Congress Wants to Fix the BCS?

Congress has been dealing with the worst economic crisis in our time. Today they took timeout to tackle one of the President’s extra curriculum ideas, changing the BCS bowl system to a playoff system. Representative Joe Barton of Texas is introducing a bill to say that the BCS cannot claim a champion without it coming from a playoff system. Congress held hearings on Friday, May 1^st discussing the current BCS bowl system with several members on both sides of the debate.

As much I appreciated congress tackling steroids in baseball and putting professional athletes to a character test to be held accountable for destroying the integrity of the American past time. I don’t think it is appropriate for congress or the President to intervene in sports to change the rules. The Mountain West Conference has hired a lobbying firm to lobby Congress for changes to the BCS system. I am not sure how much money each college of the conference has contributed to this effort, but I think there are more productive areas that the money could be contributed to and be more beneficial to the student-body of the MWC.

The big boys do own the BCS, the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big Twelve, the SEC and Pac Ten have automatic bids to the five BCS Bowls, the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the National Championship Game. Selections are made According to computerized polls and the Associate Press Bowl and the Coaches’ Poll creating a score that fills the automatics bids. I don’t appreciate computers trying to decide by the numbers what people can decide by using history and experience, but it doesn’t bother me that in this case that the BCS system has tried to compare the two to create competitive games for not only the opportunity to make money, but also to provide the fans with an exciting experience. I probably come off as being bias being a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes. That has participated in the last 2 out of 3 national championship games and has made numerous BCS appearances that to popular opinion have been because of the university’s reputation to sell tickets not always providing for a competitive game.

The system works. The BCS does the best it can to create a competitive game and the most competitive games are going to come from where the best players go. That is going to be to the biggest conferences because that is where the best athletes are going to find the biggest showcase of their talents to furthering their careers in professional football. On the outside it looks like there are only a select few schools that get the most money, but if you look at recruiting and the players involved the best players go to the biggest schools that are in the biggest conferences. You can’t make everyone happy, there are going to be schools and players in smaller conferences that always feel left out in a bowl system where there are approximately 36 bowls for schools with a .500 record or better can play in and get a share of money from the sponsors involved or a playoff system that pools more money together eliminating several bowls that could not compete against the viewership of a playoff.

Another part of the argument is what would happen to the exciting regular season which in many ways is a playoff for the teams competing in the toughest conditions. Playoffs often don’t go down to the wire deciding on when matchups are decided. Once the winner of a conference is declared the spot is filled. This will lead to some of the most historic games in history being played noncompetitively. Imagine the Ohio State vs. Michigan game being played by their third and fourth string players to preserve the first string for the playoffs. Conferences and coaches alike are going to be challenged how to play the student athlete in a longer season that could create more opportunities for injury to amateurs trying to further their careers.

Gene Bleymaier, Athletic Director for Boise State, noted that his school’s football team went undefeated several times , yet never got a chance to play for the national championship under the BCS. I understand the argument, but have little sympathy for a team that doesn’t play a top twenty five team except for maybe once or twice every other season. Boise State is a good football team and they did put together one team that beat a good Oklahoma team, but they will not do this on a regular basis. It is pure numbers. The 16, 925 undergraduate students Vs. Ohio State University’s 34, 479 undergraduate students (numbers provided by www.yahoo.com/education) cannot always bring in the top high school athletes in the country. This is not only about money, but also the student athlete. The larger universities benefit more students and this is going to decide for most football players where they are going to play football. The current bowls not only work for the market and sponsors involved, but also for the exposure of the football players involved. The undefeated seasons for Boise state has let them play in a bowl game each of those seasons. If there was a playoff the possibility that they would compete with other undefeated teams for a much more limited opportunity and increased pressure to win more than just one playoff game exist. You can beat Oklahoma once, one time in a season. Can you do it three times in a row? In a playoff it will become much harder for those schools to compete. In the current bowl system you can have the satisfaction that you collimated your winning season with the opportunity to win your final game against a school that on-paper you could beat or competitively play against in a highly publicized game. In a playoff a small school will eventually meet someone that outweighs them by a lot and though David might slay Goliath some-of-the-time it doesn’t happen enough to justify them getting the opportunity every time.

The BCS should stay the way it is. They can always tweak the computers and the polls to accept the current trend to create the best opportunity for everyone involved that can competitively play against each other. The worst thing about the argument is that everyone is forgetting the players that are involved on the field. Everyone is just squabbling over their piece-of-the-pie and since the little brother feels like it is only getting table scraps they are crying. This isn’t an argument that our President should be trying to get involved in. There are much more important matters that require his attention. We should just continue to let the players decided this on the field.

