The B.S. BCS

The College Football playoff system has been debated for many years. It has produced some of the greatest controversies and “what ifs” in all of sports. College Football uses a set up called the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS. This structure has a panel that chooses who gets to play in the championship game and who doesn’t as well as utilizing a computer calculation based on a team’s performance that year. After the voting process is complete, the method has everyone left saying their team should be in the big game. College Football needs to change their BCS to a bracket format like basketball and hockey to make sure the champion really comes out on top.

In the past, many teams have gone undefeated, yet they did not get a chance to contend for the title of National Champions. That same scenario occurred last year with the University of Utah. The Utes went 12-0 during the regular season but didn’t make the national championship even though they were the only team to finish undefeated in the country for Division I-A. They ended up winning their bowl game, upsetting Alabama. In the final AP Poll, many of the Utes’ advocates tried to make the case that Utah and the national champs, Florida, should be co-champions, but there were not enough voters to support this concept. The system needs repair because teams like Utah deserve to determine their own destiny instead of it being in the hands of journalists who vote in the polls.

The BCS is a huge business for college football. Colleges are not complaining and do not want to change the system because it is such a money maker for them and their conference. Last year, Notre Dame made $4.5 million in a loss to LSU in the Allstate sugar bowl. Another example is both the ACC and the SEC made almost $2.5 million each for the Chik-fil-A Bowl. The committee does not select the best teams in the country, but those that will make the most profit.

Congress is trying to make the change. Many congressmen are against the system in place right now, which they call the “BS BCS.” At the head of the lawmakers trying to press for a playoff system instead of the BCS is Texas Republican Joe Barton and sees through the BCS committee’s greed. However, all he has gotten so far is a question and answer with the BCS coordinator that is slowly getting him closer to getting a bill passed in Congress to eliminate the bowl games. Hopefully, their cause can get enough support from all the sports fans who value the integrity and purity of college athletics to stand up against the BCS committee’s corrupt system.