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The ever-popular, bow-tie wearing president of The Ohio State University ruffled many a feather last week when he said neither Boise State nor TCU should be in position to be playing for the national championship in football.
Political correctness be damned, he essentially said.
“I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools,” said Gee, who also was the boss at Vanderbilt. “We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.
“So I think until a university runs through that gauntlet that there’s some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to (be) in the big ballgame.”
Not surprisingly, the presidents of TCU and Boise State barked back in the expected defensive manner. Can’t blame them, though BSU showed its true blue colors by losing to Nevada over the holiday weekend.
Now, I’ll readily concede Gee’s comments are contradictory in that he’s being critical of the BCS system that he’s always staunchly supported, and says he still does. After all, how can he possibly knock Boise State and TCU being in the national title hunt when it’s the very system that he supports that put these schools there in the first place?
So yes, his argument is thoughtless from that perspective, and given what a learned man he is, I’m sure he’d state his viewpoint differently if afforded another opportunity. He seldom misspeaks. Long known as the “students’ president,” the only other silly faux pas I can ever recall him uttering came in 1992. Gee referred to Ohio State’s 13-13 tie with Michigan as one of the greatest ‘wins’ in school history.
Though Gee is off-base in his overall logic, he’s dead-on in speaking for the masses in regard to Boise State and TCU. Fact is, few people outside the state of Idaho and a tiny section of Texas truly believe these schools should be in contention for the national title.
Publicly, the Kirk Herstreits, Mark Mays and other national analysts will sing the praises of ‘the little guys’ because they have to. Repeat: They have to because it’s the politically correct thing to do on national television.
But there is no doubt that Herbie and the ESPN gang are sick over the thought of TCU playing Oregon or Auburn in the BCS National Championship. They will say otherwise publicly, but they know it would be a television ratings nightmare because very few will care enough to watch because very few believe TCU deserves to be there.
But Gee cowers to no one. He’s his own man. There’s been no backlash in Columbus about his comments, that’s for sure. Nor have I heard or read other university presidents across the land chide him for being insensitive. Why? Because most people agree with him.
By the same token, I’ve also not heard or read any university presidents come out in support of Gee’s comments either. Why? Political correctness. They’re afraid or causing an uproar and then being forced to resign due to ‘outside pressures.’
Gee could care less. I love it!
Gee knows there is no way either TCU or Boise State could navigate unscathed this year’s Ohio State schedule, which now seems soft because Miami (Fla.), Penn State, Michigan and even Iowa have struggled. But as down as these four are, there is no way the Horned Frogs or Broncos would defeat all of them this season.
The difficulty of playing in a BCS Conference (and I’ll grudgingly include the Big East in this argument) is that every week is a grind. You can’t overlook anyone. Ask Iowa, which lost to an awful Minnesota team last weekend. Ask Ohio State, which fell at Purdue in 2009.
Boise State played Virginia Tech and Oregon State early. That’s somewhat impressive, but everyone knew there was no chance of a loss the rest of the way, with the possible exception of Nevada. Nevada? And by golly, look what happened there.
As for TCU, the Horned Frogs also beat Oregon State early in the season. Everyone knew the only other obstacle on the schedule was San Diego State. San Diego State? Indeed, and TCU escaped with only a 40-35 victory at home in that game.
And now it appears that TCU is leaving the Mountain West Conference and joining the Big East Conference effective in 2012, meaning the Horned Frogs’ schedule will only get easier. Sorry, WVU fans, couldn’t resist!
With all this said, I do think Ohio State needs to schedule a home-and-home series with both TCU and Boise State. Gee needs to prove his point emphatically.
In closing, I just have one question: If Ohio State opened next season with Virginia Tech, Oregon State, Nevada, TCU, San Diego State and Boise State, would you consider that murderer’s row? Didn’t think so.
Halloy can be reached at kenhalloy@yahoo.com