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Eye of the Tiger - Why Auburn deserves to be in the national championship game.
weeklystandard.com ^ | 12/09/2004 12:00:00 AM | Fred Barnes

Posted on 12/09/2004 7:53:44 AM PST by crushelits

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To: RonF

I disagree with you in too many ways to write them all. So I won't. Merry Christmas!


21 posted on 12/09/2004 8:09:56 AM PST by secret garden (Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.)
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To: TonyWojo
Auburn did a great job but I don't think the best team ever

I think he means the best team not to win the Championship.

22 posted on 12/09/2004 8:10:43 AM PST by KJacob (I will not worry about 2008 until late 2007.)
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To: Rummyfan
"Auburn needs to take care of business and win the Sugar Bowl and let the chips fall where they may"

As an Auburn grad ('87) I couldn't agree with you more! This has been my position all along. Auburn needs to perform and see what happens. If they lose to VT; which has an outstanding football team, everything becomes moot!
23 posted on 12/09/2004 8:10:46 AM PST by martinidon (Bush won sKerry lost and Soro's is out 100 plus million for nothing!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Even 6 teams would work with the "#1" & "#2" teams getting a bye


24 posted on 12/09/2004 8:13:22 AM PST by aynrandfreak (If 9/11 didn't change you, you're a bad human being)
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To: crushelits

Best undefeated team not to win a national championship? I'd go with Penn State, 1995.


25 posted on 12/09/2004 8:13:23 AM PST by Remole
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To: Rutles4Ever

"Fifth, Auburn lost a lot of traction with the press when they were manhandled by 'SC in 2003 by a score of 23-0 after getting picked to win the National Championship by a lot of writers. It didn't help them in this year's pre-ranking after burning a lot of voters the year before. "

Agreed this matters under the current method of determining a winner but is also why there needs to be a playoff. 2003 should not matter.


26 posted on 12/09/2004 8:17:21 AM PST by RC20
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To: crushelits

Auburn's non-conference schedule was pitifull; The Citidel, Louisianna Monroe, and SW Louisianna St. They hurt themselves with that cream puff schedule. They might as well have scheduled The Alabama School For The Blind. Auburn got screwed, but they also screwed themselves with their early season opponents!! The BCS is a crock Div 1A needs a true playoff. The only fair way to do it is take the champ from every Div 1A conference and 4 at-large teams, and play it on the damn field! Untill then BCS stands for Big Crock of S@#t!!!!!


27 posted on 12/09/2004 8:18:00 AM PST by sean327 (All men are created equal, then some become Marines!)
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To: crushelits

OU had the toughest schedule of the top three.
They also beat Texas-no small feat as they are #4 in the BCS.


28 posted on 12/09/2004 8:18:35 AM PST by housewife101
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To: crushelits
And if Auburn wins, it will emerge with a unique distinction: the best team ever in college football that wasn't the official national champion.

You need to get in line to win that distinction.

The Best Team(s) that wasn't a National Champion

All the whining and yapping this year about the BCS makes it sound as if this kind of "injustice" has never happened before. It happens all the time.

And BTW. I think Auburn is a fine team and may well be the "best" this year. But I also think they would have gotten the butts kicked by any number of past teams on that list that never got the recognition either.

29 posted on 12/09/2004 8:20:22 AM PST by Ditto ( No trees were killed in sending this message, but billions of electrons were inconvenienced.)
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To: secret garden

Everybody hates the BCS because the very idea of a difinitive national championship in college football is ludicrous. There are too many teams and there is no opportunity to compare one to another in any meaningful way. They can't play a twenty game schedule followed by playoffs, which would be what is needed to have the matter decided by victories on the field.

The old regional bowl system had a lot more going for it, IMHO. I used to care who won the Rose Bowl, and this year, I don't even know who's in the Rose Bowl. Not only is the BCS stupid, it has destroyed whatever of beauty and value existed before it.


30 posted on 12/09/2004 8:23:17 AM PST by gridlock (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: RonF

We don't need a college football national champion. Leave it be.

