Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Death to the BCS
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The BCS finally got the nightmare scenario that illustrates the complete futility of the system. This year you have 9 teams that have a legitimate argument for being in the title game. And all of them have flaws that should keep them out of the title game. Let's take a look at the list
Ohio St (11-1)
Pro: The are a one of only three teams with one loss or less and they won the Big 10.
Con: They won the weakest of the BCS conferences and played a non-conference schedule that can only be described as pitiful. The played a Div 1-AA school and two bottom feeders from the MAC. On top of that they lost the next to last game of the season when they controlled their own destiny. The beeping sound you here is OSU backing their way into the championship game.
LSU (11-2)
Pro: They won the SEC. Arguably the best conference in the country this year. In addition their two losses came in overtime games. The computers think they are the second best team in the country.
Con: They lost two games against unranked opponents. The loss to Arkansas was at home during the last game of the regular season. And like OSU they controlled their own destiny at the time. They struggled against a number of teams down the stretch and were outplayed in the SEC championship game. Yet,pollsters jumped them ahead of teams that were a head of them the previous week. I want the pollsters to please explain to me how they can think 7 teams are better than LSU one week and not the next? (This "jump" illustrates how stupid and sheep like the polls are. It also shows us why we would be better off relying on the computer results to determine the top 2)
Virginia Tech (11-2)
Pro: The won the ACC and are ranked number one by the computers. They have been dominating since their home loss to BC a month ago. Both of their two losses are against ranked teams.
Con: They lost two games and a head to head match up with LSU.
Georgia (10-2)
Pro: One of the hottest teams in the country down the stretch. They are arguably the best two lost team in the country.
Con: They didn't win their conference nor their division. How can they play for a national championship if they didn't even win their conference.
Hawaii (12-0)
Pro: The only undefeated team in the country. They have a legitimate gripe. They played their schedule and won all of their games. More than any other team in college football can say.
Con: They played the weakest of weakest schedules. Their schedule makes Kansas's look strong. On top of that they struggled to beat some really bad teams.
Oklahoma (11-2)
Pro: They won the Big 12. They destroyed the second best team in the conference, Missouri, twice in the process.
Con: They had a couple of bad losses including the melt down at Colorado. They have two losses and controlled their own destiny before getting waxed by Texas Tech.
USC (10-2)
Pro: The won the PAC 10.
Con: They have a bad loss against Stanford and a weak strength of schedule. They played no one good outside of conference play.
Kansas (11-1)
Pro: They are one of two 1 loss teams.
Con: They didn't win the Big 12. Heck, like Georgia they didn't even win their division. They were the number 1 team in the country before they got beat by Missouri in the last week of the regular season. Can we say choke? On top of that they only played a couple of teams with winning records this year. Ouch.
West Virginia (10-2)
Pro: They won the Big East and played a decent out of conference schedule.
Con: They had their destiny in their own hands and choked. Actually that is a common theme among all but two of these teams. How can you put a team in that lost their last game of the season to Pittsburgh.
How can we decide who plays in the national championship game when all of these teams have glaring flaws? The answer is you can't! That what makes this season's championship a joke. The proponents of the BCS say "look at all of the drama". I say look at all of the crap. Notre Dame has a longer winning streak than either team playing in the championship game.
The only solution is to expand the current playoff systems from 2 teams to 12, 16, or 32. The best we can hope for is the NCAA to expand the playoff to four teams. Once Pandora's box opens it will only be a matter of time before the playoffs gets expanded to 8, 12, 16 or more. In the mean time I'm going to scoff the idiocy of the current BCS system.
Ohio St (11-1)
Pro: The are a one of only three teams with one loss or less and they won the Big 10.
Con: They won the weakest of the BCS conferences and played a non-conference schedule that can only be described as pitiful. The played a Div 1-AA school and two bottom feeders from the MAC. On top of that they lost the next to last game of the season when they controlled their own destiny. The beeping sound you here is OSU backing their way into the championship game.
LSU (11-2)
Pro: They won the SEC. Arguably the best conference in the country this year. In addition their two losses came in overtime games. The computers think they are the second best team in the country.
Con: They lost two games against unranked opponents. The loss to Arkansas was at home during the last game of the regular season. And like OSU they controlled their own destiny at the time. They struggled against a number of teams down the stretch and were outplayed in the SEC championship game. Yet,pollsters jumped them ahead of teams that were a head of them the previous week. I want the pollsters to please explain to me how they can think 7 teams are better than LSU one week and not the next? (This "jump" illustrates how stupid and sheep like the polls are. It also shows us why we would be better off relying on the computer results to determine the top 2)
Virginia Tech (11-2)
Pro: The won the ACC and are ranked number one by the computers. They have been dominating since their home loss to BC a month ago. Both of their two losses are against ranked teams.
Con: They lost two games and a head to head match up with LSU.
Georgia (10-2)
Pro: One of the hottest teams in the country down the stretch. They are arguably the best two lost team in the country.
Con: They didn't win their conference nor their division. How can they play for a national championship if they didn't even win their conference.
Hawaii (12-0)
Pro: The only undefeated team in the country. They have a legitimate gripe. They played their schedule and won all of their games. More than any other team in college football can say.
Con: They played the weakest of weakest schedules. Their schedule makes Kansas's look strong. On top of that they struggled to beat some really bad teams.
Oklahoma (11-2)
Pro: They won the Big 12. They destroyed the second best team in the conference, Missouri, twice in the process.
Con: They had a couple of bad losses including the melt down at Colorado. They have two losses and controlled their own destiny before getting waxed by Texas Tech.
USC (10-2)
Pro: The won the PAC 10.
Con: They have a bad loss against Stanford and a weak strength of schedule. They played no one good outside of conference play.
Kansas (11-1)
Pro: They are one of two 1 loss teams.
Con: They didn't win the Big 12. Heck, like Georgia they didn't even win their division. They were the number 1 team in the country before they got beat by Missouri in the last week of the regular season. Can we say choke? On top of that they only played a couple of teams with winning records this year. Ouch.
West Virginia (10-2)
Pro: They won the Big East and played a decent out of conference schedule.
Con: They had their destiny in their own hands and choked. Actually that is a common theme among all but two of these teams. How can you put a team in that lost their last game of the season to Pittsburgh.
How can we decide who plays in the national championship game when all of these teams have glaring flaws? The answer is you can't! That what makes this season's championship a joke. The proponents of the BCS say "look at all of the drama". I say look at all of the crap. Notre Dame has a longer winning streak than either team playing in the championship game.
The only solution is to expand the current playoff systems from 2 teams to 12, 16, or 32. The best we can hope for is the NCAA to expand the playoff to four teams. Once Pandora's box opens it will only be a matter of time before the playoffs gets expanded to 8, 12, 16 or more. In the mean time I'm going to scoff the idiocy of the current BCS system.
Posted by at 7:32 PM in Sports Topics
