What Makes College Football Great...
I believe there are only 17 people in the country who like the BCS. I'm one of them.
The BCS is partly why I love college football, but it gets a bad rap. It's a great concept, but where it gets lost is with the marketing. Here are several reason why you should love the BCS.
1. Teams like Rutgers will never play in the BCS Championship game from a conference like the Big East, the way it currently stands now; the conference simply isn't strong enough on its own. Even undefeated, scheduling non-conference teams like Howard, North Carolina, and Illinois simply doesn't cut it. How can you expect critics and officials to believe in your program when you've run the table against a bunch of bean bags? If your conference isn't strong, you have to schedule tough, non-conference games.
Here's a fact that'll help prove my point: West Virginia had no players on the injury report when they played Louisville. To play more than half a season with no injuries says a lot about the players in your conference.
2. Teams like Texas, Ohio State, and USC get rewarded for scheduling difficult, losable non-conference games. Here's the bottom line: if the BCS was simply about finding two undefeated teams, then there would be no reason for these schools to schedule difficult games, which ultimately would water down the sport with powerhouse teams scheduling Division II schools to slaughter.
Watching the Longhorns beat Sam Houston State is fun once a year, but to see such one-sided games each and every week is a bit much.
3. The computer does exactly what it's supposed to do. It's job is to find the two best teams in college football -- regardless of wins and losses. That's why an undefeated team can be left on the outside looking in. Why would we need polls if we were simply looking for undefeated teams to compete for the National Championship?
4. Every game is a playoff game with a playoff atmosphere. When the New England Patriots lost to the Indianapolis Colts, it didn't matter. Both teams will make the playoffs, and likely meet again. Because Belichick knows this, it's likely he kept much of his playbook closed, hoping not to give the Colts much to see. College football is different because the loser of the Michigan vs. Ohio State game is likely out of the National Championship picture. Every game matters.
The NCAA doesn't need to create storylines like Manning vs. Manning or Chad Johnson's antics. Because every game matters, each game is a story within itself. That's not to say the BCS is perfect, because it has flaws. To design computers that are objectively determining the two best teams in college football, adding the human factor into the equation seems vacuous.
I'm not telling you a playoff system is a bad idea, but I enjoy the system that's currently in place. You want to play for the National Championship? Beat teams that show you're worthy.
The BCS is partly why I love college football, but it gets a bad rap. It's a great concept, but where it gets lost is with the marketing. Here are several reason why you should love the BCS.
1. Teams like Rutgers will never play in the BCS Championship game from a conference like the Big East, the way it currently stands now; the conference simply isn't strong enough on its own. Even undefeated, scheduling non-conference teams like Howard, North Carolina, and Illinois simply doesn't cut it. How can you expect critics and officials to believe in your program when you've run the table against a bunch of bean bags? If your conference isn't strong, you have to schedule tough, non-conference games.
Here's a fact that'll help prove my point: West Virginia had no players on the injury report when they played Louisville. To play more than half a season with no injuries says a lot about the players in your conference.
2. Teams like Texas, Ohio State, and USC get rewarded for scheduling difficult, losable non-conference games. Here's the bottom line: if the BCS was simply about finding two undefeated teams, then there would be no reason for these schools to schedule difficult games, which ultimately would water down the sport with powerhouse teams scheduling Division II schools to slaughter.
Watching the Longhorns beat Sam Houston State is fun once a year, but to see such one-sided games each and every week is a bit much.
3. The computer does exactly what it's supposed to do. It's job is to find the two best teams in college football -- regardless of wins and losses. That's why an undefeated team can be left on the outside looking in. Why would we need polls if we were simply looking for undefeated teams to compete for the National Championship?
4. Every game is a playoff game with a playoff atmosphere. When the New England Patriots lost to the Indianapolis Colts, it didn't matter. Both teams will make the playoffs, and likely meet again. Because Belichick knows this, it's likely he kept much of his playbook closed, hoping not to give the Colts much to see. College football is different because the loser of the Michigan vs. Ohio State game is likely out of the National Championship picture. Every game matters.
The NCAA doesn't need to create storylines like Manning vs. Manning or Chad Johnson's antics. Because every game matters, each game is a story within itself. That's not to say the BCS is perfect, because it has flaws. To design computers that are objectively determining the two best teams in college football, adding the human factor into the equation seems vacuous.
I'm not telling you a playoff system is a bad idea, but I enjoy the system that's currently in place. You want to play for the National Championship? Beat teams that show you're worthy.
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