OT- Florida / Bama Rematch?
An ESPN article re: BCS standings mentioned that there is some possibility of a rematch between Florida and Alabama in the championship game. It then mentioned what happened with Michigan in 2006. What would you guys do if this happened? What if it was Florida that lost the SEC championship and got the second chance? [EDIT: Assuming Texas and Cincy lose; not necessarily impossible in college football] I would probably never watch college football again, after breaking my foot off in either Urban Liar's or the BCS executive director's behind. Any other ideas about how to voice disgust if this shocking turn of events occurs?
November 30th, 2009 at 12:21 PM ^
dislike Florida much more than I already do. I can't see this happening especially if Texas stays perfect. Then there is Cincy, Boise and TCU....
If all of these undefeated teams lose and Florida loses. Then I guess I can see it, but I still would disagree with it.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:33 PM ^
The OP fails to mention that ESPN says this would only be possible if Texas lost to Nebraska.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^
same thoughts crossed my mind over the weekend, i had a sly chuckle anticipating what might happen if Urban Cryer's rant from '06 came back to bite him in the ass. . . . .
November 30th, 2009 at 12:34 PM ^
Sadly Texas and the Big 12 don't have the media slobber the SEC commands. I'm certain you'll hear wails for a rematch from the southeastern corner of the country if everything plays out the way it's supposed to.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:35 PM ^
The opportunity for schadenfreude would be incredible.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^
you think people in Utah get mad about being left out of title games what do you think the state of texas would do if florida lost and stayed ahead of a 13-0 texas team? as much as i would hate to see it happen (and the chance of this are null) it would be great. the bcs would end this year for sure!
November 30th, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^
I don't think it's really even possible. TCU didn't play a crappy schedule (their overall SOS is pretty close to Texas and Cincy, right?) and is undefeated.
And if they (the voters) refused a rematch in 2006, then they certainly can't do it here where the teams will have just played on a neutral field. Why would they get a rematch so that they could play again on a neutral field? At least in '06 the game was a 3-point game on one of the team's home field, so there was an argument that a neutral site rematch was appropriate.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:41 PM ^
But what if Cincy and Texas lose and Gary Danielson decides to put on his SEC lobbying hat in the aftermath of close, last-second or overtime defeat of Florida? It's not like this hasn't happened before. Do TCU and Boise still stay ahead of Florida? With voters in the mix, you never know.
Look, I'm not asking what will happen. I am asking what will happen if for some reason there is a rematch. You have to imagine that there will be an epic bruhaha.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:27 PM ^
is a complete ass hat!!! i have no respect for him now after what i saw on saturday(and there wasn't much left after 2006). i know that he drools all over tebow, but he acted like there wasn't even another team on the field with florida. and then to sit there and say that he was just going to read floirda/bama notes for the rest of the game made it even worse.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:34 PM ^
There isn't even a hint of objectivity for CBS with regard to the SEC. Geez, even Tracy Wolfson was wearing Tim Tebow eyeblack and SEC was overlaid on one of her eyeblacks.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:55 PM ^
pissing me off was when FSU's line would stay still when a florida player would jump offsides, and danielson kept saying it was a gimmick play and it wasn't working. i yelled at my tv "no gary they are doing it because florida is jumping offsides"... now the only reason why i know about it, is because the ESPN guys kept talking about it when FSU played NC a few weeks ago. that right there led me to believe that gary and vern didn't even bother watching tape of FSU, nor did they talk to any of the coaches that weren't named bobby bowden.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:38 PM ^
TCU's season is over, so they would likely jump Florida if both UF and Texas lose. No one likes a rematch, so a Texas loss will likely land TCU in the MNC game.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:44 PM ^
It can't happen, after 2006 there was a rule written that a team who doesn't win their conference can't play in the National Title Game.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:49 PM ^
That rings a bell, although I am not sure it is correct. If it is, then why have ALL media types brought this up as a possibility? No need to answer that; I know they are clowns. But one of them has to have to done their homework, right? Just one of them???
November 30th, 2009 at 12:56 PM ^
I think Wilsonhawk was joking.
Joking or not, though, there is no such rule. The "BCS Championship Game" is the #1 team in the BCS standings against the #2 team. No exceptions.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:48 PM ^
Florida, Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State.
Between these, there is one guaranteed loss. TCU has no more games and Boise has a cupcake to finish out. Cincinnati finishes with a difficult game with Pitt and Texas closes out with a mediocre Nebraska game.
Considering that the SEC is extremely top-heavy (i.e. playing in the SEC isn't going to be a Godsend for Florida and Alabama) I doubt that the loser of the title game can even pass TCU in the computers, and thus would require help from the human polls to stay in the title game. If this happens, the BCS would be imperiled, especially if TCU wins its bowl game, because of the ensuing firestorm that would probably involve legal action and renewed appeals to a Congress that would really like some good PR going into an election year in which the whole establishment faces very low approval ratings.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:59 PM ^
I agree with you that the SEC is very top heavy this year. I don't agee that the SEC won't be a Godsend. If Michigan or OSU wins a close game against an upper half of the Big Ten team(say an average Wisconsin team), they are crappy. If Alabama has to score with a minute to go against a four loss Auburn, it shows heart and how tough the SEC is. Mark May and Gary Danielson will be pimping for the SEC loser if Texas loses.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:05 PM ^
Considering their deals with the SEC, ESPN and CBS have everything to gain by promoting the SEC loser as the 2nd best team no matter what. I can just see Danielson now taking out the telestrator and comparing side by side the schedules of TCU and Florida or Alabama during the waning minutes.
