If Florida is really that good, then why...

[cotton]

Wouldn't happen now is my point.

I'd say it has about as much chance of happening now as it did then. You've had mid-majors in BCS games 3 years in a row, and 4 of the last five, with 2nd, 5th (with a 1st place AP vote,) and 4th place final poll rankings among them.

In a year where two of the major contenders fall around Thanksgiving and a third is on probation, you could very easily see 1984 all over again.

EDIT: The difference will be that the middy will have to do something more impressive than scrape by a .500 Michigan team to do it.

 

[rjd970]

I'd say it has about as much chance of happening now as it did then. You've had mid-majors in BCS games 3 years in a row, and 4 of the last five, with 2nd, 5th (with a 1st place AP vote,) and 4th place final poll rankings among them.

In a year where two of the major contenders fall around Thanksgiving and a third is on probation, you could very easily see 1984 all over again.

EDIT: The difference will be that the middy will have to do something more impressive than scrape by a .500 Michigan team to do it.

This all boils down to the SOS argument, and two bits has it wrong. The computers stated that Utah had a weaker SOS than Bama last year, and look how good of a representation of relative team strength that turned out to be.

 

[UT IE 95]

This all boils down to the SOS argument, and two bits has it wrong. The computers stated that Utah had a weaker SOS than Bama last year, and look how good of a representation of relative team strength that turned out to be.

The SOS two bit is using is the jacked up version the BCS already stopped using. It only considers opponents W-L record. A true SOS uses a weighting formula and other factors like home vs. road games.

 

[dan4vols]

Well, at least we now have a quantifyable reason why the Gators are gay...they're greedy.

 

[Brewerw]

If strength of schedue is a BS statistic then why aren't the Utahs, BYU's, and Tulanes of the world winning National Championships?

Because they haven't really proven themselves nationally until recently... I think there is an extremely good chance that if Florida didn't beat OSU in the first NC USC would have gone last year. UF's success is combination of UF proving themselves in NC 1 of this decade, the conference proving themselves since the BCS has been in place, everyone's love fest with quick flashy offense, and Tim Tebow being such an integral part of today's college football. I believe without any one of those Florida doesn't play in either of their NC games, and especially the second one. SOS doesn't really mean as much as you let on.

 

[rjd970]

The SOS two bit is using is the jacked up version the BCS already stopped using. It only considers opponents W-L record. A true SOS uses a weighting formula and other factors like home vs. road games.

My point is there is no true SOS calculation that could be worth a crap. Even the weighting factors you cite are subjective.

The entire idea of a SOS ranking itself is bogus. The only true indication of relative strength is head-to-head, and a play-off is the only way to really determine which team deserves the championship.