Spring Break
BCS Needs An Overhaul
Mike Mauro
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Sports
Bowl season will be upon us in a couple of weeks, and as you sit home munching on your Christmas treats you will get to watch marquee match-ups like Florida Atlantic vs. Memphis and Nevada vs. New Mexico take on each other in glorified exhibition match-ups that mean nothing. In reality, none of the bowls matter besides the BCS Championship Game - a game that doesn't even have the two best teams in the country in it.
The BCS system was supposed to put the best teams in a title game, while providing the other top teams in the nation match-ups in the other big bowls. The problem is the system is flawed and manipulated by politicking coaches and which fan base will fill seats and hotels. Money, like every other business in the world, controls the system.
Does anybody really think the two best teams in the country are playing in the national championship game? To be honest, nobody knows for sure because nothing has been proven on the field. Sure, Ohio State and LSU are great teams, but the Buckeyes are from the weak Big Ten and LSU has two losses and is a couple plays away from having four. Surely, Oklahoma, USC and Georgia have looked more impressive recently than these two squads but all they get for a consolation is playing in a dead-end game in which the outcome doesn't really matter.
And these other major BCS Bowls - the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange - are all about politics and money, without rewarding the top teams in the country for their play during the regular season. First, how can anyone on the Orange Bowl selection committee justify taking Kansas over Missouri, a team the Tigers had beaten just a few weeks ago, to match-up with Virginia Tech? Missouri went from being No. 1 and looking at a National Championship to being stuck in the Cotton Bowl against unranked Arkansas. It's a ridiculous system that needs to be fixed.
Another egregious selection in the BCS was the Rose Bowl, taking a three-loss Illinois team to face USC instead of picking No. 4 Georgia. Here the committee chose to go the traditional Pac-10 vs. Big Ten match-up which nobody cares about anymore. America would be much more interested in Georgia vs. USC, but instead the Bulldogs are paired with Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl after the Warriors finished the season as the only undefeated team in Football Bowl Subdivision.
The BCS system was supposed to put the best teams in a title game, while providing the other top teams in the nation match-ups in the other big bowls. The problem is the system is flawed and manipulated by politicking coaches and which fan base will fill seats and hotels. Money, like every other business in the world, controls the system.
Does anybody really think the two best teams in the country are playing in the national championship game? To be honest, nobody knows for sure because nothing has been proven on the field. Sure, Ohio State and LSU are great teams, but the Buckeyes are from the weak Big Ten and LSU has two losses and is a couple plays away from having four. Surely, Oklahoma, USC and Georgia have looked more impressive recently than these two squads but all they get for a consolation is playing in a dead-end game in which the outcome doesn't really matter.
And these other major BCS Bowls - the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange - are all about politics and money, without rewarding the top teams in the country for their play during the regular season. First, how can anyone on the Orange Bowl selection committee justify taking Kansas over Missouri, a team the Tigers had beaten just a few weeks ago, to match-up with Virginia Tech? Missouri went from being No. 1 and looking at a National Championship to being stuck in the Cotton Bowl against unranked Arkansas. It's a ridiculous system that needs to be fixed.
Another egregious selection in the BCS was the Rose Bowl, taking a three-loss Illinois team to face USC instead of picking No. 4 Georgia. Here the committee chose to go the traditional Pac-10 vs. Big Ten match-up which nobody cares about anymore. America would be much more interested in Georgia vs. USC, but instead the Bulldogs are paired with Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl after the Warriors finished the season as the only undefeated team in Football Bowl Subdivision.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Smitty
posted 12/07/07 @ 11:47 AM EST
The Rose Bowl could not have picked Georgia. Please at least have some knowledge of the BCS rules before you write an article bashing them. Georgia was locked into the Sugar Bowl. (Continued…)
tatheg1
posted 12/08/07 @ 7:31 AM EST
UGA wasn't locked into the Sugar Bowl. Only the SEC champion is an automatic pick. LSU won the Conferance, but was picked for the Bowl Championship game leaving the Sugar open to whom ever it wanted to ask. (Continued…)
warriornation
posted 12/21/07 @ 10:25 PM EST
you say undefeated teams would be included in the top 6 and then your schedule of games you don't include Hawaii?
Post a Comment