BCS Don’t Make Any Sense
By Cheval John
“To come out here and win this bowl game, today, with these people I worked hard with from day one, it feels so good. There’s nothing like it.”
That was the quote of senior wide receiver Junior Hemingway to The Michigan Daily, the independent newspaper of the University of Michigan after the Wolverines defeated Virginia Tech Hokies 23-20 in overtime to win the All-State Sugar Bowl last Tuesday night.
I can understand his feelings because he went through two head coaches before current head football coach Brady Hoke arrived and had to learn a new system in the process. However, there is one problem with that statement: the Wolverines was not playing for the national championship, but they were involved in one of the four Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Bowls.
In the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the BCS is a post-season system in which the universities have the opportunity to play in one of 35 bowl games after the regular season based on rankings. Those that ranked in the top 10, have an opportunity to participate in the prestigious BCS bowl, while the top two teams play for the BCS National Championship.
Schools that are in the six conferences: Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), The Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big Twelve Conference and the Pacific Twelve Conference (PAC 12), have an automatic-qualifying bid while those in the other conferences in the FBS, don’t have a chance unless they finish in the top 12 rankings.
The rankings are accumulated in three parts: the BCS computers, the Associated Press (AP) Polls and the Coaches Polls. Basically, in order to finish in the top 10, teams have to finish the season undefeated, defeat their opponents by a huge margin and have a strength of schedule that shows voters that they are worthy to play for the national championship.
The Creation of the BCS
The BCS was created in 1998 in an attempt to resolve the issue as who was the best team in the country. Before the creation, the national champion was declared based on the voting by the sports writers in the United States (U.S.). Teams were often declared co-champions without facing each other because they were obligated to play in the respective bowls if they were their respective conference champions.
Because of that, the top two teams did not have an opportunity to play for the national championship. The BCS was supposed to solve that problem, but instead, it has brought more controversies as teams that had undefeated seasons did not play for the national championship.
One controversy that comes to mind is the selection of Louisiana State University (LSU) and Alabama as the teams to play for the national championship on Jan 9. LSU has an undefeated record and are the SEC champions while Alabama has an 11-1 record, with their only loss to LSU. Alabama did not play for the SEC championship, but was still selected because they were considered the “two best teams” in the U.S. Oklahoma State Cowboys was left out despite an 11-1 record and are the Big 12 Champions.
To me, this system is a sham because it doesn’t give any school a fair shot to play for the national championship. The fact that they need a computer to decide who is #1 and #2 is completely ridiculous.
Solution
The only way to solve all of this is to have a playoff system because the teams will have a fair opportunity to play each other after the regular season to earn the national championship.
If it can work in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), then it can work in the FBS.
Really impressed with how far your blog has come. Keep up the great work.
Thank you, Jessica. I learned a lot from you. You have gone on to do great things and I hope that you continue to be successful.