Any college football fans here? It's been an interesting season, with yet again tons of controversy surrounding the BCS and the choices for the big bowls.

How did your team do? Do you agree with the rankings? Arguably 4 teams have a decent case for being ranked number 1, yet the Florida Gators have won their 2nd title in 3 years.

Here are the final AP rankings and records:

1. Florida (13-1)
2. Utah (13-0)
3. USC (12-1)
4. Texas (12-1)
5. Oklahoma (12-2)
6. Alabama (12-2)
7. Texas Christian (11-2)
8. Penn State (11-2)
9. Ohio State (10-3)
10. Oregon (10-3)
11. Boise State (12-1)
12. Texas Tech (11-2)
13. Georgia (10-3)
14. Mississippi (9-4)
15. Virginia Tech (10-4)
16. Oklahoma State (9-4)
17. Cincinnati (11-3)
18. Oregon State (9-4)
19. Missouri (10-4)
20. Iowa (9-4)
21. Florida State (9-4)
22. Georgia Tech (9-4)
23. West Virginia (9-4)
24. Michigan State (9-4)
25. Brigham Young (10-3)

As an alumnus of the University of Utah, I am thrilled that they had such a fantastic season. I think it's ridiculous that Division 1 football is the only sport in America in which a team can go undefeated and have no chance at a title, but such is the hypocrisy and self-interest of the BCS. Can't fault Florida for their performance tonight, though. Urban Meyer must be proud to see Florida at number 1 and Utah right behind.

A team sport that has a voted champion.
Very strange.....

Graycap23 said:

Yes- it's gross! A playoff is obvious, but the bigwig powers of the BC$ won't let it happen.

Graycap23 said:

Stupid shit, ain't it? Utah over SC? Nah. This is exactly why they need a 10-team playoff.

I give florida props but i felt the outcome was decided when
OU lost RB Lamond Murray at the end of the season. He would
have been the difference in that game.

Florida State national champs next season baby.
[Edited 1/9/09 10:03am]

Graycap23 said:

And Stupid IMO. Don't the powers that be in College Football see that a playoff would get them an even bigger payoff than those bowl games down the line, it would be huge!

Abdul said:

Especially if they played the Championship game the same weekend as the Super Bowl in the same STADIUM! I wish I could pull up my plan for that - I used to have it online.

Abdul said:

The thing is, they wouldn't have to lose their bowl sponsorships. Non-BCS bowl games could still be in place, but the BCS bowls would be like playoff games leading up to the Championship. And they can be still be handled thru their current sponsors.

This is why, of the major sports in the country, college football will always be dead last.

Obama apparently wants a playoff to be instituted, and I don't blame him! It's the only way to lend legitimacy to the way the sport crowns a champion.

And yes, Muthafunka, Utah over USC! Utah beat Oregon St., who in turn beat USC. The Mountain West went 6-2 against the Pac 10 this year. Utah had a more highly rated strength of schedule and finished with a better record!

Moonbeam said:

I don't go for the "They beat Team X that beat Team Y therefore they are better than Team Y" as a means to pick a team over another team. If Utah played in the Pac 10 or SEC, I don't see them going undefeated. It's one thing to face 1 of those tough teams from those conferences once, it's a completely another thing to face a bunch of tough teams from those conferences.

I'll never understand why Ohio State gets so much love from the voters...they lost their bowl game, again; and are still in the top 10
such an average team...

my dawgs under performed this year...but it was another 10 win season, so not too many complaints....

MuthaFunka said:

That's too much trying to clean up and turn around the stadium in less than 24 hours?!!

Eight team playoff with the Orange, Fiesta, Cotton and Sugar Bowls. All bowls would host a first round game and the remaining three games would be rotated.
The Rose Bowl would remain and the Rose Bowl Champion would get an automatic seed into the field of eight. ACC and Big East could play the Gator Bowl for another automatic slot. Set up the SEC and Big Twelve in Bowl matchup for another automatic slot. The other five slots would at large from BCS polling. Thus the SEC/BIG 12 loser could still grab an at-large bid for example.

