04/16/24
November 10, 2012
SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
If they manage to stay undefeated, will some combination of K State/ND/Oregon be allowed to play for the title over some non-undefeated SEC team?
posted by bender at 07:45 PM on November 10, 2012
You mean after this loss, if they win all their games? Probably. Oregon for sure. (God I hope I didn't just jinx them.)
posted by phaedon at 07:58 PM on November 10, 2012
If there isn't an SEC team in the title game or two SEC teams in the BCS to make up for it, they will BURN FOOTBALL DOWN. Just as well that the BCS is terminal anyway at this point.
posted by Etrigan at 08:32 PM on November 10, 2012
Oregon, KSt, and or ND better win out, no other one loss team will be ranked ahead of a one loss SEC champion UGA or Bama.
posted by Folkways at 09:07 PM on November 10, 2012
I'm sure there are still plenty of borderline delusional SEC fans that are going to be convinced that a 1 loss SEC team deserves a spot in the NC game this year. That is if one of the other three undefeated teams stay undefeated.
posted by sgtcookzane at 10:44 PM on November 10, 2012
All three could stay undefeated and SEC homers will still insist that the SEC champion should automatically go to the championship.
posted by Etrigan at 11:12 PM on November 10, 2012
I never really got caught up into the 'my conference is better than yours'. If you're a Kentucky fan and you are bragging that SEC has won the last 6 or 7 Nat'l Titles that's kind of lame. It's like saying I just got kicked in the nuts by Chuck Norris, but it was awesome because it was Chuck. Since my alma is Okla U, this does feel kinda sweet seeing ATM beat the best of the SEC.
One last thought....this is absolutely a different A&M team then the Big XII seen last year. The odd thing is, A&M lost a first round QB and are doing this with a gamer in freshman Johnny Football. Sumlin is a football coach. Oh, and West Virginia.....Welcome to the Big XII
(I've been gone from SPOFI for a while....kind of.....whats up with the link on Chuck Norris?....payin bills?)
posted by sgtcookzane at 11:58 PM on November 10, 2012
SEC homer here and I'm not hearing that. We all agree this year, the undefeated teams go ahead of 1-loss Bama/UGA, though some do balk at ND with their terrible win over Pitt. I still see a win-is-a-win, so any combination of an undefeated KS/OR/ND deserve to go.
That said, as a UGA alum, I'm rooting for 2 out of the 3 to loose and to play & beat Bama in the SEC championship game which mean BCS title opportunity. Certainly not banking on it, though.
posted by jmd82 at 12:04 AM on November 11, 2012
We all agree this year, the undefeated teams go ahead of 1-loss Bama/UGA, though some do balk at ND with their terrible win over Pitt.
I suspect you'll hear a lot more about "terrible wins" if Oregon ("Only 11 over a three-loss 'SC?") and K-State ("Only 6 over Iowa State?") win out.
posted by Etrigan at 12:14 AM on November 11, 2012
I don't think so. Alabama might not have any terrible wins (depending on how you view LSU), but they do have that pesky loss. Georgia only topped Kentucky by five points and Florida only won by a touchdown this week to Louisiana Lafayette.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 12:26 AM on November 11, 2012
I know we have a Southern education and all, but we are also pretty clear on the difference between KS & Oregon's win versus ND's win they had absolutely no business winning. I really don't see people on the whole having an issue with KS and Oregon, even with SEC prejudice. I could see rumblings if one of those two loose and ND wins out though.
posted by jmd82 at 12:36 AM on November 11, 2012
As one of those borderline delusional SEC fans I do think a one loss SEC champion goes to the NCG again if two of the three undefeateds loose. Maybe even over an undefeated ND simply because they don't get the extra game by playing a conference championship
The dominance the SEC held over the rest of college football is finally deminishing (just look at what the SunBelt has done to the almighty SEC this season) which is a good thing for CFB as a whole. Do I like it? No not really, winning is much more fun! Still compatition is a good thing and close games (win or loose) are much more exciting to watch than blow-outs.
The glaring faults of the BCS system were exposed last season with the Bama/LSU rematch and had that not occurred I doubt we would be seeing the move to a four team playoff in 2014.
posted by Folkways at 07:57 AM on November 11, 2012
Glad 'Bama lost and hopefully they're out of the championship picture for good this season. They've had some really good teams the past few years, but this isn't one of them. A&M beat them badly, regardless of the score, and I was shocked at how worn out and gassed the Tide were in the second half.
The Aggies waltzing into Alabama and taking it to them was impressive. Some different conferences in the championship will be a nice change.
posted by dyams at 09:20 AM on November 11, 2012
If ND and Oregon win out, my mother's side of the family will enthusiastically embrace an all-Kelly title game.
As no doubt will the overnight wagering managers at Paddy Power.
posted by beaverboard at 09:31 AM on November 11, 2012
Let the record show that the Crimson Tide wasn't the only team from the Cotton State to have their hearts broken by a superior Texas team yesterday.
South Alabama was sent home in convincing style by North Texas, 24-14. An anguish-filled contest full of emotional conflict for North Texas fans living in the greater Jacksonville area, as the South Alabama Jaguars logo bears a chilling resemblance to that of the Men O' Mularkey.
posted by beaverboard at 09:47 AM on November 11, 2012
Maybe even over an undefeated ND simply because they don't get the extra game by playing a conference championship.
