By Bob Markus
If Oklahoma hopes to add an eighth national championship to its already over-stuffed trophy case, it is going to have to find a way to leapfrog Texas in the BCS standings. Oklahoma diehards, overcome by the euphoria of the biggest Saturday night massacre since the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal, will tell you: The Sooner's the better. In view of the Sooners' 65-21 unfrocking of then unbeaten and second ranked Texas Tech in Lubbock, who can blame them?
Well, how about Texas fans for starters? Didn't Texas defeat Oklahoma in their annual Red River Shootout earlier in the season? Yes it did.
Thus are the pollsters, both human and robotic, caught on the Longhorns of a dilemma. Texas beat Oklahoma, which brutalized Texas Tech, which beat Texas, albeit by one point on a touchdown in the final second. All three have lost just that one game and are locked in a three-way tie for the lead in the Big 12 South division. Three coins in the fountain. Which one will the fountain bless? The merry-go-round has one final turn this week, but that may not prove decisive.
Of the three, Oklahoma has by far the toughest assignment, a visit to arch rival Oklahoma State, which has been known to put up a fight against the Sooners even in years when it isn't 9 and 2 going into the intrastate showdown. Should the Cowboys unhorse the Sooners and the other two win, as they should, Texas Tech would go to the conference championship game because of its victory over Texas. Therefore, the Longhorns have to root for an Oklahoma victory--but not too impressive an Oklahoma victory--which would put the decision in the hands of the voters.
No telling what that decision will be. Only sure thing is that Texas Tech can fuggedaboudit. In the event of a three-way tie the decision comes down to this: Does Texas' head-to-head victory over Oklahoma in October trump Oklahoma's November stomping of Texas Tech and over-all stronger schedule (The Sooners have victories over Cincinnati and Texas Christian, both ranked teams, on their resume)? I think not.
So Oklahoma will play the Southeast Conference champion (Florida or Alabama) for the national championship? As Lee Corso would say, "not so fast." Overlooked in all these speculations is the BCS's worst case scenario--A Missouri upset in the Big 12 title game. That seems as unlikely as a Texas A & M victory over Texas, but the Big 12 championship game has a history of producing eye popping upsets. In 1996, the first year the merger of the Big Eight and four teams from the defunct Southwest conference mandated a playoff, Texas, unranked with four losses, upended 10-1 and third-ranked Nebraska 37-27. In 2003, a 9 and 3 Kansas State team shocked unbeaten and No.1 ranked Oklahoma 35-7 to win the Big 12 championship. In the true spirit of BCS lunacy, however, Oklahoma was still picked to play in the national championship game, despite not winning its own conference title.
That wasn't the biggest BCS fiasco, however. That would have to be the 2001 decision to match Nebraska against Miami in the championship game when the Cornhuskers didn't even get to the Big 12 title game. They were, in fact, humiliated, 62-36, by Colorado in their final regular season game and didn't fare much better against Miami in the Rose bowl, losing 37-14 to the unbeaten Hurricanes.
A Missouri upset appears highly doubtful, however. The Tigers lost twice to Oklahoma last year and this year looked dreadful in a blowout loss to Texas. Their best hope is that somehow Texas Tech gets into the showdown game. With their Chase Daniel-led circus offense, the Tigers might--but probably won't--match the equally glitzy Red Raiders offense touchdown for touchdown. It might take longer to decide such a game than the 2000 Presidential election. However, Missouri's defense has been so woeful much of the season, even in games it won, I don't see much hope even against Texas Tech.
It hurts me to say that because I am a Missouri graduate and my association with Missouri football goes all the way back to 1954 when, as a student, I covered the Tigers for the Columbia Missourian. I was not nearly as sure of myself then as I am now and I can remember my father assuring me, as I timorously prepared to meet Coach Don Faurot for the first time: "remember, he pulls his pants on one leg at a time." He would have done better to warn me that Faurot was missing a finger on his right hand and liked jabbing the stump into the palm of your hand on first meeting you. That was disconcerting, to say the least, but I came to revere Faurot, as most people who knew him did. That was a different time, but Faurot managed to win his share of games while recruiting almost exclusively within the state of Missouri. In fact, that season there was only one squad member from outside the state and he was from East St. Louis, Illinois, just across the river.
