Gentlemen, start your mouths!
Gentlemen, start your mouths!
After all, it matters less what the team does on the field than how well your coach can plead his case off of it. Don’t even try and take the high road because it leads to a dead end.
Urban Meyer, alias Mr. No-Whine-Before-Its-Time, you’re first.
“We deserve a shot (at the BCS title game),” the Florida coach told reporters after the Gators beat Arkansas 38-28. “I have great confidence that the University of Florida will get that opportunity. I really do.”
Good call, coach, but c’mon. You’ve been saying the same thing since the Gators barely slipped past mediocre South Carolina, 17-16, blocking a last-second field goal. You continued your harangue after a 21-14 edging of awful Florida State.
The Gators have brought new meaning to “winning ugly.” They were less than impressive in wins over Vanderbilt, Georgia and Tennessee. And their non-conference schedule included Western Carolina, Central Florida and Southern Mississippi.
Perhaps Florida had Urban renewal this season, but that is hardly the resume of a BCS championship team.
OK, Lloyd Carr. Start your engine.
“I hope that the voters will not penalize our team because we did not play the last two weeks,” he said.
Fat chance, coach. Voters have short memories.
With Michigan, the case was a little stronger. Other than the three-point loss to top-ranked Ohio State (Florida’s loss was to so-so Auburn by 10), the Wolverines earned quality points by manhandling Notre Dame in one of their non-conference games. They handed Wisconsin its only defeat. And yet beyond Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin, the Big Ten was nothing to brag about.
So who really deserves the shot at Ohio State?
Unfortunately, other than last year when Southern Cal and Texas were the consensus top two teams, we’ll rarely ever see a legitimate championship game.
Which, of course, brings us to the playoff argument again. No, you’re not going to hear it here. I’ve belonged to the Joe Paterno School of thought for as long as the venerable Penn State coach has been on the playoff bandwagon, which goes back a long time.
For those old enough to remember back to the 1970s, President Nixon once called Darrell Royal after his Texas team had finished unbeaten and congratulated the coach on his national championship. The only problem was that Penn State had gone unbeaten that same season.
This was pre-Watergate, so it gives you an idea how far back this controversy has played out. Once it became clear that a playoff system could be fashioned, Paterno, whose Nittany Lions went unbeaten three times without being voted No. 1, was the first major coach to jump on the bandwagon.
Of course, we know it will never happen. Why, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Fed Ex Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and AT&T Cotton Bowl will have none of it. Don’t ever believe these are university presidents doing right by their institutions of higher learning. It is them refusing to bite the many corporate hands that feed them.
Contact Marc David at (408) 842-1694 or at [email protected].
