[NU Sports] Big Ten and the BCS ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Well, I think #1 vs. #2 lived up to the hype and was
one heck of a game. Coupled with the Rutgers loss, it
creates one heck of a debate for the final few weeks.
I really think after today that round two is 50 days
away in Arizona.

And does anybody (Mike?) have the BCS rulebook handy
to say if it's limited to two per conference with that
extra BCS game in there this year? Wisconsin will
probably be #7 or #8 after this weekend and with four
of the top six still playing each other, the Badgers
could move into the top five or six by the end of the
season. 

I know the top four are guaranteed berths (OSU getting
in over Oregon last year), but if the Rose Bowl loses
two Big Ten teams to the national title game, it'd be
awfully hard to pass up the 11-1 and #6 or so Badgers,
who'd bring about 75,000 Cheeseheads to Pasadena.
Especially since the Rose Bowl (who will have the top
at-large BCS pick now that OSU is title game bound) is
the one BCS bowl who would not want to pick Notre Dame
at-large and have a rematch with SC.

But after the Cats victory (Wildcat Wrap to come
later), it was fun to watch the Big Game before flying
back to Phoenix and having it live up to expectations.
I think Notre Dame is eliminated because an 11-1 Irish
team couldn't head to the title game over an 11-1
Michigan team that kicked Notre Dame's butt in South
Bend. And Arkansas and West Virginia are probably too
far back to leap over the Wolverines. 

So it really comes down to SC, Florida and Michigan
for the right to play the Buckeyes in Arizona. At the
end of the year, Michigan will likely have beaten two
of the BCS top 10 (Wisky and ND) and lost by 3 at #1.
Tough to see the Gators or Trojans matching up with
that. Yeah, it'd be a rematch - but we've had that
before (FSU/Florida ... a couple BCS bowls in recent
years) and we've seen Oklahoma and Nebraska get beaten
by much, much more in their season finale as a BCS top
two and still play for the title. We'll have to see.
The good news for Michigan is that they're done at
11-1 while SC and Florida have big games yet to play.

And one more side note ... the Valley of the Sun
already has a town named Buckeye (where I teach -
named for Ohio roots with tires and cotton) ... but
they may want to move some OSU home games here. The
Bucks will be here in 2006, won the title here in 2002
and were on track to come here in the BCS debut in
1998 save for a late letdown vs. MSU (and many felt
they were still the best 1-loss team that year and
deserved to be #2 and have a crack at Tennessee). Plus
OSU won Fiesta Bowls here after the 2003 and 2005
seasons.

It may not be fair to OSU, but I think OSU-Michigan
round 2 is around the corner. Hopefully it lives up to
the game today.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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


 
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