Hypothetical Michigan/Florida question

Pat Forde brings the heat. Nice read here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2685389

 

It was a good read. Forde brought up the point of Michigan being better than Florida a couple weeks ago, and now they arent. Let me ask everyone these two questions: If Florida lost, then would Michigan be in the NC or do you all think people would vote someone else because they do not want to see a rematch, and (#2) if Florida didnt have a conference championship and finished playing the same week Michigan did, would Michigan still be number 3?

 

Well we all know Whitlock would've had Michigan #3. Every week, it's always:
1. OSU
2. Not Michigan
3. Michigan

 

1) Michigan would be there by default, but Louisville would make it close.
2) No. Michigan would still be second.

And Forde is right. I dont think Florida is a bad choice, but the process was bullshit...

 

Michigan would have been in if UF had lost. What I don't get is why it's so hard for some people to wrap their minds around the idea UF improved their stature with the win over Arkansas. People seem to think UF and Michigan were a pair of quantities weighed against each other with a final result two weeks ago. Adding two more wins away from home against a bowl bound (though mediocre) FSU and an Arkansas team that was number 8 in the BCS did have value. People like Dennis Dodd picked against them each of those two games. Perhaps as people saw they were better than such "experts" felt, they reassessed the situation. Michigan's best or second best win, Notre Dame, got some luster knocked off of them as well in that two week window. Couldn't that cause people to reassess just how impressed they were with the Wolverines?

Before this week, I don't think anyone really looked at UF vs Michigan. USC vs Michigan was the debate, and UF wasn't a player so there was no real reason to think about it much. If you look at the two schools list of 2006 accomplishments, UF's are better: more wins v. top 25, a higher ranked win (LSU) in the final poll than Michigan has, a tougher schedule, more bowl bound teams played, etc. Once circumstances forced that comparison, I think this result was inevitable.

 

Maybe, but that "extra game" has come back to bite teams in the ass much more often than it has helped them.

I say it's about time a team was rewarded --- instead of having its title hopes shattered --- by playing in a conference championship game.

 

Quotes from Carr today -- including some pointed ones at the four lil' rays of sunshine...

“I had some conversations with people I have great respect for here at Michigan. I really would have liked to say some other things but I truly felt in the big picture that I would hurt our chances if I did that. Even more importantly, I just felt that as a representative of the University of Michigan, it would have been out of line for me to do that, even though personally I would have liked to do it. When I look at the votes, I know it wouldn’t have made any difference. I’m happy with what I did say.”

“When you look at the voting on the Harris poll, there’s four votes on there where people vote us fourth,” Carr said. “So I think clearly there was an effort to manipulate the system and that is really, really disappointing. I can understand if somebody wants to vote Florida 2 and us 3. But I think the Harris poll clearly they have some credibility issues. …

“I don’t think anybody knows how the Harris poll was put together. But clearly that’s a part of that system that, in my judgment, should go.”

Carr agreed that the voting steered clearly against the having two teams from the same conference and he didn’t understand that because, if that were a concern, there would be a rule prohibiting it.

 

Florida's Division I-AA game shouldn't even count as a victory. Especially against a BAD I-AA team (Western Carolina is 2-9).

 

The week he died, Bo said the Michigan-Ohio State loser didn't deserve a rematch. Guess Carr disagreed with Bo on that point. Maybe that's why he didn't voice those grievances at that time.

As for the quote about some people voting Michigan fourth to manipulate the system, well, some voted the Gators fifth. Works both ways.

 

Dear Lloyd Carr...STFU and next time, beat the No. 1 team when you have a chance.
Whiny bitch.

 

Actually, Lloyd was surprisingly low-key about this...

 

Whiny bitch? I think you're confusing him with Urban Cryer, who began bitching even before the Florida State game. The only "whiny" thing Carr ever said was that the system is flawed, there needs to be a way to sort things out on the field, which is only the softest thing Cryer has said in the last 2 weeks.