I am not convinced that Florida will crush Alabama. This has been a pretty mediocre year overall, and especially for the so-called top teams. You could imagine top teams from other years pummeling any one of these teams. I could definitely see a situation where the talking heads, who influence the human voters more than anyone cares to admit, are arguing about whether to put in a one loss Florida over TCU and ripping TCU's schedule to shreds.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:37 PM ^
The media only gets a third of the vote and the ballot distribution of the Harris poll includes homers for all the BCS conferences by design (which often produces bizarre results but that's beside the point).
Also, Alabama beating Auburn was a show of heart. The Iron Bowl is just like Michigan-OSU, no matter the year, both teams have a shot.
Finally, there are only three SEC teams in the BCS top-25: Florida, Alabama, and LSU. I doubt that the computers will react favorably to a 1 loss Florida or Alabama with some many undefeated teams waiting to replace them.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:08 PM ^
I put the chance at a rematch to be much, much less than it was 2006 if not absolutely impossible. Looking at the BCS standing TCU is sitting at .8689 to Cincy's .8547. In a world where Texas loses Saturday and UC wins big at Pitt you'll likely see a few thousandths of a percentage point separating the two at the 2 and 3 spots.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:12 PM ^
Pitt is a pretty solid team. I wouldn't just assume Cincy will steamroll them. Cincy had some problems with UConn, WVU and Illinois.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:15 PM ^
it's going to be a hard fought game for the Big East championship, and I definitely expect to see Pitt's best Saturday. I was just speaking of a hypothetical situation where Cincy can make up some percentage points on or possibly jump TCU.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:19 PM ^
Agreed
November 30th, 2009 at 12:57 PM ^
by 17 over Alabama and there will be no debate. Bama is solid, but they are too unexplosive to complete with Florida. While it will be billed (and is being billed) as the best game ever, I think that Florida will win decisively and end this particular conversation. What will then be left is one more Big 12 "power" for Florida to expose for another snooze fest of a national championship game. Unless Texas loses to Nebraska and Pitt beats Cinci landing TCU in the BCS championship game, it's Florida v. Swiss Cheese for all the marbles.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:04 PM ^
This will not happen. Both defenses are too good for it to be a blowout. And Alabama has more explosive weapons at back and receiver. They just don't have Tebow.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:57 PM ^
Both UM and OSU had defenses that were too good for the 2006 game to be high scoring, but we all saw how that worked out.
*Shrug* Good statistical defenses don't always translate to low-scoring, close games.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:11 PM ^
Since it's still just a "mythical" national championship then i don't really feel it's worth getting too worked up about. In fact, if more college football fans would actually treat bowl game as the exhibition matches that they really are then I suspect many of those fans would actually enjoy the bowl games more.
As for the details of this year's scenario: I think after OSU's embarrassing display 2006 that nobody would consider a rematch a good idea. That proved that the "assumed two best teams" scenario is not necessarily true. Personally, I think after the hype of SEC championship that the winner of that game is in for an embarrassing letdown. It would be great if Texas smoked them in the BCS title game. Even better if TCU did the honors.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:13 PM ^
All the above comments assume that the voters use "logic." This assumption has clearly been shown to be false.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:21 PM ^
You hit it right on the head. Mark my words. Danielson will love him some lobbying when there is about 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter of the SEC championship.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:43 PM ^
things are going to fall into place as many of us expect (Florida wins in a semi-tight one) and the big shakeup is going to be the question about who gets the Big-10 at-large.
It's a little intellectually dishonest for ESPN to make comparisons to the 2006 season in the event that things fall apart IMHO. We're still going to have 2, possibly 3 undefeated teams this year in addition to the SEC champion whereas in 2006 OSU held the only unblemished record. Yeah, one of the players is the same and maybe he has to bite his tongue this time. Unfortunately, in the end, the BCS got it right in '06 anyway.
Unrelated note: looking back on those 2006 rankings really highlights what a disaster Louisville has been since Petrino left.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:37 PM ^
The only scenario I can see it having a chance is if Texas loses,
and the SEC Championship is an epic battle that goes into like five overtimes. Then, I could see the SEC suckfest kick into high gear and TCU, BSU, and Cinci getting left out. Even then, I still think TCU would/should get a shot at it.
November 30th, 2009 at 1:48 PM ^
I've thought about this too. But the thing that is different is that there will most likely be other undefeated teams to choose from i.e. Texas and Cincy, assuming they each win their games. It's not like in 2006 (for now) when there were no other undefeated BCS teams to go up against Ohio St.
If Cincy and Texas both lose (I friggin' hope not), then I could see a rematch taking place, especially if Alabama-UF is a close game. Southern voters might even vote Alabama and UF to the BCS championship game just to spite the North for the debate about Mich-OSU in 2006. In this scenario (and possibly even if Cincy and/or Texas is still undefeated), a strong case would be made for Bama-UF rematch because the loser of that match will have the "best" loss, whereas Texas and Cincy ended up losing to teams ranked outside the top #13 with a few losses. And with the SEC lovefest going on in the media, an SEC rematch could very well go down with very little public opposition.
Here's to hoping that at least one of Texas and Cincy wins its final regular season game.