NEW ORLEANS — It's a shame, really, because Tuesday's Sugar Bowl, Hoke versus the Hokies, was filled with so many great storylines.
Brady Hoke capping Michigan's comeback season from the three-year stench of the Rich Rodriguez era with the school's first Bowl Championship Series win in more than a decade. Frank Beamer trying to finally get Virginia Tech the respect it never gets, and the first 12-win season in school history. Michigan's dynamic junior quarterback Denard Robinson attempting to prove he'll eventually belong in the NFL, somewhere. And bruising Virginia Tech junior running back David Wilson, the ACC player of the year, perhaps playing his last college game.
And the game itself was a classic, or at least a bad football game with a classic finish. Michigan pulled off a 23-20 win in overtime after Virginia Tech's talented young quarterback, Logan Thomas, had led the Hokies on an 11-play, 83-yard drive for a field goal at the end of regulation. But the game was frequently sloppy: interceptions and shoulda-been interceptions, a fumbled kickoff return, a botched fake punt, a 22-yard loss on a running play, and a fake field goal attempt by Michigan in which the pass bounced off a Virginia Tech defender and right into the waiting arms of a Michigan blocker.
The sloppy football was unbecoming for what was supposed to be one of the elite games of bowl season. And that sloppiness mirrored the sloppy selection process that BCS bestows upon us every year.
Because, when it came down to it — when you looked past the thousands of raucous fans who traveled to New Orleans and soaked in Bourbon Street, when you stripped away the days of hype and buildup for what was essentially an exhibition game, when you acknowledged that yes, these hard-working football players deserved this postseason party — this is what was left:
This year's Sugar Bowl was a fraud. Because the teams that deserved to be here weren't.
No Boise State, the worst snub of all. No Kansas State either. Those two teams, ranked above Virginia Tech and Michigan in the BCS' own ranking system, played in lesser — and less-lucrative — bowls. Not to mention the two SEC teams, Arkansas and South Carolina, that also ranked higher than the two Sugar Bowl teams and also were left out of the BCS party.
This is not an indictment of two great football programs that played a very exciting game Tuesday night. Hoke's 11-win Michigan Miracle after the Rich Rod disaster was nothing short of extraordinary, and Beamer, despite his lackluster 8-11 record in bowl games, is still the winningest college coach since 1995.
This is an indictment of the system. Because all that this BCS bowl game did was remind us exactly how screwed up this BCS system is. The executive director of the BCS calls his system "fair," "consistent," "simple," "transparent." Really, it's anything but.
Oh, there's no shortage of computer rankings and polls that go into a black box and come out with answers that lend the system an air of legitimacy. But the system is set up to veil the fact that, after months of rankings and polling and bickering, the powers that be can pick anyone they want.
And by picking traditional powerhouse Michigan and the well-traveling Virginia Tech — teams that surely generated more television interest than a Boise State or a Kansas State — the BCS once again undermined its legitimacy. The BCS chose to ignore its own ranking system, picking the Nos. 11 and 13 teams in the BCS standings over teams that were more deserving. Michigan and Virginia Tech are both teams on the rise, close to the upper echelon of college football. But BCS bowls should be for the upper echelon, not "close" to the upper echelon. Note the word "championship" in "Bowl Championship Series."
It's a shame, because the matchup was intriguing, as was the game.
After Michigan stopped Virginia Tech on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak from the Michigan 4-yard line with 6:51 to play in the second quarter, Robinson, who'd been largely ineffective until this point, marched his Wolverines 96 yards, ending the 11-play drive with a 45-yard touchdown pass to game MVP Junior Hemingway. On the next play, Virginia Tech fumbled the kickoff, allowing Michigan to sneak in a field goal before halftime, putting the Wolverines up 10-6.
"We gave them the ball on their side of the 50 too many times," Beamer said afterward. "We wanted to get a win for the ACC. We wanted to get a win for Virginia Tech. We haven't done as well as we've wanted to in these BCS games."
Robinson, who finished 9 of 21 for 117 yards and rushed for 13 more, looked shaky to begin the second half, too. On Michigan's first drive, he nearly threw two interceptions: one ruled incomplete after a review, the other overturned by a pass interference call. He regrouped and threw a second touchdown pass to Hemingway, an 18-yard strike to put his team up 17-6 with 9:43 to play in the third.
Then Virginia Tech, which outgained Michigan by nearly 200 yards (377-184), mounted its comeback. A field goal on the subsequent Hokies drive made it 17-9. Following a three-and-out by Michigan, Thomas scrambled 13 yards for a first down on a fourth-and-11 play from the Michigan 35 early in the fourth. That drive ended on a 1-yard touchdown sneak by Thomas followed by a two-point conversion, tying the game at 17. After back-to-back field goals on the final two drives of regulation, the stage was set for overtime.
On the first overtime possession, it appeared Virginia Tech scored a touchdown on a beautiful, sprawling, one-handed catch by wide receiver Danny Coale on third-and-5 from the Michigan 20. But Coale was ruled not to have control of the ball before it touched the ground, and kicker Justin Myer missed a 37-yard field goal on the next play after nailing his previous four.
"It's tough, just to know that we were that close," said Thomas, who finished 19 of 28 for 214 yards.
Michigan kicker Brendan Gibbons sailed a 37-yarder through the uprights on the Wolverines' first possession of overtime and the celebration began: the championship hats, the "POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME" t-shirts, Michigan tight end Kevin Koger screaming, "We did it! Team 132! We did it!"
"Michigan's back, yes it is," said Jareth Glanda, who caught the deflected pass on the fake field goal.
"Michigan never left," Hoke corrected at a postgame press conference. "What (this game) means is we got a group of guys, especially a group of seniors, that won 11 football games. It's only the fifth team in the history of 132 years of Michigan football to win 11."
It's an accomplishment, and an impressive one, and in the midst of all the youthful joy from the Michigan players, it was easy to get caught up in it and think this Sugar Bowl actually did mean something.
Yet when the joy wears away, we'll realize what this game really was: a shame. Because a feeling lingered over this Sugar Bowl, the same feeling that lingers over every BCS game outside the national title game: that it didn't matter. Only in a playoff would intriguing matchups like this actually matter. Perhaps that's why thousands of Superdome seats remained empty.
As much as we complain about the BCS' good ol' boy mentality that leads to suspect bowl game picks, the truth is the BCS shouldn't be making these dictatorial picks at all. Figures from President Barack Obama to college football oracle Brent Musburger have voiced support for a playoff; one that is merit-based instead of reputation-based — in other words, more democratic. A Quinnipiac University survey showed 63 percent of college football fans want a playoff. The attorney general of Utah plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS and plans to use the Boise State snub as fodder.
For now, though, Tuesday's game was what we're stuck with: an exciting Sugar Bowl that never should have been played.
But don't fret, college football fans. We'll get to see another great Bowl "Championship" Series matchup before we get to the national title game. It's Wednesday, in fact. We get to see two three-loss teams, No. 15 Clemson against No. 23 West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
Thanks for nothing, BCS.
You can follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter @reidforgrave, become a fan on Facebook or email him at reidforgrave@gmail.com.
