Take a look at the newly released BCS rankings. See if you can find the teams that don’t belong and look for the Big East.
1) Oregon
2) Auburn
3) TCU
4) Boise State
5) LSU
6) Stanford
7) Wisconsin
8) Nebraska
9) Ohio State
10) Oklahoma St.
11) Michigan St.
12) Alabama
13) Iowa
14) Utah
15) Arkansas
16) Oklahoma
17) Missouri
18) Arizona
19) Mississippi St.
20) Virginia Tech
21) Nevada
22) Florida
23) South Carolina
24) Kansas St.
25) Texas A&M
* University of Central Florida is #23 in the Coaches Poll and #25 in the AP
Now, read this excerpt from the AP –
“If the top two hold their ground, TCU and
Boise
State would be vying for the one automatic bid that goes to the highest-ranking team from the conferences without an automatic berth to the five big-money games — provided that team finishes in the top 12 of the standings.
With Oregon and
Auburn in the championship game, that so-called BCS buster invite would be to the Rose Bowl.
Last season, TCU earned an automatic BCS bid,
Boise
State was given an at-large bid and the two played in the Fiesta Bowl in
Arizona. There’s no certainty an at-large bid would go to the Horned Frogs or Broncos this season, even if they both remain unbeaten.
Because of its proximity to
Boise
State and TCU, the Fiesta Bowl is a natural landing spot for those teams but it might not have room for them this season.
The Fiesta Bowl is locked into the Big 12 champion, unless that team can work its way into the national title game. Also, the Fiesta is last in line to pick at-large teams this season and it’s likely to get stuck with the automatic-qualifying Big East champion.
It seems unlikely the Orange Bowl in Miami would invite
Boise
State to come all the way across the country, especially if Virginia Tech wins the
Atlantic
Coast Conference and the automatic bid to the
Orange. Bowl organizers don’t like rematches from the regular season and
Boise
State and Virginia Tech already played.
As for the Sugar Bowl, which would have the first two at-large picks if
Auburn wins the SEC title and plays for the national championship, it always prefers to take an SEC team. TCU could make sense for the New Orleans-based bowl, but
Boise
State could be a stretch. Especially if a team such as Iowa or
Ohio
State is available with one loss.”
Is your blood boiling yet?
The rankings reflect that 5 of the top 25 are non-AQ schools and these are the ones we’re lead to believe, “don’t belong.” 2 of the top 4 are non-AQ schools. There are 5 BCS games so that makes for 10 participants; 10 teams receiving the fat, $14 million dollar pay-out, or whatever it is. You’d think #’s 3 and 4 are shoe-ins right? Well not according to the AP story. Good luck to the PR firm that has to spin why either
Boise
State or TCU “don’t belong” in a BCS game when both are arguably the best teams in the country.
On to the other farce – Did you find the team from the Big East in the top 25? The answer is no because there isn’t one. However, they will still send their mediocre champion to a BCS game and collect their $14 million because they are part of the cartel. How this whole system has been able to go on this long is beyond me. I know a few politicians have applied some pressure but why there hasn’t been more legal action taken is difficult to understand.
Aside from possibly getting jobbed out of a BCS game entirely,
Boise and TCU are also wondering why they’ve reached their supposed glass ceiling. They are being told they will not climb any higher than where they are now unless Oregon or
Auburn stumbles. This is the only way in which TCU and/or
Boise
State could move up to #1 or 2 and play for the title.
It’s just crazy that a bunch of nutty professors will end up deciding the fate of college football. It’s ridiculous but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt. Most people that saw TCU dominate
Utah on Saturday realize TCU could beat any team in the country. That being said, we’ll just keep watching and see how things unfold.
Matt Nielson has been writing about the college sports landscape in Utah and the Intermountain West since 2010. When he’s not pretending to be a professional blogger, he works full time as a residential real estate agent and house flipper. Matt graduated from Brigham Young University in 2000. He and his family reside in Salt Lake City, UT.
