The 2008/09 BCS National Championship Game

[trekkerguy]

Once the teams are ranked and set for the respective games, there should
be no final ranking. Why give them a rank and say win this, this is the
National Title, if they still have to be ranked after? USC wasn't in the
National Title, nor was Utah, they should get no share.


As for Stoops... you can goto as many Bowl games as you want, but your
job is to win them. He's a great coach, but something must be lacking if
you just can't finish it.

Or Florida, Boise State etc... are just that much better.

 

[Neroon]

A final poll still reflects the relative performance, albeit subjectively, throughout the season. There's nothing wrong with that. Utah is not happy they didn't get to play in the national title, but come one... you know they love being ranked this high, because it brings notoriety to their program. Maybe sets the stage for future BCS championship runs

ANd you're being FAR too hard on Stoops. Disappointing? Yeah, it certainly is. Now tell me how many other programs would love to have done as well as he has.

 

[Nobody]

I just returned my ballot to the Associated Press. Here are the final top 4:

1. Florida/USC
3. Texas
4. Utah

Totally not fair. Can we blame you for any rankings we don't like though?



-nobody

 

[Cyrus]

They get ranked because AP refused to agree to automatically give its championship to the BCS winner. The other poll (coaches poll) did agree (thanks to pressure by ABC) so their trophy (the crystal ball one) goes to the BCS winner.

But don't worry, Florida will win AP as well. And alas I am not really an AP voter.

 

[trekkerguy]

#1 and #2 play in the National Title game, winner is the Champion, loser is #2.
The rest is just clout.

Not being too hard on him. Just realistic.

His record in BCS Bowl games they've competed in... 1-4.

That's not very good. Congrats on being a great regular season
head coach, but he's not very good in the big ones.

 

[Neroon]

But don't worry, Florida will win AP as well. And alas I am not really an AP voter.

Aw, man... you broke my heart.

 

[Augustus]

Fun game, though Oklahoma made some stupid errors.

I hear people talk about the relevant strength of conferences based on bowl performance for this and for this and all over years I have to disagree. Factors like a month off, excitement level of each team, coaches totally changing the game plan almost make the bowl season totally different from the regular season.

Unfortunately, I don't think we can know which conferences were the better.

 

[Cyrus]

The final AP poll, Utah got 16 first place votes

--------------

AP Top 25
1. Florida (48) 13-1 1,606
2. Utah (16) 13-0 1,519
3. USC (1) 12-1 1,481
4. Texas 12-1 1,478
5. Oklahoma 12-2 1,391
6. Alabama 12-2 1,264
7. TCU 11-2 1,193
8. Penn State 11-2 1,153
9. Ohio State 10-3 1,013
10. Oregon 10-3 997
11. Boise State 12-1 938
12. Texas Tech 11-2 916
13. Georgia 10-3 903
14. Mississippi 9-4 857
15. Virginia Tech 10-4 713
16. Oklahoma State 9-4 534
17. Cincinnati 11-3 506
18. Oregon State 9-4 467
19. Missouri 10-4 435
20. Iowa 9-4 317
21. Florida State 9-4 246
22. Georgia Tech 9-4 223
23. West Virginia 9-4 144
24. Michigan State 9-4 138
25. Brigham Young 10-3 137
Others Receiving Votes
California 128, Pittsburgh 106, LSU 95, Nebraska 64, Tulsa 61, Northwestern 53, Ball State 13, Boston College 11, Rutgers 11, Rice 8, Arizona 4, Kansas 2

 

[Cyrus]

And here is the final coaches poll. Seem like the Utah coach did vote for his team (and ignore the contract between coaches poll and BCS) but Mack Brown chickened out after saying he will vote for his team.

------------
USA Today top 25
1. Florida (60)
2. USC
3. Texas
4. Utah (1)
5. Oklahoma
6. Alabama
7. TCU
8. Penn State
9. Oregon
10. Georgia
11. Ohio State
12. Texas Tech
13. Boise State
14. Virginia Tech
15. Mississippi
16. Missouri
17. Cincinnati
18. Oklahoma State
19. Oregon State
20. Iowa
21. Brigham Young
22. Georgia Tech
23. Florida State
24. Michigan State
25. California

 

[JM1776]

And here is the final coaches poll. Seem like the Utah coach did vote for his team (and ignore the contract between coaches poll and BCS)....

It's a ridiculous clause. People should vote their conscience, not a contract.

 

[Mallory]

I'm surprised but pleased to see Oregon ranked as high as they are. We usually get ignored.

 

[Cyrus]

It's a ridiculous clause. People should vote their conscience, not a contract.

It definitely is ridiculous. But they were forced to do it otherwise BCS would have been dead. ABC (which was paying a lot of money to televise the game) wanted assurances that the BCS winner be considered a legitimate national champion and more importantly they wanted an on-field trophy presentation. So the coaches sold their soul to the devil and capitulated. And this saved BCS' ass in 2003, as the scenario they thought was impossible happened. Without this clause USC most likely would have won both polls.

I am grateful that AP refused to go along.

 

[1001001]

I would say:

1. Florida
2. Utah
3. USC
4. Texas
5. Oklahoma

JMHO, of course...

 

[Neroon]

With Tebow announcing that he's returning for his senior year, it will be interesting to see how many blogs/pols/etc DON'T rank Florida pre-season #1 for next season. Granted, there's still a window for players to decide if they're declaring for the NFL draft. That will affect thoughts quite a bit.

Personally, i don't care much for pre-season polls, but I can't deny their allure.