I actually expected the voting to slam them a couple of weeks ago. This is the 2nd time UM will get ripped off by cheap lobbying. Coaches should be fined and suspended for lobbying the polls.
I'm thankful I don't have to watch a game for the National Championship that I already know how the outcome will turn out. Poor Michigan, The excuse that I'm so sorry they lost that I'm going to give them another chance isn't going to pan out for them. Tough, they had their chance. 1. Florida beat nine teams that are projected to play in bowl games. Michigan beat six. 2. Michigan beat five teams that finished the season with losing records. Florida beat two teams with sub-.500 records. 3. Florida's 12 Division I-A opponents had a combined record of 89-57. Michigan's 12 opponents had a combined record of 84-61. 4. Michigan's best win is considered a 27-13 victory over Wisconsin on Sept. 23. The Badgers are 11-1 and have climbed to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll, despite having played only one ranked opponent -- the Wolverines -- the entire season. 5. The 12 teams Florida defeated finished the season with 11 combined wins against opponents which were ranked in the AP Top 25 poll at the time the game was played. The opponents Michigan defeated claim just three wins against ranked teams (Notre Dame beat Penn State. Indiana beat Iowa. Vanderbilt beat Georgia. The Nittany Lions, Hawkeyes and Bulldogs, it should be noted, haven't been ranked in seven weeks). 6. The Gators went 3-1 against ranked opponents, beating then-No. 13 Tennessee, No. 9 LSU and No. 8 Arkansas and losing at No. 11 Auburn. The Wolverines went 1-1 against ranked opponents, beating a highly overrated No. 2 Notre Dame team (that lost to Michigan and USC by a combined total of 46 points) and losing at No. 1 Ohio State 42-39 on Nov. 18. 7. The Gators' average margin of victory against Division I-A teams was 13.5 points. They won seven games by 14 points or fewer, six by less than 10. The Wolverines' average margin of victory was 17.3 points. They won six games by 14 points or fewer, two by less than 10. 8. The Gators played Western Carolina, a Division I-AA team, and won by 62 points. The Wolverines played Ball State, which should be a I-AA team, and won by eight. 9. Since the Wolverines last played and lost at Ohio State, the Gators won at Florida State (The Seminoles are 6-6, but rivalry games are tough to win. Just ask USC coach Pete Carroll) and then beat the No. 8 Razorbacks, who defeated then-No. 2 Auburn and No. 13 Tennessee by 17 points each. 10. Michigan didn't win the Big Ten; Florida won the SEC. Winning your conference should be a prerequisite for playing in the national championship.
What a load of crap AJ. Apparently you have not been watching ESPN in recent weeks while Kirk Herbstreit and Mark May have ragged the Gators over and over again. Last night they backed off that and May even backed the Gators but Herstreit did not, has not and has shameless lobbied for Michigan since that loss. It couldn't have anything to do with him being Big 10 or more importantly ABC, which owns ESPN, having the right to Big 10 games. Read Tailbacks post above, then tell me if you will why when you have two strong conferences with their conference champs being highly ranked and both having won their conference championships on the field that the 2nd place team in the Big 10 is better than the SEC Champion who not only had to win the Championship on the field but they had to go through their respective division first. I'll tell you what is biased, and that is the opinion you just stated. Michigan may still get in against OSU, but a playoff between the SEC Champion and the Big Ten Champion makes a lot more sense. Thanks Tailback.
