It is really odd how college football gives the some power to the coaches to determine the structure of the post season. Can you imagine another sports league where this would be acceptable? What if the NFL coaches voted on wildcard teams [would Bill Belichick leave the Jets off his ballot]? It’s silly, but I guess no sillier than allowing members of the media to vote to determine the worthy team or the computer system.
So the system it what it is and the college coaches had a major say in sending Florida to the big game. Here’s my take on some of the coaches and their votes (or lack thereof):
Lloyd Carr: Once again Carr shows a lot of class by not campaigning and not calling out Florida. While he laid off Florida, he did manage to get off a shot at Urban Meyer [or ‘the Florida coach’ as Carr called him] for whining like a baby and specifically calling out Michigan. 2 Thumbs Up.
Jim Tressel: I understand where he is coming from by not voting. Tressel definitely was in a unique position by having the opportunity to influence his opponent. This said, every coach in the Big Ten and the SEC had a hard choice to make. If they didn’t vote for the team in their conference they would no doubt get some heat. Carr called Tressel’s no-vote “real slick” but when asked if he would ever abstain from voting he offered a concise, “No”. This is a clear indication of his feelings about Tressel ducking out on the tough decision. Asking these coaches to rank the teams 1-25 is ridiculous anyway, but Tressel should have sacked up and picked someone and I would have expected him to hold Michigan where he had them the week prior. Every single SEC coach voted Florida #2. In the minds of Michigan fans, a not voting is a vote against Michigan given that Tressel is from the Big Ten. Given his unique situation I give Slick Jimmy a little slack, but he should have sacked up and voted.
Ron Zook. Illinois coach went away from the conference and voted for Florida #2, citing the fact that the Gators played an extra game than Michigan.
Zook said “I think if both teams would have played 13 games and been 12-1, I probably would have gone with (Michigan).”
To me this shouldn’t really come into play. The SEC made a money grab by adding a conference championship, and one of Florida’s wins was against Division I-AA Western Carolina. Zook should have kept his big yapper closed. 2 Thumbs Down.
Urban Meyer Wiener. He’s still an Urban Meyer Wiener, even bigger now.
8 Comments
andrew
fun stuff about coaches:
jim walden: “I’ll give you nine reasons why Florida is No. 1 – Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Southern Mississippi [and Arkansas]. Then you add Florida State to that and 11 out of 13 weeks you had to play as a good as you could play.”
jim, georgia, kentucky, south carolina, alabama, and southern miss are not that good. are you going purely by name recognition? VANDERBILT gave florida a tougher game than georgia did.
spurrier and zook both said that they gave the nod to florida because their record was 12-1 vs Michigan’s 11-1 record. does anyone else think they should exclude I-AA glorified scrimmages from the final records? and Steve, “Heck, I’m a Gator” isn’t a valid reason.
and as for the whole rematch concept being unfair, conference championships are SET UP for rematches. suppose you have florida and lsu play, with florida losing. they both otherwise win all their games and face each other again in the SEC championship game, lsu undefeated and florida with one loss to lsu. if florida wins, they each have 1 loss to each other, but florida is the outright SEC champ. situation sound familiar to anyone else?
mvictors
Andrew, I find Steve Spurrier’s “Heck, I’m a Gator” justification better than most of the other explanations. At least the guy is straight forward and not a weasel (Tressel) or a wiener (Meyer).
Buckeye Tom
mvictors — excuse me but, Tressel’s a weasel because he follows his convictions?! He stated it was a conflict-of-interest issue, and it clearly was. But even if you don’t beleive that, no matter which way he voted, it would have been used against him. Considering that he knew that abstaining would be controversial and put his future votes at risk, he made the tough call anyway in order to protect his team over himself. These are traits you want in a head coach. Tough decisions are always followed by second-guessing and name-calling…
mvictors
His convictions? A person with conviction would have voted his true feelings despite the consequences, and the perception of others. No, these are not traits I want in a head coach. I understand his position as stated above, I just think he took the easy route. The weasel route.
Buckeye Tom
Ahhh, now it gets interesting. You must have unique insight into Tressel’s mind since you profess to know his true feelings. I merely stated he was voting his “convictions” because he publicly stated it was a “conflict of interest”. That’s all I can go on since he hasn’t made his true feelings known, at least not in Ohio. Perhaps you can share your “sources” with the rest of us mortals…
mvictors
When did I profess to know his feelings? I think you can take something from his non-vote what his feelings were, but that doesn’t matter here. Michigan or Florida – put it down and man up to the consequences. Yes, he would have got a lot of heat from the Big Ten if he took Florida. A lot of heat. Yes, it might have been bulletin board material for Florida but I’d hope that the Gators would have a little more to play for than trying to prove that a #3 vote should have been a #2!
Buckeye Tom
I’m pretty sure that Tressel has done is enough this year with the Buckeyes to prove his “man-up” credentials. A 12-0 season, a likely Heisman trophy winner, a Bronko Nagurski award (Laurinaitis), a Danny Wuerffel award (Penton), several Academic All Americans, and another shot at the national championship – his second in 4 years – is all the man this humble Buckeye fan could ask for. Now if that is your definition of a weasel, so be it. Bring on the Weasel vs. the Wiener Championship!! My guess is, you’ll be watching.
The Vest
Comment about The Michigan vs. USC game on yesterday. I saw you guys show up, but nobody played. How’s come? You should not let Mike Hart speak for the team. He shows to much anger and upset. That has been display through out the entire team. Don’t be vengful. Be a good sport. Have a good attitude win or lose, rival or not. Mike Hart’s comments makes the whole state of Michigan look bad, as well as the Big Ten. That’s not what were are about. Woverines you are better then that. Don’t let one person spoil it for everyone. Because of Mike’s comments, the Harris poll kept you out of the title game. I am a Buckeye and i like and respect the Woverines as well. Change the attitude Wolverines, (M. H.), and nothing will stand in your way to win a national title next year. Go Blue! Go Bucks!