College Football: The BC Mess
Posted December 3rd, 2006 by George Thomas
You'd think that USC and its vaunted invincible football program filled with future endorsement kings would take care of business against UCLA yesterday. Think again. Yeah, I know it was a rivalry game. Yeah, I know in rivalry games that you can throw everything out the window. But c'mon. They blew an opportunity to end the arguing around what has become the BC Mess this year.
Who's the true No. 2? Who deserves to face Ohio State? Should Michigan be crowned No. 2 this evening and be given a rematch on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz. I say skip the game. There's nothing new here. Of course that's not reality, but it's common sense. Or let's try this: how about a playoff. Gee, dare to dream. Dare to believe that the NCAA would actually do something that's logical and good for the game.
They hide behind wanting to do what's best for their student-athletes and argue that extending the season would ask to much of them. HOOEY. They don't want to give up the cash cow that is the bowl system. Not that many of them matter anyway. I know I wait with bated breath every year for the Holiday Bowl. That's right up there with folding my underwear.
The funny part is that they wouldn't have to give up their bowls. Those programs that qualify for an extra game with their impressive six wins could still play in their toilet bowls. But the ones that truly matter could be used as part of a playoff system - that way everyone would be happy and we wouldn't have this debacle every year.
December 4th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Why is it a debacle if there is no clear cut championship game? I like the old bowl system, when a Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl berth meant something. Who cares if two teams both think they deserve to be champs–good for both!
Returning to the traditional bowl system would be especially good for a mid-major team like Akron U. What would be a better way for an undefeated Zip team to end the season–winning the MAC and a traditional bowl game or barely missing the playoffs due to some computer program?
December 4th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Sorry Larry, you and I will disagree. Big surprise there, huh? In an age when 65 teams are invited by the NCAA to play in a national championship basketball tournament every March, the bowl system comes across as antiquated and quaint.
As for teams such as Akron U. getting into one of those traditional bowl games? Sorry, Larry, while I respect the Zips and Kent's programs, that's not - to quote ESPN radio host Colin Cowhwer - big boy football.
Please know that I a freely admit having attended OSU for part of my academic career. Yes, that makes me biased.
December 4th, 2006 at 10:57 am
Aren't marching bands, cheerleaders, student sections and the Script Ohio "antiquated and quaint?" And aren't they what make college football great?
As for "big boy football," you'll find that in the NFL, not the Big Ten. But what I meant was that teams like Kent and Akron don't have to compete with major programs if they have their own meaningful league championship and bowl. A playoff cheapens all that.
I guess my main irritation comes from the insistence that there has to be a single champion. In that scenario, every program but one falls short. In the context of an educational system it's a bad, and inaccurate, message to send.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:42 am
The way this has turned out, with Michigan simply out-whined and cast out of the true national championship game, begs for a playoff.
I live in Fla., didn't go to either Miami or FSU, and I still hope Pope Urban gets his butt handed to him on the field, at the appropriate place and time. Maybe a 30 point beat-down would add fuel to the NCAA fire for a playoff.
December 21st, 2006 at 1:13 pm
This is some "blitz" George!