Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Playoffs and Stuff...
College Football needs a playoff and everyone knows it.
I have boiled the arguments down to this point. BCS defenders, those who cling to an antiquated bowl system state that if a playoff were put into place that it would diminish the importance of the most exciting regular season in sports.
In response to that line of thinking I say only this:
The current system, while creating an "exciting" regular season (a point I would and have argued) creates a meaningless post-season for anyone who is not SELECTED (these teams are picked based on money, make no mistake about it) to play in the National Championship game.
If you were not a fan of TCU or Boise State, or Iowa or Georgia Tech, or Penn State or LSU, none of these games MEANT ANYTHING. They may have been fun to watch, if you are simply a football fan, but there was literally nothing on the line aside from a corporate sponsored glass statue and a MEGA BONUS for both teams athletic departments.
The post season in college football is meaningless, regardless of how "exciting" the regular season is.
I am a change guy. I think, like the Baboon in the Lion King, that change is good, but it isn't easy.
In a universe where I was god, there would be a massive realignment of conferences, schedules, rankings and the post season.
The symmetry of the NFL is one of it's best characteristics. 32 teams, 2 conferences, 8 divisions.
Break up the conferences and realign them so they are balanced. Each conference (Big East, ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and two smaller conferences such as Mountain West or MAC) consists of 12 teams, two divisions, with a championship game in November. 8 automatic bids into a playoff, allow for some at-large bids for surprise teams. That we are arguing over who the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th best teams in the country are, not 1 or 2.
Force teams to play better competition out of conference. Penn State has no business playing Temple, Akron, Coastal Carolina ect. Or at least no more than one of these types of teams.
This system is so broken that the fixes would have to be monumental to fix what is wrong.
And with that being said, enough of the "Big Ten sux" talk.
Ohio State over Oregon
Penn State over LSU
Iowa over Georgia Tech
Wisconsin over Miami
Northwestern ALMOST beat Auburn
That means wins (and almost wins) over very good teams from the Pac-10, SEC, and ACC.
Has the Big Ten gotten embarrassed in recent years? (and yes, that includes Penn State getting stomped in last year's Rose Bowl)...Absolutely.
Are we as a conference as bad as the national media would make us out to be? No nearly.
Keep in mind this was a down year for Ohio State, whose defense was almost completely rebuilt this year, as well as Penn State who had five new starters on the O-line, and Michigan who is still getting used to Rich-Rod's system.
Very exciting stuff for Big Ten football fans...now if only we can add that 12th team, and a championship game...
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2 comments:
The regular season is meaningless for any a) non-BCS team that has lost one game and b) and BCS team that has lost two games. I would also add for any big BCS team: Nebraska 2001 didn't even win their conference, but got into the championship. How was their regular season meaningful?
Oh, how can you leave out the new argument for locking out the non-automatic qualifiers (.e.g the Mountain West)?
It's moved from their teams weren't good enough to they weren't good enough top-to-bottom to "they need to play this way for a while before they earn their way in."
Excuse me? Northwestern hasn't won a bowl game in 62 SIXTY-TWO! years, yet they get a piece of the BCS pie every year? And if they - by some miracle - won the Big 10, they would be guaranteed a chance in a BCS bowl game?
How does that work?
I heard the "Prove it over the long-term" arguement that you bring up the day after the Boise win.
I heard multiple commentators mention how Boise has to do this over a long period in order to be considered a contender.
The problem for teams like Boise is that major colleges are hesitant to schedule them as non-conference games because the chance of losing is too great to out weigh the benefits of winning.
I maintain, this system is completely broken.
But I still watch the games (at least until I fall asleep).
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