for those of you who have any sports knowledge at all - you already know the ridiculousness of the bcs. its been around for 10 years now - and only three years it has really worked at all.
yeah there's a ton of talk of a playoff system and better ways to do things - which i agree, there should be a playoff system. its more exciting, gives teams from non-bcs conferences and with weaker schedules a shot at the national championship (boise st '06, hawaii '07), and it ceases the ridiculous debates, blogs, articles, and complaints that are unavoidable at the end of each college football season.
but that isn't going to happen any time soon - cause college football is about money and publicity. it stinks that it is true, but it is. it is about better television and higher ratings and ticket sales and popularity. boo.
ultimately the sponsoring companies and the bowl committees get to pick which teams they think would make their company more money. i understand that. that having been said, let me point out my complaints about this years college football post-season.
missouri left out while kansas and illinois are in?
first off, let me say crassly that missouri got screwed big time. number one going into the big xii campionship game fighting for a national championship berth, and you get beat by oklahoma (debatably the best team in the nation) and you get ousted out of bcs bowls completely? thats just unfair. but what makes things worse: the team you clobbered the week before is stealing your spot. and what makes things worse: the second best team from the big ten, illinois, is in a bowl game too - and you beat them too. the only reason illinois made is is because the bcs needed a big ten team because the only truly good team weas ohio state (which tells you a lot about the teams they played this year - but more on that later). missouri has already defeated 2 of the 10 bcs teams this year. this is very "kstate 98": they can win the big xii championship and go to the national championship, but they lost to a&m and got dropped out entirely. but that neither here nor there. point is: ku doesnt deserve a bcs berth. both cause i hate them and because they didnt play a sole/soul (i never know which makes sense in that phrase). best wins: at kstate, at texas a&m - neither of which made a bowl game. ku only played two ranked opponents all year long - #24 kstate (what a joke) and #3 missouri (got destroyed). plus missouri is ranked higher in the bcs! #6 vs #8? it ought to be an obvious selection. but since life in post-season college football is about money and publicity - no wonder ku got picked over missouri. i'll be excited to read all the depressing (to others) headlines after virginia tech steamrolls them in miami. i'll be wearing my VT garb for sure.
lsu over oklahoma and virginia tech for the national championship?
lsu loses two games all season: at kentucky and at home against arkansas. these teams COMBINED for 7 wins in the SEC this year - and only one of them (ark) made a bowl game. oklahoma also loses only two games: at colorado and at texas tech. BOTH of which are bowl teams and BOTH of which were road games. oklahoma beat the number one team in the nation in teh big xii championship game by 21 points. not even close. lsu beats #14 tennessee by only a touchdown to win the SEC. and how about virginia tech?! they lose two games all season long, both to #2 ranked teams. the ACC was extremely underrated this year (BC, Clemson, Virginia). this one is harder to fight for beacuse lsu beat them badly early in the season, but virginia tech and oklahoma both won their conference championship games decisively and both were ranked higher than lsu going into conf champ week - and it appeared that those two performed better against higher ranked teams (win by 21 against #1 mizzou, win by 14 against #11 BC) than lsu (win by 7 against #14 tennessee). yet lsu jumps both of them from #7 to #2 to end up in the national championship while the other move up to #3 and #4. i just dont really get it.
ohio state as the number one overall?
i realize that SOMEBODY had to be number one, and maybe OSU is a possible choice, but what i dont understand is why that makes them a shoe in for the national championship. they haven't played a game against anyone ranked higher than #21 (which is something that every team but ku has done). and their only loss was to UNRANKED Illinois - who landed a bowl berth because of this ohio state tragedy. it has to be obvious that the big ten is overrated when only 3 teams are in the top 25. i guess my argument is based mostly on the fact that the big ten was sour this year up and down the conference. i dont think ohio state deserves it any more than the next 6 ranked teams. ugh.
games i'm truly excited to watch though:
cotton bowl: missouri vs. arkansas - chase daniel vs darren mcfadden - awesome.
fiesta bowl: oklahoma vs. west virginia - two alternate national title contenders - awesome.
sugar bowl: hawaii vs. georgia - get to see colt brennen play before midnight - awesome.
GMAC bowl: bowling green vs. tulsa (jk guys. jk.)
granted, i dont pick these things. and even though i find these flaws or things i'd like to debate - i feel like you can argue a case for any team really. except ku. ever.
really, when it all boils down to it - they probably made MOSTLY the right decisions. the only two changes i would truly and honestly make...
missouri in the orange bowl instead of kansas.
ANYBODY in the rose bowl besides illinois...florida? arizona state? boston college? even kansas!? thats how much illinois doesnt deserve it. i'd take ku/usc before illinois. just bad.
anyway. eventually the bcs committee will all die of old age and then we can have a college football post season the way it should be: playoff style. there are 96 ways to do it. all of which are better than the bcs.
man i love to complain.
-ap.
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