My general support for the BCS has been rather well documented; most of you are already familiar with my love of having a system of human voters and computer programs determining which two teams get to compete for the national championship. It's just so much more aesthetic than what I see as a brute, cold, and essentially nihilistic standard playoff bracket format. It all comes down to a question of taste. But even I, on occasion, am taken aback by the audacity of some of the voters.
Honestly, I wasn't too upset about the Ducks losing to Stanford last weekend. I kind of saw it coming: Oregon was coming off of a big win and was due for a let down, Stanford had an extra week to prepare, plus the Cardinal is much better than a lot of people assumed. Also, I kind of like Stanford - they're the nerds of the Pac-10. Richard Rorty taught there. I can't wait for them to play Notre Dame in an epic clash of two powerhouse philosophy programs. But what irks me is this:
Oregon is 14th in the AP poll. USC is 11th.
According to Pollspeak.com, out of the 60 voters in the AP poll, 23 now have USC ranked higher than Oregon.
Even in the BCS, USC is 9th and Oregon is 13th.
Both teams are 7-2. Both teams have a victory over a top 20 non-conference opponent (#10 Ohio State and #16 Utah.) Both teams have lost to a Pac-10 underdog (Washington and #25 Stanford.) And, what else? Oh yes, Oregon beat USC 47-20 less than two weeks ago.
This injustice will not stand.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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3 comments:
So Who are the people who get to vote? And why do they keep forgetting to ask you?
Members of the press. This includes scum like Garland Gillen of WWL Channel 4 in New Orleans, Keith Sargeant of Gannett Newspapers in New Jersey, Mike DiRocca of the Florida Times Union, and, of course, our very own Bob Asmussen of the Champaign News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois. Please shame them accordingly.
Grrr don't even get me started on the BCS. It frustrates me to no end. This from the WSJ article summed up my feelings nicely: It's all about reputation. The USC team that they voted ahead of Oregon (despite their huge loss to us) is not this years Trojans team - it's the mythical USC football team that remained ahead in the polls. http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2009/11/02/the-count-when-reputation-counts-too-much/?mod=wsj_share_facebook
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