As for his AP ballot, well, I’ve listened to some interviews he’s given and he’s made it perfectly clear. RIGHT NOW, he thinks UM is #2. But, if USC beats ND and UCLA, he will vote USC #2. He’s playing wait and see and I think alot of the voters are doing the same thing. USC’s loss isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. Oregon State is currently #28 in the BCS.

As for his flip-flopping, to be fair, this has to be the only time in recent memory where it is clear that the two best teams are in the same conference. At least this late in the season….I can’t remember another time.

But anyone that thinks he is a homer, just flat out isn’t listening with open ears. And anyone that thinks Brent Musburger was “(giving) non-stop fellatio (to) OSU” is kidding themselves. Buckeye fans HATE Musburger because he never has one nice thing to say about us. I was laughing my ass off after the first drive when he said, “it looks like Troy Smith will have to bring the buckeyes back from behind in the fourth quarter again.” I’m sorry, but we’d barely played 3 minutes and all of a sudden we’re losing in the 4th quarter? And when have we had to play from behind in the 4th quarter? I don’t remember that happening much this year.

Believe me, I’ve been as unabashed a Herbstreit fan as you can be for years…I know the man personally, as I worked on espn college football for three years, during the 97-99 seasons. The last I saw him was when I drank beer with those guys after a friday night radio show, before the 2001 ND game in Lincoln. You’ll not find someone who has defended Herbstreit as much as I have. But between his flip-flopping last saturday (on his well proclaimed stance that a Non-conference champ should not be eligible for the BCS) and the aforementioned AP ballot…I’ve lost a lot of respect for him as of late.

yz, I totally agree…there’s no way you could vote for Michigan over Osu, unless they won in a rout, which is highly unlikely. So we’re headed for either a split title, or a circumstance where the buckeyes are forced to win a game they’ve already won. Either way, I agree with Brandon that it’s totally unfair to everyone involved. My whole point is that you can argue all day over which one-loss team is most “deserving” but to argue for any of them is an arbitrary effort. However a conference wants to decide how to determine their championship is really a moot point…my whole point in all this was that composing 75% of the field from those who have met this criteria is a less subjective way than exists currently. And you still save room for 2 teams such as Michigan (or Boise State or the Florida/Arkansas loser) to not get left out for having great seasons, in spite of not winning their conf. championship.

While the Big 10 does not meet the requirements for a title game, let’s assume it may in the future…

I believe the ACC placed FSU and Miami in separate divisions, and the championship game in Jacksonville, with the idea that at least 6 out of 10 seasons would see the two play one another for the ACC title. Of course, the ACC Brass speaks directly to the strength (or, weakness) of its very own conference in such a scenario.

Regardless, if Michigan and Ohio State played in the same division or in separate divisions, I don’t see how the two meet again for the BCS title. Then again, I really don’t understand how the two will meet again for the present Title, so to hell with all of it.

in any event, how could you vote um #1 if the two split 2 games? (and i’m STILL against a rematch)

DT – at what point did it look like the buckeyes might not win? did you watch the same game I did? Until the onside kick, Michigan was never even within two scores. Kirk’s opinion changed because Michigan is a heck of a football team. He still believes that USC should get the first crack, but that if the Trojans slip up, that he can’t find anyone else that would give the Buckeyes a game. It had nothing to do with HIS team potentially losing. Anyone that thinks Kirk is biased in his commentating is listening with unbiased ears himself. OSU fans complain that he often speaks negatively and picks against OSU in this match-up.

I still haven’t seen anyone refute the argument about OSU having to beat UM twice to win the NC when UM would only have to beat OSU once. Is that fair? Doesn’t that make the amazing game that was just played somewhat meaningless?

I agree. Would love to see Boise St. play for, and lose the championship and USC and Michigan go old school.

excellent idea. I had not thought of it but an exponential curve would perfectly represent relalative parity.

Not only that – who *likes* CCGs besides the money-grubbing whores that run our beloved sport? For every evenly matched and exciting CCG, there seems to be a 5-loss Florida State or Kansas State upset that causes an laughable BCS representative. Anyone see the Orange Bowl last year? I would rather eat my own head than be subjected again to that debacle.

My two cents: I have to buy the argument that Ohio State should not have to beat UM twice (in consecutive games, no less) to earn the MNC. Can anyone reasonably refute this? Not only is it not fair to the Buckeyes, it isn’t fair for the rest of the country, who will always resent the fact that they did not have a representative in Glendale on 1/8/2007.

