Florida or scUM

[TooTall]

Ok so here's my opinion on this... I think Florida should be in on this, and no this is not a homer-type opinion, it's what I think is the best for college football. Florida has played 4 ranked teams to Michigan's 2. Michigan, as well as EVERY other school, gets a shot and fails to succeed (especially late in the season), they don't deserve a shot at the title.. Ohio State beating Michigan head-to-head should put away the rematch talks... Ohio State beat them already, why should they have to play the same team again? They've done their job!

Now for my future opinion on this, and is in agreement with Herbie's, we should put in place a plus-one championship series... For instance, we'll put Ohio State (1) vs. USC (4) and Michigan (2/3) vs. Florida (2/3), winner of those matchup in the BCS CHAMPIONSHIP and winner takes all. At the same time we keep the traditional bowls and the BCS bowls also, but put the 4 most deserving in the plus-one series. At best, the NCAA will have 4 teams either unbeaten or with one-loss and deserving of a "plus-one" spot. No team comes out of this screwed and non-BCS conference schools will still get their payout from bowl games and their TV time... Everyone goes home happy..And that's my two cents!

 

[OH10]

OK, I am gonna break this down as objectively as I can here. The announcers during the SEC CG were way outta line (if Herbstreit shouldn't be campaigning for Michigan, there's no way the CBS guys should be shilling for Florida when the outcome is still in doubt). But I liked their method of breaking down the schedule, even if their conclusions were pretty suspect. Ranking Michigan's and Florida's wins and losses, it looks like this, IMO:

Michigan: Florida:

Ohio State Auburn

Notre Dame LSU
Wisconsin Arkansas
Penn State Tennessee
Central Mich Georgia
Indiana Kentucky
Minnesota Florida State
Michigan St Alabama
Iowa Southern Miss
N'western UCF
Ball State South Carolina

And one common opponent, Vanderbilt. The announcers' bias led them to call that one a push. "It's a wash, throw it out," they said. Huh? The last game you throw out is the common opponent. Florida squeaked by Vandy, Michigan smoked them. Advantage Michigan in that one. Michigan gets the advantage in 4 games, Florida in 6. But most of Florida's advantages come from the lower-tier games. Ball State or South Carolina is a push - both were bad teams and crummy games. Wisconsin or Arkansas is a push too - Arkansas is a slightly better opponent but Michigan's margin of victory was more convincing.

Oh, and I was generous to Florida by substituting Arkansas for Western Carolina. Michigan didn't get to add a quality win in a conference championship game like Florida did, and Michigan doesn't bother with I-AA opponents - and Western Carolina is the dregs of I-AA.

Florida's average margin of victory is 29-13 (though if you take out WCU it's 26-15). Michigan's is 30-15.

Both teams played 2 bowl teams out of the conference (Notre Dame/CMU, Southern Miss/FSU). Michigan's non-conference schedule includes one likely BCS team, one conference champ, one patsy team from a BCS conference, and one MAC schlub. Florida's was one conference runner-up, one mediocre team from a BCS conference, one CUSA schlub, and one godawful DI-AA team.

So. Schedule-wise, Michigan had the toughest games. Florida had more tough games, but also more pattycake games. Stats-wise, Florida outgained Michigan by about 20 yards a game; Michigan's defense was better by about 10 yards a game.

The only conclusion I can draw from all this is that I'm glad I'm not trying to fill out a ballot tonight.

There's one team Michigan played that Florida didn't which makes the ultimate question much easier: Ohio State.... and they lost.

 

[HailToMichigan]

Well guess what, style points do matter in this case, because it will be up to humans to determine the ranking. And you know what, a point here and there does matter in terms of how they rank. No one is complaining about the outcome of the game. We won. However, a bad call made Michigan look 100 times better than they were. Again, it was 42-32 with Michigan driving down the field with a couple of minutes left on the clock. If the score would have stayed that way, then we wouldn't be having this discussion right now.

