The BCS System Is Just Not Working
Total Pro Sports - We have completed yet another year in what was a fantastic season in College Football. However, like in many years past we have to deal with the controversy of the BCS. The system deciding what teams that will play in the National Championship Game.
This year it was Texas' turn to feel the effect of substandard system that credits teams based on 'style points' rather than hard-nosed victories. The BCS uses three components, The USA Today Coaches Poll, The Harris Interactive College Football Poll, and an average of six computer rankings. It is these computer rankings that are the most controversial as they have no human influence.
In every sport we expect to see a champion, a team or individual that rises above the rest, and undisputedly claims the top prize. In College Football we sometimes lack this experience, and there is doubt to the legitimacy of the National Champion.
In the most recent case of this flaw, we witnessed in 2003, two champions, the LSU Tigers and Southern California Trojans. The LSU Tigers beat the No. 1 team in the country in the Sugar Bowl, only to share the National Title with a team that played an inferior Bowl Game, against a lesser opponent.
Was this true justice?
It is time that the system be revised, the fans are tired of seeing computer generated rankings make decisions that don't seem sensible to the human eye. In an interview with president-elect Barack Obama just before the election, he was asked what should be done to change the settings that are already in place?
his answer "introduce a playoff".
We have seen the type of success that the College Basketball Tournament or "March Madness" has shown over the years. Maybe it is time that College Football seriously consider making the change!
Here at Total Pro Sports we have been deliberating as to the best fit solution, that will allow the teams to have enough time between games and conclude the season on schedule. Our solution, is a 32 team elimination tournament, it will be arranged into 4 brackets consisting of 8 teams. These teams will be hand picked by a committee, with a representative from each conference. The eventual winner would have to win 5 consecutive games, these games would be played in succession with a week off before the Championship Game. This will allow the teams to remain focused rather then the current BCS schedule giving teams a month off before a crucial game and asking them to perform at a high level.
The argument that there should be more teams in the elimination tournament is justifiable, however, our counter argument is, there are not 64 solid College Football teams. As we sat back each week and filled out our College Football Power Rankings, we at times struggled with the bottom 5 of our rankings.
The 32 team system is perfect as it will allow a number of programs on the bubble to fight for the remaining 4-6 positions. As for the the teams that do not qualify for this tournament, there could be a tournament of 32, similar to the NIT for College Basketball, that will see a winner emerge.
We are confident that an elimination tournament will never be in place for College Football, they (committee) keep making minor revisions to the system in place and we will end up in the same position every December. It all boils down to money and with an elimination tournament, potential revenue will be lost.
So we pose the question to the average fan base, what would you like to see done to improve the system?
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I have long defended the BCS because it keeps college football tradition. I do admit that a playoff would be fun. Ideally 16 teams as we can see this year there are more than 8 good teams. I defend the BCS because college football is not pro football. In the pros, 12 out of 32 teams make the playoffs. That is pretty good odds (almost 40% make the playoffs). If college football had the same %, we would see a playoff with 50 teams. Bottom line is that no matter what playoff system is elected, there will be whiners and complainers. I like the top 2 only…..remember when MLB was 2 teams only in the playoffs? The BCS is a good formula, it rewards teams with good records who have good competition.
Every year the same thing is said. Every year someone is mad that their team did not get what they thought it deserved.
Sizzle, Texas Tech beats Texas head to head so maybe they should be going.
Then how do you decide who gets in the playoffs? No matter what, there will still be room to complain.
If you think the BCS is a joke, look back to the Bowl Alliance or the Bowl Coaliton. Even worse, go back to the days of the AP and UPI polls without any top 10 teams matching up in bowl games. If you really want to get back to a joke, did you know that polls used to be done on the regular season alone and not after the bowls until the lat 60’s/early 70’s?
The biggest obstacle will always be money. The colleges are bringing in $200 million for their athletic programs and distributing to all of the schools in their conference, thus about 117 schools get a share of that money. How do you replace that amount of money with fewer games?
The BCS system is not working because nobody (including those who are in charge of it) understands it. It is ridiculously inefficient. There is no consistency in it. They need a playoff system. I propose that they do it like basketball where the champion of each conference play in a single elimination tournament. The last team standing is the national champions
we need a playoff, im sick of this sh1t.
oklahoma looks really good but texas beat them head-to-head…that should be all the justification you need that texas should be in the national championship game…and im not biased towards or against either of these teams…im a cal fan. in any case…i really do like the bowl games because they’re pretty exciting and it’s a good tradition but to actually correctly determine the best team in the country every year we NEED a playoff system.
it really is working if college football goes to a play off no matter how many teams 4 the 5th team complains 8 the 9th and 10th teams complain and so forth the way it is is perfect there is no simpler way to have it win all of your games along with your conference and your in period it is the best way to do it
I agree was well its fair to anyone else like USC, Penn State, Texas and Florida they are getting a Raw Deal, while Oklahoma scores 60+ Points on every Single Saturday, WE NEED A CHANGE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
There should be a playoff!!!!!!!! but, someone will still cry about how they should be in.. take 32 teams for the playoffs so all the bowl game sponser would get a game…
I agree. Who wants to see Texas and OU play for a tie breaker? They should take the top 10 or 8 teams, change the bowl games to playoff games and do it the right way.
Well, if you figure every week is a playoff and don’t lose, then you assure yourself of a title shot. Right? Oh wait, that is not right.
I don’t know if we need a playoff or not. Part of the fun is debating who got screwed and who got lucky, etc..
Part of the tradition is the debate on who would have beaten who…who should have done this or that…etc.
Plus the bowl games are nice to have.
Even with a playoff, the debate will go on and on about how many teams it should be. If it is 4 teams and USC gets left out…uh oh. If it is 8 teams and undefeated Boise State gets left out..uh oh.
Where do we play the games? Home for the top seeds? Neutral site (wink, wink)
If it were up to me, I would like to see an 8 team playoff…dump the BCS title bowl game… use the other 4 BCS bowl games as the first round of the playoff.
This gets us to 4 teams – of which people would still be complaining about that 9th place team that got leaped by Boise State.
Then we have a final 4 weekend…with 2 new bowl games. The good – no doubt about who should move on. The bad – not enough time for fans to make travel plans. This could be solved by making these home games for the Higher seed. Fair? to me, sure. You gotta get some sort of advantage for being ranked higher..even if nobody agrees you should be.
Then we have THE title game. The good – not much room for complaints about who should be there. The bad – again, fans and schools don’t have a lot of time for travel plans. The game would need to be played at a central location to both schools. Wouldn’t always be convenient, but sometimes it would. But takes a lot of quick planning.
This year.
Seeds.
1. OU
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Boise State
Where’s Penn State? Sorry, you are this years designated team to get ’screwed’.
And sorry OU, but you have to play Boise State again in the Fiesta bowl…