NCAA BCS Confusion

The saying in college football goes, “The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings result from voting, popular opinion, and pulling a rabbit out of a hat”. Many people believe the BCS, a system where a number seven seed is able to capture the second spot instead of the fourth seed, is ludicrous. The opinions of the fans usually prevail in the end because they are the ones who pay the money, and even though the fan’s opinions are recognized for the seeding, their strong opinions that the BCS should be abolished are ignored. Is that fair? The BCS system needs to be changed to a new system and/or include playoffs.

The BCS was established in 1998 to pair the two best college football teams together in the national championship game. The system also decides which teams will play in the other bowl games. The rankings are derived from a mixture of computer and human votes. Complicated mathematical equations are used to determine the best by considering multiple factors, such as schedule difficulty, conference, etc.

A lot of criticism is given to the BCS. Many who are against the system believe that the bowl participants should be chosen on the field, rather that through a computer and human voting system. In the words of Mike Garrett, USC athletic director, “We need to redesign the way they program the computers. All I know is that there are way too many ifs” (Garrett). Some critics fell that the system is unfair. During the 2006 season, Boise State and Ohio State both went undefeated. In fact they were the only teams to do so that year, but the BCS felt Ohio State had a more difficult schedule, so they were chosen for the bowl game and Boise State was left out as possibly the best team that year. Five teams have gone undefeated in the BCS and not been given a championship berth. Some feel it is useless for unknown teams to try because even if they go unbeaten they may not get a spot in the bowl game even though they may have outperformed the team who gets the spot.

Another criticism of the system is that it is biases toward popular conferences and some of the votes are cast purely because a more recognized team is more likely to bring in more money. Also, a team can make a championship appearance even though the team may not have won the respective conference. For example, in the 2003 season Oklahoma played LSU in the championship game despite losing to Kansas in the Big 12. This rule is used both ways within the league. In 2003 the two teams playing were name teams, but this season Georgia was kicked out of contention because they lost the conference and they aren’t a name team. Georgia’s coach said in an interview, “I didn’t know we could be kept out of the championship due to a rule that doesn’t even exist” (Richt). The system also fails to take into consideration the toughness of certain conferences compared to others. In the NCAA there are some conferences that tend to be stronger than others. The argument is that if a team has to face stronger opponents regularly compared to facing weal tams than the team should get credit for having tougher match ups.

Not all of the problems lay within the system. A simple playoff scenario would fix the problems associated with the BCS and it would truly allow the better team to win the championship. Playoffs would allow teams to prove themselves on the field and not through voting. A playoff decision would most likely make fans very happy and bring new fans to the sport. Texas Tech coach, Mike Leach had this to say about playoffs in college football, “There needs to be a big playoff. We would do away with putting all this foolishness into the computer and hoping somehow it is going to do the right thing”(Leach).

In conclusion, the BCS system has some major flaws. Many teams throughout the NCAA are being denied for being unpopular or in an inferior conference. There are a lot of notable criticisms associated with the system that leave many fans unhappy. A new system along with the addition of playoffs must be made to make things more fair and enjoyable for everyone. As long as people and fans continue to criticize the system, changes will inevitably be made.