FoxPerez
11-18-2011, 04:13 PM
Originally posted at PlaymakerOnline.com (http://bit.ly/tMcJvT):
The worst part of college football is the perceptions that big schools form this little club to keep everything for themselves no matter what the fans want, including their own season ticket-holders and donors. The clamoring for a playoff continues and another case could be built this year if there aren’t two undefeated, unquestionable teams at the top of the BCS standings at the end of the year.
At every turn, the BCS has fought against a playoff but at least tweaks could be made to the current system to accommodate one. A small four-team tournament would be simple to accomplish. But now the BCS is considering radically changing.
According to a report on ESPN.com (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7248953/bcs-proposes-only-handling-national-championship-game-sources-say), the BCS may change to a smaller system where the only thing that they control is who is invited to a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship. This would put the individual bowl games back in full control of who they get to invite and which conferences they are tied to (possibly permanently, like the old system). This is absolutely absurd and would revert the system back closer to what it was before the BCS existed. Conference champions would face each other despite rankings and mid-majors would be left out.
It seems like part of a continually concerted effort to keep any mid-major from making a case that it not only belongs in a BCS bowl game discussion, but discussion for a national championship as well. Boise State beating Oklahoma, Utah dominating Alabama, and, most recently, TCU beating Wisconsin are results that major college programs wish people would forget because it keeps them and their conferences out of more money. It’s a surprise that they didn’t get TCU to play unranked UConn last year because the previous year, rather than subject the so-called powerhouses to possible losses at the hands of the dreaded WAC and Mountain West, the BCS conveniently pitted the Broncos and Horned Frogs against each other.
It would eliminate automatic qualifiers, which would supposedly open up more teams to the national championship picture, but would also eliminate automatic qualifiers from conferences and a two-team limit to BCS bowl games. That means that schools would have little to no motivation to schedule tough games in the pre-conference part of the year and the bowl games could get away with just inviting a bunch of SEC and Pac 12 teams regardless of higher-ranked schools being more deserving of those spots.
Don’t get me wrong, the BCS seems like a really evil organization but that’s only because they refuse to make a few tweaks to the system to make a lot of fans happy and look really hypocritical for it. But ultimately, they have provided true #1 vs. #2 matchups almost every year that’s only resulted in one split national championship since it’s formation.
Still, it says a lot that we needed the BCS to get #1 vs. #2 and what doesn’t get talked about is how awesome the other bowl games usually are from year to year. The aforementioned classic victories of TCU, Utah, and Boise State never would have happened without the BCS. And that’s the direction they should keep going. Not turning around and driving the other way.
Of course, the excuse the BCS gives is, “Hey! Everybody’s mad at us, so we’re changing the system.” While everyone is saying, “Yeah guys, that’s not what we were mad about. How about you listen to what the fans want and consider that before you just throw crap at a wall to see what sticks.”
The worst part of college football is the perceptions that big schools form this little club to keep everything for themselves no matter what the fans want, including their own season ticket-holders and donors. The clamoring for a playoff continues and another case could be built this year if there aren’t two undefeated, unquestionable teams at the top of the BCS standings at the end of the year.
At every turn, the BCS has fought against a playoff but at least tweaks could be made to the current system to accommodate one. A small four-team tournament would be simple to accomplish. But now the BCS is considering radically changing.
According to a report on ESPN.com (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7248953/bcs-proposes-only-handling-national-championship-game-sources-say), the BCS may change to a smaller system where the only thing that they control is who is invited to a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship. This would put the individual bowl games back in full control of who they get to invite and which conferences they are tied to (possibly permanently, like the old system). This is absolutely absurd and would revert the system back closer to what it was before the BCS existed. Conference champions would face each other despite rankings and mid-majors would be left out.
It seems like part of a continually concerted effort to keep any mid-major from making a case that it not only belongs in a BCS bowl game discussion, but discussion for a national championship as well. Boise State beating Oklahoma, Utah dominating Alabama, and, most recently, TCU beating Wisconsin are results that major college programs wish people would forget because it keeps them and their conferences out of more money. It’s a surprise that they didn’t get TCU to play unranked UConn last year because the previous year, rather than subject the so-called powerhouses to possible losses at the hands of the dreaded WAC and Mountain West, the BCS conveniently pitted the Broncos and Horned Frogs against each other.
It would eliminate automatic qualifiers, which would supposedly open up more teams to the national championship picture, but would also eliminate automatic qualifiers from conferences and a two-team limit to BCS bowl games. That means that schools would have little to no motivation to schedule tough games in the pre-conference part of the year and the bowl games could get away with just inviting a bunch of SEC and Pac 12 teams regardless of higher-ranked schools being more deserving of those spots.
Don’t get me wrong, the BCS seems like a really evil organization but that’s only because they refuse to make a few tweaks to the system to make a lot of fans happy and look really hypocritical for it. But ultimately, they have provided true #1 vs. #2 matchups almost every year that’s only resulted in one split national championship since it’s formation.
Still, it says a lot that we needed the BCS to get #1 vs. #2 and what doesn’t get talked about is how awesome the other bowl games usually are from year to year. The aforementioned classic victories of TCU, Utah, and Boise State never would have happened without the BCS. And that’s the direction they should keep going. Not turning around and driving the other way.
Of course, the excuse the BCS gives is, “Hey! Everybody’s mad at us, so we’re changing the system.” While everyone is saying, “Yeah guys, that’s not what we were mad about. How about you listen to what the fans want and consider that before you just throw crap at a wall to see what sticks.”