Fourth spot in playoff would be choice among three champions

Question: Who would get the fourth berth in the playoff?

That’s the question I’d love to see you tackle.

Ted Frank

Answer: I tackled this question so hard in Monday’s column I almost got called for “targeting.”

And that ejection would have forced me to sit out the first half of next week’s column.

It’s a great question but one next year’s selection committee does not have to tackle because it is hypothetical.

In fact, the BCS worked better this year than the four-team playoff would have worked.

A committee this year would have no debate putting Florida State and Auburn at 1 and 2, but then would have had five worthy schools to fill two spots.

Alabama did not win its own division in the SEC, but I’m telling you the Crimson Tide would have made it no matter how much the committee has talked about putting more emphasis on conference titles.

The fourth spot would have come down to Michigan State, Stanford or Baylor, the champions of the Big Ten, Pac 12 and Big 12, respectively.

And we were worried about one worthy team getting left out of a playoff?

If the playoff started this year, it would have been two worthy teams getting left out.

Q: How does a team who lost to two unranked teams finish in the top five?

Larry Butcher

A: I guess you had better go back and look at Stanford’s season. The Cardinal lost two games by a total of nine points and played the nation’s fourth-toughest schedule, according to this week’s Sagarin ratings.

Look at the Sagarin SOS for the BCS top 10 and tell me Stanford is not a top-five team:

1: Florida State (63)

2: Auburn (20)

3: Alabama (45)

4: Michigan State (56)

5: Stanford (4)

6: Baylor (60)

7: Ohio State (57)

8: Missouri (31)

9: South Carolina (30)

10: Oregon (28)

Q: I have always enjoyed your amusing take on college football and the BCS. Then I looked at your own rankings… you leapfrogged Stanford over Michigan State in your rankings?

Funny how you can be accused of the same shenanigans you so intelligently write about!

Stephen Henson

A: I don’t think it’s funny the way you talk about the Farm. Here is the difference between my rankings and real rankings: my rankings don’t count. My personal biases, and I have plenty, don’t impact the BCS race. I don’t vote in the AP, Harris or USA Today polls.

As FWAA president, I handed out the Bronko Nagurski Trophy this week in Charlotte, N.C., to Pittsburgh defensive lineman Aaron Donald.

I had to rent a tuxedo at Men’s Wearhouse, stuff it in my suitcase and then affix the bow tie, by myself, in the hotel room.

That’s why my tie is crooked in the picture that was snapped of me and Donald.

I sent that photo out on Twitter and got ripped by a junior high English teacher for saying “me and Donald.”

Should have been “Donald and I”?

Since when did Twitter become a pop quiz?

I protest the higher 140-character standard to which I am being held. I’m having Twitter battles against people who tweet “your a idiot and a bad riter. S.E.C. Rools!”

So, anyway, “me and Donald” went through all this and guess what: My company policy prevents me from even voting for the Nagurski Trophy I handed out.

I also don’t vote for the Heisman Trophy, or the Butkus Award, or the Maxwell Trophy.

I am allowed to be a member of AARP.

So I take out revenge in my weekly rankings and reserve the right to move Stanford ahead of Michigan State any old week I want. I justify it by saying Stanford’s win over Arizona State meant more to me than Michigan State over Ohio State.

Stanford and Arizona State was a matchup of the No. 5 toughest schedule vs. the No. 6 schedule.

Ohio State vs. Michigan State at kickoff was No. 61 vs. No. 60.

I thought the champion of the Pac 12, a tougher conference than the Big Ten, should get the nod in my final regular season rankings.

Did I mention, also, my wife is a Stanford graduate?

I wanted to assure her that Stanford would have been the fourth team had the playoff started this year.

Q: In reading your always informative summation on college football you refer to Utah-Stanford on 1016. That was a Wednesday.

In addition to my interest in college football, I am also a “calendar” freak.

Stuart Ray

A: Good “catch” there, Stuart. I had the right number it was just flipped upside down. The date was Oct. 19, a Saturday.

The Pac 12 does not yet play games on Wednesday, but just give it time.

The league played Thursday and Friday games but has, so far, been unable to knock Conference USA or the MAC out of that coveted Wednesday night time slot.

Q: Regarding your critique of Coach Ed Orgeron for leaving… if The Times gave you your walking papers, replacing you with Craig James, would you stick around for that last mailbag column?

Marty Torrance

A: Yes, I would. If Craig James replaced me I would hand my final mailbag to him, have him hand it to Eric Dickerson, and have Dickerson jump on a Mustang and deliver it to The Times via Pony Express.

But your question misses a larger point. Orgeron was not replaced as USC’s head coach because he never was the head coach.

He was the “interim” coach and did a very good job even though he lost to USC’s two biggest rivals: Notre Dame and UCLA. Also, Orgeron was offered a chance to stay as one of the highest paid assistants in college football.

Also, when most people quit it is customary to give at least two weeks’ notice.

Four weeks’ notice would have gotten Orgeron through the Las Vegas Bowl.

Q: Maybe the Pac 12 should move to a time zone everyone will actually watch?

Twitter: @TailgateAg

A: I do NOT think physically moving 12 schools to the East Coast would solve anything.

There’s no way USC would share a U-Haul with UCLA and Washington State and Washington would fight like cats and dogs all the way past the Continental Divide.

Arizona State would definitely not ride share their Territorial Thermos Cup with Arizona and the relationship between Oregon State and Oregon has never been civil.

Stanford would give Cal the “ax” at a rest stop in Truckee and tell them to get out and chop campfire wood.

Utah and Colorado, well, I think they could move.

Q: The Pac 12 can go 9-0 in these bowls.

Adam Gould

A: I was thinking the same thing. The upside of not getting a second team to the BCS is it bumped all Pac 12 eligible schools down into more favorable matchups.

Don’t get too cocky, though. The Pac has a tough first day on Dec. 21 with Washington State facing a much improved Colorado State team, while Fresno State will be a stiff test for USC in the Las Vegas Bowl.

USC may be discombobulated without Orgeron while Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr has much to prove after getting snubbed from the Heisman ceremony.

Christopher.dufresne@latimes.com