The Politics of College Football

With the country buzzing after a wild Saturday in the world of college football, little was said about the major hiccup taking place right before our eyes. In an environment where most teams are forced to do their talking on the field, reputation and politics is currently becoming more relevant than accomplishments and records. Most of the country agrees that Notre Dame belongs at the top of the college football world, but the envied spots just below are coveted by many one loss hopefuls, leading to a disturbing end to another controversial season. Yes, there are in fact remaining games to be played, but for the most part the minds have been made up who should play for the title. After Kansas State and Oregon, the top two ranked teams in the country, both lost on Saturday, many teams moved up and gained a new life. That’s where the controversy really begins. As we all know Alabama is the poster child in college football right now, and the SEC is considered the closest thing to the NFL as we’ve ever had. As dominant as they have been over the years, reputation doesn’t win games, and shouldn’t affect ranking either. Alabama somehow gets a pass on these things, and gets ranked and talked about strictly by reputation rather than results. Right now you may not believe what I am saying is true, but when you look at the Alabama schedule it is less than impressive. This season Alabama has ONE top ten win, which was against LSU. The only other win Alabama can brag about is a week one win over Michigan. For those of you that don’t follow college football, Michigan is currently ranked 19, and after this weekend will probably be knocked out of the top 25 once again this season. That will leave Alabama with one win on the season against ranked teams. They also have a loss, against a team that lost to both Florida and LSU previously in the season, and both these teams are currently ranked behind Alabama. Here’s where things get even more interesting. Florida is also a one loss team with its only loss coming to 3rd ranked Georgia at a neutral site. Florida beat LSU worse than Alabama did, and was able to beat Texas A&M in College Station. Of all the ranked teams, Florida is probably being cheated the most. The final issue I have with Alabama being ranked number two in the country comes in the coaches’ poll. Last week Alabama was ranked behind Georgia, but after a win against Western Carolina they jumped nearly 50 points and passed the Bulldogs. I don’t know how or why this happened, but it sure stinks from where I am sitting. Yes we all know the Tide can play with and beat anyone on any given Saturday, but the way college football goes so can anyone else. If the season ended today the Irish would be underdogs in a game against Alabama, and would probably get beat. That doesn’t mean Alabama deserves to be in the game. Florida plays its fourth top ten ranked team this season on Saturday against Florida State, and in my opinion a win there should push them forward. Last season our nation's champion did not win their conference, or play in the championship game for that matter. This season should be no different, and hopefully voters can put away history and start going by facts. Follow me on Twitter @DFWsportscreed