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Posted on 01/09/2012 1:50:51 PM PST by kathsua
For the first time since the BCS held its first "national championship" game after the 1998 season, there won't be any bowl game that can realistically be portrayed as a "national championship" game.
This year's game can only be considered as giving the University of Alabama an opportunity to avenge its loss against Louisiana State University(LSU). The two schools can only play for the championship of the western division of the Southeast Conference(SEC). Alabama cannot even claim the championship of the SEC from a victory because that would require Alabama to defeat eastern division champion , the University of Georgia.
LSU cannot prove it deserves a national championship by defeating a school it has already defeated, particularly a school that mostly defeated the same schools that LSU defeated. LSU needs to defeat the champion of another conference in the championship game to prove it is the best team in the country
An Alabama victory would indicate the two schools are equal rather than that Alabama is the best because they would each have one victory over the other. A third game would be necessary to prove Alabama was the better team. In those sports in which the champion must win multiple games against the other team, the champion must win a majority of the games.
The SEC will be the big loser in the game because it will lose its undefeated record in the game regardless of which team wins. Alabama and LSU are both undefeated in the so-called championship game. One of them will lose that status.
The NCAA does allow a conference runner up to play the conference champion for the national basketball championship, but only after the challenger has defeated the other teams in its bracket to get into the championship game.
The NFL allows the runner up in a division to play the division winner in a conference championship but only after the runner up has defeated two other teams. Two teams in the same division cannot play each other in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl participants must be from different conferences.
Those who suffer from the delusion that a computer or sports writers, etc can choose the best two teams ignore the fact that it isn't unusual for teams rated by writers or computers to lose to teams that are rated lower.
It's time for people to realize that the claim that a BCS bowl game is for a national championship is just a public relations gimmick. The only valid way to determine a national football champion is for teams to earn their way into a championship game by defeating other teams that aspire to be the national champion.
Determining a legitimate NCAA major college football champion wouldn't necessarily require extending the college football season longer than it is now with the phony BCS championship game. There would need to be a way to get the number of teams playing for the championship down to 8 for a 3-round tournament which could include some of the existing bowl games.
With the ongoing conference changes, the number of conferences could change in the next few years. Champions from smaller conferences could play qualifying games after the end of the season, possibly the same weekend some of the large conferences have their championship games. The extra game would provide money for the schools and their conferences.
The first round of the tournament could come just before Christmas or be part of the New Year's day bowl games. Having the first round on New Year's would be especially attractive for the Big 10 and Pac 12 because it would allow their champions to play in the Rose Bowl and still participate in a championship tournament.
The college bowl games aren't nearly as important as they used to be. Most of them are on cable because they don't attract sufficient advertising to be worth a bidding war among the broadcast networks like there is for the Super Bowl.
A true championship tournament could be as popular as the NCAA basketball tournament is. At the very least the schools participating in the tournament would make money for themselves and their conferences.
Present.
Oklahoma State might just have something to say about the best team given a system in place to allow it. Neither LSU nor Al have faced an offense of their caliber. True enuff that OK St's defense is wanting and would yield 24-30 pts, but it's not inconceivable that they'd could stay on the field with either of the participants tonight. Just for argument's sake.
But these three have clearly separated themselves from the pack; even Ron Paul would probably agree.
Do you make that same statement about the Super Bowl, and the NCAA tournament, where there could easily be cases where the winner had been previously defeated by the loser.
The NFL and College Basketball require a team to win their way into the championship game through a playoff system. If the NFL used the Bowl system Green Bay would have never been invited to the Superbowl last year, it would have been the Patriots vs the Falcons...........but somehow neither made it that far.
You underestimate just how good Alabama and LSU is on offense, and both defenses made the other look silly....no other defense in the country comes close to those two.
Heck, even our 3rd place SEC West division Arkansas Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl and finished the season 11-2 and could likely end up in the top 5 at season's end.
If Bama beats LSU tonight, then what? Since LSU already beat Bama, each could claim the BCS Championship, since each would only have one loss - to each other.
There are many situations in sports where each team could have one loss, to each other, but only one win a championship, or advance in a tournament. That was the point you made and it is a fairly ridiculous point because the situation you describe is so common.
I definitely don’t underestimate their defenses, but it’s remotely possible I undervalue their offenses. Still, OSU’s O is superior to both and would allow them to be competitive. Besides OSU has a secret weapon— their head coach is a MAN.
I love all these drones mindlessly claiming that LSU and Ala are obviously the number 1 and number 2. Says who? I guess that the Steelers should go on to play the Pats rather than the Broncos, and the Canucks should be given the Stanley Cup by virtue of their regular season, since they finished with 14 points more than Boston. Oh, and forget about those pretenders VCU and Butler. Duke should have been crowned the champ last year.
My mistake, I forget that Division I-AA/FCS are the same.
“Then it will be a matter of percentages. By how many points did Alabama win? Total yards by both teams in both games. First downs, possession times, and stuff like that.”
Yeah, that’s much better than actually playing a game...
Steelers were favored by 10.5.
Yes, but 12 teams make the NFL Playoffs and 68 schools make the NCAA Tournament. It’s absurd in a sport where only two teams can play for the championship that a team could lose to a team in the regular season and beat them to win the championship.
Lol, it would be even more absurd if teams that had lost to third rate opponents such as OSU did were to play for a championship this year. Give it up. This is what we have this year and practically every commentator agrees that the two best teams are playing, from the conference that will win it’s sixth straight BCS title tonight.
It’s even more absurd to suggest that clearly inferior teams should be in a championship game simply because they played in weaker conferences.
Work to bring about a playoff system that includes more teams, but this is what we have this year and it is the right matchup.
Does the inclusion of 64+ teams end all disputes in the NCAA tournament???
From your fingertips to God’s ears. Roll Tide!
Tell that to the 17th team.
The opposite: the larger the field, the more teams that almost make it, as the expanded NCAA tournament field has demonstrated over the years with more "bubble teams" and more disputes.
And the major conferences would never agree to conference champs only because the disparity of competition in different conferences is so great.
Do you remember when the NCAA tournament field was only 12 or 16 teams, mostly conference champions? Far fewer disputes then than now with 64+. There were years and years where the only SEC team to make the tournament was Kentucky, but no disputes since only one could go, and the basketball talent was more evenly spread than football talent.
No system will end disputes, they just need to decide how much to expand the NCAA football championship field beyond two teams.
No “bubble team” would be able to lay claim to the national championship game under the current system, so a 16 game playoff would be an improvement over the current system. Teams ranked that low are 2-3 loss teams or 1-loss teams with an easy schedule. What would be really exciting is the final weeks of the regular season, where teams would be vying for the cutoff position!
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