A playoff that saves the bowls and quiets the critics

However I think a conference playing one should be rewarded, as it is in effect(in one scenario) an additional playoff game.

I completely disagree.

A conference already benefits monetarily by playing a championship game. They deserve no additional reward.

And conference also-rans (like LSU), who would not have otherwise qualified for the playoffs, get a bonus with an automatic berth.

If not for their conference championship games, Texas and Tennesee would have won their conferences and one team would have played Miami for the "national title".

Conference championship games and multiple division formats within conferences cheapen the value of the regular season.

This is a pretty interesting debate, & as a pretty ticked off Duck alum, I find it necessary to pitch in my 2 cents.

First, Sideshow Bob, while I'm for giving all the schools a chance to play for the National Title, I would not grant automatic status to mid-major conference champions. In your scenario, for example, Fresno State would not be playing, Louisiana Tech (who got creamed by a 6-5 Clemson team in the Humanitarian Bowl) would.

Second, ABC (Disney) & the BCS have a guaranteed $ contract through 2006...the BCS (unfortunately) isn't going anywhere; for now I think it would be more productive to find the best way to modify the stupid formula. In this regard, I have a couple suggestions:

1. eliminate margin of victory from ALL 8 computers; this year, they eliminated it in 4 of the formulas; computers that use MofV produce distorted results when teams like Florida run up the score unnecessarily (see Orange Bowl) when other teams (who still believe in sportsmanship) don't...

2. eliminate "quality win" component; substitute instead a 1 pt. bonus for winning one's conference or one's conference championship game

3. with the computer rankings, use where the team is ranked not what the team is ranked for the number (ie, Nebraska's computer # was 7.23, the 2nd best rank...in my system, their # would be "2")

4. use SOS only as a tie-breaker; SOS is incorporated in the computer polls already, which in the system now creates collinearity (the BCS gurus didn't care too much about statistics)

5. finally don't allow the computer polls to rank conference strength (or teams for that matter) until at least 1/2 way through the season...the real reason why Nebraska stayed #2 in 1/2 of the computers after there loss to Colo. was that the formulas those computers were using were biased towards the Big 12 & pre-season rankings (especially Billingsley's, & he openly admits this)

Thus "my" BCS formula is: AP/Coaches avg. + Computer ranking + losses - conference championship points.

I apologize for the length of the post; admittedly I'm very frustrated with all the "Miami is clearly the champion" headlines I'm seeing. Miami beat a mediocore Nebraska team by 23; Colorado beat Neb. by 26; UO beat Colo. by 22. Seems to me UO would be pretty competitive in a UO-Miami game (especially in the Rose Bowl).

regards, college_kid.

while I'm for giving all the schools a chance to play for the National Title, I would not grant automatic status to mid-major conference champions. In your scenario, for example, Fresno State would not be playing, Louisiana Tech (who got creamed by a 6-5 Clemson team in the Humanitarian Bowl) would.

Yeah, your right, a bad Louisiana Tech won the tie breaker over a much better Fresno State. I agree that it is really unfair to have a system where some teams don't have a chance to win the national championship (however likely or remote that chance is).

Many of the top mid-major conference teams have programs better than the cellar-dwellers and average teams of the major six conferences. Those teams don't like being in mid-major conferences, but it's where there stuck (or they wouldn't be there.)

Temple, Rutgers, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, California, Wake Forrest, Duke, Minnosota, ect. are in major conferences (and have a shot at the current BSC). Illinois and Maryland are usually cellar-dwellers, but show that turn-arounds do happen.

BCS Explained

Poll Average: Average of ESPN/USA Today Coaches and AP Media Polls. Others receiving votes calculated in order received.

Computer Average: Average of Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, New York Times, Jeff Sagarin's USA Today and the Peter Wolfe rankings. The computer component will be determined by averaging six of the seven rankings. The lowest (worst) computer ranking will be disregarded.

Schedule Rank: Rank of schedule strength compared to other Division I-A teams of actual games played divided by 25. This component is calculated by determining the cumulative won/loss records of the team's opponent (66.6 percent) and the cumulative won/loss records of the teams' opponents opponents (33.3 percent).

Losses: One point for each loss during the season.

Quality Win Component: The quality win component will reward to varying degrees teams that defeat opponents ranked among the top 10 in the weekly standings. The bonus point scale will range from a high of 1.0 points for a win over the top ranked team to a low of 0.1 for a victory over the 10th-ranked BCS team. The BCS Standings at the end of the season will determine final quality win points. If a team registers a victory over a team more than once during the regular season, quality points will be awarded just once. Quality win points are based on the standings determined by the subtotal. The final standings are reconfigured to reflect the quality win point deduction.

Notes:
1. Teams on NCAA probation (i.e. not eligible for postseason competition) are not listed in the BCS Standings. Teams with victories over teams on probation will receive appropriate quality winpoints.

2. The Nokia Sugar Bowl on January 4, 2004, will host the BCS National Championship Game and determine which team will be presented The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame's ADT National Championship Trophy.

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