Every year, without fail, the pundits rip the BCS. I have always felt this was unjustified, since the BCS does exactly what it was designed to do. Until a playoff is created (and that looks unlikely) the BCS is the best way to choose a national champion.
By David J. Cohen
It’s the last week of the regular season in big time college football. This means the BCS controversy is approaching full tilt. This year the controversy is over who plays Ohio State for the national championship. Michigan is waiting in the wings if USC collapses against arch-rival UCLA. Then there’s Florida, the team on top of arguably the toughest conference in the country and the team every analyst outside of CBS wants out of the picture. Then there’s the issue over whether Notre Dame will get a bid despite being outside of the top eight in the BCS standings because they are Notre Dame, will generate an audience, and would be paid less by the BCS then a representative from a BCS conference. The Irish would receive $4.5 million. When the winner of a conference makes a BCS game this year, the conference gets between $14 million and $17 million to split among the teams. The other rotten apple this year, which is being overlooked, is the fact that an ACC team will get a bid despite the mediocrity of the conference this year. The highest ranked team is 14th ranked Virginia Tech, who isn’t in the conference championship game.
Never has an Ohio State/Michigan game been so big and meant so little. Arguably the greatest rivalry in sports, the 42-39 epic between the two programs last Saturday may have been the most exciting installment of the series ever. The new BCS standings could render the classic battle meaningless, however. With Michigan ranked number two behind the Buckeyes, the once improbable notion of a rematch is now more than a possibility, it is a probability. This would be a terrible injustice to the rest of the teams playing for a shot at the Buckeyes in Glendale, and the most convincing proof to date that college football needs a playoff.
Ohio State secured a berth in the National Championship Game on Saturday, defeating Michigan, and becoming the stand alone, unquestioned leader of the pack. It was not controversial, nor disputed. By winning the game, Ohio State knocked out the second challenger from the number two position this year.
by Trevor Freeman
Someday girl I don’t know when we’re gonna get to that place..Where we really want to go and we’ll walk in the sun…But till then tramps like us…baby we were born to run…
-Bruce Springsteen
If luck truly is when practice meets opportunity then this weekend the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers seized their moment. In the land of Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Tony Soprano……in the land that inspired one of the truly great websites of all-time (www.njguido.com) college football’s best Cinderella story is being written. For a win over Louisville and losses by Auburn, Texas and California has elevated The State University of New Jersey close to a place that Mr. George Mason currently resides. David is once again tapping on the door of Goliath.
Pressure busts pipes. An ESPN Instant Classic in East Lansing defined the difference between rebuilding a fallen program and the pressure of great expectations.
The debate has raged on for years now. Major college sports have become some of the most enjoyable events for spectators, while also providing great opportunities for the athletes who play them. College sports provide drama, tension, produces die-hard loyal fans and of course, who can forget the infamous college football playoff system (aka BCS). It is through college that most student-athletes get the first real opportunity to show their abilities and maybe one day gets drafted professionally for the sport in which they participate. But where is the line drawn for the student-athlete? Why do kids really go to college? For all of my life I always thought the main reason for attending college was to get an education and if you were lucky enough and/or talented enough, you might even get the opportunity to play a sport. Bob Dylan once wrote, “The times they are a changin'” and that quote holds true in this situation. It’s now even being rumored these same student-athletes, who us spectators make into immortals, are now looking to get paid during their tenure at SCHOOL!
What??
Let’s stop right there.