From the Bird's Nest: The case for Oklahoma State

[IHateLaState]

Just an honest question and based upon my RP handle its obvious where I am coming from... but will ask anyway...

Had the tables been turned and Alabama had made a couple of the field goals and their WR had secured the ball at the goal line... and Alabama had won as they should have say 19-6.... would you still be so adamant that #2 LSU should not be playing in the Championship game.... Now don't go all Jay Walker on me and come unglued... Simple question

For the record I said before that game that the loser should not have had a rematch and was attacked by a&m@br fans (obviously thinking they were going to lose) saying that the two best teams were a&m@br and bama and there should be a rematch.... Now they are singing a different tune....

I am being consistent and saying no rematch..... in which case the best team in the country (Bama) will not be the National Champion... but OK State should be in the game....

[CajunSaint]

but all we hear about is how the sec is sooo strong and tough. how the sec is such a difficult conference to compete in. ad nauseum. forget about how nobody cares to mention kentucky and ole mis and tenn., and vanderbilt, and miss. st. to hear some fans' opinion, the sec is just below the nfl in terms of strength. now, all of a sudden, the mighty alabama is not fit to be in the bcs title game? guys, this is all an exercise in manipulation. throw all the logic and reason out of the window. forget the hypotheses and synopses. i have never heard so much damn whining and seen so much hand-wringing in all my life. hey, tiggers, if you're scared, just say you're scared. you should be screaming to take on alabama, or whatever other team comes your way, if you're so good. all i hear about are 50 ways to leave your lover, errrr, 50 ways not to play alabama. if we have to go through these machinations to manipulate who plays whom, then the whole system is just a farce. and whoever says their team is the "national champion," then those fans are still speaking mythically. geaux cajuns!

[sportsfanatic21]

It's funny that most of the A&M fans are totally against a rematch (against Alabama), but wouldn't be so upset with a rematch vs Oregon. Hmmm.

Also, most of them (if asked separate from this discussion) would say they are in favor of a playoff. That could be interesting. I'm not sure that West Virginia can still win the Big East, but for this exercise, let's say they could. And we had an 8-team playoff that included the 6 AQ conference champs, and 2 at large teams. And let's say the highest rated non-AQ team (should they be in the top 8 of the formula) gets in. Is it possible the seeding of the 8 teams could look like this...

1. A&M
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma State (assuming a win this week)
4. Oregon
5. Wisconsin
6. Virginia Tech (or Clemson-ACC champ)
7. Houston
8. West Virginia

In that scenario, A&M would play WVU (rematch), then probably Oregon (rematch), and finally Alabama (rematch). I wonder what their thoughts would be then. Would they now be against a playoff??

[sportsfanatic21]

One more thing about rematches. In 2007, the New England Patriots went undefeated until losing in the Superbowl to the NY Giants, a team they beat in either the last or second to last game of the season. Should they just have been named NFL champs because the Giants had "already had their shot" against NE?

[RedTails]

Great article Jay. It's floating all over the internet, lots of people are reading it.

[keithj]

Hey Jay, your article is a very popular talking point on a website I frequent (reddit).

http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments...from_a_harris/

Check it out for some varying opinions!

[BrockMeaux]

OSU's got beat by a team that is ranked 51st in cbs poll.
Alabama's got beat by a team that is ranked 1st in cbs poll.

To me, that's pretty much where Oklahoma State's argument begins and ends. I would've been ALL ABOUT OkSt, even if they lost a game to a team in the top 25, but I'm sorry. Plane crash or not, no matter how boring an LSU/Alabama rematch may be, they lost to Iowa State. They had no shot at the title game after that happened and made things really easy for Alabama.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Well the Big 12 will have teams in the bowl season, and so will the SEC. Just like virtually every year about this time I am hearing how awful the lower tier SEC teams are, yet almost every year they end up beating those othe lower tier BCS teams. Just saying many of these numbers are meaningless. You watch LSU and BAMA smother teams. You watch OSU run up huge numbers and hang on to win. Naw I am not buying what BOP is dishing. Either BAMA or LSU suffocates OSU, OU, Texas, and V-Tech.

Yea and I also know that is opinion and the fact is BAMA already lost to LSU, but so what? OSU to ISU, and VTEc to Clemson, and OU to Tex Tech. What happens when OU beats OSU this week?

[CajunMarineBBK]

My opinion if you can not win your conference you should not play for the NCG. I would personally rather see Ok State but I dont get a vote so it dont matter.

[CajunPride]

iowa State is not that bad. Would that perception change if they knock off K State Saturday? Even if they finish with a loss they are still bowl eligible in the toughest conference this year.
I also think the bcs human voters should take the plane crash into consideration just as if they had one loss while missing their starting QB to injury.

[CajunPride]

Great article Jay. It mad a lot of horse-sense. Geaux Cowboys. OSU and LSU would make a great game.

[Bandwagon King]

Well the Big 12 will have teams in the bowl season, and so will the SEC. Just like virtually every year about this time I am hearing how awful the lower tier SEC teams are, yet almost every year they end up beating those othe lower tier BCS teams. Just saying many of these numbers are meaningless. You watch LSU and BAMA smother teams. You watch OSU run up huge numbers and hang on to win. Naw I am not buying what BOP is dishing. Either BAMA or LSU suffocates OSU, OU, Texas, and V-Tech.

Yea and I also know that is opinion and the fact is BAMA already lost to LSU, but so what? OSU to ISU, and VTEc to Clemson, and OU to Tex Tech. What happens when OU beats OSU this week?

If OU beats OSU this is an exercize in futility. It will be Alabama. If OSU beats OU & beats them by two scores, they will actually have a better resume than Alabama. Nobody should care about "who's better". Everybody should care about who accomplished more. If OSU beats OU then they will have accomplished more on the football field.