The Sporting Life: The BCS – For Your Entertainment?
The nameplate is blank because there is no real champion.
So the tempestuous 2007 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Conference National League season all finally came to an end on Monday night and we were finally able to crown a champion out of this entire mess. Right?
I guess.
We’ve all heard the same tired arguments as to why college football needs a playoff system and I’m sure almost anyone can agree to it. What irks me is that sportswriters, analysts, and fans everywhere cite the lack of an exciting game due to the anemic performance of Ohio State in back-to-back BCS Championships as the final proof that the system is flawed.
How so? People didn’t rally for a new NFL championship system when Rex Grossman showed his true colors in the Super Bowl. The masses didn’t call for a restructuring of the NBA Playoffs system when the Spurs swept the Cavaliers (actually, some have). What about when the Red Sox swept the Rockies? And to take it back to college sports, there wasn’t an upheaval in the demand for a new tournament system in NCAA hoops when the Florida Gators dominated the UCLA Bruins in 2006. [Continue reading…]
None of these games were particularly fun or exciting to watch, and in actuality the playoffs leading up to each of these championship matchups were far more thrilling. There is no requisite rule with regards to championship games in any sport that says that it has to be an entertaining game to watch. Some would counter that it doesn’t have to be especially entertaining, but it should be at least the two best teams that play against each other for the crown. This has been the rally cry of supporters of Georgia, USC, and Kansas after their victories in their respective BCS games. That isn’t necessarily true either.
We accepted the outcomes of each these games because the playoff systems that these games were played under have been tried and tested through decades of practice and have led to satisfactory results. It’s clear that there continues to be a lack of satisfaction with the current BCS system this year as a stray first-place votes didn’t go in favor of the Tigers in the final AP Poll (note: the USA Today coaches’ poll determines the ‘champion‘; the winner of the title game is required to receive all first-place votes).
And so the march toward a college football playoff must go on. We’ve seen how ludicrous the current system is and we shouldn’t be forced to accept it for much longer. It’s only fair for the fans, schools, and players that we adopt a playoff system for Division IA football. Just don’t always expect it to be for your viewing pleasure.
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The Sporting Life with Carman Tse: Real talk. Click below for more.