Which of the top 10 teams have the best chance of winning the NC

[VermontDem2004]

Poll question: Which of the top 10 teams have the best chance of winning the NC

NC=National Championship

Poll result (18 votes)
Oklahoma (4-0)	(8 votes, 44%)	Vote
Miami (4-0)	(2 votes, 11%)	Vote
USC (3-0)	(2 votes, 11%)	Vote
Ohio State (4-0)	(2 votes, 11%)	Vote
Virginia Tech (3-0)	(1 votes, 6%)	Vote
Florida State (4-0)	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
LSU (3-0)	(1 votes, 6%)	Vote
Tennessee (3-0)	(2 votes, 11%)	Vote
Iowa (4-0)	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote
Michigan (3-1)	(0 votes, 0%)	Vote

[DrGonzoLives]

1. Well, after Saturday

I'd have to say Michigan is done...gaaahhhhh!!!!

Probably Oklahoma. No one (including OU) really stands out to me as dominant on that list.

[TroubleMan]

2. Volunteers all the way!!

This team is almost as good and deep as the team that won a few years ago. Their running game is something for any team to be worried about, Casey Clausen is finally playing like a leader, and the defense is very tough.

Mark my words now....

Whoever wins the Tennessee/Miami game this year will win it all.

[VermontDem2004]

3. Hey

I went to the Fiesta Bowl that year when Florida State and Tennesse played for the National Championships, I got endzone tickets for $700. btw, my Aunt is a huge Tennessee fan, she went to that college.

[GumboYaYa]

4. I think you need to worry about Georgia too.

We won on Saturday, but I was very impressed with Georgia's team speed on defense. Their LBs and Safties filled holes with lighting speed.

[gratuitous]

5. Easy!

Whichever one the eastern sportswriters like the best!

Now, if you're talking a REAL national championship, one that's, like, decided on the field and everything, I like Texas A&M Kingsville in Division II and Linfield in Division III. I haven't figured out who I like in Division I-AA yet.

[VermontDem2004]

6. If USC goes undefeated they will be in there

They way the BCS system works is they take the average position of where the team stands in the polls also, they take in schedule strength, quality wins, and losses. But if USC stays undefeated they will either be ranked #1 or #2.

[gratuitous]

10. The polls, unfortunately . . .

Hold a disproportionate sway over the BCS rankings. "Hold on there, gratuitous," I hear folks saying, "What about strength of schedule?" Well, the "strength" of any team's particular schedule is determined by . . . the polls.

For example, this week, Oregon is ranked No. 10 in the AP poll, but No. 15 in the CNN/USA Today poll. Michigan is ranked behind Oregon in the AP, but ahead of them in the CNN/USA Today. So, where would a victory over Oregon place a team? Depending on which poll you favored, you're either beating a Top 10 team (big points) or a mere Top 15 team (good points, but fewer). Naturally, if Oregon continues to win, their ranking in both polls will slowly converge, but what if Washington State beats the Ducks this week? How significant would that victory be for the Cougars?

And what to make of a team that is ranked high in the pre-season polls, doesn't lose and so maintains its ranking, and then ultimately loses to a big rival? Did the big rival actually beat the Number 3 team, or was that lofty ranking the happy result of a pre-season vote coupled with a soft schedule? And what are we to say about that team should it lose two or three games? It was never worthy of that high ranking? The big rival's victory merely exposed them as pretenders instead of contenders? Should the big rival get the big bump for knocking off the highly ranked team, but subsequent victors get a smaller bump because of the prior loss?

It's so difficult to say over the course of a season who's truly hot and who's not. Clearly one of the best teams in the nation at the end of last year was USC, but because of a couple of stumbles earlier in the year, they were shut out of national championship consideration. It's time and past time for a true Division I national championship played on the field by the best 8, 12 or 16 teams.

[frylock]

12. gratuitous.. you are my new god!!!

