…but it’s hardly a fearsome football conference at the moment. OK, I’m putting a few words in the mouth of Stanford head coach David Shaw, but when Jim Harbaugh’s successor considers the Cardinal’s no. 6 Bowl Championship Series ranking behind Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech, it’s understandable why he’d use a Tuesday press conference to denounce the BCS system as “flawed…and they know it.” From the San Jose Mercury News’ Jon Wilner ;
“To have a one-loss Pac-12 team behind a one-loss ACC team (Virginia Tech) means the computers value the ACC more than the Pac-12 … which I don’t believe is accurate,” Shaw said.
When the topic turned to Oklahoma State, Shaw noted that the Cowboys’ loss came to an unranked team (Iowa State), whereas Stanford lost to then-No. 7 Oregon.
“The computers don’t program themselves,” he said.
The BCS standings are determined by a team’s average ranking in seven computer polls and its position in the Coaches and Harris top-25 polls. Because of what’s perceived to be a weak schedule, Stanford’s computer ranking is lower than its position in the human polls.
“I don’t get it,” Shaw said. “Who decides what a quality win is? The explanations I get don’t make any sense.”