Friday, November 7, 2008

I hate you BCS, or BSC, whatever.

Okay, so I'm not much of a college football fan.  I'll admit that I'm a homer.  I love the University of Utah because that is where I got my degree and I just can't stand my other option, BYU.  So when it comes to College Football, I don't have much of an opinion on much of anything.  But there is one topic in NCAA Football on which I do have an opinion, one thing that I am certain is slowly destroying the game, and that is the BCS.


Today on Sportscenter the football gurus are debating whether or not the University of Utah should be allowed a BCS bowl bid.  They are ranked 8th in the BCS standings and this was before they beat TCU last night (ranked 12th in the BCS).  Why is this a debate?  The Utes are ranked 8th for hell's sake, they are 10-0 and have beaten three pretty good teams (Michigan at the Big House, Oregon State, and TCU).  If Texas or USC have one loss they are still in the top ten in the BCS and no one ever questions their ranking, so why the Utes?  I'll tell you why, it's because the BCS is retarded that's why.

The BCS is run by a computer and that's the first thing wrong with the system.  Does a computer have the ability to distinguish if a team with a big lead puts their second string defense in at the end of a game and allows two late insignificant touchdown?  Does a computer know about field conditions and how wind, rain, snow, and fog can keep a normally explosive offense from scoring the points they most assuredly would in better conditions?  Does a computer know anything about heated rivalries that have been forged over years of hate-filled competition and how in such rivalries win/loss records are insignificant?  The answer to all of these questions is no.

The next thing that is wrong with the BCS is that it causes teams and
head coaches to be A-holes in order for better numbers to be added to the complicated math problem that spits out the BCS standings.  Urban Myers, head coach of the Florida Gators, called two time out in the last five minutes of their game against Georgia last week.  The Gators were up 49-10.  Myers was trying to score more points so that a better margin of victory against a quality opponent like Georgia could be added into the computer and help raise his BCS stock.  This is the kind of thing that makes coaches kick an onside kick with two minutes left in the game and leading by three touchdowns.  This is the reason you see teams beating other teams by seventy points.  The BCS is bad for the game.  It allows no room for sportsmanship, class, or mercy.  We all know that USC is better than Washington State so do we really need to watch the Trojans kick the hell out of the Cougars 69-0 to prove it?

Are the coaches poll or the AP poll a better solution to the BCS?  I don't think so.  There is too much room for favoritism, speculation, and coaches don't care about what other teams are doing.  They are too busy trying to prepare their team for their next opponent to take the time to look over all of college football and make educated votes.  I think the AP just waits for the coaches poll to come out and then they reverse the order of a couple of teams and then post their poll.  It's all too non-scientific for my taste.  Is a playoff system the answer to this BCS mess?  I'm not sure that it is.  How many teams do you let in?  Eight?  16?  32?  The playoff system would create just as much controversy as the BCS has over the last few years, if not more.

Here is my solution.  The NCAA needs a dude like Mel Kiper Jr. of NFL Draft fame.  They need a dude with a computer for a brain and nothing else to do but look at the landscape of college football and decide who should be where in the standings.  They need a dude who doesn't care if a team is from the Mountain West of the SEC.  They need a dude who can crunch the numbers, look at the matchups, and calculate all of the intangibles to come up with some rankings that actually make some sense.  At first look this may seem impossible.  How can any one man be asked to do such a thing?  But if any of you have watched Kiper Jr. run the NFL Draft show you know that the dude is a complete genius.  He has info on who each team should draft and knows about guys best fit for the ninth round that you have never even heard of before.  Kiper Jr. is a walking talking computer with a kick ass Eddie Munster hairdo.  If Kiper Jr. doesn't want to do the job I'm sure the NCAA can find some guy who has won his office fantasy league for the last ten years and knows stuff about players you or I didn't even know existed.

Okay, so when it comes down to it, I don't have a real solution to the BCS mess, but I do know that something must be done before College Football becomes so mired in controversy that nobody can stomach watching the games.

Go Utes!

7 comments:

Phil said...

Jim you are setting yourself up for disaster. By using the Utes as your example you will probally wish this post dissapears. The Utes like BYU are overrated this year. You are right about there being an unfair system, but that has little to do with the BCS and has most to do with schools that will pay any price to win at football. How many times did the utes make an argument for the championship before the BCS. Pray that Utah loses to BYU so they don't have to play Florida and have it turn out like a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.

Rob said...

There should be no mercy in sports. Sportsmanship applies to things like hitting someone after a play is over with the intent to hurt them, or being a sore loser or winner. It shouldn't require you to not play as hard as you could at any point in the game. That is just lame. People have paid a lot of money to watch you play - play your best.

If the other team has given up and that is allowing you to run up the score even more, put in the back ups and let them play. It's a privilege to play college or pro sports.

Che said...

I have to agree with Rob, I like when a team collectively eats a hardy bowl of Brazen Bran before a game and then runs the shit up on their opponent. If you don't like getting beat by so many points, play better!

Jim,
Do you think that Mel Kiper Jr maybe isn't human, but is in reality a highly advanced cyborg sent from a post-apocolyptic future in a last ditch attempt to save humanity through improved football knowledge?

Boyd,
Do you think that maybe there are robots living among us?

Boyd said...

no. We don't have the technology.

Jim said...

I'm not saying that the starters shouldn't play hard or that if your starters are better than their starters you shouldn't beat the hell out of them, but I'm simply saying that you shouldn't play your first string guys the whole game unless you have to in order to win (you heartless bastards).

che & Boyd,

Of course Mel Liper Jr. is a post-apocalyptic cyborg sent from the future to teach our forlorn nation about ninth round NFL draft picks. FYI Boyd, we don't need the technology in order for Mel to be a robot. If he is from the future then the future us need the technology not us. Have you learned nothing from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"?

Jim said...

P.S. Phil,

Only BYU fans like you pray for the outcome of a football game. I hope that the crappy overrated Cougars don't ruin the Utes' chances at a BCS game and I hope that Utah does get a chance to play Florida. If you recall in a little film directed by Clint Eastwood, he teaches one bull-dike how to box another bull-dike even though the first lady is a complete underdog. That is the beauty of sports and why we ultimately play the games. You never know what can happen, just ask Chris Webber.

Phil said...

And I hope you recall what happens to that underdog bull-dike. She ends up trying to bite her own tounge off so she can bleed to death. At the end if the utes go BCS tell your wife to hide the knives cause I know you'll rather cut your little balls off then have to watch the slaughter.