Columns

How imperfectly amusing, is it not?

By JOHN ROMANO, Times Columnist
Published December 3, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Coach Jim Tressel and Ohio State went from No. 1 to 7 and back to No. 1.

And so, finally, we are down to LSU and Ohio State.

Unless you count the computers, who say Virginia Tech is the best team in college football. Or, if you go by a handful of Harris Poll voters, either Oklahoma or Georgia is currently the No. 1 team in the nation.

It's confusing I know, but at least we all seem to agree on this:

Pfffttt on Hawaii.

That's what you get for going undefeated in a season that will forever be defined by the art of losing.

Just look around you. The Southeastern Conference champion has two losses. So do the Big 12 and ACC champions. One of the co-Big East champions has two losses, although losing to Pitt may actually count twice.

Never before have you seen such a college football season. Such a sloppy, ridiculous, unpredictable and positively entertaining college football season.

It began with Appalachian State upsetting Michigan, and quickly devolved into Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy shrieking like a 12-year-old girl while, um, explaining he was a man.

It included USF going from unranked to No. 2, and Oregon going from No. 2 to unranked, all in a matter of weeks. There were the Georgia Bulldogs sitting at No. 4 in the BCS rankings, and somehow falling to No. 5 when two of the three teams in front of them lost.

There was Oregon's Mike Bellotti, who thinks it's okay for a quarterback to play with a torn ACL, and a coach to lead with a broken conscience.

And, finally, Alabama coach Nick Saban put it all in context when he reminded us that tragedies such as Pearl Harbor can be helpful learning experiences for teams coming off a loss. He's taking it, you know, one World War at a time.

For those who argue in favor of a college football playoff system, this is sort of what it would look like. And, I've got to tell you, I kind of dig it.

Go back to the morning of Nov. 10. Ohio State and LSU were the top two teams in the BCS standings, just as they are today. Seems simple, right? Seems like the polls had it all figured out.

Except, in the 20-some days that followed, it was utter chaos.

In every weekend since, either the No. 1 or 2 team lost. Not impressed? How about the last two weeks, when two No. 1s and two No. 2s each lost? Ohio State went from No. 1 to No. 7 and back to No. 1 in the span of two games.

Of the top 10 teams in the BCS standings on Nov. 10, nine have since lost. The only one to escape was Georgia, which could have waltzed into the national championship game if not for the tiny detail of failing to qualify for its own conference championship game.

So are LSU and Ohio State really the two best teams?

Who knows.

My gut says LSU is probably pretty good and Ohio State is about to be embarrassed in another national championship game. It's nothing against the Buckeyes, I just think the Big Ten is a remarkably weak conference that gives the impression of being much stronger.

Consider some of the nonconference games in the Big Ten. Michigan lost to Appalachian State and Oregon. Illinois lost to Missouri. Iowa lost to Iowa State. Northwestern lost to Duke. Duke? The league's best nonconference victory might have been Wisconsin beating 5-7 Washington State.

For all the flaws of the BCS system, this may be the worst. Too many teams are rewarded for insulating themselves within the conference and avoiding difficult challenges outside the league.

In that sense, college football is completely different from the NCAA basketball tournament. A team such as Ohio State can go the entire season without being seriously tested. Ohio State's only victory against a team ranked in the BCS standings was when it beat Wisconsin. And Wisconsin had no victories against a ranked team.

At least, this season, there was some sense of drama within the conferences. Ohio State and Kansas were the only teams from the BCS conferences to make it through the season with a single loss.

And, in a way, they represent opposite sides of how we reached this point.

Little by little, scholarship reductions have reduced the strength of traditional powers such as Ohio State and allowed teams such as Kansas to catch up. ESPN's reach has also given exposure to non-traditional programs, further creating a sense of parity.

Maybe those are adequate explanations, or maybe you could just chalk the past few months up to fluke and good fortune. For one, blissful season, it truly was anybody's title to win.

Anybody, except Notre Dame.

John Romano can be reached at (727) 893-8811.

[Last modified December 3, 2007, 01:14:13]