Auburn vs. Oregon's SOS Compared with All-Time NC Contenders

[AUChizad]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/12/08/bcs-process/1.html

In the 13-year history of the BCS, has anyone ever had an easier path to the big game than Oregon? They have one victory against a Top 25 team (Stanford), they've defeated four bowl teams (five if USC is included) and their opponents' combined win/loss record is 54-69 (not including FCS Portland State). By the same token, has any team ever had a tougher path than Auburn? With South Carolina counting twice in each category, their résumé includes wins over six ranked teams, they defeated nine bowl teams and their opponents' record is 76-50 (not including FCS Chattanooga).
-- Thomas Coyne, Detroit

It's an excellent question, and one I can easily research thanks to the extensive archives kept by CollegeBCS.com's Jerry Palm -- the same man who uncovered the BCS' errant computer rankings this week. You're our hero, Jerry. Note that his strength-of-schedule records do not include FCS foes. For the other two criteria, I'm only counting ranked teams/bowl teams that title participants beat, not just played; I'm using final BCS standings to qualify teams as "ranked;" and I'm counting all bowl-eligible teams under "bowl" to account for the fact that there used to be fewer bowls.

Hardest Path to Title Game During BCS Era

Rank   Team   Record   Ranked Opponents   Bowl Opponents
1.   1998 Florida State   74-44 (.627)   6   7
2.   2000 Florida State   74-44 (.627)   4   7
3.   2010 Auburn   76-50 (.603)   6   9
4.   2006 Florida   81-54 (.600)   3   9
5.   1999 Florida State   65-44 (.596)   3   7
6.   2000 Oklahoma   70-50 (.583)   5   7
7.   2009 Alabama   75-54 (.581)   3   9
8.   2008 Oklahoma   79-56 (.585)   5   7
9.   2008 Florida   76-55 (.580)   2   9
10.   2001 Nebraska   66-48 (.579)   1   7
11.   2001 Miami   61-45 (.576)   4   7
12.   2005 Texas   65-48 (.575)   3   8
13.   2002 Miami   70-53 (.569)   5   8
14.   2005 USC   66-50 (.569)   3   6
15.   2004 Oklahoma   66-51 (.564)   3   6
16.   2007 LSU   76-59 (.563)   4   8
17.   2003 Oklahoma   78-62 (.557)   2   7
18.   2004 USC   65-53 (.551)   3   6
19.   2009 Texas   74-61 (.548)   2   8
20.   1998 Tennessee   63-52 (.548)   4   7
21.   2002 Ohio State   77-64 (.546)   3   8
22.   2006 Ohio State   66-59 (.528)   2   7
23.   2003 LSU   69-65 (.514)   3   5
24.   2007 Ohio State   60-60 (.500)   1   5
25.   1999 Va. Tech   50-51 (.495)   1   5
26.   2010 Oregon   54-69 (.439)   1   5

Did Oregon have the easiest path to the BCS title game? It does look that way. The Ducks' opponents' .439 winning percentage is by far the lowest of the 26 title game participants. Only three other teams played just one ranked team and/or five bowl-eligible teams, most recently 2007 Ohio State. Having said that, I think you'd have to go with 1999 Virginia Tech, which had similar numbers to Oregon's but played in Palm's eighth-ranked conference that year (the Big East), whereas this year's Pac-10 rates second.

Meanwhile, Auburn's path wasn't the toughest, but it came awfully close. I'd put it no lower than third and arguably second. Its chief competitors were the 1998 and 2000 Florida State teams. Bobby Bowden's nonconference schedules back then would make current teams cry. That '98 team faced 11-2 Texas A&M, 9-2 Florida, 8-3 Miami and 8-4 USC. That team did lose a game (to 7-4 NC State), but it also played only five home games compared with eight for Auburn.

For the record, the team that played the tougher schedule has gone 5-7 in title games so far.

Interesting. FSU lost a game going into the championship in both of those runs that supposedly topped ours, and we played two more bowl eligible opponents, as well, as played two more ranked opponents than the 2000 squad.