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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Friday, March 29, 2024
Jack Baer

Column: Ohio State deserves their No. 2 ranking

That Alabama-Auburn game was awesome, quite possibly the greatest ending to a game of that significance we’ll see in our lifetime. But once the adrenaline had faded away, the question began to creep in. “Does Auburn jump Ohio State?”

Alabama losing has created an awkward situation. The SEC, host of the past seven national champions, is now locked out of the BCS title game.

ESPN especially has hammered this question home, with many of their analysts saying (in between SEC Network commercials) that Auburn deserves the chance to play for a title.

A poll on ESPN’s website showed 33 percent of their visitors believed Ohio State doesn’t deserve to be in the title game, with a majority from the states housing teams that play in the SEC (and Michigan).

They even interviewed Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs on Sportscenter, who proclaimed the SEC champion missing the BCS title game would be “un-American.”

The very fact this question is being asked is an insult to the Big Ten and every team in it. That includes Wisconsin.

In the history of the BCS, no undefeated team from a power conference has ever been jumped by a one-loss team. But because the SEC is so historically powerful, we’re supposed to believe a team that can escape that conference with only one loss is better than a team that hasn’t lost since the 2011 season.

If we’re going to give the SEC credit this season for Florida and LSU being great more than five years ago, then we should give Ohio State credit for going 24-0.

Championships are about teams, not conferences. The Auburn Tigers lost its chance when they convincingly lost to LSU. Ohio State and Florida have given their audience no evidence that they don’t deserve to play for a title, while Auburn has.

The SEC is still probably the best conference in the country. But just because you have the best conference doesn’t mean you have the best team.

As for the “Auburn would definitely beat Ohio State, this is just politics” argument, are we really supposed to believe that a team lead by Urban Meyer (two time national champion in the SEC as Florida head coach) would have no chance against the SEC champion?

This is a man who owned the SEC at Saban-esque levels for four years, but since he now coaches in the Big Ten his team is now soft and would easily lose to the champion of his old conference.

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Sports gambling writer RJ Bell of Grantland has also said the Vegas consensus is that Ohio State would be a 2.5 point favorite in a hypothetical matchup against Auburn, so there’s that.

The all-SEC championship between LSU and Alabama in 2012 was bad enough. One loss Auburn jumping undefeated (for two years) Ohio State would be a debacle so idiotic that it would perfectly serve as a microcosm for why we are finally trading in the BCS for the better constructed college football playoff.

Personally, I don’t like Ohio State. Certain losses are still fresh in my mind and from my perceptions, they definitely come across as less than gracious in victory.

Yet, I’ll still argue that if Ohio State beats Michigan State on Saturday, they should play in Miami. Every vote in the following weekend that says otherwise should be taken as a clear middle finger to not just Ohio State, but to every team they have played.

Do you think that Ohio State should play in the national championship game over Auburn? Let Jack know what you think by emailing jfbaer@wisc.edu.

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