We don't know if they've really cleared them in the comps because the human whiners in the AP were able to get the BCS to deliberately neuter the accuracy of the computers. Also the Billings had OK St. ranked ahead which doesn't count (in my book) because the methodology is certifiably insane. From my understanding if you look at all of the computer metrics that have a scoring margin component (which all say makes theirs more accurate) Alabama finishes ahead in all of them. Now I know in the drive based system I posted earlier Ok St. and Wisconsin actually ended up slipping ahead of Alabama on final results (this has a lot to do with Wisconsin getting that extra game against elite competition and Alabama's game against Georgia Southern not counting for that ranking). So this shows that Ok. St. could be better. On the other hand Georgia Southern could probably either outright beat or give a strong competition to a third of the teams on OK St.'s schedule (they'd certainly trounce Kansas) so I think it is probably not as simple. OK St. has an argument it's true (and with some of the coaches doing some ridiculous bullshit things they should be even closer).

As for the beating the conference champion point why should the results later in the season mean more? If that's the case shouldn't OK St.'s later loss be more detrimental (the wrong approach). Why is your quality of play at the end of the season more determinative of who you are as a team holistically?

And finally Florida had Michigan safely cleared in the comps and beat them out in both polls (though there was worry that they wouldn't). OK St. didn't fulfill that threshold. Furthermore, Texas was pretty far off from being a conference champion of a good conference in 2006. The Big 12 was definitely down that year. They were certainly pretty far off from being a team comparable to Oregon this year.

The fact that OSU and Alabama are even remotely close IMO shows what a sham it is, I don't think OSU has to absolutely be better for them to be in the title game, just close and the fact that they haven't played LSU yet should get them in.

As for why they have to play at the end, teams definitely change over the course of the season. Players learn every week and get better. Michigan in 2007 went from losing Appalachian State in their first game to beating a Florida team at the end of the season that was essentially the exact same one that won the title game next year. I get keeping the regular season valuable, and for sports with massive sample sizes where regular season performance says the most about you as a team since most everyone plays each other (baseball), I'd be fine with saying the best team is the one that won the regular season. But in college football, where you have a ton of teams and they don't even come close to all playing each other. As such, every opportunity to make them play each other to determine a champion should be taken, and this would actually give the greatest statistical power in determining the champion.

Another question: do you think Florida State won the title in 1996?

I'd have to take a look back into who they beat overall (I know they beat Florida two games before they rematched in the Sugar) but really I don't have a feel for the strength of teams that year. All I know is LSU has looked flat out unstoppable against really tough competition. I fully expect them to beat Bama and hope they do because they deserve to win.

Yeah they probably do. And it would help in getting LSU fans to finally accept what they have in Miles.

I guess I'm just old school in wanting to see playoffs/championship games at the end of the season.

A little thing I put together and posted on another forum. Total revenue by conference/school based on the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act data:

SEC ($1,200,902,412)
1. The University of Alabama ($123,910,432)
2. University of Florida ($123,008,257)
3. Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College ($106,421,671)
4. Auburn University ($103,982,441)
5. The University of Tennessee ($102,495,204)
6. University of Georgia ($92,341,067)
7. University of Arkansas ($91,768,113)
8. University of Kentucky ($84,878,315)
9. University of South Carolina-Columbia ($83,704,667)
10. Texas A & M University-College Station ($74,944,301)
11. University of Missouri-Columbia ($59,005,954)
12. Vanderbilt University ($55,632,098)
13. Mississippi State University ($49,893,731)
14. University of Mississippi Main Campus ($48,916,161)

Big Ten ($1,050,478,881)
1. Ohio State University-Main Campus ($131,815,819)
2. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor ($122,486,490)
3. Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus ($116,118,026)
4. University of Wisconsin-Madison ($93,594,766)
5. University of Iowa ($92,903,555)
6. University of Nebraska-Lincoln ($83,679,756)
7. Michigan State University ($80,963,182)
8. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities ($78,924,683)
9. Indiana University-Bloomington ($70,172,641)
10. Purdue University-Main Campus ($66,066,303)
11. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ($57,539,367)
12. Northwestern University ($56,214,293)

