USC got beat out by LSU on the last weekend of the regular season after getting hammered on what appeared to be – at least to us – an inflated importance placed on strength of schedule this year over prior years.
All season long, we’ve been hearing about how “down”, “soft”, and “weak” the Pac 10 was this season. And when did all this talk start? It surfaced last August during the pre-season media hype. Now I’ve got a simple question about this? How can that be? How is it, all these east coast media pundits knew the Pac 10 was down before so much as one down of football was played? Based on what? How was it determined? Did they have a crack staff of college football analysts slavishly working ‘round the clock to determine this? Or was it Vinny the mail boy who works at 30 Rock having a beer with his buddies at some watering hole on 6th Avenue in New York City?
The second issue is that we never hear about the Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big East or Big 12 having “down”, “weak” or “soft” years. Which is amazing considering the personnel of these teams is changing every year just like the Pac 10. Looks like these are powerhouse conferences every year, regardless of any personnel changes. And Notre Dame is never any of these things. The Irish are always either a juggernaut, or “in transition”. Can’t have a team with an exclusive multi-billion dollar NBC contract being “down”. No. That just won’t do. If a 6-5 team gets into the BCS title game, trust me, it will be Notre Dame.
The final issue was the computer polls. Fred Roggin is a local sportscaster in L.A. and has a radio program on 1540 AM The Ticket. Right after the final week of the regular season – when the BCS finalists were announced – Roggin had Chris Hester of the Anderson/Hester computer poll on to explain how his system worked. Hester said a lot of things without saying anything, really. But he did say a couple of noteworthy things:
First, the BCS didn’t pay him or any of the other pollsters for their systems. They just used them.
Second, he couldn’t explain how he rated the teams (i.e. he didn’t know), but could speak with assurance that the systems were fair and couldn’t be tampered with.
Now let me speak as a software developer for the last twenty-five years. If anybody believes Hester and/or his partners in crime didn’t receive any compensation for their time and trouble, I’ve got some beachfront property in South Florida I can sell you. Hester is a consultant. The BCS is his client. As a savvy computer consultant, he’s going to take the specs his client gives him and deliver what his client wants. And if the east-coast-only BCS boy’s club says the Pac 10 is down, that’s what the computer geeks are going to deliver.
As for modifying the system as the season went along, let me tell you, simple mods to software systems are done all the time, and on the fly. You make a change to a mathematical formulation; recompile the program(s), reinstall the software and you’re ready to go and nobody knows the difference. I found it interesting that Hester wouldn’t release his code logic to the media or the public just to show just how these ratings were calculated.
This could very well explain how Oklahoma stayed in the BCS top 2 after they got blown out by Kansas State. The east coast hacks who run the BCS didn’t want a west coast team in their showcase game. They had been invested in OU all season long. They went to the computer geeks and requested a “tweak” of their system to keep the Sooners in it, come what may. Massive dollars changed hands and presto chango! Oklahoma – LSU in the Sugar Bowl!
Now this is all very speculative, I realize. But if any part of this is true – especially the arbitrary nature of the computer formulations -- then the fix was in. And don’t look for it to be any different next year.
The Pac 10 could help remedy this situation if they dump the BCS when the contract is up after the 2005 season. They made a deal with the devil and got ripped in the process. They lost exclusive rights to the Rose Bowl, and got no representation in the BCS title game. Not really. The BCS made out like a bandit. The relegated the Rose Bowl to the scrap heap of college football with the rest of the bowl games, and paid lip service to any sense of inclusion in the BCS title game they offered the Pac 10.
This year, the country got a look (again) at how spectacular a matchup the Rose Bowl can be. And while I doubt the Big 10 would join them in the revolt – because let’s face it, the Big 10 is an east coast media darling – it would at least restore some semblance of order to the farcical nature the BCS has brought to the mix.
Either way, it beats bending over and spreading our collective cheeks every other year or so.