Though I write daily about college basketball, I grew up in the heartland of college football and spend most fall Saturdays stuck in front of a TV watching gridiron. So, while you may know me most for my hoops passion, I feel I am educated enough to briefly discuss the football side of college sports. And this BCS mess needs work.
I've never HATED the BCS. I understand its limits and, at times, hated some of the decisions it has made, but outside of a playoff, I think they generally get it right. Most of the bitching and moaning about the BCS comes during September and October, before teams have really played anyone. But usually come December the BCS has worked itself out and the top two teams are playing in the national championship game.
Not this year.
And that's not to say that the Alabama Crimson Tide isn't one of the top two teams in the country. They very well might be. But what the BCS championship pairing is telling us this year is that a team can be the best in the country without winning their conference. Without even winning their division! (Didn't we go through this same argument in 2001 when the Nebraska Cornhuskers played the Miami Hurricanes?)
I would have no qualms with a rematch. That doesn't bother me. Where my issue this year lays is that Alabama DIDN'T WIN THE SEC. Hell they DIDN'T WIN THE SEC WEST. And you know what? By having the outcome of the BCS essentially set before the LSU Tigers even played in the SEC championship, had the Georgia Bulldogs won that game you would have had two teams in the championship game, neither of whom won their conference. Granted, that didn't happen, but we should establish winning the conference as a requirement for winning the national championship.
For this reason, the Oklahoma St. Cowboys are the most deserving team to play LSU in the BCS championship game. This rule would also eliminate the Stanford Cardinal, Boise St. Broncos, Arkansas Razorbacks, Houston Cougars etc from playing in the championship game. This wouldn't preclude any of these schools from receiving an at-large bid, but if the BCS is truly saying that the winner of its championship game is the best in the country, then that team should, by proxy, be the best in its conference.
Win your division. Win your conference. Win the national championship. Easy enough to comprehend, right?
Loading comments...