Monday, January 18, 2010

Corrupt College Football Rankings


At the beginning of this football season, I wrote an article about the glass ceiling of college football. I guess I was even more right than I originally thought. Teams that don't play in the big conferences or the BCS conferences don't get any respect by the voters in the polls. This year there were two non-automatic qualifying teams that deserved a spot in the BCS and the wonderful BCS paired the two teams up against each other that proved absolutely nothing. Then, to add to it, the voters snubbed Boise State in the final AP rankings. I guess they had enough of hearing about Utah being ranked #2 and being undefeated last year and they wouldn't let that happen again. Let's take a look at the final AP rankings and you tell me what you think (The final BCS rankings are released before the bowl games are played).

Here are the final AP rankings for 2010.
1) Alabama - No surprise here, they were one of only two undefeated teams and won the National Championship game
2) Texas - This makes sense from the perspective that they lost in the National Championship game but not from the perspective that they are the second best team in the country. The only teams that Texas beat during the season that ended in the final BCS standings were #19 Oklahoma State and #22 Nebraska. Certainly Texas was a good team and one of the best but let's continue to examine the rest of the field.
3) Florida - Oh, mighty Florida! The Gators got a lot of hype from the beginning of the season and I admit that it is hard to win with all of that pressure on you. However, if you examine their schedule a little closer, it isn't as impressive as you would expect. Florida played three teams in the BCS final rankings and won two of them. They beat #12 LSU and #3 Cincinnati and lost to #1 Alabama. I think this is more impressive than the Texas team and given the fact that they lost to #1 and beat #3 then maybe they belong at #2.
4) Boise State - This is the ONLY team in the top 5 that is undefeated AND beat two other top 10 final BCS ranking teams. Take a look, Oregon ended up at #7 and TCU ended at #4. They beat everyone they faced (unlike Florida) and they beat some great competition. They didn't get a chance to play the #1 team but that isn't their fault, the BCS matched up TCU and Boise State, that wasn't scheduling. Again, I think the voters were tired of hearing about Utah from a year ago and didn't want to hear it again. Sure Florida only lost to #1 but Boise never got the chance to even play #1 and they NEVER LOST.
5) Ohio State - Ohio State was the only team in this final top 5 to beat three other teams in the final BCS standings. They beat #10 Iowa, #13 Penn State, and #25 Wisconsin. They also lost to #24 USC. So arguably, Ohio State had the toughest schedule of all the teams in these top five. The only problem is that they are the only ones with two losses as well.

Based on these facts, here is my final top five for 2010.
1) Alabama
2) Boise State
3) Florida
4) Ohio State
5) Texas

I really believe that Boise State deserved to and should have ended the season ranked #2. I also believe that the college rankings are like the rest of college football - corrupt, media driven, and money grubbing.

What are your rankings? Is college football as corrupt as I see it?