Crimson Red Sports

Could it be a conspiracy? Grassy knoll stuff?

The power brokers at ESPN and the networks want the best ratings possible for the BCS game in Miami. So here we have Oregon and Kansas State 1 and 2 , Notre Dame 3 and Bama 4 in the BCS poll. If you are the executives promoting the championship game, do you really want the current 1 and 2 to headline your big game?  Not on your life.

If it were USC 1 or 2, ok; no harm no foul. But Oregon? Does the country really care about the Ducks and what they bring to the table? And then there's K State. Talk about viewership. Who really wants to watch these guys play nationally.

Now we come to the interesting part. If you want the best possible ratings for your big show, who do you want to play?  Yes, that's correct. Bama and  Notre Dame. You want the national following. You want two of the most storied programs in college football and one of the best historical rivalries to go at it in your best game.

So my conspiratorial prediction: we will see Oregon and K State lose and drop lower in the rankings than ND and Bama propelling these two in the final game for the crystal. Of course, these two have to win their respective games and I believe they will.

Only time will tell. But I have a feeling.

Okay, as long as you went there, how about this? Oregon has no one but Pac whatever teams left on it's schedule. KSU has nothing but Big 12 teams left on it's schedule. Don't the interests of money, league prestige, marketing, recruiting, etc. create an enormous incentive for these respective leagues to "encourage" their contenders to take their foot of the gas to ensure their league a NCG birth?

1. Georgia has a big following too.
2. ND will be in a BCS game, even if it loses to USC.  We're not just talking about the ratings of one football game, but a package of games.
3. You think Bama v. LSU was the highest possible rated BCSCG last year?

Bottom line:  No conspiracy.  BCS doesn't control the games, the refs do, who are hired by the conference.

FWIW... Oregon has to play Stanford & Ore St and then the Pac-10 Champ game which may be USC (I think).  I'm hearing lots of talk about Oregon's defense being really beat up so a team with traditional offense, like Stanford or USC, might be able to run up time of possession and score enough points to beat them.  Or course Stanford/USC will have to play adequate defense to slow them down.  Not sure about that part!

ND has lost their best receiver for the rest of the season.  Their offense ain't so great as it is, so ????  They have to play USC in LA.

I think K-State's toughest game will be vs. Texas.  Not holding my breath on that one unless the KSU QB is really banged up.

If Bama can somehow get to #3 before the SECCG, we might have a shot if we soundly beat UGA.

Big roll of the dice though.

Being on the same field with Auburn is a liability in itself. Even if we kill them the stink might cost us a spot.

Which side their bread is buttered has to be, if not a concerted effort to assure the best interest of the conference, at least a constant presence just short of actively rooting for the highest ranked member.  I have watched (not by choice) a shipload of Big East games. Maybe because the level of officiating expertise is so much lower, but glaringly obvious bias toward the highest ranked conference team is even more obvious this time of year.  One huge exception was when Pitt knocked WVU out of a chance to play for a national title (2007?) but I'll bet if we went back and reviewed the calls, the refs did everything they could short of calling the game a Pitt forfeit.  I watched them do everything they could this season, to help Rutgers while they were still unbeaten. I watched a Rutgers game (as much as I could stand) specifically to see if my conference bias theory rang true. Not saying they sit down in a pre-season meeting to discuss this, but refs are human and their officiating careers are tied to the success of the conference.

Judging the officiating is so subjective it is almost impossible to pin down qualitatively OR quantitatively. Having close play reviews on the field helps to get things right, and the ability for the fan to start and stop plays for closer perusal allows for tighter scrutiny than ever before.

Yeah, Auburn and Western Carolina wins aren't going to help Bama in the BCS.