[Husker] BCS - Am I alone?

[Mark Landin]

On 12/5/06, Rod Wellman <gobigred66 at mac.com> wrote:
>  Can we tweak the BCS formula
> to make sure that we are picking the best 2 teams?  Maybe.

Problem is, define "best". What criteria can you use to determine who
is "best", unless it's whether or not one team would beat another if
they played? And how can you know if one team would beat another,
unless you actually play the game? If your position is that a person
can determine if team A is better than team B without an actual game
involved, then we should just skip ALL the games, not just the bowls.

> Can we
> even expand to allow 4 teams a shot?  Maybe.  In that case, I think
> the conference championship games should be eliminated.  But the
> current system isn't doing a bad job of deciding the MNC.  However, I
> WOULD like to see the time between the last game of the year and the
> MNC game shortened a bit because a 4 or 5 week layoff can really mess
> a team up.
>
> BTW, didn't Blackledge make a rather eloquent argument against a
> playoff during the OU game?

I agree that the bowls are events unto themselves, unlike an NFL
playoff game. However, if we are to keep the bowl system to preserve
that tradition, then let's agree to STOP crowning someone a
"champion". You can't know the champion without an elimation-format
tournament. Without that, all you have is "guesses" and "feelings"
about who a champion *would be*. If you want to crown a champion, you
must have a playoff.

> If it changes, it will be because those idiots single handedly
> changed public opinion with their non-stop crusade.

I think public opinion is largely in favor of a playoff system
already, so I don't think you can blame those feelings on broadcasters
... I think you can blame those feelings on what George Patton said:
"America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser". The average
football fan is very much fixated on knowing who "the best" is, and
the current system does not adequately answer that question in many
cases.

Aside from a relative minority of fans like yourself who do not favor
a playoff, the people who aren't in favor of a playoff are the people
who are currently profiting the most from the current system: the bowl
commitees and their cities, the TV networks, and the presidents and
AD's of schools who enjoy the large payouts that would shrink in a
merit-based playoff system (unless you think all 64 teams
participating in the current bowl system would also qualify for a
tournament, which I don't think is what anyone is advocating).