buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
Dan Beebe, the commissioner of the Big 12, will look at whether the tie-breaking rules need changes in view of what has happened this year with a three way tie between Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. As it stands now, they had to go to the fifth rule that states that in a three way tie in either division, the BCS poll will determine who will play the winner of the other division for the conference championship. This year, Oklahoma got the nod over UT and TT because they were higher in the BCS poll than the other two. But that has caused a big rucus with many fans in the conference and outside with the national sporting news. Without exception, those who didn't like the outcome cite the fact that UT bet OU on a neutral field and thus should have been given the nod. Other say that the rule should be as it is in other conferences that say that if there is a three way tie, the nod will go to the two teams ranked higher and the winner in head to head competition gets the nod.
Okay, my thoughts on this are as follows. And I want to say right now that although I am an AVID Sooner fan, the respect I have for both UT and TT as football programs this year is totally awesome and it wouldn't bother me in any way if either of them were tagged over OU. Yeah, I'd be disappointed, but that wouldn't be new.
First off, if head to head competition on a neutral field is used in the rules, that one rule would pertain to only two teams, those in question, OU and UT. No other two teams play yearly on neutral fields. So using that as a rule would only count in one game. Second, when using the rules of other conferences in a three way tie, the outcome would still have to be based on an emotionally based ranking system and thus could be swayed just as the current system is, and almost everyone thinks that is flawed. One of the polls used is what is called the "coaches poll". With that name, one might think that a coach should be able to tell the better team, but I seriously doubt that todays coaches have any time to watch games of other teams play, especially teams they won't be playing. They have to base their votes on what they read from sports writers and the stats that are included. You won't get a good idea of basing your opinion on what others write anyway, so that poll is really flawed. The current tie-breaking system takes into consideration many things other than just head to head competition and it's all very complicated, but takes the emotion away from it all. And thirdly, the head to head competion rule would again be thwarted if the teams in question were different. If either OU or UT were any one of the other teams in the southern division, Baylor, Texas A&M, or Oklahoma State, we'd still be in the same boat.
The problem with college football today is there are too many teams that are available to play for the national title. Even if only the BCS conferences were used, it would still be too many and it would have to come down to the same thing, voting on who is the best team until the last game. But wait, even then, there are not one, but two national championship trophies that are given and there has been more than one champion crowned at the end of the year. The BCS and the AP both award trophies to who they decide are the champs and this year could be the next in a line of double champs.
In the end, this debate will live forever and the champ will always be crowned from a vote or two here and there. So changing a few rules now and then to suit big contributors to the universities will never satisfy the populous.
To end this tripe I've written, I just want to say again that the Longhorns and the Red Raiders are tremendous teams and if the Sooners hadn't been able to gain a trip to the title game and one of them did, I'd be pulling for them as well.
On a side note, the quarterbacks from those three teams seem to be the top three players in the Heisman Award race along with Tim Tebow, last years winner. I would hope that one of the Big 12 boys wins over Tebow as they are more like the NFL type of quarterback than is Tebow.
Okay, my thoughts on this are as follows. And I want to say right now that although I am an AVID Sooner fan, the respect I have for both UT and TT as football programs this year is totally awesome and it wouldn't bother me in any way if either of them were tagged over OU. Yeah, I'd be disappointed, but that wouldn't be new.
First off, if head to head competition on a neutral field is used in the rules, that one rule would pertain to only two teams, those in question, OU and UT. No other two teams play yearly on neutral fields. So using that as a rule would only count in one game. Second, when using the rules of other conferences in a three way tie, the outcome would still have to be based on an emotionally based ranking system and thus could be swayed just as the current system is, and almost everyone thinks that is flawed. One of the polls used is what is called the "coaches poll". With that name, one might think that a coach should be able to tell the better team, but I seriously doubt that todays coaches have any time to watch games of other teams play, especially teams they won't be playing. They have to base their votes on what they read from sports writers and the stats that are included. You won't get a good idea of basing your opinion on what others write anyway, so that poll is really flawed. The current tie-breaking system takes into consideration many things other than just head to head competition and it's all very complicated, but takes the emotion away from it all. And thirdly, the head to head competion rule would again be thwarted if the teams in question were different. If either OU or UT were any one of the other teams in the southern division, Baylor, Texas A&M, or Oklahoma State, we'd still be in the same boat.
The problem with college football today is there are too many teams that are available to play for the national title. Even if only the BCS conferences were used, it would still be too many and it would have to come down to the same thing, voting on who is the best team until the last game. But wait, even then, there are not one, but two national championship trophies that are given and there has been more than one champion crowned at the end of the year. The BCS and the AP both award trophies to who they decide are the champs and this year could be the next in a line of double champs.
In the end, this debate will live forever and the champ will always be crowned from a vote or two here and there. So changing a few rules now and then to suit big contributors to the universities will never satisfy the populous.
To end this tripe I've written, I just want to say again that the Longhorns and the Red Raiders are tremendous teams and if the Sooners hadn't been able to gain a trip to the title game and one of them did, I'd be pulling for them as well.
On a side note, the quarterbacks from those three teams seem to be the top three players in the Heisman Award race along with Tim Tebow, last years winner. I would hope that one of the Big 12 boys wins over Tebow as they are more like the NFL type of quarterback than is Tebow.
