But despite all the long hours of hard work put in by the entire programs of Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Michigan, and the eventual winners of West Virginia/Clemson and Arkansas/Kansas State, the BCS has already cast these programs into the matrix in which neither the red pill nor the blue pill would be able to help them escape. Because according to computers, coaches polls, and the associated press, LSU and Alabama are clearly the two best teams in the country no matter what anyone else says. And because of this predetermination at the end of the regular season, none of the other winners of bowl games would get a chance to beat LSU or Alabama on the field of play.
Instead of constructing a simple playoff format in which results on the field act as the strainer to sift through the contending teams, the BCS remains steadfast in sticking to the most asinine way to determine a champion in all of sports. College football has elected to go against the grain of traditional playoff format and replace it with ludicrous combinations of numbers that add up to disaster every year.
The summary of the BCS ranking systems is relatively simple. The system takes the total points of the Harris Interactive poll, the USA Today's coaches poll, and four different types of computer rankings and averages them together in order to get a mean that in turn determines where the teams rank in the BCS standings. The current BCS system would be perfect for determining the power rankings at the beginning of the season. That being said, there is a lot less math to do if teams were to be ranked according to wins and losses.
But the system itself is not the primary reason why so many fans, journalists, and analysts raise their torches and pitchforks towards the BCS. No the reason for the boisterous complaints surrounding the system lie within the concept of the Automatic Qualifiers and their right of passage against the spirit of competition.
Since six of the twelve conferences share historical links with each of the BCS bowls, the BCS has been generous enough to grant the champions of these six AQ conferences entrance to these bowl games regardless of their rankings at the end of the regular season. So it is a very common place for a team in the other six conferences, like the 12-1 Houston Cougars this past year, to finish higher in the BCS standings than an AQ school such as Clemson and not make a BCS bowl game because Clemson is from an AQ school and Houston is not.
And that's not even the worst case BCS scenario.
This season, the Alabama Crimson Tide finished second in the BCS standings and will be playing in the BCS title game. Sounds reasonable, until the details come to light. The Alabama Crimson Tide not only did not win their conference, they also did not even play in the SEC conference championship game. On top of that, the tide played LSU, the SEC team in the national title that actually won its conference, and lost. To make matters worse, Oklahoma State, a team from the Big 12 that won as many games as Alabama and won it's conference, got designated to go to the Fiesta Bowl. So thanks to the BCS, a team from an automatic qualifying conference can fail win it's conference, and not play in its conference championship game if they want to play for a national title.
The 12-1 Houston Cougars can't do that. They don't have a historic tie to a bowl game.
In theory, an AQ school could go 7-6 and play in the national championship game if the rest of their automatic qualifying brethren played down to their level; granted they would need to be ranked in the top two in the BCS rankings to do so, but mathematically speaking it is possible.
The 12-1 Boise State Broncos can't say that. They would get shut out so fast they would not even feel the breeze of the door slamming in their face.
But what can be done so that teams like Boise State, TCU, Houston, and the other mid major teams can get their shot at the BCS trophy? Everyone has thrown their two cents into the solutions fund, but there is not a whole lot to work with. Perhaps every team in the FBS could go independent and formulate their own league with their own playoff system (not going to happen). Maybe the BCS system would be exterminated in a court of law in a lawsuit by the mid majors (Mountain West Conference tried that in 2009, didn't work). Perhaps the BCS would do away with their system and implement a playoff system in light of their bowl game ratings dropping like a dead body tied to cement blocks (as long as we are dreaming, a Ferrari would be nice).
The best scenario for the sport of college football would be to condense the number of conferences from twelve to eight. By doing so, every conference winner would be rewarded with a tournament seed to compete in an eight team playoff. Teams are already changing conferences on a whim, so getting everyone together in eight conferences should be relatively easy. The regular season would be more compelling due to increased inter conference games and fewer regularly scheduled blowouts. The bowl games could be utilized as quarterfinal and semi final games with the Rose Bowl as the championship game. This way, the little guys could come out of their conference with a chance to win the national title. If they don't do it, then at least they could say they had a shot. Everybody wins in this scenario. More fans means more tickets sold, more eyes on TV, and more advertising money for the big wigs at the BCS. Hubris on behalf of the BCS would be the only thing to stop this realization from taking form.
Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you just can't make it drink. Even if it has been walking through the center of Pasadena after not drinking for fourteen years. Guess this horse will enjoy another 9-6 game it what should be it's marquee game of the sport instead of an eight team tournament of conference champions.
The summary of the BCS ranking systems is relatively simple. The system takes the total points of the Harris Interactive poll, the USA Today's coaches poll, and four different types of computer rankings and averages them together in order to get a mean that in turn determines where the teams rank in the BCS standings. The current BCS system would be perfect for determining the power rankings at the beginning of the season. That being said, there is a lot less math to do if teams were to be ranked according to wins and losses.
But the system itself is not the primary reason why so many fans, journalists, and analysts raise their torches and pitchforks towards the BCS. No the reason for the boisterous complaints surrounding the system lie within the concept of the Automatic Qualifiers and their right of passage against the spirit of competition.
Since six of the twelve conferences share historical links with each of the BCS bowls, the BCS has been generous enough to grant the champions of these six AQ conferences entrance to these bowl games regardless of their rankings at the end of the regular season. So it is a very common place for a team in the other six conferences, like the 12-1 Houston Cougars this past year, to finish higher in the BCS standings than an AQ school such as Clemson and not make a BCS bowl game because Clemson is from an AQ school and Houston is not.
And that's not even the worst case BCS scenario.
This season, the Alabama Crimson Tide finished second in the BCS standings and will be playing in the BCS title game. Sounds reasonable, until the details come to light. The Alabama Crimson Tide not only did not win their conference, they also did not even play in the SEC conference championship game. On top of that, the tide played LSU, the SEC team in the national title that actually won its conference, and lost. To make matters worse, Oklahoma State, a team from the Big 12 that won as many games as Alabama and won it's conference, got designated to go to the Fiesta Bowl. So thanks to the BCS, a team from an automatic qualifying conference can fail win it's conference, and not play in its conference championship game if they want to play for a national title.
The 12-1 Houston Cougars can't do that. They don't have a historic tie to a bowl game.
In theory, an AQ school could go 7-6 and play in the national championship game if the rest of their automatic qualifying brethren played down to their level; granted they would need to be ranked in the top two in the BCS rankings to do so, but mathematically speaking it is possible.
The 12-1 Boise State Broncos can't say that. They would get shut out so fast they would not even feel the breeze of the door slamming in their face.
But what can be done so that teams like Boise State, TCU, Houston, and the other mid major teams can get their shot at the BCS trophy? Everyone has thrown their two cents into the solutions fund, but there is not a whole lot to work with. Perhaps every team in the FBS could go independent and formulate their own league with their own playoff system (not going to happen). Maybe the BCS system would be exterminated in a court of law in a lawsuit by the mid majors (Mountain West Conference tried that in 2009, didn't work). Perhaps the BCS would do away with their system and implement a playoff system in light of their bowl game ratings dropping like a dead body tied to cement blocks (as long as we are dreaming, a Ferrari would be nice).
The best scenario for the sport of college football would be to condense the number of conferences from twelve to eight. By doing so, every conference winner would be rewarded with a tournament seed to compete in an eight team playoff. Teams are already changing conferences on a whim, so getting everyone together in eight conferences should be relatively easy. The regular season would be more compelling due to increased inter conference games and fewer regularly scheduled blowouts. The bowl games could be utilized as quarterfinal and semi final games with the Rose Bowl as the championship game. This way, the little guys could come out of their conference with a chance to win the national title. If they don't do it, then at least they could say they had a shot. Everybody wins in this scenario. More fans means more tickets sold, more eyes on TV, and more advertising money for the big wigs at the BCS. Hubris on behalf of the BCS would be the only thing to stop this realization from taking form.
Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you just can't make it drink. Even if it has been walking through the center of Pasadena after not drinking for fourteen years. Guess this horse will enjoy another 9-6 game it what should be it's marquee game of the sport instead of an eight team tournament of conference champions.
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