2008 Woodie Awards
BCS wrong in not putting KU, Hawaii in top spots
Nick Filipowski
Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Sports
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To say this college football season has been anything less than surprising would be the same as saying the Piltdown Man was real.
The moral of the story: It's all one big practical joke that shouldn't be taken seriously.
It all started with Appalachian State and its romp of Michigan in week one.
What's more crazy is how jacked-up the BCS standings have been throughout the year.
South Florida was No. 2 in week seven (the first week of the BCS rankings), then dropped to No. 18 following back-to-back losses to Rutgers and then-No. 23 Connecticut. Now the Bulls aren't even worthy of an honorable mention.
Quarterback Matt Grothe was being mentioned as a Heisman candidate, and USF had the buzz of being a national championship contender. The punch line: it was South Florida!
Meanwhile, Connecticut jumped 10 spots in the BCS rankings following a 22-15 romp of South Florida in week eight. While the Huskies are still ranked first in the Big East Conference, their 27-3 loss to then-unranked Cincinnati proves one thing: The Huskies should stick to their success on the hardwood.
And then there is Kentucky, another anomaly on the gridiron this season.
In week seven, the Wildcats were No. 7, and now they've fallen to No. 23. I put Kentucky up there with Connecticut - the Wildcats are usually only good at basketball. But by now you've seen how much of a joke they are on the basketball court, too, following an early-season loss to Gardner-Webb.
Southern California rose from No. 17 to No. 11 this week and Ohio State dropped from No. 1 to No. 7. It's crazy. You usually see this much jumbling in Scrabble, not in the BCS.
But this is where the laughing ends, and it gets serious.
So far this year the two teams that have been spurned by the BCS are current No. 3 Kansas and No. 16 Hawaii (the Warriors didn't even rise a spot in the polls following another win).
Oh, how times have changed. When Kansas is not only undefeated but mentioned as having a chance at its first football national championship, that's no joke. As much as I'd like to make some ill-conceived crack referencing Jayhawk basketball and football, I honestly can't.
The moral of the story: It's all one big practical joke that shouldn't be taken seriously.
It all started with Appalachian State and its romp of Michigan in week one.
What's more crazy is how jacked-up the BCS standings have been throughout the year.
South Florida was No. 2 in week seven (the first week of the BCS rankings), then dropped to No. 18 following back-to-back losses to Rutgers and then-No. 23 Connecticut. Now the Bulls aren't even worthy of an honorable mention.
Quarterback Matt Grothe was being mentioned as a Heisman candidate, and USF had the buzz of being a national championship contender. The punch line: it was South Florida!
Meanwhile, Connecticut jumped 10 spots in the BCS rankings following a 22-15 romp of South Florida in week eight. While the Huskies are still ranked first in the Big East Conference, their 27-3 loss to then-unranked Cincinnati proves one thing: The Huskies should stick to their success on the hardwood.
And then there is Kentucky, another anomaly on the gridiron this season.
In week seven, the Wildcats were No. 7, and now they've fallen to No. 23. I put Kentucky up there with Connecticut - the Wildcats are usually only good at basketball. But by now you've seen how much of a joke they are on the basketball court, too, following an early-season loss to Gardner-Webb.
Southern California rose from No. 17 to No. 11 this week and Ohio State dropped from No. 1 to No. 7. It's crazy. You usually see this much jumbling in Scrabble, not in the BCS.
But this is where the laughing ends, and it gets serious.
So far this year the two teams that have been spurned by the BCS are current No. 3 Kansas and No. 16 Hawaii (the Warriors didn't even rise a spot in the polls following another win).
Oh, how times have changed. When Kansas is not only undefeated but mentioned as having a chance at its first football national championship, that's no joke. As much as I'd like to make some ill-conceived crack referencing Jayhawk basketball and football, I honestly can't.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Colin
posted 11/13/07 @ 11:19 AM CST
While I agree the BCS system is screwed up, I must point out that the BCS computers rank Kansas HIGHER than all the other national polls. If anything the computers are less likely to have the prejudices that those that vote in the national polls have. (Continued…)
Josh
posted 11/13/07 @ 2:21 PM CST
Honestly, this is the worst anti-BCS argument I have ever heard. You think that, because Kansas and Hawaii have the top-ranked offenses in the nation, they should automatically be ranked 1 and 2? What about Texas Tech (most first downs/game), Navy (most rushing yards/game), or Illinois (most 4th-down conversions/game)?? Not only that, you say that the "intangibles the computers are to consider in formulating the rankings" are to blame for this! As though the BCS doesn't take human polls into account, and it is, in fact, PEOPLE who have ranked Kansas 4th and Hawaii 12th and 13th (depending on the poll). (Continued…)
Darren Bladt
posted 11/13/07 @ 3:41 PM CST
If the power were to be given back to the people, Kansas still wouldn't be recognized as a national championship contender. But if they are, they will beat Missouri and Oklahoma, and the BCS will give recognition to that and place them in the BCS Championship game. (Continued…)
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