OT-Why not Arkansas in the BCS?
I thought if both teams were in the champ game the BCS could pick a 3rd team making Arkansas eligible. If this is the case I would think they would be the Sugar Bowls's #1 choice since they are the traditional team and bring a strong fan base.
Does anyone have any insight on why Arkansas was not selected as our opponent? I find it hard to believe VT will take more fans to the Sugar Bowl than Arkansas.
Better Team, Better Fans, Tradition
Quick tour of some of the blogs show no real outrage for the Hogs.
What am I missing?
December 5th, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
December 5th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
I believe the rule is that you can have three teams from one conference if the conference champ is not No. 1 or 2 and two other teams from the conference are Nos. 1 & 2. This could have theorhetically happened if Georgia had defeated LSU. You could have ended up with LSU and Alabama as 1 and 2 (or 2 and 1) and Georgia as the conference champ, thereby making all three of them eligible for a BCS game.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
You can only get a third team in if your conference champ is not selected for the BCS title game. If georgia were to win on saturday, and LSU and Bama were to remain #1/#2, then the SEC could get 3. This is because the SEC would have 3 autobids at this point
Otherwise, the 2 team rule applies.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
The only way three SEC teams could have played in BCS games is if Georgia beat LSU, thus winning the SEC, but LSU stayed in the top two. Georgia would have gone to the Sugar, and Bama would have played LSU for it all. There would have been no way for Arkansas to play in a BCS game though.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
They can only pick a third team from the conference if it is the conference champion, I believe. They can't just pick another non-division-winning, non-conference-winning team.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
The rule is that if the #1 and #2 teams are from the same conference and neither is the conference champion, then the conference can receive two at large bids. LSU is the SEC champ, so SEC teams that are not Alabama are shut out.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
They can only pick a third team if the two teams in the championship were both NOT the conference champion, and then the third team "picked" had to be the conference champion.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:21 PM ^
December 5th, 2011 at 5:27 PM ^
people quicker than me are on top of this........
December 5th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
I knew I was missing something. I saw 3 or 4 articles today talking about Arkansas being deserving of a bid and heard the same thing on the radio and I started thinking they must have been qualified with that 3 team rule.
I know better.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:32 PM ^
I'd be pissed if I thought Michigan was the 6th best team in the country but didn't get in b/c two other Big Ten teams did. I have strong doubts, though, as to Arkansas being the 6th-best team in the country. I'm not SEC-hater, but that seems like a really high ranking for a team that didn't really beat many people during the season.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:24 PM ^
Almost exactly the same thing that happened to Wisconsin in 2006. Finished 11-1. We beat them by 2 TDs in a game that wasn't close. They missed OSU. Played their usual non-conference collection of the small and the weak. Ended up #8 or so in the BCS standings and ended up going to the Cap One. Don't remember hearing them complaining.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:31 PM ^
"No more than two teams from a conference may be selected, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or at-large selections, unless two non-champions from the same conference are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS Standings."
December 5th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
Stop creating forum topics. You are not good at it.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:45 PM ^
To your point about Arkansas fans traveling better, I think you underestimate Tech fans. If Arkansas attended better, the only reason would be proximity of Little Rock to NO. Tech fans are some of the best in the country. They came here in droves to the ACC championship game. I saw more of them Uptown than Clemson fans.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:30 PM ^
Clemson v Va Tech in Charlotte was a perfect storm both team and location-wise for the ACC. Do you recall when Va Tech played in ACC Title games in Florida against Boston College? 1/3rd full stadiums, and tickets were being sold on stubhub for $1. Admittedly BC doesn't travel well, but Va Tech is not an ELITE travelling team. Simply better than Kansas State and Boise State.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^
Oklahoma was BCS eligible at the end of the day. Why isn't it Michigan-Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl? I mean, if they were willing to reach down to grab 11 vs. 13 in order to get marquee brands/fanbases, why not go all the way down to 14?
December 5th, 2011 at 5:02 PM ^
Eligible or not, they got hit even worse than Sparty: #6 in the BCS, but effectively the SEC's 5th choice in their bowl line-up, Cotton Bowl tradition notwithstanding. (They got passed up by Cap One and Outback.)
December 5th, 2011 at 5:13 PM ^
....that Arkansas had a very regional fanbase. It's minute evidence, to be sure, but at my company (yes, that one, if you have read posts revealing my employer), there are several V-Tech people (alums actually) and this is Michigan. I've also met them in other parts of the country. It's not as vast as our network, but it's there.
The BCS and Committees think about such things (because it means $$$).
December 5th, 2011 at 5:25 PM ^
3 teams from one conference in the BCS, which you can't. Arkansas lost to #1 and #2, actually they got crushed by both as in not even in the same ballpark and after leading both early in the games.
They are simply not BCS worthy.
December 5th, 2011 at 5:25 PM ^
Take some vacation time, Ziff. It's not getting better.
December 5th, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^
Because they suck.
SEC will get exposed this year. Pass the popcorn.
December 5th, 2011 at 5:54 PM ^
I wasn't going to put it so bluntly, but I agree. Arkansas and Georgia aren't nearly as good as ESPN and the MSM would have you believe.
December 5th, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^
Only two wins over winning teams (both at home), the most impressive on paper was over a South Carolina team without its best player (and main source of offense) Marcus Lattimore.
Arkansas is a paper tiger. That is all.
December 5th, 2011 at 6:51 PM ^
This is who Arkansas has beaten this year...
*Missouri State (2-9)
*New Mexico (1-11)
*Troy (3-9)
*Texas A&M (6-6)
*Auburn (7-5)
*Ole Miss (2-10)
*Vanderbilt (6-6)
*South Carolina (10-2)
*Tennessee (5-7)
*Mississippi State (6-6)
I'll give them credit for beating South Carolina but otherwise, that's a whole lot of crappy teams. The Razorbacks are highly ranked because their 2 losses (ass kickings) to the #1 and #2 teams in the land. So apparently, a high ranking justifies that. And a high ranking also justifies barely escaping against powerhouses Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
The magic of the SEC is on full display again. If you took Arkansas name away and attached this resume to a Big Ten team, would they still be ranked #6 in the nation? I think not.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^
<derp>
December 5th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^
There's a B1G team with a similar regular-season resume, except that their two butt-whippings were to an unrated and #21 instead of #1 and #2. The wins:
Youngstown State (6-5 FCS)
Florida Atlantic (1-11)
Central Michigan (3-9)
Ohio State (6-6)
Michigan (10-2)
Wisconsin (11-2)
Minnesota (3-9)
Iowa (7-5)
Indiana (1-11)
Northwestern (6-6)
Pros: The hail-Mary win over Wisconsin gave them one more good win.
Cons: An extra awful team on their schedule (Indiana and Minnesota instead of Ole Miss), and the difference in the losses as noted above.
They were #12.
I'm not sure that's out of whack. If Nebraska and Notre Dame had both gone undefeated (or had done so except for playing each other) this might have gotten #6.
December 5th, 2011 at 7:46 PM ^
Fayetteville AK is close enough to NOLA that an Arkansas fan could leave Fayetteville the morning of the Sugar Bowl with a $10 bill and extra set of clean underwear, and not have to change either before returning to Fayetteville.
December 5th, 2011 at 10:25 PM ^
argument can be made for Kansas State as well, but the rules are the rules....
