The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was created so that we would no longer have co-champions for the national title in college football. Well that worked out perfect this year.Both the coaches poll and media polls had the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University ranked one and two in their polls. These polls are voted on by people who watch the games and are knowledgeable enough to understand the game of football and which teams are better. The BCS computers though had Oklahoma University ranked number one, LSU two, and USC three.
Well, USC won the Rose Bowl, and LSU won the Sugar Bowl, defeating OU. When the final polls came out USC was number one in the Associated Press poll, and LSU was number one in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Now college football has two national champions, not one.
As I said before, the BCS was created to avoid co-national champions. The problem though is that the NCAA is letting a computer, not humans, decide who is the best team in the land based upon stats. The computer looks at various things such as ìstrength of scheduleî and point differential in games played. The one thing the computer canít take into consideration are the intangibles that affect a game such as injuries, weather, and crowd support.
The coaches and sports writers who get to vote each week for the other polls can take such intangibles into consideration though.
Last year BCS supporters got exactly what they wanted when the only two undefeated teams in the nation, Ohio State and Miami, played each other in a game that ended in over time thanks to Maurice Clarettís five yard touchdown run to end the game.
Almost immediately after the game, everyone was saying how great things worked out for the BCS and that this is the kind of situation that was hoped for when it was created. True college football loyalists though knew that it was only time until the BCS failed its true believers and there was controversy over who went to the BCS title bowl.
Who knew that only one year after the perfect BCS season, a complete mess would follow. Even BCS coordinator Mike Tranghese has admitted now that the BCS system needs some fixing. Tranghese said heíd like to see the system go back to using human polls, and that forming a selection committee similar to the one used in basketball would also be advantageous.
The solution seems simple, but yet we all know itís not. College football needs a playoff similar to the one used at the division II and III ranks, but which teams go to the playoff?
My solution is take the winners of the major bowls. When I say major bowls I am not talking about the new bowls that have been created so schools can make money. I am talking the traditional big time bowls like the Rose, Cotton, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls. Take the winners, put them in some kind of bracket, and let them play until one team is left a winner.
Until the NCAA comes up with a system that will unarguably allow for one, and only one national champion a year, this argument will show up in the news this time every year.
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