ShareThisBy LONNIE WHEELER
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Let's assume that Ohio State wins this colossal struggle by a narrow margin, which is probably the way it'll have to be won, considering that Michigan gives up an average of less than 30 rushing yards a game, which is just crazy. And that's the second-best team in the country?
That these are the two most eminent, nobody really disputes, just as, with all respect to Army and Navy and don't tell me about USC and Notre Dame (which, for admirers of American culture, doesn't rate with Oklahoma-Texas or Auburn-Alabama), we shall entertain no further discussion on the matter of this being the greatest collegiate rivalry since the first linebacker met his first textbook. It is, in fact, too precious an event to trivialize, which is why, even if the final score were 5-4, it would be an injustice for the Buckerines and Wolvereyes to meet again for the national championship.
Nevertheless, the perennially problematic BCS process is not unlikely to spit it out that way. What it would mean would be that the winner of this game of games _ the first time, believe it or not, that the Big Ten behemoths have ever come together with neither of them being ranked as low as third _ would have no better chance at final victory than the loser. It would mean that Saturday is but a perfunctory prelim.
Sis-boom-bah-humbug.
There remains, however, an interesting if improbable scenario by which the two teams playing for all the Tostitos on Jan. 8 will, indeed, be spending Saturday in Ohio. The codeword is Rutgers.
First, a brief digression on the sudden rise of the Scarlet Knights, who for so long were to Saturday what the Cincinnati Bengals were to the rest of the weekend. When Rutgers upset Louisville last week, it was thought to be a regrettable blow to the Big East, which stood an excellent chance of being represented in Glendale, Ariz., against Ohigan. The reality, though, is that the seduction of New York City can be nothing but slam-bam for the beleaguered football league that had ostensibly lost its best programs.
Besides that, if Rutgers can beat Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium and also win at West Virginia in two weeks, it will complete (assuming a victory over Syracuse in between) an undefeated regular season that includes two triumphs over Top Ten teams. As Big East champ, Rutgers _ currently sixth on the BCS list _ would, as a result, be Michio's worthiest title opponent, with one distinctive exception.
That would be Southern California, which currently stands third in the BCS standings and fourth in the AP poll, behind Florida. If the Trojans press on with only one defeat, they will do so, impressively, at the expense of California, Notre Dame and UCLA. Consider, also, that in its first game of the season, USC put up 50 points in a frolic at Arkansas, which will play Florida for the SEC championship.
And what if Florida, once-beaten and ranked fourth in the BCS calculus, should win that one while also winning out? Sorry. The Gators' best victories, to date, involve Tennessee and LSU. No matter how the numbers crunch, Florida can't match USC's credentials.
Notre Dame? Lost to Michigan, at home, by 26. The official computers probably won't see it this way, but to the human brain and heart, the Irish wouldn't deserve a rematch with the Wolverines, and wouldn't deserve to stand in for them as Ohio State's ultimate opponent.
Arkansas? Not after the Southern Cal fiasco.
West Virginia? There's still sentiment that the Mountaineers are the Big East's best team; but even if they beat Rutgers, that will be their chief accomplishment; and it's not enough.
Louisville has a better case than you might think. In their opener, the Cardinals demolished Kentucky, which is now in second place in the SEC East. They routed Miami. They beat West Virginia. Their win at Kansas State seems more significant now that Texas was found wanting there.
But the fact is that Louisville lost to Rutgers. If West Virginia does the same, the New Jerseys will have the resume for the Arizona job. Provided, of course, they can take care of UC, which, in spite of the testimony of the final score, Ohio State, at Ohio Stadium, had a bit of difficulty doing.
(For the record, the Bearcats were no less impressed. In particular, Buckeye quarterback Troy Smith, who has traditionally hurt Michigan more than Japanese technology, left UC defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi with no reservations about who should win the Heisman Trophy. "He's a man," said Narduzzi. "We had two guys hanging on Troy Smith, and he throws a dart from one hashmark to the other hashmark, with nothing taken off the ball." Which is to say that Michigan's run defense is not the end of the story.)At any rate, if all goes well for all of the above, one slot in the BCS championship game should _ which is different than will, thanks to the unceasing vagaries of the BCS system _ come down to USC and Rutgers.
The other will come down to Ohio State and Michigan. And that's no different than should.
In fact, the title game should be Saturday. Which, unfortunately, is different than is.
