No Georgia
The Rose Bowl was not allowed to select Georgia because of a rule that protected SEC teams from being selected once LSU went to the BCS title game. Florida was also not an option under that rule, which was passed when Iowa was selected in the 2003 Orange Bowl to play USC, which forced the Rose Bowl to select Oklahoma.
But that still left West Virginia, Boston College, Kansas, Missouri and Hawaii.
``We looked very carefully at the quality of all the teams and the way teams ended the year and the way Illinois ended, it's a great matchup,'' Rose Bowl CEO Mitch Dorger said.
you suck mitch. get a new job.
Huh, what is this rule that protected Georgia for the Sugar? USCMike???? What a frkn disgrace the BCS is! My family cancelled our Rose Bowl plans after the announcement, and will now go on a ski trip instead. Nothing against Illinois, who is a dangerous team that we had better not overlook, but I do not want to pay for an expensive New Year's trip to see the #13 ranked team play in a no-win situation for my Trojans. And, I am disgusted that Mizzu got left out while Kansas is going. And, that LSU jumped Va Tech and Georgia to make the big game, and that that OU did not jump them all. What a sham. The fans of college football who bring in the valuable TV ratings have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, and finnagled! Boycott the BCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The old bowl system is way better than this BCS garbage. The worst part of it is that the computer polls and BCS rankings are heavily influencing the AP and coaches polls. The BCS formula is supposed to balance out the voters for strength of schedule and number of losses. All the voters know that USC and OU are the two best teams in the country right now, and they won't vote them there because of losses and BCS formula gibberish. Sad. Very sad.
The Rose Bowl committee, including Mitch Dorger, should be ashamed. it should be #5 vs #6, #3 vs #4. we need a new system like a playoff.
I agree with most of your opinions and comments. Personally I think WVA would have been an interesting and even a challenging game.
I watched the BCS special on ESPN. Again the schools presidents pro bowls stance was mentioned meaning any chances of any play-off systems(s) are slim. Furthermore the BCS plus one possibility is on life support as ESPN Kirk Herbstreit stated.
Finally a good idea would be to poll the power, wealthy and influential boosters concerning a play-off system.
DFW Trojan,I wish I had an answer for you. What is surprising to me is that no one from the media, including ESPN, Wolf, LA Times, indicated prior to Saturday that Georgia was off-the-table for an at-large selection to the Rose Bowl. No one referenced this alleged rule that allowed the SEC to "protect" Georgia. No one! (If they did, I sure missed it.) Frankly, this is sloppy reporting, or a lack of complete disclosure by the BCS.
Speaking of the BCS, it is time to junk this system. Not even McGyver can jerry-rig this thing to work.
If you look at the cumulative computer component, the farce is evident: No. 1 Va. Tech is ahead of No. 2 LSU, even though LSU smoked the Hokies; Missouri is No. 4, two spots ahead of Oklahoma, who beat Missouri twice; Kansas is No. 5, even though No. 6 Oklahoma won the Big-12 Championship; No. 8 ASU is ahead of No. 9 USC, even though USC gobbled up ASU on its own home field. This is total BS.
The fact that Kansas made it, but Missouri didn't is a travesty.
I suggest the winners of the four BCS bowls playoff in a final four. It is time put pressure on advertisers, networks, university presidents, etc. to get rid of the current beauty paegant and get a playoff system. They do it in every other major collegiate sport, including D-II and D-III football.
As for USC, it did not deserve a slot in the NC game, only because it lost to Stanford. Win that game, and we are No. 1 for sure. One freakin' extra point away from the NC game...almost as bad as one tipped pass away from the NC game. Still, Illinios will provide a challenge, and is one of the better teams in the last month.
FIGHT ON!!!!
Mike, Georgia wasn't off the table until both WV and Missouri lost. The first loss bumped OSU into the title game and the second loss bumped LSU into the title game. When LSU jumped into the title game, the Sugar Bowl lost its participant, giving them their pick of the SEC litter. The only way Georgia was going to be off the table for the Rose, was for LSU to be in the title game, which, after a bizarre set of events, happened.
I agree with you though, that SC doesn't deserve to play for the title this year. If any one of about a hundred things goes a different way (Chauncey getting stuffed to end the first half, blocked PAT, pick 6 from Booty, Mays dropping a sure INT in the endzone on the final drive, failure to stop both a 4th & 20 and a 4th & goal) then SC is surely in the title game, but everything that could go wrong in that game did go wrong in that game and SC has to deal with the consequences.
I just hope the team can "get up" for the Rose Bowl and contain the three-headed monster of Juice Williams, Rashard Mendenhall, and Arrelious Benn. "Juice" is just the kind of QB who can give SC fits, unless PC devises a good scheme to pressure, yet contain him, and force him to throw into coverage. SC can't afford to sleep on the Fighting Zookers, I think they're pretty legit, even though they don't have the kind of cachet' that OSU and Michigan have.
Fight on!
Sureshot, thanks for the clarification. That makes sense that such a discussion would not have occurred if W. Va. and Mizzou won out. Still, it appears that the Rose Bowl would have selected Illinios over Georgia even if W. Va and Mizzou were in the NC game.
Having said that, however, I still don't recall hearing about any BCS rule that allows a BCS bowl to "protect" a No. 2 team from the "anchor" conference (like Georgia) if its No. 1 team goes to the NC game. Apparently, they instituted this rule after the Orange Bowl pilfered Iowa away from the Rose Bowl after the 2002 season to play USC, thus leaving the Rose Bowl with Oklahoma against then Pac-10 champ Wash St.
Yes! I love the idea of a +2 +1 system whereby they hold a final 4 playoff after the BCS bowls. Move the BCS bowls to Xmas day and the final 4 to New Years. Rotate the games among the bowls to keep everyone happy. Maybe you add some of the other bowls to this playoff system. What we have now sucks! The NCAA, who regulates and sanctions college football, really needs to step in and fix this. The greedy bowls and conference presidents may never get there themselves.
My desired playoff format had always included the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Orange Bowls as the start of an 8 team playoff. After the Rose Bowl’s decision which values tradition and politics over merit and competition, I despise the bowls. These bowls are worthless reminders of college football’s illegitimate past. The NCAA needs to retake control of its sport and kick all these bowls to the curb. They had their chance and they blew it. I never thought I’d say this, but screw the Rose Bowl. Screw the parades. Screw these “nice events.” College Football’s elite teams deserve better than this grand daddy of futility.