Monday, November 21, 2011

The Day the BCS Went to Hell

Don McLean once sang about “The Day the Music Died.” Now, any day that is remembered as the day something died, would usually bring forth sadness and depression. So, why are collegefootball fans everywhere celebrating? Because, Saturday, November 19th, 2011, may soon be come to be known as “The Day the BCS Went to Hell” That’s right, not just died, but went straight to hell. Why? Because last Saturday, in college football stadiums all throughout the country, all hell broke loose.

The first crack was made Friday night, when the mighty Iowa State Cyclones pulled a stunning upset over the offensive juggernaut Oklahoma State Cowboys, in double overtime.

The next day, while in a local Auburn sports bar, I, along with a few friends and about 70 belligerent 30 something old men, watched David after David, take down Goliath after Goliath. It was shocking. Robert Griffin III and Baylor took care of Oklahoma, the BCS number 5. The 2010 national championship runners up, Oregon, then number 4 in the BCS, went down to post-season-suspended Southern California. Earlier that day, BCS number 7 Clemson, was manhandled by North Carolina State.

So there it was; half of the top 8 teams in the country, defeated. The aftermath? Number one LSU stayed at the top of the polls, Alabama moved to number 2, and former number 6, Arkansas, moved up to number 3. Usually, at this point in the season, those three teams are the ones in the best position to play for the BCS National Title game. However, here’s the problem with that; All three of those teams, are not only in the same conference, but in the same division in the conference. It’s not only that nobody knows which of these teams will play in the national championship, but the SEC Championship. On top of that, LSU and Arkansas still have to play each other, and Alabama has Auburn left to play. Here is what we know; If LSU gets past Arkansas, they will play in the SEC championship against Georgia, and if they win that, they will play in the national championship game. But who would they play against? Could a single-conference national championship game be possible? The answer is yes. The scenarios are unending, but I’d rather not get into detail of all them because, quite frankly, they give me a migraine.

What I will address, is the fact that the way the teams that play in the BCS National Championship game may be changing soon. We’ve been close a number of times. In 2004, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and Auburn all went undefeated. But, as you all know, only two teams get to play for the NC. Those teams were USC and Oklahoma, the top two BCS teams, as determined by the computers. USC won 55-10. What if Auburn had played in that game? Would the outcome have been the same? Who knows? All we Auburn faithful were given to heel our wounds? A sugar bowl victory over Virginia Tech, and a 14-0 banner in Jordan Hare Stadium. I could go on and on about the grief and anger I suffered, as a sixth grader, might I add, but I digress.

In 2006, there were two undefeated teams, but only one played for the NC. It was Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and Ohio State, playing the 12-1 SEC champion Florida Gators. Florida downright destroyed OSU that night, and coasted straight to the title. But what about that other undefeated team? It was little known Boise State. They were never given the chance to make it high enough in the rankings to play in the NC, due to their conference strength and strength of schedule (or lack thereof) but they were given a crack at a BCS bowl. They were up against perennial powerhouse Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Through trick plays, and gutsy calls, Boise State took down the Sooners in one of the greatest college football games of all time. Clearly, they had proved that they could play with the big boys, but still felt snubbed out of a chance for a National championship. What if they had played Florida?

2007 was quite the year for the BCS. It marked the first time that a two loss team (LSU) had played for the National championship. Ohio State made it again, and was again defeated. The team that finished the season at the number 10 spot that year? 12-0 Hawaii. Once again, a smaller conference team went undefeated and was denied a spot in championship. Hawaii however was not able to take down their “Goliath” foe in the Sugar Bowl, where they were beaten handedly by Georgia. Even so, the fact remains that they had the best record in the NCAA, but were nothing but an afterthought.

2008: The small conference team epidemic continued, but this time there were two. Utah went 12-0, as did, again, Boise State. Did they play for the national championship? Nope. Instead, they finished in the rankings at number six and number 9, respectively. Meanwhile 12-1 SEC champion Florida, captured another national championship, this time against Big 12 champion, 12-1 Oklahoma. (Just a side note, Florida’s only loss that year was to Auburn.)

Bored yet? Yet again in 2009, multiple teams went undefeated. Alabama, (national champion) Texas, (runner-up) Cincinnati, TCU, and, yet again Boise State. One would assume that those five teams ended the season as the top five teams in the BCS rankings. But, yet again, the computers gave Boise the snub, and ranked them number six behind 12-1 Florida.

So 2010, three teams undefeated again. But this time, Boise State was not one of them. Instead, it was Auburn, Oregon, and TCU. This was the second straight year that TCU didn’t lose a single game, which would bring about the assumption that they would play for the national championship, but no. Instead, it was Oregon and Auburn. Auburn won 22-19, just in case anyone had forgotten.

So, what’s the recurring theme here? A small conference team, that goes undefeated, continually gets the snub to the bigger conferences, and gets left wondering “what if we had a chance at the championship.” That question can be solved pretty easily if you ask me. It’s simple, really. You have got to determine who the best team in the country is ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD. That’s the only way it will ever be fair. We cannot continue to just grant the opportunity for a championship to a team based on what some computer says. It has be done on the field, and that’s that. There is no other solution and never will be, and I think, more than any time before, November 19th, 2011 told us that.

2 comments:

  1. Yep, it's a crazy system and one that makes little system.

    You need to write something about how money drives the whole process. That's equally frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Makes little sense, not system! Got to remember to proofread BEFORE I post the comment!

    ReplyDelete