The new Bowl Championship Series rankings are out, and, for the moment, it looks like Ohio State and Michigan may just meet again in January:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — For now, the BCS numbers add up to an Ohio State-Michigan rematch for the national championship. But Southern California could prevent that with two more victories. Michigan was impressive enough in a 42-39 loss to the Buckeyes to retain second place in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday, by a slim margin over USC.
“I’m not surprised,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Michigan retaining second place. “The pollsters had to be impressed with the way (Michigan) has played.”
Michigan’s BCS average was .926. The Trojans, who have two games left, were at .919.
“It’ll be interesting to see how it comes out,” Tressel told Fox television.
The No. 1 Buckeyes locked up a spot in the BCS title game Jan. 8 in Arizona with their victory over the Wolverines on Saturday, their 19th straight overall. They also became the first team to have a perfect score of 1.000 under the BCS formula introduced in 2004. Ohio State is a unanimous No. 1 in all the polls and the best team in the country according to the BCS computer ratings.
With only .007 points separating Michigan and USC, and considering that USC has two more games to play this season against Notre Dame and UCLA while Michigan is done for the year, I think it will be hard for Michigan to stay at No. 2 unless USC falters in either of those two games.
But, damn, if we end up with a rematch of last night, January 8th is going to be one hell of a night.
Previous Posts:
Ohio State vs. Michigan: The Ten Best
Bo Schembechler Dies
Anticipation
Four Hours And Counting
Update At the Half: Ohio State 28 Michigan 14
Ohio State 42 Michigan 39
Celebrating A Perfect Season
Ohio State Stays At No. 1, Michigan Not Far Behind
November 19th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
GO BUCKEYES! Oh yeah, can I go for the fighting Irish as well? Or is that cheating a little? LOL
November 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
[...] Ohio State vs. Michigan: The Ten Best Bo Schembechler Dies Anticipation Four Hours And Counting Update At the Half: Ohio State 28 Michigan 14 Ohio State 42 Michigan 39 Celebrating A Perfect Season Ohio State Stays At No. 1, Michigan Not Far Behind A Buckeye-Wolverine Rematch Just Became More Likely [link] [...]
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
There are several arguments against a MU vs. OSU rematch and each of them is stupid.
They all hinge on some “what if” or “maybe”, in short, some subjective evaluation. And here’s the problem with hinging your argument on something that is subjective; it screws the athletes and the sport and it can?t be documented or backed with facts.
These kids (on all the teams) have been playing their tail off all year to produce results, not twisted interpretations of results, just results. As an audience and responsible viewers of the games it is our job to analyze the results based on those facts. Not loyalty, not allegiance, not through ?true to your school? blinders. These athletes have worked hard to give us a body of facts and results and we need to evaluate from there and there only.
There is no and I repeat NO objective argument against a rematch that makes sense. Here I will break down each of the ill-fated arguments (more correctly called opinions) for those who still think that any another possibility makes sense. I?ll also include the subjective nature of the argument and the fact(s) that refute it.
1) The Notre Dame deserves a shot if they win out opinion: This argument is the dumbest of all. This is the poor school kid in elementary who was mentally challenged but his idiot parent’s couldn’t face facts and demanded he stay in a normal class and suffer of arguments. And like the situation with the kid, the argument is handled easily — face facts. The kid couldn’t hang in a normal classroom and ND couldn’t hang w/Michigan, at ND no less, to the tune of 47-21 Wolverines. A 26 point loss to a team that has the same # of losses as you and you think you deserve a shot over them? Get over it Irish.
Subjective dynamic: The ND game was early and they didn?t have their ?A? game that day.
Fact: They were beat head-to-head, at home. The two teams have the same number of losses. I don?t care if they beat the Broncos today and the Colts this weekend. You don?t jump over a team that beat you if you sport the same record.
2) The Florida deserves a shot if they win out opinion: Urban Meyer wants to blame a bad call for their loss to Auburn. Furthermore he made the case that his team ?barely lost? on the road in a ?hostile environment?. Well, Ohio stadium wasn?t exactly warm and fuzzy this past weekend for the Wolverines. Anyone who watched the game knows that the stands were about 95% OSU fans.
