cjsweat wrote:
Outside of the year Auburn didn't get in (because I would agree with you on that one), provide one example of where the BCS didn't pair up 1 vs 2.
2001 -- One loss Florida State played undefeated Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game.
This, despite the fact that Florida State had been defeated by Miami (ranked #2 in both human polls AP and ESPN/USA Today) who also had only one loss and was the Big East Champion.
Miami's one loss was to one loss Pac-10 Champ Washington who also had the most legit claim to be in the BCS Championship Game. FSU went on to lose to Oklahoma while Miami and Washington handily won their bowl games.
2002 -- Nebraska picked for BCS Championship game despite losing to Big 12 Champ Colorado (who had 2 losses) in last game of regular season 62-36. One loss Oregon was consensus #2 in human polls; also left out. Nebraska lost to Miami 37-14; Oregon beat Colorado in Fiesta Bowl 38-16.
2004 -- Oklahoma, LSU and USC all finished the season with one loss. (There were no undefeated Div I-A teams). However, Oklahoma lost to Kansas State 35-7 in the Big 12 Championship game. Yet, Oklahoma was still picked for the BCS Championship game to face SEC Champ LSU. LSU won the game 21-14. USC was left out of the BCS Championship game despite having finished the season ranked #1 in both human polls. USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and kept it–s #1 ranking in the AP. So, at the end of the season, there was a BCS Champ LSU and an AP #1 USC. So, effectively a split, undecided National Champion.
2005 -- It wasn't just Auburn getting screwed this time. 5 teams finished the season undefeated. Auburn, Utah, Boise State, USC and Oklahoma. USC and Oklahoma were picked for the BCS Championship Game. USC won and was named BCS Champ. However, Auburn and Utah also won their bowl games leaving us with 3 undefeated teams at the end of the season. Auburn, in particular, was screwed because it probably had the toughest schedule of the 5 undefeated teams. [The 2004-2005 fiasco led the BCS to increase the importance of strength of schedule in its selection process and rankings.]
2007 -- Florida and Michigan both finished the season with one loss. Florida was picked to play Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game – and won. Boise State went undefeated in the regular season and beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in an amazing 43-42 overtime win. So, only Boise State finished the season undefeated; yet it didn–t even play for the National Championship.
2008 -- This was the craziest year of all and resulted in a 2 loss team (LSU) being selected for the BCS Championship Game. It turned out to be the right pick as LSU crushed Ohio State to win the National Championship. But, the point is, either Oklahoma or Virginia Tech could easily have been picked over LSU for that game. And, LSU never would have had its shot.
2009 -- Oklahoma picked for BCS Championship Game despite having one loss to Texas who also had only one loss (to Texas Tech). Florida beat Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game. Further controversy involved Utah going undefeated (including beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl) and being left out of the BCS Championship game. Then there was Boise State which was ranked in the top 10 in the BCS standings, but was totally left out of any BCS bowl even though it undefeated in the regular season (lost to TCU in Poinsettia Bowl).
2010 -- Alabama and Texas both were undefeated conference champs and faced off in the BCS Championship Game with Alabama winning. So far, so good. Problem was that three other teams also went undefeated in the regular season and were shut out. Boise State, TCU and Cincinnati all had legit gripes. Cincy got crushed by Florida in the Sugar Bowl; so much for them. But, Boise and TCU ended up facing each other in the Fiesta Bowl; denying both of them a shot at a major conference champ. Boise won that game and ended up, along with Alabama, as the two undefeated major college football teams.
2011 -- TCU gets left out of the NC game despite being undefeated. They win the Rose Bowl and finish 13-0. Somehow, Auburn in the NC despite another undefeated team just sitting there staring everybody in the face without a chance to earn a NC on the field.
That's actually 9 legitimate instances where there is no way to claim that the top 2 teams played for the BCS "Championship." Adding in this year, where OSU is clearly the more deserving team for the NC game and that's as many as 10 times where the BCS was at least highly questionable.