Division I is the only one without a playoff system for the national championship. All of the other NCAA divisions in football have a playoff system. You could take the top 4 teams and then pair them off for a two game national championship. In essence, you would be adding only one additional game. One could play four and two would play three. The winners would play one another for the national championship the second week in January.

The NCAA could reduce the number of games played during the regular season if that is a major consideration. The real reason there is no Division I national playoff system is the money and power associated with the bowls.

31 posted on 12/09/2004 8:23:37 AM PST by kabar
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To: Rutles4Ever

Auburn had 4 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 73.6.

USC had 3 victories over teams that ended the season in the top 25 and the average rank of the other Division 1 teams they beat was 65.6.

Not that big a difference - makes it real hard for either team to declare they should have been included. That's why this system is just rediculous.


32 posted on 12/09/2004 8:24:02 AM PST by lnbchip
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To: crushelits

The team may have class, but not Tuberville. I recall him coaching them against Jackie Sherrill's MSU team a few years ago. Auburn was up big very late in the game. The outcome was not in doubt, and Tuberville orders a fake field goal that results in a "rub your face in it" touchdown. The cameras then pan to Tuberville, who has a big shi# eating grin on his face. Totally classless. That's why I'm glad Auburn got jobbed this year- I'll bet Tuberville ain't grinning now! LOL


33 posted on 12/09/2004 8:25:40 AM PST by gueroloco
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To: susiek
And I agree completely on the BCS point. Auburn got screwed based on history, location, and the preseason polls (done by the same people who do the later polls, and who wants to admit they were wrong all along?)

Auburn was rated #1 last year in the preseason polls but the MIGHTY TROJANS blew into Auburn and plucked the war eagle. So your crying about getting screwed because noone knows them is false. They were not that good last year while USC and OK were and thats why they were rated high in the standings. USC got screwed last year, its Auburns turn this year.

If we cant have a playoff bring back the old system!!! A split champion wasnt so bad under the old system but the BSC really screws things up.

34 posted on 12/09/2004 8:27:15 AM PST by winodog (We need to water the liberty tree)
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To: crushelits
Ain't none of this gonna matter when the Hokies whup up on Auburn in the Sugar Bowl...

(hey, a boy can dream, can't he?)

35 posted on 12/09/2004 8:28:23 AM PST by Corin Stormhands (CHRISTmas: One season. One reason.)
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To: gridlock
Great Post!!


36 posted on 12/09/2004 8:29:56 AM PST by lnbchip
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To: sean327
The BCS is a crock Div 1A needs a true playoff. The only fair way to do it is take the champ from every Div 1A conference and 4 at-large teams, and play it on the damn field! Untill then BCS stands for Big Crock of S@#t!!!!!

You are so right, anyone who has ever been associated with voting for teams has to know that bias reigns supreme in these voting decisions. So you take a bunch of biased sportswriters and coaches and reduce the game on the field to a diving contest. We wait for the correct solution to emerge. (Bowls and playoffs can be combined, as many freepers have posted.)

37 posted on 12/09/2004 8:35:35 AM PST by KC_for_Freedom (Sailing the highways of America, and loving it.)
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To: crushelits

WAR d**n Eagle baby!


38 posted on 12/09/2004 8:51:22 AM PST by Damifino (The true measure of a man is found in what he would do if he knew no one would ever find out.)
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To: crushelits

My Dad went to Auburn, class of '49. I went to the "other place", class of '82. We don't talk about football.


39 posted on 12/09/2004 8:58:09 AM PST by Crawdad (I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no class.)
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To: sean327

Auburn got stuck with the Citadel after Oklahoma paid Bowling Green to break its contract to play Auburn and play Oklahoma instead. So Oklahoma bribed its way into having a stronger out-of-conference schedule than Auburn. By the time Bowling Green and Oklahoma executed their behind-the-back deal, the only team available for Auburn to play was the Citadel. It was not Auburn's plan to play them, so quit bashing Auburn and saying they screwed themselves. Learn the facts.


40 posted on 12/09/2004 11:26:07 AM PST by susiek
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