Another Take from the Mizzou Side of BCS Screw Job

[Frazod]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...5?OpenDocument

Mizzou left out of BCS? It's nonsense
BY BRYAN BURWELL
POST-DISPATCH SPORTS COLUMNIST
Sunday, Dec. 02 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Of course it doesn’t make sense. You know it, I know it, even
the doofuses who continue to perpetrate this idiotic Bowl Championship Series
system have to know just how fatally flawed and hopelessly messed up their
multi-million dollar scam is.

So Sunday night was just one more bit of annoying confirmation of how defective
the BCS is.

From the broad national perspective, to the narrower parochial one, I truly
hate it with all my heart. But since sports is very much like politics --
everything is local -- let’s deal with how Mizzou got robbed Sunday night by
the BCS and its convoluted computers.

Missouri finished its finest season in the history of the program with an 11-2
record, won the Big 12 North, knocked off both arch rivals in Kansas and
Illinois, and the Tigers finished with a No. 6 ranking in the final BCS
standings.

Logic says the Tigers had to get a BCS bowl bid, right?

So why are they sitting on the outside of the BCS with an invitation to the
still prestigious (but non BCS) Cotton Bowl, while five other schools that
ranked lower in the BCS standings -- including the 8th-ranked Jayhawks and
13th-ranked Illini -- received bids to the more preferred BCS bowls?

Seventh-ranked Southern California and Illinois are in the Rose Bowl. Kansas is
in the Orange Bowl, ninth-ranked West Virginia is in the Fiesta Bowl and
10th-ranked Hawaii is in the Sugar Bowl.


So how does any of this make sense? As the news began to filter through the
second floor hallways at the Reynolds Alumni Center on Sunday night, the grim
faces of many Mizzou athletes told the story of the night.

“It’s just a shame we got locked out,” said All-America tight end Martin
Rucker. “How does that happen? Mathematically, logically, it just doesn’t make
sense.”

By the time the Fox network BCS bowl selection show began at 7 p.m., Rucker and
his teammates had already left the building. They couldn’t bear to watch it.
They had been instructed to take the high road and go with the company line
that they’re “excited” to be Cotton Bowl bound.

But Rucker, the senior who has seen Missouri football grow from inconsequential
to important, couldn’t play the game. In the course of 48 turbulent hours, he’d
watched his team go from No. 1 in the country with a legitimate shot at a
national championship bid, to disappointed and disgusted outsiders with their
noses pressed to the glass watching the BCS dance cards being handed out.

Someone asked if this obvious slight was further proof of how badly college
football’s top division needs a playoff system to decide its national champions
and perhaps prevent a situation like this where Mizzou was unjustly left on the
outside looking in.

“I don’t know if you need a playoff system to see that it doesn’t make sense
that one team (Illinois) lost three games and lost to you, and you only lost
two games, and they’re going to a BCS game and you’re not,” said Rucker with a
resigned shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t think we need a playoff system to
understand that, do we?”

You could see the disappointment in their faces as the players got the
official word and most of them quietly left the alumni center without saying a
word. “I have a bunch of players who have a bunch of frowns,” said Pinkel.


But those frowning faces told another story of the night, as well. Is there any
surer sign that Pinkel’s emerging program is heading in the right direction
than the fact that Mizzou football is no longer satisfied with a Cotton Bowl
bid?

Three years ago -- heck, last year -- Missouri loyalists and Tiger players and
coaches would have done somersaults down Broadway if you told them that the
2007 season would conclude with an 11-2 regular season record, a Big 12 North
title, a week on top of the national polls, a legitimate Heisman Trophy
candidate, and a Cotton Bowl bid.

After six years of lesser bowls and underachieving seasons, a trip to a
traditional and prestigious Jan. 1 bowl game, with or without the additional
status of a BCS affiliation, would have been considered a watershed mark for
Pinkel and the Tigers.

So even in the aftermath of the crushing defeat to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title
game, even with the obvious insult by the BCS system, even as some folks will
spend a lot of energy and a ton of venom overanalyzing how the biggest game in
MU football history ended up with a less-than-storybook ending, let’s not lose
sight of the essential ongoing story line.

What happened over the weekend wasn’t the sad end of the story.

The rebirth of Mizzou football is a story that’s just beginning.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by kcpasco

This was nothing more then a handjob.

Your athletic director promised to buy more tickets, the rest of the country sees it for what it was.

