Ohio State’s president’s comments should be disregarded
Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee said in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday 24 November that Boise State and TCU did not deserve to play in the national championship game this season.
Gee stated that he believed that the schedules teams in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference play are far more difficult than those of mid-major clubs such as TCU and Boise State and therefore those clubs should not be playing for a national championship.
“Well, I don’t know enough about the Xs and Os of college football,” Gee told the Associated Press. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for theses schools. We
do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.”
Gee’s comments can be expected, as he is standing up for his school and is a supporter of the old-school bowl system and the assumption that the classic conferences have much better programs than the schools in the mid-major conferences.
The fact of the matter is that the balance of power in the BCS has shifted and clubs that were once mid-majors are now perennial contenders. Meanwhile, clubs that were known for their consistency are now having trouble staying competitive.
Teams such as Boise State, TCU, Utah and Houston have put together consistent seasons for the past three years, but have received little to no credit for their achievements. Boise State has not lost a game in two years, which includes their victory over
the Oregon Ducks during last year’s bowl season. While mid-majors have easier conference schedules, they still show their worth against tough competition in non-conference games. TCU defeated Baylor by 35 points, at the moment Baylor is 7-5, sitting fourth
in the Big 12 South. Boise State downed Virginia Tech in week one, a team that is now ranked 16th in the country and favoured to win the ACC championship.
In addition, college footballs traditional powers are no longer dominant from year-to-year. Michigan has a 15-20 record over the past three years, while Notre Dame has not had a winning record since 2006, even USC has struggled to remain consistent the past
two seasons.
Gee is likely sticking up for his university, which he believes still deserves a shot at the national championship, despite their one loss to Wisconsin. It is true that the Buckeyes have had a tremendous season despite their one loss, but it is not as though
Ohio State has not been given their opportunities in national title games.
The last two championship games the Buckeyes played in were back-to-back, as the club qualified for the 2006 title game and then again in 2007. Ohio State went on to lose both those game, despite being the favourite. The Buckeyes lost by a combined score
of 79-38. In addition, Ohio State was the number one ranked team in the country both seasons, but still was no match for their SEC opponents. Perhaps the Big Ten is not as strong as Gee believes.
In the end there is only one way to determine whether or not mid-majors deserve a shot at the national title and that is to give one of Boise State or TCU an opportunity to play for one. The clubs could be embarrassed, confirming that mid-majors are not
ready for national title games, or they will hold their own and the college football landscape will officially have shifted. Either way, it is not as though they could lose much worse than Ohio State did to Florida in 2007.
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