Orange and Blue Hue » Coaches: With All Due Respect, Show Some Respect

Coaches: With All Due Respect, Show Some Respect

From political stumping for your own team a popular new trend has emerged: claiming your team is deserves to be post-season No. 1.

Pete Carroll, Mack Brown and Kyle Whittingham, all victors of BCS bowl games, say they intend to vote their respective teams to the top of the AP rankings. The goal, of course, is to perhaps claim a ’share’ of the national championship, ala Southern Cal and LSU in 2003.

This is unusual and disturbing for several reasons, but the one most overlooked so far is the level of disrespect it has shown to the two teams which did successfully navigate the BCS maze and found their way to Miami. It’s also hard to enter a discussion about ‘deserving national champions’ without becoming quagmired in playoff vs. BCS talk or to start debating the finer nuances of whether there really is such a thing as a ‘national championship.’

I will not be going in that direction, particularly the latter. This is college football, not a courtroom, and I posit that anyone who gets worked up over those issues isn’t drinking nearly enough beer during the games.

Let’s look at their claims.

Pete Carroll, Southern Cal Trojans

The Trojans finished 13-1 and had precisely zero marquee value for any of their regular season wins. Excepting Ohio State, the only other Top 25 teams on USC’s schedule were Oregon and Cal. And speaking of the Bucks, perhaps USC’s biggest mistake was pounding them so hard, winning 35-3. The Buckeyes simply don’t belong in college football’s upper echelon right now, but USC staked their season on beating them in the Coliseum.

These were the same bucks which fell to fellow Big 10 power Penn State — who were also blasted by Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl. The Big 10 and Pac 10 bowl tie-ins aren’t good for either conference right now.

And of course, it became irrelevant when USC lost to unranked Oregon State. Focusing on the loss is missing the point; Florida had a loss to what turned out to be a very good Ole Miss team which was also unranked at the time. But Southern Cal’s Pac-10 schedule simply did not afford an opportunity for the Trojans to climb back into the race.

USC looks good — very good. But you aren’t number one on the strength of beating a pair of Big 10 teams. And the Pac-10 title is a joke. Southern Cal gets a chance to go all the way every year, but if you expect to be granted that opportunity playing a joke of a schedule, the margin for error is zero. This is how it should be and the ’system’ worked correctly. Southern Cal: 2008 Pac-10 and Rose Bowl Champions. Nothing more.

Kyle Whittingham, Utah Utes

It’s currently very popular to consider the Utes the ‘people’s national champions’. Without a doubt, Utah proved they can play Big Boy football when they defeated Alabama with a convincing 31-17 whipping in the Sugar Bowl. Utah finishes undefeated with wins over three BCS schools, one of which was ranked No. 1 for much of the regular season.

We’re not in business to make excuses for our SEC brothers, who were clearly not the best team on the night the game was played.

But for Whittingham to declare his team No. 1 after the fact, before Florida and Oklahoma have even played, is disingenuous. With all proper respect given for Utah’s perfect season, in truth the Utes’ only ranked opponents during the regular season were TCU and Brigham Young. Michigan was horrible this year. And when your conference slate includes Weber State, New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State… sorry, but the college football institution can’t take that seriously. The Utes earned a Sugar Bowl berth, which was a great accomplishment for a Mountain West team. Meanwhile, for Alabama, it was a bitter ‘thanks for playing’ prize which they tried to embrace but couldn’t.

Bottom line, Utes: you won the Sugar Bowl… not the BCS title game. Neither team was selected to play for all the marbles. And you can’t be the best without beating the best. That’s why so much effort goes into pairing No. 1 with No. 2 in the BCS system, one which is obviously imperfect, but at least got that much right.

Mack Brown, Texas Longhorns

Of all the coaches stumping for a split title, Mack Brown’s case is so weak that it impinges upon his own credibility. In the Fiesta Bowl, Texas found themselves down 4 points to Ohio State with 2 minutes left on the clock. Former Heisman candidate Colt McCoy led the ‘Horns downfield and scored a TD against a Buckeye defense which, for some reason unknown to the rest of us, chose to blitz with 26 seconds left rather than defend the deep ball. A broken tackle and TD scamper later, Texas had once again broken the hearts of Buckeye nation.

Afterward, Mack Brown said his team was the best in the country and that he didn’t think anyone could beat them. His quarterback echoed the same comments.

Pardon me, fellas, but that performance was nothing to write home about. Ohio State had no passing game to speak of and lost their stud RB, Beanie Wells, in the second half. There’s no need to wonder what would have happened had the Bucks played USC — we already saw that result. And against Florida or Oklahoma, Ohio State would have been the recipient of another multi-touchdown annihilation.

The competition wasn’t great, and the ‘Horns barely eeked out the win. Texas had a great season and finishes 13-1. They also finished without any championship whatsoever to speak of.

The real problem we’re seeing here is that coaches are realizing that they have to start playing politics to give their team the best possible final ranking. Which is a shame.

And beyond that, where is the spirit of sportsmanship? Beside running up pinball scores against inferior competition (Sooners!) where is the acknowledgement that the BCS national champion will be decided tonight, January 8th? Where is the respect for the two teams which earned their way?

Texas, USC and Utah: nobody’s champions. And shame on you boys for saying otherwise with the big one yet to be played.

16 Comments so far
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Meyer respectfully disagrees, on some points:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls08/news/story?id=3816001

The opposite of Rick Reiley’s column, thanks GP for shutting these A-holes up. At the end of the night, only one team will have the crystal football.

