Ohio State: Margin of Victory and Preseason Narrative Will Cost Them BCS Title Game Bid
By Ty Duffy
The Buckeyes are third in the BCS standings. Barring a Florida State or Alabama loss, they could go 25-0 the past two years and not reach the BCS title game. Some are questioning the fairness of keeping Urban Meyer and his team out of the title game. We thought we’d break down Ohio State’s merits vs. Florida State. Here is a breakdown of their respective schedules with Chase Stuart’s SRS.
These schedules, at least by this measure, are more or less identical. Ohio State fed on the bottom of the Big Ten. Florida State fed on the bottom of the ACC. Their best wins, Wisconsin and Clemson, came against good but not great opponents.
The differences? Well, we didn’t spend all off-season discussing how soft Florida State’s schedule was. So, they aren’t getting as much of a stigma as they perhaps should be. The major difference is margin of victory. It doesn’t factor in the formula. But flattening Clemson is certainly factoring in the voters’ minds. The best team Ohio State has beaten by more than 20 is Penn State.
Is it fair? No. But the BCS system has never been fair. One might ask why either one of those team’s resumés is more impressive than what an undefeated Baylor will have done, or Stanford going a potential 8-1 against the SRS Top 40.
[Photo via USA Today Sports]