Beating a Dead Horse

Beating a Dead Horse

I know, I know, I’m sick of talking about the BCS system as much as you are, trust me. But for some reason, I think that for every column I write pointing out how idiotic the rankings are, let alone the concept of determining a national championship by rankings in the first place, I am performing a service in the interest of a nation sorely in need of shedding aside a black mark on its sporting landscape.

Let me preface this discussion by reminding everyone that last Saturday’s final score at Camp Randall was 83-20. This was a conference game, against an Indiana team that by all estimates should have been coming off a last minute victory over a top-20 team in Iowa. It wasn’t a non-conference farce against Austin Peay, Chattanooga, or some other FCS team paid to come up and perform the role of sacrificial lamb for a crowd of 80,000 plus red-clad homers.

This was a conference game. And yet winning by 63 points, tying the Big Ten record for points in the modern era, none of this mattered because while they stayed put at #7 in the BCS, Wisconsin somehow moved further away from #6 Stanford and is now just a measly .0055 points ahead of #8 Nebraska.

83-20. Against a conference opponent. Did I mention Stanford squeaked out a 17-13 4th quarter win over Arizona State, a 4-6 team just like Indiana?

My question is what exactly does the BCS want the Badgers to do in order to prove they are worthy of inching up the BCS standings? Is 100 points enough?

Obviously the answer is that nothing will ever do when the national media or whoever retains control over the BCS, because it isn’t really all that clear anymore, sees Indiana as another sacrificial lamb that just happens to belong to the Big Ten. The Iowa game? Fluke. Michigan? Lucky. Northwestern? Doesn’t count.

But Wisconsin was running up the score, why reward that?

There is a clear double-standard being set here. #5 LSU had a non-conference cupcake on their schedule with Louisiana-Monroe (4-6 also), kept their first string in the entire game and won 51-0.

But somehow this isn’t considered to be running up the score and Wisconsin’s win, despite taking the first string out midway through the 3rd quarter and finishing off the game with Nate Tice and the 3rd string offense, is unwarranted BCS pandering.

Should Coach Bielema call for a punt every time Indiana gives up the ball? The score may be lopsided, but this was nowhere near the threshold for criticism. The 2nd and 3rd string doesn’t get the opportunity to play every week and we cannot expect them to roll over so as to not hurt the Hoosiers’ feelings. This is their one chance and they should be given every opportunity to succeed out there just as the first team would in a tie game late in the 4th quarter.

I have already voiced my concerns about the ignorant acceptance of the SEC being the premier conference in college football, but I am starting to think the attraction with this group of schools is getting to be over the top.

It is enough that we criticize Big Ten teams for “cupcakes” like Arizona State (Pac-10, ever heard of it?) while allowing the likes of LSU and Auburn to schedule Chattanooga and Louisiana-Monroe without objection. But the double standard in terms of defining what constitutes “running up the score” is unacceptable. What one conference does to prove its prowess cannot be accepted as unsportsmanlike when done by a team in another, let alone when done in a conference game.

On the surface, Wisconsin moved further back because ASU and Kansas are slightly better opponents than Indiana and the BCS no longer allows the computers to account for score spread.

Still, when I hear people accuse this Badger program of running up the score, I cant help but think that there is a deeper level of disrespect, not only for Wisconsin, but for the Big Ten in general, that is truly keeping the Badgers outside the top-5.

With BCS rankings being the tiebreaker should OSU, MSU, and Wisconsin all win out, I am sure that the controversy is only beginning. In the meantime, at least basketball is back.