Finished Before You Even Began

I am now the Sports Editor of the Indiana Statesman, so I will be writing many columns this semester. Here is my first as published in the Statesman:

It is soon to be September and you know what that means - it is football season and more importantly, college football season. Millions of rabid fans have been yearning for this day since the final whistle of the Bowl Championship Series national championship game in January.

Every newspaper, every sports magazine, anyone who is anyone in sports has some version of rankings and everyone wants to see how their team stacks up this season.

Fans of the University of Southern California can rejoice at their No. 1 ranking and know they have a lot to look forward to this year, and fans of No. 24 ranked Boise State can begin talking about how underrated they are after going undefeated and winning what is considered by many the best college football game ever in their Fiesta Bowl upset last season.

And that would be wonderful - that is if these were merely preseason rankings like any other sport, that don't mean anything more than one writer's opinion. But they aren't.

Without a playoff system in place, rankings mean more in college football than any other sport. These rankings tell us who may even have a shot at the college football championship.

Only the top two BCS ranked teams after week 15 compete for the championship at the end of the season which are determined using the Harris Poll, the USA Today Poll and computer rankings. So that third spot is like finishing fourth in the Olympics - so close, yet so far away.

Last season, Boise State finished the year undefeated, the only team to claim that feat in the BCS, but they were not awarded the championship. They were not ranked high enough by the end of the year to have a chance in the BCS championship.

When writers send in their ballots for their rankings, they often take the current rankings and decide for the ones that won, how significant their win was, and for those that lose, how significant their loss was. So where they begin in the rankings make a big difference.

Boise State wasn't even in the Top 25 when the season began, but would slowly gain recognition and appearance in the rankings after the first quarter of the season. By week 13 they had climbed into the Top 10, but their pre-bowl season was over at 12-0, one of two undefeated teams left.

They gained one more spot by week 15, which would determine who would fight for the national championship. However, only the top two contend for the championship.

Fluke incident? Ask Auburn. Its 2004 run is very similar, beginning at No. 17 and climbing to No. 3 by week 15, but was cheated out of a chance at the championship, even going undefeated for the season.

So USC and Louisiana State fans, go ahead and buy your BCS Championship ticket now. Ohio State and Louisville fans, good luck, because there's a long road ahead of you. Boise State and Texas A&M fans, look on the bright side: tickets to a minor bowl game are normally much cheaper.