Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Broken Championship Series



This year in college football has proved one thing, again: the BCS system is a joke. One big hypocritical joke.

If anyone believes that #1 LSU vs. #2 Alabama is a fair BCS Championship game, you’re kidding yourself.

It’s not because both teams play in the Southeastern Conference. It’s not even because both teams play in the SEC West. The problem is that these teams have played each other already and that it gives other conference with deserving teams no opportunity to win.

This would be the most hypocritical thing the NCAA and BCS will have ever done if they allow the championship to be played between LSU and Alabama. The proof? The 2006 Ohio State-Michigan rivalry game.

Until this year, when the Big Ten divided itself into two divisions with a conference championship game, Ohio State and Michigan would face each other in the last game of the regular season. In 2006, Ohio State was ranked #1 and Michigan #2, both entering the game undefeated. It ended with a Buckeye victory, 42-39 over the Wolverines. Following the game, a debate ensued over who Ohio State would face in the BCS Championship. At the time Florida also had a one-loss record. In the end, Florida got the nod over Michigan and went on to win the BCS Championship.

The reason that was given for Florida was that Michigan essentially lost their opportunity for a championship when they lost to Ohio State. The final regular season game was treated as a playoff game.

LSU and Alabama played each other this year on November 5. The teams entered the game #1 and #2, respectively, and in the end the Tigers came out victorious over the Tide 9-6. But with several more games left on the schedule for both teams, plus the SEC Championship, what the BCS and NCAA are saying is that because they faced each other earlier in the season, Alabama deserves a rematch.

That’s bullshit.

First, college football doesn’t have a playoff system. It should, but it doesn’t. If Michigan was eliminated in their final game of the regular season but Alabama gets another shot, that is ridiculous. The SEC is the best conference right now, but five years ago the Big Ten was arguably the best conference. The rules today are still the same, so shouldn't the same rules still apply, regardless of when the #1 played the #2?

Second, there are several other, deserving, one-loss teams out there in other conferences this season. #3 Oklahoma State has been hot all season and has an amazing, exciting offense. However, because they lost to an unranked Iowa State in their second to last game of the season, they are being penalized. If they beat in-state, conference rival #9 Oklahoma in the last game of the season, it would be a crime for them to not get a national title shot. And #5 Virginia Tech has fought through a tougher than usual ACC and has been a pleasant surprise. Their only loss came at the hands of Clemson, who is currently ranked and was #13 at the time of the loss, and the two teams meet again this Saturday in the ACC Championship game. But the BCS would claim that the SEC is the better conference so Alabama is more qualified.

Third, if Alabama doesn’t have to win their conference, or even their division, to get to the BCS Championship, then shouldn’t #4 Stanford also be thrown into the mix. Like the Tide, the Cardinal also only have one loss, to #8 Oregon, and have the best quarterback in college football, Andrew Luck.

Yesterday, Collin Cowherd of ESPN said that people need to get used to rematches in college football. With the Big Ten and Pac-12 expanding to 12 teams, and the Big 12 returning to that next season, rematches are going to be common. However, shouldn’t the BCS Championship be different?

In the NFL teams that meet in the playoffs have played each other in the regular season quite often. But once again, there are no playoffs in college football. The NCAA and BCS constantly claim that a playoff would diminish the importance of the regular season, which they claim is the most significant in all of sports for that reason. They claim that the regular season essentially are the playoffs. Well, if by their own logic that is the case, wouldn’t Alabama have been eliminated?

And if we really want to see the stupidity of the “people” running this joke of a system, do they not remember that politicians, some in US Congress, have been breathing down their necks saying that the BCS violates anti-trust laws and have been threatening to legally enforce changes? Don’t they see that a LSU vs. Alabama BCS Championship is only going to help their cause?

In 2006, going into the Championship, everyone assumed that Ohio State and Michigan were still the best two teams. They assumed that Florida had no business in the game and that the Buckeyes would blow them out of the water. They assumed that the Big Ten was the best conference. Well their assumptions were wrong. Florida won.

Shouldn’t these other conference teams be given a shot this year too? Or does the hypocrisy favor the SEC? Maybe other conferences and teams should just make their schedules more favorable?

Either way, you can bet that an all SEC BCS Championship game will not be a big hit with fans. The SEC has won the past five BCS titles and this wouldn't even allow another conference the opportunity to end that streak.

But we, the people, the fans, don’t have a vote, and it looks as if we are heading for a rematch. Let’s just hope it’s not another 9-6 snooze fest.

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