re: Which year was the biggest BCS mess?

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AU 2004:

1. #5 LSU: 9-2 regular season, only losses to AU and 10-1 UGA in Athens

2. #9 UT: 10-3, 2/3 losses were to AU

3. #8 UGA: 10-2, 9-1 going into AU game

4. #15 UT: SECCG, again only 1 team could beat UT the entire year not named AU

5. #9 VA Tech: 10-3 Probably should have beaten SC.

USC 2004

1. #7 Cal. Only good win over ranked opponent all year.

2. #15 Arizona State. Lost to 3-8 Arizona as well. May have finished season unranked.

3. OU - Piss poor overrated team that barely sqeaked by multiple unranked teams including Kansas State, A&M, and OSU

You sure USC played a tougher schedule?

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Those are the rankinga at the time they played, not the final rankings. Those rankings are meaningless. Look at Auburn's non-conference schedule that year and compare it to Oklahoma's and USC's. Look at the conference power ratings that year and compare the SEC, the PAC 10 and the Big 12. Why do you thing USC and Oklahoma were stronger than Auburn in the computers?

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I'm talking about the last week of the year, when the voters have already decided where they think teams belong.

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but they haven't. the voters move teams up and down based more on inertia (who won and who lost most recently) than they do based on how good they think the different teams really are from week to week

when it becomes apparent the rankings really matter the voters become much more careful about their rankings

they dropped LSU for losing while teams behind them won games... but after more teams lost again they took a step back and re-evaluated things because it seemed ridiculous to them to rank LSU behind Va Tech with their similar qualifications (minus the head to head drubbing LSU gave Va Tech)

The voters are not really rational and sometimes when it becomes clear their votes are more important than they had been they do an about face

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I don't know about that. I think Georgia would have likely done the same thing to Ohio State.

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No one seriously argued that UGA deserved a NC... none of the other teams out there with great seasons ended up looking more deserving than LSU in 2007 (after the BCS NCG)

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And don't forget about 2000 when Florida State got in over Miami and then lost to Oklahoma.

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I didn't forget, that was one of the years where the #2 team could be debated but the #1 seemed to be pretty clear before and after the bowl games

I think the answer is still 2003 with 2004 being the second best answer

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No one seriously argued that UGA deserved a NC... none of the other teams out there with great seasons ended up looking more deserving than LSU in 2007 (after the BCS NCG)

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There were folks who argued that but that's besides the point. When you said that the bowl results vindicated the selection of LSU in the championship game it implies that no one else could have gotten that result. I'm arguing that with the way Georgia was playing at the end of season, they could have handled Ohio State as easily as LSU did.

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I think the answer is still 2003 with 2004 being the second best answer

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I would also add 2010. I believe with their defense, which ranked #1 in the nation, TCU could have given both Auburn and Oregon a run for their money, and some of the Las Vegas wise guys thought TCU would have been favored in those matchups. That defense was far superior to both Oregon and Auburn's defense. Usually the team that loses the championship game finshes #2, but in 2003, 2004 and 2010, the team that went into bowl season ranked #3 finshed #2 ahead of the loser of the championship game.

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When you said that the bowl results vindicated the selection of LSU in the championship game

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that is not what I said. what i said was the debate seemed settled after the bowl game and it was. justifiably or not there was really no widespread debate about who the national champion was (LSU won the title game and both opinion polls of note)

that stands in contrast to 2003 where there was a lot of debate after the BCS NCG and to a lesser extent in 2004 (where auburn was forgotten after USC destroyed OU)

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I think the answer is still 2003 with 2004 being the second best answer


I would also add 2010. I believe with their defense, which ranked #1 in the nation, TCU could have given both Auburn and Oregon a run for their money

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2010 is a good answer for people who pay attention but TCU just didn't have enough of a following to generate the debate you saw in 2003 (so yes, they would have had a chance against Auburn but Auburn was the consensus champ no question)

07 for sure where lsu and ohio state had about 5 teams ranked in front of them and made it in the last week