ShareThisBy JOHN LINDSAY
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
We're still six weeks away from the only set of Bowl Championship Series standings that mean a thing. But already the politicking makes next week's mid-term congressional elections seem civil by comparison.
Just as Congress fights over control of those red and blue states, college football remains mired in its own class war _ much of it antagonized by the creation of the Bowl Championship Series eight years ago.
Even though the system is usually stacked in their favor, the haves _ schools from the traditional power five conferences, the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10 _ are already bent out of shape. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville says that the Bowl Series will never give an SEC team a fair shake since the nation's toughest league doesn't usually allow a team to go through unscathed. And even when it does, like Tuberville's Tigers did in 2004, somehow the SEC gets the shaft.
Though there's more than a kernel of truth to Tuberville's argument, it still hands us a chuckle. After all, isn't the whole BCS the brainchild of former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer? Not so humorous is the ludicrous whining of "60 Minutes" latest star _ Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who complained about the Fighting Irish losing ground to two SEC teams (Tennessee and Florida) after the Irish miracle escape of UCLA last week. "One of the teams that jumped us had the same (close) game that we had. Another team wasn't even playing. They were home eating cheeseburgers and they end up jumping us. That befuddles me."
For Weis to complain about a system that contorts like the old cartoon character "Gumby" to get the Irish into a major bowl every year they marginally deserve it is akin to Britney Spears complaining that her gold records aren't shiny enough.
And one more thing. We men of generous proportions need to stay away from cheeseburger references. Speaking of ground chuck, that's pretty much what the Irish's schedule resembles. If West Virginia's schedule is so suspect, exactly who have the Irish beaten? A Georgia Tech team that redefines erratic? Winless Stanford? Crumbling Purdue? This week's tasty morsel _ hapless, lame duck North Carolina? Earth to Charlie: Lighten up (in more ways than one).
As for the have-nots, the aforementioned Mountaineers took advantage of USC's shocking loss at Oregon State to move up to third in this week's BCS standings, thus infuriating SEC fans that claim No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Auburn or even No. 11 Tennessee are all superior to West Virginia, which travels to No. 5 Louisville in Thursday night's first mega-BCS showdown.
And if the Mountaineers or Cardinals go unbeaten as Big East champs, look for another big-money precinct, No. 7 Texas, to crank up its we're-entitled-to-this PR machine. Not to mention the argument the Michigan-Ohio State loser will have... Our head is starting to hurt.
But wait, there's the no-win plight of undefeated Rutgers _ yes Rutgers _ 12th in this week's BCS standings. A brief mind-boggling list of teams the Scarlet Knights are ahead of (Wisconsin, LSU, Oklahoma, Miami, Penn State and Florida State). Remember that from 1993-2002, Rutgers went 27-83-1. By comparison, FSU went 104-19-1 over that span.
Yes in the college football world, pigs are officially flying.
In the better world of a 16-team Division I playoff, Rutgers could actually get a chance against an Ohio State, Michigan or Florida to become football's version of basketball's George Mason, which shocked the world with its run to the Final Four last March. Instead, the Knights could likely go 12-0 and still lose out on the BCS national title game to any one-loss team.
Why? Because the BCS was never designed to help _ or even accommodate _ schools like Rutgers.
Rule of thumb? With the BCS, complaining always wins out over competition. So the BCS honchos are now down to hoping for the path of least moaning, which appears to be West Virginia going 12-0 and taking on either undefeated Ohio State or Michigan for the national title. WVU would then bring a 17-game winning streak to Glendale, Ariz. including last year's impressive Sugar Bowl win in Atlanta over SEC champ Georgia.
The other BCS games are potentially good matchups with Ohio State-Michigan loser vs. either USC or Cal in the Rose Bowl, Florida vs. Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, Texas vs. the ACC champ in the Orange Bowl, and maybe Boise State-Louisville in the Fiesta Bowl.
BCS. Those three letters do sum it all up well: Best of a Crummy Situation.
UPSET PICK: Va. Tech equaled our five straight losing picks with three TDs en route to spanking overrated Clemson. At 3-7, we've still got a long way to go but will inch closer to .500 when N.C. State, a 6-point underdog, gets up to deck No. 20 Georgia Tech Saturday in Raleigh.
LINDSAY'S LOSER: A tip of our hat to Temple from snapping the nation's longest losing streak at 20 with a resounding 28-14 win over Bowling Green, a team that trounced the hapless Owls, 70-16 and 70-7 the past two seasons.
With Central Michigan, Penn State and Navy (combined record of 16-9) still left, it's hard to see the Owls (1-8) busting out on a winning streak. But when you've gone 3-40 since 2003, any triumph must be savored.
(For more news and information, go to http://www.scrippsnews.com)
