The BCS Nightmare

The final BCS rankings to wrap up this crazy and exciting season came out yesterday and proved to be just as crazy as the season itself. After Missouri lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship and West Virginia was stunned by Pitt on Saturday, an inactive, one loss Ohio State team moved up to number one and because they won the SEC championship, a two loss LSU team jumped all the way up from number 7 to number 2 to play for the national title. Ohio State, since the Big Ten doesn’t have a championship game, hasn’t played a game in two week, but still moved up due to the work of other teams.

Similarly, other teams like Kansas and Hawaii who either have one loss or are undefeated where all but snubbed in the BCS. Not to mention the host of other two loss teams who could legitimately make a their case for playing in New Orleans in January (Georgia, and especially USC, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech who all won their conference championships just like LSU).

I’ve said all that to say, I think our system, like many American systems, is broken, if not biased. The BCS is comprised of several components. Two human polls (the Harris Interactive Poll and the USA Today Coaches poll) and 6 computers that crunch all the numbers based on a particular formula that is supposed to take certain things into account (strength of schedule, quality wins, etc.). I read an article a few years ago about how this is done, but I didn’t really understand it all. It would be interesting this year to know exactly how that is worked out because the top 5 BCS teams according to the computer average this year were, #1 Virginia Tech, #2 LSU, #3 Ohio State, #4 Missouri, #5 Kansas, with Georgia and Oklahoma tied for #6, which seems really odd. Personally, I don’t like the computer component at all. They don’t watch the games—it’s more than numbers.

Several things need to be done I think, in order make the system more fair and impartial. First, the preseason polls need to either be done away with altogether or not taken so seriously. I tend to think they need to be done away with. Right now, in a sense they determine the season. A preseason top 5 team (Michigan, for example) that loses to an unranked opponent can jump back into the mix very easily while an unranked team who beats a ranked team (or several) has a much harder time working their way up. The poll just carries too much weight. It’s biased toward big name “tradition” schools and is really basically guesswork in the preseason anyway.

Second, I think every conference should either have a championship game or not have one. Period. As it is now, some teams have an advantage with the extra game and some don’t. Some, like Ohio State, have the advantage of not have the extra game. You don’t play for two weeks and while other teams get the extra games, then you slide in the back door to the national championship. I think that’s unfair. A team shouldn’t be rewarded for not playing.

If every division/conference had a championship game, it would make a playoff much more feasible and more fair to other teams and conferences, giving the little guys a little love. As it is now, we have around a month before the national championship. That’s plenty of time to have the conference champions duke it out. And you wouldn’t even have to do away with all the bowls. All the runner-ups could get in line and play in the other bowls while the top 2 play for the national championship.

Third, I think the idea of having certain BCS conferences is pretty bogus and biased toward bigger schools. Isn’t the point of having a division I championship so that there is an overall champion? How can their be an overall champion if some conferences are given the advantage and others are completely left out? Doesn’t sound like a true national championship to me. Follow the money trail. Most of the BCS conference have strong “affiliations” with certain bowls. Go figure. I think if we’re going to have a national championship every team and every conference should be on the same playing field. The better teams will naturally rise to the top and if these bigger schools are as good as we all think they will too.

None of this will ever happen though. Some conferences would have the excuse of having a hard time figuring out how to do the championship game because not every conference is as big as the SEC or the Big 12 and not every conference is split into North/South or East/West. The main reason , I think is that all the advertisers, sponsors, and BCS conference commissioners would be really worried about making their money. As it is now, the use that latent month to promote and advertise. They think a playoff would ruin that. Like many things in the US, if you follow the money trail you’re sure to find the reinforcement for the status quo. I also think that some dislike the idea of a more impartial system because they’re afraid of who might end up in the national championship game. (i.e. a Boise State, Hawaii, or some other teams from a non-BCS conference) and in that respect I think the whole system is biased toward the big name “tradition” schools.

But that’s just me, what do I know?

~bh ><>