Margin of Victory: Why the computer rankings are destroying the BCS

Watching the BCS Countdown show is getting to be more frustrating that listening to Mark May on College Football Final.  Both Robert Smith and Craig James are complete morons, and Kirk Herbstreit continues to prove that he is the only college football analyst with a shred of intelligence and objectivity.

For those of you not tuning in, let's recap the rankings.

So what sticks out at you?  Hmmm...Oregon with an average computer ranking of 8?!  EIGHT?!?!?!  "How in the hell is this possible?", you ask yourself.  Well, it's simple.  The computers don't take into account margin of victory.  So when the Ducks rolled into Neyland Stadium in hallowed SEC country and dropped 48 on a Tennessee squad who could only muster 13?  No style points.  And when they rolled UCLA 60-13, the SAME UCLA team that embarrassed perennial Big 12 powerhouse Texas (yes, the same Texas that ruined Nebraska's unbeaten streak), all the computers saw was a win against a 3-4 Pac-10 foe.

Likewise, Boise St, who is 4th in the country with 47.5 points per game and 2nd in the country for points against at 12.3 (read, they blow teams out by an average of 35 points per game), doens't get credit for it.  It's all about who you beat.  Well we all know Boise's schedule isn't hot.  That's no secret.  But allowing 1/3 of our system to be decided by a computation that simply cannot measure the qualitative aspects of a victory and factor in a team's dominance is asinine.  Auburn, on the other hand, can squeak by Mississippi State, Clemson, South Carolina, and Kentucky, and beat an absolutely awful LSU team (that should have lost to Tennessee...see above for how Oregon faired against the same SEC foe), and the computers regard them as being the best team in the land.  Puh-lease.  Did you see what Arkansas did to Auburn with a backup quarterback?!  Both LaMichael James and Kellen Moore would have a freakin' field day against the Tigers.  The difference is, both Oregon and Boise can play defense as well.

Kirk Herbstreit gets this.  That's why he points out that as a football team, pure X's and O's, Boise State deserves more credit than they're getting.  Contrast that with those two ass clowns flanking the set in Robert Smith and Craig James, who Herbie flat out called to the mat on week in and week out looking for any reason to jump any AQ team du jour over both Boise and TCU.  Herbie even laughed at the idea of Boise and Missouri taking the field together, and was confident that Boise would "handle" Missouri.



But Robert Smith even went so far as to turn last week's (valid) argument that Oregon State isn't the same (read, they're much worse) without James Rodgers on it's head by claiming that Va Tech is a much different team than the one that Boise played in the beginning of the year and that - wait for it - HE WASN'T SURE IF BOISE WOULD EVEN BEAT THEM IF THEY PLAYED THE VIRGINIA TECH FROM TODAY.  Are you fucking kidding me?!  Who is this guy?!  Are you telling me that Oregon State losing their star player in the middle of the year is somehow on par with the fact that VaTech, who had ALL FREAKING YEAR to prepare for Boise, couldn't come out and knock them off even though they were at full strength?!  Is there even a more insulting assertion you could make against a team than to discredit one of their top wins by saying they couldn't do it again several weeks later?  Well then why even play the f'n games?!  Someone needs to take both Robert Smith and Craig James and lock them in a dark shed for a while, because it's clear that both of these dumbasses have concussions.  Where's Mike Leach when you need him?