The BCS Quandary and How Video Games Can Help

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by speedkills

Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs? Playoffs?? College football has the best regular season in all of sports. Lose to an Appalachian State to open the season and you're toast. And the championship *was* decided on the field. USC lost the national championship on the field in Corvalis. Texas lost the national championship courtesy of Mr. Crabtree and Co. Ok, so Utah didn't lose it on the field but .... too bad. Either get out of that 2nd rate conference or move down to the FCS divison and have your playoffs. Look at the NFL this year. Both #1 seeds are gone in the divisional round. Home field advantage hasn't been a factor. A 9-7 team is hosting the NFC Championship. Are you telling me if the Cardinals and the Ravens meet in the superbowl they are the 2 best teams in the league? Keep the BCS format.

I agree. Everyone thinks playoffs are perfect but they reward the hot team more than the deserving team at times. Pittsburgh will have to beat Baltimore three times this year if they want to win it all. If they lose on Sunday, your champion could be a Wild Card team that went 1-2 against Pitt on the year. Not exactly a great stamp of approval.

[youALREADYknow]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I agree. Everyone thinks playoffs are perfect but they reward the hot team more than the deserving team at times. Pittsburgh will have to beat Baltimore three times this year if they want to win it all. If they lose on Sunday, your champion could be a Wild Card team that went 1-2 against Pitt on the year. Not exactly a great stamp of approval.

Championships should be won on the field. Show me another professional (or even amateur) sport that does not have the champion crowned through a tournament.

If Baltimore beats Pittsburgh on the road, then they deserve to be in the Super Bowl. Home field advantage is what teams get for performing well in the regular season.

[bigjake62505]

Quote: Originally Posted by HokieB

8-team playoff is a must, and here's the best method I've heard: Top 8 ranked school make it in (no conference champ auto-bids) First 2 rounds are played at higher-seeds home field (talk about motivation to get a 1 or 2 seed. What an advantage! And can you imagine the atmosphere at these football cathedrals for a playoff game! It wouldn't get any better!) All 8 teams would end up in a BCS Bowl. The 4 Bowls would rotate best-to-worst game each year. So this year it would have been: - Orange Bowl: Semifinal winners play each for Natl Championship - Sugar Bowl: Semifinal losers play each other - Fiesta: Highest-seeded quarterfinal losers play each other - Rose: Lowest-seeded quarterfinal losers play each other All the the other bowls can continue on as they always have, say for a few auto-bid tweaks here and there.

This is the best situation IMO. I cannot understand anyone not wanting a playoff system in place, to determine a champion on the field. And why does a playoff make the season not count? Do you not have to win/be a good team to make it? No. Also a playoff system would weed out the lesser teams so there would be no one hit wonders. The smaller conference teams do not face the same tough teams each week like say SEC or Big 12 so in a playoff they would have to face some tough competition for consecutive weeks. I not saying a Utah or Boise State are not great programs but they would earn their spot and there would not be all this talk about "who is the champ". I dont get the fact that there are still questions about who is the National Champion after the season is over.

[HokieB]

Quote: Originally Posted by speedkills

Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs? Playoffs?? College football has the best regular season in all of sports. Lose to an Appalachian State to open the season and you're toast. And the championship *was* decided on the field. USC lost the national championship on the field in Corvalis. Texas lost the national championship courtesy of Mr. Crabtree and Co. Ok, so Utah didn't lose it on the field but .... too bad. Either get out of that 2nd rate conference or move down to the FCS divison and have your playoffs. Look at the NFL this year. Both #1 seeds are gone in the divisional round. Home field advantage hasn't been a factor. A 9-7 team is hosting the NFC Championship. Are you telling me if the Cardinals and the Ravens meet in the superbowl they are the 2 best teams in the league? Keep the BCS format.

And Oklahoma lost the National Championship to Texas in the Red River Shootout, and Florida lost the National Championship in the Swamp to Ole Miss... oh wait!

[HokieB]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

I agree. Everyone thinks playoffs are perfect but they reward the hot team more than the deserving team at times. Pittsburgh will have to beat Baltimore three times this year if they want to win it all. If they lose on Sunday, your champion could be a Wild Card team that went 1-2 against Pitt on the year. Not exactly a great stamp of approval.

I just don't understand these arguments in favor of the BCS.

Rewarding the hot team? That is solely what the BCS bases its decision on! Texas beat Oklahoma head to head and both teams ended up with one loss. But Texas lost later in the season, so Oklahoma was the "hotter" team. Had Texas lost to Texas Tech BEFORE beating Oklahoma, I guarantee Texas would have been in the NC.

Florida loses AT HOME to Ole Miss, and USC loses on THE ROAD to Oregon State, both teams end up with one loss, but USC lost later in the season and is punished.

And to suggest that a team that wins ON THE FIELD is undeserving because they just happen to be the hotter team is crazy talk

And to address the theory that a team with a crappy record could just get hot and win it all, if you have an 8-team playoff (top 8 teams in the BCS, no conference auto-bid) then it would be nearly imposible for a team with more than 2 losses to make it in.

BTW, this is my favorite debate in all of sports

[jmik58]

Congress has been working on an act of legislation (since last year I think) that would make it illegal for the words "National Championship" to be linked with any BCS bowl games.

It's a clever concept that says "create a playoff system" without literal application.

[jmik58]

A possible solution for a BCS Bowl-Playoff Hybrid

http://www.operationsports.com/jmik58/blog/

[jmik58]

Direct link: http://www.operationsports.com/jmik58/blog/1515-bcs-bowl-playoff-hybrid/