There is still a week left in both the seasons of
Missouri and West Virginia and in that week Missouri has to beat a
strong Oklahoma team and West Virginia has to avoid looking past Pitt.
But if both teams win on Saturday they will finish #1 & #2 in the
polls and the match-up for the national title would be good for college
football much to the dismay of fans of others schools like Ohio State,
et al who are bemoaning how they should be in the national title game
even after losses to unranked opponents throughout the season and other
pitfalls.
Why would WVU facing Mizzou be good? Because maybe,
just maybe, it will get some of the people holding up an actual playoff
system for the national title off the dime.
Every year I hear
bitching and moaning from teams out of the national title hunt
complaining about how they should be considered. But this year the
pitch is fevered, fed by the vast number of discontented fans of other
legitimate title contenders from OSU, LSU, USC to Kansas just to name a
few.
Mizzou (then #4) beats Kansas (then #2) and Missouri moves
to #1 while Kansas fans decry a drop to fifth and no hope at all of a
national title? Hey, I've never liked the way that the voters punish a
quality team for playing and loosing to another quality team. But it's
not like the drop is that unfathomable and Kansas should be lower than
Mizzou. What ticks Kansas fans off is that they are now behind the 10-2
Bulldogs of Georgia who weren't even "good enough" in their mind to
make their conference title game.
Ok, maybe. Yes, the Bulldogs
have two losses. One was to the Gamecocks who are always eager to play
anyone in the nation and one tough team every year. The other was to
then unranked, but now #14 Tennessee. They beat then #16 Alabama, then
#11 Florida, then #18 Auburn, and then #23 Kentucky. They've earned
that #4 ranking no matter what you believe.
LSU fans are tweaked
because after loosing to Arkansas they fell from first to seventh
behind Ohio State, Georgia, Kansas, and Virginia Tech and are so far
out of title contention that the only way they are going to the game
this year is to buy tickets. That drop isn't that awful considering
both that it was their second loss of the season and came to an
unranked foe.
Then there are the Ohio State fans are seething
because they still believe the Buckeyes are the best team in the
nation. That may well be, but the same was thought last year and it did
not pan out quite the way OSU fans hoped. This year they lost to then
unranked Illinois who, despite beating two top five teams also lost
twice to unranked teams and also a very questionable Michigan squad.
Hawaii
fans? I don't feel your pain that much but I think you should be higher
than 12th. I'd put your team somewhere around 8th if I had a say.
Listen, if the champion of Conference USA was undefeated would anyone
who is sane say they deserve a shot at the national title? No. Well,
the WAC is in that same league as that conference.
Mizzou's only
loss so far came at the hands of then #6 Oklahoma who they have to play
once again on Saturday. They beat an overrated #25 Nebraska team, a
tough then #24 Texas Tech team (who beat then #2 Oklahoma) and also #2
Kansas. Remember this too, Missouri wasn't even ranked to start the
season! That tells you that they made some serious impressions along
the way. Missouri is probably the feel good story of the season pending
the outcome of Saturday's games.
West Virginia? Well their single
loss was to a ranked South Florida team who was unbeatable until their
self destruction. Remember, this is an SFU team that debuted at #2 in
the BCS after that victory. WVU also beat then #25 (and probably over
ranked) Rutgers, then #22 Cincinnati, and most recently #20 UConn who
is certainly not as weak of a team as some of the naysayers hope for
you to believe they are. They also defeated Louisville who, despite not
being a contender now, was picked very high in the preseason and whose
aerial attack gives the best defenses in the NCAA fits.
So before
anyone starts whining about who doesn't deserve to be where they are
right now, just remember that we can go through all of the "so and so"
lost to "so and so" who beat "so and so" who beat "so and so" scenarios
you want. In the end it's just a wash however. You can sit there as an
OSU or LSU fan and bellyache all you want about how neither Missouri
nor West Virginia could beat you if you were in the national title
game. And you probably thought the same about Illinois and Arkansas
when they played you too. But we see how well that theory worked out
huh?
So Mizzou versus Vest Virginia would be good for the
championship series. And it would be even better if the "big boys" each
and every year for the next five or six years are shut out and we see
teams like these continue to end the season one and two.
If that
happens? Well, you will see a lot of schools and conferences who are
fighting against a playoff today getting on board with the idea of such
a system. It's not fun to be on the outside looking in. Of course all
you will hear from these people decrying a possible WVU Mizzou match up
in the title game IF it happens will be about how the game is
illegitimate and the BCS is busted ... but just this year. When they
win it, it's legitimate of course.
But don't fret. Mizzou and
West Virginia still have to win one more game each. But if they don't
and a team like Ohio State gets back to the dance? Well it will just
prolong the establishment of a real and meaningful playoff system.
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