[NU Sports] B-C-MESS!!! B-C-MESS!!!

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hakirsch at aol.com
> 
> I love every minute of this--These messes are just the
> reason why I don't 
> want a national championship game or round robin

But a couple years from now, no one remembers the controversy or joke of how the season ended - just the officially recorded version that Florida or Oklahoma won the national title. That's the problem.

The arguments against a playoff have really been exposed the last few years ...

- All about academics? Then why so many midweek games for TV?
- Bowl tradition? Tell that to the half-empty stadiums and folks in Dallas and Miami who have watched their once-proud bowl games become second-tier minor league events.

And my favorites - the regular season is truly special and means something in college football.

If it did, then Texas' win over Oklahoma would mean it was the one with a title shot.

And if it did, then a team that went undefeated would at least have a shot at the championship.

The B(C)S has done exactly one thing well in its existence - given the "mid majors" some sort of chance (albeit with a heavily stacked deck) to prove themselves. And they have - and in the process have exposed why the B(C)S is not working ...

These games with power leagues vs. Utah or Boise State don't happen in the regular season because under the B(C)S, there's no incentive to schedule those games. The USC-Ohio State or Texas-OSU games are the exception because unless your team is from the SEC with their mythical powers, one loss will kill your chances of a title shot. So the regular season "playoff" folks talk about is basically all about dodging enough challenges until 1 or 2 league games and then running up the score to make enough of an impression with the human voters (again, the computers aren't the problem anymore - it's the voters who are awed by 50+ points no matter who it comes against).

I love college football as much as anyone. And I loved every minute of the Rose Bowl experience in 1995-96 - I can buy into that kind of bowl tradition. It didn't give us a champ either, but had a week loaded with meaningful games.

What frustrates the heck out of me is the current system - having a great year inevitably end with a hollow feeling of what could have been and to top it off, having a "champion" shoved down our throat by this B(C)S system and hearing how great it is. The fans deserve better - it won't come easy, but we don't have to drink the B(C)S Kool-Aid!:)

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!