…them thar Dawgs might actually have a shot at a national championship this year. IF Oklahoma beats #1 Missouri (again) and 4-7 Pittsburgh can upset 10-1 West Virginia, the Dawgs could inherit the #2 spot in the BCS. They’d be competing against teams like 10-2 LSU, 10-2 Oklahoma, 11-1 Kansas, and others for the spot, but hey — it could happen!
Then again, Georgia didn’t even earn the right to play for its own conference title thanks to their pair of conference losses (I’m still not sure they even made the trip up to Knoxville this year, and wow what a bad South Carolina team that turned out to be), which would make it very difficult for voters to give them a chance to compete for a national title. Not making it to the SEC title game, though, could still be the best possible end to the season for UGA, as they are assured of a BCS bowl bid (Fiesta, Rose, or Orange, most likely), and they don’t have to play a very tough LSU team to get there.
The vast majority of UGA’s starters are underclassmen; along with Florida, they should be the preseason class of the SEC in 2008. Between that, and the fact that they’ll be in a BCS bowl this year even after their horrible start to the season, I don’t think any members of the Bulldawg nation should get too wrapped around the axle should WVU and Mizzou both lose this weekend, and UGA still get passed over for a spot in the champeenship game — the season ended wonderfully anyway.
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Yawn…
This is old, old news Jeff:
http://jacewalden.blogspot.com/2007/11/georgias-national-title-hopes-still.html
http://jacewalden.blogspot.com/2007/11/georgias-path-to-bcs-national.html
But thanks for finally catching on.
By the way, if OU beats Mizzou again, and the national champeenship game is West Virginia against Ohio State, can anybody argue that the game’s winner — between the champions of two of the weakest conferences, who have no championship games of their own — will truly be the best team in the country?
Further, I think there’s a pretty good chance that the BCS championship game could be the lowest rated of all of the BCS games this year. That’s pretty sad.
Heh. Thanks Jace — I meant to put this up on Sunday, but I’ll give you the credit for beating me to it.
Jeff,
After looking at it further I seriously doubt UGA will play for a national championship if Mizzou and WVU both lose. After the Oklahoma fiasco of a few years ago and their total demolition in the title game I’m sure that even though UGA has the schedule strength to carry them over the hump, that the voters in the two polls will put VT and LSU over UGA and one of them, most likely LSU, will play Ohio St.
However, I do have one problem with the argument that no winning a conference championship translates into being unworthy to play for a national title. If that were the case than in the NFL there shouldn’t be wild cards b/c they didn’t win their divisions so what right do they have in playing for the Super Bowl. Of course, all of this would be solved neatly with an eight team playoff, but the fans be damned there’s too much money in college football.
Considering I put the fist one up on the 12th of November, you probably should.
an 8 team playoff could very easily fit into the current bcs structure–maybe if one more site were added–perhaps promoting the cotton bowl back to “big boy bowl” stature. the 8 teams play in four bowl game and the nat’l championship site can host a final four like in hoops–the champs from the current bcs conferences would get auto bids like they do now provided they are in the top 12 in the bcs standings and the next 2 highest ranked teams fill out the field.
I think the BCS needs to wipe out the rules of only 2 teams from the major conferences can go to a BCS bowl. Also wipeout the Conference Champion gets an automatic bid thing.
The BCS Bowls should go to the Top 10 BCS teams, period. If your conference sucks and you’re ranked 13th, too damn bad.
What ever happened to allowing the best teams the opportunity to play in the big games?
Conference championships games are stupid and should be eliminated. All the teams in the PAC-10 and Big East play each other, and a true conference champion is crowned.
In the SEC, LSU did not have to play Georgia, yet they can claim the conference title without playing the second best team in the conference. Tennessee could win it all, even though they are probably are at best the fourth best team in the conference.
In the Big 12, Oklahoma can win the conference without having to play Kansas, and Missouri can win the conference without having to play Texas.
In the Big 10, OSU played each of the top 4 teams in the conference (they didn’t have to play happless Iowa and Indiana), and it turned out that the OSU-Michigan game WAS the conference championship.
Conference championship games are simply money grabs, and if they hurt the conferences that use them, then too bad. The only real way to annoint a conference champ is a round-robbin like the PAC-10 and Big East.
As long as Florida loses.
My god I hate Florida.
Perhaps UGA fans should be cheering for UT this Saturday as well. Not only does that ensure LSU does not jump them but it also increases strength of schedule. UGA wouldn’t want UT to add another loss making that loss even worse now would they?
November 12? Dang, Jace — you win that one.
CHelf, that loss is about as bad as it can be already.
CHelf,
I am pulling for Tennessee. LSU has been a disappointment…I don’t want them representing the SEC in a big-time bowl game.
Jace,
You are one of the few publicly doing so. Check any LSU or UT boards and the vast majority of UGA’s fans on the blogs are rooting for LSU. Most of it comes down to some vindictive attitude or jealousy or something. In reality they should swallow whatever this is and cheer for the team that a win benefits them.
Plus with Miles probably gone and Pelini not far behind, or even leading the way, LSU will not mentally be ready for this game or a major bowl game.
Erick needs to start cracking heads… these college football threads have nothing to do with Georgia politics.
Just kidding. (sorta)
I think UGA vs. VT in the Orange Bowl should be a great game. How about the possibility of Florida playing Illinois and Ron Zook in a bowl. That should be pretty cool as well.
I just do NOT want Ohio State to play for the BCS championship, which will ensure they do. Go Mizzou……Go WVU!!!!
rugby, don’t be a hater.
GO GATORS!
Steve, this is totally political…just read the comments!
Athletic Directors, Conference Commissioners, Bowl Selection Committees, payouts back to schools, marketing rights….this is politics at it’s lowest level. Add disgruntled fans and fired coaches to the mix and you have pure politics. Work with us here…
“…can anybody argue that the game
Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron P… uh, I mean, Playoff, Playoff, Playoff!
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