Say this for the BCS, at the very least they’re trying. New executive director Bill Hancock went to the airwaves, speaking with Dan Patrick this week and doing his best to stump for the system. The BCS also went the way of new media, launching a twitter page as well as a facebook profile, because – well, you know… that’s what the kids are doing these days.
But the ugly head of the BCS rears itself this weekend, with theabsolutely mediocre slate of games that’s on tap. With teams so happyto play the system, we’re stuck with nary a good matchup, and the onlyTop 25 teams facing off are #25 Cal playing at the Farm against #17Stanford. It’s so bad that ESPN’s GameDay is in Tuscon, where Oregon battlesan unranked (but very game) Arizona team.
When the top two teams in the country are squaring off against FloridaInternational and Chattanooga respectively, it’s clear that schools are moreinterested in finding a win than playing legit competition, and the reality of it is, you can’t blame them. The BCS system has laid out a clear road-map for teams looking to succeed within the system and the bottom line is it just doesn’t pay to play tough competition at the end of the season when conference championship games supply all the strength of schedule you’d ever need to climb the rankings.
While Michigan and Ohio State fans can’t blame the BSC for Michigan’s slide into mediocrity, the rest of us have plenty of reason to blame the Bowl Championship Series for marginalizing the best regular season in all of sports.
Florida vs. FIU: Really no more of a joke than the rest of their season. Those oh-so-tough Gators have played only ONE current Top 25 team this year, and won’t play another until Alabama destroys them in the SEC title game.
Three-peat, my ass.
With the regular season in college football becoming more of a joke every year, there is less and less justification for the bowl system.
For Florida, it’s not about the BCS but about 7 home games. Every year, they’re locked into 4 home, 4 road and 1 neutral site game between their SEC schedule and FSU. (The years Georgia would have been a home game, they host FSU, and vice versa). That leaves three non-conference games, and not many quality teams will come to Gainesville without a return trip.
When the 12th game was a bonus and not an annual event, they worked out a three-game series with Miami for the three seasons that were going to have a 12th game. (Last year was the first of those). But unless someone makes it more lucrative for UF to pass up another home game for a neutral site game, you’re going to see this every year — especially since they also want to have a relatively easy game leading into the FSU game.
Yeah, you’re right; the BCS forced this on us. I mean, under the old system up to a few years ago when teams only played 11 regular season games, ‘Bama and Florida’s opponents this weekend would have been…NOBODY! They both would be kicking back on the couch and watching today’s games, enjoying their second bye week of the season before playing their bitter in-state rivals next weekend.
Seriously, I’ve often wondered if sportswriters think that all Alabama has to do to schedule Ohio State, for example, is to pick up the phone, call OSU’s AD, say “We want to play you on November 14, 2009, at 2:30 CST on CBS at our place,” and the game is made. Regardless of whether teams like FIU or UTC will present any kind of challenge, BCS teams like to schedule them because they’re easy to schedule: There is almost never a demand for a return trip at their home stadium, TV contracts usually don’t get in the way (since Non-AQ and FCS conferences don’t have contracts with CBS, NBC, ABC or ESPN that require certain games be broadcast on their networks), and they will be much more flexible about accomodating the BCS team’s schedule (really, could you imagine OSU in the above example agreeing to play ‘Bama the week before the Michigan game if they had not already been playing Iowa?).
But what makes this whole thing really over-the-top is that this is November 21. Look at the schedule for the BCS teams (and even the non-AQ ones); how many of them are playing non-conference teams or have a bye this week? Very few. Even if UA and UF HAD wanted to schedule a tough non-conference opponent this late in the year, who would even be available to talk to, let alone would be able to do so considering the conditions outlined above?
And to restate a comment I made earlier this week: even if BCS teams only scheduled other BCS teams (and good ones at that) then the media would complain that they were excluding the Florida Internationals and the Chattanoogas of the world by the denying them the exposure and money they would need to have a chance to join the elites. Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
DCroz,
very good post.
Under the old, pre-BCS system, teams that played cupcakes late in the season could be penalized in the rankings and in the bowl selection process.
If anyone is posting here and is an employee of the NCAA or a university, please note that in your post. I’m not an employee of the NCAA. Thanks.