SUPRMAN said:

Please. I've seen NBA stadiums turned around in just hours for a 2nd game. Staples Center does it all the time for the Clippers (day game) and the Lakers (night game), so it's possible to clean up a stadium in under 20 hours. It just takes an overnight crew.

MuthaFunka said:

And the grass will grow back just as fast . . . .
It will be a lousy field for the Sunday game . . .

SUPRMAN said:

LOL They're gonna mow the lawn during the game? When does THIS happen? Between timeouts? What kinda grass do you think they play on, the kind that grows in your backyard? Dude, it's not THAT kind of grass. Plus, unless it's raining or snowing (and it more than likely won't since they make sure the Super Bowl is played in either a good-weather stadium or a dome), the fields don't get fucked up enough to where they'd have to re-sod the ENTIRE FIELD.

http://www.usatoday.com/s...atpoll.htm

Jan. 9, 2009

Rank Team (first-place votes) Record Points

Last week
1. Florida (60) 13-1 1,524 2
2. Southern California 12-1 1,393 T4
3. Texas 12-1 1,389 3
4. Utah (1) 13-0 1,375 7
5. Oklahoma 12-2 1,333 1
6. Alabama 12-2 1,157 T4
7. TCU 11-2 1,114 11
8. Penn State 11-2 1,091 6
9. Oregon 10-3 1,011 13
10.Georgia 10-3 904 17
11.Ohio State 10-3 874 10
12.Texas Tech 11-2 867 8
13.Boise State 12-1 809 9
14.Virginia Tech 10-4 740 19
15.Mississippi 9-4 620 24
16.Missouri 10-4 549 24
17.Cincinnati 11-3 493 12
18.Oklahoma State 9-4 480 14
19.Oregon State 9-4 407 25
20.Iowa 9-4 250 NR
21.Brigham Young 10-3 248 16
22.Georgia Tech 9-4 219 15
23.Florida State 9-4 217 NR
24.Michigan State 9-4 179 18
25.California 9-4 116 NR

Dropped out
No. 20 Northwestern (9-4, lost to then-No. 23 Missouri 30-23 OT in Alamo Bowl), No. 21 Pittsburgh (9-4, lost to then-No. 25 Oregon State 3-0 in Sun Bowl), No. 22 Ball State (12-2, lost to Tulsa 45-13 in GMAC Bowl).
Others receiving votes
West Virginia (9-4) 101; Tulsa (11-3) 68; LSU (8-5) 65; Northwestern (9-4) 63; Nebraska (9-4) 62; Pittsburgh (9-4) 38; Arizona (8-5) 21; Ball State (12-2) 14; Rice (10-3) 14; Boston College (9-5) 6; Rutgers (8-5) 5; Kansas (8-5) 3; Kentucky (7-6) 3; Connecticut (8-5) 2; Houston (8-5) 1.
[Edited 1/9/09 23:51pm]

MuthaFunka said:

The Mountain West was better than the Pac 10 this year. Of course, Utah would have had to play USC, as well. Unfortunately, the lack of a playoff leaves us no way to rank teams other than through comparisons based on common opponents and other factors.

I wouldn't necessarily guarantee that Utah would beat USC, but based on their performance this season (better record against a tougher schedule), I can't see why Utah should be ranked behind USC.

As for the SEC, you don't have to go undefeated to make the BCS Championship Game. Florida didn't. Utah whipped Alabama, the 2nd ranked team in the SEC, so I think they'd be able to navigate through with at most 1 loss. Again, we'll never know.

roodboi said:

I respect the georgia football program being in SEC country. I think the
dawgs deserve props for the way they fought all season through injuries this
season and losing their LT before the season even started. Ouch
Too bad noshown won't be back but rb's are a dime a dozen in athens.