ACC ($860,547,975)
1. Florida State University ($86,946,503)
2. University of Virginia-Main Campus ($78,439,006)
3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ($71,369,784)
4. Duke University ($67,986,188)
5. Boston College ($64,078,272)
6. Clemson University ($61,174,977)
7. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ($61,077,122)
8. University of Miami ($60,325,003)
9. University of Maryland-College Park ($57,765,018)
10. University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus ($56,044,309)
11. North Carolina State University at Raleigh ($54,711,001)
12. Syracuse University ($51,433,840)
13. Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus ($46,910,364)
14. Wake Forest University ($42,286,588)

Pac-12 ($747,943,314)
1. University of Oregon ($85,740,068)
2. Stanford University ($81,125,476)
3. University of Southern California ($75,707,273)
4. University of Washington-Seattle Campus ($70,231,336)
5. University of California-Los Angeles ($66,003,893)
6. University of California-Berkeley ($65,006,338)
7. University of Colorado Boulder ($60,923,253)
8. University of Arizona ($58,274,431)
9. Arizona State University ($55,378,783)
10. Oregon State University ($50,843,837)
11. Washington State University ($40,617,093)
12. University of Utah ($38,091,533)

Big 12 ($737,535,914)
1. University of Texas at Austin ($150,295,932)
2. University of Oklahoma Norman Campus ($104,338,843)
3. Oklahoma State University-Main Campus ($70,123,206)
4. University of Kansas ($70,028,683)
5. Kansas State University ($68,875,266)
6. Baylor University ($59,859,235)
7. West Virginia University ($58,003,719)
8. Texas Christian University ($56,245,071)
9. Texas Tech University ($51,190,970)
10. Iowa State University ($48,574,989)

Big East (Football) ($458,276,752)
1. University of Louisville ($87,736,320)
2. University of Connecticut ($63,043,322)
3. Rutgers University-New Brunswick ($53,436,027)
4. University of South Florida-Main Campus ($43,494,246)
5. University of Central Florida ($37,821,564)
6. Southern Methodist University ($37,471,381)
7. University of Cincinnati-Main Campus ($37,367,392)
8. San Diego State University ($36,509,345)
9. University of Houston ($33,473,404)
10. Boise State University ($27,923,751)

Independents
University of Notre Dame ($94,507,919)

Notre Dame is much smaller than I would have thought. And shit Texas (and to a lesser extent OU) really carry the Big 12. I love how much lower A&M is than them despite their protestations of being just as popular.

I think if Notre Dame won a little bit more and started going to BCS bowls then they would probably get above the $100 million mark like the other major schools.

Also, Louisville has massive amounts of basketball money.

yeah big 12!! it's great rg3 won because he actually deserved it, and because it's baylor. they would win like 5-6 games tops without him. i would've been beside myself if anyone except maybe ball beat him.

I would have been OK with Mathieu beating him but RGIII was the most deserving candidate and he won. Good kid, really fun to watch.

I picked Vanderbilt against Cincy. If Vandy loses, I'm going to be mega-pissed at crx.

good god. just watched the alamo bowl. impressions as a husky fan:
1) fire nick holt
2)yeah yeah yeah RGIII is pretty good
3) Price has a pretty good future also, imo. A few errant passes, but no big mistakes and some big plays.

hella touchdowns tonight

Unbelievable game!

GO GREEN!!!!!

Well done. Probably not a consolation given that it should be a BCS bowl but you guys are the only Big 10 team to put up any kind of fight today (South Carolina just murdered Nebraska and Ohio St. wasn't much better against Florida).

Alabama lost to LSU, and they kept it much closer then any other team. LSU is the number one team in the nation.

Iowa state, on the other hand... is a 7 loss team, and really OSU's SOS is horrible outside OU. It's really disappointing seeing them play a rematch in the bcs, but it's still the two teams with the best two resumes in the championship. I just hope it isn't a total snoozer or a just a defensive contest like the last one, I don't think anyone wants to see that again.