Part of an article from Dan Wetzel on Yahoo Sports... (
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=dw-secchampionship120206&prov=yhoo&type=lgns )
Florida is 3-1 vs. the current BCS top 25, with victories over Louisiana State (5), Arkansas (9) and Tennessee (17). Michigan is 2-1, having beaten Wisconsin (7) and Notre Dame (10).
However, both Wisconsin and Notre Dame's lofty rankings come from blasting through an essentially weak schedule. The Badgers didn't defeat a single current BCS top-25 team. Notre Dame's only quality victory is over No. 22 Georgia Tech, which should fall out of the rankings after losing to Wake Forest in the ACC championship game. Meanwhile, LSU and Arkansas have two such victories. Tennessee has one.
The SEC is widely regarded as the toughest in the country, although like the Big Ten, it has few quality non-conference victories. The SEC has just three non-conference victories over BCS top-25 teams. The Big Ten has two.
In terms of losses, Michigan lost at No. 1 Ohio State by three. Florida lost at No. 11 Auburn by 10, although it was essentially four. The Tigers scored on a last-play fumble return while the Gators desperately were trying to score.
The computers have favored Michigan's schedule (although beating Arkansas will help Florida). But the formula is flawed.
College football truly is a have and have-not proposition. Non-BCS league teams rarely defeat a quality team. Essentially all cupcake games are cupcakes, all directionals are created equal. It doesn't matter whether the game is against 9-4 MAC champion Central Michigan (which Michigan beat) or 4-8 Central Florida (which Florida beat).
Statistically they matter. In terms of common sense they don't. The smaller school almost always loses, so what's the difference? The only victories that should count are against the other quality teams.
Florida's strength of schedule is suffering from its ill-advised decision to schedule 2-9 Western Carolina, a last-place Division I-AA team it scrambled to add when the NCAA expanded the schedule to a 12th game. That and the fall of traditional powerhouse rival Florida State (6-6) hurts the Gators.
But a team should not get more credit for beating a completely overmatched team rather than just a mostly overmatched one. Those easy victories should count the same.
The fact is that Florida did everything it could outside of running the table. The Gators beat six teams that were ranked at kickoff, survived the toughest week-in, week-out grind in the college game and put a stamp on it with a dramatic victory here against another dangerous opponent.
This ridiculous championship system forces these impossible comparisons, forces perceptions and computers and biases over what criteria is most important to take the place of what happens on the field. But as Slive said, at this point that's the system, no matter how bad it is.
So on the merits I believe are most important â more victories over clearly strong competition â Florida deserves its shot at Ohio State.