BCS system During the fall semester college students all over the nation have something to look forward to, and that thing is college football. College football is the second most popular sport watched in the U.S. Here at Virginia Tech college football is what I like to call a big deal. They have sold out every home gave for the past few years and have won 10 games 7 years in a row which currently is the longest streak in the nation. With such success Virginia Tech has been able to go to high profile bowl games such as the Orange bowl, Peach bowl, Gator bowl, and Sugar bowl but still is searching for their first National Championship. Though Tech usually struggles early in the year and slips up a game or two they have been known to finish strong. The one or two games that they lose hurt their chances of going to the national title game which is frustrating for not only Virginia Tech but other teams that are similar. The BCS chooses the two teams who gets to play for the crystal ball; which is the trophy for winning the national championship game. Although the current Bowl Championship Series gives us a national champion, it doesn’t necessarily give us the nation’s best team. The BCS sets up a two team playoff for the title. However, if the national champion ends undefeated, there could also be one or more other undefeated teams from the other BCS bowls. In no other sport, does the season end with more than one “perfect” team. It is not in the interest of college football fans, players, coaches and schools that this bowl system decides who gets to play in the “big” game. To have a season end with multiple undefeated teams in general is not a good model for sports today. In 2005 I was lucky enough to watch Virginia Tech play in the Sugar bowl against the Auburn Tigers, as they were one of only three teams to be undefeated at the end of the regular season. Auburn ended up defeated the Hokies by a score of 16-13 and finished the season 13-0. They had dominated Virginia Tech throughout the game and deserved to have a shot at the National Title. But because of the BCS system they were done after that game.
The BCS standings are released weekly after every college football game is played. These rankings are pulled together using three other factors; USA Today’s Coaches poll, the Harris Interactive College Football poll, and an average of six other computer rankings (Bryan, 2010). Each of these factors is divided by three and added together to get a team’s BCS score. For the most part, the rankings are generally “right” in the public’s eyes. What’s wrong in the public’s eyes is the selection for certain bowl games, most importantly, the title game. The championship game is played between the BCS ranked top two teams. But that’s not always the right thing to do because more times than not, there are multiple teams that can play with each other and give the college football world a solid game, from kickoff to the final whistle. What’s wrong in the public eyes, is not giving an undefeated team a chance to play for the national championship and the credit they deserve for winning every game they have scheduled. What’s wrong is having the Associated Press (AP) vote after the season is over to determine the nation’s top team (hasn’t happened since the birth of the national championship game but in 2004 UCS and LSU were virtually tied so the AP voted USC number one after their win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl). The team that has most recently been notoriously known for getting shafted at is Boise State. In the past 4 years Boise State has gone undefeated in the regular season 3 times and not once were they given the chance to play for a national championship. Even TCU went undefeated this year and last but wasn’t rewarded a spot in the national championship game. Last year these two teams met in the Fiesta bowl (a BCS bowl) and Boise State won 17-16 giving them a flawless record of 13-0 at the end of the season. While Texas and Alabama had the a perfect record by the end of the regular season their strength of schedule gave them the edge over Boise State to play in the Rose bowl for a national championship. Many would argue that Alabama would crush Boise 10 games out of 10 but no one actually knows if that would happen because they never played. And with the way the BCS is today, this matchup will never happen. Alabama plays in arguably the best conference in college football, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and Boise plays in unquestionably one of the weakest conferences in college football, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). For all of those who would like to see a matchup of an SEC powerhouse against a weak conference dominator, it won’t happen with the current BCS system. Fellow student and college football fan Kevork Ozbalik says, “I don’t see the BCS as the best way for choosing the national title game, for division 2 and 3 football they never have this problem because they have implemented a playoff system.” Although recent history has shown that teams in the weaker conferences can hang with the perennial powerhouses in bowl games with Boise State defeating Oklahoma and West Virginia in the Fiesta bowl, Utah crushing a very strong Alabama in the Sugar bowl, and most recent TCU’s surprising victory over Wisconsin who at the time was said to be one of the nations “hottest” teams. The BCS system is used to rank teams on certain statistical factors; first and foremost is wins and losses. Strength of schedule and opponents’ strength of schedule are heavily weighted considerations. Other statistical information is also reviewed by the BCS chairmen. Teams from tough conferences like the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and PAC-10 usually take up the ten spots in the 4 BCS bowl games and the national championship game(Stern, 2004). All these conferences have an automatic bid for the team who wins the conference championship to one of the top BCS bowls, but there are times when these bowl games need non-automatic qualifiers like Notre Dame, Boise State or TCU for example. But even then, some great teams are left out of the most renowned bowl games. Teams from weak conferences, like Boise State, are at a disadvantage even before the season starts. Not only do they have a weak strength of schedule, but their opponents also have weak schedules. The BCS favors teams with rich traditions in college football and those teams placed in tough conferences. Schools like USC, Texas, Florida, and Alabama have for the most part always been contenders, and always will be because of their schedules and recruiting skills. Boise, on the other hand, plays one or two ranked teams a year, at maximum and doesn’t recruit 5,or 4 star players but coaches well and utilizes the talent they have to make a competitive team. Even if they win those games, they have to rely on that particular team or teams to win out or only lose one more game. For example, this year Boise blew a lead against Virginia Tech late in the game but came back on the last drive to win. But Tech lost its next game to a I-AA team, James Madison University, no Division I team should ever lose to a I-AA team. This drastically lowered Boise’s chances for a spot in the national title game. But since then, Tech has won its last 8 games and has given Boise’s win against them some weight. Taking all of the above into account, Boise still needs an almost miracle to get a shot at the title. In order for the Broncos to get a chance to play in the championship this year, they would need for the top two teams to lose, along with 6 or more teams ranked below them to lose another game. Teams with stronger strength of schedules tend to jump Boise in the standings. The saying “ a team controls its own destiny” is false for Boise State. They need lots of help from the other teams and a prayer, because no matter how well they do or who they beat they are always a team who is left out and only wants an opportunity to show the nation they can beat any team they are put up against and be crowned as national champions. . Bowl games in today’s system are very expensive. Yes, teams get paid to be in a bowl game, but travel and lodging can cost more than they receive. Even when teams get paid, they split it with their conference equally. “The fact we didn't go to a bowl game the last two years means we actually made money,” said former AD of Michigan Bill Martin following the 2009 season(Stern,2010). The Ohio State Buckeyes lost close to 80,000 dollars in last January’s Rose Bowl due to travel for their band and cheerleaders, hotels, food and entertainment(Stern, 2010). But the fact that schools lose money doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try to make it to a bowl game. Another issue that might arise is the topic of the athletes missing more of their education due to the extended playoff running into mid-January. Some might argue that this is taking away from their education, but most college athletes are their because of scholarships, not because they received walk-on spots. Also the student athletes receive plenty of help from tutors and many others. In most cases coaches will preach academics before athletics because a quality college education will take you farther in life than football or soccer or any other sport. The human body will only allow a person to play competitively for so many years and the average career in the NFL is about 3 and a half season.
References

“BCS Explained,” Accessed November 16, 2010. http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bcs_explained.html.

“Bowl Championship Series,” updated November 20, 2010. Accessed November 20, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_Championship_Series

Carey, Bryan, “BCS Ranking vs. Playoff System,” Last Modified January 9, 2007. Accessed November 15, 2010. http://www.epinions.com/content_4933918852.

Stern, H. S. (2004). Statistics and the College Football Championship. American Statistician, 58(3), 179-185. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.