Wednesday, December 8
Robbed?
Fans of the Cal Bears have been complaining from the moment the BCS standings were reversed and they lost their spot in the Rose Bowl to Texas. The disappointment has peaked, prompting a group of Cal fans to start their own website, Rose Bowl Robbery, in which they whine about the BCS system and urge Cal fans to donate whatever money they would have spent on the Rose Bowl to the Cal football program.
I understand that they’re disappointed. We at Texas are especially sympathetic, as we lost our BCS berth last year when Kansas State upset OU in the Big 12 title game. And I even agree that Mack Brown’s lobbying for votes was a little obnoxious.
However, with all that said, Cal has only themselves to blame. The only reason they were ahead of Texas to begin with is because voters were holding Texas’ narrow win over Kansas against them. So, Mack Brown asked the voters to watch Cal closely last Saturday night, as many of us did. Cal did not inspire in any way and barely beat Southern Mississippi.
Voters understandably came to the conclusion that it was not fair to hold a narrow victory over Kansas against Texas while simultaneously looking past a close Cal win over Southern Miss. Cal controlled its own destiny and it came up short. End of story.
Let’s not ignore the fact that the Big 12 is twice as good as the Pac 10, even in a year when the North is down. The Big 12 still managed to land seven bowl invitations. In the end, voters decided they had to put Cal and Texas next to one another on their ballots. It didn’t change Texas and Cal’s position in either poll, but it was (finally) a fair assessment of both teams. The reason, ultimately, that Texas got the nod is because the computers ranked the Horns so much higher than Cal. And that, California, is not unfair. We’ll see you in the Sunshine State shortly…
--PB--
I understand that they’re disappointed. We at Texas are especially sympathetic, as we lost our BCS berth last year when Kansas State upset OU in the Big 12 title game. And I even agree that Mack Brown’s lobbying for votes was a little obnoxious.
However, with all that said, Cal has only themselves to blame. The only reason they were ahead of Texas to begin with is because voters were holding Texas’ narrow win over Kansas against them. So, Mack Brown asked the voters to watch Cal closely last Saturday night, as many of us did. Cal did not inspire in any way and barely beat Southern Mississippi.
Voters understandably came to the conclusion that it was not fair to hold a narrow victory over Kansas against Texas while simultaneously looking past a close Cal win over Southern Miss. Cal controlled its own destiny and it came up short. End of story.
Let’s not ignore the fact that the Big 12 is twice as good as the Pac 10, even in a year when the North is down. The Big 12 still managed to land seven bowl invitations. In the end, voters decided they had to put Cal and Texas next to one another on their ballots. It didn’t change Texas and Cal’s position in either poll, but it was (finally) a fair assessment of both teams. The reason, ultimately, that Texas got the nod is because the computers ranked the Horns so much higher than Cal. And that, California, is not unfair. We’ll see you in the Sunshine State shortly…
--PB--
