Preacher wrote:When I was talking heavy weights I was referring to the powers not allowing midmajors in the NC game. I agree with the past two NC games and OSU. However had the Buckeyes beaten USC and Purdue they would have most assuredly been top 3. With the stumble against Nebraska I feel the Bucks would have jumped. We will never know because the above senerio did not occur. Alabama beat Texas in NC game. I do believe at the end of the year OSU is the 4th best team in Americal behind Bama, Texas, Florida .jmho
I can understand what you're saying, but I don't think I can agree for a combination of three reasons.
1. I think OSU would need to have a sizable advantage over any other undefeated team to get into the NC. There's just so much public perception against the Buckeyes that I can't see many human voters giving them the chance.
2. Beating USC and Purdue wouldn't have ended up this huge boost in an "us vs. Texas" deal. Purdue was a lousy team with one win when they played them. USC wound up being a good team, but not a national player. I don't know if they wound up with a resume impressive enough to convince voters to put them ahead of Texas after the Nebraska game.
3. Especially since they didn't win all their games impressively. Nebraska wasn't some chump. They were 9-3 or so and ranked around 15-17. OSU needed overtime to beat Iowa without their starting QB a handful of weeks previously. And in their final game, they seemed VERY conservative against Michigan...where they looked to get a lead and just hold it. If they were unbeaten at this point and beat Michigan, say, 44-7, AFTER dominating Iowa and their inexperienced QB like it looked like they would do for a good portion of that game, I would agree with you. But blowing a sizable lead and needing OT against Iowa and then playing it close-to-the-vest against Michigan didn't have us ending the season with that "they could crash the party" feeling.
If you add the "win decisively every week" stipulation to the "undefeated" one, I can see myself agreeing with you.