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.

Seven Ohio State Buckeyes Drafted into the NFL

Seven Ohio State Buckeyes Drafted into the NFL

While Ohio State was completing their spring with the annual Scarlet vs. Gray game in the Horseshow, a class full of graduated seniors were awaiting their next career step, the NFL. The NFL draft proceeded the Spring game with four Buckeyes selected on the first day and three more selected in the second day of later round selections.

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Michigan State schedule news, spring game recap

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Before getting to the Green-White Game, there was some exciting scheduling news Monday for Michigan State fans. 
The school agreed to home-and-home series with both West Virginia (2014-15) and Alabama (2016-17) and extended its contract with longtime rival Notre Dame through the 2025 season. Kudos to athletic director Mark Hollis for making the type…
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Ohio State Spring Game Rosters

Ohio State Spring Game Rosters

Ohio State is set to scrimmage in the Shoe on Saturday in front of a large crowd on a nice spring day. The team has been split in two with the coaches breaking the seniors into two squads and then having a draft to select the rest of the teams. The results are interesting and should make for a nice exhibition for the fans this weekend.

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A quick look at Ohio State’s spring draft

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
Michigan State wasn't the only team to hold a spring game draft Wednesday. Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, who passed on the idea to Spartans head man Mark Dantonio, oversaw the Buckeyes' selections for the spring game on Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Some notables for each squad.
SCARLET Running back Dan "Boom" Herron Wide receivers…
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Scarlet vs Gray Game Draft Selections Made

Scarlet vs Gray Game Draft Selections Made

In their annual Scarlet vs. Gray draft today, Ohio State seniors selected underclassmen by position with the coaches split in half and the seniors divided to give the fairest outcome for each team. Quarterback was the first position drawn with Terrelle Pryor going to the Gray and Joe Bauserman being selected by the Scarlet. Leo was next with Scarlet getting Thad Gibson and the Gray picking up Solomon Thomas, who had a great Jersey Scrimmage this past weekend.

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It’s draft day at Michigan State

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Forget about that other draft taking place at Radio City Music Hall this weekend. The real draft will be held at 2:15 p.m. ET today in the Skandalaris Football Center, as Michigan State picks teams for its annual Green-White Game, which will be played Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio has borrowed…
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Spartans’ Leggett brings size and smoothness

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
EAST LANSING, Mich. — There are several predictable words to describe the way a 235-pound man runs the football.
Smooth is usually not one of them.
"I tease him sometimes, because he's one of my closest friends," Michigan State wide receiver Mark Dell said. "He's real smooth, kind of effortless. I love to see him run. He's a…
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Destination: East Lansing

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
I'm off to East Lansing to spend some time with head coach Mark Dantonio and the Michigan State Spartans. I'll be attending Tuesday's practice in East Lansing and Wednesday's spring game draft.
Posting will be light until the Spartans wrap up practice early this evening. I'll try to post an update on Penn State linebacker Navorro…
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Ohio State Wide Receiver Depth Decent Even With Loses

 

Ohio State Wide Receiver Depth Decent Even With Loses

Losing two veteran players like Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline would set many college football programs back, but Ohio State is loaded with young talent that will step up this spring and take the field this fall to create explosive offensive plays for the Buckeyes. Ray Small, Dane Sanzenbacher, DeVier Posey and Taurian Washington are some of the names competing for the starting sports this spring.

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