It’s the halfway point of the 2012 college football season, and the 124 Football Bowl Subdivision teams have separated themselves into two groups: the contenders and the pretenders.
The first Bowl Championship Series rankings of the year were released over the weekend. Once again, the rankings prove the college football playoffs could not come soon enough when they start in the 2014 postseason.
Of course, no surprise, the SEC once again holds the top 2 spots in the rankings, Alabama and Florida. If the season ended today, the Crimson Tide and Gators would meet in Miami for the national championship this January.
Honestly, I do not want to see another national title game between two schools from the SEC, like last season.
However, there is still a long way to go in the season. All of the top programs still have tough conference games coming up before the end of the regular season.
As of right now, I do not believe that Alabama and Florida are the best teams in the nation. Instead, the BCS standings have turned into a popularity contest and the SEC has benefited with the last six crystal football trophies given to the top team in the nation.
It seems the SEC has used the street cred built up from previous seasons and convinced everyone it is the best conference in America. Most SEC fans think they have a birth right into the BCS National Championship game now.
It’s really not fair, and the polls should be looking at 2012, instead of reliving the past success of the conference. This is the main reason I wish the playoffs started now, instead of in the 2014 postseason.
There is no other sport that the NCAA governs from three different divisions, which allows only a select group of teams from a select group of conferences to play for the national title.
Instead, every conference champion gets the opportunity to compete for a title. Of course, the NCAA does not control the BCS, and its national title game. The BCS does, but I hope that changes in the in the next few years too.
Back to this season, I admit Alabama is far and away the best team in the nation right now. However, the Crimson Tide has a tough games on the remaining schedule before it can reserve its spot in the title game for the second year in a row.
The question is who is No. 2?
I do not think it is the Gators at this point. Instead, it is a race between three teams: Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame, and guess what none of them are in the SEC.
Calm down, SEC Nation, there is actually great football played outside the Southeast.
All three of the teams mentioned above have already defeated quality opponents this season. There are still more on the horizon, including this weekend. First off, the No. 3 Oregon Ducks go on the road tonight for a national televised game against Pac-12 rival No. 24 ranked Arizona State.
A couple of nights later, the No. 4 ranked Wildcats also hit the road versus new Big 12 rival, West Virginia.
As for the No. 5 ranked Irish, they welcome BYU to Notre Dame Stadium for an afternoon matchup.
All three teams need to win these games, or their national championship dreams are probably over.
Because, there are several teams behind them with one loss – LSU, Oklahoma, USC – who will roll past them in the standings.
As for the Gators, their dreams might definitely crash as they host No. 7-ranked South Carolina this weekend.
All of these games are huge, but would it even be better if four of the five undefeated could meet using next year’s four-team playoff this season.
It’s not great, but it’s a start.
I wish the tournament included 16 teams, including the 11 conference champions.
As for 2012, I will take any matchup, except one involving two SEC schools for the title. If that happens, again, I might not ever watch college football anymore. |
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