To be honest I am not sure how or where to begin with the arrogance of Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee said the other day when he did an interview with the Associated Press, but I will give it a go. First off, I do not care if he believes Boise State or TCU do not deserve a shot at the title. He said he is not a football guy, so right there his whole basis for evaluating who is deserving is moot. To Gee's credit he has been the president of a wide array of schools - West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt prior to his current stint at Ohio State.
His argument about how TCU and Boise State are not worthy goes to the Craig Jame theory of 'who did you play and who did you beat,' so right there we already know where this is heading:
"I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.
"So I think until a university runs through that gauntlet that there's some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame."
I do not discount in the SEC and other BCS schools outside of the Big East and perhaps the ACC have stiffer competition at the top. The Big 10 has three teams in the BCS top 25, but the Mountain West has two, Boise State has played two teams and Hawai'i has been hovering in and out of the top 25 all year.
Here are some of the fine schools Ohio State has played this year:
Marshall: 4-7
Eastern Michigan: 2-9
Indiana: 4-7 (0-7 in the Big Ten)
Purdue: 4-7 (2-5 in the Big Ten)
Minnestoa: 2-9 (1-6 in the Big Ten)
That is the bottom of their schedule, and boy those games look real tough. Yes, Ohio State played Iowa, Wisconsin, Miami and an meh Penn State team, but he can say that every week is overwhelmingly difficult.
He also loves the current system and says that if it were between a playoff and the old system he would choose the old system. I just wonder how much those kick back checks or bonuses he has gotten over the years at Ohio State. Oh, and he says a bowl system favors the students.
Then there is this which needs no introduction:
"It's not about this incessant drive to have a national championship because I think that's a slippery slope to professionalism," he said. "I'm a fan of the bowl system and I think that by and large it's worked very, very well."
Really?
The why not give up that sweet money printing machine that is the Big 10 Network or the Brinks truck that ESPN has given to your league. College football is big business, just see for yourself. He mentions Ohio State as being fully self-sustainable through athletics (they are for the most part) but then why did they increase tickets prices for Buckeye football to cover other athletic loses?
Ah, amateurism at its finest.
All I can say is that until there is a playoff then all of these jackassery comments will come from the people up top who get kick backs from bowls and know full on that they can schedule Youngstown State, Eastern Michigan and other bad opponents and still have a shot at the BCS title.