I pretty much gave up predicting how Missouri would do after that first season. The Tigers opened at Purdue and we all thought it would be a sure win. That, however, just happened to be the day that Len Dawson and Lamar Lundy both made their college debuts. Dawson, of whom we had never heard, threw four touchdown passes in the 31-0 Purdue runaway. Lundy was an outstanding two-way player in football and a basketball force, as well, the only player in Purdue history to be most valuable player in both sports. I later came to know Dawson pretty well when he was quarterbacking the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super bowl victory and I was columnizing for The Chicago Tribune.
But that's a story for another day. I'll end this one by fast forwarding from the season opener to the season closer agasinst Maryland. It was the only game I didn't cover. The paper, which is run by journalism students, with faculty editors, didn't have much of a travel budget. Most away games I stayed in student dorms and once had to share a bed with sports editor Joe Pollack. The game was played on Thanksgiving day and Maryland was a heavy favorite. On Wednesday of that week, as he was dismissing the class, my favorite history professor called me to the front of the room and asked me if the Tigers had any chance against the powerful Terrapins. I assured him they had an excellent chance. The final score was 74-13. Fortunately, I knew more about Spanish history than I did about football and still got an A in the class.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
By Bob Markus
Somewhere Ernie Accorsi must be smiling. The retired New York Giants general manager doesn't even have a job in football anymore, but his fingerprints are all over the NFL landscape. Two of the most intriguing matchups of the year will be played on Sunday and, of the four quarterbacks involved, three of them have connections with Accorsi.
Looking stronger by the week, the Giants, who were upset winners over New England in the 2008 Super Bowl, are now the favorites to repeat. Their quarterback: Eli Manning, acquired in a draft day trade by Accorsi, in one of his most daring--and successful moves. The Giants are headed for the desert this week to play the surprising Arizona Cardinals, whose 7-3 record gives them a four-game lead in the NFC West with six games to play. The Cardinals' quarterback: the born-again gunslinger Kurt Warner, who immediately preceded Manning as the Giants' signal caller.
The other signifcant matchup Sunday features the New York Jets against the unbeaten Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The 10-0 Titans, having rallied in the second half in Jacksonville Sunday, now must be conceded at least an outside chance to do what the New England Patriots couldn't do--go undefeated through the regular season and playoffs. It may not be time for the 1972 Dolphins, who so jealously guard their immaculate 17-0 season, to panic, but the fact is that after playing the Jets Sunday, Tennessee's next three games are against Detroit, Cleveland and Houston, losers all. Quarterbacking the Titans: Kerry Collins, whose career Accorsi saved when he signed him in 1999. Collins led the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000, a watershed year in a career that has had more ups and downs than a cirque d' soleil performer.
The Jets are clinging to a one-game lead in the AFC East over the Patriots and Dolphins, who will meet Sunday in what, in an ordinary week, might well have been the top-billed game. The Jets' quarterback, Brett Favre, has no connection to Ernie Accorsi, but he just happens to be, arguably, the best quarterback in NFL history.
Of the four quarterbacks involved, only Manning is in the prime of his career. There is nothing gaudy about Manning's statistics. He has been labelled by the New York press as "a care taker quarterback." The term is not meant to be pejorative. Manning is in command of a stable of runners who make 300-yard passing games unnecessary. He proved in the Super bowl he can complete passes when he needs to.
Favre, although he had a magical season in 2007 until a fatal interception against the Giants in the NFC title game made it all go up in smoke, no longer seems capable of almost single handedly willing his team into the win column. But, considering where the Jets have been, his bottom line, a 7-3 record and a reasonable shot at the playoffs, does nothing to diminish his legacy.
While Favre and Manning, the two New York quarterbacks are doing what is expected them, Collins and Warner are the twin surprises of the season. Both of them have been to the mountain top and both have plunged to the icy depths of irrelevance. Their dual resurrections are the stuff dreams are made of. Opposites in many ways, they are brothers under the skin.
Collins was a star at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to their last unbeaten season in 1994.
He was a first round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers, the fifth player chosen. Warner didn't even break into the starting lineup at Northern Iowa until his senior year. He spent three seasons in the Arena league and one in NFL Europe, before finally getting into one game for the St. Louis Rams in 1998.
By then, Collins had already led the Panthers as far as the NFC title game in 1996 and quickly worn out his welcome. By the time Warner got his first start in 1999, Collins had already been waived by two teams and his career was in tatters. Then came Ernie Accorsi to his rescue. Most of the football cognoscenti were shocked when the Giants' GM gave Collins a $5 million signing bonus as part of a $16.9 million package.
