Leave College Football alone
After eating my fill of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes this week, I sat down on my parents’ couch and watched a weekend jam packed with sports. As I was watching some of the college football action, I heard the announcers discussing the Bowl Championship Series, the bowl series in general and how it was all playing out this season.
This, of course, is nothing new. Every year it seems like talk of whether or not the BCS is a sufficient method of determining the national champion is the hot topic on everyone’s lips. And I, for one, have had enough of it.
For the past seven or eight years, everyone from the mailman to the sports analysts has had some suggestion for how to improve the BCS. People always seem to be calling for a playoff or a plus one system — which would add an extra game to determine the champions after existing bowl games are played — or something besides what we have now. Well, for once, somebody is going to stick up for the BCS, and that somebody is me.
Before I start, I will concede that the BCS is not perfect, but neither is any other of the possible replacement ideas.
First, the bowls, even bowls that are only a couple years old such as the San Francisco Bowl, are a tradition of college football, and to get rid of them would be devastating to the game’s heritage and to its future. Just as people look forward to Michigan playing Ohio State, people look forward to watching the Cotton Bowl, the Peach Bowl and the Liberty Bowl.
But how about making each bowl game represent a certain playoff game? While that is a good idea in theory, there is no way bowl committees will be willing to comply with this suggestion. Bowls enjoy the fact that, even if they are the smaller bowls, they are able to name a champion every year, instead of simply hosting one of the first few rounds of a playoff system. Each bowl’s independence is too important for them to give that up for a playoff format.
Also, no matter what the format college football chooses, whether a playoff format or a plus-one system, there is always going to be controversy lurking close by. If it’s a playoff format, how many teams are allowed in? Four? Eight? What about the teams who have legit complaints and end up being number five or number nine? And if it’s a plus-one, what if you have five or more teams that deserve a shot at the championship? By making more spots available, the NCAA would be allowing more and more one-loss or two-loss teams to have a legitimate case for being included.
The fact is that the BCS works fine. It’s designed to determine the two best teams in the nation, and from what I’ve seen over the years of its existence, it’s been able to do that relatively effectively. Yeah, it has its problems, but hey, nothing’s perfect.
This year, it seems as though everything is going to work out fine. We’re going to end up with a great match-up with USC against Texas for the national championship.
So people need to spend a little less time complaining about the BCS, accept the fact that it’s here and enjoy the fantastic season we are witnessing, as well as prepare themselves for a bowl season that promises even more great games and incredible memories.