Subjective dynamic: Bad call, hostile environment, Meyer whine, etc.
Fact: Not all calls have gone Michigan?s way this year either, but they still managed to pull out games when it counted or simply bludgeon opponents despite the calls. As for the environment, there were over 106,000 people at Ohio stadium this past weekend, which broke their previous home record by nearly 4,000 people. I?d call that hostile. Bottom line Florida lost on the road to a team that lost 2, count them 2 games this year by double digits (ARK 27, Aub 10 and Georgia 37, Aub 15). AND Florida got beat by Auburn by double digits.
Put the two side by side logically and tell me who is the better team; a team that lost one game on the road by 10 points to a team that has lost two games or a team that lost one game, by 3 points, also on the road to a team that has lost zero games and is ranked number 1. Pretty stupid, eh? Exactly.
3) The Arkansas deserves a shot if they win out opinion: First of all, using the head-to-head criteria, if both USC and ARK were to finish with one loss, USC would win out b/c they throttled ARK by 36 at ARK the first week of the season. But let?s say that USC drops a game and ARK wins out. Now you have Michigan with one loss and Arkansas with one loss to choose from.
Arkansas in that case would have beaten 4 ranked teams vs. Michigan?s 2. However, Arkansas? loss would have come at the hands of the Trojans who in this scenario would have lost at least 2 games. So again you have to put the two side by side (see facts).
Subjective dynamic: Early season loss, an aberration.
Fact: Arkansas lost by 36 points, at home. That?s not an aberration, that?s an embarrassment. Side by side; Ark lost by 36 points, at home, to a team with two losses, or Michigan lost, on the road, by 3 points to the undefeated #1 team in the nation. Lose by 36 at home or 3 on the road, hmmmm. Both teams have the same record, what makes sense to you?
4) Trojans, Trojans, Trojans: This argument is nearly as stupid as the ND opinion so I?ll move straight to the points.
Subjective dynamic: Tougher schedule, loss was an aberration, they?re peaking.
Fact: I love it when people break out the tougher schedule argument. It must?ve been nice for the Trojans to have 4 of their 5 biggest game at home. Meanwhile the only ranked team that Michigan got to hose was Wisconsin, you remember Wisconsin right; a cool 11-1 but left out of the BCS because one conference cannot have more than 2 teams in the bowl games?
In absence of a head to head matchup, a like opponent is the next best thing. So if USC whips ND by 29 points (to match the 26 Michigan whupped them by and an additional 3 points for the home field advantage that USC will have but Michigan had to overcome) and only if that happens does this argument become topical. Actually, while USC may not have to pound the Irish by 29 or more, given that they are playing the same team at their house, I think it is clear that they need to win convincingly to even make a case.
And if they win convincingly then here?s the skinny; USC lost, on the road, by two to Oregon State. Oregon State is unranked. Michigan lost, on the road, by three to Ohio State. Ohio State is undefeated and ranked #1. Similar situations, almost the exact same results, but the caliber of the teams isn?t even comparable. Let me put it to you this way; Oregon State vs. Ohio State, I?ll give you Oregon State and a point and I?ll take Ohio State minus 1. Anyone game? I didn?t think so.
Those are the facts and the results. And based on those, it doesn?t matter what the next few weeks hold. A rematch is the only logical conclusion. Oh yeah, and as for the argument that goes like this; Ohio State would have to beat Michigan twice, or two teams shouldn?t have to play each other twice, etc. The championship game is to put the two best teams on the field, regardless of how many times they?ve played before. Think about it in terms of the NFL, if the Patriots and Colts meet in the playoffs this year will the NFL say ?Hey, you already played and the Colts won, so they get a different opponent?? Of course not. You put the best two teams on the field and you roll with that.
Duane Wingate
firstcallnsm@yahoo.com
November 26th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
[...] A Buckeye-Wolverine Rematch Just Became More Likely Trojans Pass Wolverines In AP Top 25 [link] [...]