Playoffs versus Polls - Week Twelve
Dear Aggies,
Thanks a lot. You really did a number on us. I allow you membership into this prestigious conference and this is how you repay me? Now we’re not going to get a team in the title game for the first time in seven years. Hell, it has only happened three times since I’ve had this job! And now you come in here, trying to make a splash, and look what’s happened. I hope you’re happy.
Regrettably,
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive
Everyone had been waiting for Notre Dame to finally lose one of these close games. People were expecting Kansas State to wilt or Oregon to eventually allow too many points to somebody decent. No one was really planning on an Alabama loss though. It’s…confounding.
Whereas previously, everyone winning out would have delivered a likely Alabama – Oregon matchup for the title, now the top three is ever so close. Kansas State still holds a slim lead on the Ducks for number one but that could dissipate with Oregon being currently ranked number one in both human polls and having the benefit of a conference championship game to win. They essentially have three more ranked opponents to play with the Stanford and Oregon State games followed by a likely Pac-12 title game against either UCLA or USC. If the Ducks do get bumped to number one, it appears KSU would hold on to number two ahead of the Fighting Irish. Although Notre Dame holds the best computer score at this moment, there is no realistic scenario where they would move up in the human polls without someone losing and their remaining schedule is probably the weakest of the three teams as well. Thus, our current championship picture will pit the two Heisman favorites (Collin Klein and Kenjon Barner) against each other for the title.
The interesting thing is what has now developed for that mythical fourth playoff spot. The SEC holds claim to the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth best teams in the country. Seriously. No one else in the conference is ranked in the top 25 but those six schools are so elite that all half dozen are within one loss of each other for their respective division crowns. Now tiebreakers have already eliminated some from actually making the SEC Championship but the toughest conference in football has become so easy to figure out all of a sudden: the team that wins the conference championship will finish fourth in the final BCS rankings (assuming none of the top three lose of course). This would have made for a spectacular finish to the season if that four-team playoff existed. Now, it just means disappointment for Mike Slive and a conference so used to national success it had become mundane.
AOTM Predicted BCS Top Two:
(1) Oregon vs. (2) Kansas State
AOTM Predicted Playoff Top Four:
(1) Oregon vs. (4) Alabama; (2) Kansas State vs. (3) Notre Dame
Week 12 Football – What to Watch For
