BCS Committee to Address Playoff Option

PHOENIX - The Bowl Championship Series will form a committee to discuss changes that eventually could lead to a college football playoff.

One president from each of six conferences -- the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern -- will be picked for the committee this month. They are expected to make a recommendation in 2005.

"There are four options. We can go back to the old system, we can stay where we are, we can tweak it, or we can go to a playoff," BCS coordinator Mike Tranghese said Friday. "We're going to spend some time and talk about all of them."

The BCS is committed to a second rotation of the championship bowls, which began Friday night with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl between No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Ohio State.

The next three title games will be in the Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls before the contract runs out after the 2005 season.

ABC, which has a $525 million, seven-year contract to televise the BCS games, has an exclusive negotiating period in the second half of 2005 to keep the games on the network.

The BCS was formed in 1998 in an effort to match the top two teams in a national title game. The system is not problem-proof and some people would prefer a playoff system.

"My presidents don't want to play football in December during exams and they don't want to play in the second semester," said Tranghese, the Big East commissioner. "They ask if the regular season is healthy and the answer is a resounding 'Yes.' They ask if a playoff would affect that and the answer is 'Yes.' Just look at basketball."

A more likely solution would be to add one game after the existing bowls to determine the national champion.

"It's not a home run like everyone thinks. A lot of issues have to be resolved," Tranghese said.

In three of the first five years, the BCS system worked smoothly, with a consensus over the top two teams.

But in 2000 and 2001, there were disputes over who should play in the title game, and this year the Rose Bowl was upset about not having its traditional matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-10.

In 2000, Miami believed it should have played Oklahoma for the title instead of Florida State. The Hurricanes beat the Seminoles in the regular season.

Last season, Nebraska played Miami for the title even though the Cornhuskers didn't win their conference.

This year, Ohio State went to the Fiesta Bowl, and the Orange Bowl picked Iowa with the first at-large selection, leaving the Rose Bowl with Big 12 champion Oklahoma against Pac-10 champ Washington State.

The Orange Bowl was dubbed "Rose Bowl East'' for its matchup between Iowa and Southern California.

The Rose Bowl attendance of 86,848 was the lowest since 1944 in the 91,000-seat stadium. Tranghese said changes for the Rose Bowl will be discussed, but only if they don't hurt the other three BCS games.

"I think what transpired this year blind-sided them," he said. "They didn't expect it. It will take some time for them to adjust.

Tranghese doesn't see any sentiment for returning to the old system that had conference champions locked into bowls and led to three split championships in eight years.

"I think we had a system 10 years ago that was awful,'' Tranghese said. "Ten years ago, Ohio State wouldn't be playing Miami. The BCS solved that."

"I think we had a system 10 years ago that was awful," Tranghese said. "Ten years ago, Ohio State wouldn't be playing Miami. The BCS solved that."

Um, the BCS solved nothing, you moron!

If there were no BCS and the old bowl alliances were maintained, Ohio State would have still ended up playing Miami in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship.

Current BCS (read BS) system
Orange Iowa (at-large) vs. USC (at-large)
Sugar Florida St. (ACC champ) vs. Georgia (SEC champ)
Rose Oklahoma (Big 12 champ) vs. Washington St. (Pac 10 Champ)
Fiesta Miami (BCS #1) vs. Ohio St. (BCS #2)

Old Bowl Alliance
Orange Oklahoma (Big 12 champ) vs. At-large, but likely USC or Notre Dame
Sugar Georgia (SEC champ) vs. At-large, but likely USC, Notre Dame, Texas or Kansas St.
Rose Iowa (Big Ten champ) vs. Washington St. (Pac 10 Champ)
Fiesta At-large, but likely Miami vs. At-large, but likely Ohio St.

The only 2 things the BCS system does is guarantee second-tier athletic conferences (ACC & Big Least) a spot AND gives Notre Dame a huge advantage in being placed in 1 of the 4 big bowl games (to be eligible for the BCS, the Domers only need to win 9 games and place in the top 12 in the BCS rankings). Iowa, the Big 10 co-champ and the consensus 3rd ranked team in the nation, was almost passed over for Notre Dame. Only heavy pressure from the Big Ten kept Iowa in a BCS bowl (albeit, the wrong one).

Even though the Iowa was the Big Ten's designated "champion" (tied w/Ohio St. who had more recently played in the Rose Bowl), the bizarre BCS rules gave Ohio St. a guaranteed BCS spot and nullified Iowa's automatic Big Ten champ Rose Bowl slot. Luckily, Iowa still played in a major bowl and sent 47,000 fans to the Orange Bowl.

The Rose Bowl, minus its traditional Big Ten/Pac 10 rivalry for the second year in a row, had its lowest attendence in 40 years. Even last year's Nebraska-Miami championship game had a lesser local financial impact in Pasadena than a normal Big Ten/Pac 10 Rose Bowl matchup.

The Big Ten and the Rose Bowl were stupid to have ever joined into the bogus BCS system.

The BCS as it is makes choosing a National Champion clearer than before but it is still so dramatically flawed it isnt even funny. If the Rose Bowl hadn't joined in with the BCS then the Big 10 and the Pac 10 would be sittin outside just like the MAC and WAC.

The reason being because they wanted something different and there wasnt anything else being offered at the time that was as good an option as the BCS. They would have found another way to get the BCS going no matter what.

As for tradition supposedly being broken by Oklahoma playing in place of Iowa, blame the Orange Bowl, because of a rule not known by most, the Orange Bowl was allowed to pick the next highest ranking squad for their game which was the Iowa Hawkeyes. That rule was the Fiesta Bowls until this year because it hosted the National Championship.

The BCS should be tweaked as much as possible to help it determine the National Championship until it's contract is up and then axed and a playoff put in its place

"In 2000, Miami believed it should have played Oklahoma for the title instead of Florida State. The Hurricanes beat the Seminoles in the regular season."

In 2000, the University of Washington believed it should have played Oklahoma for the title instead of either Florida State or Miami. The Huskies from Washington beat the Hurricanes from Miami soundly in the regular season.

The Huskies played a real schedule of real football teams during the rest of the season while Miami played the Little Sisters of Minerva every week as did Florida State.

Since socialism has infected football at large, it has become dull. Since everyone is at parity in the pros, meaning equal, it follows that excellence has been eliminated. No longer are there dynasty teams. Every year, it can be anyone's championship. Sounds good, until you look at the level of play. Remember the cowboy/steeler, oiler/steeler, dolphin/raider games? Plays that they STILL replay to this day. Now, we can look forward to tons of dropped balls and three downs and punt ad infinitum.

tonights game will be interesting till about five minutes before the half. another blowout. wheee.

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