But Accorsi, who early in his career had been an assistant sports information director at Penn State, called on his old contacts and received "a good report on him as a person," Accorsi said at the time. "Once I met with Kerry I immediately trusted him and liked him." One thing Accorsi trusted was Collins' pledge to get help for his admitted alcoholism. In a Super Bowl week interview the following year, Collins bared his soul. "One of the things I had to do in life was to get humble," he said. "I had to admit I can't control alcohol. I got to the point where I knew that alcohol would eventually kill me or I would end up in jail."
He already had ended up in the doghouse with Carolina coach Dom Capers. Collins revealed that, at a party celebrating the end of training camp in 1997, he had gotten roaringly drunk, called teammate Muhshin Muhammad the "N" word, made an ethnic remark to another teammate, Norberto Garrido, and received a punch in the eye for a reward. "I was trying to be a funny guy," he said. After signing with the Giants, Collins went to a rehab facility in Kansas and straightened out his life.
That same year, Kurt Warner was torching the NFL When Trent Green got hurt in an exhibition game, Warner became the starter. He started out by becoming the only passer in NFL history to throw for three touchdowns in each of his first three games. He followed that up with a five touchdown day against the San Francisco 49ers, at the time a perennial NFL power. By the time it was all over, he had thrown 41 touchown passes and been named MVP of both the regular season and Super bowl, which the Rams won. Two years later he won his second MVP award, leading the Rams back to the Super bowl. This time they lost, although Warner threw two touchdown passes to bring them back from a 17-3 deficit. Adam Vinatieri won it for the Patriots on a field goal at the final whistle.
From there, the two quarterbacks ran a parallel course, neither able to recapture the rapture of their Super Bowl seasons. The Giants finally released Collins in 2004 and replaced him with--Kurt Warner. Warner started only nine games for the Giants before Manning, who had been signed that season, was rushed into the breach.
Collins bounced around from the Giants to the Oakland Raiders to the Titans. In Tennessee he was supposed to be the caretaker for Vince Young, but the former University of Texas star was injured in the opener this year and, unless Collins gets hurt, likely will not see action again. Warner meanwhile was signed by Arizona where he was supposed to tutor Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart. A game against San Francisco in 2007 perhaps best illustrates Warner's performance over the next three years. He threw for a career high 484 yards, then fumbled into the end zone in overtime to lose the game.
The Titans, like the Giants, are a run-oriented team, so Collins is, like Manning, more the director of the show than its star. But, also like Manning, he's proved that he can take over the spotlight when it is necessary. He threw three touchdown passes in the second half Sunday to rally the Titans past Jacksonville.
Warner, on the other hand, still loves to sling the ball around. He is the NFL's top-rated passer and his 395 yard performance in Sunday's victory over Seattle was his franchise-record fourth straight 300-yard game. If MVP voting were held today, Warner would be the favorite to win his third. That would tie him with the only man to win it three times--Brett Favre.
Somewhere Ernie Accorsi must be smiling. The retired New York Giants general manager doesn't even have a job in football anymore, but his fingerprints are all over the NFL landscape. Two of the most intriguing matchups of the year will be played on Sunday and, of the four quarterbacks involved, three of them have connections with Accorsi.
Looking stronger by the week, the Giants, who were upset winners over New England in the 2008 Super Bowl, are now the favorites to repeat. Their quarterback: Eli Manning, acquired in a draft day trade by Accorsi, in one of his most daring--and successful moves. The Giants are headed for the desert this week to play the surprising Arizona Cardinals, whose 7-3 record gives them a four-game lead in the NFC West with six games to play. The Cardinals' quarterback: the born-again gunslinger Kurt Warner, who immediately preceded Manning as the Giants' signal caller.
The other signifcant matchup Sunday features the New York Jets against the unbeaten Tennessee Titans in Nashville. The 10-0 Titans, having rallied in the second half in Jacksonville Sunday, now must be conceded at least an outside chance to do what the New England Patriots couldn't do--go undefeated through the regular season and playoffs. It may not be time for the 1972 Dolphins, who so jealously guard their immaculate 17-0 season, to panic, but the fact is that after playing the Jets Sunday, Tennessee's next three games are against Detroit, Cleveland and Houston, losers all. Quarterbacking the Titans: Kerry Collins, whose career Accorsi saved when he signed him in 1999. Collins led the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000, a watershed year in a career that has had more ups and downs than a cirque d' soleil performer.
