AU2001
Their job are to express their opinion and explain why they feel a certain way. They dosn't get paid to pick winners. They are not handicappers although I like it that they are predicting the outcome on more games on the show. I think Kirks comments are very insightful. FYI, people on wall street get paid 6 figures and they often make wrong predictions!
He was the main one, along with Corso, who ranted and raved about Oklahoma being the best team to play USC for the BCS championship (nice call, btw). Then they still said that the BCS worked even after USC beat OU like a drum.
Who is to say with confidence Auburn would not have been smoked? It is not like Auburn dominated V-Tech in their bowl game to make a convincing argument.
Corso was in Auburn for a charity golf tournament back in May and he spoke about how he thought Auburn was the best team all along. The local press called him out on it pretty quick:
I dunno where Corse said AU was the best team all along.
"I saw all four top teams in the nation twice," said Corso, an ESPN analyst who spoke Thursday night at the annual Jimmy Rane Charity Golf Tournament banquet. "I said on the air that USC should play Auburn and Oklahoma should play Utah. I said that before the game because I thought Auburn deserved to be there. I still say that."
AU deserved to be in OB and play USC. That is what he said. Never said AU is best team in country.
Corso said he believes Auburn's second-half struggle against Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game was costly. The Tigers led 21-7 at halftime, but Tennessee rallied to tie before falling 38-28.
"Auburn lost a lot of votes in the second half against Tennessee because they didn't stop Tennessee," Corso said. "I said they lost a lot of votes - not mine, but a lot. They needed to win that game convincingly and they didn't. They lost a lot of prestige in the second half of the Tennessee game. People looked at that. A guy like me that saw them beat Georgia and win some of those other games, I still thought they should have played USC."
Corso trying to explain why "most" people backed OU and not AU. He still says he would still back Auburn to be the opponent for USC. Never said AU is best team in country.
On an ESPN.com chat after the SEC Championship Game, Corso didn't say it quite that way.
"In my opinion, from what I saw, Auburn was not the second-best team in the nation after Saturday," Corso wrote in response to a question. "I said they were the best team over Oklahoma before Saturday."
Here is where you accuse him of flip flop. But here my question. Was the Big 12 championship game after the SEC championship game? Does somebody have the right to change their opinion? As a handicapper, do you ever look at the lines and team A jumps out at you and you know you are gonna bet them and then after studying it more in detail you start falling in love with team B? Maybe someone else who supported OU made a strong argument for Corso or brought up stats (like AU's OOC) that swayed Corso to believe in OU more. Nothing wrong with changing your mind.
These guys are asked to give their opinion each and every day even if they have not made up their mind. Hell, I am sure at the beginning of the year they didn't think USC was even a top 3 team when they were struggling with new OL, WR, DB's, FB etc.
IMO, I don't think Corso did anything wrong. If AU dominated TN and OU struggled in Big 12 championship, then maybe I would question Corso's integrity. I would have started to go on AU's side. OU dominated their championship game, while AU didn't. Which team would you pick to go to BCS NC?
Both teams clearly are deserving and both teams have to be critiqued on everything especially performance on last game of year.
IMO, the deciding factor is how much easier AU's "schedule" was vs OU's week in week out. No contest. Therefore, OU deserved to go because both teams ran the table and OU dominated at the end of the year and have been a more dominant program in recent years. They earned it.
Lets not forget AU lost to USC 2 previous years (i know has nothing to do with last years AU team) but AU has shown nothing in the last how many years against a strong opponent "outside" the SEC. Creampuff OOC and they lose when faced against elite competition in OOC even at home against USC with brand new QB. That is the problem with the SEC. They basically only play each other and give an illusion on how strong they are with beefed up records accumulated in OOC play. SEC as a conf. is not tested in OOC play and the facts support that argument! When tested against BCS competition the last 5+ years, I believe SEC is barely 500 as a conf. Not dominating at all when "many" people claim this conf. to being vastly superior.