Hate to burst your bubble but the rest of the country either:

a) has no idea of the vaginal squabble between your two one-time wonder squads
b) does not give a shit about either team
c) all of the above

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Hate to burst your bubble but the rest of the country either:

a) has no idea of the vaginal squabble between your two one-time wonder squads
b) does not give a shit about either team
c) all of the above

Actually this Mizzou fiasco is being talked about along side BCS coverage of every single media outlet I have browsed.

The MU\KU coverage by ESPN's college gameday got the biggest ratings in the show's history.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Dr. Van Halen

It does matter.

In 20 years we will be saying that KU had a one-loss season and went to a BCS bowl game.

In 20 years we won't be saying much about MU's season. They were ranked #1 for a week? They lost the Big 12 championship game?

Mizzou got hosed by the BCS and their ridiculous rules.

MU, KU, and OU all three earned the right to a BCS game.

Did Kansas beat a top 40 team? How did Kansas earn anything?

[kcpasco]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Did Kansas beat a top 40 team? How did Kansas earn anything?

Don't try and bring logic and reason into the discussion, it doesn't work with them.

[|Zach|]

Lew Perkins said it will be 70%-30% kU fans @ Orange Bowl

[KCinNY]

Originally Posted by Dr. Van Halen

It does matter.

In 20 years we will be saying that KU had a one-loss season and went to a BCS bowl game.

In 20 years we won't be saying much about MU's season. They were ranked #1 for a week? They lost the Big 12 championship game?

Somehow in 20 years I doubt that either KU or MU fans will forget who won the biggest game in the history of either program.

[Sure-Oz]

[QUOTE=KCinNY][QUOTE=Dr. Van Halen]It does matter.

In 20 years we will be saying that KU had a one-loss season and went to a BCS bowl game.

In 20 years we won't be saying much about MU's season. They were ranked #1 for a week? They lost the Big 12 championship game?

Somehow in 20 years I doubt that either KU or MU fans will forget who won the biggest game in the history of either program.

They'll remember MU won and KU got in the orange bowl via a flaud system and they shit bricks facing their 2nd top 40 team

[Pierce]

Originally Posted by KCinNY

Somehow in 20 years I doubt that either KU or MU fans will forget who won the biggest game in the history of either program.

The game was big at the time, but now it seems to have worked out better for KU.

Nevertheless, KU fans have nothing to feel bad about. Their team competed in every game this season and beat all expectations. Missouri had a great season in their own right as well.

Unfortunately, KU is still a basketball school, and Missouri, is...well...I don't know. If they can keep winning, they might become a football school.

[KCinNY]

IMO, we Mizzou fans shouldn't be mad at KU at all. The criminally flawed BCS system screwed Mizzou. Kansas had nothing to do with it.

Hell, I hope KU wins the Orange Bowl. It would be good for the Big 12.

[Pierce]

Yup, and I hope Mizzou wins the Cotton Bowl. fuck the SEC and every other conference, I say

[Pierce]

Originally Posted by Pierce

Yup, and I hope Mizzou wins the Cotton Bowl. fuck the SEC and every other conference, I say

Well, besides Vanderbilt of course.

[Dr. Van Halen]

Originally Posted by KCinNY

IMO, we Mizzou fans shouldn't be mad at KU at all. The criminally flawed BCS system screwed Mizzou. Kansas had nothing to do with it.

Hell, I hope KU wins the Orange Bowl. It would be good for the Big 12.

Thank you. That's very rational.

Despite being a KU fan, I am very irritated that MU got screwed.

[Dr. Van Halen]

Originally Posted by KCinNY

Somehow in 20 years I doubt that either KU or MU fans will forget who won the biggest game in the history of either program.

No, I agree. But that looks lame in the game day program, you know?

2007: MU beat KU in a big game.

vs.

2007: MU beat KU in a big game, then went on to play in a BCS bowl game.

I'm saying MU's season is considerably diminished by this slight.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Did Kansas beat a top 40 team? How did Kansas earn anything?

They beat #24 (at that time) Kansas State. But if you're talking final standings, no. Did KU lose to any unranked opponents? You see, it's easy to bash when you're only looking from one point of view.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by KCinNY

IMO, we Mizzou fans shouldn't be mad at KU at all. The criminally flawed BCS system screwed Mizzou. Kansas had nothing to do with it.

Hell, I hope KU wins the Orange Bowl. It would be good for the Big 12.

Wow, a MU fan with some sense. Rather than bash KU, be mad at the Orange. I agree, the Orange screwed your team. I would have been fine with KU going to something like the Cotton. Before this season, I never would have in a million years expected KU to do this well.
I hope MU does well in their bowl game, too. Although I will admit that these KU bashers almost make me want to root for Arkansas. Naw, I really shouldn't care about that. I just hope KU does well.