BCS guru Brad Edwards clears things up (sort of)

Norman, OK: If OU beats Tech and OSU, will the computers give OU a big enough gap to overcome Texas?

Brad Edwards : Because Texas played Missouri in conference, and OU played both Cincinnati and TCU out of conference, I think the schedule strength will end up being fairly similar, which would make the computer rankings pretty much a wash. The key will be the polls. My gut feeling is that the voters will realize Tech is out of the running and reward Texas for its head-to-head win over OU. But I can also see a lot of voters ignorning that if the Sooners are really impressive in winning those last two games.
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john (cincinnati): brad, big what if question...what if mizzou beats one loss texas in big 12 championship? the sec champ is one loss florida over bama in close game, usc, okla and texas tech all have one loss and utah is unbeaten. who plays florida in bcs title???

Brad Edwards : I think it would be between Oklahoma and USC. But even if the voters put USC one spot higher than OU, the Sooners' computer numbers might be enough to make up the difference.
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Michael (Long Beach, CA): Brad, you seem to be the only person at ESPN to give OU a chance. I know they lost to Texas, but that was a close game and the Sooners were leading half way through the 4th. Running the table should count for something.

Brad Edwards : Most of the people I hear and read are assuming Oklahoma will win the tiebreaker because of that momentum. It'll sure be interesting.
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Bill (Charlotte): Help me understand something. Everyone keeps using the logic, if OU wins out (beating Tech), Texas should be ranked higher due to the head-to-head win. Why is this logic only invoked in the OU/UT scenario. Using the same logic, Texas can't be ahead of Tech due to the loss and Tech can't be ahead of OU due to the head-to-head loss. Shouldn't it then come down to who is playing best at the end of the season?

Brad Edwards : Oklahoma's hope is that most voters will see it that way. My belief, though, is that Tech would fall behind both Texas and OU on Nov. 23, making it clear to voters that the real decision is between the Horns and the Sooners.

 

and here we all thought 2001 was screwed up.

 

Interesting. So if we win by TOO much against Tech can it actually hurt us?

Crazy stuff.

 

Here's another good response to an idiotic question.

Matt (NJ): When is the BCS going to add a rule which requires that a team win their conference (if they're in one) in order to play for the national championship? Seems like a no-brainer to me, and that would've avoided two controversies in 2001 and 2003, when a Big 12 team got in depsite losing its championship game.

Brad Edwards : Here's why they don't have such a rule (and never should). What if Missouri beats Texas for the Big 12 title, and Oregon State wins out, taking the Pac-10 championship? Who plays the SEC champ for the BCS title? If a rule said only conference champions were eligible, that means a one-loss Penn State would go instead of a once-beaten Oklahoma, Texas Tech or USC. I don't think that would be much of a service to college football fans.

 

My favorite scenario: Alabama and Florida lose one of their next 2 games; Florida beats Alabama in the SEC title game. USC loses one of its remaining games. OU, Texas and Tech end up in a three-way tie: Texas gets the higher BCS ranking but loses to MU in the championship game.

OU vs. Tech in the title game - the third- and fourth-place finishers in their own conference.

 

I think he was saying that voters would account for the fact that Texas lost on the road, and Texas would have most likely beat Tech on a neutral field or in Austin.

 

Let's hope KU or A&M keep it close vs. the whorns.

Or Mizzou pulls off the upset.

 

We just need to win. That will be tough enough.

 

I have a slightly different answer: Conference championships are completely separate entities from national championships. Neither have anything to do with the other. You don't even have to be a member of a conference to play for a national championship.

In fact, the whole logic that a team cannot play for the national title unless they won their conference completely baffles me. I see no logic for such reasoning.

 

Neither do I.

You don't have to be a conference champion to win the national title in basketball, for example.

 

good point

 

I agree. The way I look at it, since not all conf's play this game and some teams do not even belong to a conf., to me it's just an extra game.

 

Texas lost AT tech.
We lost at a neutral site and
yes the computers do factor that in.

 

Mizzou doesn't = TCU and Cincinatti

They = TCU

Computers don't think they compute.... Coaches will not drop us behind Texas if we win out... Computers we should pass them. That would only leave Texas the Harris poll.

We have been rated ahead of Texas for the last 2 weeks in the coaches poll we are getting ready to play the team that beat them... how could they drop us??? If they were going to drop us they should have done that shiate this week....

BCS is going to come down too a bunch of whiney, BS Politics once again... Time for a playoff - there will be several 1 loss teams this year with a complaint.

 

I think if we win out we get hosed and can only hope Mizzou to beat Texas, which will not happen.

 

Please tell this to Pete "Whiny Bitch" Carroll.

 

I've been breaking down the BCS numbers and I don't see any way we don't pass Texas if we win out. The computers will vault us past them and if we can just keep it close in the human polls we will be fine. The difference in the human polls will be tiny... it's all about the computers now.

 

Well if you call 66 and 2/3's % small, I'm with ya.

 

Dude, if we do not pass both Florida and Texas in the computers it will be an absolute farse...

Media can politic all they want - but the story would be droping Oklahoma in the polls after beating the #2 team in the Country, that beat the team they are considering ranking ahead of them just 3 weeks prior.

The harris poll did it too us, I don't think the coaches will do it too us seeing as that would be = and leave it to the computers...

 

Harris poll, former coaches, players, and media.
Coaches poll, coaches do not even vote. Left up to GA'
s, etc.

Pick your poison