As Expected, BCS Doesn’t Clear Anything Up
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Well folks, it’s LSU and Ohio State. Is that a satisfactory conclusion or does the 2007 season have so many questions attached that, under the current system used by the BCS, there’s not much else you can do? Say what you will about the BCS–and it’s probably all true–but it certainly generates A LOT of discussion. Besides, who needs a playoff when there’s this much confusion. 
First off: Kansas over Mizzou? Are you kidding me?
Apparently a team ranked lower in the BCS is more deserving than the Mizzou team that beat them, had a stronger strength of schedule (although, I don’t necessarily buy that) and made the conference championship game. Because of the rule that doesn’t allow three teams from one conference to make the BCS, either Missouri or Kansas was going to be left holding the bag. In this case, the BCS committee made the incorrect choice.
What’s the point of having a BCS ranking if a lower-ranked team is being picked for a BCS bowl over one with a higher ranking?
However, Kansas over Mizzou is a microcosm of what plagues college football, a sport with one of the most exciting regular seasons and one of the worst post seasons. No, the biggest problem facing the BCS is that no one has any idea which teams should be playing for the National Championship. Each team that thinks they have a legitimate claim to be in the BCS Championship game also has some question marks, including Ohio State.
Conversely, everyone in the BCS Top 5 does have a reasonable argument as to why they should be the one playing on January 7th.
The question is, what can be done? The relationship between the NCAA and the BCS is not going to go away and even though just about everyone with a voice is screaming for some kind of playoff, deep down inside, we probably know that’s never going to happen. But, once the again, after the bowl series is done, the BCS will need some kind of revision. Will this one lead to the “plus one” game that’s been rumored for a couple of seasons now?
God, I hope so, because we need something–anything–that will gives us a more definitive answer than the one we are going to get when the 2007 season has been completed. The “plus one” would be a move in that direction, something SI’s Stewart Mandel points out quite well.
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I know that the argument against any playoff was the idea that leaving anyone out would spur complaints. There’s a big difference at cutting the playoff down to two teams than to sixteen. Leaving out #17 or 18 isn’t as egregious as bumping #3 so a team that has done nothing for two weeks (Hi Kirk Herbstreit and other Buckeye fans) gets in through its inaction.
Said it before, say it again, blow up the bowl system completely, get a playoff system in place like I-AA or the Bowl Championship Subdivision has so no one has to worry about the fans and their travel plans.
Only people who hate America favor the bowl system as it is today, right?
It’s almost like the BCS, the big school ADs, and the NCAA are all sitting with their fingers in their ears saying, “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you” while counting the money in their overflowing coffers.
Ohio St. might not be the best team in the nation but there is no one else more qualified. Keep Bowls + playoff 4 games sugar, rose, fiesta and orange and then nat’l championship.