Last Saturday Auburn defeated the #1 ranked 11-0 Alabama Crimson Tide in a thrilling edition of the Iron Bowl. The only remaining undefeated teams from the automatic qualifying conferences are Ohio State and Florida State. They are currently ranked 1 and 2 in the BCS standings. This is the last season of the current BCS structure of college football. That means that this will be the last season where the only “playoff” game is the championship game itself between the teams ranked 1st and 2nd in the BCS standings. The BCS standings are determined by a mix of human voters (coaches and media members) and computers. There is only one weeks remaining in the season, conference championship game weekend. Each team has a chance to cement their title game bid, and one more chance to lose. Florida State is currently ranked #1. Their remaining game is the ACC championship game against Duke. Duke is currently ranked 20th in the BCS standings. While Duke will not be rolled over they will not present a large challenge to the Seminoles. Duke has not beat a team in the top 25 all season. Their two losses are to Pitt and Georgia Tech both teams are currently unranked. Florida State is currently 12-0. They only played one ranked team, #13 Clemson, whom they beat 51-14 on the road. They won every game by 14 points or more. They are currently ranked 2nd in the country in points per game for (53.7) and 1st in points against (11.0). They clearly deserve to be ranked #1 and to play for the title in Pasadena if they pass their final test and win the ACC championship game on Saturday.
Ohio State is currently ranked #2 in the BCS standings. Their remaining game is the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis against #10 Michigan State. Michigan State is 11-1 their only loss is on the road at Notre Dame. Michigan State has the 4th ranked defense in the country in points against per game. They have played many low scoring games this season. Such games tend to be closer than high scoring games, so taking a quick glance at their schedule may lead you to sell them short. Ohio State plays in higher scoring games. Michigan State and Ohio State have beaten Big Ten teams be similar margins. Ohio State won their non-conference games by larger margins that Michigan State. The Michigan State Ohio State Big Ten championship game should prove to be interesting as a powerful Michigan State defense faces off against a high scoring Ohio State offense. Ohio State’s resume is not as strong as Florida State’s. Their only ranked win is against #21 Wisconsin by a score of 31-24. Ohio State is ranked 18th in points against per game and 3rd in points scored per game. The had a close call this past weekend against Michigan it was only their second game decided by a single digit margin.
The SEC title game is this Saturday in Atlanta. #5 Missouri will be playing against #3 Auburn. Both teams are 11-1. An SEC team has won each of the last 7 national championships. It seems at this point that if Florida State and Ohio State both win their respective conference championship games that the SEC would be shut out the of national championship game, there for ending the streak of SEC dominance. If Auburn wins on Saturday they will have beaten #4 Alabama, #5 Missouri, #23 Georgia, and #24 Texas A&M. They lost to #15 LSU 35-21. If Missouri wins on Saturday they will have beaten #3 Auburn, #24 Texas A&M. Their loss is to #8 South Carolina 27-24 in OT. Some people believe that because of the history of SEC teams beating teams from other conferences in the national championship game that there should always be an SEC team in the title game. This national title should be about this season. It should be about how these teams played this season. Auburn played a more difficult schedule than Ohio State this season as did Missouri. Ohio State should play in the National title game if they win on Saturday no matter what happens in the SEC championship game.
