Chip Shots
Belated BCS rant
In about an hour I will sit down in front of my television to watch college football's championship game between Ohio State and Florida. I'm thinking at this moment I will be very fortunate to remain awake for the entire telecast, but I digress.
The BCS is cheating college football fans of a true championship. I say this every year, and this year is no different. In most years I would have already laid out my parings for an eight team playoff, my personal preference for a Division 1 championship. This year I got sidetracked with all the Rich Rodriguez to Alabama stuff.
With that episode behind us and the Mountaineers now winners of two consecutive bowl games against two of Georgia's finest teams, it's now time to take a shot at the BCS.
Now, the BCS isn't all bad. They did serve up a game for the ages when Boise State knocked off Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. That game became an instant classic, but just think of how much more intense the ending of that game would have been had the teams been playing for the right to advance to the next round. Now we are left with a 13-0 Boise State team with seemingly no shot at a title. I'm not saying Boise is a championship team, but I would like to see them play again just to make sure.
Should Florida somehow knock off Ohio State, look for the AP voters to make Boise State a factor in their voting. Of course the AP is out of the BCS loop and only the Gators and Buckeyes are eligible for the BCS championship. That's because the computers determined that those two teams are the top two in the country. Computers being the operative word here.
Sure, much of the data entered into the computers was derived from the polls where humans ranked the teams, but those rankings, just like the formulas devised by the computer geeks, are totally subjective. We need to get more teams on the field to decide this thing.
Of course my system won't eliminate the flaws currently in place to determine the rankings of the teams, but it will almost assuredly get all the worthy teams a shot at a title. In any attempt to have a college football playoff, rankings have to be used to some extent. In all other divisions of NCAA football 16 teams are selected to play for a championship. They are picked by using a ranking formula.
In an effort to allow the bowls to remain a fixture in college football, my format allows for eight teams to participate. I would settle for anything that would add at least a game, but eight teams is my favorite. My model uses the current BCS standings to select the top eight teams. If it were my world, there would be changes to how these teams get ranked. Fewer computer entries for starters and I would take a long look at what humans get to vote. Not to question the integrity of any coaches who vote, but does anyone think some of them could have an agenda?
If the eight team format was in place this year, the first round matchups would be, (1) Ohio State vs. (8) Boise State. True, Cinderella would likely find it a little tougher against the Buckeyes, but then Oklahoma was very talented.
(2) Florida vs. (7) Wisconsin. The Badgers and Ohio State did not play in conference this year. Wisconsin looked really good too. Hmmmmmmm!
(3) Michigan vs. (6) Louisville. So, the Big 10 gets three in the field of eight. There should probably be a limit of two per conference, but since the Big 10 has no championship game, all three teams would have had good cases to be there. Michigan's case was weakened after the fact when they got shellacked by USC in the Rose Bowl.
(4) LSU vs. (5) USC. A really good first round matchup with the Buckeyes wanting no part of either team in the semi finals.
What my formula doesn't address is the time from the end of the regular season to the bowl games. That is the worst thing with this year's game. Ohio State took the field Monday night just 51 days from their season ending win over Michigan, and five days after the previous BCS bowl game. Fifty-one days is simply too long of a layoff before a game as significant as a national championship, and there was no reason for this game not to have been scheduled a week ago.
