Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Auburn, we welcome you to the victim's club

By GARY SHELTON
Published December 29, 2004

Cal had its pocket picked. Auburn had its house robbed.

Cal had its watch pilfered. Auburn had its dog stolen.

Cal needs to call a cop. Auburn needs to hire a lawyer.

Perhaps you are looking forward to the Orange Bowl. Maybe you are interested in the Sugar, intrigued by the Fiesta, incensed by the Rose. Maybe you are ashamed to admit it, but you are planning to watch the Peach.

Me? My favorite bowl game is always the D.W. Cooper Who-Got-Jobbed Bowl, where teams gather to compare short ends of the stick. This year, it involves Auburn and California. One was mugged. The other was swindled.

For all their faults, that's one thing you can count on the polls to provide: Victims. Every year, one or two teams get the short end of the computers. After that, they spend the holiday season comparing their scars.

This year, Cal lost a lot of money. Auburn lost a chance to play for the national championship. I don't know about you, but I blame the French judge.

So, do the Tigers have a grumble? Sure they do. No one will ever know, not really, who might have won a game between Auburn and Oklahoma. Or between Auburn and Southern Cal. (For that matter, we aren't certain who is going to win between Auburn and Virginia Tech, either). As for Cal? By comparison, the Bears are grumbling about a misdemeanor, not a felony.

On the other hand, Auburn is hardly alone. That's what happens when the method of determing the title is, basically, a beauty pageant. Yes, other teams have been overlooked throughout the years.

A refresher course in the worst robberies in college football history:

10. OREGON, 2001: Tell me again. Exactly why was Nebraska picked to play against Miami in the national championship game? The Cornhuskers didn't even win their conference, getting embarrassed by Colorado 62-36. Given Miami's prowess that year, perhaps it wouldn't have mattered. But competitors at least want the chance to play. Ask Oregon.

9. NOTRE DAME, 1993: In their head-to-head matchup, the Irish beat Florida State. Since both teams finished with one loss, you might figure that would be a factor. Because of the questionable logic that the Irish lost one week later than FSU, it wasn't. FSU went on to beat Nebraska for its first national championship. Notre Dame was left at home.

8. WASHINGTON, 1984: Let's be honest. All unbeaten teams are not created equal. Just look back at the 1984 BYU team, which won the national title without beating any team ranked in the top 20. Looking back, don't you think 11-1 Washington, one of Don James' finest teams, would have chewed up the Cougars? Me, too.

6. MICHIGAN, 1947: Getting robbed by the polls isn't anything new. In the old days, when polls didn't take bowl games into account, perception often counted more than performance. Ask Michigan, which swept through the '47 season with a revolutionary offense. ESPN once ranked this Michigan team the sixth-best team of all time. Yet it lost the national title to Notre Dame, which was also unbeaten but less impressive.

5. GEORGIA, 1946: Notre Dame won the title despite playing defending champion Army to a 0-0 tie. Georgia, led by halfback Charley Trippi, finished 11-0. Isn't unbeaten and untied better than unbeaten?

4. OLE MISS, 1960: Champion Minnesota lost two games. Ole Miss didn't lose any. Anyone want to explain that one?

3. AUBURN, 1983: Yep, the Tigers were robbed all right ... 21 years ago. That season, the Bo Jackson-led Tigers finished 11-1 and won three straight weeks over the No. 5-ranked team in the country (Georgia, Maryland, Alabama). Auburn entered the postseason ranked third, but both No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Texas lost. And Auburn didn't move. Compare Auburn's schedule with that of champion Miami, and there is no comparison. Yet, Miami swayed the voters by beating Nebraska when the Huskers chose to go for two and missed.

2. PENN STATE, 1994: If Auburn feels picked on, it should take a look at Penn State. The Nittany Lions have been unbeaten in four seasons without winning the national title. Some of it was bad timing: In '68, Ohio State had one of its best teams. In '69, you can say the same about Texas. In '73, it was Joe Montana and Notre Dame. But in '94, the last great Lions team had Kerry Collins and Ki-Jana Carter, both in the top four voting for the Heisman. Yet it gave up 15 late points in an easy win over Indiana; it fell to No. 2 in the polls and never recovered. Nebraska, which won the title, was good that year. Penn State was better.

1. ALABAMA, 1966: The most outrageous, preposterous swindle in the history of college football was suffered by, yep, Alabama. Frankly, it was worst than the Great Train Robbery. It was '66 when Notre Dame played for the tie in the closing seconds against Michigan State. That left Alabama, the two-time defending champion, as the nation's only unbeaten, untied team. It finished third.

Even now, Crimson Tide fans will swear that their granddaddy could beat up the other guy's granddaddy.

That's the thing about protests. It lasts as long as trophies do.

[Last modified December 29, 2004, 00:19:14]