Well, we all thought that Southern Cal would beat Penn State pretty handily in the Rose Bowl, thereby putting their name into the national championship picture. But now Utah has really screwed things up by smoking SEC runner-up Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish with a perfect 13-0 record. And of course Texas might be the best team in the country, and they have already beaten one of the BCS finalists (Oklahoma) by ten points on a neutral field.
The winner of the BCS title game will be the BCS champion, but the AP pollsters do not have to follow suit. Here are some possibilities for a split championship:
1. Texas beats Ohio State; Oklahoma beats Florida.
The winner of the BCS title game will be the BCS champion, but the AP pollsters do not have to follow suit. Here are some possibilities for a split championship:
1. Texas beats Ohio State; Oklahoma beats Florida.
The argument for Texas: "We have the same record as Oklahoma, and we beat them head-to-head by ten points on a neutral field."
The counter argument: There really isn't one, unless Oklahoma blows out Florida and Texas wins a tight contest against Ohio State. In that case, you could argue that Texas caught Oklahoma early in the year, and that Oklahoma has bypassed Texas since that time. Also, Texas's loss to Texas Tech doesn't look so good any more, after the Red Raiders got pounded in the Cotton Bowl.
2. Ohio State beats Texas; Oklahoma beats Florida.The counter argument: There really isn't one, unless Oklahoma blows out Florida and Texas wins a tight contest against Ohio State. In that case, you could argue that Texas caught Oklahoma early in the year, and that Oklahoma has bypassed Texas since that time. Also, Texas's loss to Texas Tech doesn't look so good any more, after the Red Raiders got pounded in the Cotton Bowl.
The argument for Southern Cal: "Texas beat Oklahoma by 10 points; Ohio State beat Texas; we beat Ohio State by 32 points; clearly, we could beat Oklahoma."
The counter argument: You simply can't lose to middle-of-the-road teams during the regular season, especially when you play in a "weak" conference like the Pac-10. In addition, the Penn State victory wasn't all that impressive (at least on the score board - in reality, USC coasted in the second half). However, USC will get a "strength of schedule" boost from the Pac-10 bowl victories, and also from an Ohio State win.
3. Florida beats Oklahoma.The counter argument: You simply can't lose to middle-of-the-road teams during the regular season, especially when you play in a "weak" conference like the Pac-10. In addition, the Penn State victory wasn't all that impressive (at least on the score board - in reality, USC coasted in the second half). However, USC will get a "strength of schedule" boost from the Pac-10 bowl victories, and also from an Ohio State win.
The argument for Utah: "Florida needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Alabama by 11 points on a neutral field; we beat Alabama by 14 points in SEC territory, and the game wasn't even that close. And we have a better record than Florida (13-0 versus 13-1)."
The counter argument: Strength of schedule. Period.
If either Oklahoma or Florida wins in a rout, then the split championship discussion is probably moot, but I could definitely see the AP voters going contrarian if the BCS title game is close and/or sloppy.The counter argument: Strength of schedule. Period.