Those who argue for Michigan's case at apt to point to Florida's lack of style points. Well let's see where Michigan got their style points:
28-14 vs. Minnesota?
20 points vs. Iowa?
17 points vs. Northwestern?
26-34 decision vs. Ball State, right?
Does beating ND really counting?
Fact of the matter is, Michigan has gotten most of their style points from the loss to Ohio State, in a game that was perceived to be closer than it was due to several factors.

I could have sworn we beat Wisconsin somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somewhere - it's not every day you hold the conference-leading rusher to less than half his average. And yes, beating Notre Dame counts. Big-time. Maybe less so around here, but I promise you the voters like it.

 

[TooTall]

I could have sworn we beat Wisconsin somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somewhere - it's not every day you hold the conference-leading rusher to less than half his average. And yes, beating Notre Dame counts. Big-time. Maybe less so around here, but I promise you the voters like it.

I'll be sold on Wisconsin when they beat Arkansas (if they do) as for now, I'm not sold on them, they haven't played anyone outside of Michigan.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I could have sworn we beat Wisconsin somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somewhere - it's not every day you hold the conference-leading rusher to less than half his average. And yes, beating Notre Dame counts. Big-time. Maybe less so around here, but I promise you the voters like it.

So now we have a scummer with a direct line to the inner workings of the voters heads. How about you tell us what they all are thinking tonight and just end the suspense?

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

I could have sworn we beat Wisconsin somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somewhere - it's not every day you hold the conference-leading rusher to less than half his average. And yes, beating Notre Dame counts. Big-time. Maybe less so around here, but I promise you the voters like it.

I could have sworn that Florida beat LSU somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somwhere-it's not every day that JaMarcus Russell throws three interceptions (wow, might Florida have a legit defensive backfield???). And no, beating Notre Dame shouldn't count. Maybe more so over at GoBlow.com, but the voters have ND where they should be, not in the top 10.

Edit:
Claiming that ND is better LSU is such a nonstarter. If you ask a random infant in a crib who's the better team and she'd tell you that it's LSU.

 

[HailToMichigan]

I could have sworn that Florida beat LSU somewhere along the line. Might be a few style points hidden in there somwhere-it's not every day that JaMarcus Russell throws three interceptions (wow, might Florida have a legit defensive backfield???). And no, beating Notre Dame shouldn't count. Maybe more so over at GoBlow.com, but the voters have ND where they should be, not in the top 10.

Edit:
Claiming that ND is better LSU is such a nonstarter. If you ask a random infant in a crib who's the better team and she'd tell you that it's LSU.

Sure they beat LSU. And Arkansas. And Tennessee. Good for them. But if we're going to knock Michigan for a poor win against Ball State, how bout Florida getting past South Carolina by the skin of their teeth?

And as Notre Dame will probably go to a BCS bowl, it's a quality win, no matter how much you or I think they're overrated.

The point here is not to argue for a rematch, because I've only said about a million times I don't want one, and given more than enough reasons why. But there's plenty of good reasons not to have one, so I'll be more than happy to argue when bad reasons are brought up.

Edit: I didn't. My reason for saying Notre Dame is a better win than LSU is because Michigan absolutely slaughtered Notre Dame - embarrassed them on their home field - while Florida beat LSU efficiently but not spectacularly in Gainesville. Even the SEC CG announcers felt the same way.

 

[TooTall]

Sure they beat LSU. And Arkansas. And Tennessee. Good for them. But if we're going to knock Michigan for a poor win against Ball State, how bout Florida getting past South Carolina by the skin of their teeth?

And as Notre Dame will probably go to a BCS bowl, it's a quality win, no matter how much you or I think they're overrated.

The point here is not to argue for a rematch, because I've only said about a million times I don't want one, and given more than enough reasons why. But there's plenty of good reasons not to have one, so I'll be more than happy to argue when bad reasons are brought up.

IMO I'd much rather be taken to the wire by a Steve Spurrier coached South Carolina than Ball State... Spurrier is a mastermind of taking down big programs! Let's not forget that.

 

[Sdgobucks]

I dont want a rematch, because I dont want to hear the bitching that "OSU could never go through the SEC undefeated". If we smack Florida the SEC has to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. If we go in and smack scUM again, it means nothing to a national audience. No point in haveing two teams from a conference play in a bowl game, it does nothing to show how different conferences compete against eachother.