Beating 6-6,7-5 teams proves nothing. That's wrong FL beat 3 sub .500 teams and several 6-6/ 7-5 teams That makes you look bad when you pick and choose. The correct Fl opponent record is 91-66 which is worse than UM's.. And who did Florida beat that was so great? I don't see any team better than Notre Dame, UM's 2nd best win. LSU ? Auburn ? please !! Yeah Tough game with Kentucky , the same one that got blown out by Louisville. Ball state was 5-7 and plays Div1A , Western Carolina went 2-9 playing AA . Who are you kidding? I see, FSU the same team that lost 30-0 to Wake Forrest is all of a sudden a dangerous opponent for Florida, so that's why FL could only eek out a small victory. FSU could not shut down Wake's high powered offense , one that lost it's starting QB and RB for the year, yet was able to hold down the high powered Florida offense. Yeah rivalry games are tough to win. That's why Louisville crushed Kentucky while Fla struggled with them.. That shouldn't matter. It doesn't in the NFL, MLB, College basketball and any other sport you can think of. There is no rule that says that the best 2 teams can not come from the same conference.
Please AJ, your bias is showing, badly. LSU is ranked #5 in the country, you may not think they are better than Notre Dame but the voters do. OK, yo're for Michigan, fair enough, but it's also obvious you don't like the SEC and that's the way it goes. It's your opinion which you are entitled to, but Florida comes out very well in the comparison with Michigan and in the final analysis are the SEC Champions. Michigan on the other hand are the Big 10 runner ups. Michigan had their chance, maybe Florida will get theirs who know.
It's not a load of crap. Coaches have no business talking about other teams, nor do they lobbying for the polls. You may not like it , but that's my opinion. What announcers say and do is a different matter and there are plenty of ex SEC players/ announcers who do the same. Mark May is not a Big 10 guy. He usually slams the Big 10 and Notre Dame. I think it just angers you, because I single out Meyer for speaking up. If Meyer has a problem with the polls and the BCS system, he should take it up with his AD and the SEC commisioner who voted for it in the 1st place. Most coaches do not speak up about the polls and do not lobby. Meyer has taken unfair advantage of an unwritten rule,and that is my beef. If he wants to speak out so badly about the BCS, then perhaps he should become an ESPN announcer or a writer. To tell you the truth, I'd probably would want to see another team play OSU, but Michigan was rated higher and should not be penalized because the rest of the country doesn't want a rematch.
Florida's 23-10 win over now #4 LSU was pretty solid and certainly compares to any win that Michigan has. UF's lone loss was on the road and Aub scored no offensive TDs and picked up 6 garbage points on the last play of the game off one of those crazy lateral it around the field deals. The score was more like 21-17 and that was marred by some screwy officiating. Nice job TB. Maybe one day I will make a case for the Bulldogs in a similar situation....(as long as the lone loss is to Florida of course)
If Mich doesn't make the BCS championship game I don't think they will have been screwed over. They had a great season, they had a shot at Ohio State, they lost. They had their shot, they lost. Gators are Conference Champs, Michigan is not. Everybody was upset when Neb and OU made the game after losing their last game and not being conference champions. Why suddenly is UM different.
LOL. Who am I biased for now? OK I confess, yes I used to root for ND basketball and yes I was caught watching their womens soccer team play on TV. Maybe Krebs and PJ rub off on me ( Jersey guys), Jiffy too and I like the ND guys here, so it's possible I am being a little biased for ND when I say they are better than anyone Florida beat. Don't forget they B slapped PSU so I have another reason to be biased. Now that's a little tough. I hate Michigan only because they beat the crap out of my team every year. It's total frustration, but I like Bobda , he's a great guy, so I can't totally hate them. Now the SEC, I always liked Bama, that hasn't changed, UT is OK , GA is OK . I don't know , when I really think about it, there's no one I don't like. I just don't like big mouths and I don't like lobbying. I didn't like when the SEC blasted Louisville's win over WVU, so obviously don't like it when the whine about the polls. Think back to the Prodigy days. I didn't like Spurrier when he mouthed off. It's not a matter of chance, the system calls for the 2nd best team. I don't see how Florida got better while UM got worse in the past 2 weeks.