No SEC team dares play outside the southeastern part of the country; nor do any of the teams play even adequate out of conference foes. The SEC is a joke but with a powerful network brainwashing the masses, what do you expect. Great Defenses – try no offenses. Strong top to bottom teams – please only FLA and ALA are legitimate powerhouses; the rest are wanna be contenders who at times rear up and win against a better team .. UK, Vandy, Ole Miss, Miss State, Auburn, UGA, LSU all middle of raod teams with 3 bad out of conference wins and 500 conference records each year … enough already with the buffery.
leatherneck: They can be penalized in the rankings now, too. But these games that people are complaining about wouldn’t have existed when the season was 11 games long.
Every week I see SEC haters disparaging the conference. I am a TCU alumn. Believe me, I can make an argument on why the SEC’s dominance might be overstated. When reading some of these comments I have to wonder, which conference do you people think is better? The Big 10, The Big 12 and the Pac 10 are all good conferences but none of them stack up against the SEC. If you believe otherwise you need a reality check. I mean where is the Longhorns big quality win? Is it Oklahoma, a four loss team that lost to BYU in its opener (TCU dominated BYU btw)? I guess their big win was versus Oklahoma State … a team that lost to a decent Houston team also. As for the Pac 10 who is their great team? Oregon? They lost to Boisie State. The Big 10 is down again this year. Their champion, Ohio State has been blown out by SEC teams in bowl and NC games for the last decade or more. Bottom line, if you do not know the SEC is the best conference in college football you are biased, stupid or both.
TheVoice says:
Ok wait Voice… exactly who are you suggesting is superior to them?
LOL…
Or did you conviently forget that until two years ago Auburn was the powerhouse and Alabama was the doghouse? Are you forgetting that 3 out of the last 4 BCS champions are from the SEC? Are you also forgetting that the games they played for that championship just made the big ten and the big 12 look silly?
Oh wait, maybe you’re gunning for the PAC-10? Where Stanford has become the giant killer? Look, if FL or AL would have fallen on their swords (twice?) like USC and Org have then they’d be out of the hunt too, but somehow these bogus SEC teams manage to actually win the games their supposed to.
Call it what you will but look at it this year… who exactly do you think could beat FL or AL? I know several teams in the SEC that almost did…
pricecube
Sorry bout your boys… After 2004 (AU fan here) I have nothing but empathy for any team that does everything they’ve been asked to do but because of the “votes” they have no chance to actually compete for the top prize.
I’m actually glad we’re looking at TCU, Boise, and Cincinnati all on the outside looking in just to again prove the point that without a playoff – NC’s are just popularity contents.
I firmly believe that TCU and Boise would give AL or Florida a very good run for their money and I think ya’ll will destroy whomever your unfortunate matchup is… (I’m still hoping to see TCU take out a 1 loss Alabama team after they lose the SEC Championship to FL).
Go Frogs!
@gncnew
Well on that note my Frogs hung 40-someodd points on Utah. They scored 28 points in six minutes and coasted to victory against them. That is the same Utah that beat Alabama and Nick Satan last year in the Sugar Bowl FWIW. I know these comparisons are meaningless but I wish my frogs could get a plus one game to either validate my confidence in them or shut me up. Auburn 04′ was a travesty. USC may have beaten them but we will never know. Everyone assumed OSU would pound Fla in the 07 NC game.
Its all about money. If your university can put 100,000 fans in the stands for a home game; you are going to schedule 7 or 8 home games. Both the home school and the smaller visiting schools make money for their programs. As for the one comment about Ohio State getting blown out by a SEC team; any good team can get beat on a given day. It depends on the breaks of the game. Look at USC last week. The power conferences are all pretty strong and every team needs to come ready to play each week. They beat each other up each week. Some of the other smaller conferences have 2 or 3 tough teams
Don’t EVEN gimme that “cupcake” crap. Hmm, Bama’s 1st game (which ALL teams take as a “cupcake” game) was against the (then) #7 team. Let’s see, did Florida play a top 10 team opening day? Florida’s 1st 2 games were crap teams, then their conference games started with TN & KY. Wow…tough schedule. Gimme a break. Roll Tide.
@ sportsfan101
Regarding my Ohio State comment, I did not mean to knock OSU. I think they are a good team, but I did a little research on the subject. This is almost hard to believe but OSU has NEVER beaten an SEC team in a bowl game. They are 0-9 against the SEC in post season play. I agree that any team can beat any other team on any given day but when you are batting 0% something else might be given credence. Anyway I do not mean to offend any buckeyes out there because once again, I think they are a great school with a storied program. Big 10 fans also seem to really “get” college football the way few others do. They are overall down this year but it all seems cyclical and I have no doubt they will be back.