When the most popular sport in the NCAA is the only one without a playoff, something is wrong.
A tournament is the ONLY way to decide a champion in anything, especially athletics.
The Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the only NCAA division without a tournament to decide the champion. Even the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly called Division I-AA, decides its champion by a tournament.
So why can’t the FBS dump the BCS?
Tradition.
Games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl have so much tradition that it would ruin college football to get rid of them.
This makes about as much sense as Ray Charles being a tour guide. Use these “traditional” bowl games as quarterfinal and semifinal games in a 16-team tournament. Sure, the bowl games wouldn’t mean as much, but I’m willing to give up a bit of tradition to determine a true national champion.
The only reason the BCS is even around is so college presidents, athletic directors, and advertisers can make millions of dollars.
College presidents, athletic directors, and advertisers could make just as much money with a playoff system. Imagine if teams got to play in two bowl games? They would make twice as much money for the program. If money wasn’t a deciding factor, the FBS would have had a playoff many years ago.
Fanbases won’t travel across the country week after week, thus, the games won’t provide sellout crowds and high revenues.
However, if the games are scheduled regionally, just like college basketball’s first two rounds of its tournament, fanbases will travel. College football has some of the most loyal fans around; they will travel to support their team.
But the worst part about the BCS is the fact that six computers help decide who the top teams are. Yes, human polls account for two-thirds of the BCS system, but the BCS computers still help decide the top teams in the country using a formula that no one knows. Six computers make up the BCS ranking, each computer using different formulas to decide their respective rankings. Average the six computer rankings and you get the one-third BCS ranking.
Sound confusing? Even the six computers don’t understand the BCS.
Here’s an idea, FBS officials: make a 16-team playoff with the 11 conference winners and five at-large teams. This will give the smaller schools a chance to gain national respect while still giving the most deserving teams a shot at the national title. Even if the BCS formula decided the five at-large teams, it would be better than the flawed system we have today.
In 2003, Oklahoma played in the BCS Championship game after losing their conference championship game to Kansas State. This was when the BCS ranking did not use any human polls and was strictly the six computer rankings. That should have been the last straw for the BCS, but instead they just altered the formula.
However, now it’s time to dump the BCS for good. A college football playoff would do nothing but benefit the sport. Having a tournament is the only way to determine a true national champion. College presidents, athletic directors, and advertisers are too greedy and don’t realize they are killing the sport in the process.
