Pac-10 threats are empty
Mike Connolly
Outside looking in
OK, bad news everybody: the Bowl Championship Series is in trouble. All the controversy surrounding the selection process could mean that the BCS will not exist past 2006.
No, I am not talking about Florida State being ranked higher than Miami — a team that beat the Seminoles in the regular season. I am talking about a much more pressing concern.
The Pac-10 may not re-sign the BCS contract after it expires in 2006.
Yes, the Pac-10, the conference that sent 8-3 Stanford to the Rose Bowl last year is upset with the BCS system.
In a Los Angeles Times article Wednesday, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said that if Oregon State were not chosen for the Fiesta Bowl, he would consider withdrawing the Pac-10 from the BCS.
"The Pac-10 may be better off going back to the Rose Bowl and forgetting the rest," Hansen said to the Los Angeles Times. "I wouldn't want to continually subject our teams to the anticipation of being selected and fairly considered when it just doesn't happen."
Hansen almost has a legitimate complaint this year. The Pac-10 has somehow managed to place three teams in the top 10 of the BCS.
Washington is ranked fourth and headed to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-10 champion. Oregon State is ranked sixth at 10-1 while Oregon is 10th with a 9-2 record.
Hansen is angry that Oregon State may not get a BCS bid despite being one of seven Div. 1-A teams with a 10-1 record. But look a little closer and you will see that Oregon State beat a couple of cupcakes, a few Twinkies and a cream puff this year.
There are three reasons why Oregon State does not deserve a BCS bid this year: 6-5 Eastern Washington, 3-8 San Diego State and 5-7 New Mexico.
Those were the three non-conference games that Oregon State chose to schedule. I'd call those three teams cupcakes but that would be an insult to the pastry. Scheduling those three teams is just pathetic. If you want to be a real football school, you have to schedule real opponents.
The Beavers don't have to stock their schedule with top 25 opponents. They just have to play opponents that at a very minimum might not be horrible this year. Rather than scheduling Eastern Washington, schedule Missouri. Missouri wasn't a good football team this year but at least the Tigers play in a real conference and had a chance to be good this year.
Scheduling 6-5 teams from the Big Sky conference does not help your bowl chances. It only pads your record with empty victories.
The Pac-10 schedule is no better. The only good team the Beavers played all year was Washington. And the Huskies beat the Beavers 33-30.
The rest of the Pac-10 teams on Oregon State's schedule were awful this year. USC was 5-7. Stanford was 5-6. Washington State was 4-7. California was 3-8. Arizona was 5-6.
Oregon State only played four teams with winning records and only three of those teams will be going to bowls — not even the insight.com bowl will select a 6-5 team from the Big Sky conference like Eastern Washington.
UCLA went 6-5 and is headed to the Sun Bowl. Washington is going to the Rose Bowl and Oregon finished 9-2 and will most likely head to the Aloha Bowl.
Oregon State's only quality win came against Oregon and Oregon is probably one of the softest 9-2 teams in the country. They beat 5-6 Big West power Idaho and Nevada who finished 2-10 in non-conference action but the Beavers also lost to Wisconsin. Although the Badgers are headed to the Sun Bowl this year, they are probably the most disappointing team in college football north of Alabama.
Oregon went on to tag Washington with its only defeat but other than the Huskies, the Ducks didn't beat anyone. Oregon only beat two other bowl teams: 6-5 UCLA and 6-5 Arizona State.
Not very impressive at all.
But Mr. Hansen, a 10-1 record is still a 10-1 record so maybe Oregon State deserves the Fiesta Bowl bid. So let's cut a deal.
Oregon State gets to go to the Fiesta Bowl this year, if you promise to decline your automatic bid for your conference champion when your conference champion is horrible — like last year when Stanford went the to Rose Bowl with an 8-3 record.
You don't think that is fair?
Fine. Quit the BCS. The BCS is better off without fraud teams from the Pac-10.
The views expressed in this are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, November 30, 2000