Rebuilding the Big Ten’s Reputation: Ten Opponents to Beat in 2009

Ohio State was clobbered in the Coliseum.

Wisconsin plummeted from the ranks of the top 10.

And quite frankly, Michigan’s 2008 campaign doesn’t need any further mention in this forum.

Granted, all that stood between the Big Ten and another trip to the BCS National Championsip Game was a field goal off the foot of a back up kicker.

But after seeing that once-beaten Penn State team suffer one…
Continue reading at Bleacher Report – Big Ten Football

Public Enemy No. 1—Espn’s Pat Forde At It Again

In his most recent story on Espn.com, Pat Forde writes about UNC’s easy victory over Michigan State for the 2009 Mens’ NCAA Basketball Championship.

In it, he invokes an analogy, comparing MSU’s performance against UNC to Ohio State’s recent BCS failures on the gridiron.

How (and more importantly why) is it that this clown always finds a way to take cheap shots at the Ohio State Buckeyes, even…
Continue reading at Bleacher Report – Big Ten Football

Feldman: 10 teams that can win the BCS

ESPN’s Bruce Feldman breaks down ten team that have the best shot to win the BCS in 2009. There’s some familiar favorites on the list (Florida, USC, Oklahoma… yawn), but a couple of fresh faces on the list that are sure to raise some eyebrows.

Ole Miss: This may look crazy, but keep reading. The Rebels are fearless. They won at both Florida and LSU last season. They have a budding star at quarterback in Jevan Snead, some terrific receivers, and potentially the best D-line in the country. They also have the luxury of playing the softest nonconference schedule in the country, with two games against FCS teams, UAB and a Memphis team they beat every year. Better still, they get Alabama and LSU at home. Can the Rebs handle success and expectations now? We’ll see. A Thursday night trip to South Carolina appears to be the toughest road game.

OK. I’m not Nutts about the pick (ba-da-dum-ching!), but this is just crazy:

Oklahoma State: I love the Cowboys’ offense, and I think bringing in Bill Young to run the defense was a great move, but OSU has to go to Norman late and gets a visit from Georgia early. Also, playing Houston in Week 2 right after a big, physical Bulldogs team might be more treacherous than people think.

In my opinion, Feldman tends to fall in love with the personality of a team and that clouds his perception, but… he makes a strong case for several “dark horses”, including Virginia Tech and ((gulp)) Notre Dame.

Check out the whole thing over at Bruce’s blog.

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Spring Ball Kicks Off!

Entering his ninth season as head coach, Jim Tressel addressed media Wednesday to discuss what adjustments need to be made this Spring for the Buckeyes to chase a fifth consecutive Big Ten title and BCS bowl berth.

Continue reading at The Official RSS Feed of Ohio State Football Head Coach, Jim Tressel

Five Questions for Ohio State’s Football Spring Practice: Offensive Revolution?

Spring practice begins today in Columbus for the Ohio State Buckeyes. With the seniors that left the program, Ohio State has many holes to fill.

However, these holes have candidates bursting with much potential and talent.

The sophomore year of quarterback Terrelle Pryor is enough to get any OSU fan excited for the potential of another BCS run in 2009.

Still, there are many questions about the…
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FB: Spring Outlook; Practice Begins Thursday

A period of adjustment is underway within Ohio State football, with plenty of new faces and new assignments to renew a Buckeye program that has won Big Ten titles and played in BCS bowls the last four years.
Continue reading at Ohio State Women’s Basketball Headline News

The BCS, Made by Real Men of Genius

Remember those Bud commercials?  The Real Men of Genius?  Here is one for the BCS.
Here’s to you, BCS. The only sports governing body where the number of votes your team gets is more important than the number of games you won.
Singer in background: Paper champions…
Here’s to you BCS.  With all that time off from Thanksgiving to New Years Day, a playoff could be played out, but…
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How to Fix The BCS: Fix The Rose Bowl

The last few years have presented tremendous BCS controversy. Many people have been complaining about bad matchups. 2007-08 presented us with one of the most lopsided matchups in recent memory with UGA absolutely dismantling Hawaii, and Illinois being thoroughly outclassed by USC.

The common denominator, the Rose Bowl forces bad matchups with restrictions.

Sure the…
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Soft scheduling a common theme at Penn State

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Neil Rudel's column in Monday's Altoona Mirror is entitled "Schedule sold Lions short," and it explains how Penn State's soft nonconference schedule in men's basketball doomed the team on Selection Sunday. 
Don't be shocked if a similar headline pops up on Dec. 6, the day when the BCS pairings are announced. 
See,…
Continue reading at ESPN.com – Big Ten – Blog

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