All we ever wanted to see was #1 play #2 and until 1998 we didn’t have that luxury. Previously #1 Alabama would have played in the Sugar Bowl and #2 Texas would have played in the Cotton Bowl on New Years Day. They both would’ve won their respective games and we’d have Co-Champions. The next morning we all would sit back in our recliners and say, “Man I wish that #1 could’ve played #2.” That’s all we ever wanted. Now that we’ve got it no one’s satisfied. The BCS has solved that dilemma. I here you in the background saying, “We need a playoff like the NFL.” That sounds great but it doesn’t make sense and here’s why. There are 120 teams in the FBS division formally known as Division 1 or D1.
Within the D1 ranks there are 3 or 4 levels of competition, from the very best teams #1 Alabama and #2 Texas, using the 2009 rankings for example, down to the worst, #119 Eastern Kentucky and#120 Western Kentucky. The NFL has only 32 teams and 12 of them (37.5%) get to go to the playoffs. If we did the same thing in college football we’d have to put 45 teams in the playoffs if we want to be fair, right? That would be impossible to do because this isn’t basketball. You can only play one game a week not 2 like they do in the NCAA Tournament. I here you saying, “We only need the top 8 to play”. Well… 9, 10, 11 and 12 would be upset because we would still be voting on who gets to play and who doesn’t. So we really didn’t accomplish anything. All we want to see is #1 play #2, right? We’ll we’ve got that. You’re saying if we get rid of the bowls at the end of the season we could have a playoff.
You’re right, but that would be unfair to 105 schools because there are only about 15 schools, give or take one or two, that will ever win the national title. I’ll name them: USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Georgia(any of the top SEC schools), Florida St, Miami and Notre Dame if their administration ever wakes up. So what do you tell the other schools? It was nice doing business with you. See schools like Purdue, Indiana and Arizona will never even play for the title because they don’t get the players those schools previously mentioned get. If there isn’t a bowl for Purdue to play in after they’ve won 6 to 8 games on a good year what are those kids even playing for. Sure every 30 years or so they’ll get a player that everyone slept on like Drew Brees or Bob Grease and win the Big Ten Championship. However, they won’t ever play for a national title. It is what it is.
So by taking the bowl games away we cheat college football of the pageantry that is college football. It’s a playoff starting week one anyway. I still here you saying that those bowls are meaningless, we’ll… not to the kid playing at Missouri, Ole Miss or Western Michigan. The bowl game is their Super Bowl not to mention the revenue that the schools receive as a result of playing in those bowls. Do you realize that each bowl has a guaranteed payout for just showing up? If you’re fortunate enough to get to a BCS bowl it’s a $17 million payday whether you’re playing in the title game or not. The mid level bowls like the Chick-fila-A, Cotton and Outback pay $3 million each. The Sun Bowl which Purdue has participated in previous years pays out $1.9 million. Even if you play in a bottom tier bowl like the Emerald it’s worth $850,000 to your school.
So if you were the presidents of Fresno State and Wyoming would you have voted for a playoff or accepted the invite to this year’s New Mexico Bowl to make $750,000 just for showing up? See the greatness of college football is the pageantry and the excitement of the regular season and the culmination of events with the bowls. If I’m a Texas fan I’m not only concerned with the Longhorns, I’m concerned with all the chess pieces moving around it. Now really… did you want to take all that away just to see Alabama and Texas anyway?( In 2010 Auburn and Oregon) What's your opinion?
Jay Graves
No Jay! False! ;-) Here's why, I was on my way to an Indians baseball game w/ the girls. Kaila asked "Daddy, who are we voting for?" I laughed and corrected her by telling her "we are going 'cheer' not 'vote'..you don't vote for games". The...n I thought about the BCS. Oops! Looks like daddy was wrong. ;-) This is why we have UCONN(who's season was not good) in a BCS game over a team like Boise.
ReplyDeleteWhat I would like to see is a combination of the two (BCS & Playoffs). During the month of Dec (3rd week after finals) the games are played then they go to a +1 system.
OR my proposal would be to take the Top 25 ranked teams(instead of Bowl games) into some type of playoff system which can be done over a 4 week span of time(after their respective conference championships). To end with an even # of teams, the top ranked team could be given a bye week or something like that. This way the schools still get their money(cause that's what its all about) like they do now (like basketball) the further they make into the playoffs the more money you get.
Interested in your thoughts...
Floyd, you still have a vote to get the top 25 teams in your system. No matter how you cut it we will have to vote teams in. Good thought but some conferences will never be able to compete with the BIGS. Players win games and the top dogs run deep, sure every now and then a team from a smaller conference will deserve a chance but the top dogs every year are deep with talent some of their scout teams could compete in the WAC, MAC, Sunbelt, etc. We want to give the little guy a chance but the truth is just like in basketball the big guy most of the time comes out on top. We all cheered for Butler last year and it was great but how often does that really happen and in the end the big dog won. A play off in football would take a lot longer than March madness does due to the nature of the sport. Next fall Ball State plays Indiana, South Florida, Army and Oklahoma all in the name of money. Let's send Boise or Nevada through that schedule and see if they come out undefeated. They would have a chance to show all the critics what they are made of and this is not what Aburn faced every week in the SEC. Besides to much money at stake for the college presidents to ever vote for a playoff cause if I am the pres at Ball State I play the money games and hope I can win 6-8 a year to get to a bowl (pay day). No Play Forget about it!
ReplyDeleteCoach G
Coach I'm right with you on that. Also nobody said anything about the travel during the month of December for the fans of the schools if they did a playoff. People aren't going to travel multiple times in December for ballgames and then go to the bowl. Not during the Christmas holiday.
ReplyDelete