For Love of the Game

[Cobus]

If you have eyes or ears you've no doubtable been witness to the heated discussions over the BCS bowl selection recently released. If you haven't been closely following the roller coaster ride that has been the 2012 FBS season, you may have been left waiting for the finished list - even as another show came on channel. Surely they couldn't have left four teams ranked in the BCS top ten out of a BCS bowl game, could they? While you're definitely not alone in this confusion, the unfortunate answer is yes. One may reasonably question how this could be considering the same organization is at the foundation of both the rankings and the bowls.

The heart of this confusing issue lies in a BCS rule that states each conference may only be represented by a maximum of two teams in BCS bowls . The quagmire is that six of the top ten are from a single conference - the SEC. Because of this controversial rule, four top ten SEC teams are left on the outside looking in; replaced by lower ranked teams. Is it fair to these four SEC teams simply because other teams in their conference also found success this season?

The rule at question was emplaced to prevent the whole notion of the "rich getting richer" by one or two conference(s) raking in all the lucrative purses that come from the corporate sponsors of the BCS bowls. This rule is a complete contradiction to the NCAA and BCS' constant claim that money is not the purpose of their arrangement.

The BCS was put in place to ensure the two best teams in the country were matched to compete for the national championship. While most would agree that purpose was met (perhaps excluding an undefeated Ohio State team due to sanctions), the remaining four BCS bowls are unable to achieve similar success based on their selection order. A post-season bowl game rewards and recognizes those teams that battled it out week after week and found ways to win football games.

College athletes sacrifice their blood, sweat and social life for the love of the game - often playing hurt and banged up from the week(s) prior. They do all this while also carrying a full class schedule with expectations of academic excellence. This expectation is challenging by design without the endless hours of practice, workouts, studying film, memorizing the playbook and traveling around the country each week to play the game of football. These student athletes put in the work and even with all their other obligations, managed to obtain success for twelve to thirteen weeks on the gridiron. The top ten ranked teams have earned the right to represent their university, community and loyal fans in a prized BCS bowl game.

Fortunately. there are changes coming in 2014 with the addition of a "Plus One" playoff system. While this is a welcomed step in the right direction, many of these players will not be around to feel its impact. College football, thankfully, is not the NFL. Players graduate or exit early and enter the draft; either of the NFL or the civilian job market. You could argue with the unemployment rate which path has the better chance of success.

So because the powers-that-be have replaced the purity of the game with greed, #7 ranked Georgia is left out of a deserved BCS bowl while unranked Wisconsin inexplicably takes the field of the historical "Granddaddy of Them All" - The Rose Bowl. Because of this atrocity, I for one, will not be stopping to smell the roses this bowl season. Instead, you can find me welcoming the new year in Tampa, FL where #10 South Carolina Gamecocks (10-2) take the field to battle #18 Michigan Wolverines (8-4). This is sure to be an electric year for the Outback Bowl - absent the BCS fat cats.

With all the controversy surrounding the BCS bowl selection, automatic qualifiers, BSC busters, and the greed of sponsor money, there is really only one question left to be answered...

Is it 2014 yet?

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by Cobus

Is it 2014 yet?

Are you asking this thinking the rule will cease to exist?
There are still conference tie ins for the 2014 and on Bowl Season/Playoff.
You'll have the 4 team playoff and Bowls with similar tie ins.

It would look something like this

4 Game Playoff: ND, Bama, Oregon, Florida
Rose: Wisconsin vs Stanford
Sugar: LSU/A&M/Us/UGA vs K State
Orange: FSU vs LSU/A&M/US/UGA
Fiesta: NIU vs at Large team

[Spurticus]

The four team playoff system is simply a way for the powers that
came up with, and controled the BCS system, to appease the school
admin, fans and media who continuously questioned the rankings, BCS
matchups and Championship system that was so inept from the get go.
They (the BCS committee) suggested a +1 game a couple of years ago
that they would basically pick not necessarily from the "supposed" second
place bowl games, and the schools quickly rejected this and supported
some sort of playoff system.

What we have starting in 2014 is simply a modified +1 system that will
get the ranked 3rd and 4th place teams in the country a shot at winning
the Championship. ... Improvement, but still not the best way to pick a
true national champion. It all boils down to one thing and it is the one
thing the BCS committee keep denying. The purpose of crowing a true
Champion is so they can be separated as "The Best of the Best" and that
is only going to be determined when you have the Best playing each other
in some sort of tournament system. EVERY SPORT IN THIS COUNTRY AT ANY
LEVEL GETS THAT EXCEPT COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON THE D1A LEVEL !!
They (The BCS) think you need to be "fair" to other conferences to allow
certain teams in that might not normally get in a playoff system, and to
keep a conference from basically dominating the system with several
teams...... Here's a fact. If all the best teams in the nation come from
one conference then so be it. The idea is to find the best team in the
country from all the teams in the country, and that can never be decided
by leaving out teams that have proven to be much better than some who
are hand selected to have a shot to play for the title for sake of "fairness".

IMO, this is why we have the mass confussion of conf re-alignement
taking place right now. I truely feel that the schools themselves are
working toward 4 Super Conferences that will eventually say SCREW
YOU BCS and NCAA and create another level of college football to
determine a true Champion based on a playoff system. Similar to the
Big 16 playoff in the State of SC highschool football. If you are in a
conference outside those 4/16 team conferences then you either stay
with the BCS +1 system from bowl affiliations / BCS rankings. or you create
your own championship system from what is left. The BCS
is a flawed system every bit as much today as it was the day it was
implimented and will never be close to being an accurate system for
picking the true champion from the best of the best.

[Gamerooster]

The new & improved BCS (we don't know what it will be called) will be much better than the current system but, it may be much more controversial. They intend to use a "selection" committee to choose the four teams. If it were in effect this year who woulf they choose for the 4 seed? Oregon, Stanford, or Kansas State? I'm not at all sure that it would be Oregon.

[I Bleed Garnet]

Originally Posted by Gamerooster

The new & improved BCS (we don't know what it will be called) will be much better than the current system but, it may be much more controversial. They intend to use a "selection" committee to choose the four teams. If it were in effect this year who woulf they choose for the 4 seed? Oregon, Stanford, or Kansas State? I'm not at all sure that it would be Oregon.

Sports Illustrated put together their own committee and they all agreed to Oregon FWIW.

The new system will just change how the national champ is selected. We will still see high ranked teams left out of big bowls due to conference tie ins.