College Football is coming to a close, and in the last week of regular season play (rivalry week) we witnessed what we thought to be an dynasty in the University of Alabama, fall to an Auburn team in one of the greatest college football games ever, due to a returned missed field goal by an Auburn player, Chris Davis at the end of the game for the win. Alabama went into the game as the no.1 team in the country and Auburn went in ranking as a strong no.4. Elsewhere in the college football world, The Ohio State Buckeyes played in their rivalry game (which may be the greatest rivalry in sports history), traveling up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on a Wolverines team that has not looked very impressive over the past month or so. The Buckeyes went in ranked as the no.3 team in the country, and the Bucks seemed to be dominating in the second half as they had a two possession lead on the Wolverines, but due to turnovers in the 4th quarter and a defense that didn't look very impressive, the Wolverines came back. The score was 41-42 with less than a minute to play, and the field goal ties the game for overtime right? No, Michigan coach, Brady Hoke made the decision to go for the two point conversion and possibly take the lead, maybe even the win. However, quarterback, Devin Gardner throws the ball short and it ends up being an interception, Ohio State wins.
I know the first thing a lot of people believed, was that it makes perfect sense for this Undefeated Buckeyes team to move from no.3 to 2 after Bama's loss to Auburn. That's exactly what happened, the Bucks moved up to the second spot in the BCS rankings. However, I am one of the people that believe this is a mistake, the Auburn tigers should have jumped the Ohio State Buckeyes in the rankings, they were already ranked no.4 in the country and just beat an Alabama team that was projected to three-peat on the national championship. The Buckeyes in my opinion are a strong no.3 team, they are very good and have one of the best athletes in the country in quarterback, Braxton Miller, that doesn't change the fact that at times the defense struggled this season against division opponents and they played poorly for most of the Buffalo game at the beginning of the season. I know not losing a game in two seasons is impressive for any team to do, but the schedules they've played in those two seasons consist of out of conference games that are very weak. (i.e. Akron, Toledo, Cal.). Head coach, Urban Meyer, who is a former SEC coach seems to have adopted the Big Ten style of football, instead of having the team adopt to the SEC style. I believe that makes a difference when making the decision to put a team in the position to compete for a national championship. Auburn has been proving over the season that they are serious, they already play in the best conference in college football, and they just beat the best team. Yes, the Tigers have a loss. They did lose to an LSU team at the beginning at the season, who was ranked at no.6 in the country at the time.
We are now going into the conference championship games, it will be Ohio State taking on Michigan State for the Big Ten title, in the SEC it will be Auburn taking on Missouri. If Ohio State can defeat Michigan State by a comfortable margin, and Auburn struggles with Missouri, I will retract my statement and I will believe that the BCS made the right decision by putting the Buckeyes of Ohio State as the no.2 team in the country.
As the rankings stand right now (1-5): 1. Florida State, 2. Ohio State, 3. Auburn, 4. Alabama, 5. Missouri
