NCAA FOOTBALL WEEK 8 NOTES AND PLAYOFF TALK:
This is a little different from what I usually do.
BCS NOTEBOOK
-It’s really quite simple. If Boston College and Ohio State win out they’ll face each other in the championship game. Hawaii is also unbeaten, and should end up in a BCS Bowl if they stay that way, but they aren’t going to finish in the top two.
-Kansas and Arizona State can also get into the mix. Although Kansas is ranked low now, they would certainly high enough if they were win out the season. The thing about Kansas is that if they finish the season undefeated, they’ll have just one win against the BCS Top 20, and that would be the season finale against rival Missouri. They’d also have the Big Twelve Championship game, but other than that it’s way below par for all the teams that have played for the title in the past other than Virginia Tech, who played Florida State for the title in the 1999 Sugar Bowl. They were pretty much blown out. It’s safe to say that Kansas would probably be blown out as well.
-Kansas isn’t alone when it comes to racking up wins against weak competition. Top ranked Ohio State has two wins against the BCS top 50, one was this past weekend when they struggled to get past #47 Michigan State. The other was against #31 Purdue. Boston College has #8 Virginia Tech this week, but up until now they have no wins against the BCS top 25. Their best win was against #26 Wake Forest in the season opener.
-There are a million things that suck about the BCS, and whenever I hear someone even begin to defend it I want to scream. They’ll point to seasons like 2005 when Texas and USC met in the title game and say it’s evidence that the BCS “worked.” Well, it “worked” that year, but did it really?? Four out of conference games isn’t nearly enough to gather sufficient data to conclusively compare one team’s schedule and strength to another off the field. That’s obviously fewer than any other NCAA sport. Most other sports’ seasons play close to half of their games out of conference, which gives computers and human polls much more data when it comes to deciding who’s the best. More importantly than that, humans aren’t deciding who the best team is, the teams are. Humans may put together a playoff, but the champion is ultimately decided on the field, or the court, or whatever. Even if we do end the football season with just two unbeaten teams from major conferences, who’s to say those teams would have gone undefeated had their schedule been different?? After all, the two teams in the drivers seat for the BCS Title game have yet to win a game against a BCS top 25 team.
WHY THERE ISN’T A PLAYOFF
-It really isn’t for the exact reasons that the people in the media say. It isn’t about money, because a playoff would generate much more money than the bowls. People look at the BCS Bowls and see pay-outs for $17 million and think that’s a lot, and it is, but when you look at how it is divided up among all the universities in the conference, it becomes less than $2 million. On top of that, bowls don’t pay travel expenses. Last year when Louisville went to the Orange Bowl, they had to share the $17 million dollar check evenly with the rest of the Big East. They then had to purchase tickets to the game from the bowl. They then had to pay their travel expenses for their team, band and cheerleaders. When it was all said and done, they ended up with less than $500,000. That’s about half of what most major conference teams make off of a home game.
-Another reason you often here is that it interferes with academics. I want to scream every time I hear this. For starters, check your calendar. It’s Christmas Break at the time the playoff would be taking place. Also, any school that has a baseball team should not be allowed to say they are concerned about the impact a football playoff could have on academics. Baseball plays more games than anyone, and they’re on the road more than anyone. Their season also overlaps the final exams of the spring term at most universities. Football is on a Saturday. They play maybe six road games a year, if that, and miss their Friday classes….if they have any. Comparing missing six days of class to other sports is not even a comparison. It’s like comparing my salary to Bill Gates’s. In addition to that, many FCS schools, particularly the Patriot League, are very prestigious academic universities. They have found a way to participate in a playoff, and it doesn’t seem to be effecting them in a negative way.
-The textbook answer to why there isn’t a playoff is because the university presidents of the FBS schools collectively don’t want one. Most commentators don’t understand this, but according to NCAA Bylaws, it’s the presidents that run the athletic departments. Most (well, all) hire athletic directors to make the decisions for them, but for a major bylaw such as conference realignment or a football playoff, it’s up to the presidents.
As to why they don’t want one, I’m not entirely sure. There are 21 NCAA Sports, and three divisions. That’s 63 in total, and 64 if you’re counting FBS and FCS as division one. Out of the 64 sports, 63 have a playoff, and one doesn’t. The one that doesn’t is FBS football.
