BCS Nightmare" situation didn't happen. I think it would be funny if Oklahoma is beaten by Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game and Florida beats Alabama -- Alabama would have an argument to have an all SEC Championship game.

3) Do they play defense in the Big 12? I have never seen so many missed tackles, blown coverage assignments and missed reads in the top Big 12 games this weekend (OU/OSU, Texas/Texas A&M, Missouri/Kansas, Texas Tech/Baylor). Oklahoma's last four touchdowns were so wide open any college QB could have completed the pass.

4) I loved how Arkansas came back to beat LSU in Little Rock on Friday. best possible ending for a bad year. Best way to go out for Casey Dick. Miracle on Markham II.

5) Oregon State looked like crap. They beat USC? Wow. SC didn't look that good in beating Notre Dame. I don't know how a team that only gives up 99 total yards looked bad, but SC didn't really seem to have the Dominate mode on.

If Florida wins and Oklahoma loses... I may never stop laughing.

Having said that... Florida has a legit chance win and that win alone could throw the whole system into crazy time.

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I've got tickets to 'Bama/Florida. Corner endzone. I'm loving life. My only concern is the last SEC Championship game I went to was... Alabama/Florida, and we lost. Maybe I'd get taunted by the same fans - that would be funny. Then again, I think life expectancy among Alabama fans is around 36, so maybe not.

Oklahoma can not play defense. I hope OU wins and Florida wins, because I would love to play Oklahoma's defense.

Oklahoma vs. Florida is probably the best case scenario at this point.



Fixed that for you.

I can see it now, Oklahoma wins the B12 chumpionship game. Florida wins the SEC. Texas gets to beat Ohio State in the Fiesta (why Ohio State gets to go to a BCS bowl is way beyond me).

Oklahoma loses to Florida in the MNC game then Texas whines that they should be be the National Champ because they beat Oklahoma too.

I HATE the longhorns. All they do is cry and complain, bitch and moan, everything is wrong with others and they are perfect, and the world is against them. Screw them! Grow up and get over it. Win a road game against a ranked team.

Newsflash: Every team in the running for a National Championship does that

Texas is the worst.

Lou Holtz in his Notre Dame days was the worst. Period. I hate that fucking guy.