BCS Report Week 14: Auburn to Face Oregon in BCS National Championship Game
With three undefeated teams in the top three spots of the final BCS poll, the BCS National Championship Game between the Auburn Tigers and Oregon Ducks is darn near the perfect matchup.
Undefeated TCU will play one-loss Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and a Badger win will remove all discussion about who the top two teams are.
The BCS has again given us a regular season playoff, and I would like to look at the key playoff games that brought us to another bowl season where one bowl is for everything and the other bowls are for pride.
Auburn's Playoff Games
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In order to get into the national title bowl game, you have to win every game. That is the safest bet to get there because even one loss can be one too many.
That means that every game Auburn played was a playoff game, but two stick out in my mind.
The first was on October 23 versus the LSU Tigers. Both teams were undefeated going into the game, so when Auburn won it 24-17, they controlled their own destiny. Cam Newton had a signature play on a touchdown scoring run, and lucky Les Miles fell short.
The second playoff game that sticks out is the November 26 Iron Bowl versus Alabama. Down 24-0 in the second quarter, the Tigers saved their perfect season with a championship rally.
The Playoff Game for Oregon
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Like Auburn, every game for Oregon was a playoff game, and they won them all. Darron Thomas, as a first-year starting quarterback, led the Ducks through their amazing regular season where they were only tested once for all four quarters.
LaMichael James ran a solid Heisman campaign, and second-year coach Chip Kelly used a frenetic style of play to wear down each and every opponent.
The October 2 game against Stanford was their main playoff game, and since Stanford ended the year with only one loss, this game truly decided the Pac-10 winner and who would crack the top two of the final BCS poll.
Andrew Luck, the Stanford Heisman hopeful, led the Cardinal to an early lead, but Stanford wilted in the second half as the Ducks ran away with the win.
TCU's Perfect Season Ends in the Rose Bowl
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Being in the Mountain West Conference, the TCU Horned Frogs were also in a playoff game every week. Like Oregon, they really were not tested all year long, as only two of their games were decided by single digits.
Their November 6 matchup with the Utah Utes was a playoff game for both teams. TCU's decisive win put Andy Dalton and the Horned Frogs on their way to being a BCS buster for the second straight year. The loss by Utah led them into a small slump that included a loss to Notre Dame.
Wisconsin will be their Rose Bowl opponent, and a TCU win there will begin an endless debate as to how good this team is.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Boise State's Lone Loss
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Boise State was 1-1 in its regular season playoff games.
On September 6, Kellen Moore led a late drive to beat Virginia Tech. On November 26, the Broncos let one slip away against the Nevada Wolf Pack.
I still think this Boise State team is one of the best teams in the country, but as a WAC team, they will not be in a BCS bowl game this year. They will not even be playing on New Year's Day.
They do have a nice matchup with Utah on December 22.
Wisconsin
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As the highest ranked Big Ten team in the final BCS poll, the Wisconsin Badgers will play in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champ.
The Badgers went 1-1 in their playoff games this year. On October 2, they lost on the road to Michigan State.
On October 16, the Badgers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Iowa beat Michigan State and Wisconsin beat Iowa to stay in the one-loss tier of teams that included both Michigan State and Ohio State.
After a year when they ran up the score on three separate occasions, the Badgers face another tough test against TCU.
The Curious Case of Michigan State
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After a scintillating overtime win over Notre Dame on September 18, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio had a minor heart attack. The Spartans kept on winning, including a playoff game against Wisconsin on October 2.
They did not have Ohio State on their schedule, so they controlled their own destiny for a trip to the Rose Bowl and possibly the national title game.
The Spartans had a miserable first half in their second playoff game on October 30 against Iowa, and now they are not going to a BCS bowl at all.
The BCS is unfair in a lot of ways, and the case against Michigan State is another example. Ohio State gets the nod for the Sugar Bowl over Michigan State, and it is really a shame. The Buckeyes are going to their sixth straight BCS bowl game, whereas this would have been Michigan State's first trip to a BCS bowl.
More than likely Ohio State will be playing in the BCS next year, but this might have been one of those magical seasons for a Michigan State football program that has not had the tradition of the Buckeyes.
The Spartans do get a matchup with SEC power Alabama, and a win over the Tide would be a nice cap to what has been a really nice season.
The SEC
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Auburn is in the BCS National Championship Game.
Alabama spent a quarter of the season as the No. 1 team in the nation.
Florida earned seven wins in a rebuilding year, and the Gators are in the news with the resignation of Urban Meyer.
Steve Spurrier took South Carolina to its first SEC title game.
The Arkansas victory over LSU on November 27 is the game that determined which SEC team would get the second bid to the BCS.
The SEC and Big Ten match up in three big bowl games this bowl season. Florida plays Penn State in the Outback Bowl. Alabama and Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl. Ohio State and Arkansas meet in the Sugar Bowl.
The two conferences also meet in a small bowl game when Mississippi State plays Michigan in the Gator Bowl.
All in all, there are nine SEC schools going to bowl games out of a conference with 12 teams. Auburn is going for the SEC's fifth straight national title.
This conference is literally an NFL farm system.
The Big Least
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I have done the conference power rankings every week this season. The Big East was in my Week 1 Report as the sixth best conference, and that was their only appearance in the power rankings all year for me.
They were never rated higher than the Mountain West. The Big East did take the best team out of the Mountain West, TCU, and added them to their conference for next year.
This terrible conference had to have a winner, and that winner has to go to a BCS game. That winner is the 8-4 Connecticut Huskies. They get to play the Big 12 champ, Oklahoma, in the Fiesta Bowl.
BCS Picks
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The Rose Bowl
I like TCU to beat Wisconsin.
The Orange Bowl
Stanford over Va Tech in a really good game, which is rare for the Orange Bowl.
The Fiesta Bowl
Boomer Sooner as they demolish the Huskies.
The Sugar Bowl
I like Ohio State to actually beat an SEC team in Arkansas.
The BCS National Championship Game
Oregon has worn out every team on its schedule, and Auburn is the next team on its schedule, so I am going to take the Ducks to win the national title.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
