I'm dissappointed, DJR...you should do better research...
SOS, per Sagarin (y'know...the one the BCS uses...):
ND: 20
Oregon: 31
Auburn: 66
If you're fuming over the Stanford game (and the "barely won" bit) consider that Oregon "barely" beat a 3-8 Arizona by 7 and a 4-7 Wash St. by 3. Also of note are other teams that "barely" won...(from Lawnmower8 on UHND):
"1. USC
- USC 34, Notre Dame 31
- USC 50, Fresno State 42
2. Texas
- Texas 25, Ohio State 22
- Texas 40, Texas A&M 29
3. Penn State
- PSU 23, South Florida 13
- PSU 34, Northwestern 29
- PSU 17, Ohio State 10
- Michigan 27, PSU 25
- PSU 31, Michigan State 22
4. Louisiana State
- LSU 35, Arizona State 31
- Tennessee 30, LSU 27
- LSU 21, Florida 17
- LSU 20, Auburn 17
- LSU 16, Alabama 13
- LSU 19, Arkanas 17
5. Virginia Tech
- VT 20, NC State 16
- Miami 27, VT 7
6. Ohio State
- Texas 25, OSU 22
- Penn State 17, OSU 10
- OSU 35, Michigan State 24
- OSU 25, Michigan 21
7. Oregon
- Oregon 37, Fresno State 34
- USC 45, Oregon 13
- Oregon 28, Arizona 21
- Oregon 27, California 20
- Oregon 34, Washington State 31
8. Notre Dame
- Notre Dame 17, Michigan 10
- Michigan State 44, Notre Dame 41
- USC 34, Notre Dame 31
- Notre Dame 38, Stanford 31"
All three human polls (where it's been rumored some people have actually watched games and evaluate teams) have ND over Oregon by at least 1 spot. Oregon's one loss was by 32 to USC at home, both of ND's losses were by 3 - to USC, and MSU (in OT after a 21-point 4th quarter comeback against the #4 offense in the country...that's #4 *at the end of the year* mind you, not just at the time).
Then again, if it's just wins/losses and quality of opponent doesn't mean anything...where's the love for TCU? They're 10-1 too. Why is Oregon more deserving than the Frogs based just on W/L record?
If you want to gripe about the BCS and bowl berths, don't target ND. Send a letter to the Big-12 commissioner. Or better yet, start a drive to dissolve conferences altogether and make teams play a national schedule instead of hiding in pu&&y conferences like the Big East. It's not like travel is by train anymore and you can't keep rivalry games on the schedule. And it would make ELO/comparison rankings more accurate.
But wait! It's all about money! And ND, as we all know, are money-grubbing richey-pants with loads of cash!
Consider this little tidbit...courtesy of Hornius Emeritus on USCFootball.com:
Top 25 Richest Athletic Departments
School Revenues
Ohio State $89,700,979
Texas $89,651,683
Michigan $78,424,186
Florida $77,354,484
Wisconsin $75,293,898
Tennessee $71,540,457
Georgia $68,787,384
Oklahoma $63,382,024
Texas A&M $62,815,605
Virginia $62,316,665
Alabama $62,287,191
Iowa $61,593,257
LSU $60,878,249
Penn State $60,785,497
USC $60,732,435
Michigan State $59,240,986
Notre Dame $57,649,586
Nebraska $55,876,334
Minnesota $51,721,017
Auburn $50,918,568
Kansas $49,938,178
North Carolina $49,095,212
Purdue $48,948,849
Texas Tech $47,317,246
Illinois $46,838,993
ND comes it at #17. Sure sounds like they rake it in to me with that big NBC contract compared to say...the B12 (which distributed $105.7M) SEC (which distributed $110M) and B10 (which distributed $116M) who all received money from major network contracts. ND reported gets about $1.5M per game (or $9M a year) from NBC.
Yup...way over the top there, in comparison. Yessir. You betcha.
Not to mention, ND, without Conference affiliation, gets no automatic berths to BCS bowls. That means, if by some miracle CU pulls the upset of the century and knocks the Horns off the pedastal, a 8-4 team is going to a BCS bowl (a la Pitt last year).
Yup...that's equitable.
ND has the same deal as any other non-BCS conference team - 9 wins, top 12 for eligibility, top 6 for guaranteed spot.
But wait! To make it even funnier...consider that the chair of the BCS Oversight Committee (the one that makes the rules) is none other than one Mr David Frohnmayer - President of the University of Oregon. :rollin
Good to know that Oregon is not represented in this system which is inherently skewed against them.
Another bit of good analysis is available from
The Rock
Now then, enough bitchin' about the Irish...let's go back to bashing KSU and marvelling at CU's meltdown last Saturday. :horns2
IRISH!
GBR!