[NU Sports] Win one for Rutgers

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Rutgers did their job last night, so congratulations
> to them - they got the annoying Louisville Cardinals
> out of the Naional Championship picture (where they
> didn't belong).  Now Rutgers (and the rest of the

Exactly - ESPN may keep trying to build the hype that
their local conference is "for real," but all it
really showed was that Louisville was highly overrated
and would have been torched in a title game against
OSU, Texas, USC or Florida. As I ranted in the picks
e-mail, of COURSE all these guys are unbeaten, they've
played 3 conference games in a weak conference and
feasted up on cupcakes before the league slate.

As for Rutgers, it's a great story and you can't help
but cheer for the Scarlet Knights ... but they've
exposed a lot about the polls and we'll see if
everyone follows the logic last week where if you're
"unbeaten and beat #3, you deserve to be #3."

If Rutgers runs the table (I doubt they win in
Morgantown, but hey, go RU!), then they deserve the
shot at the title ... but I doubt they'd get it even
if they do win out. They're #15 now and it's be just
too far to climb in a couple weeks.

So that leaves a BC-Mess and I love it! I'd say that
it leaves us with two "semifinals" of Michigan/OSU and
the SEC title game, but there's still a lot that can
go wrong in the SEC and there's still that little
matter of a defending champ from Austin who has an
easier road to 12-1. But if OSU loses to Michigan, do
they drop below a Texas team they beat at Austin to
try and get a rematch? Could the Cal/SC winner vault
over SEC teams? Does Notre Dame even legitimately have
a shot? (NO!!!!)

> It is hoped that this solidifies OSU-Michigan in the
> National Championship game, because this guarantees
> us the most money.

True - I think it'd also mess up the BCS further
because fans and the other 1-loss teams wouldn't want
a rematch - not to mention the team that WINS
OSU/Michigan who will find it tough to beat a team
twice in a row.

> Of course, USC also has one more task to do - beat
> the highly over-rated Evil Empire, so we don't have
> to listen to them this post-season either. 

Sadly, even what I expect to be a sound thumping by
the Trojans after ND pads its record against the
Service Academy Schedule probably won't be enough to
keep ND out of the BCS with the way the system is
structured to give the Irish all the breaks possible
to get 'em in. And when they get in, we have John L.
to blame.

Lots of football to play of course, but it's a mad
scramble and it's fun to see the B(C)S crumble -- will
Boise State get in with the new extra "inclusive" bowl
or will it just be more for the big leagues? Last
week, we were looking at two possible blowouts for the
two BCS games in Arizona (Texas over Boise State big
in the Fiesta and OSU thumping Louisville in the title
game), but now if I had to guess ...

BCS TITLE: Ohio State vs. Texas
- Rematch from the early season 1 vs. 2 game with a
much improved Texas O facing an improved OSU D -
probably would be the best game.

ROSE: Michigan vs. California
- The Rose folks may even be in Columbus to instantly
offer the loser a ticket to Pasadena (not a bad
consolation prize!) and have their traditional match
as Cal sneaks by SC to win the Pac 10.

SUGAR: Florida vs. Maryland
ORANGE: West Virginia vs. Auburn
- With these two bowls, you can basically mix and
match two SEC teams (to fill seats) against the
survivors of the Big Least and ACC "races" that no one
wants. I'm not sure Auburn even gets to the SEC title
game anymore with Arkansas' surprising season, so that
could be good for the 11-1 Tigers to get an at-large
bid. Meanwhile, Florida wins the SEC title game and
heads to New Orleans, where they get a rematch of an
Orange Bowl a few years back with ACC survivor
Maryland while the Mountaineers end Rugters' hopes and
head to Miami.

FIESTA: Notre Dame vs. Boise State
- This one could be a mess on and off the field ... if
SC beats ND soundly, wouldn't the Trojans deserve the
at-large bid more? Yes, but if the Fiesta loses its
auto-bid in Texas and will be forced to take the
Broncs in the last pick, they'll want the big-money,
big-draw Irish to try and fill seats for this stinker.

But we have a few games left ... and we have a chance
to throw a wrench into the BCS system even more this
week - GO CATS!!!:)
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


 
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