On Thanksgiving, I’m not thankful for the BCS
First, I provide you two links to previous pieces I have written regarding the BCS.
Here we are on Thanksgiving, right in the meat of the college football stretch run. Tomorrow, we have perhaps the most anticipated game of the season when undefeated Auburn travels to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama.
Gordon Gee, Ohio State’s president, recently stated he does not feel teams like TCU and Boise State should be able to play for the National Championship, because their conference schedule consists of “the little sisters of the poor.”
“Well, I don’t know enough about the X’s and O’s of college football,” said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. “I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it’s like murderer’s row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day.”
TCU’s athletic director Chris Del Conte responded to Gee’s comments.
“I sat back and just thought about our football program and our coach and realized that to start throwing stones at your house, they must be jealous,” Del Conte said. “We have a phenomenal football program. … And someone now starts taking shots at TCU? That means we’ve arrived.”
“Anytime. Anyplace. Anywhere,” he said. “Buckeyes against the Horned Frogs. Tee it up. Let’s go.”
Before I give my opinion on this issue, which is the biggest, most controversial topic in modern-day college football, I will say that I feel the BCS is a complete joke. Whichever side of the coin one falls regarding the Ohio State/BCS schools vs Boise State/TCU/non-BCS schools argument, the losing side is going to feel as though they were slighted. That’s because they are and they will be.
There is going to be either an undefeated non-BCS school, or a 1 loss BCS school, that in the spirit of competitive sports, is treated unfairly, because both should have a chance to play for a national championship.
All this being said, in my opinion, I tend to favor Gee’s opinion in this case.
The reason I say this, is because for the most part, the power teams that come into the season highly ranked usually lose as a clear result to their schedule. Alabama was widely considered the best team in the country this season. They won the championship last season while going undefeated, and brought back their QB, star RB, and star WR, among others.
However, Nick Saban’s team from September 25 to October 9 had to play at an undefeated Arkansas team, at #10 Arkansas, vs #7 Florida, and at #19 South Carolina. They would also go on to play at #12 LSU, at home vs #2 Auburn, not to mention games vs teams like Mississippi State and Penn State that would easily finish second or third in the non-major conferences.
Boise State points to their game with Virginia Tech and says they’ll play anyone at anyplace at anytime.
That’s great, but in reality, they do not get to act that out based on where they play. And as I outlined in those other articles, it does no benefit to SEC or Big 10 teams to schedule games with Boise. Those teams can simply schedule pre-conference cupcakes, go undefeated in their conference schedule, and play for the BCS National Championship.
In 2007 when Ohio State played LSU for the championship, a 7-3 Illini defeated OSU, in Illinois, which many thought would ultimately spoil the Buckeyes’ season. But they ended up making the BCS Championship game as a one loss team playing a two loss LSU.
If that scenario unfolded today, many would argue that a one loss Ohio State team should be kept out, with an undefeated TCU or Boise team playing for it all.
I think this is where Gee’s argument comes into play. While Ohio State was going on the road to face what many considered to be the 3rd or 4th best team in the Big 10, Boise State was probably blowing out an Idaho or Fresno State by 50 on a Friday night. TCU was likely playing a San Diego State or an Air Force.
It is much easier for teams like TCU and Boise to get up for 1-2 big games a season. When they win them, they want to create the notion that they can beat anyone in the country on any given day.
You know what? They are probably right. I believe that Boise could beat Alabama or Auburn if they played one game for a National Championship.
But before I respect these mid major teams as legitimate, deserving title contenders, I want to see them do it vs. the best week in and week out. Tomorrow night’s game that features Boise at Nevada is being hyped up as a big game for Boise. In reality, it is their third toughest game of the season, and their third legitimate test of the season.
Put Nevada in the SEC and let them play Alabama’s schedule, and they would be lucky to be playing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
I want to see Boise State and TCU have to get up and seriously game-plan for legitimate, BCS teams week in and week out. I want to see Boise have to go to Penn State and face perhaps the 5th best team in their conference at night on national television, rather than playing a game in which the biggest decision is when to pull the plug on their starters to save them for their next big game a month down the road.
Perhaps the 9th toughest game for Alabama played this season, at Tennessee, was a game in which Tennessee would have likely been favored against the great majority of the teams in WAC or Mountain Test that play Boise State and TCU on an annual basis.
The bottom line for me, is when the resumes of Boise State and TCU are compared with the resumes of BCS teams that may have one or two losses, I just can not say that those two teams deserve to play one game for the chance to be called the best team in the country.
Until they have the opportunity to prove their worth over an entire season, and not just fabricated big-time games vs teams like Oregon State and Nevada, they should not be playing for any kind of championship other than for their respective conference.
Is that fair to Boise State and TCU? Absolutely not.
But the millionaire presidents and AD’s can’t come up with anything better, so this is what college football fans are stuck with. Even Gordon Gee for example, who I feel has a very legitimate point, is also very publicly in favor of the BCS. Where is the logic in that? If the president of Ohio State feels it unfair in the current system for Boise State or TCU to play for the championship, wouldn’t logic say that he would not be in favor of the current system?
Let Boise State and TCU play three tough games during the season, and then three more big games in a playoff system against one or two loss BCS teams. That way, the score can be settled on the field, rather than by a computer.
On Thanksgiving, I’m not thankful for the BCS. I’m thankful that I can watch three NFL games in a league in which a championship (such a novel concept) is fairly decided at the end of each season.
