The absolute joke that is the BCS continues. West Virginia absolutely dominated Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. And I know what most of you are going to say - Oklahoma was the Big 12 champion, so why shouldn't they be in a BCS game?
Well, since the 2005 Orange Bowl, Oklahoma has lost both of its BCS games. In 2005, USC beat OU to win the National Championship. In addition, OU shouldn't have even been in the game. This was the year that Auburn went undefeated and was denied the opportunity to play for the National Championship. Reason - according to the brainiacs at ESPN, Auburn's schedule was not tough enough. Like any other big program, Auburn had padded it's scheduled with some gimme games. Oklahoma's schedule that year included powerhouses like Bowling Green, Houston, Kansas State, Kansas (before they were decent), and Baylor. I could continue on this schedule difficulty thing for a while, but I think you get the idea.
At the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma fell to WAC Champion Boise State. Sure, Boise State pulled just about every trick play in the book, but if you're one of the top teams in the nation in one of the top conferences, your defense should be able to ferret out those gimmick plays. Of course, that's assuming you play defense - once again, I could go off on another tangent about how the PAC-10, Big-12, Big-10, Big East simply don't play defense. But I'll stick to the original point - OU did not play like a major conference champion should.
And that brings us to this year's contest. Despite my previous comment, WVU did manage to show up with some defense, and this seemed to shock Oklahoma (not too different from Hawaii's problem with Georgia). Oklahoma couldn't handle Pat White's spread offense, and they were once again embarrassed on the national stage.
So how does Oklahoma keep on getting into the BCS when it's painfully obvious that they cannot perform at the national level and /or do not live up to the hype that ESPN commentators bestow upon them? Simple - Bob Stoops has some sort of dirt on the powers that be at the BCS. It's the only logical explanation. Every year, before the bowl selection show, he calls each one of them up and reminds them why they're going to put OU in a bowl they don't deserve.
Onto the 2008 National Championship - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Ohio State will repeat last year's performance and extend their BCS bowl record against SEC teams to 0-9. Like Oklahoma, they spent the 2007 season playing teams that provided little or no competition, and, as such, padded their stats and record. Reality is going to hurt.
As D&F has maintained throughout the bowl season, the BCS is broken and has completely failed to find the best 2 teams in the nation. But I've rambled long enough for now. Perhaps tomorrow I will discuss who really were the best two teams in the nation this past football season, and no, Auburn is not going to be one of them.
