Imperfect Perfection

The BCS Carousel Picks Up Steam

By Chris Landers

You could almost hear the laughter on Saturday night, as Ohio State got all it could handle and more from a game Northwestern team. It was a sort of mix between national indifference and derision, the product of years of futility on the biggest stages. This is what the Big 10 has brought on itself, for better or worse — a narrow win on the road against the Wildcats, a very good team with a lot of speed and skill position talent, was turned into another punch-line.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Buckeyes cleared what might be their biggest hurdle this weekend in Evanston, their winning streak intact and another undefeated season in sight. Elsewhere, unbeaten Louisville keeps rolling along, blitzing cupcake after cupcake on their way through the tissue-soft American Athletic Conference. You can see the BCS controversy brewing from a mile away; there are simply too many good teams at the top for everything to have sorted itself out by the time December rolls around — even if only two undefeated teams are left standing, there will be a whole lot more who want in on the conversation.

So the question must be posed, as we head deeper into the fall: Just how much is that perfect record worth? If, say, one-loss LSU runs the table the rest of the way, do they really deserve to be left out in the cold because a Big 10 team had a shinier record? 

Ohio State would be able to hang with the big boys better than people think, but the issue is whether or not they can earn the chance to prove it. They’ve looked less than dominant in back-to-back marquee matchups — Wisconsin and Northwestern and both good teams, but Ohio State failed to really separate itself in either game. The simple fact is that a one-loss SEC or Pac 12 team will have multiple wins that are more impressive than anything on Ohio State’s resume, and chances are that loss will be nothing to hang your head about.

Sticking with LSU, a 12-1 season would include wins over Florida, Alabama and Texas A&M at least — all of which would (and should) mean more to voters than a victory over Michigan. A tight loss on the road to Georgia would hardly seem reason enough to disqualify the Tigers from consideration, especially when the alternative is a team that has yet to prove itself as an elite team — and despite what we may think of them, the Buckeyes have yet to definitively prove that on the field.

The same can be said of Stanford and Oregon, Florida State and Clemson, Georgia and half the SEC West. All of those teams may suffer a tough loss somewhere down the line, but all of them will have plenty of quality wins to compensate. It may not be Ohio State’s fault, but the burden of proof falls on them, and so far they’ve come up short. Yes, Northwestern is underrated, and yes, a win at night on the road is a win at night on the road, but if the Buckeyes want to have a legitimate argument come December they need to do more.