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

[Michael Vance]

OK, I'm going to throw one more thought out there.  I wish that everyone 
-- the powers that run the show, the fans, the media, the coaches -- 
could figure out the right balance between human polls and computer 
rankings.  The problem is that a few years back (was it when Oklahoma 
got into the title game despite losing their conference championship 
game?) the strength of the computer rankings overrode the human polls 
and no one liked that.

Then we get years like this where groups of pollsters have to make a 
collective (and very difficult) decision about who to rank higher and 
the simple fact is that most humans will *not* use the same criteria, 
equally weighted, from one week to the next. They just won't.  As 
Stephen points out, they will be affected by margin of victory, home 
field vs. neutral field, whether a team had a week off, whether a team 
dominated line play or had a spectacular special teams effort, or any 
other of the million factors that come into evaluating the teams and 
filling out a ballot. They will have different methods of resolving 
conundrums like the OU/UT/TT round robin.  The "benefit" of the 
computers isn't that they aren't biased (they carry the biases of their 
developer), it's that their biases do not change over the course of the 
season.

In theory, the diversity of the human polls should level out the 
differences and produce a consensus result. The problem is the 
relentless media noise that tells each one how they *should* be voting 
ends up skewing the human polls in that direction.

I don't claim to know the right answer, but I get sick of the same 
people whining about the computers one year and the pollsters the next.

-Michael

Beamsley, Jeff wrote:
> Stephen,
>  
> Perhaps I can tempt you with one more thought on the subject.
>  
> I agree that NU's goal and the goal of every school participating in the BCS system, should be to play for the national championship.  Every year, however, there are teams (Utah this year) who demonstrate that they are worthy, but never get a shot.  You've done a great job listing the reasons why.
>  
> If we had a playoff system where each BCS representative had an opportunity to play their way into a national championship, then NU would automatically get a shot by winning the BT.  That would be interesting.  But I don't think that it will ever happen, again for all the reasons that you've listed.
>  
> So I'm suggesting (and I think this might be the point of the other posts) that the whole Hoosiers concept of "the little team that could" ever getting a shot at a national championship is a fantasy under the current system.
>  
> Since we aren't and are likely never to become a traditional football power like Mich or OSU, I suggest it is in the BT and NU's favor to limit the number of BCS games and have as many non-BCS bowl games as the market can support.  That way every BT team with at least a 6-6 record is guaranteed a post season game and all of the benefits associated with it.  For that to succeed, it's best that the BCS continue to be a limited, flawed, and frustrating system producing boring over-hyped games.  That provides an opportunity for all the "other" bowls to focus on entertaining games (like the Alamo Bowl) that are well attended and deliver good TV ratings.
>  
> Jeff
>  
>  
>  
>  
>
>
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>
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com on behalf of SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
> Sent: Sun 1/4/2009 8:11 PM
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com; mlinhardt at netzero.com
> Cc: maureen at foresitewireless.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] B-C-MESS!!! B-C-MESS!!!
>
>
>
>   
>> This is a NU sports list.  The better question is how does a
>> playoff system affect NU?
>>     
>
> Fair point - and don't worry because with school back in session tomorrow I won't have nearly as much time to rant against the B(C)S.:)
>
> I don't think it makes much of a difference for NU either way. We're in a power conference. If we do our job in league play, we get a shot. In 1995, we got a shot at a major bowl and we would have been in a playoff as well.
>
> As for the 7-5 ot 6-6 years with minor bowls, like I said, a playoff doesn't have to mean the end of bowls. The non B(C)S bowls are meaningless now and still go on, so why wouldn't they in a playoff?
>
> Another option might be what the Peach Bowl seems to be doing now in Atlanta - sponsoring a showdown ("bowl") at the start of the year instead of the end. Last year it was Clemson-Bama. This year it's VaTech and Bama, I believe. But some sites might opt to do that and get more publicity, while others wait until December to hold their holiday bowls. It'd be the same basic premise where the playoff committee releases teams for bowls to select and keeps 8 or 4 in a playoff.
>
>   
>> The bowl system in its current screwed up incarnation is
>> unfortunately the best for NU.  For us ANY bowl game is a
>>     
>
> Is it? Say we have another magical "Purple to Pasadena" year and go 11-1, rolling through the Big Ten at 8-0. But because the Big Ten is considered a weaker league than the SEC or Big XII, their two teams get into the so-called title game and we get frozen out.
>
>   
>> With a playoff I see the minor bowls dying and given the
>> fact that we are not often in the top 16(largest playoff
>>     
>
> So are we Wildcat fans against the NCAA Tournament then since NU never has made it?
>
>   
>> No scenario besides the current one benefits NU!
>>
>>     
> I don't see how this one benefits us much either. And it certainly doesn't benefit football fans.
>
>   
>> Please argue against that statement from a NU fan, team, or
>> student-athlete perspective!
>>     
>
> NU fan: I want my team to have a shot at the championship when we win our next league title at 11-1 or 12-0, not get frozen out because some  intern who filled out the coach's ballot has never heard of NU, doesn't like the Big Ten or is more wowed by a 61-41 win than a hard-fought 13-6 defensive struggle because it has more cool highlights on Sports Center.
>
> Team: We play for competition and to be the best - we want a chance to prove that on the field, not by having our coach whine in the press conference or having to score meaningless fourth-quarter touchdowns to run it up on an inferior foe we've already put away, this exposing our stars to more risk of injury.
>
> Student-athlete: They already make me play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night games. They already extend my season well beyond the first semester finals into January to make money with games after New Year's Day. They already have made this sport a year-round one with spring drills, summer camps and an ever-lengthened season. Shouldn't those last games at least mean something?
>
> OK, OK - I'll drop it for now.:) Just remember that the bowl system isn't linked to the B(C)S - so NU really has been affected as much by the B(C)S as we have from March Madness at this point. But the day WILL come when we'll be in both:), and I think that having the chance to prove it on the court in hoops will be far more satisfying and meaningful to our fans and athletes than having to navigate the B-C-MESS.
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
>
>      
>
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