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SEC Turns Title Chase Into a Sham
By Paul Smith
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CHESTERTON, Ind. — Start with Florida coach Urban Meyer. And what God-fearing southern pollster/Southeastern Conference apologist wouldn't?
It's not true all college football pollsters with addresses south of the Mason-Dixon line march in step with All Things S.E.C. There IS the Atlantic Coast Conference to consider, of course.
But when the region's reputation of being the self-appointed kings of college football gets challenged, watch those rankings close faster than you can say "Shazayam," brothers and sisters.
So the University of Florida, by dint of beating an Arkansas team that got slammed at home the previous weekend by L.S.U., routed by U.S.C. earlier in the season and basically self-destructed in the S.E.C. title game Saturday, leapfrogs over Michigan in The Associated Press poll by 3 votes, 1,529 votes to 1,526. And in the Coaches Poll, 1,470-1,444.
The symphonic whining in Gainesville, Fla., from everybody from the university's president to, who knows, the lead tenor in Il Barbiero de Seviglia?, began on cue.
Which brings us back to the Remarkable Mr. Meyer, Urban legend, the former Notre Dame assistant who turned down the chance to coach under the storied Golden Dome to hang out in a swamp, a decision process that was thought to be ethically-challenged by many because of his failure to respond in a timely manner.
"I think what's lost in the controversy (of the Bowl Championship Series' compound-complex process annointing the socially-climbing Gators as No. 1 Ohio State's Jan. 8 opponent in the B.C.S. Championship game in Glendale, Ariz.) is a group of players that won a conference championship, played 13 and won 12 against a tough schedule," said he.
"It's well deserved and I'm proud of it," Meyer added on Fox Sports T.V.
So why, when the Gators' fate was announced Sunday night on Fox did Meyer look more like a red-handed felon after his three-pieced attorney wangled a not guilty verdict as he sat among the joyful Gators?
The head of the B.C.S. — surprise, surpriiiiise, also Southeastern Conference commissioner, Mike Slive — said something about viewers wanting to see a "national matchup."
Au contraire, mon ami, Ohio State-Michigan Nov. 18 was national enough to draw the biggest regular season T.V. rating in eight years, the very essence of a national matchup, despite the schools' proximity.
But wait, there's more. Of the best drawing games on the national scale, besides the obvious Notre Dame presence, invariably Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Texas or U.S.C. are one of the participants. These are national schools, with national followings, dear commish.
Decidedly, as good as the S.E.C. is, it is clearly NOT national in scope. More to the point, it is also continuously overrated. The only whiff of a national title the league has had in the last eight seasons was L.S.U.'s co-championship in 2003. That is highly unlikely to change next month, either.
But the endless gamesmanship and politicking that toppled a simply better Michigan team from its highly-deserved No. 2 ranking turned this year's title chase into a sham.
The stated purpose of the B.C.S. -- to pit the nation's two best teams in a national championship game -- has worked as often as not. Clearly not this time.
Texas-U.S.C. last January was a classic, for example, and you likely need little introduction to Ohio State-Miami in 2003.
But the shameless politicking and resultant poll-remaking by the Solid South takes front and center stage here. The only missing elements were the stars and bars and "Dixie" refrains from Metarie to Massaponax.
As someone who has been sympathetic to Ohio State for half a century, this tiny media speck hasn't always sympathized with Michigan causes. But the Wolverines were jobbed out of an undisputed national title in 1999 when the highly-political coaches' poll annointed Nebraska while A.P. voters gave U-M a solid margin.
Michigan's body of work simply stands any test you choose this time around. The "Oh, they can't play each other TWICE," squeal in some quarters simply doesn't ring true. Given the humongous ratings the first time, you think the nation's great unwashed are going to be watching "The King of Queens" instead?
Instead, you get Ohio State-Florida, and here's one time you can read Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's words as Gospel.
"I think it's going to be a great controversy, based on some of the comments of some of the Florida people campaigning for the championship game," said Carr, whose 11-1 team will face Southern Cal (10-2) in the Rose Bowl, a decent consolation prize of absolutely no consolation to anyone north of Toledo.
Talking on his weekly T.V. show, Carr added, "We have a system and I've said all along that system would speak."
With forked tongue.
With an anything but unbiased commissioner.
With a maddening system of muddying waters originally crystal clear.
If southern pom pon waving cheeleaders masquerading as journalists want to continue their endless regional bias, that's their right, of course.
But something is rotten in the state of Michigan. And a few other places, it turns out.
A Fox32 poll in Chicago revealed only one quarter quarter of the respondants feel the B.C.S. made a right decision. Republicans have done better than that in Chicago. Similar poll results showed up in Pennsylvania, New York and California as well.
So Ohio State gets the Florida Gators, complete with their smoke and mirrors, prayerfully awaiting opposing punt returners' bad decisions with the football and resultant fumbles, awaiting field goal kickers who can't clear a dumpster.
It's how the Gators won three of their final four regular season games. The other coming against that notorious super-power Western Carolina. But hey, this was the toughest schedule ever created. Just ask any good ol' boy.
If you have the stomach to. Ohio State has a compelling chance to make a statement for a) its archrival, b) anybody who doesn't think the nation's football boundary stops at the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (except for Arkansas, of course...).
Paul Smith covers the Big Ten, Notre Dame and the rest of the national college football scene with his View From the Midwest.
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