Needed: Perspective

I try not to write about other sports on this blog, because I feel like it waters it down. I always see those blogs where guys give their thoughts about every sport under the sun, and it's just all so periphery - it's like watching an episode of Around the Horn, but with only one contestant. But I have spoken in general about college football before, not to tell you who I think will win this game or that game but to relate it to a general lack of perspective in the world of sports.

One thing I'm always shocked at with sports analysts is that they seem to completely lack any understanding of how upsets work. They always assume that top teams will roll through their bad competition, so that they can only lose to other good teams. In every college football season, it's about three or four weeks before we suddenly see a slew of undefeated teams in the top 10. And you hear incessantly that "This is the year the BCS will be busted!" Everybody predicts that four or five teams are going to go undefeated.

And it's not just undefeated teams. Every analyst I heard said that Ohio State's National Title hopes were done when they lost to USC. I honestly could not believe my ears. You're telling me that a team that loses early in the season (early losses count less than late losses) to one of the five best teams in the country, on their home field, without two of their best players (Pryor didn't really play, and Beanie Wells didn't play at all)... you're telling me you think that team has no chance of making the National Title game? That's ridiculous. I'm not predicting that Ohio State will go undefeated the rest of the way (see: previous paragraph). But if they do go undefeated the rest of the way and finish 11-1, I'd be shocked if they don't get in the National Title game.

The fact is that upsets happen for lots of reasons. I've spoken about many of them on this website. As I said, I'm not going to sit here telling you who is going to win the Oklahoma-Texas game, because that's just not what this blog is about. But I can tell you that you have to add your own perspective when you watch college football analysis. Both Ohio State and USC are still in the National Title hunt, as will be the loser of Texas-Oklahoma today, as will be just about any SEC team with two losses. You'll hear analysts say otherwise, but they're wrong.