Disappointed
So, it's the day after ... and it still sucks. Big time.
Let me start off by saying that I'm not disappointed in going to the Sugar Bowl. If you had told me prior to this season - or, heck, in the aftermath of the 35-14 loss to Tennessee - that Georgia would be playing in a BCS bowl, I would have thought you were a crazy person. The Sugar Bowl is awesome, it's in New Orleans which is a cool city and it's one of the four biggest bowl games out there.
But I am disappointed. I'm disappointed in how we got there. I'm disappointed that we got hosed out of the Rose Bowl. I'm disappointed that preserving 'tradition' and appeasing the Big Ten proved to more important than matching up the best teams in the best venues. I'm disappointed that a 10-2 season punctuated by wins over Alabama, Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech results in the Bulldogs playing Hawaii in what is ultimately a lose-lose scenario. I'm disappointed that even though the BCS rules clearly do not state that you have to win your conference title to be eligible for the national title game, the folks at ESPN and other national media outlets damn near ordered the voters to not consider the Bulldogs for inclusion in the game (despite the fact that a pair of non-conference champion teams have already played for the top prize and that the same pundits on ESPN lobbied for Michigan to play Ohio State just last year, despite the former not winning its conference title).
Listen, I honestly didn't hold any fanciful notions that we'd leap into the national title game. I do seriously believe that Georgia had just as good of a resume as LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State and the rest of the lot to play for the title, but I wasn't holding my breath. Those other teams, particularly Oklahoma, had legitimate claims to play in the championship game, which is part of the problem I suppose.
This thing is a mess, and it's always been a mess and I have been guilty in completely ignoring it. I've been against a playoff system for a while now, but no more. Did I change my mind because it hosed my Georgia team this year? Well, perhaps partially (though the 2002, 2004 and 2005 Georgia teams would have had legitimate chances to win it all in a playoff system, but I firmly held to the BCS). But, more to the point, I changed my mind because randomly selecting two teams based on a weird, hard-to-understand formula and open, bald-faced lobbying by coaches is ridiculous.
I don't want what Division I-AA has. I just want an eight-team playoff that takes the top eight BCS teams, regardless of conference and championship, and puts them on the field to settle this thing once and for all.
I know the logical counterargument is that the regular season is the playoff, and that we don't want to do anything to cheapen that. I know this because I used to employ this same argument.
However, answer me two things then ...
- If the regular season means so much, and if one-loss can 'ruin' your season, how does LSU fall twice in its final month, including at home on the last week of the regular season, and still be afforded a third shot at the national title?
- Long before Georgia was being considered for the national title game or, shoot, even a BCS bowl, we played Florida and Auburn. As a Bulldog fan, how were those games for you? How about the Auburn game in 2006 when the team was in the midst of one of its worst skids in recent history?
Listen, the regular season will always matter because this is college football, not the NHL. There are regional rivals and bragging rights and conference championships and recruiting wars and 'Celebration Games' and trash-talking and 'Blackouts' to be considered here. To suggest selecting the top eight teams in the country at the end of the season, the majority of whom would presumably be the top teams in the six BCS conferences, would somehow diminish the pageantry of the game is to know nothing about the game itself.
Will this happen? Probably not. Money talks and old habit die hard, so we're stuck with Southern Cal playing Illinois and Virginia Tech playing Kansas and Georgia playing Hawaii ... and Ohio State playing LSU for it all, despite the fact that no one outside of Louisiana or Ohio think they're the best teams in the country.
UPDATE: Just an aside, here's footage of Kirk Herbstreit saying the exact opposite thing last year (h/t Dawgs Online).
Let me start off by saying that I'm not disappointed in going to the Sugar Bowl. If you had told me prior to this season - or, heck, in the aftermath of the 35-14 loss to Tennessee - that Georgia would be playing in a BCS bowl, I would have thought you were a crazy person. The Sugar Bowl is awesome, it's in New Orleans which is a cool city and it's one of the four biggest bowl games out there.
But I am disappointed. I'm disappointed in how we got there. I'm disappointed that we got hosed out of the Rose Bowl. I'm disappointed that preserving 'tradition' and appeasing the Big Ten proved to more important than matching up the best teams in the best venues. I'm disappointed that a 10-2 season punctuated by wins over Alabama, Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech results in the Bulldogs playing Hawaii in what is ultimately a lose-lose scenario. I'm disappointed that even though the BCS rules clearly do not state that you have to win your conference title to be eligible for the national title game, the folks at ESPN and other national media outlets damn near ordered the voters to not consider the Bulldogs for inclusion in the game (despite the fact that a pair of non-conference champion teams have already played for the top prize and that the same pundits on ESPN lobbied for Michigan to play Ohio State just last year, despite the former not winning its conference title).
Listen, I honestly didn't hold any fanciful notions that we'd leap into the national title game. I do seriously believe that Georgia had just as good of a resume as LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State and the rest of the lot to play for the title, but I wasn't holding my breath. Those other teams, particularly Oklahoma, had legitimate claims to play in the championship game, which is part of the problem I suppose.
