BCS 101: For Those Unfamiliar With The BCS System
| 6
|
Sometimes you have to sacrifice your Saturdays to the library or group thesis work. Sometimes, for us here in Chestertown, MD., Saturdays are meant for traveling to civilization (i.e. Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, and the like). On a college campus such as mine there are a lot of us who somehow through all the adversity of academia, find a way to spend all morning watching "College Gameday" on ESPN and all afternoon and most of the evening watching games. Some people may be wondering how Missouri and West Virginia fell completely out of contention after just one game. A lot of us are excited for the bowl games, but how are these BCS bowl games determined? Here is a quick crash course:
When Missouri and West Virginia lost this past weekend, the brass over at BCS Headquarters breathed a collective sigh of relief: in the end, they got it right. After the unpredictable chaos that was this season in college football, the two best teams in the country will play for the national championship: Ohio State and LSU.
For even a seasoned sports fan, the BCS ranking system can be quite confusing. The following is a breakdown of how this system works, so if you’re prone to seizures or begin to feel dizzy or nauseous upon reading this article, watch some mindless TV (i.e. anything on MTV).
The whole system is based off of percentages, most of which are generated by complex computer systems. Percentages are obtained by dividing a team's actual voting points by a maximum 2850 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1575 possible points in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Harris Interactive, a research data company, constructed a voting panel of former players, coaches, administrators and current and former media who rank teams. Also calculated into the equation are six computer ranking systems. For each team, the highest and lowest rankings are dropped and the other four are added and divided by 100 points, which is the maximum number of points available, to obtain the Computer Rankings Percentage. Each of the six computers factor in the strength of schedule component and leave humans out of the equation. The BCS average, which is how the final rankings for that week are obtained, is calculated by averaging the Harris, USA Today, and Computer rankings.
Whew, got all that? Now do you understand how all this mess works? Yeah, me neither; not many people do, which is one of the reasons why the BCS is so highly scrutinized by sports fans and media members. Something also tells me that Colt Brennan and the University of Hawaii are going to have something to say about the BCS in the coming weeks. Georgia and Oklahoma are sure to have their gripes as well, but I really feel for Hawaii. Are they the best team in the country? Probably not, but they did everything they had to do to secure a spot in the national championship game under the current system. Hawaii was the only undefeated team in the country and their non-conference schedule was just as strong if not stronger than Ohio State’s. But let’s not kid ourselves, Ohio State is the better team. Hawaii can score on cue, but can’t stop anybody from scoring, which will be exploited when they play Georgia in the Sugar Bowl (sorry, the Allstate Sugar Bowl).
So as the BCS supporters thank the football gods while West Virginia and Missouri curse them, football fans can rest easy knowing that this time, the BCS got it right. The two best teams in the country will play for the national championship. But who’s to say that another season like this won’t happen? And who’s to say the future Tigers or Mountaineers won’t win that pivotal game? If that were to happen, like it almost did this year, the BCS would be flipped on its ear. Could you imagine (I’m just making this up) a Rutgers vs. Kansas BCS National Championship? Conference chairs, school presidents, and football fans alike cringe at the thought of that scenario. After what happened this past season, it has become increasingly apparent that a similar scenario isn’t just a conspiracy theory, but a near certainty that could wipe the BCS out of existence; much to the chagrin of athletic directors at small Division I schools everywhere. What program will be next to catch lightning in a bottle? '
