The BCS And Why It’s The Right Way To Go

Over the last decade, college football has had in place a computer system that ranks teams based on human polls and many statistical components. Some (namely Oregon, Auburn and Georgia fans) bitterly despise the system. Others (namely Ohio State and Oklahoma fans) love it to death. We know this system as the BCS.

A brief BCS explanation, if you will.

The BCS or Bowl Championship Series was introduced in 1998 as a way of taking the controversy out of the national championship race and simplifying the major bowl process. It has done mostly the opposite, but we’ll get to that later. Initially the BCS was comprised of four major bowl games: The Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl and the National Championship was played in one of those four games alternating each year. Recently, the BCS introduced a BCS Championship game separate from those four games. There, consider yourself informed.

In its first ten years, the BCS has been marked by controversy. Based on the formula teams that have a strong schedule and have a typically large margin of victory are the more likely teams to be considered for a National Title shot. Going undefeated doesn’t hurt. But, then the problem of what to do when more than two teams go undefeated in a season? Well now, that wouldn’t happen very often would it? You say. Actually, yes, more often than not over the past decade. Or what if the top say 3 teams finish with the same 1 or 2 loss record? Now it gets interesting. Teams get snubbed, that’s what happens. Feelings get hurt, title shots go out the window and coaches like Tommy Tuberville and Mack Brown can be seen lobbying BCS officials and pollsters to try and get their team into a BCS game and get that BIG PAYCHECK. Lets look at some notable snubs:

• 2001 - Miami finishes a dominant season undefeated and No. 1 in the polls. Everyone assumes they will play Nebraska, the other undefeated team led by Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch. Then…OOPS! Nebraska gets spanked by Colorado in their last game, making room for one-loss Oregon to claim their spot in the title game right? Nope. The polls come out with 1. Miami (FL) 2. Nebraska 3. Oregon. Oregon protests vehemently but to no avail. Several weeks later, Miami embarrasses Nebraska in the Rose Bowl to claim the National Championship. Oregon fans still think they would have had a better shot.
• 2003 - USC and LSU finish their respective seasons with one loss ranked No. 2 and 3 respectively in the polls. Unbeaten Oklahoma, who had just weeks before put 77 points up on Texas A&M, went to play heavy underdog Kansas State in the Big 12 title game. A couple hours later the scoreboard read Kansas State-35 Oklahoma-7 with big 0’s on the time clock. Wow, ok, didn’t expect that. So naturally a team that cant even win its conference shouldn’t be allowed to play for the national championship right? Not so fast, although in the coach’s poll it went 1. USC 2. LSU 3. OU the computers spit out a LSU-OU National Championship in the Sugar Bowl. WHAT??? USC and football fans in general protested adamantly but, like Oregon’s protests, they fell on deaf ears. LSU beat Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and USC handled Michigan in the Rose Bowl. They ended up splitting the national title.
• 2004 - Oklahoma, Auburn and USC finish their respective seasons undefeated. Everyone wants to see USC-OU for the national title because it would mean two high-powered offenses led by Heisman winners Jason White and Matt Leinart and next year Heisman winner Reggie Bush in the ‘SC backfield. But Auburn thinks they should get the shot at So Cal, after all they do play in the talent-laden, competitive-as-hell SEC, which most experts believe is year in and year out the toughest conference in the nation…Sorry Tigers, USC and OU met for the Title and after a 55-19 drubbing OU probably wished Auburn had played the Trojans instead. Auburn beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl (at which I was personally in attendance) and the argument is still made that SC-Auburn would have been a better game.

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Then this notable snub happens pretty regularly as well. A non-BCS conference school (i.e. Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno State, Utah etc etc) finishes the regular season undefeated and gets skipped over for the National Championship and, often, a BCS bowl altogether. Now, the point can be made they play inferior opponents on a cupcake schedule compared to teams from the SEC, Big-12, ACC and Big-10, but nonetheless they finish undefeated. Sometimes they even knock off a juggernaut or two along the way. In 2006 Boise State finished undefeated and got slate to play heavy favorite Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. When the clock ran out on overtime, Boise State came away with a wildly exciting, trick play filled victory over the Sooners. It was my all-time favorite College football game. Not long after, Florida pounded unbeaten Ohio State in the National Championship and some could be heard muttering Boise should have gotten the shot at the Gators. A similar situation happened in ’04 when Unbeaten Utah handled Pitt easily in the Fiesta Bowl.

Don’t hate on the BCS too much yet, it has gotten it right a few times too…

• 2002 - The Juggernaut, unbeatable, NFL-team-like Miami Hurricanes storm through their regular season of unworthy opponents and into the national championship game in the Fiesta Bowl. Their opponent? Also unbeaten but not nearly as impressive Ohio State. They are the two, clear cut best teams in the nation and in the Fiesta Bowl, underdog Ohio State topped Miami in a double overtime thriller to win the Title. Not a bad matchup and certainly no complaints out of the College Football faithful.
• 2005 - USC, was in the midst of a dominant 34-game win streak that spanned 3 seasons. They had two Heisman trophy winners on the same team for the first time ever. (the previously mentioned Bush and Leinart) They looked unstoppable. But a team from Texas who was also undefeated had other plans. The Longhorns had something going for them, Quarterback Vince Young, one of the best all-time college players. Period. In a National Championship for the Ages in the Rose Bowl Vince Young accounted for over 400 yards personally and practically single handedly lead Texas to a come-from-behind victory in the waning moments of the Title game. It has been billed as the greatest college game ever, and it’s hard to argue against it.

Those are only five of the many BCS bowls that have been played over the last decade and there have been plenty of other classics and duds in there. The stances of BCS supporters and Opponents is as contrasting as those of Democrats and Republicans. Some want to keep the BCS in place, others want to abolish it and go for a playoff system. Both have their merits. The playoff system allows us to feel more assured we have the right two teams playing for the championship. The BCS system puts value on every game of the year and makes the season far more interesting. And for that very reason, I personally support the BCS.

The BCS promotes College Football in every aspect. It emphasizes winning to the utmost and places value on every game of the season. If teams knew they would still probably be in the title hunt even if they dropped a game or two do you think the season would be half as interesting? I think not. When Ohio State plays Michigan in Rivalry week and both are undefeated, one of them is going to a National Championship and the other is probably going to a lesser BCS bowl. That makes the rivalry even more intense and the aura of the game even more exciting. When South Florida is ranked #2 in the polls and then becomes complacent and drops a game to Pitt, thus eliminating them from the title race, it makes the game we love to watch even more interesting. And, although there have been a couple notable WTF’s in the BCS over the last 10 years, there have been even more notable great games. You would have the mismatches and left-outs in any system by the way. Consider Boise State vs. Oklahoma, or Texas vs. USC or Miami (FL) vs. Ohio State, or Florida State vs. Penn State, or Michigan vs. Alabama or…I’ll leave it alone you get the idea. Those are all-time great games featuring some of the best players, coaches and teams in college football history. What’s not to like about the BCS? It will be the system for a while to come, the plus-1 playoff format was rejected, and you know something? I’m more than OK with it.

by Matt Fullerton
DFN Sports Staff Writer

> Check out another opinion on the BCS as Bill Smith write in BCS again dismisses fans by turning down playoff proposal.