It’s that time of the year. The Bowl Championship Series
is undergoing its yearly tinkering (read: makeover), and every
year, it fails to bring college football fans what they really want
““ a playoff system.
The BCS committee is considering adding a fifth BCS bowl game,
expanding the already convoluted system that is the BCS.
This decision goes against everything the BCS committee has used
to defend itself.
One main argument against a playoff system has been that the
tradition of the bowls would be lost.
How would tradition be maintained if a lesser bowl were made
into a big bowl all of a sudden? Or even worse, how would a brand
new bowl become tradition for a new game all of a sudden?
The real reason behind a fifth BCS bowl game is ““ what
else ““ money.
True, a fifth BCS bowl might let a mid-major conference team go
to a big game and get the money the big boys get. But this still
wouldn’t answer the fundamental error in the BCS ““ the
mid-major teams can’t even dream about winning the national
championship.
In any other sport, a team is guaranteed a championship if it
wins every single game it plays. Not in Division I-A college
football. Mid-major teams that have gone undefeated, or at least
been undefeated late in the season, have never been higher than
eighth in the BCS, where only the top two teams qualify for the
national championship game.
It’s sad to be a player or fan of a team and not be able
to even dream about your team going all the way, or mathematically
not having a chance at the championship before the season even
begins.
Some argue that a playoff system would hinder the
student-athletes’ studying time for finals, but the regular
season already does that. UCLA and USC will be playing each other
on the first Saturday of December for the next two years ““
the Saturday before finals week.
I wonder why these games were moved from November, when
they’ve been played since forever. It couldn’t be the
revenue from being nationally televised, could it?
The Big XII and SEC hold their conference title games in
December, the weekend before most of their schools have finals. ABC
usually selects another couple of games to show on that day
too.
But of course, it’s all about the student-athletes’
educations.
That’s why there are always three bowl games within one
week of finals ending.
And besides, Divisions I-AA, II and III all have playoff
systems. Why cant I-A?
“We believe a playoff system would be extremely damaging
to the bowls ““ not just our bowl, but all bowls,” Rose
Bowl Executive Director Mitch Dorger told the Washington Post.
“And it would be damaging to the communities that support the
bowls.”
Damaging to the bowls?
What tradition do the Mazda Tangerine Bowl, Continental Tires
Bowl, Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, and 90 percent of all other
bowls have?
None!
A playoff system wouldn’t necessarily extend the season
(the bowl season itself lasts about four weeks) or hurt the
players’ studying time (the season does that already). And to
make the bowls happy, it wouldn’t necessarily hurt them,
either.
The bowls could always be used to host playoff games, like
regional sites in college basketball or most other college
sports.
A potential selection committee could even try to keep as many
conference affiliations as possible intact.
But none of this will happen in the near future. Why change
anything when you’re making billions of dollars?
Unless you’re Mark Cuban and your center is Shawn Bradley.
E-mail the Stat Geek at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.