12-08-2004, 05:20 PM
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#43 (permalink)
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Rail Baron
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Dont worry about Utah. they'll get beat solidly by Pitt.
And as for Auburn's strength of schedule, they weren't supposed to be penalized for playing citadel...it wasn't there fault.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6632801/
Quote:
Auburn's life lesson?
Avoid I-AA teams
No. 3 Tigers likely to miss BCS title game because of weak schedule
Auburn and coach Tommy Tuberville, with little or no chance of playing for the BCS Championship, are probably wishing they hadn't played I-AA Citiadel now, writes NBCSports.com's Ray Melick.
COMMENTARY
By Ray Melick
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 4:03 a.m. ET Dec. 4, 2004
Blame it on Bowling Green.
That’s what Auburn fans will say, if the current BCS standings remain this way after Saturday’s conference championship games and the No. 3 Tigers are left standing on the outside looking in.
Blame it on Bowling Green, because the Falcons of the Mid-America Conference were scheduled to play Auburn this fall, but last spring asked out of the game against the Tigers to play — of all teams — Oklahoma.
Blame it on Bowling Green, because after the Falcons bought their way out of playing Auburn, it left the Tigers’ scrambling to find an available team, which turned out to be The Citadel.
So here we are, at the end of the season, with Auburn apparently boxed out of the national championship, just percentage points behind Oklahoma.
And why? For all the arguments for and against both the Tigers and Sooners, the underlying theme seems to always come back to strength of schedule.
Which brings us back to Bowling Green. The Falcons are 8-3, including the 40-24 loss to Oklahoma in the first game of the season. Auburn’s replacement, The Citadel, is a I-AA team with a 3-7 record, including the 33-3 loss to Auburn back in week four.
Take The Citadel out and put Bowling Green back on Auburn’s schedule, and the Tigers’ non-conference opponents’ schedule of Louisiana Monroe (5-6), Louisiana Tech (6-6) and Bowling Green (8-3) looks considerably better. Perhaps even better than Oklahoma’s non-conference schedule of Houston (3-8), Oregon (5-6) and the aforementioned Falcons.
Who knew that Bowling Green could be so important?
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