Final Days of the BCS

With playoffs already set for a future date, college football can’t do anything but wait until the new championship tournament goes into effect. This means the BCS gets to ruin the hopes and dreams of many deserving athletes and their opportunity to represent their schools as National Champions. Yes, a team will be crowned and many times the best team in the country does in fact win, but this season, just like many before, the BCS did not and will not get things right. Like many other critics of this flawed system, we don’t have a special insight on how to select the top two teams, or a formula or equation that puts the best two teams in the spotlight. What we do agree on is the fact that no one besides our savior himself could predict how a bunch of 19 year olds will react to millions of viewers and earth shattering pressure. That is the main reason playoffs were implemented many years ago in other sports, and continue to be the only format used. If you don’t follow college football or don’t really care, then you may wonder why this league sets itself apart from everyone else, or why it took so long to come from the dark side. In 2009 the BCS and other bowl games made $261 MILLION. If that doesn’t answer your question, I don’t know what will. The BCS is no doubt a money making machine, but at what cost does money prevail in college athletics. We must remember that these young men and women are not paid, but given scholarships instead. Players don’t make money on uniform sales and popcorn prices, which makes one wonder how much is enough. I do realize many universities use their profits on football and basketball to fund all the other sports, and if that offers a few more scholarships each year to someone that wouldn’t have received one otherwise, then so be it. But I have a feeling it goes much deeper than that. This excess money is now going into the pockets of others, and that’s when the competitive side steps up. Imagine the last ten years with an 8 team playoff. Auburn would have never been snubbed a decade before, Utah beating Alabama and staying undefeated would have pushed them closer to a national championship game. Boise and TCU could no longer play the “what if” card, and all those 10-2 teams that played tough, out of conference schedules would be able to show up in December to play against the big boys like they deserve. No more three way ties for first in the Big 12 when all three teams rank in the top 10, no more high ranked SEC schools missing out for being in the wrong conference. The best teams would be matching up, and what a year this could turn into if we had playoffs now. If the season ended today, three undefeated teams would be fighting for two spots, and a big group of one and two loss SEC, Big 12, and PAC 12 conferences would have plenty to play for with a few weeks to go. I’ve always been told that the best way to prove your point is to convince your audience that it’s the best idea. Imagine what it would be like watching Notre Dame play Georgia, or Alabama against Oregon. These types of matchups could be at our disposal for a few weeks during the time people spend most of it at home, December and January. At the moment, teams are forced to take a month, or sometimes even six weeks off between their final regular season game and their bowl game, something that plays a major disadvantage to a team getting hot late in the year. College football has so many great attributes that other sports would kill for. Players are giving it there all for a game they love, not because they are paid. Crowds are as loud and rowdy as ever, and most of us know what a game day tailgate can be like. I’ve never seen a sport that draws people together like college football. Recently I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Orlando, hoping to catch the Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma game. It took until halftime to get it put on one of the fifty TV screens because the place was filled to capacity with Ohio State fans, decked out from head to toe. Since when do Ohio State fans migrate to Orlando anyway? This kind of atmosphere takes place in no other sport, and the BCS takes away from that. Playoffs won’t be the fix all like we hope, but it’s a step in the right direction. This holiday season while we all cuss the BCS, just remember Santa is bringing playoffs soon, and this mess will be behind us in no time!