If the BCS is so horrible then what’s up with the media frenzy today? Why is Robin Mead telling me over morning coffee what a great game it’s going to be?
There will certainly be debate after tonight, regardless of the outcome, about who deserves a share of the national championship. Some will argue for Southern Cal, some Texas, and some Utah. Either way there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the winner of tonight’s game with Florida and Oklahoma will deserve a major share of it. Plus they get the opportunity to hoist a trophy that declares them champions.
This has the opportunity to be a great game between two powerhouse teams. I could go on and on about how good these teams are.
In the old system, this might not have happened. In fact it probably wouldn’t have.
The BCS has many, many faults. One of the major is that the four bowl games don’t always make for exciting matches. A tournament would, in all likelihood, do the same thing. Just look to the NCAA basketball tourney or pro-football’s playoffs for verification.
But what the BCS does is create highly anticipated football games between two teams with at least some legitimate claim to the title. Are some teams with a claim left out? Absolutley. Is it always their fault that they are left out? No. Would a playoff fix this? Not in any way.
The point here is that with the nature of football, the number of teams completing at the FCS level, and the range in disparity amongst them in both individual and team competitiveness, there is no way to field a tournament and crown a champion that will be completely without controversy.
In light of that, what we have is pretty damn good. Not perfect – present me a system that you think is and I’ll shoot holes all the way through it – but good enough.
Think I’m wrong? Then prove me so by not watching the game tonight.
That’s what I thought.
3 comments
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January 8, 2009 at 10:30 am
Lee
I do not think that either Oklahoma or Florida deserves a share of the mythical “NCAA National Football Championship.” Oklahoma lost, on the field, to Texas, and since college football is played on the field, and not inside a computer, or in the mind of coaches and media personalities from other schools and other places, there should not be any legitimate, or fair, way by which they can pass Texas in the rankings, as long as the Longhorns have either a better, or an equal, record. Florida has a stain on their record, provided by an Ole Miss team which did redeem itself in the Cotton Bowl, but which is, IMHO, a bigger blot on Florida’s record than the lone loss experienced by Texas, Oklahoma or USC.
Then you have Utah, who did on the field what no other team in Division 1 did this season. They won all of their games. All of them. 13-0. And who is to say that the Utes are not national championship calibre because of some subjective lunacy like the strength of schedule garbage spewed by the media, and by those schools whose football programs have the media by the proverbial, well, ah, you know what? Utah whipped Alabama, in a more decisive manner than Florida did, and Alabama was the only team in the vaunted (and highly over-rated) SEC that went through its regular season schedule unscathed. Football is played on the field, and this is the second time in five years that Utah has emerged from the field unscathed, and won a major BCS bowl game. There you have your legitimate claim to the mythical national championship and I hope that the AP voter recognize the need to assert that fact.
January 8, 2009 at 3:25 pm
IPayTherforeIBoo
Utah is the only undefeated team and should be crowned MNC. They beat the dog out of Alabama, crushed BYU int he 4th quarter, and beat a very good TCU team. Not to mention they beat Oregon State who beat USC and won at Michigan.
The BCS is a load of horsecrap and anyone propping this garbage up is a retard.
January 8, 2009 at 3:31 pm
picturemerollin
Lee, I appreciate you sharing your opinion… I just totally disagree with it. If there is agreement with anything this year it is the opinion that Utah does not deserve the national title, at least all of it. I don’t understand how you can refer to it as mythical in one sentence and then tell me who deserves it in the next. If it’s mythical then it doesn’t matter… that’s just a pet-peeve of mine.
If the key was going undefeated then there are several years that teams that the majority of the country don’t believe are deserving, like Tulane. Boise State, and Utah, would all have been given championships. You can call strength of schedule a lunacy if you wish but there is pretty good agreement out there that the playing field is not level (and I don’t believe that one bowl game reinforces the validity of that argument). There is more talent and better coaching in the major conferences – there is no doubt about that. It stands to reason that there is better football in those conferences. A team in the MAC, or Conference USA, or the Mountain West, does not face the same challenges as a team from the ACC, SEC, Big XII, etc. Let’s face it, football is not as important in Albuquerque, Ft. Collins, Laramie, and Provo as it is in Tuscaloosa, Athens, Baton Rouge, or even Starkville. As a result the football, overall, is going to be better.
Plus, as I’ve stated before on this blog, if Utah was playing for a NC then someone should have told Alabama because they were playing a consolation game – and poorly at that. Had the stakes been the same for both teams I believe you would have seen a different game. Also, do you really believe that Utah would or could beat USC, Florida, Oklahoma or any other number of teams?
They had a great year and deserve lots of credit but they are not the best team in the country and shouldn’t be given more than a place in the conversation about a national championship, mythical or otherwise.