The Shock Exchange and the entire country have grown tired of Nick Saban crying, whining, and politicking on behalf of the Alabama Crimson Tide and the SEC. Bama got whipped in the BCS by Michigan tonight 27-20, and it wasn’t a fluke either. Jim Harbaugh had his boys ready. How Michigan won was just as fitting. The Wolverines committed to smash mouth football and ran the ball right at Bama with its monstrous offensive line. Blake Corum scored on a 17-yard run in overtime to put the Wolverines up by seven. Corum made a nice jump cut at hole, broke two tackles and stumbled across the end zone.
On Bama’s last play of the game – fourth an goal – a Jalen Milroe was clapped in the backfield, ending the game.
The fourth down play was an odd call. Milroe had gotten major chunks of yards on quarterback draw plays on previous series. However, at the four-yard line the field was condensed and there was not a lot of misdirection available to fool the Wolverine defense, or space for Milroe to operate. The Shock Exchange was expecting a roll out that would give Milroe an opportunity to pass or run for it if he had an opening. The play call was abysmal and Nick Saban will blame the offensive coordinator or some other underling for the mishap. Look for Saban to fire somebody before the beginning of next year.
The fourth down play was symbolic because Bama tried to out-physical Michigan and couldn’t do it. Michigan and the Big Ten proved they could match up physically with an SEC powerhouse. Ohio State has been the only Big Ten team to prove it could control the line of scrimmage with an SEC champion. The world was watching and it will likely remove a major argument from the SEC as to why they should automatically be in the BCS.
Speaking of an automatic SEC bid in the BCS … the Shock Exchange told people that a one-loss Alabama team was going to the BCS. The committee did not disappoint:
The final four-team College Football Playoff selections are also arguably the most controversial in the CFP era, after the committee elected to rank one-loss, SEC champion Alabama ahead of undefeated, ACC champ Florida State, keeping the Seminoles from competing for a national championship. But not all rankings systems agreed with that decision, and that includes the old BCS computers.
Ever since the playoff era began, the BCS system was able to correctly predict every iteration of the final four, but that streak of predictions ended after the committee excluded the Seminoles in favor of Alabama. What would the BCS rankings look like? Here’s their final poll, thanks to the folks at BCSKnowHow.com.
However, the Shock Exchange thought the committee would leave out Texas and put undefeated Florida State in the BCS. The logic probably went like this: “We have to put Bama in it because we are beholden to Saban, Bama and the SEC. Texas beat Bama so, politically, we have to select Texas. Bama’s feelings are more important than Florida State’s feelings so we will shortchange FSU and the ACC.
Saban and the SEC politicked their way into the BCS. They got their comeuppance and the entire country is celebrating. Michigan’s win won’t put an end to Saban’s whining, but maybe people will stop listening to her him now.