[VermontDem2004]

13. I disagree

A playoff system would make the regular season worthless, I like the regular season in college football because it IS a playoff system. If you go undefeated in the regular season you will most likely be in the NC, if you lose two games you shouldn't be there. It is early in the season and we are unsure where the teams stand, but when we get to 10 or 11 games into the season the correct rankings will fall in place, like last year. Ohio State undefeated plays Miami an undefeated team, plus these kids aren't nfl players, I don't think adding 4 games to the schedule will make them phsyically prepared. Plus, why give a team who lost 4 games a chance to win it all and go to the national championship? What makes them the best team? They lost 4 games. You say Eastern Sports Writers, but Miami and Ohio State were undefeated and no body else was, they belonged there and I don't like either team. The regular season in college football is the reason why college football is my favorite sport, a team that will clinch a playoff spot with 2 games left in the season will give a half ass attempt in the games because they know they are in the playoffs. If a team has to win every game in the season and don't fuck up they will be in the national championship, I repeat, the regular season IS the playoffs.

[Awsi Dooger]

15. Beautifully argued and I concur

Even though a playoff would undoubtedly help my 'Canes. In fact, I can isolate at least 3 seasons -- '88, '90 and 2000 -- in which Miami was probably the best team in the country but missed out on the national championship game due to a regular season misstep.

By what standard did my second favorite team, my alma mater USC, have any claim at a national title berth last season? By falling 21 points behind Kansas St with 7 minutes left? Or blowing a late lead at Washington St? Give me a pathetic break. When I attended 'SC we tied Stanford my freshman year after blowing a 21-0 lead at home on homecoming, and realized the season had been lost as a result. Sure enough, 'Bama got the title and rightfully so.

My only gripe would be to restore the polls-only influence on the title game, and dump the mathematical process of isolating the BCS top two. I trust sportswriters and coaches more than some bizarre formula that ignores margin of victory in many cases, overplays strength of schedule as opposed to obvious ability, and is so flawed it's tinkered with after every season.

[VermontDem2004]

16. USC had 2 loses

and Miami and Ohio State had 0 loses. Miami could of blown a 4th quarter lead a few times and so could Ohio State, but they didn't. A playoff system would have a problem of being seeded, you may prefer a playoff system but every year sportswriters are complaining that certain teams didn't make the top 64 in college basketball. I think the teams where Boston College, Texas Tech, and I forgot who else in which sports experts thought deserved to go. So there will be arguments about who will be left out, only in the pros do you have a perfect system, but that is only because they have 30 teams. In College Basketball you have 300+ Division 1-A teams, in College Football you have 117 division 1-A teams. Well they do take poll avg, computer avg, schedule strength, quality wins, and Looses. There is so much to take into consideration in the system and I believe it determines the top two teams. Of course the BCS has problems, but I wouldn't want a playoff because the regular season will mean just getting enough wins to make it, not trying to win all your games. I am probaly the only one that looks at the regular season as a playoff, and just because of the we-must-win situation in the regular season is why college football is my favorite sport.

[frylock]

7. great post!!!

BCS is damn joke.

[DrGonzoLives]

8. Would you prefer the old way?

With those wonderful ties for National Championships? Yeah, that was great.

[frylock]

9. no.. i'd prefer an actual playoff system..

that doesn't incorporate these bullshit, BIASED, preseason rankings.

[GumboYaYa]

11. Oh come on, lighten up a little.

Half the fun of college football is arguing about rankings, bias, and how your team got the shaft. That's why it is the MNC.

Personally, I like the bowl system. The BCS has done a fairly good job since being implemented.

And don't cry about east coast bias to me. Who won the Heisman last year?

[VermontDem2004]

14. Where a 4 loss team

can win the national championship, Yay! Lets just throw the regular season down the toilet, and the guys who run the BCS aren't a bunch of people smoking cigars deciding who goes, it is a system that takes several things into consideration. The regular season is the playoffs, you lose twice, you play the rest of the season hard knowing that you fucked up and you can't go to the national championship.

edit: Who gives a fuck about Preseason rankings? I don't, most teams play a 12 game season, the rankings will fall in place by then.