This thing is a mess, and it's always been a mess and I have been guilty in completely ignoring it. I've been against a playoff system for a while now, but no more. Did I change my mind because it hosed my Georgia team this year? Well, perhaps partially (though the 2002, 2004 and 2005 Georgia teams would have had legitimate chances to win it all in a playoff system, but I firmly held to the BCS). But, more to the point, I changed my mind because randomly selecting two teams based on a weird, hard-to-understand formula and open, bald-faced lobbying by coaches is ridiculous.
I don't want what Division I-AA has. I just want an eight-team playoff that takes the top eight BCS teams, regardless of conference and championship, and puts them on the field to settle this thing once and for all.
I know the logical counterargument is that the regular season is the playoff, and that we don't want to do anything to cheapen that. I know this because I used to employ this same argument.
However, answer me two things then ...
- If the regular season means so much, and if one-loss can 'ruin' your season, how does LSU fall twice in its final month, including at home on the last week of the regular season, and still be afforded a third shot at the national title?
- Long before Georgia was being considered for the national title game or, shoot, even a BCS bowl, we played Florida and Auburn. As a Bulldog fan, how were those games for you? How about the Auburn game in 2006 when the team was in the midst of one of its worst skids in recent history?
Listen, the regular season will always matter because this is college football, not the NHL. There are regional rivals and bragging rights and conference championships and recruiting wars and 'Celebration Games' and trash-talking and 'Blackouts' to be considered here. To suggest selecting the top eight teams in the country at the end of the season, the majority of whom would presumably be the top teams in the six BCS conferences, would somehow diminish the pageantry of the game is to know nothing about the game itself.
Will this happen? Probably not. Money talks and old habit die hard, so we're stuck with Southern Cal playing Illinois and Virginia Tech playing Kansas and Georgia playing Hawaii ... and Ohio State playing LSU for it all, despite the fact that no one outside of Louisiana or Ohio think they're the best teams in the country.
UPDATE: Just an aside, here's footage of Kirk Herbstreit saying the exact opposite thing last year (h/t Dawgs Online).
posted by Jmac at 9:28 AM
6 Comments:
brilliant work my friend - couldn't agree with you more. having the national title game decided by vindictive little coaches (see: Tuberville ranking us 5th! Behind Hawaii!) and TV reporters is not sport - it's a beauty pageant...and its ridiculous.
I am a fan of a non-bcs program (not Hawaii) and while I agree that the system sucks I am tired of BCS fans and media that only complain about it when it DOESN'T benefit their team. And for all the complaining Georgia fans and media are producing I have news for you...you are going to lose to HAWAII in the Sugar Bowl. I wonder what your excuse will be when it happens?
Nothing like bold words from an anonymous pundit. We'll see Mr. Mysterious, we'll see.
I usually don't take the bait, but after last night I'm more than a little irritated. Sure the whole title game thing was a long-shot, but I'm more upset about the quality of the match-ups in general. They are just boring games. Honestly, in general, who gives a crap about USC vs. Illinois? USC routinely rapes Big 10 teams, and this will be no different.
The public outcry over these matchups is not limited to the selfish interest of the teams in question. It's time for a change.
David
Ah, yes b/c gimmicky WAC offesnes have a sterling record of facing down the Dawgs as a trendy favorite and coming away victorious...
JMac, I agree that an 8 team playoff would be acceptable and would not really hinder the excitement of the regular season at all.
But, taking my concern from the historical precedent of the income tax or most other government bureaucracies, how can you guarantee that it will not start there and then balloon into a giant monstrosity like the basketball 'big dance' at a later time?
After a few years of the #9 team complaining they were left out and after a lower seeded team wins the whole thing (thus making it seem like lots of other clearly-not-top-tier teams should get a shot) and after non-BCS fans like anonymous complaining about how UNFAIR the whole system is when teams that clearly aren't as good aren't allowed a chance to beat the big boys..we'll end up giving in and going to 16 and THAT would be plum stupid. Money! Brackets! Excitement!
I've got an idea: let's just beat the snot out of Hawaii in New Orleans (down the street from where I live, cough, cough) end the season ranked number 2 in the nation behind LSU, enter next season in the top 5, and continue playing at our current "Knowshon right, Knowshon left, Stafford play action for 60 yards" level and leave no doubt the Bulldogs deserve the MNC.
Guys, gals, C'MON! This is our 3rd SUGAR BOWL in 5 years. Does anyone need to think back to the 5 years before that? That our most recent 'disaster/rebuilding year' was a 9 win season? That we've won the SEC twice, the East three times outright and shared it once (even with an asterisk)? That we almost lost to Vandy but CRUSHED Florida and Auburn (at home)? When was the last time we went on a tear like this?
We know the BCS sucks, we've literally been complaining about it, academically, for years. We know most sportswriters can't stand Georgia for whatever reason. These are not new things.
The SUGAR BOWL in 2007 is. "Next Year" begins January 1st, 2008 in the Louisiana Superdome.
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