The Jets are clinging to a one-game lead in the AFC East over the Patriots and Dolphins, who will meet Sunday in what, in an ordinary week, might well have been the top-billed game. The Jets' quarterback, Brett Favre, has no connection to Ernie Accorsi, but he just happens to be, arguably, the best quarterback in NFL history.
Of the four quarterbacks involved, only Manning is in the prime of his career. There is nothing gaudy about Manning's statistics. He has been labelled by the New York press as "a care taker quarterback." The term is not meant to be pejorative. Manning is in command of a stable of runners who make 300-yard passing games unnecessary. He proved in the Super bowl he can complete passes when he needs to.
Favre, although he had a magical season in 2007 until a fatal interception against the Giants in the NFC title game made it all go up in smoke, no longer seems capable of almost single handedly willing his team into the win column. But, considering where the Jets have been, his bottom line, a 7-3 record and a reasonable shot at the playoffs, does nothing to diminish his legacy.
While Favre and Manning, the two New York quarterbacks are doing what is expected them, Collins and Warner are the twin surprises of the season. Both of them have been to the mountain top and both have plunged to the icy depths of irrelevance. Their dual resurrections are the stuff dreams are made of. Opposites in many ways, they are brothers under the skin.
Collins was a star at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to their last unbeaten season in 1994.
He was a first round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers, the fifth player chosen. Warner didn't even break into the starting lineup at Northern Iowa until his senior year. He spent three seasons in the Arena league and one in NFL Europe, before finally getting into one game for the St. Louis Rams in 1998.
By then, Collins had already led the Panthers as far as the NFC title game in 1996 and quickly worn out his welcome. By the time Warner got his first start in 1999, Collins had already been waived by two teams and his career was in tatters. Then came Ernie Accorsi to his rescue. Most of the football cognoscenti were shocked when the Giants' GM gave Collins a $5 million signing bonus as part of a $16.9 million package.
But Accorsi, who early in his career had been an assistant sports information director at Penn State, called on his old contacts and received "a good report on him as a person," Accorsi said at the time. "Once I met with Kerry I immediately trusted him and liked him." One thing Accorsi trusted was Collins' pledge to get help for his admitted alcoholism. In a Super Bowl week interview the following year, Collins bared his soul. "One of the things I had to do in life was to get humble," he said. "I had to admit I can't control alcohol. I got to the point where I knew that alcohol would eventually kill me or I would end up in jail."
He already had ended up in the doghouse with Carolina coach Dom Capers. Collins revealed that, at a party celebrating the end of training camp in 1997, he had gotten roaringly drunk, called teammate Muhshin Muhammad the "N" word, made an ethnic remark to another teammate, Norberto Garrido, and received a punch in the eye for a reward. "I was trying to be a funny guy," he said. After signing with the Giants, Collins went to a rehab facility in Kansas and straightened out his life.
That same year, Kurt Warner was torching the NFL When Trent Green got hurt in an exhibition game, Warner became the starter. He started out by becoming the only passer in NFL history to throw for three touchdowns in each of his first three games. He followed that up with a five touchdown day against the San Francisco 49ers, at the time a perennial NFL power. By the time it was all over, he had thrown 41 touchown passes and been named MVP of both the regular season and Super bowl, which the Rams won. Two years later he won his second MVP award, leading the Rams back to the Super bowl. This time they lost, although Warner threw two touchdown passes to bring them back from a 17-3 deficit. Adam Vinatieri won it for the Patriots on a field goal at the final whistle.
From there, the two quarterbacks ran a parallel course, neither able to recapture the rapture of their Super Bowl seasons. The Giants finally released Collins in 2004 and replaced him with--Kurt Warner. Warner started only nine games for the Giants before Manning, who had been signed that season, was rushed into the breach.
Collins bounced around from the Giants to the Oakland Raiders to the Titans. In Tennessee he was supposed to be the caretaker for Vince Young, but the former University of Texas star was injured in the opener this year and, unless Collins gets hurt, likely will not see action again. Warner meanwhile was signed by Arizona where he was supposed to tutor Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart. A game against San Francisco in 2007 perhaps best illustrates Warner's performance over the next three years. He threw for a career high 484 yards, then fumbled into the end zone in overtime to lose the game.
The Titans, like the Giants, are a run-oriented team, so Collins is, like Manning, more the director of the show than its star. But, also like Manning, he's proved that he can take over the spotlight when it is necessary. He threw three touchdown passes in the second half Sunday to rally the Titans past Jacksonville.
