Angry Sports

Ok, so I’m not that motivated…

It’s been a while. So, let us argue about college football rankings. As I’ve said before, I don’t think they should even be official until after week 8, but now I wonder if they would matter even then. I saw a wonderful piece on Nick Saban yesterday that really put it into perspective for me. The only quote that I really appreciated was when the interviewer asked Saban how he felt about being ranked second in the NCAA after shellacking UGA last weekend. He responded with some thing along the lines of, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, can anyone tell me who was ranked #2 on September 29^th of last year, or the year before that?

Say what you want about Nick Saban, but dammit the man is right. It only matters in the end where you’re ranked and even then, it’s not a logical guarantee whether or not your team gets into the championship game. So, let’s rip these current rankings to shreds, shall we? Here are my top five reasons that the rankings are stupid… in no particular anger inducing order.

1. Teams move up and down the rankings in a hypocritical way. Example: Either Alabama jumped six spots after snot-bubbling the supposed 11^th ranked team in the nation, or UGA dropped nine spots after losing to the number 2 team in the nation. Also, the non-adjustment making Trojans of Southern Cal only fell 8 spots after losing to unranked Oregon State, AND Oregon State doesn’t even get ranked after beating the number eight team in the country!!! What???

2. Brigham Young is ranked in the top 10, even though they’ll never make it to the big game. Everyone knows that a 1 loss ACC, SEC, Pac-10, Big 10/11, or Big 12 team would make it before the Young’n’s. Yet, there they are taking up a spot that they’ll get kicked out of down the road. Because they deserve to be kicked out? No. Because the voters will do it.

3. One loss teams can be ranked in front of undefeated teams. Granted, teams like Ohio State and Auburn lost to top 10 teams. Those aren’t the one loss teams I’m talking about. I’m talking about Wisconsin being ranked ahead of Vandy, and Virginia Tech being ranked ahead of Oklahoma State. The former teams lost to unranked Michigan and East Carolina yet the latter teams have taken care of business. The only thing holding the Commodores and Cowboys back is that fallacy-filled OPINION of those ever-so-qualified voters.

4. Teams that lose to other teams can still be ranked ahead of the teams that beat them. Confusing enough? There are plenty of cases already this season: Wake Forrest is ranked over Navy, Va Tech is ranked over East Carolina, Wisconsin is ranked over Michigan, and Florida is ranked over Ole Miss. If the rankings are based on previous weeks, why is there such a short term memory when it comes to weeks previous to the previous ones?

5. Some teams that win their division don’t have a chance at the BCS title. Yes, here it comes: The Playoff Argument. Why can’t the best of the best all get a shot? What other sport excludes division winners from a chance at the title? Stupidity. I say we take all the big conference winners and a couple of over achievers (Being the two highest ranked teams that didn’t win their conference. BCS or not). Here’s my solution:

First Round on December 20^th:

Big 12 Champ vs. At Large Team in the Cotton Bowl

Pac-10 Champ vs. Big-10 Champ in the Rose Bowl

ACC Champ vs. Big East Champ in the Orange Bowl

SEC Champ vs. At Large Team in the Peach Bowl

Second Round on December 27^th:

Cotton Winner vs. Rose Winner in the Fiesta Tostitos Bowl

Orange Winner vs. Peach Winner in the Sugar Bowl

Third Round on January 3^rd:

The Fiesta Winner vs. the Sugar Winner in BCS Championship Game

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