Anyone watching the Sugar Bowl pregame show on FOX last night would have heard their studio analysts' unrequited love for the BCS bowl system over a playoff system. In fact, they used the Boise St. upset over Oklahoma game as evidence for NOT having a playoff system. Why? Because Boise St., with their defense exhausted, needed weeks of preparation and a series of gimmick plays just to overcome Oklahoma. A team like Boise St., they argued, would have no chance in a playoff system because of all the "true" powerhouse teams they would have to face. To which I say, that is f**king ludicrous!
No doubt, it would be difficult for Boise St. to manage its way to a playoff championship game, but why not give them a chance? Last time I checked, Oklahoma had just as much time to prepare for a bowl game as Boise St. did. As did Notre Dame, who got their asses thoroughly kicked by LSU. If anything, there's probably too much time between the end of the college regular season and the bowl games.
If Boise St.'s undefeated season is devalued because of their "little guy" program status, then why have them in Division-I at all? Why not create a Division-"We're-Better-Than-The-Rest-Of-You-Suckers" that only includes the top 30 teams from the previous season? These teams would exclude themselves from all conference play and simply play other top 30 teams all year. No more fluff games against Middle Tennessee St. or Lousiana-Lafayette. I want to see Alabama at Florida in week 1. The playoff would simply be based upon team records, just like the NFL. Except this time, the 10 worst teams would be jettisoned back to Division-I with the opportunity for 10 new teams to take their place the following season.
Let's stopping fooling each other into believing that the BCS is anything other than a computerized means of funneling bowl money back into the big conference schools. It's a system set up to prevent smaller schools from ever getting a chance of playing in a lucrative BCS bowl game. The major conference schools keep a majority of the bowl game proceeds, which are then used in turn to hire the coach of the mid-major school who just out-coached their asses in a bowl game (see Urban Meyer). A farm-system is thereby maintained where the deep-pocketed schools will always lure a good coach away from a smaller program. After all, what coach doesn't want a chance to win a national championship?
Comments