Warner, on the other hand, still loves to sling the ball around. He is the NFL's top-rated passer and his 395 yard performance in Sunday's victory over Seattle was his franchise-record fourth straight 300-yard game. If MVP voting were held today, Warner would be the favorite to win his third. That would tie him with the only man to win it three times--Brett Favre.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
By Bob Markus
A playoff or no playoff. That is today's question. Whether 'tis easier on the mind to suffer the doubts and chaos of the outrageous BCS system or, by opposing, end them. With sincere apologies to The Bard, Hamlet's problems seem trivial compared with the concerns of angst-ridden college football fans who long for a definitive answer to the apparently unsolvable puzzle: Who's number one?
The BCS (Bowl Championship Series) was supposed to give the definitive answer after years of relying on the wire service polls to determine the national champion. The BCS concept is to pit the No.1 and No.2 ranked teams in a national championship game after the major bowl games have been played. The trouble is, who decides which two teams should play for the title? As currently constituted the system relies on six computer polls and two human polls in a formula so complicated it would take a nuclear physicist, aided by a roomful of chimpanzees, six weeks to figure out.
Even then, the likelihood is that the BCS will get it wrong. Just ask Southern California. In 2003 The Trojans were ranked No. 1 in both human polls but were passed over for the championship game and Louisiana State, which had finished the regular season ranked No. 3, won the BCS version of the national championship by beating No. 2 Oklahoma. The Sooners had gotten into the title game despite not winning its conference championship, having suffered a 35-7 thrashing by Kansas State. Strength of schedule? Three of LSU's regular season victories were over Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, and Western Illinois. Although the LSU-Oklahoma game in the Sugar bowl had been designated by the BCS as the national championship game, the AP refused to go along and, rightly so, rewarded the Trojans for their 28-14 victory over No. 4 Michigan, by keeping them at No.1.
The following year there were three undefeated teams at year's end and it was Auburn that was the odd man out. Fittingly, USC, given the chance it had been denied the year before, wiped out Oklahoma in the national championship game.
At least, the BCS has tweaked its formula in recent years so it is no longer so dependent on strength of schedule in making its final rankings. Certainly, strength of schedule should be considered, but the BCS was relying on computers which already had taken scheduling into consideration and then applying the double whammy of a separate strength of schedule category.
Strength of schedule is no longer a separate component of the formula. However, some of the computers still ignore margin of victory as a criterion, thus judging a 56-20 Texas Tech whipping of seventh-ranked Oklahoma State of no greater value than Alabama's overtime squeeker over a 15th-ranked LSU playing with a quarterback who couldn't hit a barn door with a bazooka from three yards away.
It probably doesn't matter much if Texas Tech is ranked No.1 or No.2, since getting into the championship game is all that really counts. But don't count on the unbeaten Red Raiders to get there, anyway. They still have to play at Oklahoma, where they will be an underdog. A Sooner victory in that game would create a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South division, unarguably the strongest division in the country. If that should happen, the title game berth would go to the highest ranked of the three teams. Unless, of course, and this is the BCS's worst nightmare, a two-loss Missouri or, worse yet, a three-loss Kansas wins the Big 12 North and knocks off the Southern division champion in the Big 12 title game.
A little more certain is the probability that The Southeast Conference champion will play for the national title. But it's not all that certain that Alabama will be that team. Right now, most SEC observors feel that once-beaten Florida will take the measure of the unbeaten Crimson Tide. Florida still has what could be a tough game against South Carolina, led by former Gators coach Steve Spurrier. Even a second loss for Florida would not necessarily end their national title hopes, given the wide-spread notion that SEC football is the best in the country. And, of course, there is plenty of precedence that would give Alabama entre to the No.1 vs. No.2 game even if it loses its conference championship game.
As for other one-loss teams, Penn State has no shot after suffering its lone defeat Saturday on a last second field goal at Iowa. The Nittany Lions will have to pay the price for fellow Big Ten school Ohio State's blowout losses in the last two championship games. Southern Cal's chances are a little better, although the Trojans carry the stigma of playing in a Pacific Coast conference that is having a down year. There is also the fact that if Oregon State wins out, the Beavers, who handed USC its lone loss, will be the Pac 10 champion.
