The past three Saturdays have seen three straight No. 1-ranked NCAA teams fall to their opponents on the road.
First, Alabama lost at South Carolina, then Ohio State lost at Wisconsin and Oklahoma lost at Missouri. It’s been nearly 50 years since No. 1 teams have lost three straight times.
To put that in perspective, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones each only had a few charting hits and people still drank at the office (outside of journalists, of course) – ŕ la Mad Men.
Can the streak continue this weekend?
Now the computer-generated Bowl Championship Series (BCS) No. 1 Auburn (8W-0L) plays at Ole Miss (3W-4L), so it is rather unlikely. Oregon (7W-0L), who is ranked No. 1 in the traditional human polls, plays at USC (5W-2L) in the primetime game on Oct. 30.
The Trojans are two late field goals away from also being undefeated, so they will likely pose a huge challenge to the visiting Ducks. Set the PVR for Hockey Night in Canada and watch what should be a classic Pac 10 shootout.
This is where most people get lost in the college football lexicon.
Why are there two different No. 1 teams? Why isn’t there a playoff system? Why are there 120 teams in Division One (or the Bowl Subdivision as its now known)?
I don’t have all the answers, nor is there a simple solution. An easy way of explaining it is that the old men running the NCAA made dumb changes by adding the computer-element of the BCS (and by changing the name of the league), but haven’t made the right move by adopting some form of playoff to decide a true national champion – nor will they any time soon.
A No.1-ranked team around these parts also had a tough loss last week. The provincial high school Tier 3 No. 1 Cochrane Cobras fell 40-34 to the resurgent Catholic Central Cougars (a certain sports reporter’s alma mater) in Lethbridge on Oct. 22. It was only an exhibition game, and the Cobras likely rested a number of its starters for this weekend’s Tier 3 final, but I’ll take it.
