Trietley: Auburn must lose to create dream BCS matchup

My apologies to the Auburn Tigers, but they have to lose.

Auburn stands in the way of the… My apologies to the Auburn Tigers, but they have to lose.

Auburn stands in the way of the best BCS National Championship Game matchup imaginable. Sitting atop the BCS standings is Oregon, the highest scoring team in the nation. Meanwhile, in third place, the TCU Horned Frogs have the best defense in the country, averaging 8.5 points against per game.

Stuck right between them and thwarting this unstoppable force vs. immovable object showdown are the Tigers, the best team in the nation’s best conference. They, not the Horned Frogs, are the shoo-in to face Oregon in the title game — provided they win their final three games.

Auburn beat tough teams like Clemson, South Carolina, Arkansas and LSU en route to its current 10-0 record. The Tigers still have to play Georgia this weekend, preseason darling Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 26 and whoever they will face in the SEC Championship, most likely Florida or South Carolina.

An 8-0 conference record and an SEC Championship would give the Tigers the best resume in the country. Auburn, though, isn’t close to being the best team in the country. That title belongs to Oregon.

Here’s a string of numbers for you: 72, 48, 69, 42, 52, 43, 60, 53 and 53. Those are the week-to-week point totals for the Oregon Ducks this season. A heap of teams put up eye-popping stats in September warm-up games. The Ducks did that — but then they also did it against USC, Stanford and everybody else who ran out of hope at halftime.

The Ducks looked vulnerable for about 15 minutes in early October, when then-undefeated Stanford took a first quarter 21-3 lead over them. By the time the game ended, though, Oregon had made its statement, scoring 52 points and shutting out the Cardinals in the second half.

The best part: Stanford actually held the Ducks under their season average of 54.7 points per game.

The Ducks are also the weirdest program in the nation, and I mean that in a good way. They wear jerseys ranging from highlighter yellow to, well, whatever color Nike wants to test that week. The floor of their new basketball court looks like a screenshot from “Into the Wild.” You can’t hate originality.

If the status quo remains, and Oregon, Auburn, TCU and Boise State all remain undefeated, then the Ducks and the Tigers will play for the national championship — lamentably.

It’s not a slight against the Tigers. They’re a great team that has squeezed out tight conference victory after tight conference victory. No, instead, it’s just a vote for the Horned Frogs, the little guys from the Mountain West and Jamie Dixon’s alma mater to boot.

Here’s another string of numbers: 21, 7, 10, 24, 0, 0, 3, 7, 6 and 7. Those are TCU’s week-to-week points-against totals. The Horned Frogs have given up three touchdowns since the end of September.

They went into Utah and stomped the Utes, 47-7. Utah hadn’t lost at home in 21 games, let alone by 40 points. Utah joined Oregon State, Baylor, Air Force, Brigham Young and others on TCU’s list of vanquished opponents.

It’s not a resume that can contend with Auburn’s, but it’s not just about resumes. The Horned Frogs are the most dominant defense in the nation. Facing the most dominant offense in the nation for the national championship makes too much sense.

For once, the BCS system, which so rarely does anything but cause ulcers, can get it right — but only if Auburn gets out of the way.