As most of you know, last year there was a lot of BCS controversy. There were three teams with perfect records, USC, Oklahoma and Auburn. The controversy was on which two teams should go to the National Championship. The BCS said that USC and Oklahoma should go and it had a lot of people outraged. One of the main reasons for this problem was the pre-season polls.The BCS has had some problems the past few years. We had almost the same situation two years ago when USC got snubbed while LSU and Oklahoma went to the National Championship. After this last year, people wanted a play-off system. It was obvious that play-offs would sort out our problem but NCAA administrators said that it would take too much time. So we were stuck with the BCS.
As I said before, I think one of the main reasons why the BCS was having so many problems is the pre-season polls. This is what I would compare the pre-season poll to. Certain teams, who are rated high in the polls, have a headstart in a race. Say some of the other teams finish at the same time as the higher rated teams. The philosophy is that since I started before you and we finished at the same time, I win. That is essentially not fair.
An example of this is the Auburn-Oklahoma situation. Oklahoma was ranked #2 in the nation and Auburn wasn’t up there and they had the same record at the end of the season. Oklahoma got the vote and got crushed in the National Championship. That’s when a lot of people in college football thought Auburn got snubbed.
Due to all the problems of last year, the BCS had a proposal of waiting 4 weeks until the first polls. The Associated Press media poll dropped from its spot. This gave BCS their chance to change things.
The new poll is called the Harris Interactive College Football Poll. Four weeks into the season it will rank the top 25 teams. It will rank them on a weekly basis, like such of the previous polls. The poll will be made of 114 voters, mainly former coaches, players and administrators. There will also be some people in the media involved.
Along with the new poll, the coaches’ poll will be there. But it has been revised. The final votes will be released to the public and the same with the new poll. This is most likely because of the controversy that occurred when Texas gained the bid to the Rose Bowl over California. Even thought the Rose Bowl was a great one and Texas was crowned victorious.
I think that these changes will really have an effect when it gets to the end of the season. Those dark horse teams won’t have to gain all that ground before games are even played. It makes you think where Boise State or Utah would have been last season. Hopefully these amends will help the BCS fully develop into something better than it was. At least until the play-off system is finally accepted in college football.
7 replies on “Baby Steps to Making the BCS Better”
nice job But I disagree with you.
I have lost faith in the BCS (solely because of USC being left out in 2003 and Cal being left out last year from the Rose Bowl), but a playoff system is not the solution.
These are the problems a playoff causes, along with more that are exclusive to the NCAA and its sponsors. It would not be worth it for anyone, except maybe the non-BCS schools.
I disagree and I will comment on every one of your reasons.
3)It will not diminish the importance of every other bowl. It may lessen it but it’s fine. It will actually make the post-season more exciting. The lesser bowl games really don’t get that many viewers anyway.
4) The regular season will be just as profitable as always. It will actually make the hope of getting to the championship higher. Football is Football. In the end profitablity isn’t what is really important.
In the end, you have to think about it for the good of college football. We need to make a fair way to find the National Champion and that’s what ti comes down to.
wrong “3)It will not diminish the importance of every other bowl. It may lessen it but it’s fine. It will actually make the post-season more exciting. The lesser bowl games really don’t get that many viewers anyway.”
That is 100% wrong STATISTICALLY. They don’t get “as many” viewers, but they all get a substantial viewership. The Cotton Bowl got 5.5m last year I believe, The Alamo got more than 4 million, and so on. There were others with more than that (Holiday I know always gets a lot, more than the 01/01 bowls sometimes) and these are substantial totals. With playoffs going on, these bowls will become less prestigious and more like the NIT, which NOBODY watches.
Read through my comments from last October and November and you’ll see my complete defense.
comment Think about how much vieweership the Play-offs will get. That’s all I have to say.
A new way to Crown NCAA doesnt have the time do realize how long a playoff system would take?
It would take a very long time b/c teams can only play 1 game a week not like 2 in b-ball. Also if you dropped the BCS teams would still get snubbed if you took the top 20 to 30 teams what about all the 7-5 teams that would normally go to a bowl game they get nothing. Dont get me wrong i dont like the BCS being an Auburn fan myself but a playoff would not work. To have a playoff they would need to get the top 8 teams with the best record and let them have a 3 week playoff. Now you say what about teams that are better than Utah and Boise St for ex but have a worse record well then expand the playoff one more week ( which should be the limit) and have a play-in game. Still it would have some minor problems, but hopefully a slow step to a better way to crown a true Natl Champ
1-AA you do realize that 1-AA has a play-off system and it’s working like a charm. Look what all the college football experts say about a play off system.
completely different There were never bowls at the 1-AA level, unless you include the failed Heritage Bowl for the champions of the black college conferences (MEAC and SWAC), or the Orange Blossom Classic, which got cancelled right as they started the D1-AA tournament (always played in Miami involving FAMU and an invited school). It was cancelled so that FAMU could play in the NCAA tourney in 1979, where it captured its only national title.
Also, most conferences get automatic births, with 2 of the exceptions being non-scholarship conferences and another two usually turning it down to play much more profitable rivalry games, such as the Bayou Classic, which anually sells out the Superdome for 72,000 people. Only the Pioneer and the two newer conferences do not get automatic births.
Additionally, the tournament starts Thanksgiving weekend (DII starts even earlier) so that the tournament does not run late. D1-A cannot start earlier because A. There is not enough time to play a full schedule and B. The conference title games are extremely profitable.
D1-A would have to start Dec 10, then continue Dec 17, Dec 24, and Dec 31 to fill in auto births and at-larges. That is 4 more games. The teams will already be playing 12 come a couple of years, plus the conference title game, plus four more for the tournament. 17 games. That increases the chances of players getting injured about 30%, plus they will be worn out, increase it another substantial percentage, plus the coaches will have to coach more games (increase in salaries), plus travelling exspenses will increase, plus loss of revenue from bowls for teams and conferences as they lose postseason teams.
Maybe there will be more money brought in by the tournament, but it is not feasible, nor is it desirable. The only thing I can see is a four team playoff with what a panel of a half-dozen or so people consider the four best teams. I can go for that.
A playoff with 8 or 16 teams is not just stupid, but unfeasible.