After all is said and done, I must, begrudgingly, accept Alabama as my national champion.
Perhaps if LSU had kept it closer, they might have an argument for a split title. Perhaps if Oklahoma State didn’t need overtime to beat an overrated Stanford team, they might have an argument for a split title. But Alabama did what they need to, and now they’re the national champions.
Frankly, this is one of those years where the best solution might be no national champion. None of the teams involved are all that attractive. One good thing about a potential playoff system is that at least any potential champion has spent time building an aura of “champion-ness” by winning the games we consider to have the most value. Perhaps Alabama, or Oklahoma State, or even LSU would seem more legitimate by beating some number of teams along the way.
How the C Ratings are tabulated: First, A Ratings are tabulated by multiplying the total score ratio, which is expressed by (points-opponents’ points)/points, by the winning percentage. Score ratio minimizes the effect of running up the score. Next, B Points for each game are tabulated by (margin of victory)/(opponent’s A rating)+/-1 for wins, and -(margin of loss)/(1-opponent’s A Rating)+/-1 for losses. The “+/-” is + for road games and – for home ones. The total number of B Points is multiplied by the A Rating to get the B Rating. Finally, the C Rating is tabulated by taking one-tenth the difference between the team’s B Rating and the average of his opponents’ B Ratings and taking the result off the B Rating. The three ratings go A, B, C across. Click here to see the complete ratings.
1 | Alabama | SEC #1 | ’06 Boise St. | ||||||
12-1 | LW: #3 | A Rat: .796 | B Rating: | 67.874 | C Rating: | 59.634 | AP: 1 | BCS: 1 | |
Say what you will about the BCS system, it is true what the Tide fans are saying: they won the one that counted. | |||||||||
2 | LSU | SEC #2 | SEC Champ. | ||||||
13-1 | LW: #1 | A Rat: .720 | B Rating: | 64.064 | C Rating: | 56.912 | AP: 2 | BCS: 2 | |
On the plus side, Les Miles proved this year that his first national championship wasn’t just the result of inheriting Nick Saban’s players. | |||||||||
3 | Oklahoma State | B12 #1 | Fiesta Bowl | ||||||
12-1 | LW: #2 | A Rat: .651 | B Rating: | 55.805 | C Rating: | 47.798 | AP: 3 | BCS: 3 | |
Sorry, but national championship teams don’t need overtime to beat teams that didn’t win their conference. Can I seriously expect you to have beaten Alabama? | |||||||||
4 | Boise State | MWC #1 | Maaco Bowl | ||||||
12-1 | LW: #5 | A Rat: .717 | B Rating: | 47.456 | C Rating: | 38.482 | AP: 8 | Coaches: 6 | |
Kellen Moore ended his college career with a bang, blowing out an Arizona State team that looked like the third-best team in the Pac-10 at one point this season. | |||||||||
5 | Wisconsin | B10 #1 | Big 10 Champ. | ||||||
11-3 | LW: #4 | A Rat: .594 | B Rating: | 36.909 | C Rating: | 29.645 | AP: 10 | Coaches: 11 | |
The Badgers kept it close enough against the Ducks that they don’t move below them. | |||||||||
6 | Houston | USA #1 | TicketCity | ||||||
13-1 | LW: #8 | A Rat: .695 | B Rating: | 38.024 | C Rating: | 29.006 | AP: 18 | Coaches: 14 | |
Houston proved their season wasn’t a fluke in demolishing a good Penn State team. | |||||||||
7 | Oregon | P12 #1 | Rose Bowl | ||||||
12-2 | LW: #6 | A Rat: .611 | B Rating: | 34.317 | C Rating: | 28.226 | AP: 4 | Coaches: 4 | |
The win over Wisconsin wasn’t impressive and the Pac-12 didn’t do that great in the bowls, but it took Stanford losing to a top-3 team for people to realize, “Wait, Oregon won this conference and Stanford didn’t for a reason.” | |||||||||
8 | Oklahoma | B12 #2 | Insight Bowl | ||||||
10-3 | LW: #7 | A Rat: .534 | B Rating: | 31.655 | C Rating: | 26.064 | AP: 16 | Coaches: 15 | |
Big win over Iowa didn’t do much to impress the voters in the final standings. | |||||||||
9 | Michigan | B10 #2 | Sugar Bowl | ||||||
11-2 | LW: #10 | A Rat: .586 | B Rating: | 22.677 | C Rating: | 18.480 | AP: 12 | Coaches: 9 | |
Yes, it was Virginia Tech. Yes, it took overtime. But Michigan did their darndest to prove how deserving of a BCS bowl they really were. | |||||||||
10 | Stanford | P12 #2 | Fiesta Bowl | ||||||
11-2 | LW: #9 | A Rat: .617 | B Rating: | 23.190 | C Rating: | 17.428 | AP: 7 | Coaches: 7 | |
Luck and the Cardinal gave all they could, but Oklahoma State, in the end, was the better team, even if marginally so. | |||||||||
