BCS Sucks - Playoffs are Needed

[Eric]

Not having playoffs in college football is a joke. It looks like Texas just moved past SC in the BCS. What happens if SC, Texas and V Tech are all undefeated at the end of the year?

I'm not saying things have to be crazy like the 64(really 65) team setup we have for basketball.

The argument that it adds too many games to the season is bullshit. We could start with just the top 8 teams. This would only add 1 extra game for the 3rd and 4th place finishers and 2 extra games for the 1st and 2nd place finishers (since they'd be playing 1 post-season bowl game anyway).

[Grand_MasterB]

and what about the millions in dollars that all the other schools will loose from not having bowl games anymore? where will that money come from?

[a500lbgorilla]

-'rilla

[Eric]

and what about the millions in dollars that all the other schools will loose from not having bowl games anymore? where will that money come from?

The Bowl Games will still be there. It won't be much different from how it is now. Many of the lesser bowls only require a winning record so there will be plenty of teams outside of the top 8 ready to play in lesser bowl games.

As far as the major bowls, they could rotate much like they do now in terms of deciding which one is for 1 vs 2. The other major bowls could fill the remaining playoff games.

[ensign_lee]

or else the other bowls could still operate independently, much as they do now.

I assume you're talking about those "Outback Bowls" and "Gallery Furniture Bowls" out there in answering that statement.

[Eric]

Today's Sac Bee has a good article about this.

Marty Mac's World: Lack of playoff system is just a load of BCS
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, November 3, 2005
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C2
USC, Texas, Virginia Tech and Alabama are four undefeated Division I college football teams. If all four remain undefeated at season's end, only two will play for the NCAA title.
It's not right, nor was it right last season when undefeated Auburn never got a chance to play for the championship.


And it's because of these ridiculous groupings of letters - the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) - that possibly these teams and others in similar situations will not get to decide a true champion in their sport on the field.
Where's that legendary American orator, Don King, when you really need him?

"Only in America," King proclaims loudly and obnoxiously when he recognizes how much money he has made or is about to make as a result of his hard work, finagling and power-brokering.

Well, only in America can you have a system that clearly is so flawed and unfair, with a power such as the NCAA telling us every reason change can't be made.

What's galling is how there are playoffs managed by the same NCAA organization at every other level of college football, as well as virtually every other collegiate sport.

It's time the NCAA's coaches, as well as the media, apply pressure on the powers that be and force change. No longer should we hear about how a playoff would keep student-athletes out of classes as a reason for shying away from playoffs.

That's not true. The NCAA knows it's untrue. The students know it's untrue, and fans know it's untrue. A playoff - whether it involves two, four, eight or 16 teams - surely would make enough money to do some good things for the NCAA while solving its biggest problem - crowning a true national football champion.

The money also could help less affluent mid-major programs or chosen community reading programs or feed needy children - something.

[drmcboy]

playoffs +EV

[Eric]

I'm pissed that Alabama lost yesterday. Another BCS disaster would have encouraged people to look at implementing playoffs soon.

[Eric]

This foxsports article is a good read: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/5147730

BCS head: Football playoffs could be done
Story Tools: Print Email
Associated Press
Posted: 8 hours ago



WASHINGTON (AP) - A playoff system could be used in major college football and the so-called "plus-one" model for determining a national champion should be reconsidered, the head of the Bowl Championship Series told Congress on Wednesday.

When House Subcommittee on Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., pointed out that lower divisions have playoffs for football, BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said: "It certainly, congressman, is possible to have a playoff at the Division I-A level, as well. We have chosen not to go down that path."
Between jokes about needing tickets for bowl games and remarks about more important matters they could be addressing, lawmakers on the subcommittee - which examined steroids in professional sports earlier this year - made clear they are not interested in pursuing legislation.

But they did want to know why Division I-A football is the only college sport without a playoff system.

"Why can't it do it? Why can't it do it?" asked Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "We're not going to introduce a playoff bill after this hearing. But I hope this hearing causes discussion. I would like to see the NCAA and the major conferences and the BCS come together on their own to develop a playoff system."

There are 28 bowls, and four are in the BCS: the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar. Those take turns hosting a championship game between the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the BCS standings, based on two human polls and computer ratings.

The "plus-one" concept, where the fifth game of the BCS format would be a championship game with two teams advancing from the first four bowl games, was considered in 2004.

Weiberg, the commissioner of the Big 12 and one of six witnesses Wednesday, testified that the "'plus-one' model is one that deserves review. It is not one, as of yet, that has had full opportunity for review."

He said he's open to changing the current setup but noted that school presidents would have to approve playing extra postseason games - something they have shown no inclination to do.

Weiberg is in his final season as BCS coordinator. Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive starts a two-year tenure in 2006.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Rose Bowl management committee chairman William Johnstone and other witnesses offered several arguments against playoffs: They would abandon tradition, diminish the importance of the regular season, lower the economic impact of some bowls, and create academic conflicts.

"The bowls are not perfect, and the Bowl Championship Series is not perfect," Football Bowl Association chairman and Alamo Bowl CEO Derrick Fox said. "But a playoff system is dangerous."

Barton questioned the concern about academics, citing a recent report that said 41 percent of this year's bowl-bound college football teams fall below the NCAA's new academic benchmark.

"Let's don't use (academics) as an excuse not to have a playoff system - and then ignore it," Barton said.

He also wondered aloud whether money is the biggest reason there isn't a playoff.

"Doesn't it really boil down to that the major bowls ... don't want a playoff system because you think it's going to impinge on the money that the big bowls make?" Barton said.

Delany responded that "an NFL-style football playoff would provide three to four times as many dollars to the Big Ten as the current system does. There is no doubt in my mind that we are leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table."

The BCS was created in 1998 by the six most powerful conferences. Since then, the system has been tweaked to make it easier for teams from smaller conferences to qualify for the top games.