B.C.S: Is it a Good System?

Ruffle My Feathers, a weekly sports blog by Justin Lewis               

The B.C.S AKA Because Controversy Sells AKA “We’ll pick your school because you have more money” system is terrible! It’s not helping the game of college football at all.  Almost every year this “system” has been in place there hasn’t been a clear NCCA Football champion.  #1 LSU played #2 Alabama this past weekend and “voters” and the committee are saying since Alabama lost they “deserve” a rematch if both teams win out, but who’s to say someone else isn’t more deserving than Alabama?  A playoff system needs to be put into place so the TEAMS can determine who plays for the championship, NOT Mommy and Daddy booster.  Teams like Oklahoma have been outmatched in numerous bowl games and/or championship games in the recent past yet they keep getting placed in these high ranking bowls due to their boosters and their name.  Small schools like Boise State, Utah, and TCU have been deserving of championship game consideration but they say those teams don’t “deserve” to be in that game because they haven’t played a tough enough schedule.  This BCS system is flawed and needs to be removed so we can create a playoff system that will not only determine a true champion, but it will also get the student-athletes to think about how to prepare and maintain their minds and bodies for the post season in college and the NFL.

Now that #1 vs. #2 has happened and it was a tight game with #1 LSU coming out on top, what are you gonna do now oh wise BCS creators?  LSU beat the #2 team Alabama who was the HOME TEAM for that game, so how is it fair to say that they deserve a shot to play each other again if both teams win out?  Alabama and LSU are in the same division within their conference meaning they wouldn’t even play one another in the championship game of their own conference, so how is Alabama more deserving then say an Oklahoma State?  #3 Oklahoma State barely won AT HOME (52-45) by stopping the #14 team Kansas State on the last play of the game.  Does that mean they are more deserving than Boise State?  #5 Boise State is doing their usual right now which is remaining undefeated and staying or dropping out of the Top-5 each week depending on how the voters and coaches FEEL about them (not how they play or who they have defeated).  They will most likely be undefeated going into Bowl Season AGAIN, but wont receive the respect they deserve.  #7 Arkansas defeated then #9 South Carolina this past Saturday (44-28) and if they beat LSU later on in the year and then win the SEC championship game shouldn’t they play for the title?  How about if Stanford keeps winning their games including a tough stretch that starts with #8 Oregon and then they end up winning their conference title game shouldn’t they play for the title?  These are real scenarios that could occur this year, but we are leaving it up to the “voters” and the great BCS system to put who they “feel” are the best teams in the National Championship game.  Again the TEAMS should determine the outcome.

Creating a playoff system isn’t as hard as people think it is.  I say have a total of 16 teams in a two-sided bracket that includes each major conference winner.  Forgive me if I am mistaken with the names of these conferences (which are sometimes named for how many teams are within the conference), but teams are running faster than Usain Bolt just to get more money and exposure in other conferences.  We have the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, PAC-12 Conference, SEC, Sun Belt, and the WAC Conference.  I know, I know the name of the last conference always makes me laugh too.  That would take care of 11 guaranteed teams to be in the tournament.  That would leave (5) spots for teams who deserve to be in the “big dance”.  At this point of the year those teams would be Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon (If they keep it close vs. Stanford or possibly defeat them because they already lost to #1 LSU on a neutral field early in the year), and unfortunately Oklahoma.  The standards for those last (5) spots would be determined by strength of schedule (which also means whatever team you defeated must go on and keep winning so you can plead your case that the teams you played are better than everyone else’s opponents), margin of victory, and Record vs. Top-25 teams.  I know I make it sound simple but a playoff system shouldn’t be so difficult to create since they easily created the most controversial championship system in sports.

The last time a #1 faced a #2 with last weeks significance was back on Nov. 18, 2006 when then #1 Ohio State defeated then #2 Michigan 42-39.  That game was similar to this situation because they were both in the same conference, they were #1 and #2 respectively, and it was a very tight game that featured the same margin of victory which was (3) points.  That year Florida didn’t look so good in their last game before the Bowl season which was the SEC championship game against Arkansas, but they put Florida in the championship game instead of Michigan anyway.  If that much controversy surrounded that wise decision a light bulb should have went off in the ole BCS committees head.  That idea would have been to have a playoff system instead of “selecting” who plays in the championship game.  However the idea of a playoff within college football would have prompted the committee to perform a remake of Jim Mora’s reaction to playoffs, “Playoffs!  Playoffs! Are you kidding me?  Playoffs?” See link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwq7BYOnDrM

In that case Michigan had a good case for playing them again because they lost by (3) points in Ohio State’s stadium and Florida barely made it out alive against Arkansas.    Albeit Tim Tebow maintained his legend by helping his Florida team destroy #1 Ohio State in the championship game, but some things are just “in the cards” so we won’t ever know if Michigan would have defeated Ohio State in a rematch.  With that being said we have a chance to correct this error by implementing a playoff system which unfortunately won’t occur until as early as next year if implemented.

I also remember in 2005 when Auburn and USC were both undefeated and they both were just beating their opponents into the ground and they should have played one another but instead they had USC face off against Oklahoma A.K.A. “The Old Red Punching bag in major bowl games” in the Championship game.  Oklahoma’s record for the last 8 years in bowl games is 3-5.  Of those 8 games 3 were BCS championship games they shouldn’t have even played in and it showed by them being outscored by 53 points 100-47 in those 3 LOSSES against supposed “lesser” opponents.  Some examples of the great BCS system involving Oklahoma instead of a more deserving team are:

• 2004 when Oklahoma was placed into the BCS Championship game and they were embarrassed by LSU who was not impressed with Oklahoma which featured OU’s Heisman Trophy Quarterback Jason White (who was 13-37 for 102 yards and 2 interceptions) and the highest scoring offense in the country.  The score didn’t dictate the domination because the LSU quarterback was not the best game manager, but the LSU defense flat out destroyed the Oklahoma offense.
• 2005 once again they were put into the BCS championship game, but this time they faced off against USC and the score did dictate how bad they were beaten.  The score was 55-19 and Oklahoma’s “super” quarterback and his offense were embarrassed once again.  Jason White was 24-36 for 244 yards with (2) touchdowns and (3) interceptions (USC scored 21 points off of those interceptions). Auburn was 13-0 that year and took care of business against every team yet they were left out of the game, nothing wrong with that right?
• 2009 Oklahoma once again goes to the BCS championship game due to the ever so efficient and fair BCS system instead of (two teams who like Oklahoma only had one loss) Texas & USC, or even UTAH (who was a long shot but they were a good team that was undefeated).  Oklahoma was outmatched AGAIN in a championship game but this time it was Florida who took them to the woodshed and the score was 31-14.  Just like in the past (2) championship games the same theme was mentioned when speaking of Oklahoma.  They featured an “unstoppable” offense and were said to “possibly be the best offense they have had at Oklahoma in quite some time” yet they only managed 363 yards of total offense, turned the ball over twice, AND only put up 14 points.  I rest my case!!

All of these scholar-athletes deserve a shot at a championship and what better way than to experience a playoff system BEFORE they go to the NFL so they know how to condition their minds and bodies for more than one Championship “type” game.  BCS committee please think about the well-being of the student-athletes not about lining your pockets and your best buddy’s feelings.

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