The Associated Press and BCS Powers today made another Gator National Championship official. At the same time, they made a statement for any team that isn’t in the SEC, ACC, PAC 10, Big 10, Big East or Big 12: Your chances of becoming a national champion are nearly impossible.
After a dominant win over Alabama, which less than a month ago led Florida into the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship, Utah coach Kyle Wittingham was quick to proclaim his team No. 1 in the country. Apparently, none of the other trainers felt the same way. At least they didn’t feel strong enough to jeopardize their BCS vote (those with BCS votes are expected to unanimously pick the winner of the BCS Championship Game to be the national champion). The Utes’ only hope of sharing the national title was through the AP poll, where they got 16 first-place votes. However, 16 votes left Utah far from competitive with the Gators … off the field.
Since the system is obviously broken (still) for this year, we can only speculate on who really is the No. 1 team in the country. We can only guess if Utah would have beaten Florida, Oklahoma, USC, Texas, Penn State or any other team that, going into bowl season, thought it should have a shot at lifting the national championship trophy.
Highlights of the Utah curriculum include:
- A perfect season (13-0)
- Three wins over ranked teams (TCU, BYU and Alabama).
- A convincing and dominant performance over Alabama.
As impressive as that resume is, there are some obvious weaknesses. Utah’s overall season is comparatively light when stacked against Florida’s six wins over ranked teams (including four in the top 10), or even against Oklahoma’s five wins over ranked teams. There was only one common opponent shared by Utah and any of the BCS Championship teams: TCU. Oklahoma made quick work of the Horned Frogs at home. Utah had to come from behind with a last-minute drive to earn its home win over TCU. I admit that most of the time there is no point in playing the “Who beat who worse” game in college football. However, it’s pretty clear that week after week, Florida and Oklahoma were facing a different level of competition than Utah saw from teams like Utah State, Wyoming, San Diego State and the like. Had Utah played the same schedule as Florida or Oklahoma, it’s very hard to see them undefeated, especially when they struggled to beat a team like 4-8 New Mexico.
If the college football audience as a whole were asked to put their money on a team that has the best chance of beating any other team in college football, Florida would most likely get the pick. Coincidentally, the BCS is all about the distribution of college football money. The reality is that the Gators got the nod.
The sad problem is that the system is obviously flawed and there are huge obstacles blocking a better method of choosing the best college football team. For now, non-BCS schools would do well to consistently schedule and beat the best teams in the BCS conferences. For example, BYU’s non-conference schedule for 2009 includes a road game against Oklahoma and a home game against Florida State. If the Cougars somehow pull off an undefeated season next year, it would make it harder for the BCS formula to keep them out of the national championship mix. If Utah had one more win over a top 10 team in 2008, its case would be much stronger. As it stands, even a perfect season for Utah doesn’t give them a convincing argument that they’re the best.