Posted on 12/10/2001 2:56:18 PM PST by VRWCmember
OK, everyone who thinks the BCS system is a legitimate way of determining a national champion for NCAA football, please raise your hand.
[in Ben Stein voice:] Anyone, anyone, Beuller, anyone, Beuller?
Supporters of the BCS system and status quo are desperately hoping for a Miami victory in the Rose Bowl. This way, the system will have produced an "undisputed" national champion. However, consider this nightmare scenario for BCS apologists: if Maryland should defeat Florida in the Orange Bowl, and Oregon defeats Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl, and Illinois defeats LSU in the Sugar Bowl, THEN a Nebraska victory in the Rose Bowl creates a very controversial national championship decision. In this scenario, the BCS will produce 5 teams with only one loss, four of whom will have defeated a ranked team in their major Bowl game.
Nebraska, who lost to Colorado 62-36 and failed to qualify for the Big 12 Conference Championship game, is ranked ahead of Colorado. Apparently the victory by the 6-5 TCU Horned Frogs over Southern Mississippi gave Nebraska the strength-of-schedule points to propel them past Colorado in the BCS rankings. Ironically, even though the University of Texas could have earned a trip to the Rose Bowl by beating Colorado, it appears that the OSU victory over Oklahoma that put UT in the Big 12 Championship game cost the Longhorns the opportunity to back into the Rose Bowl the way Nebraska did. Based on the way all the other upsets played out, if OU had beaten OSU and then lost to Colorado in the Big 12 Championship game, then UT might have backed into the Rose Bowl with its 10-1 record instead of Nebraska.
As it now stands, I will pull for victories by Illinois and Oregon on New Year's Day, Maryland on January 2, and Nebraska on January 3. The BCS will probably name Nebraska as the national champion, but there will be three other Major-Bowl-winning teams with equal or better records who each have a legitimate claim that they deserve the title at least as much (if not more) as Nebraska.
Perhaps some day, the NCAA will wake up and realize that they are passing up a gold mine by not having a playoff system for the national championship. One easy solution would be to take the current bowls (there are 25 of them) and converting them to a playoff series. For example, take the top 24 teams and give the top 8 a first round bye. This would match up teams 9 thru 24 in 8 games that could be played in 8 of the minor bowls. This would immediately increase the prestige of these minor bowls because they would help determine who ultimately plays for the national championship (thus, they would become meaningful for a change). Then, the second round of the playoffs would match up the top 8 teams with the first round winners in 8 more of the minor bowls. Again, 8 minor bowls, that nobody except for the two teams playing currently cares about, would increase their prestige and importance. After two rounds (and 16 minor bowl games that would be greatly improved over their current position), we would be down to the top 8 teams who would compete in the quarter-finals using Bowl games like the Liberty Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, Citrus Bowl, Gator Bowl, Sun Bowl, etc that are currently played on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, but are still clearly a cut below the "Major" Bowls. These games would probably be played the last weekend in December. The semi-finals and national championship games would be played the first two weekends in January and could involve three of the current four "Major" Bowls, i.e. Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta, on a rotation basis with the fourth bowl hosting one of the quarter-finals games. This way the national championship game would rotate between the four major bowls with each team hosting at a semi-final game or the championship three out of every four years. This system would use 23 of the current 25 bowls and would tremendously increase ticket sales, TV revenue, and interest in all of the bowl games. The Bowls could retain their names and corporate sponsorships, which would probably also increase in value due to the playoff system. If a playoff system in this format were to start the second or third weekend in December (depending on whether there are four or five weekends), then quarter-finals would be the last weekend in December and the championship game would be on the second weekend in January.
Somehow the NCAA manages to determine who qualifies for a playoff system in Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Golf, Volleyball, Hockey, Field Hockey, Water Polo, and every other conceivable sport except Football. Why is it that in the case of the MOST visible and revenue-producing sport, the NCAA can't find a way to implement a playoff system that would only increase the revenue produced for everybody involved? Is it the fact that only 24 schools would participate instead of the 50 that go to the Bowls in the current system? Probably, but that is a pretty lame reason to hang onto a pathetic system like the BCS. Honestly, if we had a playoff system, would we really miss teams like University of North Texas, TCU, Lousiana Tech, Fresno State, East Carolina, NC State, and the other also-rans who have no business playing in a bowl game in the first place?
Why??? The NCAA Division II teams do it. They have a playoff every year and when it's over there is an undisputed champion.
NCAA BBall tourney is clearly the best sporting event in the nation in these days of spoiled, overpaid pro's in ALL major sports.
As an alum of a top football school, there is no way that I want a watering down of the bowl system. One of the greatest things about college football is the traditions and rivalry games. A playoff system would take away from all of that. I have the feeling that 90% of the interest in a playoff comes from fans who either are NFL fans that did not go to college or went to small non-football colleges.
I had the opportunity last year to go to the Rose Bowl and I would not trade that experience for the world. I talked to a lot of Purdue fans who had memorized everything about the 1967 Boilermakers. All they cared about was the Rose Bowl, they couldn't care less about a playoff and that is the way it should be, as it is their money that supports the college football system.
So I say to the people that want a playoff, turn on the NFL on Sunday and leave us be!
Yeah, but Colorado has two loses(count them 2)! I think Oregon has a better beef, but they blew a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter, at home, against Stanford.
I'll agree it is a mess.
This structure, as opposed to a straight 16-team playoff, would offer significant advantages to the top 4 while still providing chances for 8 also-rans to prove they belong. 7 bowl games of national significance would be played, plus an extra home game for the 4 best teams in the country. There would still be arguments (the 13th team, like the 66th in basketball, would have a beef) but the Champ would be decided on the field. A top 4 team would have to win 3 games, the rest would have to win 4.
BTW I am a Gator fan and alum, with near-zero interest in the NFL; most fans I know favor some kind of playoff. We backed into our only NC so far. If Miami loses, a split poll is likely, exactly what the BCS is supposed to prevent. I do agree that what we had before is better than the current BCS.
I just don't accept the Colorado reasoning, they lost two games. You said that "Nebraska gave up 62 points" and if Colorado got the nod, you'd hear "with all those 1 loss teams, a 2 loss team gets in?".
I do think Oregon does have a better beef in this. They won their conference (although without a conference championship game) and they only had one loss.
Nebraska didn't make up the rules, they are probably extremely thankful they get the shot at it.
Bottom line, it is a mess. But it is only a game.
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