[NU Sports] Answer me this about the BCS...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

>what the rankings are for: To answer the question of who plays in the title
>game when it's not necessarily obvious?

I think the problem people have is that the system clearly has not worked
-- out of the seven years, only twice has it worked, and that's when there
have been exactly two unbeatens at the end of the year, and even in 1999
and 2002, some people made good arguments that VaTech and Ohio State
weren't one of the two best teams in the nation.

1998: Tennessee was the only clear entrant ... FSU picked up the second
slot, basically because they lost first of the 1-loss teams ... though Ohio
State was the #1 team most of the year and probably more deserving of a
shot.

2000: One of the big disaster years. Oklahoma was unbeaten ... FSU again
slipped in again at #2 (prompting the Bowden Computer System moniker)
despite losing to 1-loss Miami ... who lost to 1-loss Washington.

2001: Nebraska slips in the title game despite not even being one of the
two teams playing for its league championship. After the bowl games between
the top four teams, it was pretty clear that Oregon deserved the shot.
Since the top four played each other in bowls, the "plus one" title game
idea would have worked well here.

2003: Disaster strikes with no unbeatens and three 1-loss teams. Even
worse, it's a repeat of 2001 where a team from the Big XII (overrated by
the computers) gets in the title game despite not winning its conference).
It was set up perfectly for the "plus one" championship mode, with #1 SC
playing #4 Michigan and #2 LSU against #3 Oklahoma.

2004: Now we could have three unbeaten teams at the top. Yes, the BCS is
supposed to break these ties ... but I'm not sure anyone agrees that the
current system is the best way to break these ties. Basically, USC and OU
are 1-2 because they were 1-2 in preseason. If we were judging by this year
alone, Auburn's beaten three top 10 teams at the time, had only two games
decided by single digits (and Alabama was only single digits with a late
pass) and has more than made its case.

>but that is the point.  And it begs the question, if you're an Auburn fan
>and you feel the Tigers are being cheated by the system (which you wouldn't
>if your team and Oklahoma switched spots), what do you propose as an
>alternative?  Or are you just bitching to hear yourselves bitch?  If there

But I don't think anyone here is an Auburn fan ... that's the point. Fans
from conferences across the nation have been "bitching" for years that this
is flawed, even when it doesn't involve their favorite team or even a team
from their conference.

>are three 11-0 teams (or one 11-0 and two or more 10-1), only two can play
>the NC game, and there has to be a system for deciding which ones.

As stated, the "plus one" system, while not a true playoff, is more
feasible and far preferable to the BCS. In five of the seven years, it
would have worked better than the BCS and even in those other two years, it
probably would have been a fair way to decide who should play in the title
game and who should be the champion. Adding one game the weekend before the
Super Bowl isn't going to take away from the regular season or take away
from the academics or education excuses that the presidents use (even
though they have no problem with 12 game seasons, league title games and
other academic-unfriendly ideas).

If it's BCS or nothing, I think many fans would take the latter ... this
system is tinkered with every year and seems to only get more absurd. If we
can't have a playoff or even a plus-one, go back to the Big Ten-Pac 10 in
Pasadena on Jan. 1 on ABC and leave the rest to FOX.:)

>but that's a little more open.  I'm just talking about the question of, if
>not an established pre-set formula that ranks the teams, what do you use?

How about games on the field?:) Yes, if we had a "plus one" model there'd
be complaints over how you decide who's #5, just like the NCAA has to
decide who's #66 in basketball ... but use the BCS rankings, maybe have a
selection committee and set up the BCS bowls to pit the top four teams
against each other in the "plus one" format and you'll have a better
system. The big powers in college football just don't play each other
during the regular season (it doesn't make sense to, unlike hoops with the
RPI) ... so you're far more likely to wind up with 2+ teams deserving of a
shot at the title than less than 2. And you likely won't have more than
four with a legit claim ... yeah, the cutoff point will always be
controversial, but in more years than not, there are between 3 and 4 teams
and not more than that ... or fewer.

>BTW, read this week's mailbag column from NU's own Stewart Mandel for some
>interesting info on how Auburn's non-conf schedule got so soft this year:

But I don't see their sked being so soft when you realize that they also
played SEC teams. Georgia and LSU at home, 'Bama and Tennessee on the road?
That's as tough a foursome as you'll see among the top teams. The SEC is
deep, like the Big Ten, and steeped in tradition ... get through that
unscathed and you don't need any NC pedigree, you're deserving of a shot at
the title. It's not like OU's was much better ... Bowling Green and Oregon
were at home ... and USC had a far easier conference than either.

Oh well, we'll likely see more tinkering after an unbeaten SEC team gets
left out of the hunt this year. I don't think it's so much people disputing
that we need a system to help break ties (HELP - I'd like to see it be like
the RPI and used as a guide for a human committee and not the final rule)
... just that the current system has failed far more than it has succeeded
in matching up the two teams most deserving of playing for the championship.

GO CATS!!! BEAT HAWAII!!!
-SjT


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