At 10:50 a.m on Monday I rushed out of class to the nearest
computer.
I just had to see the Bowl Championship Series standings the
minute they came out.
At about the same time across the country, dozens of college
football geeks were surfing the Internet, eagerly anticipating that
very important moment that happens on a mid-October Monday every
year, known as the first release of the BCS standings.
And at 11:04, refreshing several windows open to different Web
sites, I finally found them.
Sound crazy?
It is, kind of.
I know many of you aren’t used to looking at or caring
about the BCS standings, since it’s been a while since UCLA
has been up there. Some of you, including some legitimate football
fans, don’t even have a clue what the BCS is.
But don’t underestimate its importance, especially this
year, when it looks like UCLA has a real shot to compete for a spot
in a BCS bowl game, or even a national championship.
Considering the Bruins are undefeated, they are a not-so-good
No. 9 in the BCS, the worst of the seven remaining unbeaten teams
and behind two squads with one loss each ““ Louisiana State
and Miami (Fla.) Without even playing a game on Monday, the
Bruins’ chances at a BCS bowl game or the national
championship took a hit.
The BCS is a coalition set up with the primary purpose of
pitting the top two teams in the country in a national championship
game, and a secondary purpose of putting teams into the prestigious
BCS bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange).
It uses a unique formula to calculate its standings and
determine which team goes to which bowl game ““ a system that
has been highly scrutinized over the years.
And rightly so.
Division I-A college football is the one sport at any level that
does not use a playoff system to crown its champion, instead using
the BCS.
So many times, teams deserving a spot in the national
championship game or in a BCS bowl were left out for less-deserving
teams. Just last year, Auburn went undefeated and did not get a
chance to play for the national championship.
If UCLA makes a magical run and goes undefeated this year, it
may face the same fate. Also, if UCLA finishes with only one loss,
it will be hard for the Bruins to get a BCS bowl berth.
The voters aren’t giving UCLA much respect, with the USA
Today Poll ranking UCLA as the worst undefeated team and the Harris
Interactive Poll ranking them sixth out of the seven undefeated
teams.
The computer rankings aren’t giving UCLA much help either,
on average, ranking UCLA No. 11 in the nation.
And this year, the BCS standings formula has been simplified.
Basically, it’s one-third Harris poll, one-third USA Today
poll, and one-third computer rankings.
In themselves, the changes this year are an upgrade. Simple is
generally better and more fan-friendly. But the changes don’t
address the bigger problem of instituting a playoff system, which
last year’s debacle proved the sport needs.
But some of the smaller changes make less sense.
The polls are used based on voters’ points, not the final
rank ““ increasing the influence one voter can have.
For the other third of the formula, the concept of computer
rankings is sound ““ computers, unlike human voters, are truly
unbiased.
But the way they are used is horrible. Only six are used now
““ two less than the original eight ““ and the outliers
are no longer thrown out, hurting some undeserving teams.
Just look at UCLA. The Bruins are No. 6 in Anderson &
Hester’s computer rankings and No. 13 in Jeff Sagarin’s
rankings. And other teams have much more dramatic extremes. Oregon
is No. 6 in Peter Wolfe’s rankings and No. 27 in Richard
Billinsley’s rankings.
If more rankings were used and the outliers were thrown out, it
would make the system more fair.
In terms of UCLA, there’s not much more the Bruins can do
to move up than win and hope other teams lose.
Things usually fall into place, but as last year showed,
it’s no guarantee.
The Bruins are hurt by what has mathematically been a weak
schedule.
Oklahoma has underperformed and has three losses now. Rice is a
pathetic 0-5, and that win over Cal looks worse now that it lost to
Oregon State this past Saturday.
As UCLA keeps winning, fans should also be rooting for the teams
UCLA has beaten to win. Both the human voters and computer rankings
will need to see some quality wins for UCLA at the end of the year
if UCLA hopes to compete for a BCS bowl or a national
championship.
USC beating Notre Dame on Saturday helped UCLA, but the chances
of the Pac-10’s strength being helped that much are limited,
since only two teams have a non-conference game left (USC, against
Fresno State, and Stanford, against Notre Dame).
That is life in the BCS. The formula is improved, but still
flawed. And even if you take care of business, your destiny is
never really in your hands.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.