Weighing in on the Florida - Michigan Debate here.
First, I do think that Florida had a tougher schedule. And
Florida beat more bowl-ranked teams. Second, all those people
howling about how Florida played a "nobody" team so late in the
schedule (Western who again?), how is that worse than playing no team
at all? If we throw out that victory, then the 2 teams in
question have identical win-loss records.
All right, so the argument comes down to Michigan lost to the all
mighty Ohio team while Florida lost to the semi-mighty Auburn team and
that maybe should be enough. Maybe we'll ignore who actually had
the tougher schedule and played more games.
But there's one fact that I think can't be overlooked. Michigan
is NOT the champ of their own conference. How can they then go to
the title game? That makes no sense at all. If you aren't
your own conference champion then I don't think you should be playing
for a national title.
Actually, it looks like Stewart Mandel says it better than I:
"The reality is, the Michigan/Florida debate strikes at the
heart of an issue that's never been formally addressed by the BCS: Is
the title game supposed to match the two best teams in the voters' eyes
or the two most deserving. Because it's hard to argue against the
Gators in terms of the latter.
Florida
beat teams currently ranked fifth (LSU), ninth (Arkansas) and 16th
(Tennessee) in the BCS standings. Michigan beat No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 10
Notre Dame and ... unranked Penn State.
The
Gators beat seven teams that finished the season with winning records
and nine that are bowl-eligible. The Wolverines: Four and six.
But
most of all, Florida won what most consider to be the toughest
conference in the country this season. Michigan finished second in a
conference whose fifth-best team was Purdue."
So what's more important? The loss against Auburn vs. the loss
against Ohio, or the numbers stacked up for the entire season?
Should a conference champ get the shot at the national title, or a
(weaker) conference runner-up?
It will be interesting to see what the final decision is.
