The BCS vs. True National Champion Playoff. Replacing a mythical national championship(which has been in existence since college football became organized) with an actual, matter of fact, very tangable national championship as decided on the field. This battle rages on. It has been covered by every known media outler that covers college football. It has been debated for years at Kitchen tables, neighborhood bars, and garages. It is a battle of opinions. Everyone has their own, and there is no one way to say which is right and which is wrong. It the closest thing to an organized form of religion some people have. Both have qualities, and both have flaws. You can make a convincing arguement for either, and if you are like me, you can actually see the benefits for both systems, and support both at different junctures of your life. I at one time was pro-BCS. I did research. I looked at facts. I then became a staunch supporter of the Playoff system based soley on my findings and not any affection I had to the pagentry of the bowls.
There are those who fully trust what a computer tells them. They follow blindly. They don't question the equation used. I would say that mre than 80% can't explain step by step the BCS process of alotting points, and if they can site the steps in the process, another 80% could not give an explanation of how it works still. Then you have those who want proof. They want to have two teams as a definate 1 and 2. They want to give the elite teams of a particular season a crack at being the best. They believe in the reality of life. They ask for something they can touch, feel, and hold. They want to be able to point at something and say, see, that's it. They don't like the unexplained phenomenom of naming a champion. They don't like the fairy tale.
But what about those who are actually involved? Players, depending on which outlet you read will say that they favor a playoff system. They seem to want to know if they are trully better than another team that may have faced similiar competition, but not one another. Then, according to which outlet you transcribe, Coaches are in favor of the BCS system. They feel it needs tweaked further, but feel it's the best way to go. Matter of fact, in March of this year, the AFCA(American Football Coaches Association) released the results of a poll they conducted in January, in 80% of 117 FBS coaches stated that they approved of the BCS rather than going to a playoff. Of course, you can read into that. You can read that coaches are obviously going to say they approve of a system that is currently in use. It makes sense for them to do so. If you have a bunch of boosters, corporate sponsors, and college presidents who push this idea, more than likely to not disrupt the herd, you are going to go along with the status quo. Or it could be that they geniunely feel this way.
Interestingly enough, the AFCA released the results of the pole, not the questionaire it's self. They did not release how it was that the questions were worded, nor any notations and comments coaches made in regards to the questioning, specifics of the questions and their answers given. We just got numbers.
But, why wouldn't a coach in the FBS favor the bowl system? In particular, a coach at a non- power conference school? Louisiana Tech is probably never going to reach the Fiesta Bowl. But, a coach who manages to get his modest little program into one of the countless bowl games , well that looks good on his resume for future consideration at a bigger school. And the school gets it's cut of the TV and ad revenue from the Bowl game, and it's cut of the prize for accepting the bid to play in said bowl. So, as a college administrator you love the money. As a TV exec you love the sponsorship revenue. As a coach you love the fact that said money will improve your facilities and that you can say on your resume that you made a bowl game, instead of the reverse and saying that you failed to make the playoffs. And they also build up the 'Bowl Game Experience' fans and players. They say nothing matches it. Well, the bowl games and the shear amount of them are just another example of how as a society we give everbody a trophy and reward mediocrity. I'm sorry, but if you don't deserve to be playing after the regular season, you don't need to be there. I don't care if your name carries clout from years past, or if you are known to have a huge amount of fans who spend big and follow the team anywhere. It all comes down to the present. and if the playoffs were a reality, the days of rewarding 6-5 teams with name value, or 7-4 teams with a large fan following and eager to spend alumni would be over.
And were the coaches asked if a legit, 8, 12, or even 16 team playoff system were constructed, would they sway towards approval of that instead of the BCS system in place? According to the results, no such question was asked, and we don't know if it was brought up by the coaches. All we were told is that they like the BCS.
But why have a playoff? Why have a legit national champion? I mean, When your goal is too keep money coming in and finding new ways to make even more money, then you are playing for money, not a national championship, which is why the BCS is perfect for college football.
Keep the TV people happy, keep making as much money as you can off of 'amatuer' athletes, keep the alumni of power schools happy, and keep throwing a bone to smaller schools...Keep the BCS. And for the so called 'purist' who say that Bowl Games are college football, they are not... and have not been about college football since the 1950's at the latest. College Bowl Games are corporate american and television ratings, not college football. And the notion that a playoff system would de-value the defacto belief that the regular season is a playoff and the games would no longer matter....Are you serious? Your still playing for the smae reason, to proove you are the best. To win the games. And if you are going to say, well, only 12 of you are going to make it to the playoffs, it makes every game that much more important. teams with 3 loses will be out of the equation... you could actually argue with logic on your side tha the game swould become more important...
That's just my view....for now.
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