AJ, the bias I am speaking of isn't that you love Michigan. But I would say that other posts you've made here recently on other topics lead me to believe you have a bias against Florida. Now don't get me wrong, I'm talking of bias in a statistical sense or attitude sense, a thing we all have in our lives in some area. But you will have a hard time conviencing me that you don't start your conversations about Florida with at least a small bias. As to your question how Florida got better and Michigan got worse, the better question might be why Michigan has been rated ahead of the Gators since they lost to OSU. Maybe the voters just finally saw the truth. :twisted: :twisted:
Hey AJ, I just put up another topic with an article from the LA Times saying that a source within the BCS says it's the Gators. If true, I guess we will get a chance to see if your dismissal of LSU as as good or better than Notre Dame is true or not as they are projected to play in the Sugar Bowl. Stay tuned! :twisted: :twisted:
The most I have done is stirred the pot a little when MO was on the center stage, only because he is very passionate and provides some excitement on this board. A one liner here or there, like ranking FL's opponents offensive and defense standings. That doesn't mean I don't like them or am biased. I don't think I ever inititated a topic on FLA. Michigan is a great team, they deserved their ranking. Florida was always on the edge of losing. They never looked infallable and still don't.
Michigan is a great team, they des...They never looked infallable and still don't. AJ, I might remind you that when OSU played Miami the same was said about the Buckeyes who won the NC, when Alabama played Miami in 91 the same was said about Bama and they won. The Gators may not look infallable, and indeed they haven't, but they won the SEC which is a tough conference, we did what we needed to do to win. If we weren't pretty, that's ok with me. I might also say that Michigan didn't look infallable either as they have also lost a game.
Michigan had more than it's share of close games....they had a run there starting at Penn State and ending with Ball State that they did enough to win, but they were hardly impressive. I do not think it's clear that UM is the 2nd best team. ESPN and ABC kept saying it enough and loudly, but that doesn't make it true. There is no doubt that the B10 is not the top conference this year, the SEC is the top conference. It'd be a crying shame if the runner up in the B10 played for the Nat'l Title over a SEC conference champion. I could see it if Ark had won because they were 2 loss team. Plus I can't emphasize enough that UM had their shot at Ohio State and lost. No reason to give them a do over. Plus I must point out that the BCS is to match the two best teams, based on opinion polls and computer polls, opinion polls have always been subject to conjecture that there is bias, it's not new this year. And the computer polls have always been lov'em or hate'em depending on who's ox is being gored. One thing for sure about computer polls they are just a math equation, they don't know anything but who played and what was the score, they don't know if Mack Brown begged the voters to send his Longhorns to the Rose Bowl or if Urban Meyer thinks the Gators are the most deserving.
Michigan dominated the PSU game and was never in danger of losing. Same with Ball State. In fact Michigan defeated Vanderbuilt more handidly than Florida did. You don't have to be the top conference to have the best team or the best 2 teams. The mere fact that UM played OSU should not disqualify it from playing in the NC game. This is not a rule. It's also a poor reason. Should we disqualify NFL teams from playing in the SP because they may have met during the season? Should college basketball teams be prohibited from playing in the finals just because they are in the same conference and played each other, maybe even lost 3 times? It's rigged or else we wouldn't see such a huge discrepancy from year to year and week to week. Why all of a sudden UM can't play OSU when in the past conference losers could? There's so much cheating and lobbying going on in college football, how do you know that it doesn't take place in the computer polls? Who do they answer to? Who checks their compilations? And why are some vastly different from others? As far as Mack, Urban or any other coach lobbying the polls, they should be fined and suspended just like they are fined when they speak out against officials. It should be no different. The game needs more integrity not less as the stakes go up. We need a playoff.
Ok, so now the computer polls are rigged? Give me a break. AJ, for the gators to get in they had to gain in the voting polls and the computer polls. All indications are that we did that and will be in the game. Some how it strikes me that if you gain votes in two different voting polls and also gain in the computer polls, and the word is we are tied in the computer polls, that it sure has to be someting different than cheating. I'm a bit suprised and your approach.
AJNJ....I agree with your last sentence. As far as the rest, look out your window...there are black heliocopters out there from the NCAA!!