Thursday, December 07, 2006

Michigan fans, explain something to me

You are upset because you feel that the coaches and the Harris voters put Florida in at number 2 because they just didn't want to see a rematch even though Michigan "proved" it was the team with the best chance to defeat the Buckeyes. You seem to discount the possibility that a lot of those voters who switched their votes to Florida did so because they saw something to make them believe that, in fact, Florida is deserving of the number 2 rank and the bid for National Championship game.

Well here's something to think about. The AP voters put Florida ahead of Michigan too. Since the AP isn't part of the BCS anymore those voters weren't compelled to vote for a match-up, they were free to vote their conscience and, as a group, felt that Florida was number 2.

How do you explain that?

Also remember that 6 computers are used in the BCS poll. Three said that Michigan is number 2, two said Florida is number 2 and one said Florida is number 1. I suppose those 3 computers that thought the Gators are better than the Wolverines caught a case of the anti-rematch bias too.

As I mentioned in the comments section of another post, I think you Michigan fans were sold a bill of goods by the talking heads, particularly from ABC/ESPN. You did not drop in the polls after your loss to OSU but both USC and UF had big games remaining. Those pundits got your hopes up despite the fact that the strength of schedule for both USC and UF was going to get stronger in the last two weeks. I feel sorry for you guys. If Michigan had dropped to number 4 or 5 after the loss, as almost every historical precedent would seem to dictate, you'd be very happy to be in the Rose Bowl right now. You just can't realistically expect to ride a 1 game losing streak into the National Title game.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely! What he said!!! :-)

Anonymous said...

you said "You just can't realistically expect to ride a 1 game losing streak into the National Title game".....Why not you (Florida Gators) did back in 1996 when Florida State beat you at the end os the season.

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Actually, that's not true. The Gators lost to Florida State and then won the SEC championship game which got them an automatic bid to the Sugar Bowl. Florida State was selected to play in that game.

A couple of teams in front of Florida stumbled and made the Sugar Bowl into the de facto championship game. But the Gators were on a one game winning streak not a one game losing streak going into that game.

Thanks for playing though.

Anonymous said...

You Speak like it has never happen before.... Yet it has. Do you need to go google to look it up or shall I tell you??

Ox

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Yes it happened before. Oklahoma rode their one game losing streak into the Sugar Bowl in 2003 and got promptly beaten by LSU proving that they didn't deserve to be there. Is that what you want for Michigan. Just beat USC and be happy to be Rose Bowl champions and big 10 runner ups otherwise all your arguments will be moot.