The Florida Gators, Barack Obama, and College Football

by mlmintampa on Apr 22, 2009 12:17 PM EDT in Florida Football

Thursday, the Gators will be in Washington, visiting with President Barack Obama at the White House. As some of you remember, President Obama, on several occasions, advocated a playoff. That has led to one of the stupidest articles ever written on this series of tubes; advocating not going to the White House since Obama wants a playoff when UF has benefited from a non-playoff.

As happens, to good writers and bad, one comment by the President is used to make a point rather than the whole quote. So, here is that quote, with emphasis made by me.

"Congratulations Gators on an outstanding season. Tebow is great. Wouldn't you feel better if you had beat every team that was out there through a playoff system? I love you, but I think they could have taken on anybody through the playoff system. By the way one of our secret service guys, his son [Marcus Gilbert], is a tackle on the Florida Gators so I have a soft spot for them."

Without the qualifying sentences, the third sentence isn't exactly a rousing endorsement of the Gators season. But, it follows the same like of thinking as the 'Monday Night Football' and '60 Minutes' interviews. The idea that Obama has something against the Gators is laughable, considering Florida was never higher than 4th in the BCS, until they defeated Alabama. Should Alabama and Oklahoma fans have their panties in a twist because Obama advocated a playoff when their teams were 1 and 2?

The other part is that Florida does benefit from a playoff system. What the hell do you think the SEC Championship Game is? An exhibition game? What about the Big 12 Championship Game? Didn't the winners of those two games play in the National Championship? Wouldn't that be, um, a playoff? Maybe Texas has a beef, but the BCS standings in 2008 created a mini-final four with No. 1 Alabama playing No. 4 Florida and No. 2 Oklahoma playing for a spot in the National Championship Game. Without a playoff in the SEC, you would have seen Sarah Jessica Parker Wilson in Miami as the SEC representative, not Tim Tebow.

I'm sure people will be upset will be upset to see Obama with the Gators because they are Republican, or they think Obama has better things to do. But to use Obama's preference for a playoff is stupid, when a playoff game was the only way for Florida to get to the National Championship Game.

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Comments

It's a tradition.

Get over it, people.

WBULTV - BDale TV Prod

by bdalebs on Apr 22, 2009 3:00 PM EDT reply actions

Actually, a playoff game makes the SEC Championship Game almost irrelevant

It’s rarely going to be an elimination game. Either both teams are likely strong enough to both get into most of the current proposed playoff (Florida and Alabama, for example), or one of the teams is going to be good enough to get in no matter what happens. Alabama and Florida was better knowing that one team would go the championship and one would go to the Sugar Bowl.

Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.

by cocknfire on Apr 22, 2009 11:44 PM EDT reply actions

Testing that theory...

1998: #1 Tennessee vs #23 MSU – If MSU had won, UT would have fallen out of the top 4 (there were six other BCS conference one-loss teams), and MSU would not have jumped 19 spots
1999: #4 Florida vs #7 Alabama – Alabama just barely sneaked into the BCS top 4 with a win (they were #5 in the AP poll); Florida would have stayed there with a win, and didn’t with a loss
2000: #7 Florida vs #18 Auburn – even with a win, UF didn’t make it into the top 4; Auburn could not have
2001: #2 Tennessee vs #21 LSU – UT fell out of the top 4 with a loss; LSU had no chance of getting there
2002: #4 Georgia vs #22 Arkansas – Georgia easily stayed in the top 4 with a win; with 7 2-loss major-conference/ND teams, they would have fallen out with a loss; Arkansas had no chance of making the top 4
2003: #5 Georgia vs #3 LSU – LSU stayed in the top 4 with a win, but Georgia likely would have replaced them if they had won, though there’s a slim chance both would have been in the top 4 after a narrow Georgia win
2004: #15 Tennessee vs #3 Auburn – Auburn stayed in the top 4 with a win, but a loss would likly have dropped them out (Cal’s only loss was to USC, Utah was undefeated, Texas’ only loss was to Oklahoma)
2005: #13 Georgia vs #3 LSU – Georgia won, knocking LSU out of the top 4, and didn’t pick up enough to get in the top 4 themselves; LSU would have stayed #3 with a win
2006: #4 Florida vs. #8 Arkansas – Florida sayed in the top 4 with a win; Arkansas might have sneaked in the top 4 with a win, though given the psychology of poll voters, it’s quite possible an Arkansas win would have changed things from 2 SEC teams in the top 4 to none (because ranking LSU ahead of Arkansas would have seemed silly, and ranking Arkansas ahead of Michigan, Louisville, and Wisconsin teams with better records just as silly).
2007: #14 Tennessee vs #5 LSU – LSU did get into the top 4 with a win; Tennessee would not have (and LSU would not have made the top 4 with a loss)
2008: #1 Alabama vs #2 Florida – both remained in the top 4 with a Florida win; with an Alabama win, Florida likely would have fallen out of the top 4 (there were 7 other undefeated or one-loss teams)

So it doesn’t look like the SEC championship game would be even close to irrelevant (unless as per 2000, neither team had a shot of being in the top 4). No one other than 2008 Alabama stayed in the top 4 despite a loss, it’s unlikely anyoen else would have, and it’s even likely if a 4-team playoff was in place 2008 Alabama would not have stayed in the top 4.

by drothgery on Apr 24, 2009 10:48 AM EDT up reply actions