Posted on 11/22/2011 8:09:02 AM PST by Kaslin
There is a problem with the Bowl Championship Series, but it’s not the one you probably think.
College football doesn’t need a playoff. A traditional playoff system – an eight-team or even four-team bracket – brings nothing in the way of advantages over the current system and probably would make things considerably worse.
Don’t tell me the traditional architecture for playoffs is the only – or even most – accurate way to determine a champion. The St. Louis Cardinals just won the World Series under that system despite having fewer wins in the regular season than any other team that made the playoffs. They finished six games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in their own division. In fact, wild card teams have won half of the last 10 championships.
Yes, people would watch the “playoff” games, but people are going to watch the bowls as well. And college administrators are right. The present system gives 68 teams a shot at playing in the postseason. Does anyone argue all 68 teams ought to get a second chance at the national championship? No. Plus, ask the coaches. Teams that advance to bowls get three extra weeks of practices. See how many want to cut the number of teams that receive that privilege from 68 to eight.
Besides, bowl teams and their fans get an enjoyable week in a far-off city, a few doo-dads from the bowl committee and a chance to finish the season against an opponent of comparable accomplishment. We all love the NCAA basketball tournament, but does it really help the 16 seeds to get in for one game, only to get crushed by a No.1 seed in the first round every single year?
No, the problem with the BCS this year is the prospect of a rematch. Full disclosure: I’m an LSU fan. I was born in Louisiana, went to a system school, have attended games there since I was a young child and have rooted for the Tigers every day of my life. I want that out there, even though it has little to do with the point I’m trying to make.
That’s because, if LSU wins its last two games, it is in – and nobody will argue. If the Tigers don’t win out, it’s their own fault if they miss the big dance.
My argument focuses on the other question: Who will they play?
As of today, the top prospect would be Alabama – provided Alabama beats Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday. But LSU already has beaten Alabama, 9-6, in as epic and thrilling a game as you’ll ever see.
I don’t think a traditional playoff system works for college football for a variety of reasons. How do you choose eight deserving teams out of 119 that have played wildly diverse schedules? Not all 12-0s are created equal. Boise State and TCU and this year’s unbeaten darling, Houston, play teams week-in-and-week-out that have perhaps one or two future pros. The LSU-Alabama game probably had 35-40 future pros. The mid-majors simply are not playing the same game.
Plus, the beauty of the present system is that every game among contenders is a playoff game. Stanford was eliminated by its loss to Oregon. Oregon was eliminated by its loss to LSU – in Week 1 of the season. USC beat Oregon, but it was eliminated because of its status as a continuing criminal enterprise. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
But similarly, Alabama has been eliminated. It had its shot at what most now must agree is the top team in the land. If Arkansas loses to LSU, it has even less claim on another chance – having lost previously to Alabama.
If all the present seeds hold serve, LSU should advance. Its most deserving opponent – as things stand now -- would be Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech will have won a division championship, a conference championship if it can prevail in the ACC title game, and will have lost only once – to a then-Top 10 opponent at the top of its game.
No team in the Big 12, Pac 12 or Big Ten can claim a better resume. And the Big 12 has a higher burden of proof since it no longer has a conference championship game. The problem with the BCS is that, at present, its points system would give the second berth in its title game to Alabama. I’m not sure how to fix that except to bar rematches.
College football does not have a traditional playoff system, which doesn’t bother me one bit. It chooses champions in a way more similar to auto racing than basketball, and that is OK.
But it does have an elimination system, and that system requires that no team, under any circumstances, gets a rematch. Sorry, Alabama, but you had your chance. It’s time others have theirs.
Since the very first sentence is wrong the rest of it doesn’t matter. There are probably 50 NCAA sports with playoffs, football should be no different.
Which, of course...means, not at all.
If, at the end of the current season, LSU and Alabama are determined to be the best two football teams in the country, then they should play again. I'm in favor of a playoff, but it would require elimination or major restructuring of the current conferences and schedules. I could see a five game season followed by an extensive single-elimination playoff.
Sounds to me like he's skeered! Roll Tide!
BCS is a joke..VaTech at #6...look at their schedule..if they were in the SEC, they'd have 2 wins..
This discounts the whole article IMO. LSU knows that Alabama won in every way but the one that counts. LSU wants no part of another game with the Crimson Tide.
Full Disclosure: I'm a UGA fan. I don't have a dog in this hunt, other than being another speed bump on LSU's road to N'Awlins.
I disagree with the logistics argument — what’s to stop them from using the current BCS system to determine seeds #1-8 for a playoff system, while still letting anyone who can manage to scrape up 6 wins make it into a bowl game? A 3-round playoff is only 7 games total — 3 more than what the 8 teams would have played in their BCS bowl assignments. Considering that “bowl season” already covers 2 weeks (and more) plus the BCS title game a week later, this wouldn’t even affect the length of the season as compared to now.
I mean, not that I’m entirely thrilled with how the BCS rankings are determined, but from a logistics standpoint, it would be quite simple to implement.
The BCS is a joke, but look what it has to work with. There is no consistency in scheduling or conference structures.
The author needs a new dictionary. The words “epic and thrilling” should not be used in refernce to a score of 9 - 6 for a football game.
They could set up a playoff and have a very rigid entry requirement — CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS ONLY!
Right now there are 11 conferences, these could easily be consolidated down into 8 conferences — indeed some of the smaller ones are looking at combining already.
BY combining and making larger conferences you force a Conference Championship game. The champions then enter the playoff, and everyone else is available for bowl games just as they are now.
With an 8 team playoff of conf champs and the conf champ games you end up with a defacto 16 team playoff.
QED!
FYI...RealClearSports..under college football..a fascinating article “Big 10 looks INWARD”...well worth the read..
BTW..see my #13,,good read..
Did you watch the game? This was two BIG BOY teams slugging it out unmercifully for 60+ minutes.
I will taking an EPIC and yes THRILLING battle like this over some silly 56-52 VIDEO GAME.
The Super Bowl usually features two teams that also played in the regular season, so what’s the big deal?
The best three teams in the country are in the SEC, deal with it....it’s just too bad one of those teams will miss out on a BCS bowl entirely.
True, but those 3-4 teams already had their 'playoff' furing conference play and the Conference Chamionship Game.
I am all for an LSU-Alabama rematch under the current system, but a playoff system I feel should just be the COnference Champions. Just my opinion.
As would I, that was a fantastic game to watch, just like a classic pitcher's duel.
Do you realize that there is a good chance that the National Championship game will feature a team that was not good enough to win its own division, much less its own conference?
Besides, I've already watched LSU vs. Alabama. I have no desire to watch the two largely inept offenses play another snoozer game against each other.
Very true. But, imagine the chaos if UGA somehow upsets LSU in the Conference Championship (yes I am expecting LSU to beat down Arky). It is quite possible that a late FG or overtime win by UGA would leave LSU in the top 2. In that scenario the BCS does allow 3 teams from a Conf in. UGA would get the auto-qualify to the Sugar Bowl while LSU-Bama would play in the BCS Championship.
Full disclosure: I am a UGA fan, but even I know that the above is almost a 99.99999% pure fantasy. I would love for my Dawgs to win, but the reality is LSU should win by at least two TD's.
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