Thursday, May 6, 2004

Seeing The BS of the BCS

With the NCAA and the BCS stumbling all over themselves to try to correct the "problems" occured when the #1 and #2 teams DIDN'T meet for the championship last season, they are pretty much just giving us the greenlight to condemn this system.

It doesn't work.

At least not like it was promised.  In the 6 years since the BCS first began, half of the seasons ended with controversy.  The wrong teams meeting for the title.  I mean, who could forget Nebraska, who didn't even win their DIVISION of the Big XII, getting to the National Championship game?  So they tweaked that.  Then, something that we all knew was bound to happen did.  Three 1-loss teams and a computer left to figure which two should battle for the title.  And what do we get??  A split national championship.  So why, again, do we need the BCS?? 

The BCS just slammed thru the historical pageantry of the bowl system and just created more problems than it was supposed to solve.  So now, the Rose Bowl DOESN'T match up the champs of the Pac 10 and Big 10.  Why?  So that what happened this year occurs?? 

Hell, even selecting the BCS schools has become a problem.  Everyone should know this about the NCAA and it's post-season tournaments:  someone will gripe.  If you opened up the NCAA Hoops tournament to 256 teams....then there will be the 257th and 258th schools that will cry and moan that they should be included as well.  It wouldn't stop.  I mean, what was the last time a school that barely made the tournament on the bubble actually made a great run in the tourny??  Exactly.

And this makes it all the bigger deal in NCAA Football.  Oklahoma was one of the top teams last season.  The "at large" BCS bids were designed to keep teams like Oklahoma in mind.  A team that won all of its regular season games, but had to play a title game which teams in the ACC, Big East and Pac 10 didn't.  That's fine.  I see where they are coming from that.  But, when you are deciding which "at large" teams get to go....that's where it gets dicey.  I mean, unlike the NCAA tournament, being left out of the BCS could be very, very costly.  Like quite a few million dollars costly. 

Just look at the ACC [whichI am a fan of].  The ACC realizes all of this coming and has worked out a brilliant concept. First off, the stole away BCS darling Miami-FL to go grab money for the conference.  In doing so, they qualified to hold a conference title game.  Money.  And if you look at the division format, it follows NO geographic lines.  They pretty much split the conference into 2 BCS-calibar programs in each division; 3 solid programs in each division; and 1 bottom feeder to pump up the records.  In doing this, they've almost assured of having two BCS teams each season.

Now there are lawsuits and posturing and mega conference movements....just to set everyone up for the renewal of the BCS contract next season.  So the BCS has responded by offering up a 5th BCS game.  But, *aha*, what is this game for??  Is it another opportunity for a 9th and 10th school from one of the six major conferences to get in on the major money?  Is it a new opportunity for schools from the Mountain West, MAC, WAC and Conference USA to get a shot at that money?  Or is it a post-bowl game...that would matchup the two best teams after the bowls are done?

The latter is laughable.  If they could pick those teams correctly after the bowls....then why can't they do it after an entire body of work called the "regular season"??  And you'll STILL get somebody whining. 

Imagine using this formula for the NBA.  Imagine if I said, "pick 4 teams that would compete in two seperate series".  Match the two best against each other....and the winner would be the NBA Champions.  Match the #3 and #4 against each other...with the winner just being happy.  Who would you pick?  I'm sure everyone reading this has 4 different teams in mind.  Or maybe different matchups.  Some have Spurs-Pacers, Kings-Wolves.  Some may have Spurs-Wolves, Pistons-Kings.  Well, the Lakers could say "hey, we won the Pacific Division and the Spurs didn't even win their division.  We should get the title shot!"  Pretty fair arguement.  Or Nets fans could say "we won our division too!"  I know it is a reach, but this does show how silly this all can be.

Look, I am one of the people that are in favor of a playoff system for football.  But, if they aren't going to do that....then at least have something solid set in place.  Not something that didn't work, then gets tweaked during the offseason.  The funniest rumor was that the BCS is putting even LESS emphasis on the computer polls and relying on the human polls to select the matchups.  They've taken a little of the computer's power away every season.  But, in doing this....isn't the BCS just moving toward the way things USED to be??  Where the human polls pretty much steered the bowls to get a #1 v. #2 matchup?? 