11 | Southern Miss | USA #2 | Hawaii Bowl | ||||||
12-2 | LW: #11 | A Rat: .586 | B Rating: | 21.956 | C Rating: | 14.893 | AP: 20 | Coaches: 19 | |
The win over Nevada did move them up a couple of spots in the polls, even though it was by only a touchdown. | |||||||||
12 | South Carolina | SEC #3 | Capital One | ||||||
11-2 | LW: #13 | A Rat: .576 | B Rating: | 15.962 | C Rating: | 12.501 | AP: 9 | Coaches: 8 | |
Big win over a good Huskers team isn’t enough to put the Cocks in the top ten, but Spurrier has definitely built an elite program. | |||||||||
13 | Arkansas | SEC #4 | Cotton Bowl | ||||||
11-2 | LW: #14 | A Rat: .557 | B Rating: | 16.227 | C Rating: | 11.767 | AP: 5 | Coaches: 5 | |
Arkansas didn’t quite blow K-State out of the water, and South Carolina is still ahead of them, but they do move up across the board even if they were overrated already. | |||||||||
14 | TCU | MWC #2 | MWC Champ. | ||||||
11-2 | LW: #12 | A Rat: .606 | B Rating: | 17.332 | C Rating: | 11.036 | AP: 14 | Coaches: 13 | |
Sorry, but I’m not going to give TCU the benefit of the doubt when they needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Louisiana Tech. | |||||||||
15 | USC | P12 #3 | ’09 Boise St. | ||||||
10-2 | LW: #15 | A Rat: .559 | B Rating: | 11.199 | C Rating: | 6.697 | AP: 6 | SBNBlog: 12 | |
As I expected, with almost everyone back and the team off probation people are talking up USC as a preseason national championship favorite… so why am I hearing about so many transfers leaving? | |||||||||
16 | Florida State | ACC #1 | Chmps Sprts | ||||||
9-4 | LW: #20 | A Rat: .483 | B Rating: | 9.244 | C Rating: | 5.335 | AP: 23 | Coaches: 23 | |
It was a low-scoring, tight game, but it was over a very good team, ranked ahead of them in the rankings, so a big move for the Seminoles. | |||||||||
17 | Toledo | MAC #1 | Military Bowl | ||||||
9-4 | LW: #19 | A Rat: .422 | B Rating: | 8.725 | C Rating: | 5.136 | — | — | |
Bit too close for comfort against a 7-6 team to justify ranking them for half the year, but at least they won, which teams below them can’t say. | |||||||||
18 | Georgia | SEC #5 | |||||||
10-4 | LW: #16 | A Rat: .462 | B Rating: | 7.658 | C Rating: | 4.876 | AP: 19 | Coaches: 20 | |
Georgia fought valiantly for three overtimes before falling to a very good Spartans team. | |||||||||
19 | Notre Dame | ||||||||
8-5 | LW: #17 | A Rat: .361 | B Rating: | 6.954 | C Rating: | 4.242 | — | — | |
The Golden Domers should have mixed feelings about their season. On one hand, they’re 8-5. On the other, their losses were like their Champs Sports bowl: they fought hard to the end. | |||||||||
20 | Texas A&M | B12 #3 | Meineke C. C. | ||||||
6-6 | LW: #23 | A Rat: .336 | B Rating: | 6.519 | C Rating: | 2.957 | — | — | |
A&M not only showed Northwestern how good they’ve really been, they did so in a big way, albeit close to home. But still no one is noticing. | 21 | Virginia Tech | ACC #2 | ||||||
11-3 | LW: #18 | A Rat: .502 | B Rating: | 5.976 | C Rating: | 2.893 | AP: 21 | Coaches: 17 | |
Virginia Tech fought hard to prove they belonged in a BCS bowl, but the only reason it went to overtime was that people had doubts about their opponent too. | |||||||||
22 | West Virginia* | BST #1 | Prncton/Yale | ||||||
10-3 | LW: #29 | A Rat: .470 | B Rating: | 4.565 | C Rating: | 1.812 | AP: 17 | Coaches: 18 | |
What an embarrassment for the ACC. What a statement by the Mountaineers. | |||||||||
23 | Northern Illinois | MAC #2 | GoDaddy.com | ||||||
11-3 | LW: #27 | A Rat: .473 | B Rating: | 4.414 | C Rating: | -.614 | — | — | |
One of the Huskies’ strongest seasons during their recent run even earned them quite a few poll votes. | |||||||||
24 | Missouri* | B12 #4 | Independence | ||||||
8-5 | LW: #31 | A Rat: .380 | B Rating: | .432 | C Rating: | -1.991 | — | — | |
The Tigers say goodbye to the Big 12 on a high note with a big win over North Carolina. | |||||||||
25 | Rutgers (9-4, .428, -.361, -2.804) |
BST #2 | Pinstripe |
2010 TCU Title: #31 Baylor (10-3), .447, -1.730, -4.030
Off Top 25: #26 Michigan State (was #24), #27 Nebraska (was #21), #34 Penn State (was #25), #37 Clemson (was #23)
Watch List: #26 Michigan State
Other Positive B Ratings: #28 Ohio, #30 Temple* (*=Newly Positive)
No Longer Positive: #27 Nebraska, #29 Louisiana Tech, #32 Utah State, #37 Clemson, #40 Arkansas State
Best game of year: LSU @ Alabama / BCS Championship Game: Alabama v. LSU (tie)