Quote:
Originally posted by Hell Puppy@Dec 7 2003, 03:55 PM
There's just something fundamentally wrong with a system where a team that is not even the champion of it's own conference plays for the national championship....
Championships should be settled by head to head games not some convoluted computer ranking system.
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well
can i shut up all the whiners?
With all due respect to #3 USC, the teams most deserving of invitations to the Sugar Bowl are #1 Oklahoma and #2 LSU
All 3 teams have 1 loss, and USC simply has not beaten anywhere near the caliber of teams that Oklahoma and LSU have beaten:
Based on teams' current rankings, Oklahoma and LSU have each played 2 games vs. better teams than USC's toughest opponent, and they have each played 5 games vs. better teams than USC's 2nd-toughest opponent
USC has not played a current top-15 team, and the Trojans are only 2-1 vs. the current top-40, despite playing #38 and #40
The best team USC has beaten is #18 Washington St., while Oklahoma has beaten #5 Texas, and LSU has beaten #12 Georgia twice
The 2nd-best team USC has played is #38 Cal, which beat the Trojans
Oklahoma and LSU have each lost only to a current top-25 team (#16 Kansas St. and #24 Florida, respectively), and they have combined for 9 wins over teams currently ranked higher than Cal
As the following list shows, USC has posted only 2 of the 10 best wins by these 3 teams (based on teams' current rankings): 1. Oklahoma over #5 Texas, 2. (tie) LSU over #12 Georgia (regular season), 2. (tie) LSU over #12 Georgia (SEC championship game), 4. USC over #18 Washington St., 5. Oklahoma over #19 Oklahoma St., 6. LSU over #20 Arkansas, 7. LSU over #23 Mississippi, 8. Oklahoma over #31 Texas Tech, 9. Oklahoma over #32 Missouri, 10. (tie) USC over #40 Auburn, 10. (tie) LSU over #40 Auburn
In sum, the Trojans' top wins are over much worse teams than the Sooners and Tigers have beaten, and the Trojans' loss is to a much worse team too: Oklahoma and LSU deserve to play in the Sugar Bowl