For whatever arbitrary reasons, it’ll be Florida and Ohio State playing in Glendale on January 8th. A lot of human voters changed their mind and switched up Michigan and Florida in their polls this week, and that gave Florida enough juice to grab the #2 spot in the BCS. That gives them the right to play an exhibition game against the national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, in January.

There was just no good reason for that to happen. And I don’t say that as an argument for Michigan or against Florida, I’m saying that the decision-making process was based on whimsy and the mood of voters at the particular time that they cast their votes. It might be right, it might be wrong, but there was no good reason for it.

I think Kirk Herbstreit’s right when he says it was a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” for the Wolverines. The Gators earned an impressive victory against Arkansas while Michigan sat at home. Had Michigan/Ohio State, or even Michigan/Notre Dame been played on the same day as Florida/Arkansas, Michigan would probably be #2 in the BCS right now, and I’d be talking about how Florida got the shaft. Basically what this boils down to, as it so often does… is the date on which a particular game is played being the deciding factor on who gets a chance to play for a national championship. What a fantastic method.

The only logical thing to do as fans is to refuse to acknowledge anyone but Ohio State as the national champion, no matter what happens in the January exhibition season. They’re the only undefeated team that played an adequate schedule. themightymjd.com will recognize no one but Ohio State as our 2006/2007 national college football champion, because nothing else makes sense.

On a related note, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel opted to abstain from voting in the Coaches Poll. Lloyd Carr didn’t like it, Charles Rich at the FanHouse didn’t like it, and Dan Shanoff damn sure didn’t like it. I don’t have any kind of problem with it at all, and here’s why:

1) It’s not like voting in the Coaches Poll is some grand, noble, thing that must be protected at all costs. It’s based on whimsy and bullshit, just like any other poll. Steve Spurrier gives a vote to Florida in the first poll of every year, no matter what. Coaches make self-serving votes all the time. Jim Tressel can no more hurt the integrity of the BCS than I can take the virginity of Christina Aguilera.

2) He was in a position to do a self-serving thing, and he didn’t do it. If he felt like Florida was a better matchup for the Buckeyes, he could’ve voted them #2. Or even #1, like some guy did in the Harris poll. If he wanted to go the other way, and get more bowl money for the Big 10, and thus, more money for the Buckeyes, which they could use to pay recruits upgrade facilities and other things, he could have done that, too. He had a chance to act selfishly, and he opted against it. I don’t see the problem there.

Anyway, enjoy the January exhibition season, and congratulations to the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.