<a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/16118568/no-20-michigan-expects-robinson-to-face-nebraskatag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/16118568/no-20-michigan-expects-robinson-to-face-nebraskaMon, 14 Nov 2011 23:36:41 GMT">Michigan's Robinson set for Huskers
<a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/gametracker/preview/NCAAF_20111022_NE@MN/nebraskaminnesota-previewtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/gametracker/preview/NCAAF_20111022_NE@MN/nebraskaminnesota-previewWed, 19 Oct 2011 03:09:46 GMT">Nebraska-Minnesota Preview
I have been attending Virginia Tech football games since I was about 7 years old — both of my parents are Hokie alumni, I graduated with my brother in 2010 and my sister is currently attending. Needless to say, our family is full of Hokie fanatics.
This past summer I was sporting a Tech hat on the beach in Corolla, N.C. when I noticed two Nebraska
<a href="http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/18409/booing-players-not-acceptabletag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/18409/booing-players-not-acceptableTue, 04 Oct 2011 03:22:47 GMT">Booing players not acceptable
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<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska%E2%80%99s-new-and-improved-offensive-scheme-displaytag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska’s-new-and-improved-offensive-scheme-displayFri, 14 Oct 2011 17:07:11 GMT 00:00">Nebraska's New and Improved Offensive Scheme on Display
<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/where-do-nebraska-cornhuskers-go-heretag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/where-do-nebraska-cornhuskers-go-hereTue, 04 Oct 2011 15:01:43 GMT 00:00">Where do the Nebraska Cornhuskers Go from Here?
<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska%E2%80%99s-taylor-martinez-still-impossible-figure-outtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska’s-taylor-martinez-still-impossible-figure-outMon, 12 Sep 2011 16:02:59 GMT 00:00">Nebraska's Taylor Martinez is Still Impossible to Figure Out
It seems awfully early for this, but as a college football coach would tell you, it is what it is. And what is it? It's time for blowouts. The worse they are, the better they are. I'm talking about two teams, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. They need the blowouts.
The worse, the better.
And both schools know it.
You saw Saturday's scores, right? Oklahoma squeaked past Ball State 62-6, with Landry Jones throwing for 425 yards and five touchdowns, getting his fifth touchdown pass late in the third quarter with the Sooners gamely clinging to a 45-6 lead.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, laid a 48-17 stomping on Nebraska, welcoming the Cornhuskers to the Big Ten by delivering a message -- although not to Nebraska. A few minutes into the third quarter, Nebraska already had received its memo: The Big Ten wasn't going to just roll over and play dead for the Cornhuskers, and that was clear when Wisconsin scored to make it 34-14.
But the message to the pollsters -- the human element of the BCS -- hadn't been delivered to Wisconsin's liking just yet, so the Badgers poured it on, adding two more touchdowns. In the fourth quarter the final TD was a 15-yard run by Montee Ball, who gained 151 yards but was still on the field with 5:11 left to score his fourth touchdown and make it 48-17. Ball might have gone for five touchdowns and a 55-17 margin had Nebraska not run out the clock on the ensuing possession.
Understand something: I'm not faulting Wisconsin at all -- and I'm not faulting Oklahoma very much, even if it was unseemly for the Sooners to have Landry Jones throwing his fifth TD pass in the second half with the score already 45-6. I mean, this wasn't Wisconsin picking on someone its own size in Nebraska, a fellow Big Ten member and a powerhouse in its own right. Ball State is a school from the MAC, and compared to the resources and talent available to Oklahoma, the Cardinals are closer to Division I-AA than a BCS league.
Otherwise, though, it's hard for me to get worked up about the overkill instinct shown by the Sooners -- or by the Badgers a week earlier, when they beat Division I-AA South Dakota 59-10 and had Heisman candidate Russell Wilson still throwing passes in the fourth quarter. This is the world we live in. This is the BCS, for better or worse.
And these are the voters we're stuck with -- the coaches and the AP voters, even if the AP poll isn't part of the BCS anymore. It might as well be, seeing how the lemmings in the Harris Poll, which will be released for the first time next week, do little more than parrot the AP poll. They're easily influenced, the human element. All of them. Coaches, media, the lemmings in the Harris Poll. They're suckers for a blowout, so Oklahoma and Wisconsin will give them what they want.
Already Oklahoma has been burned by taking its foot off a foe's neck. While the No. 1 Sooners were beating Missouri 38-28 on Sept. 24 -- it was 38-21 until the final 30 seconds -- No. 2 LSU was using its starters to score a final touchdown with three minutes left in a 47-21 blowout at West Virginia, and a day later the AP poll jumped LSU ahead of Oklahoma for No. 1.
That came one week after Oklahoma defeated No. 5 Florida State 23-13 on the road. The Sooners were at the FSU 10 in the final minute, but OU coach Bob Stoops had Landry Jones take a knee, twice, to run out the clock. You think Stoops regrets that now? Oklahoma has won three games in a row, all of them comfortably, and dropped from first to second to third. Any wonder the Sooners beat the hell out of Ball State on Saturday? Not that it did any good, with Alabama moving ahead of Oklahoma into No. 2 in the AP poll after its 38-10 victory at Florida.
This is the system we have, a BCS that devotes two-thirds of its equation to the human element. And humans suck. We're just not any good at sifting through all the information to make a logical choice. We look at scores and margins and ignore things like, you know, Landry Jones taking a knee in the final minute at the FSU 10. Twice.
Oklahoma and Wisconsin know what's at stake, believe me. Things could change, but it looks like LSU or Alabama will play in the BCS title game. The opponent figures to be Oklahoma or Wisconsin, depending on which one can impress the human element more. Oklahoma remains No. 1 in the coaches poll, but that position is tenuous. Two weeks ago the Sooners received 50 of the coaches' 59 first-place votes. Two wins later, the Sooners are down to 27 first-place votes.
Meanwhile, LSU and Alabama are first and second in the AP poll -- again: Harris voters merely copy the AP poll -- while Oklahoma and Wisconsin are third and fourth. If neither Oklahoma nor Wisconsin loses, one figures to get screwed. Given that, and given the roughly $20 million at stake for a spot in the BCS title game, the Sooners and Badgers have no choice but to pour it on, run it up, do whatever they can to impress the impressionable human element of the BCS.
It isn't right.
But it is what it is.
<a href="http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/15680304/blame-bcs-not-badgers-and-sooners-for-blowoutstag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/15680304/blame-bcs-not-badgers-and-sooners-for-blowoutsMon, 03 Oct 2011 16:29:49 GMT 00:00">Blame BCS, not Badgers and Sooners, for blowouts
<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/will-weak-non-conference-schedule-hurt-nebraskatag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/will-weak-non-conference-schedule-hurt-nebraskaWed, 07 Sep 2011 14:01:23 GMT 00:00">Will Weak Non-Conference Schedule Hurt Nebraska?
<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/why-doesn%E2%80%99t-nebraska-have-100000-seat-stadiumtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/why-doesn’t-nebraska-have-100000-seat-stadiumThu, 25 Aug 2011 15:14:26 GMT 00:00">Why Doesn't Nebraska Have a 100000-Seat Stadium?
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Opposing Views, Inc. and its affiliates are not responsible for the content posted on thie website. Please view full disclaimer under Terms.
<a href="http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska-realizes-offense-needs-improvementtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.opposingviews.com/i/sports/ncaa-football/big-ten/nebraska-realizes-offense-needs-improvementFri, 09 Sep 2011 16:10:17 GMT 00:00">Nebraska Realizes that Offense Needs Improvement