Trav's Thoughts

Navy beat Army for the 6th time in a row. Navy was dominant through the entire game, but I kept watching anyway. There were the spirt clips that the Midshipmen and Cadets made. There were the senior clips, featuring seniors from both academies introducing themselves and the branches of service they would enter after graduation.

Most importantly was the end of the game. Once the competition has ended, the losing team goes to its student section. The players are called to attention on the field with the students in the stands. And the band plays the school alma matre. The winning team stands at attention behind them as a show of respect and solidarity. Then both teams proceed to the winning team's students for a repeat of the ritual.

It started snowing a little before 2pm today.



So here's how the BCS Top 10 has done so far today:

1 Missouri (11-2) lost 9 Oklahoma (11-2)
2 West Virginia (10-2) lost to Pittsburgh (5-7)
3 Ohio State (11-1) Big 10 Champion
4 Georgia (10-2)
5 Kansas (11-1)
6 Virginia Tech (11-2) beat 11 Boston College (10-3)
7 LSU (11-2) beat 14 Tennessee (9-4)
8 USC (10-2) beat UCLA (6-6)
9 Oklahoma (11-2) beat 1 Missouri (11-2)
10 Florida (9-3)

Sorry to Dixie's UT Vols. LSU used an interception return for a TD, a UT dropped pass on a 4th down play, and another interception on Tennessee's final drive to beat the Vols and win the SEC Championship.

The Trojans kind of snuck in there and ended up winning the Pac 10 championship for the sixth year in a row. Sorry Katherine. So now it looks like the Rose Bowl will be Ohio State against USC. The Trojans are a team like LSU that would benefit from a playoff tournament for the national title. USC is finally healthy after an injury-plagued season and playing at least as well as Missouri or West Virginia. Edit: Since Missouri and West Virgina both lost and Ohio State is likely to advance into the BCS Championship, the Big 10 Rose Bowl slot opens up to another conference.

It is a tribute to the importance of QB Dennis Dixon to Oregon that the Ducks couldn't win a game without him. Oregon State beat Oregon to win the 111th renewal of The Civil War between the two programs. Oregon finishes the season with three straight losses, while OSU wins their final three games. Both teams should go to bowl games.

There were two things going against West Virginia in their final regular season game. The first is that they were ranked #2, and any #2 team this season has been in trouble. There has been a real whammy on #2 ranked teams. The second thing they had going against them is they were playing a bitter rival. Pittsburgh had absolute nothing to lose, and they played with that kind of abandon. West Virginia played like they couldn't handle the pressure. Throw in three bad turnovers and an injury to QB Patrick White, and you have a monumental upset that throws the BCS standings into even more chaos.

The Sooners destroyed #1 ranked Missouri in the Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma is a two loss conference champion that beat #1 in the final regular season game. Of all the two loss conference champions, the Sooners have the best claim in my opinion. I might accept Oklahoma as a participant in the BCS Championship game, if only they didn't have two losses. I don't like the idea of a team with two losses playing for a national championship without going through a real playoff tournament.

Ohio State very likely will get into the BCS Championship game by default. They are the 3rd ranked team in the BCS and are the Big 10 Conference champions. It can be argued that the Buckeyes' non-conference schedule was weak and they lost to a non-ranked conference opponent. But they did beat rival Michigan and won the Big 10.

As it makes sense to click Ohio State up into the #2 spot and then up again into the #1 spot, it makes no sense to do the same for #4 Georgia or #5 Kansas. Neither of those teams made it to a conference championship game. Georgia has two losses. How can you play for a national championship if you couldn't win your conference championship?

The answer to that is you win it on the field in a playoff. But since the powers that be won't give us that, then both Georgia and Kansas must be skipped over.

Virginia Tech won the ACC Conference, so do they move up from #6? They have two losses. But one of those losses is to LSU who was #2 back in the second week of September. The second loss was to Boston College in October when the Eagles were ranked #2. That loss to BC was avenged today in the ACC Championship game. I might be able to accept VT as a two loss conference champion moving up to the BCS Championship game.

Then there's LSU, another two loss conference champion. LSU lost to then #17 ranked Kentucky in multiple overtimes. They also lost to unranked Arkansas in multiple overtimes. The Razorbacks are led by Heisman candidate RB Darren McFadden. I might be able to accept LSU as a two loss conference champion moving up to the BCS Championship game.

Well, now I'm going to watch Washington at Hawaii. If the Rainbow Warriors beat the Huskies, then the University of Hawaii is my choice to play Ohio State in the BCS Championship game. I'll tell you why, and this is as logical as any argument you can make for any other team. OSU has only one loss and one of its non-conference wins was against UW. Hawaii, if it beats UW, will be unbeaten with a common non-conference victory with OSU.

So there you go. Given that Hawaii beats Washington, my national championship game is Ohio State vs Hawaii. In my opinion, this is the best solution. Why should a two loss team be considered a better choice when there is (possibly - we'll know in about 3 hours) an unbeaten team left?

That's my 2 cents, adjusted for inflation.

What a day!

Later babies! Go Rainbow Warriors!