Bowl Championship Series better fit than round-robin tourney for postseason system
Do you think any presidential candidates would spend time in our republic's smaller states if they didn't have to worry about getting its electors? Of course they wouldn't. They'd instead campaign on some sort of major metropolis loop. They'd go to where the most cameras exist and the most people would see them.
But, they can't do that because we have an unorthodox, but firmly rooted, system. I like that, and it leads to my other point: I like the Bowl Championship Series.
The BCS, like the Electoral College, does not have a high approval level. It occasionally creates big controversy when odd and unexpected things happen. People are constantly trying to replace it. But more often than not, it works.
When New York Jets coach Rex Ryan threw his headset on the ground after the Pittsburgh Steelers sealed a 24-19 AFC championship win over his team this past Sunday, two things popped into my mind.
My first thought: for Ryan's sake, thank goodness he didn't stomp on his headset with his foot. The New York papers would've had a field day if he had.
My second: with the AFC and NFC title games being equally compelling, it was a matter of time before the pot shots at the BCS began.
I was right. People are so hell-bent on a college football playoff that they will seize any opportunity to fire shots at the BCS. The NFL playoffs are serving as one. From talk of how the BCS would've given us a Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl a month ago to the fairness of sixth-seeded Green Bay Packers playing their way to a potential championship, the criticisms of college football's postseason system have been plentiful. Most of them are rooted in expressing the desire for a full-fledged playoff.
The logic is understandable, but I don't agree. I don't wish death upon the BCS. In fact, I think the current bowl system is the best fit for college football to decide a national champion.
Would I be opposed to a plus-one setup with a four-team playoff for the national title? No. In fact, if we could've had Auburn and TCU meet this year, it would've been great. I even think we may have ended up with a different national champion.
However, it is clear when people talk college football playoff, they don't want the plus-one. They want a 16-team round-robin with every conference champion that would extend the season even further and destroy bowl games.
Such a proposal is an unwise one, though. Instituting a 16-team playoff means more games and more work for coaches and student-athletes. If a 16-team playoff had been held this past season and Auburn still won the national championship, the Tigers would've played 17 games — 12 in the regular season, the SEC Championship Game and four playoff games. That's a great deal of football games. So many it's almost bordering on a job. And we all know these guys aren't professionals, or at least they aren't supposed to be.
Many are jazzed about a tradition-rich Packers-Steelers Super Bowl. Guess what? College football gets one of those almost every year. The BCS title game is always between two storied programs with great history and passionate fanbases. That's not what the Super Bowl, which recently featured the Arizona Cardinals (two league championships since 1920) and Carolina Panthers (17 years of existence), can say.
And yes, I know you're screaming about how the BCS hurts the non-traditional powers and empowers the traditional. So let's examine that next. Boise State, TCU and Utah have all proven they can play with the nation's elite in BCS games. Currently, they have had to go undefeated to reach a major bowl game, but that will soon change.
Utah is gaining AQ status this coming season when it joins the Pac-12. TCU will join the Big East in 2012. Boise, which is joining the Mountain West Conference this season, has a very real chance of lucking out despite Utah and TCU leaving the league. The MWC deserves to be given AQ status when the BCS can adjust in 2013, and there's a good likelihood it will. One of these three will play for the national title in the next ten years, in my opinion.
As for the other mid-major programs, they are put in fair positions where success is obtainable. Florida International makes my argument for me. This past season, the Golden Panthers won the Sun Belt conference at 6-6. That earned them an invite to the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl against Toledo in Detroit. In the game, FIU overcame a 17-point deficit for a rousing 34-32 win on a game-winning field goal as time expired. They then proceeded to celebrate like they won the Super Bowl.
Players ran around like little kids. The roughly 17 FIU fans that made the 1391.56 mile trek went nuts. Fourth-year coach Mario Cristobal was overcome with emotions as he spoke to ESPN cameras about FIU's first-ever winning season.
It was a moment all of them will likely never forget. If we had a playoff, however, the moment would've been replaced with another one – traveling to Auburn or Oregon as a 15- or 16-seed and losing by seven or so touchdowns. That's what a playoff would bring – ugly and lopsided first round games for the little guys. To many, a moment in the sun in a low-tier midweek bowl game may seem cheap, but it's still a moment in the sun.
Lastly, a move to a playoff would trample tradition. Call me a communist, but I like New Year's Day bowl games. I like things the way they are. I think TCU's Rose Bowl win was one of the greatest days in college football history. I liked the FIU madness. I like MAC teams playing their hearts out on blue turf. And, I like what the BCS gives us.
I'll be the first to admit it; the early years of the BCS were shameful. There are too many horror stories to mention when it comes to the system's early years, so I won't get into all of them. But the facts are the facts: we have had the best two teams in college football correctly and fairly placed into the title game each year since 2004. We haven't had a title game snafu in six seasons. That's not a long track record, but it's at least progress.
I don't know if the BCS is the Electoral College of sports, or if the Electoral College is the BCS of politics. Either way, they're the best fit for their respective worlds at the moment, even with Bush-Gore and 2004 Auburn moments on occasion.
If nothing else, they give us something to talk about in the offseason, whether it is seven months or four years long.