Part of the reason is the Big Ten and Pac Ten. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney has often said that even if there were a playoff, the Big Ten would not participate. Most of the presidents seem to be on board with this. The Pac Ten seems to be following suit. I saw a stat once that seven of the 11 Big Ten presidents said they’d rather play in the Rose Bowl than play in the BCS Title game.
In order for a playoff to be implemented, more than 75% of the university presidents would have to agree to it. Without the Big Ten and the Pac Ten, you’re already down 21 of the 120. With them stating that they wouldn’t participate, it’s possible that the rest of the presidents decided that it just isn’t worth it.
I personally believe (emphasis on personally here) the notion of sharing has something to do with it. When it comes to athletics, universities don’t like to share. If you’ve ever worked in a university athletic department you’ll understand this, but they’d rather have all of $4 million dollars than half of $10 million dollars. I know that doesn’t make any sense, but that’s sort of how it is. Even though a playoff would generate more money for everyone, it is different from the bowls because the conferences and individual institutions wouldn’t be getting it all for themselves. It also wouldn’t be guaranteed. If a playoff of 16 were formed, and the payouts went $5 million, $10 million, $15 million, $15 million, the league only gets $5 million if they just send one team who loses in the first round. That sounds great for the Sun Belt, but what about the Big East or ACC?? They could make more money by sending multiple teams and advancing, but they could also lose money (compared to the bowls) if they send one team that loses. Chances are they’d make more money most of the time, but I think there is something about being permanently tied into the Orange Bowl that is appealing.
THE ‘TRADITION’ OF THE BOWLS
-Another reason you hear for not having a playoff is that it would end a great tradition of bowl games. I understand this to a point, but when you look at this tradition a little more closely, is it really worth preserving?? The first bowl game ever was the 1902 Rose Bowl. It wasn’t even called the Rose Bowl. It was called the East vs West Championship game and was part of the Tournament of Roses Parade. In other words, it was a side show for something else that was the bigger overall attraction. The game ended at halftime because Stanford trailed Michigan 49-0 and quit. The game was such a success that they didn’t play it again for another 14 years. Great Tradition!!!
Bowls were started because warm weather cities wanted a way to attract tourists over the Christmas Holidays. The games were a good month after the season and were merely exhibition games. The national champion could lose in a bowl game. From the very beginning, the idea was to get the most popular teams and not necessarily the best. I must say that that is a tradition that still exists to this day.
THE PURIST IN ME
-I don’t see why football is so different than anything else. In fact, FCS, div2 and div3 agree with me, because they have a playoff. I think saying that we need to keep the bowls to preserve the tradition is a contradiction. It’s clear to me that the tradition of college athletics is to have a playoff.
-There is a bylaw stating that at least half the teams in NCAA Championship play must be at-larges. With 11 div1 conferences, that would mean 22 teams in the playoffs. To me, the ideal number would be 16. FCS has 16 teams in the playoffs, but only eight conferences receive automatic bids. The Ivy does not participate, the SWAC doesn’t take an automatic because their conference championship game is the same day that the playoffs begin (the SWAC can send a team as an at-large, but it can’t be a team that’s playing in the championship game), and the Pioneer League and NEC doesn’t have a bid. Basically, a committee evaluates a conference’s performance over a period of years and decides whether or not they will be one of the eight leagues to receive a bid. I can live with that.
How about this?? Simply change the bylaw for football!! Say that you don’t need half the teams to be at-larges. Let all 11 conference champions go and take five at-larges. If that were the case, then some of these C-USA, MWC and WAC games would take on a lot more meaning. Imagine the importance and national interest of the Boise State vs Hawaii game, or the BYU vs Wyoming game.
-This will never happen, at least not anytime soon. I do believe I will see a playoff in my lifetime, but I don’t see it happening in the next twenty years.
The real purist in me would like to see a playoff of 32 teams where we combine all the FCS and FBS teams. 23 conference champions and 9 at-larges. I also realize that this won’t happen anytime soon, and will probably never happen.
For the record, I really enjoy FCS football and oftentimes find myself watching that instead of FBS games. If you get into it, you can see how a regular season game with playoff implications is a very big deal. That is something the FBS doesn’t have. The idea that a playoff would dilute the regular season is a very misinformed idea. A playoff actually enhances the value of the regular season.
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