Go away BCS.  Hold a 8 or 12 team tournament that lasts 3 or 4 weekends.  Let the champions of the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big XII, SEC and Pac 10 in.  Then give 2-6 at large spots to fill in the blanks. 

Or just keep having split national champions.  Honestly, I've never seen anyone cry to much about that.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

College football already has a playoff system, its called the regular season. If you go to a playoff then the regular season won't mean anything. 10 or 12 teams don't deserve to be national champions, atmost only 2 teams may deserve it at the end of a regular season. Stay with the BCS, its not perfect, but what is? The regular season the way it is now, every game is important, along with the ever elusive perfect season, if a team wants to be  National Champions... then don't lose a game, everyone starts off the same at the beginning of the year. Leave it alone, and let them play ball, its never gonna be perfect, atleast this way its exciting.

Anonymous said...

The thought every team starts out equal is Bull S$%^. Only teams that start the season 15 or higher in the polls have a legitamate shot at a national title. The new at large spot in the BCS formula needs to be a guarenteed spot for a "Mid-Major" Confernce C-USA, MWC, WAC, or MAC. The Big East spot for that matter should be forfieted without delay. As for the Good-Ol Boy's in the BCS; who say everyone discussing this is good for football. WRONG. This is bad for NCAA Divison 1 football. Till these morons can get it right I will cheer for my "Mid-Major" underdogs to screw up the system and watch a real national championship be decided on the field in Division 1AA. Go Montana Grizzles a real National Championship program.

Anonymous said...

So, if every regular season game counts....then if TCU did actually finish the job and go undefeated, then would THEY have been the National Champs??  Of course not.  The system would be the same.  So, actually, the regular season doesn't count.

The way it works now, it's not even WHO you lost to as much as it is WHEN you lost to them.  

Anonymous said...

it wont work.  if you have these "tournaments" as you say, they wont make enough money to make it profitable.  few fans will follow their teams all over the country for 4-8 weeks.  they simply wont be able to afford it.  a playoff works fine in I-AA because they dont try to make money off of their playoffs.  

Anonymous said...

I like your example which shows how disastrous a BCS system would be in the NBA.  The same would be true with MLB, the NFL, college basketball, the NHL, or just about any other sport that is brought up.  The best example of all which shows how bad the BCS is happens to be college football.  How often has the system worked to everyones (or at least nearly everyones) satisfaction?  Last season there were 3 deserving teams of playing for the title.  I remember a year when Washington beat Miami, Miami beat Florida State, all 3 teams had one loss, and it was Florida State who played for the title.  Nebraska allowed over 60 points in their last game of the season, didn't win their division, and still made the title game.  Ohio State, in the first year the system was used, had the same record as Florida State.  Most people would have told you Ohio State was better that year, and FSU got in the title game.  Ohio State's 1 loss that year was in a game which they blew a pretty good lead.  








Anonymous said...

Where is the crying over the playoff system in the NFL?  Are any pro football fans going to be upset if their team doesn't win a title next season?  You bet, but it's not likely they will be upset over the system, unlike college football where people are upset over the BCS.  Are any of the playoff teams crying because they didn't get their fair shot at playing for the title?  Perhaps they would get upset at the referees, but you can have this problem in college too during the regular season, or in bowl games.  If money was not a factor in deciding which system to choose, there would be no doubt in my mind that college goes to a playoff system eventually.  Unfortunately, this is not the case at all.  It's too bad that we can't see things settled on the field, instead of being settled by computers.  What I said about the system also goes for other sports.  Are there nearly as many people upset over the playoff system in college basketball, the NHL, the NBA, MLB, or any other division of college football besides division I, as they are over the BCS?  What a shame that we have to watch Spurs-Lakers, Kings-T'Wolves, Pistons-Nets, and Pacers-Heat.  What a shame that the winners of those series meet in the next round, and the winners of those series meet in the NBA Finals.  For those that think the regular season is meaningless with a playoff system, think again.  Just look at the NFL, and notice that teams with better regular season records tend to do better in the playoffs.  I mention the NFL here because it is the closest sport (to college football) with a playoff system I can think of, other than college football below division I.  Some teams don't even make the playoffs if they don't win enough games.  Just ask those teams if the season was meaningless.