Moonbeam said:

C'mon, now. The Mountain West was not better than the Pac. They have Air Force, UNLV, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado State, and San Diego State in that conference - none of those teams were good. Just BYU, TCU, and Utah were.

MuthaFunka said:

Air Force was good, and Colorado State wasn't bad. And the 6-2 record still stands!

In any case, it's all good. This Utah team provided another chink in the armor of the BCS.

Moonbeam said:

I agree with Obama. Their system is the main reason why I'm less interested in college than pro. I can't figure how their system is fair at all.

Moonbeam said:

If Air Force had their asses in the Pac = 0-12. Nuff said.

babynoz said:

It's not. It's not designed to produce a championship. It was to reward teams with bowl games. It doesn't make me less a fan of college football.

Moonbeam said:

I give Utah props on a damned good season....no doubt...but their win over Bama was predicated by Bama's loss to Florida in the SEC Championship game...fast teams playing some form of spread offense are not good matchups for Bama...hell, as bad as LSU played this year, they were a couple of gift interceptions from beating Bama...and LSU didn't have near the QB ability or consistency that UF or Utah had...all I'm saying is that Utah would not navigate the SEC without getting beaten by 3 or 4 teams....all of the SEC teams have speed, but as UF just demonstrated, they also play LIGHTS OUT DEFENSE!! Utah plays in a conference where arguably they are the class leaders...the fastest team...whereas in the SEC, they'd be 3rd or even 4th fastest...and navigating that kind of schedule WEEK IN and WEEK OUT will take its toll on them...

...that being said...CONGRATS TO THE GATORS FOR BRINGING HOME THE S.E.C.'s 3rd TITLE IN A ROW...and 5th of the BCS era....and look forward to my Tigers coming back onto the national scene with a vengence....






GEAUX TIGERS!!!!

Why does everyone have to denigrate Utah's accomplishments by speculating that they would lose several games if they played in a different conference?

Moonbeam said:

Because a team is only as good as its competition. That's how it will ALWAYS be. No one is saying that Utah WASN'T good, but we're just saying that they play in a much weaker conference than the Pac, SEC, or ACC. Beating teams from those conferences is a big deal, but having to deal with them on a weekly basis is an even HUGER deal, and Utah never had to do that.

MuthaFunka said:

Their strength of schedule is rated higher than USC's! The Mountain West was definitely BCS-worthy this year- no, not on the level of the SEC or the Big 12, but as good as the Pac 10 and Big 10, and better than the ACC and Big East. Against BCS teams, the Mountain West went 10-5 this year. Utah had no cakewalk.

MuthaFunka said:

You aren't serious, are you? Seriously, there is no conceivable way anyone can argue that the 2008 Pac-10 was better than the 2008 Mountain West. The MWC proved it was better on the field:

New Mexico [2-6 in conference] beat Arizona [5-4]
TCU [7-1] beat Stanford [4-5]
Colorado State [4-4] lost at Cal [6-3]
UNLV [2-6] won at Arizona State [4-5]
BYU [6-2] won at Washington [0-9]
BYU also beat UCLA [3-6]
Utah [8-0] beat Oregon State [7-2]
BYU lost to Arizona in the bowl game

They proved it in almost every different way they could. Good teams from the MW beat good teams from the Pac-10 (Utah over OSU), bad MW teams beat bad Pac-10 teams (UNLV over ASU), good MW teams beat bad Pac-10 teams (BYU over UCLA), and bad MW teams beat good Pac-10 teams (New Mexico over Arizona). 6-1 in the regular season says a lot. Both conferences have their share of great teams at the top (USC, the teams from Oregon, Utah, TCU, and BYU). After that, there's not much strength. They're certainly comparable, but the edge should clearly go to the Mountain West.

Moonbeam said:

Again, their conference itself was weaker than the aforementioned conferences. That's the point.

MuthaFunka said:

I still don't see how you can argue the Pac-10 was better than the Mountain West this year. I just don't see it.