 

[Savante]

Oh, and I was generous to Florida by substituting Arkansas for Western Carolina. Michigan didn't get to add a quality win in a conference championship game like Florida did, and Michigan doesn't bother with I-AA opponents - and Western Carolina is the dregs of I-AA.

Michigan didn't get to add a quality win in a conference championship game because they lost the conference championship game. That's the most prevailing argument - how can a team who isn't the best in their conference be the best in the country?

 

[HailToMichigan]

I dont want a rematch, because I dont want to hear the bitching that "OSU could never go through the SEC undefeated". If we smack Florida the SEC has to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. If we go in and smack scUM again, it means nothing to a national audience. No point in haveing two teams from a conference play in a bowl game, it does nothing to show how different conferences compete against eachother.

Agreed - if it's Florida, I want OSU to beat them by at least 30, so we don't have to hear what a superior conference the SEC is. Pretty sick of that talk.

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

Sure they beat LSU. And Arkansas. And Tennessee. Good for them. But if we're going to knock Michigan for a poor win against Ball State, how bout Florida getting past South Carolina by the skin of their teeth?

And as Notre Dame will probably go to a BCS bowl, it's a quality win, no matter how much you or I think they're overrated.

Sure Florida beat LSU, the #5 team in the BCS. And Arkansas, the #8 team in the nation. And Tennessee, a team that ended up with one less win than ND but had actually beaten somebody. Good for them. But if you are going to knock Michigan for a poor win against Ball State, how about their grand total of two victories over conference teams with winning records? Doesn't that count towards something? I mean a win over Wisconsin, Penn State and a few sub 500 teams ought to erase whatever schedule that Florida played, right?

And as Notre Dame will probably go to a BCS bowl without the benefit of a top ten ranking, it's a quality win, no matter how much you or I think they are overrated.

Edit: And of course, blowing out ND is something that has never been done by top ten teams, ever, in the history of college football. So Michigan blowing out the Domers certainly counts more than Florida simply beating LSU by two touchdowns. Even babies in cribs can tell you that.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

HailToMichigan: You're a fine outsider member who has been very objective, fair, articulate, and classy. So, I'll say this just once. You had your shot on Nov 18th, with the ghosts of Bo and your oldtime QB who had passed away a few days before The Game to help you (not to mention three turnovers and a couple bogus PI calls) and still lost. While I truly feel you're the second best team in the land, you blew your wad on our field and now you're done. I hope we play Florida and beat them, and you play USC and beat them, so we can finish 1-2, like we belong...

 

[toby34a]

I hope we play Florida and beat them, and you play USC and beat them, so we can finish 1-2, like we belong...

Well and thoughtfully spoken, Mililani.

As someone who's been picking games with his buddies for this season on our own little website that probably gets 3 hits per week (and that's just me reloading it when trying to figure out what games we're picking) as well as being transplanted to Huntsville, AL, I've gotten my fill of SEC football.

I want UF to make it in the game just so that everyone down here that sees my TBDBITL band jacket doesn't make the snide "Oh, Ohio State couldn't hack it in the SEC" comments or "Oh, Alabama could go 9-3 in the Big Ten" comments. Florida gives a national audience, and it wouldn't be scUM to lose to, even though I fully think that scUM is the second-best team in the country and is the only one that could possibly beat us (but they wouldn't).

But they had their shot. College football is supposed to be a single-elimination tournament from the regular season. If it starts becoming a double-elimination (like it is this year with numerous 1-loss teams) then anyone who goes into the last game undefeated and loses to a team with a loss has a right to demand a rematch to get loss #2.

I'd feel a lot better about going best 2-3 with Michigan then having one for the conference and one for the crystal. The conference is great, but the crystal is what it's all about.

 

[zincfinger]

I hope we play Florida and beat them, and you play USC and beat them, so we can finish 1-2, like we belong...

Isn't it stipulated in the BCS contract that the loser of the championship game finishes #2, at least in the coaches' poll?