More Proof The BCS Is a Bad System For College Football

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The BCS is the most atrocious system ever created. It solves nothing, and if the national championship game winds up pitting the top two teams in the nation against each other, it is out of pure luck. The system is in place because of money, not because it best serves the teams of the NCAA.

The money in the bowl games has gotten to the point that they don't even name the bowl games by their name anymore. Either the sponsors name is inserted with the name of the bowl (i.e. Tostitos Fiesta Bowl) or the name of the sponsor is the name of the bowl (Capital One Bowl). But if the football enthusiast wishes to see bowl games that pits the teams in a true championship bowl series, this is not it.

Yes, yes, I know, everyone is sick of hearing the argument for a playoff system at the Division I level. Congress even unconstitutionally considered getting involved in the mix. However, one thing is clear. College Football needs to create a playoff system at the end of the season. Why not? All of the other divisions in college football use a playoff system? Why not keep the bowls in place, make them all play earlier in December when the minor bowl games are being played, and then take the top eight ranked teams after the bowls are over, giving us three more weeks of seeded playoffs, landing the final four on Christmas and the national championship on New Years Day?

Yesterday was one of the examples of the flaws in the system. TCU beat up on Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, but because TCU is not considered one of the big schools, despite being undefeated they got leap-frogged and did not get to play in the national championship. But they deserved at least a shot at it, didn't they? Could they have won it all? Very possibly, but we will never know because they weren't given a shot at it.

Meanwhile, Connecticut got an automatic bid for winning their conference. . . with an eight win record. No team with four losses deserves to be in the mix at the end of the season. If you can't prove yourself during the regular season, the BCS shouldn't even consider your entrance into the great eight. But, UCONN got the bid for winning the Big East Conference, and then Oklahoma dismantled them in a relatively boring Fiesta Bowl afterward 48-20. Therefore, it is apparent that automatic bids are not good for the system.

A four loss team in a major bowl? Are you kidding me?

The other interesting thing, but this was not the BCS' fault, was the SEC's domination over the Big Ten (11? 12? One never knows anymore. Just name it the Midwest Conference, or the Great Lakes Conference, or something). Alabama killed Michigan State 49-7 despite Alabama being ranked lower than their opposition in this game. Mississippi State walked all over Michigan 52-14. The Gators (Florida) soundly beat Penn State (beating a legend in Papa Joe Paterno) 37-24. If my favorite team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, beats Ohio State on Tuesday in the Sugar Bowl, the domination of the SEC over the Big Ten will be incredible.

As a Pac 10 guy here in California (who is a Ducks fan due to connections to Oregon) I am definitely rooting for the Oregon Ducks to beat the Auburn Tigers (hey, the SEC can't win them all! - though Florida State did hand South Carolina a big slice of humble pie) in the National Championship game on. . . what? The tenth? Why in the hell do they spread these games out like that, and then have them on during the week? When I get home from work at 6:30 these games will be half over! Jeez. . . Go Ducks.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary (and I suppose sometimes a little sports too!)