That's a very efficient argument, since Kansas State won't play a conference championship either.
posted by Etrigan at 10:10 AM on November 11, 2012
If Notre Dame is one of the remaining undefeated teams when the BCS decisions are being made, they are going to the title game.
They are a nationally followed team, and like them or hate them, they will definitely draw more attention for the game than if it was KS or Oregon.
It might not be fair, but it will happen.
posted by grum@work at 10:27 AM on November 11, 2012
I think K State-Oregon would be a good game. With the exception of the Oklahoma game, I have not been particularly impressed by Notre Dame. Close calls against teams good but not great (Stanford), mediocre (Michigan), and just bad (Purdue, Pitt).
As for the SEC, even as a fan of an SEC school, I think it's good for college football for a non-SEC National Championship Game (and I'm not just saying that because my preferred team, LSU, is out of the running). Not sure it will always come out in a four-team playoff (at least 8 would be better), but the SEC will have a chance to prove its one-loss champion (or maybe even a two-loss champion) is better than 3 no loss teams from other conferences in the very near future.
As to Georgia specifically, no offense jmd82, but the Bulldogs have had a very favorable conference schedule (especially compared to SC and Florida) -- no LSU, no Bama, no A&M. Of course, you can only play the conference schedule you're given. Would love to see them give Bama a tough game in the SEC Championship.
posted by holden at 10:41 AM on November 11, 2012
South Alabama was sent home in convincing style by North Texas, 24-14.
Yes they were. In its final season, the Mean Green leave the Sun Belt with something to remember it by -- an average season.
posted by rcade at 11:48 AM on November 11, 2012
That's a very efficient argument, since Kansas State won't play a conference championship either
You are correct sir, a fact that seems to allude me no matter how many times Im told. Which I guess really hurts Bama in the long run seeing as that's one less game KSt has the chance of loosing.
posted by Folkways at 12:00 PM on November 11, 2012
Losing the Big 12 championship only occasionally keeps a team out of the BCS title game anyway.
posted by Etrigan at 12:10 PM on November 11, 2012
As to Georgia specifically, no offense jmd82, but the Bulldogs have had a very favorable conference schedule (especially compared to SC and Florida) -- no LSU, no Bama, no A&M.
Heh, I know- UGA's schedule's been middling the last 2 years. We some how missed out on both Bama & LSU last year, too. I was rooting for Bama to win, solely on the basis it would make a UGA vs Bama SEC Championship game that much more meaningful.
I'm looking forward to the potential of an Oregon-KState game this year though. Should make for an entertaining game.
posted by jmd82 at 01:31 PM on November 11, 2012
The argument against ND is basically that they have a weird schedule of their own making. When the other big undefeateds are playing conference games -- and even weaker conference opponents are a challenge in November -- ND is hosting Wake Forest, and while "basketball school" is slightly unfair, they're a weak team in a weak conference. K-State won't fear Baylor as much this year as last, for obvious reasons, but it's not a game they'd have chosen at this point if they had the option.
But ND have the national contract with NBC and the national audience.
posted by etagloh at 09:16 AM on November 12, 2012
Those six SEC teams sitting directly behind the top 3 currently worry me. Notre Dame will have their hands full with USC, and Oregon can never overlook Oregon State.
I just have a feeling one of them will sneak into the national championship game.
posted by dyams at 09:45 AM on November 12, 2012
even weaker conference opponents are a challenge in November -- ND is hosting Wake Forest
If you're going to hold up the possibility of playing Vanderbilt or Colorado or Baylor as "a challenge in November," then Notre Dame shouldn't be too badly thought of for playing Wake. Believe me, there are few bigger ND haters than I, a graduate of USC and Michigan, but the fact is that if they win out, they will have beaten the teams with the most national championships from the Big Ten (Michigan), Big 12 (Oklahoma), Pac-12 (USC), ACC (Miami) and Big East (Pitt) this year.
(Yes, I know that's a bullshit statistic, but still, cherry-picking Wake and ignoring USC is as well.)
posted by Etrigan at 10:10 AM on November 12, 2012
Both Oregon and ND face/d up against USC, so that's a yardstick of sorts, and if the Ducks lose to Stanford, they may not even make it to the Pac-12 championship, given the divisional lopsidedness.
Wasn't really meaning to pick on WF: ND just has such an idiosyncratic schedule -- ACC one week, Pac-12 the next -- that it's hard to judge, perhaps even more so than the conference schedules that Hawaii and Boise State played.
posted by etagloh at 02:15 PM on November 12, 2012
Even if the Ducks beat Stanford, which after seeing some of Saturday's Stanford game I'm not sure is an easy thing with the new QB coming along so quickly, Oregon still has to beat USC again or UCLA in the Pac 12 title game.
I'm biased of course but I think the Trojans would do better in a rematch; after all they didn't lose by that much, especially if the blown call on recovery of the onside kick towards the end had gone their way.
posted by billsaysthis at 02:20 PM on November 12, 2012
Bring out the body bags.