And so it is that the ground swell for an eight team playoff continues to grow. But that begs the question: Who's going to chose the eight teams? My own suggestion would be to take the champions of the six conferences currently associated with the BCS plus the two highest ranked teams not automatically chosen. Otherwise you are certain to hear from fans of several teams that barely fail to make the tournament, the pitiable cry: "We're No. eight"
A playoff or no playoff. That is today's question. Whether 'tis easier on the mind to suffer the doubts and chaos of the outrageous BCS system or, by opposing, end them. With sincere apologies to The Bard, Hamlet's problems seem trivial compared with the concerns of angst-ridden college football fans who long for a definitive answer to the apparently unsolvable puzzle: Who's number one?
The BCS (Bowl Championship Series) was supposed to give the definitive answer after years of relying on the wire service polls to determine the national champion. The BCS concept is to pit the No.1 and No.2 ranked teams in a national championship game after the major bowl games have been played. The trouble is, who decides which two teams should play for the title? As currently constituted the system relies on six computer polls and two human polls in a formula so complicated it would take a nuclear physicist, aided by a roomful of chimpanzees, six weeks to figure out.
Even then, the likelihood is that the BCS will get it wrong. Just ask Southern California. In 2003 The Trojans were ranked No. 1 in both human polls but were passed over for the championship game and Louisiana State, which had finished the regular season ranked No. 3, won the BCS version of the national championship by beating No. 2 Oklahoma. The Sooners had gotten into the title game despite not winning its conference championship, having suffered a 35-7 thrashing by Kansas State. Strength of schedule? Three of LSU's regular season victories were over Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, and Western Illinois. Although the LSU-Oklahoma game in the Sugar bowl had been designated by the BCS as the national championship game, the AP refused to go along and, rightly so, rewarded the Trojans for their 28-14 victory over No. 4 Michigan, by keeping them at No.1.
The following year there were three undefeated teams at year's end and it was Auburn that was the odd man out. Fittingly, USC, given the chance it had been denied the year before, wiped out Oklahoma in the national championship game.
At least, the BCS has tweaked its formula in recent years so it is no longer so dependent on strength of schedule in making its final rankings. Certainly, strength of schedule should be considered, but the BCS was relying on computers which already had taken scheduling into consideration and then applying the double whammy of a separate strength of schedule category.
Strength of schedule is no longer a separate component of the formula. However, some of the computers still ignore margin of victory as a criterion, thus judging a 56-20 Texas Tech whipping of seventh-ranked Oklahoma State of no greater value than Alabama's overtime squeeker over a 15th-ranked LSU playing with a quarterback who couldn't hit a barn door with a bazooka from three yards away.
It probably doesn't matter much if Texas Tech is ranked No.1 or No.2, since getting into the championship game is all that really counts. But don't count on the unbeaten Red Raiders to get there, anyway. They still have to play at Oklahoma, where they will be an underdog. A Sooner victory in that game would create a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South division, unarguably the strongest division in the country. If that should happen, the title game berth would go to the highest ranked of the three teams. Unless, of course, and this is the BCS's worst nightmare, a two-loss Missouri or, worse yet, a three-loss Kansas wins the Big 12 North and knocks off the Southern division champion in the Big 12 title game.
A little more certain is the probability that The Southeast Conference champion will play for the national title. But it's not all that certain that Alabama will be that team. Right now, most SEC observors feel that once-beaten Florida will take the measure of the unbeaten Crimson Tide. Florida still has what could be a tough game against South Carolina, led by former Gators coach Steve Spurrier. Even a second loss for Florida would not necessarily end their national title hopes, given the wide-spread notion that SEC football is the best in the country. And, of course, there is plenty of precedence that would give Alabama entre to the No.1 vs. No.2 game even if it loses its conference championship game.
As for other one-loss teams, Penn State has no shot after suffering its lone defeat Saturday on a last second field goal at Iowa. The Nittany Lions will have to pay the price for fellow Big Ten school Ohio State's blowout losses in the last two championship games. Southern Cal's chances are a little better, although the Trojans carry the stigma of playing in a Pacific Coast conference that is having a down year. There is also the fact that if Oregon State wins out, the Beavers, who handed USC its lone loss, will be the Pac 10 champion.
And so it is that the ground swell for an eight team playoff continues to grow. But that begs the question: Who's going to chose the eight teams? My own suggestion would be to take the champions of the six conferences currently associated with the BCS plus the two highest ranked teams not automatically chosen. Otherwise you are certain to hear from fans of several teams that barely fail to make the tournament, the pitiable cry: "We're No. eight"
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