But I bet somehow Bama will claim another mNC this year (they were #1 going into December that counts, Right?)

Good luck tonight! I know you all will make the SEC proud!

GP (and, ironically enough, urbanisagod) — you do realize that Meyer himself has come out and said Carroll, Whittingham, and Brown ought to be stumping for their teams, right? Do you really think that after his stump job in 2006–which I think was completely appropriate–that if Florida had been passed over this year by the BCS for one of the two title game slots, Meyer would be holding his tongue and playing the BCS company man? Please. He’d be stumping as loudly and proudly as he could and you’d be behind him every step of the way.

So if you want to argue that Texas, Utah, and USC don’t have claims on the national title, fine. But you can’t really blame their coaches for sticking up for their teams exactly the way you’d want your coach to stick up for yours if they were in the same situation.

(Also, just FYI: Weber St. is a I-AA team, not a MWC member.)

Uh … oops. Sorry.

GP, thank you for your analysis…I have just used your logic re: Utah on a reFSU fan with identity issues.

And John ^^^, its nice to see you spell your last name correctly…and your sentiment is likewise appreciated.

JCCW Jerry, you are missing an important point. In 2006 Meyer responded to a question asking whether Florida deserved a SHOT at the national championship via a berth in the game.

This year, coaches are stumping for their teams after they’re done playing, but #1 and #2 have yet to play.

Big difference, and one that I believe makes the thrust of your argument inapplicable and irrelevant.

Great post GP. My take on all the coaches hootin and hollerin about being #1 and getting screwed was only to strengthen their recruiting. Right after the bowls these guys are gonna hit the ground running and what better way to draw in that prospect than to say, “Hey son the Longhorns/Utes/Trojans got screwed, shoulda been #1 but with your help will get there next year.” I tip my hats to the Utes they stomped a lazy Bama team and went undefeated and not to be too critical but if the Trojans were SO good and their defense was playing at an NFL caliber then why didn’t they get to Miami?? As for UT start small, how about a share of Big 12 championship that’s all I’d give ya. I really feel the only one that would have any ground to bitch and moan would be JoePa. If they beat USC and had only one loss to Iowa then he can sit at the podium dazed and confused mumbling about the B-S-C all day. Aside from that gonna blow off work early (Hawaii time) and watch one hell of a game!!!!! I hope it’s a bloodbath!!!!

GO GATORS!!!!!

USC and Texas finished 12-1. No title games to give them a 14th game there.

While I think Florida is probably the best team in the nation as we speak, I think more coaches need to start taking a stance against the BCS. It’s not a fair system in any way, shape or form. Now is a good time to make that stand while the public is paying such close attention.

I agree with Dan’s mind set here, and will support any and all efforts to turn our national championship into a playoff system.

Until that happens, we all have to go with the system in place, good, bad, or indifferent!

I can see coaches feeling strongly about their team, but this is out of hand. UT had an argument if they would have thumped OSU. They missed their chance on that one. Utah and USC are all to do with strength of schedule. Not to mention that the Bama team Utah faced was a shadow of the team we faced.

GO GATORS!!!

Like I said, Florida is the best team in the nation, in my opinion. But in a playoff, I could very easily see Ole Miss and Georgia beating a team like Oklahoma. Florida can say we beat the best teams week in and week out in conference play and deserve a title shot. Big 10 teams can’t say that, nor acc nor big east schools, yet they are given auto bids to the BCS. Plus, that could change for the SEC a few years down the road, you never know. I don’t think LSU was the best team in the nation last year, this year, it seems to be right, but the system is not fair. So I say complain all day until it changes. BTW, Utah beat three top 20 teams as well as Michigan at Michigan, never an easy place to win. The debate will rage on.

Utah’s win by 2 points over Michigan meant squat this year. UM was twice the team last year and got beaten in the big house by App State. This year they got beat by Toledo. If you actually watched that game, Utah struggled. They didn’t look at all like a team that would go undefeated.

The Alabama win is really the only impressive one on their schedule, and that was Bama minus one Andre Smith. If Smith is in that game, Saban sticks to the game plan, runs the football, and the Tide come out with the W (instead of JPW throwing a pick that got Utah up by 14 early).

The schedule for Utah is not at all impressive. They played I-AA Weber State, 2-10 San Diego State, beat a TCU team by 3 that was clearly unable to stay on the field with OU (and their only win against a ranked team was against Boise State by 1 point), only beat NM by 3, and beat a “ranked” BYU team that lost to the only 3 decent teams they played (they were way overrated).

That’s what we call a great season against mediocre competition. Did they navigate it unblemished? Sure. Would the Gators have beaten every team they played? You bet. We’re comparing apples to oranges.

That’s why the lesser conferences don’t get a seat at the table. If the MWC can continue beating teams from other BCS conferences like they did the PAC-10 this year, then we’ll talk. But TCU getting waxed by OU didn’t exactly help their case.

So they beat Alabama, but that doesn’t really count, and they won two close calls so that doesn’t count either. And Florida’s loss doesn’t really count either. Hmm. We could argue this for days. Enjoy your championship.

I still believe firmly that the MWC is every bit as deserving of a BCS tie-in as the *snort* “Big” East or the ACC. But I believe even more strongly is that a playoff system will be the best way to settle it on the field. That will be the only way we can prove who can really hang with the big boys - the SEC.

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