We're down to the nitty gritty now and, as predicted, we're havin' a helluva time figurin' out who's #4, or even #3 for that matter. Good grief!!
It seemed like everything was goin' along pretty smoothly the latter part of the season for "THE 12" (this is the number of idiots they put in charge of determinin' who the Final 4's gonna be). They got the beast of the college football world, Alabama, toolin' along at #1, the offensive freak show and bafflin' uniform colors of the Oregon Ducks snugged in there at #2, the "we're-hangin'-on-by-a-thread-every-week-against-suspect-competition-but-we're-still-undefeated" FSU Criminoles at #3, and the revolvin' door at #4! Most of the teams who paid that short visit to #4 got exposed from their early season charade as "Con-tenders" to, as then Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green so eloquently stated in a press conference followin' a NFL game, "They were who we thought they were" and as pertains to this group, that would be "Pre-tenders". I'm not hatin' on'em, just statin' the truth (which is not always purdy).
So now we get to the week before all the conference title games are tee in' it up and "THE 12" decide to jump TCU from #5 to #3 after whoopin' up on a 6-6 Texas team??? And FSU, after just beatin' their in-state rival Florida (also a paltry 6-6) and to remain the only unbeaten team on the planet, drops to #4?? What about Baylor who has the identical record to TCU but beat'em head-to- head? Is Baylor gonna be the BIG 12 champ while the #2 team in the conference goes to the Final 4 ahead of'em?? Why even play these games if yer not rewarded for the results? Do you smell a rat or is it just me? There's quite a few juicy conspiracy theories one could dream up and I'm gonna share one I thought was plausible.
All one needs to do when tryin' to figger a conspiracy is follow the money (sound familiar?). There's a number of interests who stand to make alotta money if this Final 4 thing goes over; namely the NCAA, TV networks and their sponsors; and it looks like THE 12 set up a big wampum wet dream matchup scenario for the Rose and Sugar Bowls no matter what happened the last week of the season. It's almost brilliant!! Check out this line of reasonin':
THE 12 had to make a few assumptions to create options fer the Final 4 matchups when rankin'em fer the next to last time . The two main presumptions are that 'Bama and the Ducks will win their games. Not a sure thing but more sure than not. So the #1 team gets to choose their venue, the Sugar or Rose Bowl, and naturally 'Bama will choose New Orleans. Now #1 plays #4, and #2 plays #3. This means Oregon at #2 would play FSU in the Rose Bowl if the Criminoles remained #3 and either TCU, Ohio State, or Baylor at #4 would face 'Bama in the Sugar. Not a terrible Sugar Bowl in any case but the Rose would be a stinker! FSU dudn't travel well in the ACC so why'd we expect'em to throw momma and 'em in the back of the Ford F150 fer a road trip to the land of fruits and nuts!! So THE 12 slides FSU back to #4 so now momma and 'em can have that road trip to New Orleans they've always dreamed about to watch Free Shoes U play Bama in the Sugar if only Jameis and the boys can hang on one more time and win their ACC championship game.
Here, in my opinion, is where the committee snapped hook one into the housin' development across the street from the golf course and kept this thing from bein' damn brilliant. They shoulda gone ahead and put Ohio State at #3 instead of TCU. Whether Ohio State is better is not the question. THE 12's already shown their brazen enough to drop the only undefeated team down to #4 for the Sugar Bowl matchup, why not just tee up another'en and swing fer the fences while we're long ballin' it and have a deja vu Rose Bowl matchup of the BIG 10 vs PAC 10 (or 12, or 14 or however many teams are in it now)? Of course in this scenario Ohio State would have to beat Wisconsin in the BIG 10 championship game to stay at #3 but if they did it'd be as good as it gets! Not fer you and me of course, but the networks and sponsors' d be shittin' themselves thinkin' 'bout how many Brinks trucks they're gonna need to make the deposits!
Ya see OSU fans know how to get to LA. They got used to goin' out to Pasadena near the first of the year fer the Rose Bowl long ago; and why not? I'd take any lame excuse I could find to get the hell outta Ohio, especially in the winter! But more importantly the networks got'em a university that can represent all those other non-football playin' school's fans in the Northern and Eastern part of the US of A. That'll keep a whole 'nother segment of the population engaged even it's if only fer one game.
They could still get this done but since TCU laid wood to Iowa State yesterday it'd be hard to swap OSU for TCU @ #3 even though the Buckeyes domination of the Badgers was very impressive. If this happens, be sure to have a wheelbarrow handy near the committee chamber to carry their nads to the car, and that includes Condi Rice! That'd take a huge pair but stranger things have happened. I think??!!
