BCS Needs An Overhaul

By: Mike Mauro

Posted: 12/7/07

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.

No matter how good these match-ups would have been, it would have paled in comparison to the type of popularity that a playoff system would have. Many playoff types have been discussed, whether it be the top four, six, eight, etc. Any of those systems would be better than what is currently in place.

This may sound like it would disrupt to many things that college football has in lace but it really wouldn't.

The best system would be a six-team playoff while still keeping everyone happy. First, you take the top six teams in the BCS and give the No. 1 and 2 teams a first-round bye. Also, any undefeated team would be an automatic qualifier to the top six to keep the hope of mid-majors like Hawaii or Boise State alive. This would maintain the significance of the BCS rankings, and the excitement of the regular season, because teams will still be fighting for the top two spots. Then you face No. 3 vs. 6 and No. 4 vs. 5 in the first round and the lowest advancing seed goes on to play the No. 1 team and so on. This would not extend the length of the regular season too much and all the university presidents would be prevented from feeding us the crap that their "student athletes" would miss too much school, even though these are the weeks they are off for winter break.

Even with a playoff system, you can keep all of the current bowl games to satisfy the rest of the small schools, and disappointing big schools, from being shut out of postseason play. Then, each game in the playoffs would be designated as a different BCS bowl because five games would be played. Say, the Orange and Sugar Bowl in the first round, then the Rose and Fiesta in the second, all culminating in the BCS Championship Game. Then you rotate these each year like they do in the current system to keep everyone happy.

It really isn't as difficult as the conference commissioners and presidents want you to believe. They think they will lose bowl money from this move, but in actuality the excitement will generate more revenue and sponsors would be bidding to have their name attached to the game.

It's time for college football to settle their national championship on the field. No more politics or fan bases determining who gets to play for the distinction of best team in the country. This year we may very well have a two-loss champion who did nothing to really distinguish themselves from the rest of the two-loss teams or an undefeated Hawaii team. Just imagine what could have been this season if there was a playoff - Missouri vs. Virginia Tech and Oklahoma vs. Georgia in the first-round, with LSU and Ohio State waiting in the wings, now who wouldn't want to see that scenario played out on the field?

Mike Mauro's college football
column runs every Friday. He can be
reached at Michael.Mauro@UConn.edu.