So I'm watching the Rutgers - Louisville game on ESPN, and I can't help but to think back to the beginning of the college football season. The powers that be in the college football world (read: severely biased press) had made insightful predictions and rankings like: Louisville - 10; Rutgers - 16. Both of these teams promptly went onto self-destruct and now have records of 5-6 and 7-4 respectively. To be fair, Auburn was ranked 16, but then proceeded to fall to an unranked Mississippi State and South Florida. We are, however, the only ranked 4 loss team.
Anyway, it dawned on me: The BCS exists to reward otherwise unworthy teams of national prestige. Teams that play in conferences with no championship game (Big 10, Pac 10, WAC, Big East) are giving a free pass to the national stage while other real conferences (SEC, Big 12, etc.) have an actual competition to determine who the best team is. There's a word for a system that rewards people regardless of their accomplishments - Communism.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to say that one conference is superior to another (SEC kicks everyone else's a--); simply that competition in some conferences is tougher compared to others. Only if there were some system that would pit teams from different conferences against each other. And maybe this "system" would be somewhat separated from the bias of reporters and coaches that rely upon ESPN's College GameDay Final for their opinions.
The lesser NCAA football divisions have successfully conducted a playoff system for several years. How hard would it be to incorporate their model into Division I's bowl system? I'm pretty sure one can devise a system that allows all the sponsors the attention they paid for while giving the country a clear (or at least less cloudy) college football champion. And don't go to the argument students will be away from class too long - do Division II and III students learn better or get less of education? If they can handle a playoff system, surely D-I schools (who happen to have more tutors for the athletes) can.
In conclusion, write your congressman (or woman). Publish blogs that only 10 people will read. Send menacing e-mails to people you think are involved with the BCS. Boycott something. Let's get a playoff system in place, so I don't have to wrap my brain around why Ohio State, after losing to an unranked Illinois team, is going to end up in a premiere bowl game.
WAKE UP, AMERICA!
