The BCS debate continues
Although the BCS has continued to modify its formula, the debate on a tiebreaker still continues. And it really amazes me that the powers that be in the NCAA and the conferences keep talking about anything but the one thing that really prevents moving to a playoff system for Division I football (sorry, they call it FBS series now).
They talk about how it’s not good to extend the season, they talk about affecting the academic performance of the players, missing too much class, but they know that I haven’t really heard a serious and reasonable argument against a playoff system coming from the NCAA system. itself. And that’s because, in my opinion, it’s all about one thing…money.
College football still likes to think of itself as a purely amateur sport. But it’s become big business, and unfortunately in many cases, that’s not a big deal. But when you look specifically at the current BCS football bowl structure, it seems like there’s too much money at stake to get into a serious discussion of a playoff system.
The four big bowls that are part of the current BCS system just won’t give up control and the big bucks that come with those games. I’ve heard the argument that in a playoff system you can rotate who gets the final games. But the problem with that is when you get to the last four games, you’d still be at least 2 weeks away from championship week and that would probably take it too far away from when people would travel and spend the money like them. do it now at the end of the year for the last week of December and the first week of January. That amounts to a huge loss of revenue.
It’s hard for me to believe that if Division I basketball can have such an exciting tournament and every other division of college football makes it work, why can’t it work for the biggest schools in the NCAA? All other major sports, collegiate and professional, allow the championship to be decided through a process of last man standing wins.
And I think that’s something that people love about sports. That kind of format gives more underdogs a chance to win it all. Do you remember the movie “Hoosiers”? What a great story! People love underdogs. And every year at the NCAA Basketball Tournament there are big surprises. And every once in a while, some underdog who shouldn’t have made it into the tournament. And the fans get excited. And people believe that everything is possible.
And to me, that’s missing from the current BCS soccer formula. The last two weeks of the football season, the discussion is limited to a handful of football teams that have a chance to make it to the championship game. I would really love to see all the powers that be in college football take a serious, hard look at a playoff system. It may never happen, but I love watching those underdogs pick on the big guys and try to win it all.
