really? what if Notre Dame and Texas go undefeated? ... or how about Ohio State and USC? I agree it's not likely, but it IS possible.....:thumb:
The context is championship game, so how could they be left out of something that didn't exist. The BCS came into play so that the top teams could meet. Nevertheless, you would have to go back to 92-93 to find three major undefeated teams pre-bowl. In 93, AU was one of them and on probation, so they were irrelevant. 1992, the first year of the conference championship games was the last time prior to 2004. Since the BCS formed the following teams with preseason rankings of 13 or higher made the BCS CG: 99 VaTech (13) 00 OU (19) 02 Ohio State (13) 03 LSU (14) The point is it is more likely if you are undefeated and from a big conference that you will make the CG regardless of your preseason ranking than not. 3 or more undefeateds happen, but not that often, especially with longer seasons and the conference CGs.
Your point is taken. Perhaps my argument would have been better supported had I said everyone in the top 5 ends up with just one loss. Should that accure, then our low preseason ranking would likely hurt us, leaving us out of the CG.
I haven't checked, but I would guess that the more common scenario would be 2 or more teams with the same record fighting for the last spot. But once you start dealing with losses other things come into play. Who did you lose to, when did you lose, where did you lose, circumstances of the loss, who did you beat... I think all these things are more important than preseason ranking.
Indeed those factors play a big part, but as we saw last year with Auburn, you can get screwed by low preseason rankings. As long as the system stays the way it is, we are sure to see plenty more teams get screwed in the future.
The question isn't will teams get screwed in the future, but rather will it happen less frequently than before the BCS? The system is not perfect, but it was a big improvement over the old "award a national championship to who ever we like" system.
Auburn did not get screwed by low preseason rankings; their SOS did them in. If you care to read an argument about it, read this thread. Auburn only got screwed in sense that a team like them should have had an opportunity to prove themselves on the field and not thru subjective judgement because there could be only two. I don't support large playoffs, but I do think there should be a 4 team playoff at the end.
