-This was definitely the year to take advantage of the opportunity and I am thrilled with MSU's end result, even though we are tri-champions and won't make a BCS game. We had an experienced quarterback and receivers, veteran defense, and a favorable schedule. While the talk of other opportunities will start soon for Coach Dantonio, and it is highly likely one of our assistants will earn a head coaching job soon, I think that he is in it for the long run and his staff will continue to benefit from consistency. Next year will be extremely tough, but I am more confident about our chances.
-I was extremely happy to see MSU come out strong and build an early lead yesterday. Defeating Penn State in Beaver Stadium was a significant "monkey off our back" type of accomplishment. The resounding statement from MSU has been "we're not the same old Michigan State anymore". While that is correct, they haven't completely absolved themselves of some of their negative traits. I said it before - you have to learn how to win and be a champion consistently. When teams like Ohio State lose games, it is because they were outmatched or had a lapse in effort. They don't, however, get cocky and make stupid plays when they have a game in hand. How many people were screaming at their tv "take a knee!" when Trent Robinson intercepted that pass in the end zone? The fact that he fumbled it seemed like the foregone outcome of that play. Hopefully they will learn from that experience so they play more disciplined in tough games.
-The sole intent of the BCS is to identify the top two teams to play in the National Championship. It is very inappropriate for it be used to select the "real" conference champions in the event of a tie. Yes, our conference championship game next year will bring more clarity to the process, but look at the Big 12 South where the BCS will determine the division winner. The Big Ten elimintated a very courteous "gentlemans rule" in that the team with the longest Rose Bowl drought gets the honors in tie situations. The BCS is an unfair conference tie-breaker because it does the opposite - encourages dominance by the consistently successful. I think that Wisconsin needed to win by the large margins that they have in the past few weeks because I think Ohio State would have overtook them otherwise. Even though Wisconsin was the victor in their head-to-head matchup, the powerhouses always seem to get the benefit of the doubt. Going into this week, LSU was the top ranked 1 loss team, Alabama was the top ranked 2 loss team, and Iowa was the top ranked 4 loss team. However, by the end of the weekend, they all fell.
-Is the reason why we are ranked lowest in the BCS among the conference co-champions because we lost the latest? Because we lost by the largest margin? Because we lost to the lowest ranked team of the three? Any of those are logical reasons, but what about the fact that OSU lost to Wisconsin who lost to us?
-Hypothetically - would you rather MSU plays in a BCS game against a less memorable opponent (say TCU or the Big East Champion) or play in the Capital One Bowl against Nick Saban's Alabama team? I think the latter. We are Big 10 Champions, so that gives this team a legacy. Winning a revenge bowl game against Nick Saban gives us a memorable game as well.
-How cocky was it for OSU to be shouting "we're going to the Rose Bowl!" and for their cheerleaders to be holding roses in the 4th quarter yesterday? How ignorant would it have looked if MSU was doing that?
-Iowa... really? Minnesota? Your ONLY significant victory this year was against MSU and that is starting to look worse and worse.
2 comments:
Most of what you said in this post are the reasons I dislike college football. Until they get a playoff, we will always have these frustrated "what if" discussions.
The only reason we're behind Wisconsin and OSU is because we lost later. If the Wisconsin game was the last game of the season, we'd be going to the Rose Bowl (or a BCS bowl at the very least).
But I'm not going to bitch, because that's just the system we have in place. Twenty years from now I'll remember this team as Big Ten Champs, and that's all that matters. Playing Alabama in a bowl, whatever bowl that is, seems fitting to me. It's like the last hurdle we'll have to overcome the demons of our past and move forward.
A lot of pro-BCS people say that arguements about who should have gone to which game and who would have won if two teams played is part of the fun of the BCS. They view it as a positive.
So in that light, I think I'm justified in bitching about being big-10 champions and not getting into a BCS game.
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