I won’t spend too long ruminating about the potential of Florida, Arkansas, and USC because these teams have appeared beatable in multiple games this year and each still has two more dangerous games left. Early speculation is wasted effort because of the “any given Saturday effect” that seems to take place *EVERY YEAR* around late November/early December. Though I haven’t been inspired watching SC in the doldrums of its Pac-10 schedule, it never seemed like they weren’t going to put it together (double negatives aren’t not HOTT) every week and win (save for Oregon State). Can you say that about Florida, Arkansas, and Notre Dame? If all of these teams (except ND) end up with 2 losses, we may have to see a Big Ten rematch, but hopefully it will the impetus needed to get us a playoff, once and for all.

As a Nebraska fan, I have a wealth of experience that leads me to agree with you when you say that any CCG is a hose job at one time or anoher. I just think that a playoff (whose participants would be selected, based largely on being conference champs) would be far more fair to everyone involved. Now that the Pac 10 has every team play one another, that’s fine that they don’t have a CCG. But the only other way to ensure that happens in a 12-team conference is by having a CCG. But I’ve come to believe that making the field by winning one’s conference (or else being one of the two highest-ranked non-conf. champs) is a much better way, because it actually has something to do with what happens on the field. Teams control their own ability to win their conference and this takes the power away from a bunch of writers, sportscasters & coaches who (as was made apparent way back at #31) are fucking clueless. It wouldn’t matter any more what James/whitlock/et al think about who’s better than who…all that would matter would be if you won your conference championship head-to-head on the field of play. And that being the format that I would propose…I don’t really care about Notre Dame and their ego. In this hypothetical fantasy-land, they could either join a conference, or call themselves the people’s champs every year for all I care. To me, the most logical fit would be to preserve the many rivalries that ND has established with big 10 teams.

But most of all, as a big 12 fan, I guess I’ve had my head filled with this for about the last five years to the point where I actually buy that a team should win their conference to qualify for a BCS slot..but here’s an example of the playing field being uneven: I don’t get the double standard that dictates that in 2003 & 2001, OU & NU should’ve been penalized for losing/not participating in a game that didn’t even exist for the other team in question (USC/Oregon)…but now, somehow the same people who employed that logic are willing to change course and make an exception for michigan, when other one-loss conference champions will likely be filling the USC/Oregon role?! The hypocrisy of such people leaves me feeling that we need some type of overhaul to the system, that would take any and all power out of their hands and eliminate this obviously-biased selection process. In my eyes, the “season-long playoff” argument is blown all to hell when–at the last minute–the powers that be decide to turn it into a double-elimination by their poll ballots…when just a few years ago, they used their ballot to try and prevent the exact same thing from happening in the case of another team. I’m fine with a two or three loss conference champ making it into an 8-team playoff field every so often…if it means that the fate of deserving teams is left to be determined on the field, and no longer by the so-called experts. Like the EDSBS mission statement says: “college football is far too important to be left to the professionals.” Right now, the whole process is about the equivalent of having Michael Kors & Nina Garcia chat it out with the producers, as Heidi Klum announces who’s in and who’s out. And as evidenced by Herbstreit’s most recent AP ballot…many would agree that Heidi Klum would actually do about as good a job.

Sorry for the deeply off-topic rant…it’s been awhile & we’re 100 posts deep, so what the hell.

If USC wins out, they deserve a shot against OSU (even if those initials were unlucky for them earlier this year) and I wouldn’t bet against Pete Carroll!

Fight on!

I know they played like crap against Cincy, but Come. On.

I’m guessing he woke up in a puppy pile of grateful mustachioed Ohio State “lovelies” and picked teams at semi-random… or let the “brain trust” of Corso, May, and Granny Clampett fill it out.

where in the world did you conjure up the idea that the big 1? holds any sway over nd? they’ve been trying to get them to join for years, to no avail. the only leverage they have is to stop scheduling nd.

and i’m not sure how the ut-neb argument is weak, when you propose the same thing for tOSU-mich.and if a&m beats texas, personally i don’t like the idea of the osu/neb winner being in a playoff for the nc.

my point was not about rematches (and for the record, if it were reversed, i don’t think ut should have to play neb again, nor do i with the current records), but about how the conf champ game seems more and more about the law of unintended consequences. ( i.e. to screw the conference, especially if they have two highly rated teams, one of which would play for the nc if they win, when they have already beaten their opponent for the CCG.)

i could say the same about the sec, especially if mc farkansas loses to lsu and then beats fla.