Incredibly Novel Concepts: BCS Edition

by user J Cunningham

Have I mentioned yet how much I hate college football? And that perhaps one of those reasons is the infamous BCS and the plethora of meaningless bowl games?

If not, have a read at the link above, then treat yourself to a special college football bowl game edition of...

Increidbly Novel Concepts!!!

INC #1: If voters want Florida in the national championship game because they feel the Gators are a better team than Michigan, fine; I have no qualms with that. If we feel Florida's the better team, let them have their say against Ohio State--and vice versa for Michigan.

But to anyone who might've voted for Florida solely to avoid a Michigan-Ohio State rematch, or to punish Michigan for not winning the Big Ten, I say shame on you. The BCS is a flawed system as it is; we don't need the human voters tainting it even further with their biased views on how college football's national champion should be determined.

I don't know who the better team is between Florida and Michigan, and I really don't care. I just hate to think someone who has a vote would willingly leave out a potentially deserving team because of some unwritten bowl game rule that not everyone agrees with.

INC #2: Notre Dame will face LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame, which finished 11th in the BCS rankings, gets the nod over a more deserving Wisconsin team, which finished seventh in the BCS. So while Notre Dame gets rewarded for an ultimately mediocre 10-2 year, a season which saw the Irish get plastered by Michigan and USC, Wisconsin goes 11-1, only to be rewarded with...

...a trip to the Captial One Bowl against Arkansas.

Wisconsin goes 11-1 and they have to go to some crap bowl (with that crap commercial with the crap mascots) against an Arakansas team that just lost the SEC, while Notre Dame gets the spoils of a BCS game? So...I can go get killed by the only two decent teams I play all year and still get rewarded with a huge payday and a big bowl game? SIGN ME UP!!

Please...I know Notre Dame's a big ticket and TV draw, but this is beyond ridiculous. How about assigning teams that are actually deserving to these BCS bowl games. I might argue Arkansas deserves to be in over LSU, by virtue of almost winning the SEC, but Notre Dame's the one that really irks me.

INC #3: Seven 6-6 teams will be playing in bowl games this year, and another 14 7-5 teams have received berths. I see where college basketball has taken the NBA's stance on rewarding mediocrity with postseason play. I realize in years past a six-win season made you bowl-eligible, but after the addition of the 12th game this year, shouldn't that rule have changed?

Do we really want .500 teams playing in bowl games? There is one bowl in which 6-6 teams face each other: the Independence Bowl (Oklahoma State vs. Alabama), and another two where a 6-6 team faces a 7-5 squad: the Emerald Bowl (Florida State vs. UCLA) and the Insight Bowl (Minnesota vs. Texas Tech).

Oh, and let's not forget the thrilling New Orleans Bowl, which pits 7-5 Troy against 7-5 Rice.

Is this what we want college football's postseason to be? A celebration of capitalism and gridiron mediocrity? Tell me, when you look at a Miami or a Florida State, when you gander at a Cincinnati or a Iowa, do they look like bowl teams to you?

That's what I thought.

INC #4: Including the five BCS games, there are a total of 32 bowl games this year. Thirty-two! Doesn't that number seem a little high to you? Especially when one of the arguments against instituting a playoff system involves something along the lines of "it would take too long; we can't take these kids out of school"?

If we're gonna have this many bowl games, why not use them on a rotating basis in an 8- or 16-team playoff system, similar to what the BCS does now with the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange Bowls?

Considering some bowls occur in late December and others come in early January, the timetable doesn't have to be manipulated too terribly much. Just assign the bowls to each round on a rotating basis, with a different "biggie bowl" hosting the national title game every year. Everyone still makes all that money they're so keen on, and we finally have a national champion that can be trusted.

Then again, this plan makes too much sense, so it'll never happen.